Posted by John on January 6th, 2009
A typically excellent crossword from Virgilius to start the new year. The two themes — anagrams of colours and some other pairs of anagrams — are no doubt related in some very clever way, but unfortunately I can’t see how. No doubt someone will explain. This seemed unusually difficult for a Virgilius.
| Across |
| 5 |
TRAFFIC LIGHTS — (if craft)* lights [lands] |
| 8 |
CURE — the acute accent on the e goes |
| 9 |
S TALE |
| 10 |
FUN K |
| 11 |
SHEEPDOG — Heep in (gods)rev. |
| 13 |
SOUR CE |
| 14 |
ALTERED COURSE — I suspect that I’m not appreciating the full richness of this clue: I think the def. is ‘went from’; 13 Down [stone] is an anagram of 19 [set on], as 13 Across [source] is of 16 [Crusoe], the latter two also being anagrams of ‘course’. But the way in which the clue is written doesn’t seem to say that these pairs are anagrams of each other… |
| 16 |
CRUS(O)E |
| 18 |
ONE’S BEST — (bones set)* |
| 20 |
HOP 1 |
| 21 |
C(H)ORE |
| 23 |
LATE — (et al)rev. |
| 24 |
A NEW DIRECTION — a(red wine)*ction |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
EAS(E MEN)T |
| 2 |
{t}OFFS |
| 3 |
facsiMILE |
| 4 |
studenT HE FLUnked |
| 5 |
TOUCH — 2 defs |
| 6 |
CHANGED COLOUR — mile-lime, cure-ecru, stale-slate, sliver-silver, chore-ochre, late-teal are I think the anagrams |
| 7 |
artiSAN I CLEarly — clues that begin ‘Some’ I always find unsatisfactory: they are a giveaway, and in my humble opinion ’some xyz’ only at a stretch means ’some of the letters of xyz’ |
| 12 |
DIR(G)E |
| 13 |
STONE — 2 defs, but why ‘really’? |
| 14 |
AUREOLA — 0 in a (rule)* a |
| 15 |
R(ABEL)A IS |
| 17 |
S LIVER — I initially thought that ‘gland’ was a bit inappropriate for what seemed more an organ, but Chambers put me right: a large gland |
| 19 |
SET ON — ‘on set’ with parts reversed |
| 21 |
COD A |
| 22 |
EACH — (ache)* |
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Posted by C G Rishikesh on January 6th, 2009
Since I started writing here, this is the first time I am encountering Moodim.
I enjoyed doing the puzzle.
Across
1 RAISED EYEBROWS - two def. - Pleasing clue; the arch of the eyebrows when women return from the beauty parlour after having had the hair growth “plucked” (or whatever the term is) is pronounced, so I have myself gasped sometimes.
10 ACT UP - a c(t)up
11 SHELF LIFE - Pleasing wordplay. But the long second definition is so explicit that one can solve the clue with just that.
(On edit) The wordplay is provided in a comment below.
12 PILGRIM - rev. of rim, G, lip. Nice surface reading.
13 DREDGER - Evokes a plausible image - dr., edge, R - dr. for driver is recorded in Chambers though I have never seen it used anywhere. Nor dr. for drummer. Dr. for Drive (as in street names) is understandable.
14 NIECE - ni(E)ce - the wordplay is old hat but the clue wording is new.
16 ADDICTION - Nice clue - a d(D)iction
19 PAY PACKET - pay, packet - is breakup like this permissible?
20 RICIN - (p)ricin(g) - Don’t have murder on your mind but Wikipedia informs: Ricin is a protein toxin that is extracted from the castor bean (Ricinus communis).The U.S. Centers for Disease Control gives a possible minimum figure of 500 micrograms (about the size of a grain of salt) for the lethal dose of ricin in humans if exposure is from injection or inhalation.
22 OUSTING - ou(S)ting - If R is for river in maps, S is for Sun in drawings of the solar system, perhaps.
25 INSIGHT - sounds like “inn cite”. (On edit, correcting a typo) “inn site”.
27 FORMALISE - did you juggle with “emails are”? for, malise (anag. of emails)
28 OLIVE - rev. of evil, o. Can’t imagine how the tree was returned; perhaps it was a sapling then.
29 REPRESENTATION - did you think ‘operates’ was the anagrind? Anag. of “intern operates”, ‘works’ being the anag. signal.
Down
2 ARTILLERY - art(ill)ery
3 SUPER -su(p)per - I need help to understand what a ‘poncy start’ is.
4 DISEMBARK - Very good surface reading. I solved it after I got a couple of crossings and saw ‘land’ (v.) in the clue. I am yet to work out the wordplay. Perhaps someone will comment.
(On edit) See below.
5 YIELD - Excellent wordplay for this frequently occurring word in crosswords. - Y,ield (anag. of ‘idle’)
6 BUFFET CAR - buff, etcar (anag. of ‘react’)
7 OWING - (v)owing
8 SWEAR IN - did you think this was a reversal clue? - anag. of ‘a new sir’ - Is ‘arising’ a valid anag. signal? Why not? When ‘arising’ has the sense ‘rising up’.
9 DAMPEN - dam (rev. of ‘mad’), pen - In wordplay ‘flipping’ = ‘turning over’ but in surface reading it is = nasty.
15 ERADICATE - Veteran solvers needn’t read the clue beyond ‘puss’: that’s an excuse for my not fully working out the involved anno!
17 DETRIMENT - ‘trime’, anag. of ‘merit’, in dent
18 INCOGNITO - Good surface reading. incognit (anag. of ‘noticing’), o - ‘doctor’ is the anagrind. Is “is” obtrusive in wordplay? Comment sought.
19 PROFFER - PR, offer
21 NUTMEG - nut, Meg (the first time that I came across this female name was in a poem titled ‘Meg Merrilees’ that I read in school).
24 GUISE - “guys”
26 SCOOT - s, coot
Posted in FT | 6 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on January 6th, 2009
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
Not that difficult a puzzle. Quite entertaining but nothing really special. This blog will nevertheless attract probably 20 or more responses whereas the superb Christmas puzzle (FT12,956) by Cinephile (aka Araucaria) with its jumbo plus an alphabetic soup of capital cities attracted a grand total of zero response. Ditto for FT 12,957 by Dante which required solvers to make up the 15×15 grid as well.
ACROSS
1 REDCOATS *(ted oscar)
5 ROOTED *(TE, first and last letters of troublesome + DOOR )
9 FLETCHER What a lovely clue for a maker of arrows and also Fletcher Christian who led the mutiny on the Bounty
10,21 ATOMIC ENERGY *(geometry I can)
11 SPECIMEN dd (calling someone a specimen is like calling him shit)
12 WEALTH *(the law)
14 MARY BARTON Ins of BART (Simpson) in *(Romany) the first novel by English author Elizabeth Gaskell, published in 1848, set in Manchester during the 1830s and 1840s and deals heavily with the difficulties faced by the Victorian lower class
18 SIDEWINDER Ins of WIND (flatulence) in SI (rev of is) DEER (rev of reed, grass)
22 OOLONG Cha of O (round) ditto LONG (yearn) I think the first “after” is unnecessary
23 PETER PAN Simple cha for a well-known book
24 INSTAL Cha of IN (home) S (middle letter of music) + TAL (first letters of then actually listen)
25 STRAINER Ins of R (recipe) in Stainer (Sir John Stainer (London, 1840 – Verona ,1901) was an English composer
26 NURSES dd nurse2 n a shark; a dogfish.
27 ERRANTRY Ins of R (first letter of reporter) RA (Royal Artillery or Gunners as in Arsenal) in ENTRY (lanes between houses)
DOWN
1 REFUSE dd
2 DIESEL Cha of Dies (passes on) el (elevated railway in the US
3 ORCHID Cha of OR (other ranks or soldiers) Chid (rebuked)
4,6 THE REMAINS OF THE DAY There (present) main (chief) + ins of OFT (frequently) HE’D (he would) in SAY (for example) The Remains of the Day (1989) is the third published novel by Japanese-British author Kazuo Ishiguro. It is one of the most highly-regarded post-war Britain novels. It won the Booker Prize in 1989 for Best Fiction, and was later adapted into an Academy-Award nominated film, staring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. The novel ranks in the Sunday Times list of 100 greatest novels. However, I have one small misgiving about this clue. Present is normally ‘here’ as the answer to a roll-call. If so, how do you explain the first ‘t’?
7 TEMPLATE Cha of temp (office worker) late (former)
8 DECKHAND too simple to warrant further explanation
13 TYPESETTER Cha of type (kind) setter (dog)
15 ESTONIAN Ins of S (first letter of state) in Etonian (college student)
16 IDOLISER I (middle letter of faint) + *(soldier)
17 SWAN LAKE S (first letter of Siegfried) Wan (pale) Lake (lake2
n a reddish pigment originally derived from lac)
19 NEVADA Ins of Evad (rev of Dave) in NA (North America)
20 SPINET Ins of Pine (wood) in ST (street)
Posted in Guardian | 34 Comments »
Posted by jetdoc on January 5th, 2009
I found this puzzle fun to do, once I got the hang of how it worked. In each across clue, the definition gives a word containing either ASS, PIG, EWE or CAT; the subsidiary part gives a non-word (in most cases) with a different one of the animals; before writing it in the grid, you need to change the animal yet again.
As always with Araucaria, some of the clues are not for the Ximenean purist — I particularly like ‘Tendulkar out’ to give SACH in 26a.
Unfortunately, both this and the November Genius have appeared rather bizarrely set in Courier, which is a bit offputting. It would be nice if they could be properly typeset.
| Across |
|
Defined answer |
Subsidiary part gives… |
Grid entry |
| 1 |
BREWERY (Supplier of drink) |
BRASSERY — BRASS = money; RY = (railway) line. |
BRPIGERY |
| 5 |
THE WEST (whence Young Lochinvar came out, in the poem by Sir Walter Scott) |
THCATST — THAT’S; around C = number; T = end of Scott |
THASSST |
| 9 |
UP I GO (I’m ascending) |
UASSO — hidden in ‘Mantua’s solar observatory’. |
UCATO |
| 10 |
DECATHLON (event) |
DEASSHLON — S = society; SH = call for silence; in DEAL = business; ON = continuing |
DEEWEHLON |
| 11 |
CHAMPIGNON (fungus) |
CHAMASSNON — HAMAS = Palestinians; SN = Poles (some might say the leading cap is invalid here); in CON = trick |
CHAMEWENON |
| 12 |
EWER (jug) |
PIGR — PI = Good; GR = King George |
CATR |
| 13 |
CATKIN (flowers) |
EWEKIN — E = English; Wrekin (a hill in Shropshire) minus R |
PIGKIN |
| 15 |
JEWELLED (stoned) |
JCATLLED — J = first of June; CALLED, about T = time |
JASSLLED |
| 18 |
GAS STOVE (cooker) |
GEWETOVE — GET OVE[r]; keeping WE = Guardian |
GCATTOVE |
| 19 |
SPIGOT (peg) |
SCATOT — SCOT = Jock; TA reversed |
SASSOT |
| 22 |
CATO (The Cato Street Conspiracy was an attempt to murder all the British cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in 1820) |
PIGO — serpigo (ringworm) minus ‘ser’ |
EWEO |
| 23 |
TRESPASSES (Offences) |
TRESPEWEES — SPEW = are sick; E = point; in TREES |
TRESPPIGES |
| 26 |
SASSENACH (Englishman) |
SPIGENACH — SACH = Tendulkar out (Sachin not ‘in’); PIGE[o]N = bird (no duck) |
SCATENACH |
| 27 |
CATER (Provide for) |
PIGER — John Pilger, minus L |
EWEER |
| 28 |
SEA BASS (Fish) |
SEA BEWE — SEWE[r] = drain, not river; outside ABE |
SEA BPIG |
| 29 |
PIGTAIL (One of hair or bit of hair) |
CATTAIL — Beater’s (‘cat’ in the sense of ‘cat-o’-nine-tails’) bit of hair, I think |
ASSTAIL |
|
| Down |
| 1 |
BLUECAP |
Blue and cap are both sporting awards. Bluecap is a one-year-old salmon, with blue-spotted head. |
| 2 |
PLAZA |
A Plaza is a public square. The Duke of Plaza-Toro is a character in The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan, and ‘toro’ is a call to a bull. |
| 3 |
GEODESIST |
GEO = short for George, so ‘small boy’; DESIST = stop. |
| 4 |
YODELER |
*(ery old) |
| 5 |
TEETOTAL |
TEE = starting point; TOT = drink; AL = a novice. Nice clue. |
| 6 |
AMEN |
A MEN |
| 7 |
SYLLABLES |
*(less); BALLY, reversed. |
| 8 |
TANCRED |
TAN = sunburn; CRED = respect (as in ‘street cred’). Tancred, Prince of Galilee, a leader of the First Crusade. |
| 14 |
GUATEMALA |
GALA = celebration; *(a mute). |
| 16 |
SHARPNESS |
A port on the River Severn in Gloucestershire. |
| 17 |
OVERHANG |
*(her); OVA = eggs; NG = no good. Double meaning of ‘beetle’. |
| 18 |
GUESSES |
GUS = another little boy; ESSE = being. |
| 20 |
TESTRIL |
TEST = River Test, in Hampshire; RIL = ‘rill’ incomplete. Old word for a sixpence (2½p). |
| 21 |
ASTHMA |
*(a maths) |
| 24 |
GRETA |
Both Greta and Peg are short forms of Margaret, but I don’t know where Tees fits in. Thanks to Andrew for pointing out the Greta is a tributary of the Tees. |
| 25 |
PEEP |
Double definition: ‘watch’ and ‘the birdie’s comment’. |
Posted in Guardian | 6 Comments »
Posted by Andrew on January 5th, 2009
My first day back at work after Christmas (boo!), and it’s back to traditional scheduling with a gentle Rufus puzzle. I’m unsure about my explanation of 19ac and unhappy about 26ac.
Key:
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
* = anagram
< = reverse
| Across |
| 1. INERTIA (IN IT ARE)* |
| 5. RELIEF LIE in REF - see also 22dn |
| 9. LARBOARD BOAR in LARD. Rufus likes his nautical terms. |
| 10. PAELLA PEA* + ALL< |
| 12. MINE DETECTOR cd |
| 15. PROFESSION dd |
| 17. ROC COR<. This mythical giant bird is best known to me from its appearance in the story of Sinbad the Sailor. |
| 19. HAT cd - if “investment” can mean “clothing”, otherwise I don’t get it. |
| 20. INTERESTED (RESENTED IF)* |
| 22. COMPACT DISCS COMPACT (=promise) + DISCUS (field event) less U |
| 26. EXEUNT cd - not sure I like this: exeunt is a stage direction literally meaning “they leave”, so the tense is wrong. |
| 27. OFFLOADS OFF LOADS |
| 28. KARATE RA (artist) in KATE = Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew (or Kiss Me, Kate). |
| 29. REALISE (LIES ARE)* |
| Down |
| 1. IDLE dd - the “turn over” part referring to idling engines. |
| 2. EURO RUE< O. I liked the way this misled me into expecting something like “mark” or “lira”. |
| 3. TWO-TIMER dd - “jailed more than once?” = “doing time twice”. |
| 4. AGREE Hidden |
| 6. ERASED ERAS ED |
| 7. ILLITERATE ILL ITERATE |
| 8. FRATRICIDE (TRIED IF CAR)* |
| 11. DECODE COD in DEE |
| 13. UP THE CREEK (HER CUE KEPT) |
| 14. BOTTOM GEAR dd - shorts are clothes for the bottom (sort of), and youi might use a car or bike’s bottom gear to climb a hill |
| 16. SANITY TIN< in SAY |
| 18. MEA CULPA (PAUL CAME)*. The Lartin phrase literally means “my fault”, and comes from the Roman Catholic confession. |
| 21. MAGNET dd. The Greyfriars stories of Frank Richards, featuring Billy Bunter among others, appeared in The Magnet.And a magnet is an “attractive bar” - almost a Rufus cd on its own. |
| 23. INFER IN (=”not out”) + REF<. The second time Judge=REF has been used in the puzzle. |
| 24. TAXI TA (Territorial Army) + XI (=eleven, as in a cricket or football team). |
| 25. ISLE I STOLE less TO |
Posted in Guardian | 34 Comments »