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Archive for November 7th, 2006

Guardian 23917/Taupi — Bad start for me!

Posted by Colin Blackburn on 7th November 2006

Colin Blackburn.

Solving time : 45 minute bus journey plus some looking up when I got to work.

I had hoped that a Tuesday Guardian puzzle would be a gentle start to my blogging, instead I got Taupi. The puzzle did introduce me to two new words, MULLEIN and BOMBARDON, and a new definition for a word that I knew as both a haircut and a fish but not a star, mullet.

Across
5 LAWLESS — anagram of AS WELL AS dropping an A. This threw me for a while as I took unruly to be the anagram indicator rather than the definition.
11 GESTATION — anagram of AN EGOTIST, the question mark here suggesting that either period is too loose a definition or that the whole clue serves as a definition, you decide.
18 BOMBARD+ON — straightforward clue but I didn’t know that this was a bass tuba.
23 MEAN+WHILE — WHILE here is clued as a homophone of WILE the soundness of which will depend on one’s aspirations.
28 MULL+EIN — again, simple worplay but it turns out the shepherd’s club is a common name for MULLEIN, the others listed in Chambers are: hag-tape, Adam’s flannel, and, Aaron’s rod.
Down
1 PS(rev)+ANGLE — one of my favourite words, clued nicely.
3 IND(one’s)IA — I’m sure the two country names have been combined in many clues before but this is the first time I’ve seen an example.
6 W(HIM+SIC)AL — LAW written upwards holding HIM+SIC. Taupi uses upholds to signify the reversal and the containment, meaning up holds, a typically non-Ximenian device to look out for from some Guardian setters.
8 SCREE+CH — As a fell runner I can vouch for the cry of the fallen when running down scree! In my mind this clue conjures up an image of the small chapel in Wasdale.
16 P+E(N)TAGRAM — excellent reversal of MARGATE, I did not know that mullet is a heraldic term for a five pointed star.
17 T(ITTI+V)ATE — IT reflected here gives ITTI. It’s always worth having a first guess at TATE when gallery is in the clue.

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Independent 6259/Virgilius - A fairly easy 4A.

Posted by neildubya on 7th November 2006

neildubya.

If you’re familiar with Virgilius (Brendan in the Guardian) you were probably expecting some sort of theme or grid wizardry when you saw today’s puzzle. Somewhat surprising then, to discover that today’s is actually a good old 1A 4A. Very entertaining though and in a 25A we’ve come to expect from this top-drawer setter.

Across
9 SURE, COOKER in PRESS - “cooker”=apple, “press”=a type of cupboard.
11 BARB - double definition. A “barb” is a type of horse.
13 I in CHARS - misleading surface reading.
16 OMELETTE - excellent cryptic def. I had O?E?E??? filled in so my first thought was “overeasy” although I wasn’t convinced, correctly as it turned out, that it was one word.
23 GREEN REVOLUTION - anag. I thought the (Al) Gore ref was a nice touch.
24 CUSTOMARY - anag of “Army scout”.
25 STYLE - another word for “stylus”.
 
Down
3 NOSY PARKER - anag of “prank yes or” and &lit.
4 L in CIRCE - Circe was the goddess who transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals using magical potions.
8 I’S, OBE in DYED - honour = “obe”
12 INS AND OUTS - double definition.
13 OP, LOG in CHIC - hyphenated in Chambers (the online version anyway) but not here. I’d never heard of this term, which means “over subtle or complicated arguments” but I got it from the wordplay.
15 ET CETERA - Neat. “Etc” is contained in “sketch”.
18 NO BODY - which is definitely a problem in a murder case but I don’t get the “Holloway recorder” ref - could someone enlighten me?
21 Tin+Ge - Ge is “germanium”. Can “trace elements” plural be fairly defined as “tinge” (singular)?
22 (p)INTO - a “pinto” is another type of horsey.

Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »