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Archive for December 12th, 2006

Independent 6289 by Virgilius - Poets aplenty!

Posted by nmsindy on 12th December 2006

nmsindy.

Giving away no secrets with that.     “Poet” appears as full or partial definition in twelve clues,  and another two as part of wordplay. 

Impressed that, despite these constraints, (a) the other words in the puzzle were normal everyday cryptic material, (b) for one who does not spend the winter nights reading the great poets, I’d heard of nine of the twelve and was able to work the others out, with one exception, directly from the wordplay.

Solving time:   18 mins 

* = anagram

ACROSS

8  BLUNDEN   n = new for r (end) in blunder (big mistake)

9  NEWBOLT   Paused on this one, before realising “changed” is an adjective, not a verb which was my first thought.    Changed lock = new bolt

11 REGAN   (Ronald) Reagan less the “first” a.   (cf SKELTON below)     King Lear’s daughter in Shakespeare play of that name.    Familiar to solvers.

17 INMATE   A chess game ends “in (check)mate”.     “Say” included here as there are inmates other than prisoners who is just one example of an inmate.     Rigour as expected from Virgilius.

22 GARGANTUA     r = runs (cricket) in gaga (crazy) + (aunt)*  “possibly” indicates the anagram.    Originally from the eponymous work by Rabelais, but has gone into English in its own right.

23 BLOOM   L in BOOM  (sudden growth).    Lovely image - my favourite clue.

24  SKELTON   Skeleton (outline) “lacking energy(e) in one place” Take away one of the es

25  A PRIORI   From first principles (from Latin)   A PRIOR (Poet no 13) + I = one (must follow).

DOWN

1  ROBERT BRIDGES   R (king) + T (a short time) + BRIDGE (game) in ROBES (formal clothes)

5  IGNITE   first letters off (b)IG (o)N (s)ITE

7  NEONATE   Newly- born i.e delivered.   NEON(gas) + ATE (consumed)  

10  THOMAS CAMPION    (Dylan) THOMAS (Welsh poet) (Poet No 14)+ CAMPION (flower)

14  EXTRACTOR   Definition = one takes out.   EX (former) TRACTOR (farm equipment).

18 MARVEL (genius) + L (extra line i.e. another l beyond the one that’s there)

20 RIO (de Janeiro - place in South America) TO US (part of N America)

21 AT ONE (in agreement) + D (Daughter)  

Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »

Guardian 23947/Gordius – lots of wordplay

Posted by ilancaron on 12th December 2006

ilancaron.

Quite a bit of complex wordplay in this puzzle. A couple of obscure allusions but nonetheless accessible.

Across

1 COM(PUT)E – A tour de force pushing the cryptic envelope: here’s the clue: “Number turn up with Putin” (7). The definition is a bit shaky: “number” as in count which is close to COMPUTE but not the same, “turn” hints at reversal, “Putin” hints at well… polonium but no… you take a word that (sort of) means “turn up”, COME and “in” it you put “Put”. Ah… Ximenes must be twitching just a bit. For the record, I’m not complaining – I like these kinds of clues – they are imaginative.
5 DELI+US – Not my favourite composer – well he might be, but hadn’t heard of Delius but wordplay was straightforward.
10 M+ILLER – Nice clue referring to the playwright Arthur Miller.
12 FACE THE MUSIC – “dial” is FACE (of a watch e.g.), “tones” are THE MUSIC.
15 SCHOLASTIC – (last choic[e]’s)*. A pedant would ask whether SCHOLASTIC means “pedant” or “for a pedant”?
17 RUN(g) – Nice subtraction clue: a component of a ladder, which can be a run in your tights, is a rung.
19 ONE – I think this is just a double definition: one refers to oneself as ONE when one is royal one supposes.
20 WASHINGTON – Rare triple definition: “here” (literally is in fact Seattle, WASHINGTON), the first prez and (saw nothing)*.
22 RICHTER SCALE – I haven’t heard of either the pianist Sviatoslav Richter nor the organist Ferdinand Richter , they both seem to qualify.
26 CRADLE – double definition but what’s the “world ruler” part?
27 CONTRACT – double meaning: nice misleading surface hinting at a row with your therapist.
19 ESCHEAT – (the case)* — ESCHEAT is a new word for me with easy wordplay (given crossing letters and obvious anagram indicator: “collapses”).

Down

1 CAMP – double definition
2 MON+A=”moaner” – the clue is: “She voices a chronic complaint” – but I don’t see how to get the “a” behind the “chronic complaint” for moan though.
3 (d)UNSTABLE – Subtraction clue that’s pretty easy given the definition of “likely to collapse”.
7 I(L+LUST)RATE – L for student is a v. common abbrev.
8 ST(o)RY+CH+NINE – nice clue since 9 is literally NINE and not clue number 9. The only thing I wonder about is the instruction “after church, 9 take…” when really you’d prefer “after church, take 9…”.
13 AS+CO+T RACES – standard abbrev(“company”)=CO.
16 STARRY – slightly cryptic definition derived from STARRY-eyed.
18 ANAL+YTIC – definition is “resolving into first principles”. Wordplay is rev(Lana=”Turner”)=ANAL+rev(city=”E.C.”=postcode for City of London)=YTIC, with “set up” indicating reversal.
21 STOLEN – (L+notes)*: L for “pound” is an acceptable substitution for anagram fodder purposes.
23 C+LOVE – the knot referred to is the CLOVE hitch. I suppose you could argue that there is no complete direct definition in the clue.
24 FAR+E – Last clue for me: deceptively difficult: “Laos” is in the FAR E(ast) of course.

Posted in Guardian | 6 Comments »