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Archive for January 1st, 2007

Independent 6305 by Eimi - unusual, distinctive setting style

Posted by nmsindy on 1st January 2007

nmsindy.

Very unusual puzzle, with some (for me) original treatments.

Solving time: 31 mins

* = anagram

ACROSS

1 CONVENIENCE Double definition (or punning definition) - just 7 letters to clue an 11-letter word! Good moment when I found it near the end. WC Handy(1873-1958), US musician and composer, is known as “father of the blues”. Would have thought of convenient (adj) as more equivalent to handy than “convenience”. But the ? covers that, I think.

7 PAM (MAP) (reversed) i.e. from east to west as it’s an across clue.

11 ETHER Number = something that numbs

13 I LOVE PARIS Referring to (Cole) Porter who wrote that song (1953) and to celebrity PARIS Hilton, I think.

16 EZ RA (outer letters) The controversial writer EZRA Pound (1885-1972).

23 ALEXANDR(I)A Good surface - took me a while to get it. The port is a very old one (in Egypt).

24 HAIKU Of which the clue is an example - three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. Good stuff.

25 DIS = Pluto (The underworld - a crossword staple). His creator left half finished - the cartoon character Pluto created by (Walt) DISney

26 S(MATTER)INGS An excellent clue. Definition is “Not much”. Peaches = informs = sings substance = matter.

DOWN

1 (HIT RECORD NEW A-HA)* CATHERINE HOWARD The fifth of the six wives of you know who. Was not misdirected by the context of the clue but I did need quite a few crossing letters to work it out.

2 NEIGHBOUR(LINES)S Australian soap opera . lines = dialogue.

5 NISEI Seen often in advanced crosswords as a useful word ending in I but not so often in the daily cryptic. It’s hidden (reversed i.e. promoted as it’s a down clue) in SecuritIES INdustry. Who are they? US or Canadian children of Japanese immigrants.

6 E (Start to evacuate) + FF (following) + LUX (illumination)

18 (PAN) = (NAP) (short sleep) “over” on THE (article) + fuRry (furry centre). I think there could be debates long into the night as to whether it should be furry’s centre or some such. But this would do irreparable harm to the surface, I guess.

19 FLOATS Double definition and nice misdirection as you could expect an anagram from the wording, but the first definition made it easy enough for me. Sums of money used for change at start of trading is the second one.

21 MEDIA Another hidden reversal “sent up”. Another excellent (and amusing) surface.

Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »

Guardian 23962/Rufus - Racy motley crew of clues

Posted by ilancaron on 1st January 2007

ilancaron.

The things you learn: my basic knowledge of cricket and opera has increased significantly since I started doing cryptics regularly. A nice selection of Rufusian puns and cryptic definitions.

You’d think there’d be a reference to the new year… I can’t find it unless it’s BRAND-NEW at 9A.

Across

5 OBSTACLE – hurdles are a kind of OBSTACLE in a race.
9 BRAND-N+E+W – “three quarters” of the compass can produce N, E and W. Not sure why “finished” is required unless it (redundantly) indicates that the “three quarters” finish the phrase.
13 STAR – a fine anag &lit: arts* with “performing” as the anagrind and the whole thing is a great def of a STAR: “Big name in the performing arts”.
17 ONCE MORE – I think “…but for the last time” refers to the answer we often give as parents.
18 SHED – double meaning: “slough” is a lovely versatile word isn’t it?
23 VIGO+[ho]UR – One of the unintended side-effects of following European soccer (OK, football) is getting to know various secondary towns – in this case VIGO in Spain.
24 LATITUDE – double meaning: the 2nd def is somewhat cryptic: “a matter of degree”.
25 ANCESTRY – (tyres can)*. Second appearance of “race” in this puzzle – the cute trick is that in 5A and this clue, “race” has opposite cryptic and direct meanings.

Down

2 OG(R)E – rev(ego=”I”) contains R[ex] for “king”.
3 BONAPARTE – (one tap bar)* — I knew someone in high-school named BONAPARTE who claimed too that he was v. distantly related.
4 DON+A+TE – DON is a familiar TLB (three-letter boy). At first I was a bit mystified by the wordplay since (d, a note)* is also DONATE.
5 ON WITH THE MOTLEY – (Timothy, Helen, two)*. Turns out to be an aria from Pagliacci made famous by Caruso a century ago singing Vesti la guibba. Relatively easy to work out with crossing letters if you don’t know it (as I didn’t) given the common small words (ON, WITH, THE) and the fact that it’s an obvious anagram (proper names are dead giveaways).
6 SPOT CASH – nice charade: “place” and “money” for paying on the spot. Which I’m guessing is what bookies have to do when they pay out – not that I’ve ever bet on anything. Well, I did bet that Gore would win the 2000 election. But we know what happened to that one.
8 LEG SPINNER – For Rufus, a somewhat weak surface (dare I say “Araucarian”?). LEG is the “on” side in cricket and, again in cricket, a LEG SPINNER bowler “spins” the ball (anticlockwise or clockwise – probably depending on whether he’s south or north of the equator).
12 STENTORIAN – (A tenor isn’t)* — an intentional reference to Caruso’s rendition of 5D?
15 LAST RITES – cryptic def for a cobbler’s (he of lasting fame) funeral service.
16 HOLY=”wholly” WRIT – homophone for an archaic term for the “The Scriptures”.
22 ID+ES[t] – Remember the IDES of March? And “that is” was “id est” in Roman times.

Posted in Guardian | 4 Comments »