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Archive for January 15th, 2007

Independent 6317 / A warm welcome to Bannsider

Posted by tilsit on 15th January 2007

tilsit.

Solving time: 43 minutes 

 I rushed to the paper this morning to see who would be the author of today’s challenge and was surprised to spy a new name Bannsider.  First thought is to the identity of our new tormentor and I wonder if it could be a Listener setter and genius solver.  I then start to look at the puzzle and all notions of a gentle Monday stroll are quickly evaporated.

This was a fine example of a contemporary puzzle with some excellent clues.  Once again the Indy Crossword Editor is to be commended for finding another talent.  Witty (and risqué!) clues mixed with some contemporary references.  More please!

ACROSS

1  FEVERFEW -  Heat = FEVER - in short supply - FEW

6  ABBA -  Only grumble with the puzzle from a pedantic point of view.  Are Abba Swedish or Swedes?

9  CINDERELLA -  Nice cryptic rewrite of the fairytale.

10  REID -  A cracking clue that would probably win first prize in an Azed contest.  Lovely & Lit.  Minister = (John) REID concerned with passports, etc.  RE - I.D.  Of course this may be quickly out of date, given his present embarrassments!

11 TRUE  - Alternative letters in To Re UsE

12  TROPHY WIFE  Another nice definition  - anagram of  HYPER-FIT WOMAN minus  MAN

13  PARAFFIN -  Pop = PA  fliers = RAF + IN with F inside.

15 THE FLY -  One of the two clues to hold me up though I could see the answer.  Eventually parse it as HE in T + FLY (as in to shoot off) 

16  MONROE  Nice to see eggs not equalling OVA, but ROE for a change.  Sun’s successor =  MON followed by TUE (Groan!)

20 MAILED FIST - as in “Velvet glove in…”  Another where I saw the soloution but had trouble parsing,  MAILED = post.  Never heard of DUKE = fist, but confirmed by Ms Bradford’s red opus.  Simon Straphanger might have had trouble with that one.

21  PELE  -  Laugh out loud clue!  Slash = PEE  with L inside.

22  ROAN -  Archbishop = ROWAN (Williams) minus W.  Would predecessors have been know by first names George, Robert, etc.  Think I am being picky.

23  READING AGE  -  READ + IN + GAGE (plum)

24 ENS - Where have I seen this before? Saturday he replied!

25 PLUS  First one I entered and for a while was wrong.  Entered TICK, but of course things proved me wrong!

26  HISSY FIT  -  The first recorded sight of this in a puzzle?  Unless of course you know better!  Nice anagram.

DOWN

3  EDDIE -  Mr E Edwards - a former British sportsman - Discuss.

4  FIRST OFFENDERS -  Clever double definition  FIRST OF FENDERS =  Lead Guitars

5 WALLOON -   New top for swell - Change the first letter of BALLOON to get a famous Belgian.

6  ARROWHEAD  -  Anagram of HARDWARE plus O = Disc.

7  BRIMFUL -   Definition =  BRIMFUL  -  Anagram of FIRM inside BUL(K)  “cut down weight”. 

8  BASH STREET KIDS - One for the memory bank - from the Beano - Party =  Bash / Kids = Jokes   Street -  Way

14  AIRPLANES  -  Craft = Airplanes / Anagram of PANESAR plus I

18  SPINACH - SPIN doctors + reduced pain ACH(E)

19  ALLEGRI -  ALL + E +  GRI (George Rex I)

21  PEGGY  -  Another that held me up -   PeoplE  GoinG - on vacation  (i.e. empty in the middle) + Y.

 A most impressive debut, now please ensure that the follow up is as good!

Posted in Independent | 13 Comments »

Guardian 23974/Rufus – unfaulty

Posted by ilancaron on 15th January 2007

ilancaron.

I did the Times2 Concise today which is why “unfaulty” is on my mind. As per usual, I find Rufus’s style to be clean, with good surfaces and not very complicated wordplay. I tend to enjoy his puns which can be rather more subtle than might appear at first blush (e.g. 1A).

Across

1 FLATTER – double meaning. Nicely misleading surface: “Not so high praise” which almost qualifies as an &lit.
5 CASCADE – another double meaning with a clever misleading surface. We all know that a cryptic “flower” isn’t a flower but somehow “flower sprays” had me thinking about bouquets until I managed to come to my senses.
11 BLOODY MARY – jokey cryptic definition of the drink (by contrast to vodka) and BLOODY for “Red” followed by Army*.
12 P(A,GOD)A – PA is “Pennsylvania” – it’s good to know your two-letter US State abbrevs (see if you can remember all the M’s).
14 GE,TS READY – rev(E.G.) followed by (rest day)*. The surface isn’t very convincing though.
16 LIBYA – (by ali)*: &lit? Not quite: all of N. Africa was transformed by Mohammed, not Ali, in the 7th century.
17, 7 IDEAL COMPANION – cryptic definition of “best of friends”. Anything else going on?
23 TRUSTEES – cryptic definition (you’re supposed to think tender nurses).
27 IRIS – double meaning &lit: a type of flower (not a river!) that is also called a flag that comes in many colours (e.g. yellow, blue). Also the IRIS in your eye comes in many colours.
28 HECKLER – clever cryptic definition: to barrack is Commonwealth for HECKLE: it shifts nicely from noun to verb.
29 ADMIRER – married* — an anagram that I’ve never noticed. Nice surface.

Down

6 AUDITS – cryptic definition for what the tax auditor does to your “books”.
8 DORO,THY– door* followed by archaic “your” (“your old”). Definition is just the name of a “lady”.
9 COURT DISASTER – double definition with one meaning being cryptic: “ruinous to the litigant”.
15 SLAP,STICK – my last clue solved: I think I was put off by the capitalized “Ludicrous” in the online edition. Anyway, nice meaning shifts of “Staff” and “strike”.
21 EDIFICE – I suppose you could call this a surround clue (complements a hidden clue): “EDItor’s ofFICE”.
22 H(EARS)E – I think the definition could have alluded somehow to a HEARSE being “a kind of transport” with a specific purpose.
25 ALIBI – cryptic definition: “it wasn’t me, because I wasn’t there”.

Posted in Guardian | 4 Comments »