Independent 6329 / Math - pretty tough
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 29th January 2007
Solving time 10:00 + ??
Had most of this done in about 8 mins, but was stuck on 5 and 16 - I had an answer for 16 but as it seemed to be a cryptic def I was waiting for confirmation from 5 that there were no alternative solutions. Did reali-life stuff for a few hours, came back and got 5 immediately. How long it might have taken in one sitting is anyone’s guess. Quite a tough puzzle in vocab terms, though that wasn’t what held me up in the end.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 4 | BUCKYBALL - (luck by lab)* - which feels like it should possibly be 5-4, but the Concise Oxford disagrees. What I remember from a Horizon programme years ago is that Buckminster-Fullerene is a third form of carbon to go with graphite and diamond. It’s named after the architect Buckminster-Fuller, who was renowned for “geodesic structure” building designs. “Bucky ball” was mentioned as an informal name for the shape involved - 60 carbon atoms arranged roughly like the design of a football with a mixture of pentagonal and hexagonal panels. |
| 9 | S(P)EC(T.A.)TOR |
| 10 | WITH,Y - another name for osier (a willow shoot used for basket-making and the like, or the type of willow from which it comes) |
| 11 | UNSCRAMBLE - (L=50,cream buns)* |
| 12 | WILL(I AM) - nothing to do with Lester Piggott, sometimes called “the long fellow” as he was a bit taller than the average jockey |
| 16 | TURN-UPS - type of trousers, and trousers at “half-mast” have been partially “let down”. |
| 20 | EASTERN - (sea)*,tern |
| 21 | SAID - from Port Said, at N. end of Suez Canal. |
| 25 | A,LATE = having wings, from ala = wing (Lat.) |
| 26 | ARTIC,H(O.K.)E |
| 27 | DISAPPEAR = “diss a peer” |
| 28 | WASTE - sweat* - if you want to be picky, “product” seems to be doing double duty, but I doubt this would stop anyone solving the clue. |
| Down | |
| 1 | POSTULANT - (plant to us)* - a candidate seeking submission to a religious order - so “one who submits” is accurate if they’re going to be successful! |
| 2 | O(Ven.)S - Ven. = Venerable is the title used by an archdeacon. |
| 4 | BETIMES - Semite,B=”A follower”, all rev. |
| 5 | CIRCLET - Circle = O,T=T, so “OT” = “not completely OTT”. |
| 6 | YAW,L |
| 7 | A,T,TRIBUTE |
| 13 | BRAS,STACKS - not totally sure that the schoolboy joke bra=support still holds up when extended to the plural. |
| 15 | C(UPFINAL=painful*)S |
| 17 | SINCEREST - (ernest,sic) - ghalstly pun on sincere = earnest |
| 19 | GRENAD(a),E |
| 21 | SWARD = draws rev. - an old-fashioned term for an area of grass |
| 23 | CLOSE - three defs |
| 24 | KEEP = peek rev. |
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
