Posted by rightback on 4th May 2007
Solving time: 8:15
An easier puzzle than usual from Paul, with no 10ac that I could see.
Beginners’ tips: ‘criminal’ = FENCE, ‘fairy’ = PERI, ‘essay’ = TRY, ‘kiss’ = X.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across |
| 9 |
FENCE (= ‘criminal’) + POST |
| 10/4dn |
THE MESON + G - G is the gravitational constant and g is the acceleration due to gravity, but I’m not keen on ‘gravity’ = G. |
| 11 |
EVENING; rev. of (G + NINEVE[h]) |
| 13 |
TONAL (hidden) - ‘Entering X’ to mean ‘hidden in X’? |
| 14 |
C(LOUD + I)EST - ‘incest’ meaning ‘inside CEST’ succumbed quickly to my Guardian antenna. ‘Figure’ = I (as a Roman numeral, I suppse) is a bit dubious. |
| 16 |
MY LIPS ARE SEALED; (SIMPLY A)* + RE(SEAL)ED - I was very slow on this, probably my 5th last solve. |
| 19 |
SENIORITY; (I.E. + TONY + [blai]R + IS)* - for some strange reason I tried using SC (= scilicet = ‘that is’) in this anagram before IE. |
| 21 |
PERI + L |
| 22 |
[viet]NAM + I + B + IA (= rev. of ‘A1′) |
| 23 |
“COLLAR” + A |
| 25 |
LAN(G + OUST)E - a spiny lobster. Last time I saw this in a crossword it was clued similarly, but not knowing the word I made a hash of it (think I put ‘langcaste’). This time the checking letters made it fairly straightforward. |
| Down |
| 1 |
O + F + TEN + TIMES (= ‘XX’) |
| 2 |
IN FER(N)AL |
| 3/20 |
SERIAL NUMBER; B in (RULE REMAINS)* |
| 6 |
S(T + R)ADDLE |
| 8 |
SEXY; rev. of X in YES - racy. |
| 14 |
CHARITABLE; (R + I) in HAT, all in CABLE - my last, slow solve. I had previously tried ‘Panama’ = ‘canal’, with curious results. |
| 15 |
TIDAL WAVES; V in (LAID WASTE)* |
| 17 |
POOH BEAR; “POO BARE” - ‘Little-brained’ is a dead giveaway, but not for me, sadly. I look forward to seeing ‘diarrhoea’ = POO in the Times. |
| 18 |
L + ARGESSE (= (GREASES)*) |
| 21 |
P(HOBO)S - the larger moon of Mars. I laboured over this in a recent Times Jumbo, but was quicker on this occasion. |
| 23 |
C + ONE - ‘figure’ = ONE here; cf 14ac. |
Posted in Guardian | 2 Comments »
Posted by bensand on 4th May 2007
A satisfying and well-worked crossword although there are a couple I’m looking for further explanation on. Very unusually for me I spotted a nina in the unchecked letters on the middle column and middle row.
The middle row gives s i x x i s and the middle columns gives s e v e n s. The answers running alongside these middle rows and columns are the four six letter answers and the four seven letter answers. Maybe there’s more I haven’t worked out?
| Across |
| 1 |
NUMB - NU(M)B |
| 10 |
UNDER THE COUNTER - (THEN RUDE)* + COUNTER |
| 11 |
OBSESSIVE - (BOSSES)* + IVE |
| 12 |
EGAD - ? Not 100% on this. Has AGE <= for recalled period and D for Damn but I’m not sure really |
| 19 |
CURETTE - CUR(E) + (B)ETTE(R), took me a while to come up with this explanation but I’m happy with this one now |
|
| 20 |
GOBI - I BOG <= |
| 24 |
TAKE IT ON THE CHIN |
| 26 |
WELL - My = WELL as an exclamation, also WELL is a source |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
NEUROSES - NEU, I assume, is new in German + ROSES |
| 2 |
MIDAS - IM <= SAD<=, great defintion |
| 4 |
TICKETS - T(H)ICKETS, last one I got, not quite sure why now I look at it |
| 5 |
NOUVEAUX RICHES - (VAIN EXCUSE HOUR)* |
| 8 |
CROSS EXAMINING - CROSS + AXE <= + MINING |
| 9 |
RHEIMS - R(HE)IMS |
| 14 |
AIR POCKET - CD I’ve seen something very similar to this recently but I can’t remember where |
| 18 |
SET DOWN - Double definition |
| 19 |
CANUTE - C(AN)UTE |
| 22 |
OCHRE - An instant to solve (given letters), longer to explain. It’s CHORE with the O moved to the top |
| 23 |
OTTO - OTT + O, Otto gets around, he was 23D in the Guardian yesterday |
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 4th May 2007
Solving time: c. 80 mins
A fairly gentle puzzle this one - thematic clues just lead to phrases of words associated with the school subjects mentioned. Enumerations for these indicated which phrases had an AND that wasn’t included in the grid - or they did for those paying closer attention than me. Quite a lot of clues here were no more complicated than you’d expect in a daily paper puzzle, so I suspect some people ripped though this, and those who think Inquisitor puzzles have a duty to be easy should be happy with this one. I think I filled the grid without Chambers, though two rather careless answers needed correcting while writing this.
| Thematic |
| 4/47 |
Geography and History = THERE and THEN |
| 7/45 |
SEN and Behaviour Management = ODDS and SODS - SEN = Special Educational Needs, I think - possibly a tad un-PC. |
| 42/22 |
Food Technology and English Literature = COOKING THE BOOKS |
| 46/1 |
Drama and Music = STARS and BARS |
| 9/12 |
Business Studies and Sports = SALES PITCHES |
| 11 |
RE, Biology, Chemistry and Physics = OMNISCIENCE |
| 21/18 |
Numeracy = COUNTER/INTELLIGENCE |
|
| Across |
| 13 |
NO STRUM - fingerpicking must be playing the guitar as a melody instrument rather than strumming to make chords. |
| 15 |
MORNES - RN in some* - the blunt heads of jousting lances, says C |
| 24 |
BRAHMA from Johannes BrahmS. |
| 37 |
S,ENTRY = ’s = has |
| 41 |
TEE OFF - ‘this’ with “tee off” = ‘his’ |
| 43 |
PIE - part of an anna, which in turn is part of a rupee. |
| 44 |
NOSE = “knows” |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
BONEIDLE - didn’t quite get the wordplay here but have just cracked it. Clue: Old English good for nothing lied about being very lazy. IDLE for the back end is obvious enough. For BONE, you take OE = Old English and replace the O=nothing with BON=good. |
| 5 |
H(on)OUR |
| 19 |
LEAT(hers) - a leat is a race in the mill-race sense |
| 23 |
S,ONES - nice simple &lit. |
| 25 |
AN(A LOG)ON |
| 31 |
FATES - there were 3 fates, and it’s also (30=FESTA)* |
| 34 |
IRISH - rishi = poet, with the last I moved to the top. |
| 36 |
PESO = (J)osep(h) |
| 38 |
E-FIT = (t(h)ief)* |
Posted in Inquisitor | 3 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 4th May 2007
Solving time: 35’
More than one instance in which clear wordplay led to a new word (THALLI, SINICISM, CHOTA, OGIVES, ADENITIS) or a familiar word had me reverse engineering the wordplay (DIE HAPPY). In any event, I used research references more than I would have liked to – seemed like a fairly hard puzzle. The long anagram at 14A was my initial strategy for a way in, as the wordplay was obvious – but, since it was French (only realized later), I had to wait until I had some of the crossing letters.
Across
| 1 |
MALA(GAS)Y – It’s spoken in Madagascar and is a Malayo-Polynesian language that borrows from Bantu, Swahili, Arabic, French and English. |
| 3 |
QUIVER – I think this is just a (cryptic!) cryptic def for the “case” containing arrows that can fly. But I suspect I’m missing something to do with the second part: ”In that case, flights won’t be covered”. Offers? Michod notes that flight is a kind of arrow, which I missed — the cryptic def makes sense now! |
| 9 |
DI(EH,A)PPY – Only got the wordplay after seeing the answer: rev(a he= a male) in DIPPY. By the way, I’d DIE HAPPY if I won any points in today’s RTC (clocked in at 2:29—my best time I think). |
| 10 |
O(GIVE)S – Mathematical curves is the def and our map makers are OS for the Brit Ordinance Survey (again, wordplay ex post facto). |
| 12 |
S(P)EED – need to lift and separate “soft drug” since SPEED itself is hardly soft! |
| 14, 18 |
A LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS PERDU – Proust’s masterpiece never completely read by me, in either French or English, and many others: (Plutarch redeemed – purchase)*. |
| 23 |
C,HOT,A – neither C for “colt” nor A for “Academy” were obvious abbreviations to me: CHOTA is Hindi for “junior. Slightly strained surface as well. |
| 24 |
T(HALL)I – with T?A?L? I guessed at the answer given the wordplay to be rewarded with THALLI which are indeed “botanical bits”. |
| 25 |
SINICISM=”cynicism” – tough clue that I only got once I had ?I?I?I?M and guessed at the “sino” part and then looked it up. The homophone is accurate but defining “cynicism” as surliness is a bit loose. But maybe I’m being naïve. |
| 26 |
SASH,AY – AY is a useful archaism for “always”. |
| 27 |
FL(EET)ING – Saw the answer (def is “transient”) well before I understood the wordplay: rev(tee=peg) in FLING. Recall it’s OK (according to Xim) to capitalize a word that wouldn’t normally be (but not the converse). |
Down
| 2 |
LIEDER=”leader” – German songs and it’s nice that the homophonic indicator is apposite. |
| 3 |
GRAND SLA,M – (garland’s)*. GRAND SLAM as in getting all the tricks in Bridge (“clean sweep”). |
| 4 |
SUPERGRASSES – kind of a double cryptic def: i.e. both defs are cryptic: ”What may be spoilt by daisies and big rats?” |
| 6 |
URGE,S – take the first letter of SURGE (“well up”) and move it to the end. |
| 7 |
VI,V,A, VOCE – I had to look up Bill VOCE who was a fast bowler but the rest of the wordplay left no doubt as to the answer: VIVA VOCE as a kind of oral test. The use of “six” (VI) and “test” and “fast bowler” were cricketly consistent of course… |
| 11 |
G(LOCK)EN,SPIEL – GEN for “information” comes from intelliGENce. |
| 16 |
ADEN,IT,IS – haven’t checked but must be “inflammation” of the adenoids. I kind of liked “positive answer to question!” indicating IT IS (honest!). |
| 19 |
SOL,IDI – I read Robert Harris’s “Imperium” recently so recognized SOLIDI as Roman “coins”. SOL’s our sun and IDI Amin’s our “wicked ruler”. |
| 20 |
LAD-MAG – (mad gal)*: &lit for say Playboy etc. |
| 22 |
YAL=rev(lay=put),TA – cropped up in today’s Times2 RTC as it happens as well as “1945 conference site”. |
Posted in Guardian | 2 Comments »