Posted by bensand on 7th May 2007
I felt slightly short-changed by this puzzle but that’s probably just because of the grid! Hardly seemed worth going for the full 15×15 with only 3 white squares in the left and right columns and 4 in the top and bottom rows.
Having said that it still took me over my average amount of time so perhaps I should be glad that there wasn’t more of it to take distract me from family duties on a rainy bank holiday Monday.
| Across |
| 10 |
SUMACH - SU(MA)CH, new word for me |
| 11 |
BIRD WATCHERS - a cryptic definition, stonechats and whinchats rather than gossips |
| 13 |
RUBATO - I never know the musical terms but I’ve got used to looking out for them, producing something plausible and looking it up |
| 15 |
EFFETE - my penultimate answer (really the last answer but 4d could only be decided by getting 15a). E for Spain. Homophone for feet. I scratched my head a while about why feet were metric but it’s a reference to the metrical as in lines of poetry rather than litres, kilometres etc… |
| 19 |
ARCHITECTURE - (THRICE CURATE)* Wren is Sir Christopher rather than a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service or a bird |
|
| 23 |
PITH - PIT(C)H |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
INROAD - I (N)ROAD |
| 2 |
COGNAC - COG + CAN <= |
| 4 |
PROMISEE - Surface indicates a teetotaller but the solution is the receiver of a promise. I didn’t much like this and wasn’t sure whether it couldn’t also be promiser or promised without the final check |
| 5 |
PREMIERE - Cryptic definition, surface suggesting cricket but the run is a run of a play |
| 7 |
DOCK - (HAD)DOCK - nearly wrote in DACE for the fish as I was getting a little impatient with the north-east corner |
| 12 |
RETRENCH - hadn’t come across retrench as cut down on expenses before so this had to wait until I had the letters |
| 18 |
TAMSIN - M in (SATIN)* This made me laugh more than any other but this is because I was looking at my daughter while I thought about it |
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 7th May 2007
Solving time: 20’
The recent setters table on this site has had me wondering about the Ximenean vs. Libertarian classification – Rufus has been tagged as the latter. This puzzle has convinced me: e.g. 3D “Means hailstorms”. It’s also convinced me that a dash of Libertarianism is good for the sense of humor and playfulness. One of the nice things about Rufus is that, in spite of this, his surfaces rarely pay the price. Finally, a few, not too many, cryptic definitions and all quite reasonable.
Across
| 1 |
C,OUR,AGE – “bottle” is nerve or COURAGE in Britspeak. |
| 5 |
MA,I,DEN – similar type of charade as above: graduates invariably have a BA or MA. |
| 10 |
DOG,TAG - An American soldier has DOG-TAGs for identification – what’s the Brit version? |
| 12 |
PARTHIAN SHOT – cryptic def of a parting shot. |
| 15 |
DEPRESSION – I think this qualifies as a double definition &lit (recall the Great DEPRESSION of the 30s). |
| 26 |
EMPIRE – two meanings: there are several EMPIRE theatres, presumably the intent is the Leicester Square version? |
| 27 |
SURE-FIRE – two meanings: where SURE is “certain” in both – the reason this works is that they can be read as opposites. |
| 28 |
THE(IS)M – Equating THEISM with “religion” is arguably controversial but that’s more or less what Dawkins does in “The God Delusion”. |
| 29 |
PIL(LAG)E – good evocative surface. |
Down
| 1 |
CROP – my last clue: two v. different meanings – the first the verb and the second the noun for a kind of riding whip. |
| 2 |
UP TO – two different meanings: simple but elegant. |
| 3 |
AVE,RAGES – as I said above this means Rufus is in the Libertarian camp I guess. AVE is Latin for “hail” as in Ave Maria. |
| 4 |
ECLA=lace*,T – another piece of Libertarian evidence: T is indicated by “tabletop”. |
| 7 |
DUTCH UNCLE – two meanings: turns out that DUTCH UNCLE in fact is a harsh criticizer and UNCLE is a Brit term for “pawnbroker”. I’m more familiar with the idiom: “I’m a DUTCH UNCLE” which indicates disbelief. |
| 8 |
NIGHT,SHADE – as in deadly NIGHTSHADE (I think last seen in Romeo and Juliet?) |
| 11 |
VIGOUR – remove “end” from “devouring” and anagram: a Ximenean would require the letters of “end” to be contiguous or at least in the same order within the fodder for this to work. |
| 13 |
IDLE THREAT – double/cryptic def (the first being cryptic: “Possibility of redundancy”). |
| 14 |
APOSTROPHE – quite a clever &lit: “it” is the answer and “it’s” losing an APOSTROPHE becomes “its” and… oh, I’m sure you get it. |
| 16 |
STE=set*,PPE – PPE is an Oxbridge course and “plain” is clearly STEPPE here. |
| 18 |
EGGSHELL – another double/cryptic def: I kind of like “food container” indicating EGGSHELL. |
| 21 |
S(TORE)S – this clue doesn’t ring true to me: “Supplies rushed on board” since “on” is being used as an insertion indicator, which it isn’t. |
| 24 |
PISA – had SITE here initially but it’s simply a cryptic def for the Leaning Tower thereof. |
Posted in Guardian | 16 Comments »