Posted by linxit on 21st May 2007
Solving time: about 7 mins.
This was another very easy Monday crossword from Rufus. I liked some of the CDs but had issues with a couple of them (as usual). Still, made a nice change from all the weekend barred crosswords I was doing yesterday!
CD=cryptic definition.
Across
1 GA(RRE=err rev)T
5 HECKLERS - first CD, and not a great one in my opinion. It reminded me of the sort of clues you used to get in cryptics from about 60 years ago.
11 GET THE WIND UP - double definition, but the 2nd requires “wind-up” to be a noun meaning “winding-up order”, which isn’t supported in my dictionary.
14 HARD LINE(s)
18 TIRE - as the Americans spell “tyre”.
20 CLOTHESLINES - I liked this CD, but shouldn’t it be hyphenated?
25 DI(ABET)ES - took too long to get this. I saw help and disease and instantly thought AIDS.
Down
3 RAIN GAUGE - first one I put in. Not enough misdirection for a CD - I thought rain before I thought pets.
5 HIT THE HEAD,LINES - one of my favourite clues in the puzzle because of the good surface reading.
6 CAR,EWORN=owner*
7 LOGAN - a logan is a rocking stone. Shame there was nobody of that name in the Rolling Stones!
12 CANNELLONI - NE inside (local inn)* - another good surface.
16 LIFEBELT - CD, but again I thought safety equipment before SOS message.
21 THUMB - another CD, but I really liked this one. Requires a bit of lateral thinking, which some of the others don’t.
Posted in Guardian | 4 Comments »
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 21st May 2007
A fairly straightforward puzzle with generally good word play and some nice surface readings. I made a couple of silly errors in writing in answers which held me up on the last two which crossed with those errors. There were also a few puzzling clues which I hope commentators might help explain.
| Across |
| 1 |
FLATFISH — FT< in (IS HALF)* — good surface using sole well. |
| 5 |
AMPERE — P in A MERE — I stupidly wrote in AMPAGE here despite following the wordplay. This held me up with 7dn. |
| 10 |
INKPOT — (s)INK POT? — I think this is right, being a snooker reference, but is Mordred implying the “to pocket a ball” = “sink pot”? I’m not sure a POT is a ball unless it is a sunk one, if you see what I mean. If it can be used to mean a ball then shouldn’t it be “sink a pot”? |
| 12 |
HALLOWEEN — (ELENA HOWL)* — this is either a partial &lit or an augmented definition depending on the reader. |
| 13 |
BLAIR — B+LAIR — I havn’t checked here whether LAIR is a Scottish word for mire or whether the setter is refering to Blair’s Scottish roots. |
| 21 |
TRUCE — E+CURT < |
| 24 |
READER — RE for V in VADER — Darth Vader is the screen villain. |
| 26 |
CREATE — RE in CATE — Cate Blanchett is an actress. |
| 27 |
KEYSTONE — double def? — I’m not certain about my reading of this. The Isle of Man parliament is the Tynwald part of which is the House of Keys. I’m not certain how that bit leads to KEYSTONE since it is Keys not Key. |
|
| Down |
| 2 |
ALLELE — ((k)ELL(y))* in ALE — very good hiding of “gene”. |
| 6 |
MONT BLANC — (spli)T in MON BLANC — a little bit of rudimentary French needed here. |
| 7 |
EMPHASIS — E + MPH + AS IS — e is a number base, mph is a rate, both combine to give a good surface reading. |
| 11 |
INDEPENDENCE — cryptic def. — I thought this clue very weak. |
| 15 |
OVEREXERT — OVER + E + (T REX)< — T Rex was a 70s band fronted by Marc Bolan. |
| 19 |
GAUCHO — “ouch” in GO — I’m not sure that the definition works here. |
|
Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »