Posted by bensand on 23rd May 2007
A quickish and crossword and a quickish blog as I have to get back to finish some work! Not absolutely sure about 15 across so if anyone’s got a better answer or explanation then be my guest!
| Across |
| 5 |
CONFAB - CON + FAB |
| 13 |
SINGLE FILE - File of old records = singles (don’t singles still exist?) |
| 15 |
POSTURERS - Not sure about this. It would be POSTERS for pin-ups around UR for word of hesitation and POSTURERS as how pin-ups may be viewed? |
| 17 |
OXEYE - OX + EYE (sounds like I) |
| 20 |
TELESCOPE - (PETE COLES)* |
| 22 |
SILHOUETTE - Cryptic definition |
|
| 27 |
TRIODES - (I STORED)* A new word for me but as diode is perfectly familiar there was no need to hesitate |
| 29 |
SATIRE - SAT(URDAY) IRE |
| 30 |
VEHEMENT - VE(HE-MEN)T |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
NEWNESS - needs another W to give 2 of each of north, south, east and west |
| 6 |
ON THE HOUSE - roof slates usually are… |
| 8 |
BELVEDERE - (BE REVE{A}LED)* |
| 15 |
PARASITES - (EAST PARIS)* |
| 16 |
SOLITAIRE - I’m not familiar with Andy Williams work but a few letters made it inevitable |
| 19 |
PALMIST - CD |
| 25 |
BREST - B + REST |
| 26 |
RITE - R(IT)E, nice &lit |
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 23rd May 2007
Solving time: 25’
Some very slick wordplay here – in many cases I had to think hard and laterally to identify the setter’s devices. In others, I’m still wondering. A few middle-aged complaints surfaced as well – at it were (FLATULENCE, PHLEGM, PROSTATE GLAND as well as ANGST!).
Across
| 1 |
B(LESS)ED – slick: wordplay in the answer: i.e. LESS in BED is “up and about more”! |
| 5 |
MAC,DUFF=”McDuff” – Macbeth called to him to “lay on” and “Mc’ifying” is a way to belittle via association with McDonald’s (e.g. McJob). As I said, slick! |
| 10 |
O(NY)X – A late clue for me: it seemed quite opaque until I realized that “neat” is our cryptic OX. |
| 11 |
PERMA,FROST – well, it’s “everlasting cool” I suppose. And David FROST is (was?) a TV celebrity. Offers for PERMA in the wordplay? |
| 12 |
PUSHTU – (“Shut up”)*: one of the spellings of the PUSHTU language spoken in Afghanistan. “as” is the rather mild anagrind. |
| 16 |
A[r]GUED – I’m guessing that AGUED is the past participle of AGUE, as in “he was agued” analogous to “he was fevered”. Note how “outright” indicates R removal. Not going to step into any Ximenean minefields here… |
| 17 |
A[mo]NGST – another slick subtraction clue: MO’s our “doctor”. |
| 19 |
AEROD,ROME – (E, road)*. It’s where Brit planes land and take off. And all roads lead to ROME. Another slick clue. |
| 23 |
D(OVET)AIL – it’s a “joint” and vote* in DAIL (which I think is an Irish political assembly). |
| 24 |
PH,LEG,M – with P???G? it’s clear that PHLEGM is what we cough up. I don’t see the wordplay though: LEG for support? M for many? IanW notes it’s PH for Public House=”local”, so my instincts were right as far as they went! |
| 26 |
FLATULENCE – (t, clean flue)* — out of curiosity: is “perhaps” the anagrind here or “about” or both? |
| 27 |
RUN,T – more slickness: wordplay describes the clue: i.e. trains seldom RUN on T[ime]. |
| 29 |
[f]ESTIVAL – it means the “summer” season – at first I wasn’t sure what the USA allusion indicated. It’s just the Brit aestival vs. US estival spelling thing. |
Down
| 2 |
LANGU(O)R – the definition I suppose is “pining” though I thought that LANGUOUR meant comfortable laziness. Other meanings? (LANGUR is a type of monkey). |
| 3 |
SIXTH – this is the only clue that troubles me: “Top form”. OK, in Brit grammar schools it’s indeed the top (last) form. So is this just a straight definition masquerading as a double definition? |
| 6 |
AWA=”away”,KEN – AWA must be a “Scots cry to dismiss” (i.e. away!) and KEN Livingstone is the Mayor of London. |
| 7 |
DER,RINGER – almost the same clue in Sunday’s Everyman (it’s an American revolver). And DER is German “the”. |
| 8 |
FISSURE=”Fisher”/”Fischer” – must have been an archbishop thus named. |
| 9 |
PROSTAT,E[n]GLAND – (at sport)* and another removal: this time “nameless” means N removal. |
| 15 |
GAS H,EATER - it “warms” but don’t see the wordplay? “It warms one, getting extra lunch”. Paul notes that GASH also means “extra”, I can’t find a reference for this, but I’ll take it on faith! |
| 20 |
ORPHEUS – (shore up)* — ref. ORPHEUS and Eurydice with whom he was reunited “underground”. Slick as well. |
| 21 |
M(AGENT)A – note how “X Y taken in” indicates “Y in X”. Ref. Battle of MAGENTA. |
| 25 |
LURGI – hidden in “metalLURGIst”. Had no idea what this meant but with L?R?? I looked for something hidden. It’s a fictitious infection used by Brit schoolchildren (?). Also, note how “occupational” also serves to indicate containment. |
Posted in Guardian | 8 Comments »