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Archive for May 31st, 2007

Independent on Sunday 902 by Quixote

Posted by nmsindy on 31st May 2007

nmsindy.

The usual excellent fare.

Solving time: 13 mins

* = anagram

ACROSS

1 SEAMSTRESS Cryptic definition

6 SCAM(p)

14 SWIMMING POOL Which in crossword language could mean - make an anagram of it getting polo.

18 HORSEMANSHIP (Shah I’m person)* Arabs are a type of horse.

21 C A CHE (Guevara) from the 1960s. Have not seen him so much recently in puzzles.

22 WINDSCALE In Cumbria Storm and Gale appear in the Beaufort Scale (wind strength)

24 STRETTI (titters)*

26 TO-DO Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett play

27 BELLY DANCE (Call by Eden)*

DOWN

1 SPEC IE (that is)

3 SAM BROWNE BELT (meant wobblers)* Part of military uniform, invented by Sam B

4 RU CH E CH = Switzerland (IVR) Rue = street in French

7 CO NATION New word for me, so good that Quixote gave friendly wordplay.

8 MO (DE) STLY

16 T (HICK) SET Cricket context Graeme Hick tset for test - change in middle order, which also means the batsmen in the middle of the batting order.

17 PRO(CURE)D

19 G A WAIN From King Arthur’s knights

20 FELLOE “fellow” Part of wheel.

22 (o)NE PAL

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Independent 6434 by Phi - Absolutely Not!

Posted by nmsindy on 31st May 2007

nmsindy.

The usual top quality puzzle from Phi, with all clear in the end. Held up a little by two musical clues (9 ac, 4 dn) crossing, but got there in the end. In line with recent Indy trends, there is a theme. I refer to it after the clue explanations.

Solving time: 20 mins

* = anagram

ACROSS

9 OOMP(A)H Oomph = much effort, vitality

10 SAG O

11 MA GNIFICAT (facing it)* Song of Mary, based on New Testament.

12 C (ENS) OR Very good with misleading join at “Banner/headline Last letters of “headline in Times” in Cor. Good to see the papers acknowledging each other’s existence.

15 CHAIN REACTION A very good cryptic definition.

23 Jacques TATI Known for Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday and more. Hidden in naTATIon (6 down), but I guessed it before getting to 6 down and pencilled it in.

24 UNTIED Tricky and the last I entered. The whole clue has to be read as the definition i.e. it’s the opposite of joined. Cryptically it means joined = united. It’s taken the opposite way - it becomes ti and you get untied.

25 TATTOO E (end of IndependencE) D (Day)

DOWN

1 (o)NE W AGE

4 HOL(I)ST Gustav Holst (1874-1934) best known for the Planets - I was looking for is to go in at first, with a four letter composer.

5 IMPI(ous) Warriors seen in Zulu country and frequent visitors to crossword grids. 4/7 = more than half

6 NA(TA)TION Formal word for swimming - used in clue for 23 ac.

14 EMI G RATION allocation shows it’s ration not rating

15 CRA(SHIN)G

18 E (S) CUD O O (old) DUCE (European leader - the title assumed by Italian dictator Mussolini) around S = second. All reversed. Portuguese currency replaced by the euro in 2002.

20 NUT MEG Again all reversed gem tun

22 ENID Dine(d) - another reversal

Theme: Top and bottom rows spell NOTHIN/G DOING

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Guardian 24091/Paul – one’s or your?

Posted by ilancaron on 31st May 2007

ilancaron.

Solving time: 35’

Lots of wondrous wordplay to admire here – and some to wonder about. Sometimes numbers in clues really are numbers – and not other clues. The editing isn’t The Guardian’s best to say the least. I won’t bother pointing out the mistakes.

Across

5 BUS STOP – rev(pots=pockets, sub=reserve). “Pockets” as in snooker and a cryptic def for where one finds lots of “waiters”.
9 TIMES – rev(Semit[e]). See also 19A.
11 N,EARTH,IN,G – it was a NEAR THING but I managed to restrain myself from looking up the capital of Greenland.
15 A,FORE,SAID – it’s how you pronounce the number 4! So wordplay in the answer. Like some of you I’m sure, I spent a bit of time wondering how to involve 4D (KNOW-IT-ALL).
18 MAN,DRILLS – just so we don’t forget who we’re descended from.
19 TORAH – rev(har[l]ot). A touch of indirection: “Student dismissed” indicates “L removal”.
21 ULTRA –alternate letters of “oUtLeT gReAt”.
25 HANDLE=”Handel”,BAR –great wordplay (with a somewhat forced surface). “Some music”=BAR and ref. Eddy (or his son Axel) Merckx, the Belgian Tour de France cyclist (I used to ride a lot so I know a lot more cycling trivia than cricket).
26 GHANA – hidden in “thouGH A NAvy”. Another clever clue: it’s a “land” and it’s “locked” inside the fodder. Unfortunately GHANA isn’t itself landlocked which would have been nice.
27 SPA(N[o]NE)R – Brit wrench.

Down

1 PUT ONE’S MONEY WHERE ONE’S MOUTH IS – I got this quite quickly once I had M?N?? for the 3rd word. Double/cryptic def (ref. bread as slang for MONEY). The perennial issue I have with these is whether it’s YOUR or ONE’S – typically we use YOUR in everyday speech but my non-scientific conclusion is that in crypticland ONE’S is more common: probably since it has more useful letters.
3 ON,SET – ref. ON and off sides in cricket. I think that “all padded up” for SET is just a way to make the surface more consistent.
4 KNO(WIT,A)LL – I’m pretty sure that “Having not much of an inclination” is a cryptic def for KNOLL.
6 STORMIEST – (sort items)* — “foul” as in weather.
7 TUR(I)N – I actually got this from 14D referring to “7 shroud”. And “break wind” isn’t what you think.
8 PI(E-EYE)D - clued quite differently in a recent Times: it’s Eey[or]e=donkey in rev(DIP), where “or not” indicates removal.
14 TA[u]R(PAUL)IN – “Shroud” is used to indicate containment of PAUL, our saint – and the 2nd letter of Turin (7D) needs to change – doesn’t say to what but…
16 OBSTETRIC – (r, I bet cost)*. def is “of delivery”.
17 A,[b]I(R-INTA)KE – some more complex wordplay: being train* in [b]IKE (“another vehicle losing its first”)
20 HUSBAND – genius double def clue: “Save Man United!”: where “Man United” is a great way to cryptically define a HUSBAND and ref. sale of Manchester United to, gasp, Americans.
23 WEBER[n] - Not sure about this but seems there are composers WEBER and WEBERN so…
24 EGG,ON – enumerated as (5) but really should be (3,2). Ref. it takes 3 minutes to make a soft-boiled egg (and, according to legend, solve The Times cryptic!).

Posted in Guardian | 7 Comments »