Posted by rightback on 18th June 2007
Solving time: 19:10
This should have been a fast time, as I spotted half the theme straight away from 17ac (TIGON). Unfortunately I then displayed immense slowness in various places, especially 2dn and the theme word, CROSSWORD, leaving me very 12.
All of the answers referring to ‘12′ were synomyms or examples of ‘cross’, such as IRATE, INTERSECT, KISS etc; the others are asterisked below. There are an impressive (and appropriate!) 12 such in total, and though the grid contains lots of short words, it is perfectly fair in terms of checking letters (i.e. all answers have half or more letters checked).
Sorry for the late posting (for the second week in row), though this time it really was beyond my control!
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across |
| 1 |
OVERACTED; (DECORATIVE - I)* |
| 11 |
DARED (hidden backwards) - very well hidden. I even thought of this from ‘had the bottle’ and still couldn’t see why. |
| 12 |
C(RO(SS)W)ORD - ‘cross’ came quickly but even with -O-D this took a while. Hopeless. |
| *13 |
BEE + FALO (rev. of OLAF) |
| *17 |
TIGON; rev. of GIT, + ON - the offspring of a tiger and a lioness; 28ac is that of a lion and a tigress. |
| *19 |
RED (double definition) - I think this refers to the Red Cross, rather than ‘cross’ = ‘(seeing) red’. If I’d realised this when solving I might have wasted less time on 2d. |
| 20 |
GU[inn]ESS |
| 21 |
YEAR DOT; (ROAD)* in YET |
| *22 |
TANGELO; ANGEL in TO |
| 24 |
MORSE CODE; SECO[n]D in MORE (= ‘extra’) |
| 26 |
EX + TRA[in] |
| *28 |
LI + GER[many] |
| Down |
| *1 |
FOR + D |
| *2 |
G[E]ORGE - this was the first word that I saw to fit the letters here; curiously I dismissed it summarily without even considering the wordplay or the ‘cross’ connection, which is of course St George’s Cross. It took me about 5 minutes at the end, including a dalliance with ‘feorce’, to realise my stupidity. |
| 3 |
HARD EARNED; (AND READ HER)* - I initially entered ‘hand reared’ which also fits the anagram. |
| 4 |
STUCCO; rev. of CUTS, + TO |
| 5 |
ADS + OR + BED |
| 7 |
CANO(ODL)E |
| 8 |
LEAD (double definition) |
| *15 |
LOGANBERRY; (BEGAN)* in LORRY |
| 16 |
G(ISM)O - nice wordplay. |
| 18 |
G(LAD + R)AGS |
| 19 |
RETROFIT; R + rev. of FORTE, + IT |
| 22 |
T(WENT)Y |
| 23 |
ESTHER; (THREE’S)* - ‘3’s’ is typical Paul misdirection. |
| *24 |
MULE (double definition) - this is also a backless slipper or shoe. I didn’t know this, and spent a while looking for alternatives. |
| 25 |
EARL, from LEAR |
| 26 |
[w]ALTO[n] - William Walton wrote Crown Imperial for King Edward VIII’s coronation, but it was eventually played at that of King George VI instead. |
Posted in Guardian | No Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 18th June 2007
A slightly harder than usual Rufus puzzle. I’m mystified by a couple of wordplays (8A and 12A) still. One weakfish cryptic def (1D) but a couple of hard clever clues as well.
Across
| 8 |
KNITWEAR – cryptic definition I think but I don’t see it: “Cast-off clothing” |
| 9 |
UNI,TED – TED’s our “man”. |
| 11 |
REVOLUTION – not a bad double def with a convincing cooking surface. |
| 12 |
EDISON – def is “a famous man” but wordplay? “A famous man, yet there’s no airs about him”. |
| 14 |
TIDE-R=tried*,ACE – def is “current” |
| 15 |
IN,ER(TI)A – rev(it) in IN ERA. A rare case I think of inaccurate Rufusian wordplay: looks like “in” is doing double duty – both indicating containment and being part of the container: “Lack of action, but in time it returns”. |
| 20 |
DIVIDE(N)D – fine clue with smooth surface – made even better since often DIVIDENDs are paid out quarterly. |
| 24 |
NEAT – simple but effective double def (recall that NEAT are cattle… somewhere in the dictionary, if not in the world). |
Down
| 1 |
SNOWED IN – cryptic def I suppose but not very strong. |
| 2 |
STIR – two meanings: “can” and STIR are American prisons. |
| 3 |
TEHRAN – my last clue: ([su]n[b]ather)*. Difficult to solve since “getting dressed” is the anagrind and the subtraction fodder doesn’t appear consecutively. Reader comments welcome as to fairness… |
| 4 |
GRAV(IT)Y – “stock” is GRAVY this time (in 24A it was cattle). |
| 6 |
VICTOR,I,ANA – def is “19th century objects” and I think we’re supposed to believe that “I” (Rufus) is still a “boy”! Clue would have been just fine as “Two men…” |
| 13 |
STRAIGHT UP=”stray tup” – nice homophone. |
| 16 |
ICE CUBES – DIES as plural of die which are CUBES. |
| 21 |
I(BIDE)M – it’s what gets abbreviated as IBID. in textbooks. |
| 22 |
S(WEE)TS – def is “children’s demands”. |
| 24 |
N(E)AP – E (“point”) in rev(pan) |
Posted in Guardian | 9 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 18th June 2007
Fairly easy start to the week although I’d never heard of 18A before.
| Across |
| 9 |
(WE TRAIN)* |
| 11 |
BOO,T(otall)Y - nice surface reading here. |
| 12 |
SPEED<,PACE |
| 13 |
(TESS IN PR)* - I’ve always thought SPINSTER such an unfortunate word, especially when compared with the male equivalent. I remember the 30 year old soon-to-be Mrs Dubya being horrified at being described as one. |
| 15 |
PO’S,SET - having a three month old baby I’m very familiar with POSSET as a verb as I’ve had to wipe up the aftermath of enough of them but I didn’t know it could also be a noun. |
| 18 |
R in (RAIDS)* = the last one to go in and a new word to me. Lucky guess really as SARDIR didn’t look right. |
| 22 |
(ROTA’S)*,”nought” |
| 24 |
ALL,O,A |
| 25 |
PORT,(k)ENT |
| 27 |
THE FAERIE QUEENE - “Queen Mab” is a fairy in English folklore. |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
(US ABOUT)* |
| 2 |
(DOING ROLE)* - reference to The Gondoliers. |
| 4 |
AB,ER,NEED< - another nice surface reading. |
| 5 |
V,O(n)CE in AT |
| 8 |
TAN,GENT |
| 16 |
(FELL)* in SHIRE |
| 17 |
I,CH in PASTE |
| 20 |
I(d)A in (SEEMS)* |
| 23 |
hidden in “sisTERS Eyeshadow” |
| 24 |
ADIE,U |
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 18th June 2007
The blog for this puzzle will be appearing soon…
Posted in Guardian | 2 Comments »