Posted by nmsindy on 13th July 2007
Solving time: 20 mins
< = reversal * = anagram
ACROSS
5 STR (I P LIGHT) ING
8 SECOND S LIP
9 TR(O)Y
10 TE (A PART) Y YET<
12 A GREED
13 (ORRER) Y (error)*
15 REP AIR As in “Straight will I repair to the Curragh of Kildare”
17 A S (C)END Send = post
18 A MAR(E)T TO
20 D (R) AFT
21 LEAD (ER) SHIP
28 FIGURE S K (A T) ING
DOWN
1 BR (I) O orb<
2 SPIDER Ref snooker
4 LITTER MATE
7 GLO(w) BET ROTTING
11 P (ERCENT) AGE (recent)*
16 C AL(I)AS
19 AX EMAN Hope this is right name = insult ref name-calling
22 S WIG
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by jetdoc on 13th July 2007
To my relief, on a day with multiple unexpected work deadlines to meet, this was one of Paul’s easier puzzles, and I polished it off reasonably quickly. Solving it depended on getting Truman Capote, and knowing the titles of his works. It could have been tricky for anyone not familiar with Capote and with no reference to hand; but the titles are pretty well known (or, at least, two of them are; I had to check 7,22). On a non-blog day, I probably wouldn’t have bothered too much with the wordplay for the titles.
| Across |
| 1 |
DECAGON — ‘December agony’ curtailed. |
| 2 |
BOHEMIA — HEMI ‘crushed’ by BOA. |
| 9 |
LEPER — ‘repel’ reversed. I’m not too sure about the soundness of this clue, but it was solvable. |
| 10 |
BALTIC SEA — nice clue, with deceptive surface reading. *(case) on BALTI (‘what’s hot’). The Baltic Sea is not hot. |
| 12 |
ECHO — hidden letters. |
| 14 |
IN COLD BLOOD — described by Capote as ‘a non-fiction novel’. INC = incorporated; OLD BLOOD = ancestors. |
| 16 |
EATING APPLE — not an article I’d immediately think of as being ‘polished’, though I suppose one could polish an apple before eating it. E = English; A = article; TIN = can; GAP = split; P = page; LE = French definite article. |
| 21 |
TIER — ‘tiger’ minus g |
| 25,11 |
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS — BREAK = destroy; FAST = sound (as in secure); TIFF = argument, in *(in a nasty). |
| 26 |
INNER — ‘winner’ minus w |
| 27 |
DULLARD — ‘duel’ minus e; LARD = fat. I’m not sure about the ‘In’ at the beginning of the clue. |
| 28 |
HYDRANT — *(dry) in ‘Hants’ minus s. Given that ‘Hants’ is already an abbreviation, is it valid to abbreviate it further? |
|
| Down |
| 1 |
DOLLAR — “dolour”. This has been done before. |
| 2 |
CAPOTE — the theme of the puzzle. OT (Old Testament) in CAPE. |
| 3 |
GIRLFRIEND — ‘rig’ reversed; FRI in LEND. |
| 4 |
NUBIA — ‘A1 bun’ reversed. |
| 5 |
BELLYFLOP — *(fly) following BELL (= alarm); O = zero; P = pressure. Definition refers to 15 down. |
| 7,22 |
MUSIC FOR CHAMELEONS — this is the one I needed to look up. I got the CHAMELEONS from the clue and the checking letters quite early on. It is quite an impressive anagram — *(if man’s colour scheme). |
| 8 |
ANACONDA — “Anna conned a”. |
| 13 |
ABBEY LAIRD — *(Lady Barbie). Not a term I was familiar with, but, sans Chambers, probably solvable anyway once You’d got some checking letters. |
| 15 |
CRASH LAND — ‘ditch‘ is the definition. RASH = precipitate in CL (centilitre); AND. |
| 16 |
DEATHBED |
| 17 |
ETHEREAL — E = ecstasy; THE REAL. |
| 19 |
CORNEA — part of the eye. COR plus ‘neat’ minus t. |
| 20 |
ESPRIT — not sure I understand this one. |
| 23 |
MATCH — two meanings. |
| 24 |
SKUA — ‘auks’ reversed. Having sat through far too many (to me) almost incomprehensible lectures on the population genetics of arctic skuas, I will say no more. |
Posted in Guardian | 14 Comments »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 13th July 2007
Some of you will have noticed that we haven’t had many of these lately. As I write this, I’m checking which of us are happy to write Azed reports. We already have enough volunteers to produce weekly reports, though a couple more would be very welcome. So from next Sunday onwards, you can expect to see weekly reports on the previous Sunday’s Azed puzzle, including the competition ones.
If you’ve never tried Azed, this could be a good time to start, epecially if you’re at the ‘I can do broadsheet cryptics now, what’s the next challenge?’ stage. Although the vocabulary is diffcult (Chambers Dictionary is essential for an Azed beginner), the quality of the clues is consistently high. Years ago, when the Observer had a weekly “Expert’s expert” feature, Azed was the “Crossword compiler’s crossword compiler” by a country mile.
Posted in Azed | 1 Comment »
Posted by neildubya on 13th July 2007
I thought this was a fantastic puzzle, maybe my favourite of the year so far. Not easy though - I got the first few across clues and one or two downs fairly quickly and then got stuck. Eventually I put it down, came back to it much later and got going again almost straight away (very pleasing when that happens).
| Across |
| 1 |
COLD FEET - “plates of meat” is Cockney rhyming slang for FEET. |
| 5 |
LIT,ANY - quite a tough clue to parse I thought and the definition is not easy to spot. |
| 9 |
W C FIELDS - the enumeration (1,1,6) is something of a giveaway but the definition is really well disguised in “Comic Relief”. If you still don’t get the joke Bannsider is implying that personal hygiene standards among the crowd at the Glastonbury festival might be less than perfect. |
| 10 |
O’NEILL - or ONE ILL (which is what a patient is). Pretty tough if you’re not a football fan as Martin O’Neill is not exactly a household name (although he would have been had he been given the England manager’s job which, in this blogger’s eyes at least, he would have been perfect for). |
| 13 |
GI in CARAVA(n),GO - by a spooky coincidence, the Guardian puzzle (by Shed) published on the same day as this one contained this word and an almost identical clue. I think I’ve parsed it right, but I’m not completely convinced. |
| 15 |
hidden in “fOR TONy” and indicated by “Banks”. |
| 16 |
VERS(e) in O,PEEL< - good clue, with a well disguised definition and a smooth reading. |
| 17 |
SE(t),MAN(y),TR(y),ON - I got this from the wordplay and checking letters. I haven’t got a paper dictionary to hand where the word is defined by Google found this which explains it pretty well. |
| 21 |
(A PEN BURSTS)* - ABRUPTNESS was a tough anagram to find (for me anyway). |
| 22 |
ODDS - “price” is the definition. A shop selling small bras would have O (zero),DD’S. |
| 25 |
(CABBI(e),ILL)* - I’m sure BIBLICAL is right but I don’t think I understand the definition: “In particular work”. |
| 28 |
STAN (Laurel),DREW |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
FT,IS in LET |
| 4 |
(EVEN DURING A O)* - excellent clue with a very nice surface reading. |
| 7 |
AT,INGLE - had to check that INGLE was a fireplace before filling this one in. |
| 11 |
JAM,SENSE<,BIT,T - fantastic clue. The surface reading (”Press wit turned part-time actor”) is wonderful, the definition well-hidden and the wordplay excellent. You could quibble over BIT,T for “part-time” but frankly, why bother? Oh, and you almost definitely know JAMES NESBITT; it’s this bloke (scroll down for the pictures). |
| 14 |
I,R in (ENDS UP IN)* - deceptive because “pedestrian” is used as a noun in the clue but defined in the answer as an adjective - UNINSPIRED. |
| 18/26 |
MU,(SHARPLY)*,W - another cracking clue; the surface reading is so natural sounding and yet the wordplay is perfectly fair. |
| 20 |
INDY CAR(d) - “daily” is the INDY (natch). |
| 23 |
L in FAN - Another good one to finish off. “Buff” is FAN (as in film-buff) and it’s nice to see L indicated by something other than learner or (much worse) student. That said “kerb crawler” is stretching things a bit to indicate a driver and is obviously there to make the surface reading work but there’s little doubt about the answer given the easy definition. |
Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 13th July 2007
I found this very straightforward and a quick solve but there were a few nice touches. Just a short review because most of the clues are reasonably self-explanatory but if anyone’s unsure of anything then leave a comment and I’ll do my best to explain.
| Across |
| 1 |
STAMPED,E - straightforward but smooth sounding clue to start. |
| 5 |
SMACKS - double definition. |
| 9 |
POLIT(e),I,C(hange)S - nice surface reading, especially given the answer. |
| 12 |
(REGIONAL)*,Y |
| 19 |
(PRIESTS)* |
| 21 |
A,I,R(abie)S - I liked this one, especially “case of rabies” for RS. |
| 24 |
A,LIEN - I think LIEN is often just defined as “right” by many setters so Orense is being more precise here. |
| 25 |
(ITS AGREED)* - another good one, with “badly directed” an appropriate anagrind. |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
SUP,P(a)LE |
| 2 |
LEG in ALE |
| 6 |
MAIL-ORDER - this uses a device we see more often these days. “Mail order” might be another way of indicating “Lima”. |
| 8 |
STOUT,EST - I remember enough GCSE French to know that EST is “is”. |
| 11 |
BYRE - “buyer”. I originally filled in BYER, which held up 16A. |
| 21 |
A,BASH,ED - “party” could also also be “do”, “lab” and “con”. |
Posted in FT | No Comments »