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Archive for July 16th, 2007

Private Eye/Cyclops 343 - Undone

Posted by beermagnet on 16th July 2007

beermagnet.

I’m feeling a bit “undone” myself at the moment - a fortnight into the smoking ban and thus a fortnight into my latest attempt to forego the evil weed. How can I possibly do a crossword down the pub at lunchtime without a small cigar as well as a pint? By having another pint instead of course. So pencils are being chewed more ferociously than ever, but not so much because of this crossword, which I found relatively easy to finish once I got stuck in. There are some nice anagrams here.

Across
1 TODGER - (GOT RED)* - I should’ve spotted this anagram on the first pass, but spent time trying to think of celebrity Richards rather than the kind of “Dick” you more normally find in the Eye Crossword.
5 TIPSTAFF - (PAST)* inside TIFF (row)
9 U[ganda]N-DO - Last one I wrote in, but would’ve committed it earlier if I had been surer of the definition at the time. I’m now happy that to “undo” an innocent is to take advantage of them, or in Eye terms “engage in Ugandan discussions”.
10 MOLLIFIED - (FILM IDOL E)* - “E” is often the drug of choice these days.
11 CEREMONIAL (CAMERON LIE)* - I bet Cyclops was pleased with that anagram.
12 S-PEW - Not Hermione’s cause but what happens if you drink too much. I didn’t intentionally start here but the clue + answer jumped out at me when I first glanced at the crossword.
13 E-(PM)< TY Remove “on” from “Tony” to get that last TY.
15 UGLY AS SIN - (USA’S LYING)* - That’s pretty ugly I guess.
17 BU(MP)T-IOUS
19 D-RUGS - Dopes as a verb.
20 S-(RAT)< - Surely this would make more sense if it was a down clue, or am I misreading “arse given a lift” for the reversed RAT?
22 POLEMICIST - ‘EM (half of them) in (POLITICS)*
25 C(ALL A.G.H.)AN - Not sure how “high” gives H but it must.
26 [h]OUSE - Our favourite crossword river?
27 DEAD-BEAT
28 MUFF-IN
 
Down
2 [b]OUNCE - That darn cat. I had never heard of that cat until a few months ago. Now it seems to regularly appear in crosswords.
3 GOOSE’S-(PET) (rev)
4 RAM-BO - Ref. Bo Derek
5 TALKING BULLS-HIT - This is an apt description of the contents of the Pseud’s Corner column in the Eye
6 PAISLEY - I certainly needed all of the crossing letters for this but a definite answer when you see it. Ref. the tub-thumping Rev Ian of that ilk.
7 T-WIT-S
8 FIDGETING - (END GIT)* in FIG (seedy fruity thing)
14 MOUSTACHE - (SUMO)* T.A. CHE - I loved the wrestling anagrind for Sumo. My favourite clue.
16 S(RT)
18 IN-P-LACE
21 RULER - (L RUDE)* Nice surface reading but the result is one of the simpler clues here if you know Brenda = The Queen
23 MINIM “I’m” either side of N (erection finally) The empty-headed tadpole musical note.
24 (US)< SHI[t]

Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 3 Comments »

Independent 6473/Merlin

Posted by neildubya on 16th July 2007

neildubya.
Across
1 O,A,FISH,NESS - “o” is a short form of “of”. Good clue to get us going.
10 (ACTIONS IN A LAB IN)* - CANNIBALISATION has a few meanings, apart from the obvious grisly one.
12/13 SC,(JONATHAN ROSS LET)* - Excellent clue and a really good anagram. That said, I filled the answer in without really understanding why, apart from vaguely thinking that the letters of “Jonathan Ross” plus a few others could make SCARLETT JOHANSSON. Even after I worked out the anagram that still left SC to be accounted for which Chambers online says is a shortened form of “scilicet” (Latin for “namely” - or, in this clue, “to wit”).
15 AGOG,O - I don’t really get the definition for this one: “Name often found in nightclub“.
17 hidden in “awfUL TRAgedy”
18 LSE,A in ALTER - only just worked this one out: “not with standing [room]” = ALL-SEATER.
19 NOT,E BOOK
26 (APART EXIT)*,E - nice idea and I think it mostly works although the surface reading (”Who’s moving apart, exit to Spain?“) is a bit creaky.
 
Down
1 hidden in “dOC CAMe” - a ref to William of Occam (or Ockham).
2 T in FANCY HAT.
3 (BRILLIANT GOALS NIL -ALL)* - STIRLING ALBION, behomoths of the Scottish League. I liked “not exactly” as an anagram indicator. Also, “not exactly brilliant” seems like a precise description of the team (apologies to any fans out there).
4 NO,AH(oy)
7 FINK<,E
8 (NO PORT IN I)* - PINOT NOIR. Good clue, nice surface reading.
13 JO,URN,EYED
16 (A DOCTORS)*,A - OSTRACODA. Got this one wrong. It was the last one I filled in so I had O?T?A?O?A and I knew it had to be an anagram of A DOCTORS with an A at the end. I think I went for OCTRASODA (it’s hard to tell as I filled on the correct answer over the top of my incorrect one) - anyway, I wasn’t convinced so I checked the other most likely combinations of letters until I found the right one. I have to say I was amazed to find the word in the Concise OED.
22 EG,DOH< - a Hodge is a “typical agricultural English labourer” according to the Concise OED. I think I’ve got the wordplay right - I’ve assumed that “D’oh” would be Homer Simpson’s form of “Oh dear”.

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