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Archive for July 19th, 2007

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Independent 6476/Scorpion - Eric and Ernie

Posted by bensand on 19th July 2007

bensand.

No two ways about it, Scorpion’s tricky. Thursday is also the day of the week I have least time for solving and blogging so apologies that this is a little late.

I cracked the first half in about half an hour but it was sporadic peeks through the day from then on, culminating in an anticlimactic finish when I realised that it was Eric Morecambe not Ernie Morecambe when I had so earnestly been trying to work “sernie” into 13 down.

On a couple of later clues I definitely struggled because I was trying to invent something too obscure when in fact it was (relatively) straightforward but then on a couple I was trying for an easy reading and it was twisted! All very good though and scrupulously fair if difficult. Chapeau!

Hard to leave any clues out in the blog really, they all seem good candidates.

Across
7 NEOPHYTE - (THE OPEN)* with Y inside. Nice topical starter and lulled me into a false sense of security!
9 TUAREG - T(OP) G(EAR) around UAE around R. Definition “Rover, on sand”
10 ELVIS - T(EL)E(VIS)ION. Excerpts from television means two separate chunks to make the word.
12 ASYMETTRIC BARS - Two surface readings, one of gymnastics equipment and one of a drunk in a dungeon (I think)
15 DO-SI-DO - DODO with IS<=, house is instruction rather than fodder
20 DULCIMER - D + ULCER around IM (being roman numerals for 999 … can’t believe how long it took me to see that!)
22 AGATE - A + G + (W)ATE(R)
24 THIRTY - TH(E) IR(ON) TY(SON). Increaingly diminished means take off one more letter each time! Brilliant although I think Iron Mike’s star was on the wane before he reached thirty!
25 BAEDEKER - BA(DEE)*KER. Baker is “one who makes a bloomer”, a bloomer being a type of loaf
 
Down
1 DECEASED - Possibly the easiest clue in the crossword, given a basic familiarity with Monty Python, and I didn’t spot it until late…
2 SPIV - SP is odds, V is against, is I just indicated by a with tracking being a container?
3 BECKER - BECKER and BEAKER are the outside definitions and C (about) to replace A (adult)
4 ETON - Sounds like EATEN, not seen “picked up” as a homophone indicator before although it seems like a good and deceptive one
5 PARLIAMENT - PAR + LIAM + ENT. Liam (Gallagher) is one associated with Noel, ENT is PEANUTS with odd letters excluded
13 MISERICORD - S + ERIC (not Ernie) + O + R in MID. Only just put together the last bit as I thought ring road gave ORD and then I couldn’t explain the MI at the beginning. But if road is just R it’s easier. A room in a monastery according to Chambers.
18 MOUTHY - M is the centre of arguments + (YOUTH)*
19 HORNBY - HORN(B)Y referring to the author of Fever Pitch and High Fidelity among others
21 MAYA - A YAM <=

Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »

Financial Times 12505/Dante

Posted by murf on 19th July 2007

murf.
Across
1. OTT,A(W)A
9. PRO FIT
12. PLAYGOER
13. STANCE - A golf ref.
16. SCARECROWS (soccer wars)*
19. SPRING ROLL
20. FETA - fate*
23. MEADOW (a mowed)*
25. RE(LAPSE)D
27. TIDEMARK
28. B,EAGLE
 
Down
1. ON PAPER
2. TROJAN WAR
3. WRINGS - “rings”
5. A DAM
6. DIPSTICK
7. UNION
11. MERCURY - used in some thermometers
14. GRILLED - girl*,led=went ahead
17. OVER(SIGH)T
18. INFORMED
19. SYMPTOM (Tommy’s p)*
26. BRER as in Brer Rabbit

Posted in FT | 1 Comment »

FT 12513/Cinephile – south of the border

Posted by ilancaron on 19th July 2007

ilancaron.

(Finally showed up on the FT site — couldn’t find paper copy).

In his FT persona, Araucaria is hardly less… um… what’s the word? Challenging? Anyway, the usual breathtaking surfaces (one or two not very grammatical: e.g. 22A) and a theme and sub-theme or two. 5D was a major struggle for me (Sheridan and I know an equal amount about each other). And I really can’t work out the wordplay to 19A – unless it’s related to 5D via rival?

Across

1 FALSE START – (lass fatter)*. Easy entry into the puzzle.
7 FI,BS – rev(SB,if) where Sb is the symbol of the element “antimony” (worked out once I saw “lies” and FIBS).
9 PERU[sal] – so if you add Sal to PERU you get something that means “reading”. Our first SA country.
10 HOT, AND, COLD – conveniently Chile is in SA and sounds like “chilly”. Not completely sure how HOT is produced though… “linked to” must be AND and the def is “inconsistent way to blow” (or just “inconsistent”).
12 O,MISSIVE – new word for me but derived from omit and makes sense.
13 PARA,GU(A)Y – another SA country: “first” here is simply the first letter, namely A.
19 BEVERLEY – I suppose since it’s in Yorkshire (I knew this because my dad was born in Hull). The wordplay? I hazard BEVER[age],LEY and that there’s a character thus named in Sheridan’s “The Rivals”?
22 TUR(N)IN,TO – questionable grammar: “Pole in Italian city has to become”.
23 RUM,PUS=”puss” – I’m sure in BEVERLEY this homophone works.
25 RUBI(KS CUB)E[s] – bucks* in RUBIE[s] – though not sure what the surface means but a very good and hard puzzle indeed!
26 COD,E – another puzzle and E is the standard drug of choice for modern setters.
27 LYRA – nice meaningful hidden &lit in “heavenLY RAdiance” (ref. the constellation).
28 NEEDLEWORK – (elder woken)*. Nice shift from one kind of “sewer” to another.

Down

3,2 SOU,TH AME[s],RICA=”rich” – I guessed at this pretty early but haven’t had the courage to work out the wordplay: “Scene of countries with little money, an endless stream, having a lot of money in Spain”. And if you could tell me what the surface means while you’re at it. OK — just worked out the wordplay.   (This must mean that Costa Rica means “rich coast” — the things you learn).
4 SC(HOLI[est])UM – rather proud of myself for working this out and I’m not even going to look up the def which must be: “commentary on text”.
5 ANTHONY ABSOLUTE – I wanted this to be Anthony Trollope (the only one I could think of who fit) but after considerable wiki-search I encountered Sheridan’s “The Rivals” where AA is the dad. Now, let’s decode the wordplay… oh, later.
7 F,ACES,AVER – “I” in the clue refers to the answer .
8 B,OLIVIA – first country I solved. Ref. OLIVIA in “Twelfth Night”. The rest (of the countries) went rather quickly.
14 A,R(GENT,IN)A – A RA for “artist”.
18 URUG=rev(guru),U,AY – AY is archaic always, i.e. “every time”.
20 ECU,AD,OR
24 MA,CAW – I suppose a “rook’s” call could be said to be a comment. As it were.

Posted in FT | No Comments »

Independent on Sunday 909 by Quixote - a problem or two

Posted by nmsindy on 19th July 2007

nmsindy.

Some difficulties, with this - any help appreciated - all covered below. (thanks Neildubya for explaining it)

Solving time (if I’m right about the doubtful one): 24 mins

* = anagram

ACROSS

1 S KATE BOARD “Second woman to join the bosses - that gives an opportunity for 10″

See notes on 10 across below

10 “Actor taking drug company apart” (Cocaine less co - thanks Neildubya)( This is my doubtful one C?I?E (All the crossing entries are covered in this blog). My guess is Michael CAINE, the film actor, but I confess that, if that is so, I cannot understand the wordplay at all. There are a few other words that fit. Will update when solution appears on Sunday (or beforehand if anyone can advise). What does it have to do with 1 across? Usually, when I think there may be a mistake in a crossword, I find it’s my own mistake, but I am tempted here to think 10 should be 12 (see 12 across below), but maybe another answer for 10 would explain it.

11 S EMBLANCE (been calm)*

12 W (HEEL I) E You could do this with a skateboard, so I wonder if that should be the link to 1 across.

13 A PO GEAN

14 AFTER S

21 STATION (ery)

21 C (ADD IS) H add = sum

25 IT (IN) ERATE

26 VIRUS (survi)* 5/7 is close to 70%

27 MA’S TERM IND

DOWN

2 (1st word crossing 10 across) KNEEL “Neil” or “Neal” No doubts about this.

3 TA’S SET

5 ALL COMERS Fave clue.

6 DANTE ALIGHIERI (right idea a line)* Very appropriate wording for anagram.

7 (2nd crossing 10 across) SCOW(l) Looks right, but with just one certain letter (W), maybe it’s something else…

8 (3rd crossing 10 across) LIBERTARIANISM (Librarians, time)* Another very good clue. No doubts about this.

9 LEAN E (D ON) Don = fellow

16 S AY

18 (c)LINK AGE

20 S CREAM

23 DE (V O) N

24 HO (u) SE U = Uranium (radioactive element).

Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »

Financial Times 12514/Jason

Posted by neildubya on 19th July 2007

neildubya.
Across
5 CREW in SS - I hesitated about filling this one in because I couldn’t see how “props” could be a definition for SCREWS. I’ve just looked it up and found there is such a thing as a screw propeller (for which “prop” is a shortened form).
10 RAV(e) in CAT - I don’t know where “jazz fan”= CAT comes from (I can’t find it in Concise OED or Chambers online) but I’ve seen it before and I think it’s now standard crossword-ese.
11 (COSTLIER)* - another one I hesitated over before filling in as I didn’t think “arcade” and CLOISTER could have the same definition; turns out though that they can both be covered walkways.
13 SCHOONER - double definition. I started off looking for A[a word for glass] before I remembered that a SCHOONER is a large beer glass.
19 LANDLADY - this was nicely deceptive, especially “pension rights”.
22 (GENERATE)* - fairly simple &lit. The question mark at the end of the clue is needed because TEENAGERs aren’t necessarily messy but it’s usually a quality we associate with them.
23 IMP,ALE - the capitalization of “Sprite” (to make us think of the soft-drink) is a bit of a liberty but I don’t think it renders the clue unfair.
26 PUT THE CLOCK BACK - I’ve always heard this phrase as “put the clocks back” (plural rather than singular).
 
Down
1 T(-r)OPICS
2 EXTRA - triple definition (I think).
5 S,MALL PRINT - I wonder if there’s a mistake in this clue because the word SMALL appears in both the clue and the answer (it actually indicates the initial S). That can’t be right, can it?
7 (WINDS BART)*
12 (FUN DECLINE)* - looking at it now, INFLUENCED seems so obvious but it seemed to take ages to get it when I was solving.
14 CARP,ENTER - In the Concise OED and Chambers online, “chippy” (not “chips”) is slang for CARPENTER. Maybe other dictionaries have this definition or it could be that the setter found “fish and chips” too hard to pass over and hoped that solvers would link chips and chippy to arrive at the answer (which is what I did).
20 L,A MB,KIN - lots of crossword-ese in this clue.
21 (c)HECK,LE - Not quite sure what the surface is on about here: “Dismiss the start of the test on the French badger”.

Posted in FT | 2 Comments »

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