Posted by bensand on 23rd July 2007
| Across |
| 1 |
LOTHARIO - T + HARI in LOO |
| 10 |
COMIC - COSMIC minus S (close to tears) |
| 11 |
SEA URCHIN - SEA(U)RCH + IN |
| 16 |
DONKEY - DON + KEY |
| 26 |
ENNUI - “LENNON PUT IT” with odd letters removed |
| 27 |
EVEN SO - stEVENSOn |
| 28 |
MASTERLY - MAST + EARLY without the A for are. A is short for are, the metric land measure. Seems like an abbreviation that would be more at home in the advanced cryptics than the weekday crosswords to me |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
TAMIL - TA(M)IL |
| 6 |
BARGAIN BASEMENT - Seller is homophone for cellar, this clue made me laugh although it was fairly easy |
| 7 |
ASHMOLEAN - (HAS)* + MO + LEAN |
| 17 |
IDENTITY - I DEITY around NT |
| 19 |
DUNCAN - King from Macbeth and a dun is a horse of that colour |
| 20 |
LORETTA - (ARISTOTLE)* without IS |
| 21 |
TSETSE - transmitter is part of the definition so it’s SETS in T(RE)E |
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 23rd July 2007
Quite a few cryptic definitions again this week – some are good, some less so. But that judgment all depends on your mood I suppose. When I don’t like a CD, I suspect it’s because I simply missed something or it was too “transparent”.
Across
| 9 |
UNION DUES – cryptic definition of the “tribute” you pay to the UNION to keep up your membership (shades of Mafia protection money?) |
| 10 |
OP,ERA – though it’s debatable whether OPERA qualifies as “entertainment” – more like hard work. |
| 12 |
LE,I,SURE – good surface that is possibly a true statement: “In France, the one indisputable freedom” (which as Azed said in a recent slip, does not an &lit make). |
| 14 |
SONS-IN-LAW – a cryptic definition that almost works but only if you accept that your son-in-law is also your son. |
| 16 |
PRINCE OF DENMARK – (picked for manner)* |
| 19 |
SUIT,CASES – nice surface |
| 22 |
OPEN AIR – another good surface |
| 24 |
PULSE – to be fair, this is quite a good cryptic definition: “Well, I wouldn’t want this taken”. |
Down
| 1 |
AUTOGRAPHS – another cryptic definition on the weaker side: “Star names booked”. |
| 2 |
MISS,[h]OURI - HOURI and peri are good cryptic words to know. |
| 3 |
SNORTS – sort of a cryptic def since “noisy” isn’t quite a definition of SNORTS. |
| 4 |
CURE – two meanings – not a bad clue since “needed by” is part of a definition rather than a link word. |
| 7 |
SEQUEL – a better cryptic def: ref. the Brit “Carry On” post-war comedies. |
| 15 |
W,A,KEY-W,A,KEY – exhortation to open your eyes and wake-up. W is (a compass) point. |
| 17 |
CYCLAMEN – (Cancel my)*. Slowly but surely my gardening expertise is increasing, as I do more cryptics, |
| 18 |
ASTEROID – (tides or a)* — “storm” is our anagrind but shouldn’t the def just be “star”? |
| 20 |
IDEALS – (ladies)* — nice misleading surface. |
| 21 |
CALL(A)S – ref. Maria. |
| 22 |
O,OPS – my last clue. Probably because it’s a slangy interjection. |
Posted in Guardian | 7 Comments »