Fifteensquared

Never knowingly undersolved.

Archive for August 1st, 2007

Independent 6487/Dac

Posted by Colin Blackburn on 1st August 2007

Colin Blackburn.

This turned out to be a nightmare puzzle for me. I’m too busy at work preparing to take a break and so I didn’t find the space to do this puzzle justice. Some excellent clues but they didn’t come very quickly for me. I have decided to post without knowing the answers to a triplet from the south west corner (18d, 19d, and 22a if anyone wants to chip in before tomorrow’s solution.)

Across
1 DUMBO — DUMB+O — This should have been simple but for some reason I wrote in MIME+O assuming it to refer to a film used in the duplication process. This then held me up for rather too long on 1d.
9 WIDGEON — WIDGE(t)+ON — a duck. PIDGEON is definitely not the right answer!
10 NOTICED — NOT ICED — very nice cryptic definition for the subsidiary indication.
11 SALAAM — ALAS< + AM — good surface reading with a little bit of politics thrown in.
14 INANIMATE OBJECT — IN+A+MATE+NI + OBJECT — the definition here is very well hidden as “Thing that’s still…” NI = Northern Ireland not technically Ulster but common usage justifies its use (to an Englishman!)
17 GREEN CHARTREUSE — GREEN + CHART+REUSE — very good surface connecting GREEN and REUSE. I’d not heard of the spirit but it fitted.
18 ALICANTE — CANT in ALIE(n) — a popular Spanish resort with a useful airport if you want to explore Murcia.
25 SULKY — double def. — I had to look this one up. I spent way too long looking at S-L-Y and trying to fit word play to it. It turns out a SULKY is a small carriage.
Down
2 MIDDLE AMERICANS — (CRAMMED IN LADIES)* — very good anagram and a nice use of the initial uppercase letter to hide the definition.
4 RANK — double def. — J Arthur RANK (useful rhyming slang for the Cyclops puzzle one day) owned cinemas and taxis are found on taxi ranks. Another excellent surface.
6 PETAL — P(erformance) + LATE< — this is one of those clue that gives the impression of complex word play and then there it is staring at you.
7 INCONSEQUENTIAL — C in (A QUESTION LENIN)* — great anagram once again.
8 NADIR — homophone? — I assume this is a homophone but I can’t imagine of what.
13 WASHETERIA — H in (AS IT WERE)* +A — a word I haven’t heard for a long time.
16 TREACHERY — R in TEACHER + (sp)Y
21 ABLE — (g)ABLE — the surface here is tremendous.

Posted in Independent | 8 Comments »

FT 12,525 / Satori - The Dark Side of the Mole

Posted by tilsit on 1st August 2007

tilsit.

One of the toughest of setters (be it in his Satori guise or Taupi in the Guardian) and a personal favourite. A battle with Mr Mole is one which always gives a great deal of personal satisfaction. Today’s puzzle was no exception with an entertaining theme as well. However, it did take a little while to sort out this little beast!

THEME: 9, 18 = BLACK AND WHITE

ACROSS * = ANAGRAMS CD = Cryptic def R = Reverse

1 SEDUCE DUC (French nobleman) inside SEE
4 ISOLATED LADIES TO*
10 NEUTRAL B & W = def. T in NEURAL
11 INSTEAD SEAT * inside IND
12 HOLE This held me up for a while. I thought it referred to Black Mass and entered that at first.
13 ECONOMICAL E + NO inside COMICAL
16DEFRAY to de-fray as in remove the tassels, for example!
17 ENSNARE Four points = E N S N + ARE
20 PUDDING (CD) Pudding = dessert, but when preceded by black, it becomes savoury and delicious!
21 ATHENA Not sure I have this right. I think it’s THEN inside (gloved by) a’s
24 OUTGROWTHS SHOW ROTGUT* A reasonably apposite anagram.
25 JACK Another answer to follow ‘Black’ this time to make the game.
27 ORIGAMI (cd) for thr Japanese art of Paperfolding, at which I am a black belt!
29 EARRING A inside ERRING
30 FRESHMEN Hidden answer
31 CYGNUS which gave me the correct answer for 12 C(r)Y = SUNG (R)

DOWN
1 SUNSHADE USE HANDS*
2 DOUBLE FAULT Another to derail me, as I thought it was TENNIS COURT, then SQUASH COURT!
3 CURE Dbl def. The French priest and the method of food smoking.
5 SPINNING WHEEL Spooner’s “Winning Spiel”
6 LAST MINUTE Outrageously dark clue! WEE = SMALL = MINUTE
9 TIE Link with “Black” is a formal occasion e.g. “Black tie dinner”.
10 BLACK AND WHITE CD - The FT is printed on pink paper, so things can’t be seen in B&W!
14 CORRELATION ACTOR IN ROLE*
15 BALDERDASH balder (Baldur?) is Odin’s son + - (the dash)
16 see 9 down
19 DARK AGES CD Associated with the theme word at 9.
22 NOD OFF - rather weak clue I felt
23 See 5
26 GREY Combination of the theme words,
28 ICE Not sure about the first part of this, but the second relates to the driving hazard.

Posted in FT | 3 Comments »

Guardian 24,144, Chifonie: Multi-skilling

Posted by michod on 1st August 2007

michod.

A pretty straightforward puzzle, by and large, which took me about 15 minutes. The long answer at 1, 26 across was vaguely familiar, but felt a tad obscure - is it a common enough phrase? 

 ACROSS:

1. CHIEF COOK AND BOTTLE-WASHER (anag of first five words). Not sure about the origin, but the phrase means someone who has to do everything. In my line of work this is called multi-skilling, and apparently it’s very good for one’s career development, as well as saving one’s employer money.  There also seems to be a rude meaning, but company web access policy won’t let me explore it, so I’ll have to use my imagination.

8. CHIC AGO. Nice clue, more satisfying than using IN, as I expected.

9.  A(MATE U)R. As said before, I think U is now non-U, but never mind.

12. TRIP LET. (?) Not absolutely sure about this one, as inaccuracy = trip seems an imprecise fit.

14. P(OSTH)ASTE. Should it be two words?

16. OR CHEST RA. OR = ordinary ranks.

23. OPT I MUM. I like this one - good surface, reflecting what kids do when trying to get round you.

25. (D)ELUSION. Empty-headed as an alternative to headless.

DOWN:

1. CLIP PIE. Old word for a bus conductor. For younger readers, that’s the person who sold you tickets before the advent of multi-skilling (see 1ac).

3. FLOWERPOT. Again, I’m not sure of this, as I don’t quite see the wordplay. You pick a flower, and to pocket a snooker ball is to pot it, but how does ‘used by pickpocket’ give ‘flowerpot’?

5. K NAVISH (HIS VAN*).

6. NEED LES. Sewers = things that sew.

7. OCEANOLOGIST.  A lone cryptic definition - ‘main’ referring to the sea.

10. RE(TRENCH ME)NT. ME being a mining engineer, I gather.

 15. SO(A)POP ERA.

19. RETOUCH. (HE CUT OR).

22. SATI(r)E. Ref French composer Erik Satie.

Posted in Guardian | 7 Comments »