Posted by beermagnet on 26th August 2007
NORWICH is an acronym for “kNickers Off Ready When I Come Home” as used by WWII soldiers when writing to their loved one to avoid the censors. Basically SWALK for the randy. Did anyone really write NORWICH on the backs of envelopes, or is this apocryphal?
And why do we know nothing about possible retorts? We might even get an acronym that works (N for Knickers I ask you! Why can’t it stand for Nightie). For example, IPSWICH: “I Prefer Sex With Intelligent Cuddly Hunks”.
| Across |
| 1/20 |
CREAMING ONES JEANS - Smutty double def. |
| 10 |
BEER MAT - It was only recently that I found out that “mat” is an acceptable alternate spelling for “matt”. I believe Cyclops has previously used “piss” as a synonym for “beer”, I well know that in many establishments there is no sign of a proper pint, nevertheless I might suggest he tries a decent beer like the Summer Lightning at The Doric Arms. |
| 11 |
CHE-L-S-E-A - CHE is our ne’er forgotten revolutionary; “Predominantly” is the first letter indicator. My first solve despite being a somewhat convoluted clue - she immediately sprang to mind from “Clinton” and “issue”. |
| 12 |
LAST STRAW - I pencilled in “Jack Straw” on the first pass thinking “minister” was the def., but the definition is the first phrase, the second half gives separate definitions for each word. |
| 13 |
SCRUB - Double Def |
| 14 |
SURGE - Double Def |
| 15 |
ORGASMIC - ( ARGOS)* MIC(rophone) |
| 18 |
REEF KNOT - F (”fellow”) inside (KEEN)* inside ROT (”balls”) |
| 23/9 |
PRICK TEASER - Cryptic Def. |
| 25 |
THE GUARDS - (DAUGHTERS)* |
| 27 |
LE HAVRE - L (”Latin”); E (”energy”); R (”river”) inside HAVE (”shag”) |
| 28 |
PENISES - P(avilion) (IS SEEN)* |
| 29 |
BIT ON THE SIDE - You can just hear John Prescott saying this can’t you. |
|
| Down |
| 2 |
RUMP STEAK - This is Donald TRUMP with his top off; “wood” is in quotes to indicate a homophone - steak instead of stake. Smiffy points out the S is from “Trump’S” and “wood” gives TEAK more directly - the quotes are for the clue to be that bit more prurient. |
| 3 |
ARTERY - E.R. is the US TV Series, inside ARTY (”creative environment”) |
| 4 |
INCHWORM - (NORWICH)* M(issive) See intro, and as for the answer - I couldn’t get that blasted Danny Kaye song out of my head for hours. |
| 5 |
GUESS - Hidden in haGUE’S Span. |
| 6 |
NOSTRUM - NO; ST (”way”); RUM (”booze”) |
| 7 |
STARBUCKS - (RATS<) (”arses raised”) BUCKS (”US money”) |
| 8 |
ABEL - Original biblical murder victim often gets a namecheck |
| 14 |
STRIP CLUB - That kind of “belt” and that kind of “club” giving that kind of “peeler” |
| 16 |
ADJOURNED - (NUDE JORDAN)* minus an N(ame) (”name dropping”) |
| 17 |
FORTIETH - TIE (”get knotted”) inside FORTH (”river”). It’s not that special - I had several fortieth birthdays. |
| 19 |
EPITHET - E (”Drug”); PIT (”Stone”); (THE)* My favourite clue. With its misleading surface I found this clue tricky but fair. |
| 21 |
ARREST - AR(M)REST M (”Maiden”) dislodged from ARMREST “Part of e.g. theatre seat”. Difficult. This was most definitely the last I filled in. The puzzle was sitting complete bar this for a couple of days. I was stuck thinking that the definition “bust” was an anagrind for some odd collection of letters in the rest of the clue. |
| 22 |
HERPES - (murdoc)H (PRES E)* Change an S in PRESS for an E |
| 24 |
KEVIN - The “familiar ex-Sun editor” is KELVIN McKenzie, from whom we remove L(ine); This Maxwell is the “Bouncing Czech’s” son. |
| 26 |
SO-SO - A “bastard” is a SO-and-SO |
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 2 Comments »
Posted by linxit on 26th August 2007
Solving time 31:34, but Chambers and Bradford’s used throughout. Either they’re getting easier, or I’m improving! Azed always used to take me at least an hour, even with all the solving aids. Maybe it was something to do with the environment - I solved this yesterday afternoon, sat out in the garden with a bottle of wine and a pile of crosswords. This week’s Araucaria double puzzle (which I found very tough and had to go and get ODQ), Times Cryptic and Jumbo and this month’s Guardian Genius, plus the Independent Cryptic and half the Inquisitor all succumbed before it started getting dark!
Across
1 SP,ACE,SHUT,TLE(let*)
9 PACHYCARPOUS (happy c-carous)* - I heard a talk by Azed after last year’s Times Crossword Championships, and I didn’t notice a stutter. I don’t know why he keeps using this device; it just seems lazy to me.
11 DAZE (or is it HAZE?) - homophone of “days” I think, but I’m not 100% sure…
12 C,URN - strange Scottish word meaning “a little bit” - I wasn’t convinced until I looked it up.
18 ENFILAD,E - (and file)* + E(nemy). I don’t see what purpose the word “Rank” has in this clue, other than to improve the surface reading.
20 LAIN,GI(A)N - can “depended” mean “lain”? The psychiatrist in question is RD Laing.
27 CRAKE - double def, can mean crow the bird, or crow as in boast.
28 GLE(D)E - northern dialect for a kite (bird not toy).
30 (f)REED
31 TAIL - I think this is a triple def. TAIL = train, a limitation of inheritance (tail² in C) and the rubbish batsmen in a cricket team.
32 PRINCE’S METAL (spiral,cement)* - unlike Azed to tell us about the apostrophe!
Down
1 SPRAC,KLE - “elk carps” rev.
3 C(H)UDDY
5 HA(s),ZER(o)
6 UR(E)D,O - yes, urd is a type of bean!
8 LURKED (Dr Luke)* - what one did when reading this blog without ever contributing a comment.
14 IN,DIN(ner),AVIR=riva rev. - an AIDS drug apparently.
17 DEN(TELL)E - I was familiar with the answer, but the two words making it up were new to me. A dene is a sandy tract, a tell is an ancient mound.
19 F(AIR)EST - ref. the mirror in Snow White.
22 NUKE - compound anag. (redo cod)* with NUKE* makes undercooked*
25 PERCE(ive) - Spenserian spelling for pierce.
26 PREEN - double def. Groom or Scottish pin.
Posted in Azed | 2 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 26th August 2007
Last regular Everyman blog…
Lots of dogs and a cat or two. None of whom hailed from Scotland as far as I could tell.
Across
| 1 |
BAS,SET – our first dog |
| 4 |
DOGGY BAG – cryptic def for something he might like to eat. |
| 12 |
DO(IN)G – another canine clue: to DO someone can mean to impersonate them (though it does have other verbal meanings!). |
| 13 |
MISCREANT – (miner’s cat)* |
| 14 |
WE ARE NOT AMUSED – cryptic def ref. Q. Vic’s comment – I suppose “one queen” is a bit of a dig at the use of the royal we. |
| 20 |
AVALANCHE – cryptic def (“An Alpine snowdrop?”) which I was sure would be EDELWEISS at first which was probably an intentional misdirection. |
| 27 |
SEVE(R)N |
Down
| 2 |
SUSHI – hidden in “impresS US HIghly”. |
| 5 |
OVER,STATEMENTS |
| 6 |
GO,FE=iron,R[ange] |
| 7 |
B(OX, CAME)RA – “one that snaps” is a nice misleading cryptic def of a CAMERA. BRA for “supporter” is a v. familiar cryptic idiom. |
| 8 |
G(YR)ATE – my last clue since GATE for “wicket” didn’t occur to me for a long time. |
| 9 |
WORMWOOD SCRUBS – a couple of nice terms here: WORMWOOD is very bitter indeed (I read an article about absinthe production recently) and “clothes worn by operator” is a nice touch (ref. surgical SCRUBS). And the prison is a v. well-known London site. |
| 16 |
UP, F,OR SALE=(a loser)* |
| 19 |
MARCEL – (RC male)* — one of many Frenchmen… |
| 21 |
AMBER – it really is in ‘ChAMBERs’. |
| 23 |
FENCE – two meanings |
Posted in Everyman | 4 Comments »