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Archive for September 17th, 2007

Independent 6527/Merlin - Wizard!

Posted by neildubya on 17th September 2007

neildubya.

Superb puzzle but tricky in places and a reminder that Monday is not always easy-day in the Independent. There’s a lot to admire in this but I thought that 1A,10A,20A and 4D were all excellent clues.

Across
1 FAT,A,LAT[e],TRACTION - excellent clue to start us off.
9 (CAN SELL PRIVATE)*,G - SPACE TRAVELLING. Another good one but tricky to parse, especially the split in “Private Enterprise”. The capital P is a minor liberty but needed because of the capital E in Enterprise (as in USS Enterprise from Star Trek).
10 (A MORTAL CHESS)* - SCHOLAR’S MATE. Excellent &lit. The Wikipedia page for it even has an animation so you can see some hot mating action.
14 (DRY PLACES)* - CLEPSYDRA. I sort of knew this but even so I waited until I had all the checking letters before filling anything in. Easy enough clue but I wonder if this tripped a few people up.
19 VOICE-OVER - don’t understand this one. I can see the cricket reference (bodyline, OVER) but can’t fit it all together.
20 SMOKE,(IN GLASS)* - SMOKE SIGNALS. Fantastic clue with a wonderfully misleading defintion: “optical communication system”.
25 MADE A CLEAN SWEEP - filled this in without understanding the bit about “someone said to be lucky”. Apparently, chminey sweeps are supposed to be lucky, especially if you see one on your way to a church when you’re getting married.
 
Down
2 AN,SC in TREND
4 D in ([i]T[em],TRUE LOVES)* - TURTLEDOVES. Another brilliant clue and an &lit. The full clue, for those who haven’t seen the puzzle, is: “Boxing Day’s second of items true love’s sent”.
6 L,U in COMBINE
11 READING,O in LAG (going up) - [The ballad of] READING GAOL. I think a little bit of surface smoothness was sacrificed here to keep the cryptic reading sound.
15 STOCK,TAKE - not completely sure what’s going on here. The full clue is “Make evaluation of meat extract recipe”. “Meat extract” is STOCK, and “extract” is also TAKE; and what’s “recipe” doing? Perhaps indicating a combination of meanings “meat extract”…?
17 (CLOSE EVEN)* - LOVE SCENE.
21 MODES[t]
26 LOO([t]

Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »

Guardian 24184/ Rufus Gentle start to the week.

Posted by Simply_Simon on 17th September 2007

Simply_Simon.

I finished this more swiftly than any other Guardian crossword I have completed, taking 9 minutes. There didn’t seem much to stretch one’s mind, but maybe that’s a good thing for Monday morning. I believe the Times always starts the week with an easy one.
Across
9 ELIMINATE
10 MIAOW
11 OBLIQUE
12 TORCHES anagram of escort around the end of watcH.
13 RI N SE
14 SLEEP ON IT
16 MARRIAGE BUREAUX
19 SHORT HEAD anagram of thrashed and o (nothing). A racing term for a narrow victory.
21 POSED
22 SANGRIA - anagram of ‘a grain’s’.
23 LORE LE I was one of the Rhine Maidens and is also a tall rock in the Rhine.
24 CHESS This seemed a very feeble literal clue, does anyone else know such clues as ‘Lafayettes’?
25 EPAULETTE

Down

1 M ELODR AMAS - anagram of older surrounded by mama’s.
2 BIN LINER
3 RISQUE - buried in the clue.
5 FEATHERBED – amusing clue, the down being feathers, and under meaning beneath, the phrase having nothing to do with Australia.
6 IMPROPER – another Lafayette.
7 PATH AN nomads who live in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
14 SEGREGATED – anagram of gets agreed.
15 TAXI DRIVER
17 INTEREST
18 ABSOLUTE – anagram bales out.
20 OUNCE – also known as the Snow Leopard.
21 PAROLE

Posted in Guardian | 18 Comments »