Posted by tilsit on 18th October 2007
Solving time: 9 minutes
Sometimes when I encounter what I believe to be a less than adequate puzzle, I tell myself that it’s aimed at the easier end of the scale and solvers need puzzles like this to advance their experience. I can’t justify that with today’s puzzle.
The theme is based on phrases that are synonyms of ABANDON (11 ac). Can’t help thinking that there is a good crossword in here with sharper clue-writing. There’s a factual error: The character in 16 across is not in The Munsters, he was in The Addams Family.
ACROSS (** = ANAGRAM / (R) = REVERSAL
9 BOAT-OWNER Cryptic definition, and quite clever. Boat-owner is not listed as a phrase in either of my dictionaries.
10 OKAPI I dislike clues that are “contrived” and this comes across as one. It just reads badly to me.
12 MOVE OUT Don’t understand this - can see the definition, although should if “Change of address” is to be the definition, the “of” is not needed.
13 DITCH 2 defs
14 WAISTLESS Homophone. WASTE LESS to end up WAIST LESS! I’ll let you judge this for yourselves.
16 LEAVE IN THE LURCH As I mentioned above, Lurch was the butler in The Addams Family, not The Munsters.
19 WALK OUT ON Here ON is used in the same sense as in 11.
21 PEDRO Apparently Pedro the Fisherman is a song by Richard Tauber and Gracie Fields. ED in PRO.
22 FORSAKE 2 Defs. FOR + SAKE (rice wine)
23 BAIL OUT Acc to Chambers, when meaning to abandon, it’s usually spelt BALE OUT, but this version is OK.
24 STEAL S + TEAL
25 ABSCONDER AB’S (Sailors) + CON (Double-cross) + DER (The German)
DOWN
1 EBB AND FLOW Another one a bit too contrived for my liking. NABBED ** + FLOW (R). Ladykiller = WOLF (Depending on which version of the fairy tale you read.)
2 SAMANTHA AN ASTHMA *
3 DOODAH I thought De Camptown Races had been confined to the Non-PC box. For those unaware, the phrase “Doo-dah Doo-dah” is repeated after each line.
4 IN ON Hidden in Alb-INON-i. “Personal notes” id redundant.
5 FROM WITHIN FROM* WI + THIN
6 NON-VITAL ANVIL NOT*
7 CAPONE CAP + ONE
8 JILT J = Jamaica’s First + I LT (One officer - one lieutenant)
14 WINS THE DAY THEY WIND AS** - Nice to see Dicky getting an outing as an anagram ind.
15 SCHOOL TERM SCHOOL (Lots of fish) + TERM (Label)
17 EVOCABLE CHAP = COVE (R) + ABLE
18 REDWOODS R = Initially Robert - Does EDWARDS sound the same as ED WOODS? A thoroughly rotten clue.
20 LERNER LEARNER (Homophone)
21 PRISON Probably the best clue in the puzzle. Two defs.
22 FAST Dbl def
23 BASE Dbl def
Posted in Guardian | 7 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 18th October 2007
Just spotted the Nina in this puzzle - look at the unchecked letters around the perimeter (the left-hand side doesn’t work properly because it needs a three-letters rather than four).
| Across |
| 5 |
BORE in CIA (all reversed) |
| 7 |
A,GAR[-l]IC - a reasonably confident guess given “pungent plant” for GARLIC. |
| 9 |
A,DEPT - this took far longer than it should have and was a much simpler clue than I first thought. |
| 10 |
ESCALADO/ESCALADE? - not sure about this one. ESCALADE means “the scaling of fortified walls using ladders” which fits with the definition “technique for attacking high” but doesn’t work with the wordplay which I think is (CASELOAD)*, with “high” doing double duty as the anagrind. But none of the dictionaries I currently have access to have ESCALADO; put it into Google and you’ll get references to a board-game. |
| 11 |
(TENTH HIT HUMBLE)* - “pie” is the too-hard-to-resist anagram indicator. |
| 12 |
hidden in “gO TO LITHuania” - another guess but anything ear-related beginning OTO- is usually a good bet. |
| 14 |
BE,DROLL |
| 18 |
E,N,DOC,(ADREN[G for A]LIN)* - I saw GLAND almost straight away but ENDOCRINE took a while to tease out. Excellentclue. |
| 23 |
(BOWELS)* - ELBOWS. This is very cleverly done: “Divers” is another spelling of “diverse” but it’s hard to see that with “the bends” (a condition which affects deep-sea divers”) in the clue. Hats off! |
| 24 |
E in ROEDER - “Does drug” is very deceptive as “does” (female deer) is the definition. I think it’s a little bit unfair to expect everyone to have heard of Glenn Roeder but regular Indy solvers are probably used to such references now. |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
A TAP in CULT |
| 2 |
(RELATION)* - ORIENTAL. Absolutely staggered that I had to look at this more than once before I got it! |
| 6 |
C in BATH - I spent some time trying to think of a city in Georgia that has four letters. |
| 7 |
V in ARCHIE |
| 13 |
CHI in TEES - the clue to this put me in mind of the only joke I’ve ever invented. I work in a department of TECHIES andsomeone said something funny about trojan horses (a type of computer virus) and I replied: “I fear the geeks, even when they come bearing quips”. Nobody laughed, and I had to explain that it was an exceptionally witty pun based on the line from the Aeneid: “I fear the Greeks, even when they come bearing gifts”. OK, I know it’s not exactly laugh-out-loud stuff but I liked it. |
| 15 |
R,ELI,EVER |
| 18 |
E,THY,L - filled this in without knowing what it had to with “radical”. Having looked it up, a radical is a “a group of atomswhich remains unchanged during a series of chemical reactions, but is normally incapable of independent existence” and an ETHYL is one of them. |
| 19 |
DUNMOW - I only got this because we had a reference to the Dunmow Flitch trials in a puzzle a while back. DUN can mean “pester” but I can’t link MOW and “grimace”. |
| 20 |
E in EPEE |
Posted in Independent | 8 Comments »
Posted by Pete Maclean on 18th October 2007
This was for me a bit more difficult than the average Cincinnus but just as impressive. There were two clues I did not completely understand (10A and 19D).
Across
1. BOOTBLACK - BOOT (start) + BLACK (chess player). A great clue: deceptive yet not too difficult.
6. SAHIB - hidden word
9. OVERACT - anagram of TO CARVE
10. TORONTO - TO (to leading) + [p]RONTO (promptly with piano dispatched)
11. LIONS - double definition
12. ROBIN HOOD - ROB (plunder) + IN (in) + HOOD (American locality)
14. ADS - [l]A[w] + D[angerou]S
15. CHAIN STITCH - CHAINS (restricts) + TITCH (small person). Not being a knitter, I needed my dictionary to help with this one.
17. COMESTIBLES - anagram of CLIMBS TO SEE
19. ULT - even letters of QUALITY
20. ABANDONED - A (a) + BAND (rock group) + ONE (individual) + D (beginning to dance)
22. ISAAC - I + A (one) in SAC (pouch)
24. GO DUTCH - GO (try) + DUTCH (wife). I thought originally that Dutch referred to a substitute wife but the correct reference here is that “Dutch” is cockney rhyming slang for wife.
26. SPINOZA - SPIN (trip) + OZ (Australia) + A (a)
27. LURED - UR (you are, so to speak) in LED
28. MAIN ROADS - anagram of ROMAN AIDS TO. At first, I got the answer but missed the anagram…and thought this was not a great clue. Once I saw the anagram, I decided it was quite brilliant!
Down
1. BROIL - R (recipe) in BOIL (cook)
2. OCELOTS - anagram of SET COOL
3. BRASSICAS - BRASS (money) + I[n] CAS[e] (cropped in case). A difficult one!
4. ALTERCATION - ALTER (tweak) + CATION (charged particle)
5. KIT - double definition. (Christopher Marlowe was known as Kit.)
6. SERIN - S (southern) + ERIN (Ireland). I had never heard of a serin but my dictionary sure had.
7. HANDOUT - HAND (worked) + OUT (dismissed)
8. BLOODSHOT - BLOODS (swaggering dandies) + HOT (stylish)
13. BANGLADESHI - anagram of GANDHIS ABLE
14. ARCHANGEL - A (a) + R (right) + CHANGE (switch) + L (left)
16. TESTIFIER - IF (if) in TESTIER (more irritable)
18. MEANDER - anagram of RENAMED
19. ULANOVA - U (for all to see — a British film rating) + L (top of ladder) + A (a) + NOVA (star)
21. DATED - DATE (fruit) + D (would shortly)
23. CLASS - C (head of college) + LASS (girl)
25. HEM - hidden word. And one of the best.
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »