Posted by ilancaron on 19th October 2007
I suspect that much of England has rugby on its mind even though it’s being played in France (conveniently beaten by the English last week or so). It appears that Brendan does as well. Virtually all the clues have a rugby surface. Also conveniently, rugby and American football share quite a bit of vocabulary so this puzzle is pretty transatlantic. So quite straightforward from the definition point of view — I’ve left a couple of wordplays to be worked out as we speak. It goes without saying that Brendan is the master of the clever sensible rewarding clue.
Here we go…
Across
| 1 |
SHUT UP - two meanings (our first themed clue: lock is a rubgy position — from now on assume they all are unless I say differently). |
| 5 |
BACK,PACK - without knowing much about rugby, I assume that a scrum-half is a BACK and that forwards collectively are the PACK. |
| 9 |
MO,VE(ME)NT - def is “passage of play” (as in a symphony). |
| 10 |
TO,WING |
| 11 |
TH(RE)E,QUARTER - pretty tough clue since I only just realized that a THREEQUARTER must be a rugby position corresponding to “centre” while writing his up. |
| 13 |
TRIO - def must be “small musical group” (or just “musical group”). I give up on the wordplay: “Players in front row, say, of small musical group”. |
| 14 |
NE(E,DIES=side*)T - NET is ’score’ here. |
| 17 |
BE(H)E,MOTH |
| 18 |
PRO,P - another rugby position (presumably without him the pack will collapse) where wordplay is “for power”. |
| 20 |
MIRACLE PLAYS - (specially, arm)*. My fav clue: in the US, they are called “Hail, Marys”. |
| 23 |
METRIC - haven’t worked this out completely: it’s probably quite clever. The clue: “25 to 22 as result of this conversion”, where 25 is ATTEMPTS and 22 is ACHE (or three?). METRIC is a type of conversion (that the US has yet to see). |
| 24 |
SET PIECE |
| 25 |
A,T,TEMPTS - “leads on” is TEMPTS. My understanding is the English side isn’t making may of them (tries, that is). |
| 26 |
RU(GGE)R - clever &lit (since I couldn’t see past the surface meaning to the wordplay at first). where EGG is our “oval object” (as a RUGGER ball) and RUR is our play by Capek (introducing the golem perhaps?) |
Down
| 2 |
HOOK - two meanings |
| 3 |
TWENTY-ONE - clever &lit again which I think works for both American football and rugby - our game is either rubgy/football or the cardgame blackjack. |
| 4 |
POE,TRY |
| 5 |
BETWEEN THE POSTS - cute but I’m not sure what “as roughly depicted” contributes (our rugby conversion is kicked BETWEEN THE POSTS). Am I missing an anagram or some reference to the location of this clue in the grid or the mail service? |
| 6 |
C.I.T.,RUSES |
| 7 |
P,OWER - the guy in red is in debt so he’s an OWER. |
| 8 |
CONVERSION - “here” is in a rubgy game. |
| 12 |
PRE-EMINENT - (Peter, men in)* |
| 15 |
IN PASSING |
| 16 |
WORLD CUP - (crowd pul[ler])* which is what I think is on offer in France for the winner. |
| 19 |
F,ACTOR |
| 21 |
AG,RE,E - I think that “arguing” is AG here… not sure why though? “referee extremely” produces RE and “unwise ultimately” yields E. |
| 22 |
ACHE - hidden in both “approACHEs” and “coACHEs”. |
Posted in Guardian | 4 Comments »
Posted by smiffy on 19th October 2007
Although Bradman is a prolific stalwart of several national dailies, his FT appearances seem to approximate at only monthly in frequency. So the fact that publication also coincides with our sporadic FT blogging calendar makes this posting something of a rarity! An enjoyable mix of clues; as much for their originality and subtlety of wordplay as their trademark technical precision. I had to confirm a couple of sub-elements (10A, 19A) post completion.
Across
1 GOALMOUTHS (Tom laugh so)*
6 I,M(-ad)AM - always glad to avoid the revisting the cute but threadbare “I’m a Muslim leader” construction.
10 GNAT - TANG (rev). Wasn’t familiar with the seaweed, but no real hindrance.
12 BREAK,THROUGH
15 WORLD FAIR - “whirled fare”. I thought “in auditorium” an original homophone indicator.
17 LOT,TO
19 H(A,G,RIDD)EN - Unbeknownst to me, the Lorna Doonecharacter is John Ridd.
24 GA(E)L
25 RING BINDER - cryptic def; and a good’un to boot.
26 NINE - not altogehter certain on this. 3×3 gives you the “square” element though.
Down
2 (-h)AIRY
3 M’AITRE D’HOTEL - (The old timer a)*. Obviously an anagram, but the apostrophes stopped it from springing to my mind instantaneously.
4 UVULA - cryptic def. A part of the anatomy cherished by the scriptwriters of Carry On…. films.
5 HEAR,TH(R)UG - The surface reading probably justifies the exclamation mark.
7 MAN(SUE)TUDE - Sue in (untamed)*
11 BR(ILL(I)ANT)INE - evoked the word “antimacassar” in my mind for the first time in ages.
13 D,WELLING(-t)ON - a well-identified and well-executed idea.
14 PROMETHEAN (Top man here)*
23 TROT(-h) - succint but effective.
Posted in FT | 5 Comments »
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 19th October 2007
I rattled through this puzzle but fell at the final hurdle, well as 24ac and 17dn.
| Across |
| 5 |
PAYSLIP — PAYS + LIP — pays is French for country. |
| 9 |
DOUBLE-BARRELLED — DOUBLE + BARRELLED — double = spit(ting image) |
| 11 |
NYLON — shiNY LONg — simple hidden clue but a nice augmented definition. |
| 16 |
RENEWER — RE+N+EWE+R — a renewer is one renewing their library books. |
| 18 |
GESTATING — STATIN in EGG* — statins are drugs that regulate cholesterol. Apparently we’ll all be taking them routinely in years to come, if we want plenty of years to come. |
| 19 |
XEROX — REX< + OX |
| 21 |
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT — TAKE I.T. + I in ELEVATOR* — take IT = study computing |
| 24 |
HARDISH — ? — I think this is HAR + DISH but “Most of uncommon…” suggests RAR(e) to me. What am I missing? |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
AIDE — A(s)IDE — a nice clue suggesting a scene from the West Wing. |
| 3 |
UNGROOMED — double def. — excellent cryptic second definition in Jilted? |
| 6 |
SUBCOMMITTEES — SUB+COMMIT+TEES |
| 8 |
WELL-PRESERVED — WELL+P+RESERVED |
| 10 |
AXEL — AXE+L — an Axel is a skating move named after a Mr Axel. |
| 13 |
TESTATRIX — T in (SEX TRAIT)* — this is an excellent clue. A testatrix is a female testator, ie someone who makes a will. |
| 17 |
ONER — ? — a oner is an expert but I’m lost with the word play in “Expert’s limited education (4)”. |
| 20 |
OTIOSE — magazinE SO IT Obviously — turned up indicating the reverse in this hidden clue. |
| 22 |
EGAD — AGE< in AGED |
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »