Posted by petebiddlecombe on 20th October 2007
Solving time: about 2 hours
At last, a fairly gentle Inquisitor, which I should really have finished off even faster - and earlier! The thematic answers were to have one letter replaced, and then to be altered in some other unspecified way. A good rule in cases like this is to consider the simplest options first. Sure enough, it fairly soon became clear that the second alteration was reversal, which has the right number of letters to match the “original letters, in clue order, spell” bit of the preamble. Reversing words ties with anagrams as probably the commonest tranformation used.
In notes below, BGPF = “barred grid puzzle favourite” - a well-used trick or one of those words that keep on coming up as answers.
If I’d done this puzzle on the day of publication, the preliminary round of the Times Championship might have been less stressful, as I’d probably have had DOME, which held me up, more prominent in my memory from the fourth thematic clue.
| Thematic - answer, version with letter replacement, after reversal |
| R |
RED RAG = “read rag”, GARDEN |
| E |
LES(t),SEE, VESSEL |
| V |
DE(R.,IV)ED, DESIRED |
| E |
DO(R)ME,R, RAMROD |
| R |
T.,RACER, RECANT |
| S |
STAMINA (2 mngs, inc. pl. of stamen), ANIMATE |
| A |
‘TI(A,R.A.)S, STRAIT |
| L |
S(LEND)ER., REDNESS |
|
| Across |
| 9 |
DAN(A)E - A mythological lady who must have been raped. Zeus is my guess for the perp. |
| 10 |
ST.,ELA(t)E - a C. look-up will confirm elate = elated. |
| 12 |
ERRORS - can’t quite understand the wordplay here - I can see hesitation = ER, before = OR (BGPF), and edge of ravines = R or S, but that only gives 5 of the 6 letters. Any offers? |
| 18 |
TOR(S)E - a Fr.-influenced spelling of torso. |
| 19 |
(s)ET,AGE - more Fr. |
| 23 |
SER.,RATED |
| 29 |
SET,A(g)E = bristles (BGPF) |
| 30 |
ENZED = New Zealand in the style of emcee = Master of Ceremonies - Z. in DENE rev. |
| |
| Down |
| 3 |
I,N(FIRM)ARY |
| 4 |
M,(n)ATTER |
| 5 |
TUR(A)N,DOT - the Puccini opera with “Nessun Dorma” in it |
| 7 |
T,E,REDO (BGPF) |
| 14 |
DIR(I,GIST)E = under state control |
| 16 |
T,RUE,LOVE |
| 20 |
G.R.,EASE - a nice contrast to Turandot! |
| 21 |
(l)EARNED |
| 24 |
A(NOA(h))S (BGPF) |
| 26 |
WEEN(y) - “I ween” for “I fancy/think” is somewhere in G & S to rhyme with another “-een” word. Not really useful information, just the way I discovered the word … - and no, I’m not a great fan of G & S either. |
Posted in Inquisitor | 2 Comments »
Posted by rightback on 20th October 2007
Solving time: 15 mins, one missing (3dn)
Another puzzle with an epic answer, this time 14 words long (perhaps certain compilers at the Guardian are having a bit of a competition?), and beautifully integrated with all the parts symmetrically placed. I didn’t know the song, which made the whole puzzle a difficult solve for me, not assisted by initial wrong answers at 22dn and 27dn and a knowledge gap at 3dn.
Music: The ‘theme’ song linked to below is pretty dreadful, so 15dn wins: It Takes Two by Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across |
| 10 |
HELL + O - 666 is the Devil’s number. |
| 11 |
TAIGA; “TIGER” - I think Colchester Zoo has a ‘Tiger Taiga’. |
| 13 |
MAYFAIR; “MAY FARE” (’could do’) |
| 14 etc |
IF I SAID YOU HAD A BEAUTIFUL BODY WOULD YOU HOLD IT AGAINST ME? (cryptic definition) - a song by the Bellamy Brothers, apparently from a quote by Groucho Marx. |
| 19 |
SUE, from USE (= ‘employment’) |
| 20 |
‘TWEEN; TWEE (= ’showing sentimentality’) + [mila]N - hard clue with a very well disguised definition (”Inter [Milan]…”). |
| 22 |
BAKLAVA; “BACK” + LAVA |
| 26 |
STAIR; A[dult] in STIR (= prison). |
| 28 |
[a]UNTIE[s] |
| Down |
| 1 |
A BIT THIN (two defs, one cryptic) |
| 2,4 |
FAMILY AFFAIR (cryptic definition) - I was stuck on this and only resolved the top left by postulating BEAUTIFUL at 9ac. |
| 3 |
OTTAVA RIMA; rev. of (Mira + VAT + TO) + A - a type of verse in poetry, I didn’t know it and guessed ’straba sina’ which just about fits the wordplay, provided you accept that ‘rising’ can be an anagram indicator. |
| 5 |
FLE(A BIT)E |
| 7 |
FL (= ‘floruit’ = ‘flourished’) + A TRACE |
| 13 |
MARRY (double definition) |
| 15 |
IT TAKES TWO; (KEATS TO WIT)* |
| 18 |
BOU(QUE)TS |
| 22 |
BET + IDE - I originally wrote in ‘betray’ here which I knew wasn’t quite right, but it fit the wordplay so well I didn’t stop to think. This made solving the long song title a real struggle. ‘Beautiful bear’? ‘Beautiful boat’? ‘Beautiful beak’? |
| 23 |
ABACUS; AC in A BUS |
| 24/8 |
YOUR MOVE (two defs) |
| 25 |
O + V(ERR)IDE - ‘overrule’ didn’t help me here. |
Posted in Guardian | No Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 20th October 2007
Very Nimrod. I’m fairly sure all the answers are right but I have my doubts about 8A and 4D is still a mystery to me.
| Across |
| 1 |
CHIMER - which is a type of robe worn by a bishop, apparently. |
| 4 |
hidden in “grasshoppERS AT Zurich” - excellent clue, not least because Grasshoppers are actually a Zurich-based team. |
| 8 |
DITONE - don’t know if this is right but can’t see what else it could be. Full clue is: “Compound of two elements from one above”. One of the “above” answers in CHIMER and a DITONE is a musical term meaning “of two tones” |
| 9 |
NO NEARER - or “none are r” so “presumably everyone’s left”. |
| 10 |
COCK,TAILS,TICK |
| 12 |
AUTOGRAPH HUNTER - I think this is meant to be a misleading cryptic def: “The cove after the sign”. Doesn’t do much for me I’m afraid. |
| 15 |
WHISTLER’S MOTHER - another one that went completely over my head. The Stubbs/artist reference, plus a few checking letters suggested WHISTLER for the first part of the answer and “dam” suggested MOTHER but the phrase meant nothing to me. Over to Google then, which revealed that “Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist’s Mother” is a painting by Whistler. |
| 19 |
SWAN SONG - for this one, you have to look at “penchant” cryptically - a “pen” is a female SWAN and a “chant” is a SONG. The somewhat loose definition is “work - at last”. |
| 21 |
[pan]SYSTEM - “love-in-idleness” is another name for the pansy, so a supporter might be a “pansy stem”. |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
IN,C in CHOUGH - I think I’ve got the wordplay right here as I can’t see how else it would work. CHINCOUGH is an archaic term for “whooping cough”. My only quibble with this is, if this word appeared in an Azed or similar puzzle, we would expect to see some sort of indication that the word was archaic, but the clue doesn’t contain any. Or am I being unduly harsh? |
| 3 |
(MORALE REFLECTOR)* - ELECTORAL REFORM. I think this is supposed to be an &lit but it seems to be stretching things a bit. Am I missing something subtle? |
| 4 |
(WHY IN AGREEMENTS)* - ERNEST HEMINGWAY. Completely baffled by this one. I got the answer from the checking letters at which point it was obvious that it was an anagram but I have two questions: where’s the anagram indicator and where’s the definition? I know that Hemingway committed suicide but that’s the only connection I can find. The full clue is “Why in agreements suicide is a possibility”. |
| 5 |
AM in SWI - I hope those of you living outside the capital knew that the postcode for Victoria is SW1. |
| 7 |
(SIR DEPLORING A)* - SNAIL PORRIDGE. One of Heston Blumenthal’ wackier creations. The recipe is here if you fancy having a go yourself. An unusual clue which contains anagram fodder, then anagrind (”cooked”), then a definition (”dish”) and finally, another bit of wordplay (”slow time”). |
| 11 |
CUT[-e] |
| 13 |
VE in NOT PRO,N - “Am presumably” is NOT PRO (a ref to Pro-Am sport). |
| 14 |
(NAPLES THE)* - ELEPHANTS. The words “with assistance from” seem to be there to make the clue read better but some might consider it padding. |
| 16 |
IDA(-HO) |
| 18 |
G AND T - only just spotted the wordplay for this: “Essence of lonG Term…”. |
Posted in Independent | 10 Comments »