Posted by ilancaron on 22nd October 2007
A typical balanced Rufus opus with sensible surfaces and no cryptic definition overdose. And pleasantly not a rugby reference in sight. My last clue was 24A since my only exposure to opera so far has been via this medium.
Across
| 9 |
ARM,AD(ILL)O |
| 10 |
ETHER=there* - anag &lit referring what puts you out at the dentist (well, once upon a time). |
| 11 |
TEN,ANTS - “in occupation” refers to where they live, not what they do. |
| 14 |
PEN,NILE,SS - our river is the NILE and our steamer is SS. |
| 16 |
QUESTION MASTERS - indeed a good answer to the question “what should obedient servants never do?” |
| 19 |
EARTHWARD - (hard water)* |
| 21 |
BA,THE - slightly subtle since our Bacheor is of the Arts in this case. |
| 22 |
BIRETTA - (a bitter)* - Catholic headgear and must be beer in some European language I would think, providing an &lit feel. |
| 24 |
MELBA - ref. the opera singer Nellie MELBA (only ever met by me in crypticland). |
| 25 |
DE(FAULT)ER - FAULT in rev(reed). |
Down
| 2 |
AM(ENA)BLE |
| 3 |
O,DENSE - Danish port |
| 5 |
HOPPING MAD - amusing cryptic def |
| 6 |
NEAR MISS - nice clue since NEAR is “mean” (in the stingy sense) and MISS is “error”. |
| 8 |
[m]ORAL - m for “marks”, which is dropped from MORAL for “proper” to get a type of exam. |
| 14 |
PROPAGANDA - (OAP, Grandpa)* — the only weakish surface in this set of clues. |
| 15 |
SUSPENDERS - yes, that’s what braces are called here. |
| 17 |
TA(HITIA)N |
| 18 |
ENTR(EAT)Y |
| 20 |
RA,RELY- RA is our Royal Academician (aka an artist) again. |
| 21 |
BASQUE - turns out it’s a kind of bodice as well. |
| 22 |
BUMP[kin] - nice clue: at first I had BEAT[nik] but I couldn’t reverse nik. |
| 23 |
IFFY - first letters. Nice clue — though acrostics must be slightly easier to construct given the minimal constraints. |
Posted in Guardian | 1 Comment »
Posted by neildubya on 22nd October 2007
| Across |
| 6 |
EVA< in STS - “Mrs Peron” made this a very easy clue but “bars” was an ambiguous definition in the phrase “street’s bars”. |
| 9 |
REC,(PIE)* |
| 10 |
U,N in NEARED |
| 11 |
IF in FE - a reminder that it’s useful for cryptic solvers to have a smattering of chemical symbols committed to memory. In this case: “Fe” is iron. |
| 12 |
(THE LAST FEE)* - fairly easy anagram to spot and solve. |
| 13 |
VAMPIRE BAT - cryptic def. |
| 16 |
E,XI,T - nice clue, with a (usually) apt surface reading. |
| 19 |
R,PEN,T in SEINE |
| 20 |
E,R,C in WA[-i]TRESS - the clue is a bit of a mouthful but it reads nicely and is cryptically sound. |
| 23 |
B OR N - when I solved this I thought the wordplay was (BR[ight]ON)* and I remember thinking it wasn’t a very good clue as it was a bit vague and there was no anagrind. I was obviously wrong about all that. |
| 24 |
FAMILIA[L for R] |
| 25 |
hidden in “minstREL ENTertainer” |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
CIDER (going up) in PATE - I was a bit surprised to see CIDER actually appear in the clue (albeit reversed), although it’s just as well that it did as I wasn’t having any luck thinking of 5 letter alternatives for it. |
| 3 |
hidden in “zebRA IS Extinct” - “of” is the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hidden indicator. |
| 4 |
REEF in TERNS - I hit upon TERNS for “sea-birds” fairly quickly but didn’t see REEF for “sandbank” for a good while after that. |
| 7 |
MEN in A,GREET |
| 14 |
(PET STORE I)* - POTTERIES. |
| 15 |
RT<,E,A,SURE,R - an excellent clue and a very neat bit of deception here as the surface reading makes you think of Neville Chamberlain. However, a chamberlain is a TREASURER of a corporation or company. Here’s the full clue, for those that haven’t seen the puzzle: “Chamberlain was right to return having obtained peace finally and a certain end to war“. Great stuff. |
| 21 |
A,G,APE - which can mean “Christian, brotherly love”. |
| 23 |
L,S in BAA |
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 22nd October 2007
This issue brought us the usual fare in the style we come to expect from our optically-challenged friend.
| Across |
| 7 |
NEIGHBOURS - (IGNORE BUSH)* I liked “soft” as the anagrind |
| 8 |
GSOH - G(OS<)H Golly Gosh |
| 11 |
OASIS - I take it Cyclops has no time for the Mancunian brothers … |
| 12 |
KRAY TWINS - (TIRY WANKS)* TIRY from “Tory (one for love)” … whereas these east-end hard men get away with only being described as “villains” |
| 13 |
YUMMY MUMMIES - DD I can’t be the only person that finds this phrase particularly disrespectfully obscene, almost predatory |
| 17 |
OUTBACK - DD I stupidly stratched in OUTSIDE at first. Outback is more correct as most pubs insist that our yellow-fingered leper class stay out of sight rather than cluttering up the entrance and putting off new punters with a wall of fug. |
| 19 |
DESERVE - DES Lynam (n)ERVE “cheek going topless” |
| 20 |
AMERICANISED - (CIA’s remained)* Nice anagram but the definition gave it away quite easily |
| 23 |
BRAZIL NUT - You certainly need crackers for these. I briefly wondered if other 6-letter “lands” have eponymous nuts but my pencilled in Brazil fitted all that followed. |
| 25 |
DODGE - DD with surprisingly misleading clue surface |
| 26 |
SAKE - S.A.E. “used to mail back” about K “end of dicK. Use of “back” in a clue often misdirects me to consider a reversal when it isn’t.” |
| 27 |
NO-NONSENSE - I don’t understand the theatre reference here. Full clue:
“Theatre-balls” is eminently sensible (2-8)
Fgbp points out that “Theatre” refers to Japanese NO(h) Theatre |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
UNHOLY ROW - I think this is a single cryptic definition. There probably isn’t but this clue feels like there’s more to it. Full clue:
One of the Church’s distinctly non-Christian internal wrangles? (6,3) |
| 2 |
FIRST MATE - First “No. 1″ MATE(s) “Condoms when end removed”
You’ve got to hand it to Beardy for that brand name. It’s become synonymous with the merchandise within a few years. |
| 3 |
CHESTY - DD. Hawking as in spitting, not the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge. We had this ploy recently didn’t we? |
| 4 |
COCKSUCKER - SUCK “Hoover” in COCKER “Dog”. Looks like Cyclops has been hobnobbing with the screenwriters of Deadwood again. |
| 5 |
ORCA - OR (AC<) The Killer whale |
| 6 |
THIS - (SHIT)* This over ‘ere not that over there. The anagram seems very familiar |
| 10 |
STRESS - Is “20% of Semen” for S stretching it a bit? Makes a change from “leading” or “initial” I suppose. |
| 14 |
MEDICATION - (COMEDIAN)* around IT “sex” |
| 15/23 |
PRESIDENT BUSH - CD I had to have most of the crossing letters before I saw this |
| 16 |
BEADY EYES - E(rection)-Yes |
| 18 |
ARMPIT - “Member” ARM ; “mine” PIT |
| 21 |
NUDIST - (NUTS)* around DI “Car crash victim” |
| 22/9 |
JACK SHIT - JACK (Straw) SHI(f)T It took me a while to see the construction here. |
| 24 |
NOOK - (Brow)N; “round” O; “authorise” OK. Nice surface. |
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 2 Comments »