Posted by tilsit on 5th November 2007
Solving Time: 10 minutes
Nice, pleasant start to the week. Nothing too challenging. 5 down being my last entry.
ACROSS (* = ANAGRAM; (CD) = Cryptic definition; (R) REVERSAL
1 REVEAL A inside REVEL
5 ROLY POLY (CD) - Anyone remember the Roly Polys on TV? They were a team of “experienced” and lager dancers who appeared on Les Dawson’s show.
9 BUTTERED UTTER (say) in BED (with the ‘in’ coming from the phrased retired, ie in bed. Some will like it, some won’t.
10 MUNICH I in MUNCH
11 A PIECE OF CAKE Double def.
13 FOCI OF (R) + CI (101 in Roman numerals)
14 TONSURES (CD) - The hairstyle favoured by some monks.
17 ADHESION SO HE AND I*
18 NOEL LEON* (TROTSKY)
20 BEAT A RETREAT (CD)
23 ODDS ON ODD + SON
24 INDICTED INDICATED minus A
25 FRIED EGG FRIDGE E.G.*
26 RIDERS Double def
DOWN
2 EMUS WE MUST less first and last letters
3 EXTRADITE Is this a cryptic definition?
4 LARKIN LARK + IN
5 REDUCE TO NOTHING ”Love” as in the tennis sense.
6 LAMPOONS MP in SALOON*
7 PANIC PC with IN A (R) inside
8 LOCK KEEPER Dbl def. Locks refer to hair
12 ROAD MENDER (cd)
15 UNNOTICED CONTINUED*
16 MID RANGE DREAMING* - a new def on me, but I see how it work.
19 TENDER Dbl def.
21 TASTE Dbl def.
22 TEAR Dbl def.
Posted in Guardian | 10 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 5th November 2007
It’s just occurred to me that this blog is one year old this week (I can’t remember our exact birthday; it might be the 7th). I’d like to thank bloggers and readers alike for helping us get to where we are today and for all your words of encouragement and support along the way.
But what I’d really like to know is: how’s it been for you? How and when did you find us and how often do you visit here? Would you change anything - is there anything you’d like us to do or something you want us to stop doing?
Don’t be shy now…
Posted in Admin | 14 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 5th November 2007
| Across |
| 1 |
K in (PEARLS)*,R - SPARKLER. Got this straight off, and all of the other thematic answers followed soon after. |
| 10/5 |
(LAND)* in ROMANCE - ROMAN CANDLE. The last thematic answer I got and possibly the most disappointing of all fireworks. They seem to promise much but hardly ever deliver. |
| 12 |
UN,FREEZE - sounds like “frieze”. |
| 13 |
[-c]OX-EYE - my only quibble with this is that “pays attention” would surely lead to EYES rather than EYE? |
| 17 |
GUIDEPOST - I filled in GUIDEBOOK without thinking too much as I scented a very fast solving time. I had a feeling it wasn’t right though, which 8D later confirmed. |
| 18/20A |
(RACHEL WHITE NEE)* - a really good anagram and indicator (”Wild”) but I can’t help thinking that the clue would have been so much better with a different definition rather than the thematic phrase “attractive thing” as, once you’ve got one of the other thematic clues, it immediately gives the game away. |
| 22/25/14/11 |
(H-HELP HER A PURLOINED CIGARETTE BUTT)* - LIGHT THE BLUE TOUCHPAPER AND RETIRE. I didn’t bother to work out the anagram for this as the enumeration and definition were enough. |
| 26 |
SHINE in PUSS |
| 28 |
ROCK,ET |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
M in A DIN |
| 8 |
EVEN in (THEY’LL) - ELEVENTHLY. Not an obvious word but the wordplay is clear enough. |
| 9 |
HE’S in A DIVE - deceptive clue, especially the definition “tacky” as part of the phrase “joint that’s low and tacky”. I knew that HE could be “ambassador” but at the time I couldn’t remember why. It stands for His (or Her) Excellency. |
| 16 |
EXTR[-a],IN,[mu]SIC[al] - I liked “loses footing” to indicate dropping a final letter. |
| 17 |
G,HILL,IE,S - I knew the word but didn’t know what it meant. Filled it in quite confidently though as the wordplay was straightforward. |
| 20 |
A,TT in WAGE |
| 23 |
hidden reversed in “carrOTS UGh” - “can’t keep them down” was obviously irresistible but I’m not really sure it does the job of telling us what we’re supposed to do here. That said, it didn’t delay me in getting the answer. |
| 24 |
hidden in “licHEN NAturopath” |
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by jetdoc on 5th November 2007
When I first downloaded this one, it lacked a preamble. Having solved it without one (not boasting or anything!), I returned to the website, where a brief preamble had been added. The principle, also the answer to 10,17,12,18, is the second part of: “It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen” — a quotation from the physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr, himself (via a namesake) the answer to 13ac.
Accordingly, ten of the clues contain homophones in the definitions; I have marked the answers with *. Double quotation marks (“ ”) indicate ‘sounds like’.
(Some websites which carry this quotation confuse things by including a picture of OWH’s son, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, the Civil War hero and great American jurist.)
| Across |
| 1 |
ESPRIT DE CORPS — *(c prospered its). A strong esprit de corps might help a company to prosper. Nice &Lit clue. |
| 10,17,12,18 |
IT IS THE PRIVILEGE OF WISDOM TO LISTEN — *(so primitive with little good sense if). I just hope I’ve got the anagram right! |
| 11 |
PITFALL* — Dr Spooner might thus enunciate ‘fit pall’ (‘adjust curtain’). The definition is ‘whole’ = “hole” — a pitfall can mean ‘a lightly covered hole as a trap’. |
| 13 |
HOLMES* — Another Holmes was Watson’s (“What? Son’s”) partner. M (married) in ‘holes’. |
| 15 |
EVEN* — Eve + N (= northern). Definition: ‘fare’ = “fair”. |
| 16 |
SOUR GRAPES — Double definition. Why was this clued as one 10-letter word? |
| 19 |
INK BOTTLES — ‘in KS’ (KS is the international licence plate code for Kyrgyzstan), with ‘bottle’, a current buzzword in British politics, inside it. |
| 20 |
TIER* — R (‘deer ultimately’); after ‘tie’ = game (a match, esp one at any stage of a tournament in which the losers are eliminated). Definition: ‘roe’ = “row”. |
| 22 |
NEBRIS — Hidden in ‘fine bristle’. Nebris is ‘a fawn-skin worn by Bacchus and his votaries’. |
| 24 |
TOUCHING — ‘touch’ = pinch (maybe in the sense of ‘small quantity’); ‘in’ = trendy; G = girl. |
| 26 |
LAYETTE — ‘yet’ = still; wearing (surrounded by) ‘late’ = most recent. A layette is a baby’s complete set of clothing, so it might include more than one outfit. |
| 27 |
ALLHEAL — ‘Al’ = boy (one who often crops up in crossword clues); L = left; ‘heal’ = “heel”, which can mean (of a ship) ‘lean on one side’, or ‘list’. Unlike the ones in the ten thematic clues, the homophone here is indicated by ‘say’. Allheal is ‘the great valerian or other plant thought to have healing properties, e.g. self-heal’. |
| 28 |
TRANQUILLISED* — I like this clue. The definition is ‘made Serena’ = “made serener”. *(strain); clutching ‘quill’; ‘ed’ = little education. |
|
| Down |
| 2 |
SHIPWRECK — Someone may point out that this has been done before, but I can’t remember seeing it, and I think it’s a great clue. ‘Hips’, as an anagram of ‘ship’, could be called a ‘shipwreck’; and hands (the crew) may go down in such a catastrophe. |
| 3 |
RETUSE — This means ‘with the tip blunt and broadly notched’ — so ‘in the end, not very sharp’. By convention, compilers are first-person, hence ‘us’; and ‘rete’ is a network, e.g. of blood vessels or nerves. |
| 4 |
THECODONTS — Thecodonts were reptiles of the Triassic period, with teeth set in sockets. Wordplay is: ‘co don’ts’ = firm (company) prohibitions; following T = tense, he = male. The ‘for’ seems a bit incongruous — presumably it’s there to make the clue read more smoothly, but prohibitions are against things. |
| 5 |
ESPY* — ‘Es’ = Spain’s (E is the international licence plate code for Spain); ‘py’ = the extreme letters of ‘pretty’. Definition: ‘sea’ = “see”. |
| 6 |
OUTDOORS — ‘Not in’ is the definition. Wordplay is: ‘out’ = banned; the band is The Doors. |
| 7 |
PSALM* — ‘p.s.’ = ‘I forgot to mention’; ‘alm’ = a lot of ‘alms’. Definition: ‘him’ = “hymn”. |
| 8 |
DISOBEDIENTLY — *(led by sedition). Another neat and concise &Lit clue, with ‘performing’ as the anagram indicator. |
| 9 |
CLASS STRUGGLE* — Double definition, with slightly strained wordplay, I think. Students might it hard to struggle in class, and that might show up in their marks. The other definition includes ‘marks’ = “Marx”; but ‘shown by’ doesn’t quite seem to fit in that one. |
| 14 |
FREE FOR ALL — This refers to the previous clue, and I can’t see how it could be solved without the checking letters. |
| 21 |
OCELLI* — ‘ill Eco’ reversed. Umberto Eco (born January 5, 1932) is an Italian medievalist, semiotician, philosopher and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa) and his many essays. Ocelli are eye spots (= “ice pots”) — plural of ‘ocellus: a simple eye or eye-spot, distinguished from a compound eye, in insects and other lower animals; an eyelike or ringed spot of colour’. |
| 23 |
BOYARS* — R = rule, A, ‘yob’ = hooligan, all reversed. Definition: ‘no bull’ = “noble”. Boyars were members of the old Russian aristocracy next in rank to the ruling princes, before the reforms of Peter the Great. This came up as a quiz question, the day after I completed the puzzle, so I was able to impress with my erudition. |
| 25 |
ZEBU — Well, the zebu is a humped domestic ox (Bos indicus) closely related to the common ox, found throughout the Indian subcontinent, China, the east coast of Africa, etc.… and its name contains elements of the words ‘zebra’ and ‘gnu’… so it was pretty obvious. But the wordplay seems a bit tenuous to me. |
Posted in Guardian | 2 Comments »