Posted by tilsit on 7th November 2007
Solving Time: 15 minutes
Dear Diary
Woke up to doorbell ringing, stumbled downstairs and found delivery man with nice box of goodies from Amazon. New Bradford’s plus the new set of Guardian compilers’ books and some Christmas pressies for friends.
Impressed with new Bradfords, finish Azed with it. Look through Guardian books. Well done Prof Hugh, nice idea with good introductions from the setters. More please!
Take self to clinic for leg lagging and treat self to lunch. Finish Times and Enigmatist, over lunch, am sure there’s something I need to do.
Get home, snooze, suddenly wake up, remember what I had forgotten. To blog today’s Indy!
Spend 1 hour trying to find a copy of the Indy, eventually get one at Luddendenfoot Newsagent, having tried over half a dozen others.
Get home,knackered, do crossword, finish setting questions for tonight’s Todmorden Quiz League matches, put them into secure envelopes and now….
ACROSS (* = ANAGRAM (CD) = cryptic def (R) = Reversal)
1 SLOPED OP inside DEL’S (R) DEL = Del-Boy Trotter from Only Fools & Horses
5 HEADCASE HEAD (Take charge of) + CASE (Criminal Investigation)
9 GOING OVERBOARD D Def
10 STEP DOWN NOW DEPT’S*
11 REBUFF R.E. BUFF (Expert on Religious Education)
12 FOR CERTAIN FORCE + R + TA + IN
16 STAB ST + AB On is used as in “on the end of”
18 CRIMEAN WAR This held me up as I thought it had to be “Israeli War” Then realised it was CRIME + ANWAR (Sadat)
20 APERCU Hidden answer
22 LIGAMENT Good clue GAME = injured inside LINT
24 REPORTED SPEECH PROPHET’S DECREE*
25 UNITEDLY TUNE IDLY*
DOWN
2 LIGHTS OUT WINDOWS = Lights
3 PRIAPIC Oo-er Mrs! PRIA(M) + PIC
4 DOGGO G inside GOOD*
5 HAVING A FIELD DAY (CD)
6 AIR FRANCE R inside AFRICAN* + E
7 CLOBBER L inside COBBER
8 SERIF SERF with I inside
13 RECOUNTED Dbl def
15 STAUNCHER Dbl def STAUNCH as in to stop bleeding
19 NUMBERS (CD)
21 PREEN Down as in feathers. (CD)
23 GAPER An Only In Crossword Land Word - GASPER minus S. Does anyone use the word now?
Thanks to Dac for an enjoyable puzzle, which demonstrates good elegant clue writing.
Now to go and play question-master!
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
Posted by John on 7th November 2007
Solving time : Not sure because I got my stopwatch wrong, but it was quite long before I understood everything and even now I’m not sure about one or two.
Cinephile’s crosswords tend to have a theme, but I can’t see one.
| Across |
| 1 |
DELIVER THE GOODS. 2 defs, one the literal meaning, one the metaphorical one. This seems to be a standard way of clueing these long expressions, because it is easy to do and usually leads to a nice clue. The Times often does it. |
| 9 |
VI(C not R)TUAL. I found this difficult, but I think “generated by computer” is “virtual” and “with its first for its last” means that C (the first letter of computer) replaces R (the last …). To victual is to supply with food. |
| 11 |
DEN CH. I’m used to doing The Times, which doesn’t refer to living people (except the Queen I think), so this was not immediately obvious, although the wordplay is simple enough. |
| 13 |
NEW MARKET. A bit doubtful about “with horses?” for the racecourse, but perhaps there’s something &lit. going on here. |
| 15 |
Hidden, very well. Excellent surface. |
| 16 |
The Cheddar GORGE. |
| 18 |
I think this is GO(NET)OSE A, but am less than comfortable with “A” for “first”, if that’s what it is. |
| 20 |
L (SPIRIT)* CE. |
| 24 |
(HAT)* WART. |
| 25 |
The two writers are PEN and DANTE. |
| 26 |
HIPPO C RAT I COAT H, def. “thing for medics to take”. |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
(LAD V GIANT DO I HAD)*. A nice &lit. except for the “I had”. |
| 2 |
I hadn’t realised that LUCKNOW is an Indian capital, but it’s the capital of Uttar Pradesh. |
| 3 |
VOUCH SAFE, def. “Deign”. “guarantee” (which is in the Chambers definition but obs.) is a red herring and part of the wordplay. |
| 5 |
I’m not sure about this. It seems to be HO(T BUTT)ON, an expression I’d never heard which means “highly charged issue”, so that’s OK, but I can’t justify “hoon”, which doesn’t apparently mean “whip”. Was or is Geoffrey Hoon a government whip? |
| 6 |
GEN(I)US. A genus is “a taxonomic group … consisting of closely related species…”. Good clue. |
| 7 |
O PINION. |
| 8 |
STRIKE A B(A DP)ATCH. |
| 14 |
(GREEK)* round BIT T, def. drink. A nice clue. “Greek characters” immediately misled me into thinking of the Greek alphabet. |
| 15 |
CAT A TONIC. I think “that cheers one up” is “tonic” and “from” means “leading on from”. |
| 19 |
2 defs. I suppose “princess” is just about OK, since one of the meanings of “sultana” is “a sultan’s daughter”. |
| 21 |
(ALP)rev. TO, not helped by my misreading “after” as “alter”. |
| 22 |
EXPAT(I ATE). |
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by smiffy on 7th November 2007
I solved this one much later in the day than usual, which could well be the reason that it didn’t really float my boat as much as a typical Neo offering does. I ended up stumped on 16D for several minutes at the end, but a sense of blog-worthy conscientiousness (or stubbornness?) got me over the line in the end.
Across
1 FIDDLER C(R)AB - Nero being the infamous Roman violinist.
9 R(ARE)R (era)rev - RR=Rolls Royce
10 WASTELAND (Dante’s law)* - a nice attempt at linking two poets, although the surface reading seems to suffer as a consequence.
11 ER,N(EST)INE - Never had the privilege of meeting an Ernestine, although I’m sure that most are of at least Edwardian vintage (or are at Swiss finishing schools).
12 DO,ONE - The second FT clue reference to Lorna Doone that I’ve blogged in recent weeks!
15/18 LOIS LANE (No allies)* - Has Superman been demoted from Superhero to mere “hero” status?
23 STATE - double def.
24 TREN(DIES)T - Very slick, even if it’s a little indirect; “drowns”=dies in River T.
25 CRO(MA(G)N)ON
26 V(IO)LA(-d) - Vlad seems to have the “Impaler” market pretty much sewn up, or maybe he just had a good PR agent….
28 E,FT - Just don’t ask me what the definition’s getting at.
Down
1/2 FOR,CES OF DARKNESS (fen across desk)*
4 RAW,HIDE
6 BREAD LINE (Eden Blair)* - a neat working of “earns a crust” into the definition part, even though it’s a bit of a giveaway.
14 ON A(VERA)GE(-r) - I didn’t know onager in the sense of “war machine”.
16 T(A,K,ER)OOT - I would dispute that “blast”=toot; to my mind the former is associated with road-raging White Van Men, while the latter is the kind of friendly salute of the horn given by a friend as they pull out of your driveway. Coupled with the two contrasting notations in “royal couple”= K+ER, this was a tricky clue.
17/5 BERTRAND RUS,SELL (Bard returns)* - again, a bit of a rum surface reading.
20 OCEANIC (Cocaine)* - I refer the Rt Hon Member to the comment I made a few moments ago.
21 PSYCHE - double def.
25 DEVIL (lived)rev.
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 7th November 2007
Only fools would agree to blog a puzzle with such a parochial Britcom theme. Having said that, I’ve actually seen an episode or two here and there but I had to invoke the relevant wikipedia article“Only Fools and Horses”. The penny dropped when I had three or so crossing letters for (28, 7) — then, in a flash, out came wikipedia.
Across
| 8 |
ROBIN - two meanings, ref. Del Boy’s Reliant ROBIN (though I thought it was a Regal — at least according to wikipedia). |
| 9 |
CASSANDRA - She’s Rodney’s girlfriend and I suppose ref. mythological CASSANDRA whose prophecies turned out to be right later? Far better explanation than my mythological version: CRASS,AND,A with the R (right) moved later! |
| 10, 23 |
UNCLE ALBERT - Del Boys’ UNCLE and I suppose ref. pawnshop. |
| 12 |
[b]RAQUE,L - one of the few thematic clues that I managed to solve before I knew the theme: ref. Georges Braque the cubist and RAQUEL, not the cubist, Del Boy’s girlfriend (?). |
| 16 |
MARLENE - don’t understand the wordplay: “One in 28 7 finding Di’s getting force in 4″ where 4 is GET RICH. |
| 19 |
TRIGGER - two meanings, ref. supporting character. |
| 22 |
B,AND,AGER - rather awkward clue I think: AGER for “one getting on” and “binder” for BANDAGER are somewhat weak. |
| 25 |
BET,IDE |
| 27 |
H-BOMB - hidden rev |
| 28, 7 |
ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES - “… work for a living” |
| 29 |
ORDER - actually a good clue: two quite different uses of ORDER. |
| 30 |
LAMINA,TOR - rev(rot,animal): slightly awkward surface not meaning much. |
Down
| 1 |
ANKAR=”anchor”,A - my first clue: it’s a capital of a nation so we’re OK there and A for “area”. |
| 2 |
T(HE S,K)ULL - I rather like this clue (perhaps because “brainbox” reminded me of yesterday’s egghead and bra clue in The Times). ref. Jethro TULL who I always thought was a rock group until I saw the exhibit in the Science Museum. |
| 3 |
B(RUN)EL - Ref. BEL (which a decibel must be a tenth thereof) and BRUNEL University somewhere in Britain. |
| 4 |
G,ET RICH=thrice* - It’s a recurring theme in OFAH (much like nothing is the theme of Seinfeld). See below to see how this is ref. MARLENE Dietrich. |
| 5 |
ROD,NEY=rev(yen) - Del Boy’s brother. |
| 6 |
B(ILL)Y-O - Brit slang for “a lot or very quickly, strongly”. And I’m guessing that BYO stands for “Bring Your Own [alcohol]“. |
| 11 |
US[h]ER |
| 14 |
JOG - run’s the def but the wordplay: “Run the first steps to the most northerly mainland point?” Pointed out below that JOG is short for John O’Groats. |
| 15 |
BAR - triple meaning |
| 16 |
MOB - two meanings: a MOB is a type of bonnet as well. |
| 17 |
RUN - two meanings (ref. cricket — wouldn’t work in baseball since a single only gets you to first base). |
| 18 |
NAGS - you kind of have to know that the pub in OFAH is “The NAG’S Head”. |
| 20 |
GO TOO FAR - another hidden rev in: “LecheR AFOOT, OGling…” |
| 21 |
GRAND,AD - the two brothers’ grandfather (replaced by Uncle Albert later). |
| 24 |
DAMIEN - I think this is Del’s son. Little puzzled by the wordplay: Enigmatist should be ME or I, or I’M or I’M A. So… DA(M(I)E)N would have DAN = study which should be DEN. What else works? Could be D(AM’I)EN but how is is the reversal indicated? Conrad points out that the 2nd interpretation doesn’t need a reversal indicator! |
| 25 |
B(O,YCI=rev(icy))E - Del’s pal. Strained surface due to convoluted wordplay. |
| 26 |
D(ELBO[w])Y[ear] - the main character in OFAH , where D is Roman 500. |
Posted in Guardian | 18 Comments »