Posted by NealH on 19th November 2007
| Across |
| 9 |
Capo: Truman Capote (US writer) - TE (note from doh, re..) |
| 10 |
Metalloidal: (made a lot ill)*. Tricky word. |
| 13 |
Octopod: Initial letters running backwards. Also some & lit because the Davy Jones in the Pirates films looks like an octopus. |
| 15 |
Chromo: (Mr Choo)*. Had to confirm this from the dictionary - apparently it’s short for chromolithograph. |
| 17 |
Tightrope Walker: Cryptic def. |
| 20 |
Al Anon: Alan (Partridge, mock radio presenter created by Steve Coogan) + “on”. Short for “alcoholics anonymous”. |
| 22 |
Fold: Wasn’t completely confident on this - some sort of cryptic definition based on sheepfold. |
| 26 |
Spin: Nips backwards. Another one which required a trip to the dictionary - spinning is apparently a metod of fishing. |
| 27 |
Dry cleaner: Hard-liner (”dry” as in “wet and dry”) + “one who does for” (cleaner, slang for hit man) |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
Epee: Fencer’s second (e) + pee (slash being slang for urinate) |
| 4 |
Calico: C + Ali (Cassius Clay’s later name) + co |
| 6 |
Crayon: “Ray” (Winstone - actor) inside “con” |
| 7 |
Backpacking: Pack (rugby forwards) inside “backing”. Since was obvious early on that it started “back”, the presence of “forward” in the clue made this quite misleading. |
| 12 |
Original sin: Didn’t quite get this. It doesn’t seem to be formed from wordplay, so I assume it’s just a cryptic def. I suppose the original sin is the model for all others. |
| 15 |
Cuttlefish: “Cut” + “felt” backwards + “ish” |
| 20 |
Anneal: Didn’t get this apart from “temper” = “anneal” |
| 23 |
Orca: “Orc” (goblin from Lord of the Rings) + “a”. Orca is another word for a killer whale. |
| 24 |
Knee: Knee(sups) |
Posted in Independent | 8 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 19th November 2007
I felt this was Rufus at his worst to be honest. There were too many long anagrams and too many unconvincing cryptic defs (yes, I realize this judgement is in the eye of the beholder). That said most surface readings were coherent and sensible which is often the first thing that is compromised in a bad puzzle.
Across
| 9 |
COLDS,NAP |
| 10 |
CAIRNS - two meanings (fortunately I’m in the middle of a book about the S. Pole and as we know Scott’s last tent is under a rather large CAIRN now). |
| 12 |
CELEBATIONS - (Cabinet’s role)* — first long anag. |
| 15 |
ELEVEN=”team”-PLUS=”advantage” - again fortunately we emigrated from England about a week before I was to take the ELEVEN-PLUS |
| 17 |
PEP=rev(PEP) - … and I thought to “go both ways” was a sexual allusion! |
| 19 |
TEA=”tee” - unambiguous infix homophone since the form “X, homophone-indicator ‘for’ Y” implies Y is the answer. |
| 20 |
CONTRAVENE - next long anag: (Covenanter)* |
| 22 |
SEMI-DETACHED - (Cheam, its deed)* - oh, another long anagram. |
| 26 |
UNREAL - (neural*) - haven’t had an anag in a while. |
| 28 |
GALOSH - actually a fairly reasonable cryptic def. |
| 29 |
ALLERGY - (gallery)* and an anag to end the across clues. |
Down
| 2 |
[Jul]Y,ALE |
| 3 |
ANSWERED - (news, dear)* — lost count of the anags by now. |
| 4 |
TRAC=rev(cart),E |
| 6 |
S(CAT)TY - didn’t know that SCATTY meant “wild”. |
| 7 |
BIRD OF PREY - a shallow cryptic def — you’re meant to think of Roberto Carlos or David Beckham I suppose. |
| 8 |
LAST, SU(P)PER - quite a complex clue for a Rufus actually: 13 here isn’t a cross-ref but Jesus + the other 12 at the LAST SUPPER (”meal for 13″). |
| 11 |
PROUST - (stupor)*. |
| 13 |
GETTYSBURG - almost a straight def with a slight touch of misdirection since it could have referred to a place rather than a speech. |
| 14 |
RED ADMIRAL - (Real Madrid)* — it’s a butterfly. |
| 18 |
BASE,BA=rev(AB),L,L - |
| 21 |
IDEALS - (ladies)* |
| 23 |
CO,CO,A - I rather liked this clue actually. |
| 25 |
EDGY - another good clue: two meanings. |
Posted in Guardian | 9 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 19th November 2007
I don’t time myself when solving crosswords. I know I’m not very fast compared to most other people on this blog, and frankly it’s a bit late to start doing that now. However I can normally assess a crossword’s difficulty by the number of pints it takes (and whether or not I need a little lie-down before finishing it).
This one was a 1 pint crossword - a fast solve for those of us familiar with the style.
But unfortunately mistakes creep in when I slap in answers in willy-nilly (see 9 Down).
| Across |
| 1 |
CRUDITY - CRUD-IT-Y Y is our “unknown quantity”
Despite getting this quickly on first sight I’m giving this one my favourite clue award for its excellent surface reading. Full clue:
Filth, sex and unknown quantity of vulgarity (7) |
| 5 |
HAND JOB - “Worker” “Duty” |
| 10/7/18 |
ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER - This was one of those answers that became clear after a few crossing letters and I admit I didn’t check the anagram until writing this blog (AIR CONDITIONERS FITTED D T E)* Anyway, surely it’s ADHD now (got to get Hyperactivity in there y’know) |
| 11 |
FAFF - FA(lsta)FF |
| 12 |
STANSTED - (DNA TESTS)* |
| 13 |
UNCOOL - U-(COLON)* |
| 14 |
STRESS - (TOSSERS)* without the O |
| 17 |
ERECTION - An erection in an answer rather than a clue! ELECTION becomes ERECTION after “changing political bias” from Left to Right |
| 21 |
MANURE - MAN-URE : “Crew” ; “Midge” Ure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midge_Ure |
| 23 |
CONDOM - CON-(MOD<) |
| 24 |
TUMESCES - TUM-(SEES C)* |
| 27 |
STYE - Hidden in “buSTY Eve” |
| 28 |
SMACK-HEAD - “Swipe” “loaf” The last I filled in. I found the hyphenation misleading. Now I’ve checked I find smack-head is at least as common as smackhead |
| 29 |
UPGRADE - UP-GRADE Ref Michael Grade “The most popular Media Mogul in Britain” (That’s what is says here: http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/tvheroes/michael_grade.php ) |
| 30 |
ORATORY - O-R-A TORY O from “Sod all” i.e. Nothing |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
REACT - (ER<)-ACT |
| 3 |
DETENTE - TENT inside DEE for “comedian” Ref Jack Dee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Dee |
| 4 |
TENET - TEN-ET Seems to me E.T. is being increasingly used as “film” in clues |
| 6 |
AD NAUSEAM - (SAUNA MADE)* Cyclops could have made reference to the longstanding Private Eye feature of that name |
| 8 |
OFF COLOUR - Not so much a Double-Definition as a “1 and 2 halves” Definition as “Blue” could define OFF and COLOUR separately. Full clue is just:
Blue sick (3,6) |
| 9 |
PIDDLE - P for Parking; FIDDLE for scam; Fellow goes so lose the F.
I can see that now as I come back to blog it, but I find I originally wrote in FIDDLE. What was I thinking of? Full clue:
Parking scam fellow goes for a piss (6)
I think in my haste I saw “Parking scam” as the definition and “fellow goes for a piss” as somehow PIDDLE with F instead of P |
| 15 |
THIN ON TOP - (HINT NO)* TOP (Chest) One of those nice definitions: “much less of a shock” |
| 16 |
SODOMISED - CD - That kind of stern |
| 19 |
OLD DEAR - (DILDO)* minus the I then EAR |
| 20 |
RATBAG - RAT-(GAB<) Rabbit as in talk |
| 22 |
NO SWEAT - “Objection” “Labour” |
| 25 |
MAKER - MA(r)KER |
| 26 |
ELDER - (w)ELDER |
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | No Comments »