Fifteensquared

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Archive for November 30th, 2007

Anagram Friday

Posted by Simply_Simon on 30th November 2007

Simply_Simon.

Not having been lucky enough to get a crossword to solve for a while I was slightly disappointed that this one was so undemanding. I got through it in under 8 minutes. Still it gave a gentle ending to the week, and it meant I didn’t wear out my brain before Saturday’s, which may well be more challenging!Across

1 S CRIB E - Crib within SE (South East) for Kent.

4 CAR PE T - PE being drill

9 SWAN (K) Swank is an old fashioned word for ostentation, the sort of term that would be used by Jennings, or, possibly, William Brown.

10 HE ELAND TO E E signifying Spain (Espagne)

11 Anagram

12 NEAR MI SS - anagram of marine , ss standing for ship.

13 ALIMENTAL - anagram, indicated by ’stew’.

16 SECT - select minus le.

17 AN CHOR IT E - ‘it in “an chore”. This was the first clue that I found interesting. It didn’t take long to get it, but it had a higher level of satisfaction in the solving than most of the others. An Anchorite is an early Christian hermit.

21 C OLD FEE T

22 TALL IS - a composer who pops up all the time in crosswords.

24 GRIN D S TONE The second clue to register on the satisfaction meter.

26 ENABLE - hidden in the clue.

27 ADD LED - for a moment I assumed total meant ‘all’ , rather than add.

Down

1 SAW BILL - reminded me of the persecuted man about whom prosecution notices are often seen.

3 B A H RAIN - brain round a H(ospital).

5 A VA TAR - originally the incarnation of a Hindu deity, now to most people it probably means the little icon that internet chatters use as an identifier when babbling messages across cyberspace.

6 PE DOME TER - I liked the definition of one that records the steps. Peter is the Tsar, and the dome is a vault.

7 TROTS KY.

8 REIN CAR NATION.

14 MACEDONIA anagram, the country is a republic in the Balkans.

16 S COURGE - nice definition, “pluck exorcising a” being cour(a)ge.

18 HO THE A D - a hod being a long handled box that bricklayers sling over their shoulder to carry bricks up ladders.

19 T AIL END.

20 W EASEL

23 L APE L ape being to imitate, and L standing for both 50, and Learner.

Posted in Guardian | 5 Comments »

Independent 6591/Eimi - Italian Job

Posted by neildubya on 30th November 2007

neildubya.

Nice puzzle from The Editor with a theme that revealed itself in two parts for me: first, cities then Italian cities. Plaudits for getting so many in, especially when so many of them end in awkward letters like I and O.

Across
7 F[LORE for RA]NCE
8 IN,I,MIR< - looks like the second I is indicated by A?
11 (LONG)* in BOA
12 even letters from “cAbOt’S aTlAs” - AOSTA was only town/city I didn’t know but it’s easy to get from the wordplay.
13 (LA PAZ IS E)* - not sure if LA is actually part of the anagram fodder, given that it appears in the clue and answer - not that it makes much difference. Liked the clue though.
16 OR,VIE,TO
19 AS,SIN in CO - I liked “comparatively ugly” for AS SIN (”ugly as sin” - geddit?)
21 C,(A GIRL)* in AI
29 BERGAMO[-t]
30 EN in VICE - an EN is half an em, which is a measurement in printing used for spacing.
 
Down
3 ARGAL[-i] in NEE[-d] - this was a guess as NEAR GALE was a new phrase to me and I’d also never heard of Argali sheep.
5 GI[-r]L,LIE - another spelling of Ghillie.
9 [-ta]IWAN - the last one I filled in and for a while I thought I wasn’t going to get it.
11 BA,SIC - a computer language, rather than a human one.
14 [-m]IDI - with I?I it can only really be IDI but I didn’t know what the garment was supposed to be, although Midi seemed plausible enough.
18 [OT for I]AGO
20 (MANAGERS)* - another guess. SEMARANG looked a bit more convincing than SAMERANG or SAMARENG, although all 3 look reasonable enough now I come to think of it. Better make that a lucky guess.
22 (CAROL I)* - I think I must have come across LORICA in another puzzle somewhere.
23 BOR[-e] in INN - this was very good. Here’s the clue: “Congenital dullard has 25% reduction for hotel accommodation”. It took me a while to split up “congenital dullard” and longer still to work out what “hotel accommodation” was all about.

Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »

Independent 6586/Nimrod (24-11-07)

Posted by neildubya on 30th November 2007

neildubya.

I know next to nothing about horse-racing so once I’d twigged the theme I had to use Google to check a couple of answers that I got from the wordplay (1a and 28a). There are still 4 clues that I don’t understand though.

Across
1 P,(SNEAKERS)* - the PREAKNESS Stakes is the second leg of the American TRIPLE CROWN. I’d never heard of it so had to confirm the word with some Googling.
6 EPS,OM - I think this may have been the clue which led me to cracking the theme.
10 IN FOR IT - FORINT is the standard unit of currency in Hungary. The wordplay asks us to move “note” = N to the front to get IN FOR IT.
15 TAKE in S,S - can’t see how SAS can be justified here, unless it’s to make the surface reading better
16 CATC-[h]ALL - I guess “without aspiration” means losing the H.
17/12/9 (WHODUNIT ON USA STAGE)* - TWO THOUSAND GUINEAS. Very good, and very deceptive clue.
18 INSURER - can’t work out the wordplay here. “I’ll guarantee second return of repeat and I’ll cover it”
20/24 TRIPLE CROWN - or this one: “17 Across versions are sweet, quiet (not loud, one half of China concludes…)
23 KENT,[-l]UCKY - even I’ve heard of the KENTUCKY DERBY.
26 ST[-y]LE,GER
28 MON in BELT - the BELMONT Stakes is the third leg of the American TRIPLE CROWN.
29 DERBY - another one where the mists have yet to clear: “(…)local match in the other half of China”. “Local match” is obvious but not the rest.
30 VERY in EYE,AR - filled this in very quickly but it took ages of staring to work out the clue. A VERY is a type of light.
 
Down
1 PUGILISTIC - don’t understand this either: “Prize-fighter’s cross but admitting the end is close to bout - framed?”
2 (RITE)* in ERA
3 KEEP (CREATES)* - I liked this clue and I’ve just seen “Board” = KEEP (as in, “pay your keep”).
4 ER’S, A T[-o]Z
6 hidden in “cross-channEL Ferry”
13 (A LA LYRICIST)* - SATIRICALLY. Another good one, with a great surface reading.
17 O,RN in TRICE.
22 BYE-BYE - a cricketing clue I think, as a BYE is a run scored without actually hitting or touching the ball.
27 GUY - triple definition.

Posted in Independent | 12 Comments »

Beelzebub 927/Columba (18-11-07)

Posted by neildubya on 30th November 2007

neildubya.

A very enjoyable puzzle from a very reliable setter. It might be my imagination but there seemed to be a few more obscure words than there usually are in Beelzebub puzzles but I actually found this easier than a typical Columba effort; maybe because harder words meant easier wordplay?

Across
10 RY,BALL,O in AID - an “aryballos” is an oil jar or flask.
12 BATH,OS - haven’t seen OS for “sailor” (Ordinary Seaman I think) for a while now.
13 (HER COPY)*,R,RE,CT - HYPER leapt out of (HER COPY)* and the rest was easy enough.
19 ANA,PER in HS - quite tricky this as “possessions” = ANA is not obvious and “by” = PER is easily missed.
25 PORT,MAN,TEA,UX - my first thought was to fill in “portmanteaus” (which is an acceptable spelling apparently) but then it occurred to me that it might end in an X and I couldn’t see how UX would be justified. However, it’s an abbreviation for “uxor”, the Latin word for “wife”.
28 (INITIAL SCAN)* - ANNALISTIC.
30 Y,PE< in TEST< - TYPESET. Cleverly constructed clue. I spent some time thinking “composed” was an anagram indicator.
 
Down
2 TYM,PAN - not sure if this is right. Full clue is “Frame ends in pot by master with spider?” “Ends in pot by” must be TY and”master” is M, which leaves PAN for “spider” (and there are such things as pan spiders apparently). The definition is a bit unclear though: how can a TYMPAN be a “frame”?
3 (ON NERVES A BIT)* - OBSERVANTINE. A branch of the Order of Franciscans.
5 L in CIC,HEED - “hackneyed” gave the game away quite quickly for me. “Supreme commander” must be Commander-In-Chief.
7 TRAIL in MILE,USE - “Gun dog” requires some lifting and separating to get the definition (MITRAILLEUSE is a piece of heavy ordinance).
8 CH in (RUSTICS)* - TROCHISCUS.
11 TYP[-e]<,GO in HARAS[-s] - I guess most people would describe PYTHAGORAS as a mathematician but he was the first person to describe himself as a “philosopher” and was a huge influence on Plato.
15 T in NL in ARRAY - in the Nato alphabet, “tango” is T.
17 hidden in “whiCH A PATIent”
21 GI,ANTS[-y] - thanks to checking letters and the definition I filled this in pretty quickly but I couldn’t work out why. GI for “grunt” is quite clever as grunt can mean soldier or infantryman.

Posted in Beelzebub | No Comments »