Posted by tilsit on 3rd December 2007
Greetings and apologies for the delay.
While in hospital recently I managed to have a serious problem with my laptop which meant that my PC Doctor had to reformat the hard disk and onsequently I lost all my documents, stored email, mail addresses, passwords, etc. Yesterday I managed to get a replacement password but it wouldn’t let me back into the site afterwards. Thanks to Neil W for sorting it out.
Now where was I? Yesterday’s Rufus puzzle. Not as much fun as a normal Rufus puzzles and one clue rather made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Some nice anagtrirams and the usual clever cryptic definitions, although I thought 15a a bit contrived though I can see what the clue was trying to achieve, it sort of missed the mark for me, personally. Would liked to have seen the anagrams spread throughout the puzzle a bit more, but that’s a small point.
Solving time: 11 minutes
ACROSS (*)= ANAGRAM (CD)=CRYPTIC DEF (R)=REVERSAL
1 HOLY WAR (CD)
5 ARNOLD A RN + OLD Rugby being Rugby School Dr Thomas Arnold its most famous Headmaster.
9 FOURSOME MORE OF US(*)
12 PARADE GROUND (CD) Nice clue.
15 APOCRYPHAL LAY CHAP PRO (*) See above
17 RAN Hidden answer
19 AID A + I’D
20 VIETNAMESE NAVIES MEET (*)
22 INTRANSIGENT RENTING ISN’T (*) Another really clever clue attached to a smart definition.
26 ORGIES RISE + GO (*)
27 BARBECUE (CD)
28 SIT-UPS I PUT (*) inside S S (On board [ship])
29 TALENTS Double def. A talent is a biblical measure of money.
DOWN
1 HAFT H + AFT
2 LAUD Homophone of Lord
3 WISEACRE WISE (perceptive) + ACRE (Middle-eastern seaport)
7 OBITUARIES (CD)
13 CALAMITOUS TO A MUSICAL (*)
18 CANNIBAL Hmm…..
21 WAKE UP New one on me. See Chambers def (2). WAKE is the spray generated by a moving ship.
25 PEWS (CD) Nice clue - form being a type of seat.
Posted in Guardian | 7 Comments »
Posted by NealH on 3rd December 2007
After a really tough puzzle by Tees last week, I was relieved to find this one was a little easier. I even had some time to read the paper (although most of the news was so depressing it made me wish the puzzle had been harder).
| Across |
| 1 |
Wapiti: “A pit” inside WI. I had to check this, because I didn’t know the word and wapoti was also possible. Apparently, it’s a type of North American antelope. |
| 11 |
Later on: Hidden word reading backwards. Although I got this fairly quickly, it took me a while to understand it. “Circulating” as a way of indicating something reversing always throws me because I assume it means “going around”. |
| 12 |
Pipped at the post: Very clever cryptic defintion clued by “officer on duty” (an officer being someone with pips). |
| 13 |
Tatou: Hidden word. Another zoological answer I’d never header of. The tatou is Priodontes gigas, the giant armadillo. |
| 23 |
Cowbell. (Simon) Cowell around “b”. Although I’ve never watched the X Factor, it’s difficult to avoid entirely hearing about Mr Cowell. |
| 25 |
Eighteen: Cryptically clued as “the majority” (i.e. age at which majority status is attained) Also, (get in here)* minus r. |
| 26 |
Cheesy: Reference to types of cheeses which also happen to be counties. |
| |
| Down |
| 3 |
Turned up the heat: Cryptic definition based on the use of that expression to mean put pressure on someone. |
| 5 |
To let: Nice to see the old schoolboy trick of putting “i” inside “to let” getting an outing in crosswords. |
| 6 |
Butternut scotch: This threw me for a while. It was clued by “vegetable spread put on loaf” + drink and it looked like butter (= vegetable spread) on top of “loaf” (= nut). But, of course, butter is not a vegetable spread. It’s actually “butternut” that’s the vegetable and spread=squash. |
| 10 |
Slammer: Double def using “critic” and “stir” (prison). I’ve never actually heard of a critic being called a slammer, so I assume the first one was more of a cryptic def. |
| 16 |
Severely: “Seve” (golfer = Severiano Ballestores) + “really” losing “a”. |
| 20 |
Cloche: This was the only one I wasn’t really sure about. It’s clued as a “church across the water” offering protection from the elements. Protection from the elements refers to the horticultural cloche and I assume “across the water” refers to the Channel i.e. France. However, cloche in French means bell, not church. |
| 22 |
Tilde: Clued as “foreign accent” (i.e. an accent character) and “d” (drawn) in “tile” (Scrabble piece). |
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 3rd December 2007
When I solved this I particularly enjoyed it. That could be because I found a bit of piece a quiet and finished it uninterrupted for a change, but it is a solid product from Mr C.
There are a couple I don’t fully understand below.
| Across |
| 8 |
INFORM I-N-FOR-M(adonna) |
| 9 |
STEROIDS (TOSSER I’D)* |
| 10/24 |
A LOAD OF OLD CODSWALLOP Mature Fish=OLD CODS beer=WALLOP |
| 11 |
NONE I don’t understand this one. I assume the answer is NONE from def. of “sod all”. “Tip from Cameron” might deliver one of the Ns or ON. Full clue:
Tip from Cameron bound to produce sod all?
Thanks to Barbara (see comments) for explaining:
Tip from Cameron = N ; Bound = one, as in tied together, united |
| 12 |
UTERUS (TRUE)*-US |
| 13 |
BOLLOCKS (LOB)< LOCKS |
| 14 |
DAVID MILIBAND D(uke) AVID “Fanatical” MILI “semi-military” BAND “group” |
| 18 |
FANCY MAN This must rate as an old fashioned term these days Fancy = decorated M-AN |
| 21 |
AMBUSH (M(onic)A)< BUSH |
| 23 |
BRNO RN in BO 2nd city of Czech republic, twinned with Leeds. Could become a crossword regular. |
| 26 |
APTITUDE P(ressure) TIT (breast) inside ((m)AUDE)* Bent misled me as an anagrind for a long time, and my first thought on this clue clue was that it was a reference to Francis Maude but given the answer I can’t see how. |
| 27 |
ADROIT (ROAD)*-IT Sex=IT |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
INFLATED In Flat =”Occupying bedsit” ED “bloke” |
| 2 |
HOT AIR CD |
| 3 |
EMBOSSED (SOME DEBS)* |
| 4 |
OSLO The only capital of this crossword’s 3 cities. A crossword favourite of old. OS (Oversize) LO(pez) I think, (how does Jack = pez?). Full clue:
City big in clothing has start Jennifer jack off (4)
Thanks to Barbara (see comments) for pointing out she is J-Lo |
| 5 |
FEUDAL FE (iron) U(nion) (LAD(y))* |
| 6/25 |
GOING ON A DIET (DONG GATE NO II)* Despite pretty obvious anagram indicator and fodder it took me some time to get this |
| 7 |
GDANSK DANS ref Judo in GK Greek. A city that’s been seen before in crosswords despite its low vowel/consonant ratio |
| 13 |
BRIAN PE’s pet name for Prince Charles |
| 15 |
VICTORIA DD Ref. Victoria Wood, plus first royal of that name |
| 16 |
IN A SWEAT “One needs one to embrace New” = I-N-A; Labour=Sweat |
| 17 |
DESPOTIC ESP in DO TIC “jerk” |
| 19 |
ABRUPT UP (Erection) inside (BRAT)* Well hidden erection this time |
| 20 |
MUCK UP CD
Thanks to Chris (see comments) for pointing out this is not a CD but
Excrement = muck, all over = up, and “fudge” is the definition |
| 22 |
BOLERO (LOB)< (h)ERO It’s a short jacket as well as that Spanish dance |
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 6 Comments »