Fifteensquared

Never knowingly undersolved.

Archive for December 6th, 2007

Guardian 24253/Paul - squeaky

Posted by ilancaron on 6th December 2007

ilancaron.

As always an intellectual treat to solve a Paul puzzle — and as usual he pushes the Ximenean envelope — typically from the outside, but always gratifyingly — e.g. 17D. A couple of very Brit-local refs (e.g. 11A).
Across

1 FRACAS - my last clue and the only one I didn’t fully understand. It’s an argument but the wordplay? “Argument draining for conciliation service”.
4 KNOCK-OFF - must be a town called KNOCK in County Mayo is my bet.
9 S[outh],AT,NAV=rev(van) - haven’t checked the dictionary, I wonder if this term for GPS-based navigation devices is there?
10 [m]ET(HERE)AL - Tin is a kind of metal…
11 SQUEAKY BUM TIME - (tummies quake by)* — fortunately the anagram was well-indicated and the fodder apposite, so with some crossing letters and inspired guessing and wikipedia I worked out that Alex Ferguson invented this term to describe what end of season nerves do to one’s GI tract.
16 O,OPS - I liked this simple and elegant charade.
18 HALF-ASLEEP - a wordplay in the answer clue: half of “snoozing” is “snoo”.
21 [h]AIR CONDITIONER - clever double-definition with one half cryptic.
24 WINDOW S,EAT - quite a clever clue, ref. Microsoft WINDOWS.
25 [ag]ENCI[es],R,CLE[ver] - somewhat complex wordplay with a somewhat less than satisfying surface: “Ring agencies at the centre right, not half clever!”
26 SH(ODD)Y

Down

1 FAST BOWLER - the requisite cricket ref.
2 AN,TIQUE=”teak”
5 NOT A BIT OF IT
6 CR(E)AM,[ro]Y[al]
7 O,NET,IM,E - “heading for exit” is just E.
8 FIL(T)ER TI,P - T in (fire lit)*
13 PROPA=”proper”,GATE - didn’t we have exactly this homophone in “The Guardian” last week? Note GATE the generic suffix for scandal (as in its progenitor Watergate).
15 A(STONI)SH - (sot in)* in ASH (our “tree”).
17 P(Y)R,RHIC=”rich” - Paul uses Y to represent “why” with no indicator. I think it’s fine. The def is cryptic (PYRRHIC victories tend not to be worth it).
19 EM,ENDED - simple and elegant charade.
22 SWAY - two meanings.

Posted in Guardian | 6 Comments »

Independent 6596/Nimrod

Posted by neildubya on 6th December 2007

neildubya.
Across
4 (SHE COSTS O)* - COHOSTESS. Quite a strange clue as it’s not really an &lit (”She costs nothing when partying”) but it reads like one.
9 ATE in NS - NATES was new to me so, together with the wrong-way-round wording “clenching worried Poles” meaning “Poles clenching worried”, this held me up for a while.
10 GAL,I in METHS
11 CAF[-e] in SELL - last one in for me and I had to use to check that SCA FELL is indeed a mountain or “peak”.
13/1 IT STARTED WITH A KISS - A song by Hot Chocolate. The rest of the clue (”answers here”) refers to the positioning of the answer in the grid so that A KISS starts the crossword at 1a.
16/24 THIS WILL END IN TEARS - similar to the previous answer in that part of the clue (”description of today’s puzzle”) refers to the completed grid - the last across entry being TEARS.
18 H,S in (LAPSE)* - HAPLESS
20 GATE A,U,X - I was a little puzzled by “first opening” but have just twigged that it’s GATE A.
21 (A GULLET OR)* - LAGER LOUT. I liked this a lot. The gullet is the throat so we have a reference to drinking and “misbehaving” in the clue.
23 (RETRO AZED)* - ZERO-RATED. Misleading surface reading and, of course, name-checking a fellow compiler.
 
Down
1 (COSTING A)* - Quite a hard definition to spot (”He doesn’t know”). I think I would have spotted the anagram a bit quicker but I thought “it’s” had more significance rather than just being a link word.
2 N,S in INTRA,IT - took a while to parse this one - “Crossing partners break within it” - as my initial thought was that “within” was a container indicator and “it” the container itself, which works for IN TRANSIT. But actually, “within” in INTRA/
3 (CARROT MYSTERIES)* - SYSTEMATIC ERROR.
4 (USE WET POLO MATCH)* - COMPLETE WASHOUT.
5 HIGHLY DELIGHTED - a pun on being up high (”cloud”,”heaven”).
6 (EVENTS AFFLICTED)* - SELF-EVIDENT FACT. I was a bit surprised to see EVIDENT in the answer given that “evidence” is in the clue but it must be right.
7 EAT-IN - don’t understand this one: “CH in full is not to go!” “Not to go” must be the definition - any offers for the rest of the clue?
14 HYDRANGEA - sounds like “hyde ranger”.
15 (SEX SINCE)* - IN EXCESS.
17 L in SHUT,Z - must be a reference to this man.
19 RE,GAP (going up)

Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »

Financial Times 12,624 by Cinephile

Posted by Pete Maclean on 6th December 2007

Pete Maclean.

A more difficult than usual Cinephile this time around. I started my puzzle with 30A which gave me a good entree to 5D. The mention of “rose” in the clue and a three-letter word ending in P made me think of HIP, and from that I quickly had the one long answer. I thought that would make the rest of the puzzle a breeze but I was wrong! I found 1A, 6A, 27A and 8D to be tough. I particularly like 6D, 13D and 20D.

Across
1. PREVIOUS - REV (clergyman) in PIOUS (dedicated)
6. JOSEPH - EP[istle] (letter) in JOSH (tease)
9. MAILED - double definition
10. OPERATOR - double definition
11, 22. SHOE TREE - HOE (weeder) in STREE[t] (endless road)
12. RETRENCHES - RE (connected with) + TRENCHES (WW1 scene)
14. LAUGHTER - UGH (expression of disgust) in LATER (subsequent). Clever use of “case” here!
18, 16. POLO NECK - POLO (explorer) + NECK (isthmus)
19. MANCIPLE - anagram of INC (roughly incorporated) in MAPLE (tree). I got this quickly as I happen to know the word but wanted to verify its meaning and was surprised that I had to try three dictionaries before I found it!
21. FOREGATHER - ??? I do not understand the wordplay in this clue but the clear definition still made it fairly easy. (See the Comments section below for more.)
24. BIRDBATH - anagram of BAD (bad arrangement) in BIRTH (origin)
26. DROP IN - double/cryptic definition
27. STIGMA - ST[en] + [en]IGMA
28. PARASITE - PA (opening of pavement) + RA (artist) + SITE (location)

Down
2. ROACH - [b]ROACH
3. VELVET GLOVE - V (another 5 first) + anagram of VO (5-0) and GET LEVEL. In my original posting I wrote that I could not quite get this wordplay to work. I was stuck on thinking that the LOVE must come from the zero (in 5-0). See the Comments section below.
4. OBDURATE - anagram of BAD ROUTE
5. SHOOT FROM THE HIP - cryptic definition
6. JEEVES - JE (French setter) + EVES (women)
7, 25. SEA DOG - cryptic definition with “bark” meaning a sailing ship (more usually, I believe, spelled barque).
8. PROVENCAL - PROVEN (established) + CAL[ifornia] (part of US)
13. CONVICTIONS - double definition
15. APOLOGIST - APOLO (god with L, left, removed) + GIST (point)
17. INTRUDER - anagram of TIN + RUDER (less polished)
20. BANANA - not bananas!
23. EVICT - hidden word

Posted in FT | 4 Comments »