Posted by John on 14th December 2007
I found this unusually difficult for Phi, but perhaps that’s just because of my own incompetence. Certainly several clues that eluded me at first were simple enough when the answer eventually came. No doubt there’s a Nina somewhere, but I can’t see it.
| Across |
| 6 |
Presumably CATO. Is it simply C(inem)ATO(graphy)? Seems rather odd, but perhaps it’s OK. A sort of variation on a hidden clue. |
| 9 |
S(TEN)CH |
| 10 |
MUT(ARR)E, all rev. |
| 11 |
AIL(I’S)ARB, all rev. |
| 12 |
MET T(i)LE |
| 13 |
SCATTERBRAIN. If you scatter “brain” you get “in bar”. I like this clue. |
| 16 |
AU THEN TI CA TE |
| 19 |
CAN surrounding (KIT)*. Are catkin flowers? I thought the word was singular. No, I’m wrong: Chambers (which seems to be Phi’s dictionary) says “… tuft of small unisexual flowers …” |
| 20 |
LA(WREN)CE. Pity if Lawrence is only remembered mainly for the earthiness of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, not his greatest. |
| 22 |
BOUDOIR I think. I can get as far as (DUO B) rev. O I, but how does Phi get that final R? Surely not simply by “found in bedroom”, i.e. one of the letters of “bedroom”? If that’s what he planned, then wouldn’t he have said “found in centre of bedroom”? |
| 23 |
RAMCAT, which I had to look up and is evidently another word for tomcat. It’s R(A MC)AT, but why an MC is a TV host, as opposed to just a general host, I’m not quite sure. |
| 25 |
E (NO.1 T REX) rev. T Rex may not be all that familiar to younger people, but they were big in the early 70s. |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
LITE RACY. Good clue. For how long has “lite” been an acceptable word, which it now is, though it definitely wasn’t once? |
| 3 |
OI(N)KS |
| 4 |
A CHILL (NEEDS NOT)*. At first this looked like a complete anagram. |
| 6 |
C (TATA rev.) ON I C |
| 7 |
TA MALE. I’m not sure who Jamie Male is, and Google doesn’t help much, but the name is vaguely familiar. |
| 8 |
FROM BAD TO WORSE - (Boats formed row)* |
| 15 |
CATS rev. CA TO. Another of Phi’s good musical clues, wasted here. He wants to keep them for the BBC Music Magazine. |
| 18 |
I AM B(est) I(n) C(lass). Is the “in regarding” not a little clumsy? |
| 21 |
(ME) rev. MET. An emmet is a tourist in Cornwall, where Newquay is. Extraordinary word. |
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 14th December 2007
A very good (and tough in places) puzzle with an unusual theme: the top and bottom rows read OUR COUNTRY WEE ONE ENGLAND NIL. See 21a for a full explanation as to what this means. I think OUR COUNTY WEE is a reference to the Northern Ireland fanzine “Our Wee Country”. As an Englishman, this puzzle dug up some hitherto deeply buried memories for me, although I have to say that recent results have demonstrated that England were more than capable of sinking far lower than being beaten by 17a. Great puzzle, though.
| Across |
| 1 |
[-h]OUR |
| 3 |
R in COUNTRY - “Wilts[hire]” is very deceptive and “sticks” is a hard-ish-but-fair definition to spot. |
| 10 |
Z in MAIN - a new word to me but seemed like a confident guess. |
| 11 |
NI,A WAG< - one of the last couple to go in and I stumbled upon the answer rather than actually work it out. Sir GAWAIN was a Knight of the Round Table and “a future Mrs [Wayne] Rooney” would be a WAG (Wives and Girlfriends). |
| 12 |
RAPTURES? - is this right? Full clue is “Delights in unusual exercises - bend and stretch briefly”. |
| 15 |
(EMAIL INFECTION)*,ME - ONCE IN A LIFETIME. This was the first clue I solved and it made me wonder briefly if we were in for a Talking Heads theme. That said, there’s a chance that it could be related to the puzzle’s actual theme. |
| 17 |
NORTH,(NIL DEER RAN)* - NORTHERN IRELAND. And the theme starts to reveal itself slowly… |
| 21 |
ROBINS,ON - excellent clue I thought. The definition is especially good: “person posing on TV”, a reference to Anne ROBINSON. It’s also a thematic answer, given that Paul ROBINSON was in goal and 22a by David Healey when 29a played 17a in a World Cup qualifier in 2005. |
| 22 |
B,EATEN - “eton”. The neat touch in this clue is “7th of September”. Cryptically, it indicates B but that was also the date of the match mentioned above. |
| 27 |
INFLAMING - I still don’t really understand this one: “Adding spark to obscure Florida dynasty”. Florida is FL (or FLA?) and dynasty might be MING so where does IN come from? |
| 28 |
ON,E - short but sweet. |
| 29 |
[w]EN[t],GLAND |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
WING,T in OO - very tough. “Through” is about a hard a definition to spot as they come. |
| 2 |
RESEW - I was baffled by this for ages but I wonder if it’s something to do with the proverb, “a stitch in time saves nine”? The full clue is “Do nine times the repair work after untimely first effort”. |
| 5 |
I in (WITH YEAST)* - THE WAY IT IS. |
| 8 |
hidden reversed in “seES SAM NEver” - another hard-to-spot definition: “as one”. |
| 14 |
(INDOOR)* in GANG - new to me but easy wordplay and checking letters helped. |
| 16 |
initial letters of “Complaining About Remaining On Bench - often used as a substitute for chocolate (”bar”). |
| 23 |
T[-rag]E[-d]IAN - another tough one, and the last one I filled in, after confirming with Google. |
| 24 |
OFF,A - I think this is indicated by “from nothing” but I’ll need convincing on that. |
Posted in Independent | 8 Comments »
Posted by Hihoba on 14th December 2007
Good Crossword by Loda! Ten countries with new names had to be written as their old names in the grid, and ten old names had to be substituted for their new names before the clues could be solved, which explains the title.
Unusually, I spotted the theme after solving only two clues. A record for me! I confess to Googling for old/new pairs as Geography was never my strong suit. I used http://www.winentrance.com/channame.asp, which led to a problem understanding the clue for Myanmar, as they have mis-spelled it Mayanmar. I should have been wary as they also have countries called Hollad and Sam!!
Solving time :About 1 hour for the bulk, then another hour or more to sort out the final details for this blog!
| The list of substitutions for the clues was: |
| Across |
| 9 |
New Hebrides – Vanatu (not sure where the superfluous apostrophe came from!) |
| 18 |
British Honduras – Belize |
| 23 |
Afars and Issas – Djibouti |
| 25 |
Basutoland – Lesotho |
| 33 |
United Arab Republic – Egypt |
| 36 |
Persia – Iran (didn’t have to look that one up!) |
| Down |
| 3 |
Pleasant Island – Nauru |
| 5 |
South West Africa – Namibia |
| 7 |
Rhodesia – Zimbabwe (didn’t have to look that one up either.) |
| 29 |
Dutch East Indies – Indonesia |
|
| The ten answers substituted were: |
| Across |
| 1 |
B(lack)OT(books)SWAN(pen)A(ccepted) – BECHUANALAND |
| 15 |
Z(izzard)+AIR(broadcast)+(jok)E - CONGO |
| 16 |
ETH(the slipshod)+I(one)+OP(work dogs=follows)+I(n)+A(merica) – ABYSSINIA |
| 28 |
MA(mother)+LAW(rule)+I(one) – NYASALAND |
| 37 |
THAILAND (tail hand)* - SIAM |
| Down |
| 1 |
MY(well, as in my oh my!)+ANMA(one man’s broken)+R(ule) – BURMA |
| 8 |
B+ENIN (nine reversed) – DAHOMEY |
| 18 |
TAIWAN – want* containing ai (sloth) – FORMOSA |
| 19 |
SRI LANKA (alas ink+r)* – CEYLON |
| 21 |
GREE (dialect victory)+C(ouncil of)E(urope) – HELLAS |
|
| The remaining clues were normal. Explanations assume the substitutions above. |
| Across |
| 9 |
(Vanat)U+NIT |
| 11 |
REG+MA - “a fruit that splits into dehiscent parts” - so there! |
| 13 |
DAMAGES = compo(compensation!) - made* containing a g(rand) + s(pecial) |
| 14 |
MA+SCOTS |
| 18 |
F(oreign)O(ffice)+(Be)LI(se)+C(ultivate) - Folic acid is Vitamin B9 |
| 20 |
SHA(has*)+H(otel) |
| 22 |
My first clue solved. ARE (as in hectare) - era reversed |
| 23 |
OBI - a charm, hidden backwards in Djibouti |
| 25 |
NERO (actually he played the lyre!) = N(YO)+ER+(Lesoth)O |
| 27 |
LEROY - name derived from Le Roi, but I have no explanation for the “servant of” |
| 31 |
MESA(seam*)+L(ength) - “in or towards the medial plane or line” |
| 33 |
Geoff Capes - ATHLETE = (al the)* containing ET for Egypt |
| 35 |
BEG(pray)+ORRA(Scots worthless) - oh God! |
| 36 |
SEN (money) round IR(an) |
| 38 |
ANTE( sounds like anti)+CH(estnut)+AMBERS |
|
|
| Down |
| 2 |
CIS (sic reversed)+(i)S+(da)Y |
| 3 |
(Naur)U+NDO (Don*) |
| 4 |
A(ustralian)+BAT(mammal)+IS(lives) - a tree-felled fortification |
| 5 |
NAM(ibia)+(abandon)S - nams, or naams are obsolete legalese distraints |
| 6 |
LEGO is Jerry-built, LEG is on (cricket). I’m not keen on O being (b)O(g) essentially! |
| 7 |
Fifth of Zimbabwe is A+GENDA (e.g. and)* |
| 10 |
T(rain)O(perating)C(ompany)’S+IN(enclose) |
| 11 |
R(un) + ACIAL - first letters of all . . learning |
| 12 |
NA(Scots for no)+BOBS (Dylan and Geldof) |
| 17 |
F(RON)T+S(un) - meaning the “side open to view” |
| 24 |
INSERT - N(orthern) S(ociety) in rite* |
| 26 |
OSTREA - the oyster genus. (Ro(b) eats)* |
| 29 |
AERIE - High House, AE - Scots same, RI is the Vehicle code for Indonesia. I was hung up on the fact the the ISO abbreviation is ID or IDN! |
| 30 |
D(ead)+EEMS (smee reversed) |
| 32 |
AGEE is DRAGEE (sweet enclosing a drug - no-one ever offers me any!) with Dr. removed. |
| 33 |
ARCH - double meaning |
| 34 |
HA(ve)+RM (jolly is a Royal Marine) - might be a break of a leg etc. |
Posted in Inquisitor | No Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 14th December 2007
I always feel more intelligent after solving a Brendan puzzle — I think it’s because he is fair, challenging and there’s a clever nina or theme which is always gratifying to identify. Anyway, this time it’s homophones of musicians (5D).
Across
| 1 |
BRI[gh]TON=”Britten” - well, one of you at least! Brighton’s our resort (though frankly, I’d rather be at a Club Med). |
| 9 |
ANTONY,MS - Neither Leo nor Tolstoy involved — but “war and peace” are good examples of ANTONYMS. Tony’s our chap. |
| 11 |
IN,AC,CURACIES |
| 13 |
VILE=”Weil” - hidden in “priVILEges”. |
| 17 |
RE(ASS)IGN |
| 18 |
LIST=”Liszt” - two meanings I guess but not sure about “the edge” (must be obvious… to someone…). “Lean over the edge”. |
| 20 |
NEW(B,RUN)S,WICK - parsing wordplay can be complex whenever directions (compass points) are involved: in this case the setter is explicit about “all directions” so we have NEWS. I suppose WICK is just a village (in Scotland)? |
| 23 |
AVO=rev(ova),CET=etc* - it’s a kind of bird well-known to cyclists (as a brand name). |
| 24 |
AS SOON AS - v. well-hidden in “Picasso on a screen.” |
| 26 |
HANDLE=”Handel” - two meanings |
Down
| 3 |
TWO-TIMERS - hunters are a kind of watch I think thus TIMERS. |
| 4 |
NAY=any*,SAY - elegant concise clue. |
| 5 |
MUSIC TO ONES EARS - so here’s (no pun intended) our theme. Six composer homophones elsewhere in the puzzle. |
| 6 |
NU(ME)RATE - ME in nature* — good def: “able to figure”. |
| 7 |
FRANC[o]=”Franck” |
| 12 |
TIME-SERVER - two meanings of conviction |
| 15 |
WELL,K,NOW,N - Knight is N in chess. |
| 19 |
KITSC=stick*,H |
| 21 |
BACKS=”Bax” - two meanings: another concise elegant clue. Turns out that there’s an Arnold BAX who’s a composer. Did not know this! |
| 22 |
DAIL[y] - it’s the Irish parliament and The Guardian is just an example of a daily newspaper. |
Posted in Guardian | 11 Comments »