Posted by michod on 24th December 2007
Just a quick blog between wrapping, baking, drinking etc. Almost all the clues have a festive reference, and most are pretty simple - this was a very quick solve bar 13 down, which maddeningly held me up even though, once the penny dropped, I had a nagginG feeling I’ve come across it before. Down blog all in italic - why? Why not?!
ACROSS
5. STACKS. As in chimneys.
12. ALADDINS LAMP. CD.
15. APOCRYPHAL. Nice use of thematic material in anagram fodder.
19. TUN. Nut being what goes in the (nut)cracker.
20. W(ASS)AILING.
22. CHRISTMAS DAY. (HASTY CARDS I’M*).
26. ANKLET. Good CD with misleading Xmas content.
29. KITCHEN. (THICKEN*). Thematic ref here is turkey, which is stritly unnecessary.
DOWN:
1. (r)OAST(ing).
6. THRASH.
7. CUSTARD PIE. CD.
8. SNOWPLOUGH. Weaker CD.
12. SANTA CLAUS. Can’t believe I took so long over this - the key is to think of ‘filler’ as ‘person who fills’, not ‘thing used in filling’.
14. CORNCRAKES. (NO CRACKERS*).
16. P(SAL)M, S.
18. GIN AND IT. (DINING AT*). The only non-thematic clue.
25. AN ON. That An, she wrote a lot of hyms and stuff.
MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL.
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Posted by linxit on 24th December 2007
I found this one fairly straightforward, as Azeds go. A fairly low percentage of obscure words meant I wasn’t flicking through Chambers as much as I usually do (or maybe my vocabulary’s finally improving!). There were a couple of glitches - unless I’m mistaken there’s a comp. anagram that doesn’t work, and in the online grid the number 24 appears in mid-word before 23 (although the numbering isn’t messed up as a result). Trying to copy Jane and others with a new layout today.
Across
| 1 |
VENDISS - IS in VENDS. A freshwater fish, usually spelt VENDACE. |
| 6 |
PHOCA - HOC (Latin for “this”) in PA. Actually it’s just a seal these days, but Spenser thought it was a scaly sea monster. |
| 10 |
OVEREAT - 0 + ERE (before) in VAT |
| 11 |
FLOR - L in FOR. “In the character of” is one of the meanings of “for” in Chambers, “bottles” is the containment indicator. Flor is a yeasty growth which forms on the surface of sherry during fermentation. |
| 12 |
WATER-GILDING - ATERG (great*) in WILDING. A wilding is a garden plant that has grown wild (also called an escape). Nice use of the “lift and separate” technique. |
| 16 |
STAGE - first letters of Early Gibbet At Tyburn Say, reversed. |
| 18 |
CONJEE - CON (do), JEE (the Scots stir). A bit nasty to have the J unchecked when it can also be spelt with a G, but JEE meaning stir can’t. |
| 19 |
SOLERA - roseal* |
| 20 |
ANCONS - NCO (Corp., i.e. non-commissioned officer) in SAN*. A new meaning of console for me - it’s an ornamental device used to support a cornice. The usual plural is ancones, but the SOED gives both. I knew that purchase would pay for itself one day! |
| 21 |
TRIBAL - B in TRIAL |
| 22 |
DARKIE - ARK in DIE - best avoided indeed; I expect there may have been a few letters to the editor over this one! |
| 24 |
RIBOSE - BO in RISE. The bo tree or pipal is the holy tree of the Buddhists. Strange bit of indexing in Chambers to put the main entry between Botox and botryoid rather than at bo. |
| 25 |
TIDAL - hidden in fetid algae. |
| 29 |
ITALIAN SIXTH - A type of musical chord, and presumably sei is Italian for sixth. |
| 30 |
STIR - T in SIR |
| 31 |
RESTIVE - (Evert is)*. |
| 32 |
METER - METE (limit), R. I liked the emphasis on really, implying that we all do it anyway! |
| 33 |
DECEASE - DEC, EASE |
Down
| 1 |
VOWESS - OWES in VS (versus). An old word for a nun. |
| 2 |
NETS - double definition, mixing football and cricket. |
| 3 |
DREDGE-BOX - DR(ive), EDGE, BOX. It’s a box with a perforated cap for sprinkling the contents. |
| 4 |
SAGY - G in SAY. The meaning of “say” used is “a voice, part, or influence in a decision”. |
| 5 |
STICCADO - S, TICCA, DO - ticca is Hindi for hired (nothing to do with tikka!), and a sticcado is a kind of xylophone. |
| 6 |
PULMONATA - PULMONA (lump on a)*, (i)TA. The list of palm trees is one of the more well-thumbed pages in my copy of Bradford’s. |
| 7 |
OLID - (s)OLID - rank as in smelly. |
| 8 |
CONGENIAL - IN rev. in CONGEAL |
| 9 |
ARGUES - usager* |
| 13 |
STORIETTE - TORI (receptacles) inside SETTE(r) |
| 14 |
SERASKIER - ARES (Greek god of war) rev, SKIER (shot aloft, i.e. a cricket shot that goes straight up). A seraskier is a Turkish war minister. |
| 15 |
ENCRINITE - hmm, broken comp. anag? (in Cerne giant)* gives “an encrinite” plus an odd G which remains unaccounted for. Or am I missing something? |
| 17 |
SALEYARD - ALE in DRAYS rev. |
| 21 |
TRUISM - RU (sport) in MIST*. |
| 23 |
ELCHEE - hidden in “vessEL, CHEEred.” Turkish again. |
| 26 |
WAIT - A(fternoon) in WIT |
| 27 |
KNEE - K, NEE. The French née is feminine, hence “born of the opposite sex”. |
| 28 |
IXIA - XI (cricket team) in the middle two letters of BIAS. |
Posted in Azed | No Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 24th December 2007
I found this pretty difficult, although the preamble was a big help in that it suggested that other Indy compilers would be mentioned in whole or in part in the answers and, more obviously, in some clues. Some were easy to spot (Mordred and Nestor were the first two I got), others not so easy (it took me ages to see Virgilius).
| Across |
| 1 |
hidden in “oVERGEnerous” - “side” is the definition but I don’t understand the rest of the clue: “Solver’s not altogether overgenerous side”. Where’s the hidden indicator? Or have I read this incorrectly…? |
| 4 |
LEU in IS - “leu” is a Romanian unit of currency (”ready”) and ILEUS is an intestinal obstruction. [With 1a = "Virgilius"] |
| 7 |
SAME,B< - a BEMA is a platform for public speaking [BEMAS = "Mass"] |
| 8 |
SEE,[-d]RESSES |
| 10 |
N,ESTER - [NESTER = "Nestor"] |
| 11 |
(A UNION)*,MO[-nk] - UNO ANIMO. I think this loosely translates as “of one mind”. |
| 13 |
IDEA in S[-e]CTION - SIDE ACTION. This is probably just the way I’m reading this but the clue seems to be missing a containment indicator: “Type of rifle thought to expel energy in part”. ["Dac"] |
| 14 |
FINE - ["Phi"] |
| 18 |
I in (PERHAPS IT)* - excellent clue and difficult anagram to spot. |
| 23 |
ZZ in NO[-e]L,[+E] - NOZZLE. [with 18a = "Hypnos"] |
| 27 |
MOORE - sounds like “more”. |
| 28 |
hidden in “minD READer” - [with 27a = "Mordred"] |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
(MOVED AS)* - VAMOSED. This seems to be another spelling of “vamoosed”. |
| 4 |
(A TA’S MONEY I)* - I MEAN TO SAY. Very tough; “that is” is a hard definition to spot and the anagram indicator (”supply”) is not much easier. [I MEAN = "Eimi"] |
| 7 |
N in BANS |
| 9 |
SCORE - double defintion. |
| 12 |
TEAS in STRIPE - [STRIPTEASE = "Tees"] |
| 15 |
(ONE READY)* - AERODYNE. [With 11a = "Nimrod"] |
| 16 |
CIDER - “sider”. [With 7d - "Bannsider"] |
| 17 |
LUGWORM - not sure about this one: “Left turn? Old Mr Grace goes upstairs to swallow bait”. “Left turn” could be LU but I can’t see the rest. |
| 20 |
(APNEA)* - PAEAN. [With 9d = "Scorpion"] |
| 21 |
(GO LADY)* - DAY-GLO. [With 17d = "Glow-worm"] |
Posted in Independent | 16 Comments »