Posted by John on 22nd January 2008
A tour de force from Virgilius. Somehow he has managed to get some reference to a topic that continues to increase in importance into every clue, either in the answer or in the clue itself, sometimes more than once.
| Across |
| 1 |
CARBON (=duplicate) FOOTPRINT. This was particularly hard since I had 2D as ODORISE, thinking that somehow or = as, and the Oxford Dictionary of English. If that actually exists (OED, NODE, …?). |
| 9 |
HOT AIR. I got this from the definition and numeration, but it helped with 15/19. |
| 10 |
TROUSERS - user in sort rev. Lower gear is a nice definition. |
| 11/22A |
WIND FARM - CD |
| 12 |
If you break “heart”, i.e. HEARTBREAK, then you can get “earth”. I always think these clues are nice. |
| 13 |
SO in (SOLAR E)*. Brilliant semi-&lit. |
| 15/19D |
GLOBAL WARMING - (blog)* w in alarming. Easy enough in conjunction with 9/22, although I can’t quite see why “alarming” = “scare”. They seem the wrong parts of speech. |
| 16 |
GALORE - Al Gore with G moved. Marvellous clue. |
| 18 |
SPAR((WOR(ld))REV.)S |
| 20 |
NO BEL(PR)IZE. I don’t quite understand “recent”. |
| 23 |
K(yoto) I LOG RAM |
| 25 |
RENEWABLE ENERGY - (green era be newly)*. I suppose one could carp and say that “new” appears in each without a different meaning, but otherwise a perfect &lit. |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
A TOM(IS)E. |
| 4 |
NORTH POLE - (help or not)*. This took me a long time since I was fairly sure that 1A was double something. |
| 5 |
OUT (= spent) L AYS ((say)*) |
| 6 |
TROUT. I wasn’t sure about this, but I think it’s out (= extinct) with r (= river), then t (= temperature) rising above it all. |
| 8 |
NIRVANA - van in (rain)* |
| 14 |
O ZONE HOLE. This term, to my surprise, is in Chambers - I’d only ever heard about a hole in the ozone layer. |
| 15 |
GRACE NOTE - C in (not eager)*. Seems a rather odd definition. |
| 17 |
CO IN (AINT)* E |
| 21 |
ARK in P(er) A(nnum). Reminds me of that old joke about per anum and paying through the nose. |
| 22 |
oF ALS Examples |
Posted in Independent | 10 Comments »
Posted by linxit on 22nd January 2008
Quite a lot of general knowledge required to complete this one, although the trickier answers all had friendly wordplay so it can’t be accused of unfairness.
Across
1 NICODEMUS (I,consumed)* - Nicodemus was a pharisee.
6 GRI(N)D - in the clue, “in here” refers to the crossword grid.
9 POWDERHAM CASTLE (world team’s cheap)* - never heard of it, but I got CASTLE from the letters and worked the rest out. It’s the Earl of Devon’s home.
11 INN(Y)ARDS
14 P(HERO)M,ONE
18 DIE,TITIAN
21 C(O)UP - an empty vessel is a cup with nothing inside.
25 FULL SPEED ASTERN - nice one-word cryptic definition, but I was held up a little bit by putting FULL STEAM ASTERN. Duh!
Down
1 NIPPY - double definition. A Nippy was a waitress in a Lyons teashop - before my time, but luckily I came across it in the dictionary last week when looking something else up.
2 COWBANE - or “bow,cane” as Spooner would say. A bit contrived I think.
4 MAHE - E. Ham reversed. Mahé is the largest island of the Seychelles.
5 SIMON PETER (permits one)* - our second Biblical character of the day.
6 GRAVY TRAIN - cryptic definition.
12 COMPRESSOR (R,composer’s)* - deceptive definition, one of the last I got.
14 PLENTIFUL (fluent lip)* - excellent &lit.
17 TH(ALL)US - I suppose this is &lit. as well. The full definition in Chambers is “a plant body not differentiated into leaf, stem and root.”
19 I(SOME)RE - saved by the friendly wordplay. It’s a zoological term meaning “an organ or segment corresponding to or homologous with another”.
24 IS,LA(bour) - not Tony or Lionel for a change. She’s an actress.
Posted in Guardian | 4 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 22nd January 2008
Sorry this is late. I should have posted this yesterday but simply forgot.
This seemed so small after the Xmas monster. I’m not sure I’ve chosen correctly on 29A.
| Across |
| 1 |
COMICS (SO I’M C[amden] C[onservative])* |
| 4 |
SUPERFIT SUPER(intendent)-FIT |
| 10 |
BALTI (BLAI[R/T])* slinky as anagrind |
| 11 |
UMPTEENTH U-MP- (pe)N(is) in TEETH U is the equivalent of Mr in Burmese |
| 12 |
LAID BACK DD |
| 13 |
TEASER T[he] E[ntertainment] (ARSE)* |
| 14 |
ROYAL ASSENT Royal Ass ENT[ertainment] |
| 19/7 |
PLEASE LET ME FINISH (PANELLIST FEE HES MI)* What John Humphrys hears quite often. Nice to get panellist in the anagram fodder but I’m not sure who or what is MI? |
| 22 |
ON HEAT Hidden in wilsON HEATh. I liked this clue:
Wilson, Heath quite randy between them (2,4) |
| 23 |
AMERICAN ERIC inside A MAN |
| 26 |
KERBCRAWL DD |
| 27 |
FLOOR FLO-O-R[uns] |
| 28 |
PINPRICK PIN-PRICK |
| 29 |
BEETLE Homophone Beatle (I think) Full clue:
Scuttle McCartney’s sound? (6) |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
COBBLERS Those men working on their lasts again |
| 2 |
MULTIGYM M-(GUILT)*-(MY<) For reasons best known to my pencil I wrote in Multigem then had trouble with 14A |
| 3 |
CLIMB C[ameron]-LIMB |
| 5 |
UMPH Reverse hidden in britsH PM Unqualified This gets the favourite clue award as it took me ages to see it but it is a solid answer when spotted |
| 6 |
ELEMENTAL (LEE)*-MENTAL |
| 8 |
T-SHIRT T[abloid]- R(esistance) in SHIT |
| 9 |
OUTCASTE OUT-CAST-(Cymbelin)E |
| 15 |
LAPDANCER (CANDLE RAP)* |
| 16 |
ENSEMBLE (SEMEN)* B[il]L [aid]E |
| 17 |
STICK OUT DD First def in a CD really |
| 18 |
WET NURSE CD |
| 20 |
COCK-UP DD |
| 21 |
SHARON DD Ref Ariel S and S Osbourne wife of Ozzy O aka Prince of Darkness |
| 24 |
RIFLE L in RIFE |
| 25 |
TALC Hidden fronTAL Chick |
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | No Comments »