Posted by linxit on 26th February 2008
Solving time 16:22
Another feast of libertarianism from Paul, but I thought the long answer starting at 17 was just brilliant. Some rather whimsical answers too today - 21D had me scratching my head for a while.
Across
8 T(H)AIL,AND
11 H(EALTHF)OOD - (flat he)* inside HOOD. For a while I wanted the gangster to be AL, but didn’t waste too much time on it.
12 CHOCCY - HO inside CCCY (”three seas - why”). Groan!
17,15,10,9 NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT - “Open”(O + PEN) = NOTHING TO WRITE, “in” = HOME, “a fight”= ABOUT.
23 CO-STAR,I CAN - San José is the capital of Costa Rica. I’d only heard of the Californian one, but it seemed reasonable when I got it from the wordplay.
24 YELL - One of the Shetland Islands, not far from Unst.
26 OUT,BU(R)ST
Down
1 C(HOOCH)OO - definition is “Only for baby, express”.
3 S(ASH)AY - I think “parade” is a bit loose for the definition though. A corruption of the French chassé, which is a gliding dance step.
4 A,D(V)ANCE - nice football surface reading, might have been better if Juventus were a team from Rome though (or it could have said “Juventus’s number 3″ to indicate the 3rd letter).
5 CASTRATO - cryptic def.
6 CO,F,FEES,HOP
13 CARICATURE - (accurate,R,I)* - good &lit clue.
16 TART,RATE - not keen on “seeks” as a linking word.
18 NEEDLE,SS
21 P,HOOEY - needed all the checking letters to crack this one.
24,19,2 YOUR PLACE OR MINE - another clever &lit, which is formed from an anagram of (I pul ye, O, romance, r) - only one L because of the pound having been spent.
Posted in Guardian | 11 Comments »
Posted by John on 26th February 2008
Rather harder than usual for Dac, I thought, but as usual it’s full of very nice clues.
| Across |
| 1 |
TOSH - 2 mngs, not helped by the fact that the mate meaning is new to me. This was the last one I solved. |
| 3 |
CARRYING ON - again 2 mngs. I’m not surprised that the colloquial sense isn’t in Chambers (so far as I can see), but I suspect it will be one day |
| 9 |
POTSDAM - (mad stop) rev. |
| 11 |
MODERNS - Dom rev., Erns(t). The definition wasn’t obvious. |
| 12 |
C(A PECAN AVER)AL |
| 14 |
L(AND M)ASS - difficult I thought - I was sure NAM was in there and I was looking for an adjective |
| 15 |
T(SWAN)A - not an African that came readily to me, indeed I only got it unconfidently from the wordplay and had to look it up |
| 17 |
TYRONE - the actor Tyrone Power |
| 19 |
MIG RATED |
| 22 |
MOANING MINNIE - 2 mngs, one of which I didn’t know. I had thought it was a Mrs Thatcher coinage. |
| 24 |
L(OAF)ING |
| 25 |
ASSURED - ass (rude)* |
| 26 |
SIDE STREET - sides “treat” |
| 27 |
teA CERemony |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
TOPICALITY - (Capitol)* (c)ity. Initially I thought Dac was using “turmoil” as an anagram indicator, which would have offended some, but he’s too good for that. |
| 2 |
SET UPON - (one’s put)*, an anagram that didn’t come easily since I was misled by the definition |
| 4 |
A D(MON)ISH - again, a cunning definition |
| 5 |
REMOVE - 2 mngs, although I wonder just how senior a remove class is. At my schools it was a junior class, and according to Chambers it’s an intermediate one. |
| 6 |
IN DIRE STRAITS - a reference to the group, that eluded me for a while. I’d heard of Mark K but was all prepared to use Google to find out who he was. |
| 7 |
GO(RILL)A - the state of India always seems to be Goa |
| 8 |
NASH - san and H rev. Nice surface. |
| 10 |
DOCUMENTARIES - (toured cinemas)*. Easy enough once you get the right words to anagram, which I didn’t. |
| 13 |
BANDLEADER - “banned lieder” |
| 16 |
D IS GRACE |
| 18 |
R(AM)R AID |
| 20 |
TANTRIC - (in tract)* |
| 21 |
Z IN GER. Yet again we have z as an unknown, which was in the last crossword I blogged. I mentioned it then and said that this always grated since z is really used in higher maths. It was suggested in a posting that if there are three unknowns, z will be used since it goes with x and y, the more common “unknowns”. Fair enough, but then you could say that any letter is an unknown. |
| 23 |
w(ALES) I think, although if it is can’t see why the clue didn’t say “drinks”, since “ales” is hardly “a drink”, and only uncomfortably “drink”. |
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by diagacht on 26th February 2008
| Across |
| 1 |
SECOND THOUGHTS: SECOND (back) THOUGHTS (ideas) |
| 9 |
ERSATZ: anagram of RATES + Z (last letter) |
| 10 |
BANDSMAN: &Lit |
| 13 |
ARCANE: CAN in anagram of ERA |
| 15 |
SHED: double definition |
| 16 |
CROUTON: anagram of COUNT OR |
| 25 |
AMATOL: hidden in drAMA TO Liven |
| 26 |
BRICKBAT: RICK (stack) in BBAT (f-flier) |
| 28 |
RETAINER: double definition |
| 29 |
CRUISE: I in CRUSE (vessel) |
| 30,31 |
WRONGFUL ARREST: &Lit |
|
| Down |
| 1 |
SEEDCASE: SEE (observe) + DC (current) + anagram of SEA |
| 2 |
COSTLIER: anagram of STORE L (left) I (one) C (about, circa) |
| 3 |
NOTIFY: anagram of IF TONY |
| 5 |
HEAR: approval might be indicated by HEAR-HEAR |
| 6 |
UNDERDOG: anagram of grounded |
| 7 |
HYMNAL: &Lit |
| 8 |
SINKER: StINKER (difficult task). Take out ‘t’ (time) to get a SINKER, a US doughnut. |
| 11 |
REPROOF: REP (traveller) + ROOF (on top) |
| 17 |
ENCODING: CO (commanding officer) in ENDING |
| 18 |
BOMB SITE: anagram of I BET MOBS |
| 19 |
MALTREAT: MALT (liquor) + anagram of RATE |
| 22 |
BARROW: double definition |
| 23 |
TATTOO: double definition |
| 27 |
MENU: MEN (people) + U (university) |
Posted in FT | No Comments »