Posted by Colin Blackburn on 3rd March 2008
I always find it difficult to blog Rufus puzzles without sounding churlish. Rufus produces some cracking clues and his puzzles are usually at the easier end of the scale. However, I’m not a great fan of the cryptic definition and too many CDs spoil things for me especially when some are not that far from straight definitions. This puzzle had an example of a very good CD and, for me, a very bad one.
| * |
anagram |
| < |
reversal |
| CD |
cryptic definition |
| DD |
double definition |
|
| Across |
| 5 |
PALAVERS |
PAL+AVERS |
the definition is ‘talks’, as in conferences, and as such is the root of the word that tends to be used differently.
|
| 10 |
STUMPS |
DD |
if you don’t know cricket then this clue might have had you stumped! One method of dismissing a batsman is stumping and the stumps are drawn (from the ground) at the end of a match.
|
| 11 |
ACHILLES HEEL |
CD |
‘Vulnerable spot targeted by Paris’, I see nothing cryptic in this at all.
|
| 18 |
TATE |
DD ? |
not sure about this, is TATE an old music-hall comedian?
|
| 20 |
PUT ONE’S OAR IN |
DD &lit |
interesting clue this one. Read two ways the clue refers to the literal and metaphorical meaning of the answer.
|
| 23 |
COVERS |
DD |
very nice play on words here.
|
| 24 |
TIE BREAKS |
CD |
this, on the other hand, is a very good cryptic definition, ‘Struggle in which the services prove decisive’
|
| 25 |
ESPALIER |
(PEARS LIE)* |
after looking up the word I realised that this is a sort of semi-&lit. An ESPALIER is a lattice-work used to train fruit trees.
|
|
| Down |
| 2 |
EBOR |
ROBE< |
the Archbishop of York signs himself EBOR, short for Eboracum the Roman name for York.
|
| 3 |
INFLATION |
CD |
|
| 5 |
PESTLE AND MORTAR |
CD |
used to pound spices and other food.
|
| 6 |
LESSENED |
(NEEDLESS)* |
very concise but I’m not sure about ‘Another’ as an anagram indicator.
|
| 12 |
MIRACULOUS |
(OUR MUSICAL)* |
excellent anagram.
|
| 15 |
CUT AND RUN |
CD ? |
I’m not certain here either. I can see all the bits but I’m not sure if I’m reading a CD or something with more word play.
|
| 16 |
WATER SKI |
(RISK A WET)* |
not sure what role the question mark plays here, maybe it hints at the augmented definition?
|
| 19 |
GREENS |
DD |
a very clever cryptic second definition here refers to putting GREENS.
|
| 22 |
PAIR |
I in PAR |
nice little clue to end with.
|
Posted in Guardian | 20 Comments »
Posted by NealH on 3rd March 2008
* = anag, < = reversed, () = removed
A good mix of clues from Punk, many of them quite deceptive.
| Across |
| 1 |
Leeds: homophone of “leads” |
| 4 |
Trampling: T + Rampling (Charlotte Rampling, an actress) |
| 9 |
Cosmetic Surgeon: ET in Cosmic + surge + on. |
| 10 |
Sex Appeal: Cryptic def |
| 12 |
Wales: (SE + Law)<. But it must be a bit irksome for the people of Sussex, Essex etc to be considered part of London. |
| 13 |
Sign: sin around g. |
| 14 |
Admirable: A + D + (elba + rim)< |
| 17 |
Half Crown: A LFC (Liverpool FC) in HR + own. Note the “spent” is not redundant - it refers to money no longer in use. |
| 18 |
Dead: Double def (as in “he’s dead lucky”). |
| 20 |
Riser: R + is + ER. |
| 22 |
Sequester: Seer around quest. |
| 23 |
Circumstantiate: (it isn’t accurate m)*. This threw me for a long time because I was convinced the “a” in front of “thousand” must be part of the anagram. |
| 26 |
Tiggerish: (Their gigs)*. I haven’t been able to find the word in any dictionaries I’ve consulted. |
| 27 |
Range: double def. |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
Locust: I assume this is locus + t, although I’ve never seen t used to mean twentieth before. |
| 2 |
Essex Girl: This is the only one I didn’t really follow. I assume it’s an &lit but don’t really get the wordplay apart from possibly “tess topless” = ess. Full clue is “Tess perhaps going topless, her reputation dubious ?” |
| 3 |
Sleeping Car: (Resting Place - t)* |
| 4 |
Triceratops: Trice + rat + ops. |
| 5 |
Ass: A + SS. |
| 6 |
Par: cryptic def (golf). |
| 7 |
Ideal: Double def (”I deal”). |
| 8 |
Gangster: Gagster around N. |
| 12 |
World Beater: (bowler rated)* - very well disguised anagram. |
| 15 |
Boat Train: OA + TT in brain. |
| 16 |
Short Cut: double def (bob is a type of hair cut). |
| 19 |
Breeze: double def (piece of cake = breeze = something easy) |
| 21 |
Sprog: S + prog. |
| 24 |
Ute: Hidden. |
| 25 |
Ski: Ski(p). |
Posted in Independent | 11 Comments »
Posted by linxit on 3rd March 2008
My broadband connection was down all weekend, hence the lateness of this report.
I managed to do most of this without the dictionary, although I cracked near the end and had to look up a couple.
Across
| 1 |
BEEDI - BEE, I’D rev. A cheap Indian cigarette. |
| 7 |
LESBO - hidden in bottLESBOttles. Fruit was old American slang for a gay man, but I’m pretty sure it’s now considered highly offensive. |
| 11 |
OCTONARII - cartoon* + I,I (the writer repeated). Lines of verse of eight feet |
| 12 |
NO END - quite literally, instructions to get “was” from “wasp”. |
| 13 |
GOMBEEN - BE (bill of exchange) inside GO, MEN. Irish word for usury. |
| 15 |
YEDE - hidden in honeYED Elegy. Spenserian word for go. |
| 16 |
SCOMBER - S(urface) + COMBER. Name of the mackerel genus. |
| 17 |
UTTER - urt* around T(h)E |
| 18 |
PLATE-SHIPS - (is past help)*. |
| 21 |
TEA CLIPPER - lace* inside TIPPER. The Cutty Sark was one such. |
| 24 |
SATIE - I in SATE. French composer Erik Satie. |
| 26 |
CTENOID - T + ONE rev. all inside CID. |
| 27 |
PRAT - double definition. |
| 29 |
ERISTIC - CIT’S IRE reversed. As a noun, a person given to controversy or debate. |
| 30 |
AGISM - A + GISM. Gism (also spelt jism or jissom) means force. I have to admit I only knew the other meaning of it myself. |
| 31 |
MENAGERIE - MEN + gear* + i.e. |
| 32 |
SHEEN - HE inside SEN. “Displaying rare beauty” as sheen has a rare poetical meaning as an adjective for beautiful. |
| 33 |
EEVEN - hidden in slEEVE Notes. Crazy Miltonian spelling of even. |
Down
| 1 |
BONESET - ONES inside BET. A North American species of hemp agrimony. Funnily enough, if you look up hemp agrimony in Chambers (under agrimony), it just says “a composite”. |
| 2 |
ÉCORCHÉ - another hidden, in dÉCOR (CHEap). Shame he only got one of the accents in! It’s a figure in which the muscles are represented stripped of the skin, for the purposes of artistic study. |
| 3 |
DONG - N in DOG. DONG is an Aussie thump, dog is Aussie slang for an informer, whereas nose is English slang for the same. I don’t see the reason or the need for “one glowing there” at the end. |
| 4 |
INDABA - I + band* + A. Usually a tribal conference, but South African slang for a problem. |
| 5 |
MAGNETIC MINE - (mincemeat, gin)* |
| 6 |
PROTREPTICAL - REP,TIC inside patrol*. I got this from the wordplay but it looked very unlikely so I had to look it up. |
| 7 |
LIMBUS - LIMB + US (abbreviation for unserviceable). |
| 8 |
SHEET IRON - (He’s)* + NORITE reversed. |
| 9 |
BREDE - BRED + E (last letter of elegance). Spenserian spelling of braid. |
| 10 |
OWNER - W in ONER. One meaning of OWNER is captain of a warship, which was news to me. |
| 14 |
COPATAINE - the wordplay is in reverse here. AINE is elder (French aîné), with CO (company) and PAT (fitly) above it. The definition in Chambers is “high-crowned like a sugar loaf”. |
| 19 |
PRIMSIE - SI inside PRIME. Si was the seventh note of the scale, now called ti. Ref. the Muriel Spark novella The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Scottish word for demure. |
| 20 |
SIDEMEN - SIN around DEME. |
| 22 |
LENTEN - yet another hidden word, in CorpuLENT ENtirely. |
| 23 |
PELAGE - GALE rev. inside PE. |
| 24 |
SPEOS - posse*. Chambers says it’s a grotto-temple or tomb. |
| 25 |
ARRAH - R inside ARMAGH with M and G removed. An interjection expressing emotion or surprise, so “Well, I never” is pretty much equivalent. |
| 28 |
AGEE - AGE + E (end of cycle). Scottish word meaning “off the straight; ajar”. |
Posted in Azed | 3 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 3rd March 2008
For me, this was harder than usual - I ended up tackling it over three sessions. Yet again I’m not sure everything below is correct or fully explained. As a result I didn’t enjoy it that much - but that’s probably me panicking while staring at the wide open spaces in the unsolved 6 or 7, and wondering what the hell I was going to put in this blog for them.
| Across |
| 7 |
BEHEADED First pass I wrote Beheaded or Headless by the clue - at that point I thought the crossword was going to be an easy solve - but it did set the precedent that for several answers checking letters were required before the correct answer could be confirmed |
| 8 |
MONGOL MO-(LONG)* Maybe. I do not know this as a language (”tongue”). Surely Mongol is a member of the race while the language (tongue) is Mongolian? Full clue:
Short girl sporting long tongue (6) |
| 9 |
DIPSO DIP-SO I was so tempted to write in “crawl” on the first pass |
| 10 |
STRAPPING DD One of those Private Eye double defs |
| 12 |
UTERUS (TRUE)* Us = Private Eye. One of very few I solved on the first pass |
| 13 |
PATELLA Last one in - is it right? How does it work? Full clue:
Joint certain terrorists often chose for getting smashed (7)
Aha - kneecapping - Ugh |
| 16/26 |
OSCAR ACCEPTANCE SPEECH CD Well timed clue |
| 19 |
SESSION S from paiSley’s heart, then IS in NOISE reversed. Favourite clue:
Paisley’s heart is in rows over Assembly (7) |
| 21 |
DOODAH DOO-(HAD)* Maybe. Full clue:
Dick, as you might coyly say, having to pull off ring, had breakdown(6)
Don’t understand how to get DOO from “having to pull off ring” |
| 23 |
CORN DOLLY RN (sailors) and D (date) inside COOLLY |
| 25 |
BEHAN EH for “didn’t catch that” inside BAN for bar. Drunken writer had me thinking of Brendan B quite quickly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Behan |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
CHOPSTICKS STICK inside CHOPS “easy piece” I can think of better uses for two fingers - or feet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZRPM1Fn-Aw |
| 2 |
LABOURER LABOUR-E-R Hired hand |
| 3 |
CENSUS Is this supposed to be a homophone of Censors? Full clue:
Almost sounds like editors count! (6) |
| 5 |
UGLI Homophone Ugly. I was unsure whether the answer should be ugli or ugly but luckily the final letter is checked. Full clue:
Hideous, being given ‘oral’treatment in the fruit store (4) |
| 6 |
FLAGWAVER FLAG-WAVER One of the answers I was stuck on - not sure why now |
| 7 |
BODY D inside BOY as in “Oh Boy” |
| 11 |
RUPEE UR reversed then PEE. I normally expect Ur to be indicated by “ancient city” or similar rather than just “city” |
| 14/4 |
LANCASHIRE HOTPOT (CASTRATION HELP HO(use))* This nice big juicy anagram was my way into the puzzle |
| 15/22 |
WORST-CASE SCENARIO CD I initially wasted time on this searching for anagrams involving “A more dire” |
| 17 |
CANAL C-ANAL |
| 18 |
TROMBONE TOM BONE with R at 2nd spot. Did you know Trombone in french also means paperclip. NALOPKT. I’m not sure why that pleased me so when I discovered it the other day. |
| 20 |
IL DUCE (CLUE DI)* When dictator is mentioned in a clue Mussolini is often found. One of very few I solved on the first pass |
| 21 |
DRY ICE CD Referring to the use of solid CO2 to fog up a stage. This can be very effective as in a Dame Edna Everage show some years ago when (s)he was taking a few curtain calls and was sneakily attached to some crane arrangement. When the fake-fog clouded up the whole auditorium suddenly there was the harpy flying through it like some demented David Bowie, flying through the air towards the circle, flinging gladioli all round. Very frightening. |
| 22 |
UNDO I presume this is a cryptic def. referring to the way old reprobates such as the 13th Duke of Wybourne relieve their conquests of their togs, but I can’t see why this should particularly lead to “undo” as opposed to, say, “peel”. Again, checking letters required here. Full clue:
Start removing clothes as an old seducer would do? (4) |
| 24 |
REEF Reefer with ER removed |
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 5 Comments »