Posted by ilancaron on 6th March 2008
Always a pleasure to encounter Pasquale in The Guardian. One of the reasons is that you know that his wordplay will always be (eventually!) justifiable and sensible — with just the right touch of humor. A couple of unknown words for me which had me looking things up (e.g. ALIENOR and CYRENE).
Goodness, that sounded sycophantic. Sorry.
Across
| 1 |
GUST,A,V[ery] - ref. several Kings of Sweden I would think. |
| 4 |
C(LOSE)T - I assume that CLOSET can be a verb (I thought of being in the closet when I read this…). |
| 9 |
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS - the def (”volcanic archipelago near Alaska”) rather gives this away so I haven’t worked the anag out (probably (USA installed)*). |
| 11 |
TRAP DOOR - saw the def long before the wordplay which is: rev(rood=cross, part). |
| 12 |
LOTHAR,I,O - but I don’t see how to produce LOTHAR (”I love to follow hussy cycling round? Quite possibly”. Comment below notes that LOTHAR is harlot (hussy) which has partially cycled around. |
| 15 |
APPLE,T - I suppose it was only a matter of time before APPLETs etc. became mainstream. What’s next? Servlets? |
| 18 |
MAJOR,IT,Y - nice &lit, ref. John MAJOR former PM who presumably lost his MAJORITY. |
| 21 |
CAT,[an]ALYST - rather nice clue… since a CATALYST itself could be a cryptic def for an animal psychiatrist. |
| 22 |
GUFF,A,W - literal homophone I guess (”Dubya” is W — in honor of our fearless leader Neil or George??) |
| 24 |
DEVONSHIRE CREAM - surface a bit strained: (modern achievers)*. |
| 26 |
CYRENE - ([s]cenery)* - S for “sun” and ref. CYRENE (in Libya). |
Down
| 1 |
GAL=rev(lag),I,LEO - I suppose this is an &lit since I think GALILEO was in fact imprisoned for heresy (?) by Pope LEO (??) (which would make this really nice). |
| 3 |
ALIENOR - Someone in the business of transferring liens I suppose: (I learn, O)*. |
|
| 5 |
LA SCALA - Rather nice clue ref. Maria Callas who must have sung frequently at LA SCALA…. so take Callas, and move the the LAS to the front and add an A[stound]. |
| 8 |
ANATTO - It’s a tropical tree but I give up on the wordplay. A nano is probably a billionth or so… “A million-million-millionth of a tropical tree?” |
| 13 |
HALF A LOAF - my explanation is I suppose better than nothing but the rest? something to do with ALOE? “What’s reduced pain for the French? Nothing be worse!” Groan…you’d think I’d remember that “pain” is French bread. |
| 16 |
PLACE,BO=rev(ob) |
| 17 |
TRY(P)SIN - I guess it’s always a temptation to TRY SIN. At least in Christianity. The reward (TRYPSIN) is an enzyme that helps your digestion. |
| 19 |
MAT,RIX - ran into Brian RIX the comedian elsewhere recently, MAT is a kind of artistic finish and MATRIX is a kind of bed (in construction I think). |
| 19 |
JAGGERY - whimsical adjective derived from Mick JAGGER but I think Pasquale missed a great opportunity to refer to the song “Brown Sugar” in the surface since that’s the actual def of JAGGERY. |
| 20 |
TEA-CAKE - it’s food in the afternoon and for Spooner it’d be S(EAT)AKE, i.e. EAT (what’s important) inside of SAKE (important). Or is it KEY TAKE?
|
| 23 |
FURZE=”firs” |
Posted in Guardian | 11 Comments »
Posted by C G Rishikesh on 6th March 2008
Across
1 NESTLE - two definitions - the accent mark on the final e in the first definition is ignored
8 PATRIOT - A trip*, to* - charade with two anagrams
11 LAWN TENNIS - lawn, in nest* - in ’snake’ (to move sinuously) we have a nice anagram indicator. The not-so-obvious def. and ’snake’ as noun in surface reading delayed the answer
12 FORM - two definitions - when I was in school I was in ‘form’ but present-day schoolboys in India are in ‘class’
20 STIR - s(t)ir - ‘finally’ goes with ‘Opponent’, not ‘caught’
23 KILOTON - kil(oto*)n - actually it’s a measure of explosive force
24 PIE-EYED - pi, E, eyed
Down
1 NGANA - from visitiNG AN Abattoir - a hidden clue that is really hidden; Chambers has definition in its variant ‘nagana’
2 STRINGY - try sing* - ‘high’ does double duty as anag. ind. and as part of def.
5 X-RAYS - no fractures here!
6 CHAFFED - cha(f)fed; when we embrace someone we had better take care!
10 INTORSION - in [tors(i)o]n - double container-contained
15 ADDICTION - addiction - ‘ground’ is noun in surface reading but verb as anag. ind.; surface reading is not very elegant, though
17 TURMOIL - t(urm*)oil
Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 6th March 2008
Very enjoyable puzzle from Morph - one of the easier Thursday puzzles we’ve had for a while.
| Across |
| 1 |
BODICE RIPPER - v.amusing def + cryptic def to get us started. |
| 9 |
TART,RATES |
| 10 |
IL[-l] in GUT - excellent &lit. |
| 11 |
IX in RILE< - I guess this means that Gaul names often end in -IX, like Asterix? |
| 13 |
O in CAR,USING |
| 15 |
STROP - that’s “wobbly” as in “throw a wobbly”. Clever combination of very different meanings. |
| 17 |
hidden reversed in “televisUAL IPod” |
| 21 |
CH[-arles],IV,VI,ED - this took a bit of working out and I think I’ve got it right. “Edward the Sixth” would be ED VI. |
| 26 |
TESTOSTERONE - a somewhat audacious but successful (I think) homophone clue: “Tess tossed ‘er own”! Works the way I pronounce it. |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
BUTTERCUP - sounds like “buttock up”. |
| 2 |
RID (going up),TIER |
| 3 |
CUR,IR<,(CUMULATIVE)* - I thought this was very good, especially as “My Life as a Dog” is actually the title of a film. |
| 5 |
PASS,EN,GER |
| 16 |
PET,(CLEAN U[-p])* |
| 23 |
DA IS |
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 6th March 2008
Some unfamiliar words, in which the clues helped with friendly wordplay. Quite easy overall, solving time, 17 mins
Notes on some clues below - happy to explain others if asked.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
12 DEMOCRATISE (Moderate C = Conservative is)*
22 TONG A Which is a kingdom, Collins confirms.
23 P (A PILL) A
DOWN
3 DIWALI Hindu festival (I law I’d)<
4 P (power) ALE NESS (head)
20 GR (gr = gross) I SON
Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 6th March 2008
As some readers will know, we’ve had a few evening meetings at London pubs for contributors to and readers of this blog, Times for the Times and Tony Sever’s RTC3. Both times, we’ve also had some setters present. S&B 1-3 were attended by about 20 people each.
Sloggers and Betters 4 is being organised by John Henderson (Enigmatist / Nimrod / Io). If you’d like to go, please send an email to: enigmatist50 at hotmail dot com
Date & locations:
Friday 4th April. Meet 5pm onwards at the Allsop Arms in Gloucester Place NW1, then 8ish to Zen Spicemarket, Melcombe Place NW1 for grub.
Nearest tubes: Baker St, Marylebone (equidistant for pub), Marylebone (for restaurant).
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »