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Archive for March 24th, 2008

Guardian 24344/Rufus

Posted by linxit on 24th March 2008

linxit.

Solving time 14:43

I raced through the top half in a couple of minutes, but then struggled with the bottom half and really struggled with the SE corner. Nothing particularly difficult and all seemed pretty straightforward once I got them, so it was just down to me losing the plot rather than the clues being tougher. Really good surface readings throughout, not a shaky one to be seen.

Across
1 INSIGHT - “incite”. Pretty dubious homophone, as the stress is on the wrong syllable no matter what your accent.
5 SNIPES - good CD. Maybe it’s because the test match is on at the moment, but I was fooled by the cricket surface until I got a couple of crossing letters.
12 INSPECTOR,AT,(chas)E
15 ISRAELITES - (realise it’s)*
20 SPOT(LIGHT)S - previous nonsense removed after Eileen’s comment!
26 GROYNE - “groin”. A mole can also be a breakwater.
27 ELEMENTS - double def.
28 RAKISH (Shark I)* - I thought “into the wild” was quite a good definition really.
29 TE(T)ANUS - last letter of aunT in Austen* - tried for far too long to find a word with EMMA in it!

Down
1 I,A,GO - the villainous character in Shakespeare’s Othello.
3 GUERNSEY - (us,energy)* - got this from crossing letters, then realised it was an anagram.
6 NAR,ROW - RAN rev
8 SURREALIST (I, art’s rules)* - good anagram &lit., although it could be argued that the cryptic grammar requires the I to be at the start of the word rather than mixed in with the anagram fodder.
14 GROUND,WORK - I was fooled into thinking this was an anagram of (land, labour) for a while.
16 I’M,POST
18 DIPLOMA,T
24 AN(O)N
25 IS,IS - a bit unfair. If the clue said “Goddess is first and last”, I’d have got it in a second.

Posted in Guardian | 4 Comments »

Independent No 6688 by Punk

Posted by NealH on 24th March 2008

NealH.

* = anag, < = reversed, () = dropped

The bird theme made this crossword the easiest Monday puzzle for some time, but the clues were all well-constructed and there were some good cryptic definitions.

Across
1 Pelican: Pen around lic(e) + a.
5 Crossed: Dec< around Ross. I assume the male name is Ross. It’s not common as a first name but does occur (as in Ross Noble, for example).
9 Fantastic: Ant in fast + ic. I wasn’t sure about the “ic” for “I see”. There’s nothing to indicate it’s a soundalike, so I assume it must be an accepted abbreviation, although it’s not in my dictionary. Or are Instant Messaging abbreviations now creeping into crosswords ?
10 Snipe: double def.
11 Ibis: Bi(rd)< + is.
12 Favourites: Fa + our in vites. A Punk favourite - the single word used to represent wordplay.
14 Peacock: Peck around a co.
15 Martin: Double def.
19 Easter: s in eater + neat cryptic def.
20 Chicken: double def.
23 First Class: First lass around c.
25 Rhea: soundalike of rear.
27 Mavis: M + avis (latin for bird).
28 Montezuma: Cryptic definition based on Montezuma’s revenge.
29 Dynasty: D(add)y + nasty.
29 Tannery: Try around anne + cryptic def (”hides”) attempting to mislead you into thinking this was another bird themed clue.
Down
1 Puffin: puffin(g)
2 Lankiness: Lane around kin + ss.
3 Chat: double def.
4 Nuthatch: Nut + hatch.
5 Cuckoo: Double def.
6 Observance: (carves bone)*.
7 Swift: Double def.
8 Dressing: Cryptic def (activity after rising = dressing).
13 Scientists: (insects)* around ist.
16 Tree house: Cryptic def (spruce tree).
17 Perfumed: Peru around f + med.
18 Chestnut: Double def.
21 Blimey: By around lime.
22 Canary: Canard (French for duck) with the last letter altered.
24 Raven: (C)raven.
26 Tern: soundalike of “turn”.

Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »