Posted by beermagnet on 10th April 2008
I saw Eileen’s plea in puzzle G24359 comments and agree with her - this puzzle needs a blog - and made some notes. Then Real Life got in the way. Then I saw Muck’s comment over on the G Talk site which I have shamelessly raided.
So I have slapped this blog in without a by-your-leave (and by now after too much to drink). So let’s see if it is still there in the morning.
| Across |
| 1 |
BIRDSONG (DR)< SON inside BIG Ref: The modern classic by Sebastian Faulks both a “great war novel” and a “Great War novel” though “great” is required to lead to BIG. Nevertheless one of the great clues in the puzzle |
| 5 |
SHIFTY 1 FT inside SHY 12 isn’t 12 ac. When I got this on first glance … (cont. at 13D) |
| 9 |
BEAUMARIS B(ritish) EAU MAR IS Err. Oh dear I thought I had this decoded yesterday - I guess I was pleased when I finally got it and saw the EAU for water in there - can anyone help? Full clue:
British sea water variously rendered at Welsh castle (9)
Muck says: Eau Maris, for sea water - Is that right? |
| 11 |
GROWL GROW-L L for “plate” again - I didn’t get this due to 8D trouble (qv) |
| 12 |
MICHELANGELO Our renaissance hero M “number” then (CHALLENGE)* inside IO (”10″) |
| 15 |
SIX-SHOOTER Sixer is a brownie or cub scout leader of six. S[econd]-HOOT “Owl’s comment” inside SIXER |
| 18 |
SPERMACETI The spice is MACE inside (PRIEST)*. The monster is a whale. Spermaceti is something stupidly put in cosmetics - can’t be still, can it? |
| 21 |
BRUNELLESCHI BRUNEL-(CHISEL)* You really had to get the reference in 7D to understand which architect it was going to be - but somehow I spotted the “chisel used” as an anagram, and then the …ESCHI ending sprung to mind - and then this, 7D and 22D crystallised - a proper PDM - this is what made the puzzle great for me |
| 24 |
AROMA Where was 12’s dome? A Roma (in Rome) |
| 25 |
RAINSTORM [b]RAINSTORM |
| 26 |
DUSTER First letters of During Unofficially etc. i.e. “openings” (least clever clue in the grid IMO) |
| 27 |
ODYSSEUS (YO[u] SUSSED)* Beautiful clue - ’specially when sussed on the first pass - Oh! I felt I was on a winner here |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
BABE I liked this clue - the definition “being in arms” is cute
The answer given is BABY. The reason is explained in the comments |
| 3 |
SUMMIT SU(MM)IT |
| 4,2 |
NORF CIRCULAR ROAD (Lunatic car horror)* + d(ied). A London route not as far from the centre as the M25 (but only the Northern half) |
| 6 |
HIGH NOON A film. Rank=high. 12 isn’t 12 ac (again) |
| 7 |
FLORENTINE I didn’t know this was also a biscuit - more familiar with the pizza with the egg on top that my SO usually orders. Where is 21’s 22? In a lovely city in Italy |
| 8 |
YELL-OW-ROOT O woe is me I put in YARROW-ROOT thinking “Yarroo!” as the fat-owl of the remove might have howled. I have never heard of Yellow-root. I had heard of Yarrow which is why I didn’t question my mistake, but it is not the root that is the medicinal part (I just checked) |
| 10 |
SELF-SATISFIED (fifties AD less)* |
| 13 |
CHESS BOARD HESS-BOAR in CD (cont from 5A) … and this, giving oodles of first letters, I thought this was going to be an easy A. How wrong I was. I thought this a classic clue too. |
| 14 |
OBSEQUIOUS Obsequies= funeral rites. Replace E= drug by OU= dark blues, for obsequious |
| 17 |
AMPERAGE AM-PER-AGE |
| 20 |
THESIS THE-SIS |
| 22 |
DOME DO-ME Maybe. I am only sure of this because of the integration with other clues - help! |
| 22 |
AMOS DD Lady Amos is in the Lords |
Posted in Guardian | 13 Comments »
Posted by diagacht on 10th April 2008
Yesterday Cinephile, today Bradman - it’s been an interesting couple of days. Some rather odd words in here!
| Across |
| 9 |
BALALAIKA: BALA (Welsh Lake) + LAIKA (dog breed) |
| 10 |
SCHWA: SA (salvation army) around CH (church) + W (women). Not a word I knew but guessed from Hebrew ‘Shewa’ |
| 11 |
ACCLAIM: CCL (250) in A AIM (to train a weapon) |
| 12 |
TEARFUL: T(he) EARFUL when he emerges |
| 14 |
VACCINATION: C IN (cold at home) in VACATION |
| 17 |
ABYSS: ASS around BY |
| 19 |
NUDGE: EG (as, for example) + DUN (to perster), all reversed |
| 21 |
HEADDRESSES: HE ADDRESSES |
| 23 |
ADO: I don’t suppose the calendar includes AD 0! |
| 25 |
REFUSES: REF USES |
| 27 |
HOWBEIT: anagram of H BOW TIE |
| 28 |
NOISE: I in NOSE (informer) |
| 29 |
OVERLADEN: LOVER with first letter at finish + ADEN (port) |
|
| Down |
| 1 |
ABRADE: sounds like ‘a braid’ |
| 2 |
ALACRITY: AL + R (runs) in A CITY |
| 3 |
ILL-ADVISED: LAD in anagram of DEVIL IS |
| 4 |
FILM: FI(r)M with right changing to left (L) |
| 5 |
PART-TIMERS: anagram of TRAMP I REST |
| 7 |
SHUFTI: F (bit of fish) in SHUT I. This took a while. Butchers, here, is to look around. |
| 8 |
PARLANCE: PAR (standard) + LANCE |
| 15 |
COFFEE SHOP: OF FEES in CHOP |
| 16 |
ANNA SEWELL: ANNAS (old indian coins) + EWELL (London suburb) |
| 17 |
ADHERENT: HE in anagram of ARDENT |
| 20 |
DEAD ENDS: anagram of SADDENED |
| 22 |
AFFAIR: A F (a female) + FAIR |
| 24 |
OUTING: clever double definition |
| 27 |
HEEL: another double definition |
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 10th April 2008
| Across |
| 1 |
(THE LAW)* in LEAP,ON - LETHAL WEAPON. |
| 9 |
KIN,IS,G,ZED - I always think KIN whenever I see “family” so I got this fairly quickly. |
| 10 |
SINUS - the wordplay seems to be IN in SUS but how does SUS = “Texas”? Is it S[outh],US? If so that’s a bit vague. |
| 12 |
OV,ERR,EACH - “conclusion of many Russians” for OV (e.g RomanOV, IvanOV) had me puzzled for ages. |
| 13 |
OARLOCK - “man spelling” is WARLOCK (a man who practises witchcraft) so replace the W with O. The surface seems complete nonsense to me though (maybe I’m missing something) and I can’t help but think this is an oddly contrived sort of clue. |
| 16 |
EG in LOVER - cheeky &lit |
| 22 |
SO,DO,M - I guess we can justify M for McDonalds on the basis that their logo - “the golden arches” - is an M. |
| 25 |
RE[-A]PER,TORY |
| 26 |
(TRAVEL FINE IM)* - TERMINAL FIVE. I don’t know if this was Punk being very prescient by managing to predict the chaos of T5’s opening or if the clue/puzzle was published with a shorter-than-usual lead time but either way this is a very apposite &lit. |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
LIKE IT OR LUMP IT - why is it the “penultimate offer”? |
| 3 |
(ONES GAL)* - AL SEGNO, literally “to the sign” and used to indicate that a performer should continue playing to a point elsewhere in the score marked by a sign. |
| 4 |
[-j]AZZ in COW<,K - WAZZOCK is a great word but it doesn’t look like an easy one to clue so I think Punk has done well here. |
| 6 |
BSE in (OVER)* - OBSERVE. |
| 14 |
TRAD in RAGE - “clothes” is a verb rather rather than a noun and functions as a containment indicator. A well-worded clue like this one though makes this hard to spot. |
| 19 |
NO PARTS (going up) |
| 23 |
hidden in “distresseD HOT Inside” |
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 10th April 2008
Solving time 13 mins. A long quote which might have made all the difference as I knew it and entered it first time round.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
6 CHOR (T L) E
10 T (last letter of hesitant) RE MB LING
12 MISINTERPRETED (Dire temper isn’t)*
14 IN VERT
16 (J)AME (ER)S
18 PERE GR I (NATION) S
20 COMMA Double definition
22 SURE THING Ditto, ref horse racing.
24 LAUNDRY (lady run)*
25 LEN I ENT
DOWN
1 E (C) HT The<
2 VOTE-WINNER (Now it never)*
3/7A/19/11 O TO BE IN ENGLAND NOW THAT APRIL’S THERE * of the whole clue, except for ‘appropriately’. First Quixote puzzle of April. From Robert Browning’s poem “Home Thoughts from Abroad” - the quote has “Oh” rather than “O”, a change surely allowable in the circs.
4 S EXIST
5 SH O E Oxford is a type of shoe, good surface reading suggesting the place.
7 NIGER IA (A1 regin(a))<
8 WATER-RESISTANT (Wine-taster’s art)*
9 TR (END) Y
13 T(YR ANN IS) ED Old rocker = Ted(dy boy) from 1950s.
15 TH (IR ST) Y
17 A P (I C) AL
21 MA (U) D
23 GI T(h)E
Posted in Independent | No Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 10th April 2008
A clue or two hinting that the setter is a woman. Which I knew already. I wonder a bit about 16D and I think I’m right about 11D (a first for me recognizing cockney rhyming slang if I am).
Across
| 1 |
SIDEMAN - (Sandie, M)* and nothing to do with Sandie Shaw. |
| 5 |
A,GHA(S)T - I congratulated myself on vaguely remembering that GHAT had something to do with Indian burial practices and pyres. |
| 9 |
OB,SERVER - she watches no doubt as the old boy spends all his time on the internet (solving cryptic crosswords?). |
| 10 |
M,ISUSE=Susie* - can’t decide if “hurt” is the def and “harry” is the anagrind or v.v. |
| 17 |
ROC - hidden in “Hunter occasionally” |
| 19 |
ARC - initial letters of “accelerate reaction, creating” |
| 20 |
TE,RRACOTT=tractor*,A - more initials: “Theban excavations”. |
| 27 |
CAL[l]LA,BASH - CALLA is a kind of lily and the whole thing’s a tree. |
| 28 |
LAHOR=(Harol[d])*,E - Harold’s a friend of Harry, Mark and Susie presumably. |
Down
| 1 |
S,TOP - a (full) stop in America is a period. |
| 2 |
DOS,H - Brit moolah. |
|
| 3 |
MERENGUE - haven’t looked this up but I think a Pavlova’s a meringue and we’re replacing the I (one) with an E[nergy] - MERENGUE thus must be a dance. |
| 4 |
NA([thos]E)VI - IVAN’s our reversed Russian and NAEVI must be birthmarks. |
| 6 |
GEISHA - hidden |
| 7 |
ADULTERATE=(a deal utter)* - “chicanery” is our nounal anagrind and “cut” is our def. |
| 8 |
TRENCH=”cut”,COAT=”fleece” - another kind of “cut”. |
| 11 |
GANDER - my last clue: two defs — the first is rhyming slang for a look (rhymes with Butcher’s Hook) and Chambers says GANDER’s a simpleton as well. |
| 14 |
B,LACK,DEATH - rather depressing clue. |
| 16 |
CHEESE - bit of a mystery: I assume it’s two meanings where CHEESE alludes to Big Cheese, i.e. a VIP and “junket” I’m guessing a dessert made from cheese (??). |
| 21 |
SAIL,OR - “moonraker” is a kind of sail and I guess Limey is originally the epithet given to Brit sailors because of their dislike of scurvy. |
| 23 |
MEANS=”miens” - and capital is what keeps the world going round. |
| 24 |
TAR,N - another sailor. And it’s a mountain lake. |
| 25 |
CHAR - two meanings: I assume you find CHAR in mountain lakes? |
Posted in Guardian | 22 Comments »