Guardian 24,337 (Sat 5 Apr)/Taupi - Double trouble
Posted by rightback on 19th April 2008
Solving time: 11:40
This puzzle had a theme of 12 double word phrases, where the second word in one phrase was the first in the next. Starting with 9ac, these were BLANK, CARTRIDGE, PAPER, TIGER, SNAKE, PIT, STOP, SHORT, CIRCUIT, BOARD, GAME, POINT and back to BLANK, and the definitions in each clue were to the relevant phrase and not the individual words. Very clever indeed, and although this isn’t really my type of puzzle and so I didn’t enjoy this as much as a normal crossword by this setter, I’m sure others will say the opposite.
If anyone can explain 15ac or 26ac I would be much obliged.
Music of the day: both for the theme and 18ac/26dn, it has to be The Chain by Fleetwood Mac.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 9 | B + LANK (= ’straight and flat’) |
| 10 | C(HIP)OLA + TA |
| 11 | EX ACT NESS - Kevin Costner played Eliot Ness in The Untouchables. |
| 12 | S(N)AKE |
| 15 | CIRCUIT - what has this got to do with ‘Knight’s regalia’? [Edit: "SIR KIT" - see comments.] |
| 17 | P(O)INT |
| 18 | POINT - ON |
| 20 | PRO(N)G - clever double use of ‘point’, the answer to 17ac. |
| 22 | ROLL MOP - wordplay in the answer. |
| 25 | B(ESME)AR |
| 27 | CAR + rev. of (E.G. + DIRT) |
| 30 | O + RAT(OR)IOS |
| 31 | BOARD; BROAD (= ‘extensive’) with the R moved. |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | [s]ABLE |
| 2 | M(A + CAR + ON)1 |
| 3 | SKIT; rev. of TI[c]KS |
| 4 | SCREW TOP; (WET CORPS)* |
| 5 | AIR SAC - ‘concerning’ as a hidden indicator? |
| 6 | CON + SCRIPTS - this took me a while; ‘on the head’ just means ‘at the start of the clue’. |
| 7 | XANADU; X + A + (AND)* + U - Xanadu was the capital of Kubla Khan’s empire. |
| 8 | GAME - ‘game point’ being a point in a tennis set in which one of the players (strictly, the server) can win the game. |
| 13 | PAPER; “PAY PER” [view] - this took me a while to understand post-solve; like many of the other double-answer phrases, I didn’t really consider the wordplay as the answer was clear. |
| 14 | ESTIMATION; (IS AT NO TIME)* |
| 16 | TI(G)ER - a tiger snake is one of these. |
| 19 | TUBEROSE; (TO BE SURE)* |
| 21 | OVER + DRAW |
| 23 | LOO + FAH |
| 24 | P[rot]ECT + IN |
| 26 | STOP - don’t really understand this. The wordplay seems to be ‘Up-downs’; maybe ‘down’ = ‘pot’, as in ‘pot-hole’? [Edit: 'pot' = 'down' as in snooker; see comments. I'll try to think before blogging in future...] |
| 28 | ROBE[son] |
| 29 | EDDY - Nelson Eddy was an American singer. |
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