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Archive for May 7th, 2008

Independent 6726/Dac - Elegant stuff

Posted by tilsit on 7th May 2008

tilsit.

Solving time:  15 mins

A nice enjoyable puzzle from one of the Indy’s stable of fine setters.  Several really excellent clues including 14 across, 17 down (hope he doesn’t sue!) and 23 across.

ACROSS  (*) = ANAGRAM   (CD)= CRYPTIC DEF    (R) = REVERSAL

1  BEDS   B.EDS  To run a school, you’d need at least a Bachelor of Education degree.  (CD)

4  REPUGNANCY   RE (About) +  PUG (Dog) +  NANCY (Bill Sikes’ companion in Oliver Twist - see BBCTV weekends ad nauseam)

9  HEARD OUT   Homophone for “her doubt”

10  OUTSET  Double def with one cryptic

11 COUPLE    L in COUPE

12   OVERCAST  OVER + CAST (Use too many players)

14  SEVEN DAYS IN MAY   Nice CD of a film.

16  TROUBLESHOOTER    BROTHER LOSE OUT*

19  PROFILES   PRO (In favour of)  +  FILES (Records)

20  RAISIN     IS inside RAIN

21 UNSAID    UN’S (United Nations’) + AID (Assistance)

22 BUMP INTO   BUM + PINT + O

23 COME ON DOWN   DO CON WOMEN*

24 NERD    (CD)  N.E. RD  (A way to Newcastle would be so described)

DOWN

2  EYESORE   homophone for I Soar

3  STRIPPED OFF   ST (Good man)  + RIPPED OFF (Cheated)

4  RHONE     RH (Royal Highness)  +  ONE

5  PIT PONY     P (vERY LITTLE MONEY) +  IT  +  PONY (Slang for twenty-five quid)

6   GLOBEFISH   F inside BIG HOLES*  A new fish to me.

7  ACT   Hidden answer

8  CREASEY   John Creasey was a famous notable detective fiction writer, creating amongst other characters The Baron turned into a seminal 60’s TV series starring Steve Forrest.  Can’t you tell I have been setting quiz questions all day!

13 COMPOSITION   M  inside CO-POSITION

15 DABBLED IN   D  +  AND BIBLE*

16  TORONTO   Hidden answer

17  EUSEBIO    E USE + BIO.  Outrageous but funny clue!

18  EVICTOR   E + VICTOR

20  ROMAN   Double def

22  APE      APSE (part of church)  minus  S 

 

Thanks to Dac for seriously enjoyable fun! 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »

FINANCIAL TIMES, No.12761 set by MONK

Posted by Octofem on 7th May 2008

Octofem.

Quite a tricky one and I was stumped by the bones question at 19d.  Will await explanations from those more successful.

ACROSS

1.   ESCALATE-(esc-a late (et al <)
5.   AFFAIR (af-f-air)
10. WIDOWER- (Wi(n)dow -er
11. OSMOTIC )- a kind of pressure (even letters from noisome -osm plus otic)
12. NATES - * seat n (an old name for buttocks)
13. ABSTRACTS (abs-tracts )
14. SOLOMON’S SEAL (solo- m-on-ss-eal) - was in the shape of a star
18  IDENTITY CARD ( * did certainty)
21. TROUT FARM ( rainbow trout)
23. KNOLL (kn-OLL) boss as in convexity.
24. ROSTRUM ) rum around *sort
25. ORPHEUS (sue-h-pro <)
26. DOWNER ( d-owner)
27 ASSYRIAN (as-syrian)

DOWN

1.  EDWINA (first letters of extremely & awful, *wind between (The formidable lady herself)
2.  CADETS (ca-de-ts)
3.  LOWESTOFT(lowest-oft)
4.  TERRACOTTA ARMY (straight forward definition)
6.  FEMUR (f- me>-ur)
7.  ALTO CLEF-  (*loca left)
8.   ROCK SALT- (rock - s(ulphur)-alt :even letters of tablets.)
9.   HOUSE OF COMMONS - not sure about the daily element.
15. STRIKE PAY-definition
16. FILTERED (fil-t-ere-d -)
17. TENON SAW (*now nates)
19.This one defeated me - anyone help? -O-E-I
20  ALISON-(Ali -son)
22  THREE (Th-re-e - leash is old name for  triality)

Posted in FT | 8 Comments »

Guardian 24382/Araucaria - running true to form

Posted by ilancaron on 7th May 2008

ilancaron.

Somehow I was on an Araucarian wavelength today which is unusual for me. But nonetheless I was very grateful in a couple of places for wordplay since the definition was beyond me, e.g. 20A. Edits from comments below…

Across

1 ALL SOULS - this required a bit of research: I somehow associated ALL SOULS with “graduates” — turns out its an Oxford college in which all members are already fellows (i.e. graduates) and with some more research ALL SOULS Day is observed on November 2, i.e. 2/11. Tough clue.
5 S(TUP)ID - SID’s our boy. And a thematic word.
9 TIME-LIFE - ref. the US magazine publisher and rev(life,time).
10 B(ASS)ET - ASS as in stupid (5A).
12 RUN INTO FORM - working out the wordplay out as we speak: I see why RUN INTO FORM (class) indicates eagerness at school, but I don’t see why running into form indicates a collision with the bench. What am I missing? According to Eileen, bench is form as well.
15 HO(R)SE - ref. you can lead a HORSE to water, but…
17 CATA(T,[l])ONIA - ref. Catalonia in Spain.
18 COP,ART,NER[o] - Nero is our fiddler.
20 GERM,AN(BIG)HT - BIG in than*. Without the wordplay I would never have worked this out — it’s a part of the North Sea adjacent to Holland and Germany (and Denmark) which apparently has some weather forecast relationship to Fisher but I can’t work it out. Anyone?
25 T(HE B)ENCH - Nice misdirection: judges has nothing to do with the book of the Bible.
27 DROP DEAD - ref. DROP DEAD gorgeous and a way to turn down an offer from someone you don’t totally admire…

Down

1 AFTERS,HOCK - very nice clue: ref. POST-TRAUMATIC.
2 LEMON D[e],ROPS - so “the world” is the LE MONDE (not in English and without an E). And I guess somehow “bits” of “EuROPe’S” is sufficient to indicate ROPS? Am I reading this wrong?
4 LEFT OF CENTRE - nice double (or triple?) definition.
7 POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS - I saw the answer from the enumeration and crossing letters and definition: but I didn’t have the patience to crack the wordplay: “Disorder for order, crackling with tension about most of 20’s dream”. See Andrew’s explanation below.
8 DATE - another simple but elegant double definition.
11 FOSTER FATHER - (that’s for free)*
13 INDU,L,GEN,CE
14 FAR-FETCHED - (r, h, affected)* — is it FAR-FETCHED for H to be an abbreviation of “hand”? Eileen is quite right to say that RH is a perfectly acceptable abbreviation of “right hand” though…
16 EG,REGI(O)US - without checking, REGIUS must be “royal”. In, oh let me guess, Latin.
21 BE,B,OP - I think this is it but not sure how “not hard” contributes in: “Not hard work following live music”. HB indicates a type of pencil, so “not hard” leaves just a B. I would have expected some ref to pencils though to make this fair. Am I still missing something?
22 ISIS - two meanings (ref. The Thames near Oxford).
23 THO’,R - “even if” for THO’.

Posted in Guardian | 11 Comments »