Posted by John on 21st May 2008
Dac’s typically good offering, but, unusually, one or two clues about which I am a bit doubtful.
| Across |
| 1 |
CASABLANCA - ca s(ailing) a B (canal)* |
| 6 |
SWOP - (POWS)rev. |
| 9 |
LEGI(R)ON. I know it makes for a good surface, but is a leg-iron really a band? A leg-iron’s a fetter, something that restrains, and a band can be used for restraining, but … |
| 10 |
RATT(L)ER |
| 12 |
C(H)AFF |
| 13 |
METER MAID - “made” at the back of “metre” |
| 14 |
SE CON DREADING |
| 16 |
TRIED ONE’S BEST - (tense brides to)* |
| 20 |
CAUTIONED - (education)* |
| 21 |
HO SEA |
| 23 |
IMP(ASS)E(l) |
| 24 |
BOUQUET - 2 defs |
| 25 |
vulGAR Yob |
| 26 |
UNFRIENDLY - (funnily Red)* |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
C(ALIC(e))O |
| 2 |
SIGMA - “cig” ma |
| 3 |
BAREFACED LIES - after a shave you’re barefaced |
| 4 |
A GNOME N. Is nickname quite good enough? Both Chambers and the COD say that it is jocular, humorous, familiar; the COD doesn’t even seem to give ‘agnomen’, but Chambers says that it’s a name added to the family name, generally on account of some great exploit. |
| 5 |
CURATOR. I took a long time to understand why this is the answer, and eventually decided that it’s a homonym and meant to be “queue rater”. But who pronounces ‘curator’ like that? The first syllable more usually, I’d have thought, rhymes with the first four letters of ‘Bjorn’, or at any rate the anglicised pronunciation of that word. |
| 7 |
WELFARIST - we (frail)* st |
| 8 |
PARA DI((fightin)G)M |
| 11 |
TERRACED HOUSE - (here Tudors)* round ace |
| 14 |
SKI(n) JUMPER |
| 15 |
STOCKING - 2 defs |
| 17 |
NAN KEEN. I thought that this, together with 1dn, was a sort of mini-theme. But very mini. |
| 18 |
SIDE BAR. Is ’side bar’ a type of bar (in the pub sense)? Then why wasn’t there a question mark? |
| 19 |
P(ANT)RY |
| 22 |
S(elect) QUAD - def. ‘players for the team’ |
Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »
Posted by diagacht on 21st May 2008
This caused me some trouble with two clues solved but unexplained.
| Across |
| 9 |
NORWEGIAN: anagram of WEARING NO |
| 10 |
ANNIE: hidden in bemoAN NIEtzsche |
| 11 |
CAPTAIN: A P (a page) in anagram of ACT I + N (opening night) |
| 12 |
HADDOCK: HAD on the DOCK |
| 13 |
SNOWY: reversed and hidden in easilY WON Second |
| 14 |
BARNACLES: anagram of CLEAN BRAS |
| 16 |
VIRGINIA CREEPER: VIRGIN (uncorrupted) + I A (one article) + CREEPER (brothel creepers were a fashionable type of shoe in the rockabilly 1950’s |
| 19 |
ROTAVATES: breaks ground, but the cryptic? |
| 23 |
HIRSUTE: anagram of HER SUIT, and also a homophone |
| 25 |
NULLIFIES: anagram of FUN IE (that is) and SILL (silly without y, the unkonwn) |
|
| Down |
| 1 |
KNOCKS OVER: |
| 2 |
TRAPDOOR: reverse of ROOD (cross) PART (section) |
| 3 |
LEGACY: EG in LACY (sounds like lacey) |
| 4 |
JINN: J (judge) + INN |
| 5 |
ON THE ROCKS: as in whiskey, barnacles and a place to get wrecked |
| 6 |
LAID BARE: BAR in anagram of IDEAL |
| 7 |
IN GOAL: IN + anagram of A LOG |
| 8 |
WEEK: creation takes place in a week according to Genesis 1; also WEE K (baby grand) |
| 14 |
BLISTERING: anagram of TIRES in BLING |
| 15 |
STRIPTEASE: TEASE (guy, as in joe) after STRIP |
| 17 |
INVOLVED: double definition |
| 18 |
POP MUSIC: based on the presumption that a father disapproves of the musical taste of his child |
| 20 |
TINTIN: Tintin lives with Captain Haddock at Marlinspike Hall; he has a dog called Snowy. So far so good, but the cryptic? |
| 21,24 |
MARLIN SPIKE: MARLINS PIKE; a marlin spike is used to separate strands of rope |
| 22 |
DOSH: DOS (parties) + H |
Posted in Guardian | 15 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 21st May 2008
A most entertaining puzzle
Across
1 WHINGE Charade of W (women) HINGE (joint)
4 CINNABAR C (clubs) insertion of A between INN & BAR (pubs)
9 AMAZON Insertion of AZ (limits of the alphabet) in A MON (Scotsamn)
10 PRIVATES dd
12,13 FOUR-LETTER WORD *(free world tutor)
15 GORDON SETTER Charade of G (good) insertion of ONSET (starting) T (time) in ORDER (practice)
16 ENTRANCEMENT Charade of ENT (Ear nose & throat aka hospital department) RAN (managed) CEMENT (fix teeth)
21,22 MOCK TURTLE SOUP The Mock Turtle is a character in Alice Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll and SOUP is so up (very well informed) Chambers defines MTS as an imitation of turtle soup, made of calf’s head or veal.
24 RENMINBI *(miner) + RENMI + NB (nota bene or note well) I (one)
25 CASEIN Lest is in case; just reverse the order
26 LICHGATE Insertion of CH (church) GAT (gun) in LIE (position
27 ADVENT Charade of AD (poster) VENT (opening)
Down
1 WHARFAGE *(a few argh)
2 IN A HURRY Charade of IN (not out) HURRAY (I applaud) with A (one) being moved up to form AHURRY
3,14 GOOD-FOR-NOTHING This is a clue where you get the answer from the simple definition and have to think hard to parse. Nothing for good is another way of describing a transient thing (ephemerality)
5 IRRITATINGLY Charade of IR (Irish) RITA (girl) TINGLY (with thrills)
I wonder what’s the function of the word education in the clue
6,23 NEVER-NEVER LAND The Flying Dutchman is a black ghostly Dutch ship, or its captain, condemned to sweep the seas around the Cape of Good Hope for ever. Thus it can never-never land, which is an imaginary place. BTW, Neverland is the name of the private theme park which used to belong to Michael Jackson, the Gloved One
7 BOTTOM What a delightful clue! The donkey character from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream is featured as though it were an American spelling of the familiar term for the backside.
8 RESIDE Charade of RE (on) SIDE (11 in a football team)
11 WELSH RAREBIT Charade of WELSH (fail to pay) RARE (undercooked as opposed to well-done) BIT (portion)
16 FELO DE SE Charade of LODES (veins of gold?) in FEE (the price paid). Chambers defines this as a suicide from Latin, literally, felon of himself
17 STEP ON IT *(nepotist) => IN A HURRY (from 2D)
19 AMORAL “am oral”
20 ICONIC Charade of I (one) CONIC (section)
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »