Posted by bridgesong on 20th June 2008
Auster is Australian by origin, which may explain some Antipodean references in her puzzle today. Unusually, there is only one full anagram, and only a few partial ones. I’ve left out one or two of the more straightforward clues. With two clues unsolved (19 across and down) it took me about an hour and a half.
Across
1 FILL IN - double definition
4 BY WORDS - another double definition, but a bit wittier
9 LIES DOG GO - might have been a better clue if the word “go” hadn’t been used
11 IBSEN - hidden, but with no adequate indication; acceptable perhaps in an easy clue
12 BACK(W AT)ER - w is the first letter of “winning”
13 SAFE SEX - peter is old slang for a safe, so it reads “Pete’s ex”
17 IN HAND - Inn had*
19 ? No idea at present - suggestions welcome
22 HAYSTACKS - Obviously the reference is to losing a needle in a haystack, but I’m not
sure that the drug reference really works
24 LATE R
26 NEARS - another hidden clue, but this time there is a clear indication
27 A BAND ONED - partial anagram
28 RE A WAKE
29 I G LOOS - not sure about “temporary”, unless that’s a reference to global warming
Down
1 F IL LIES - il is Italian for “the”
2 LEEKS - leeks are the national emblem of Wales,and the word sounds like “leaks”.
3 IND(0NES)IA - a clever piece of word play
4 BR ON COS - Cos of course is a favourite Mediterranean island for setters
6 RHEOTROPE - I had to look this up. It’s a device for reversing an electric current. The word play is hero* + port (rev) + e (end of handle). “up” is appropriate in a down clue
7 SOMBRE - mb as an abbreviation for maternity benefit is pretty weak
8 EGG BOX - a brilliant piece of misleading clue writing
14 FUNNY HA HA - the number of letters in the phrase makes it very easy to solve
16 CATTLE DOG - the word play is let* between cat and dog. A blue heeler is an Australian term for a dog used to herd cattle
18 DICTATE - 1 c(our)t in date
19 The other one I haven’t yet solved
20 STRIDES - another double definition
21 SHINE R
23 TOSCA - another hidden clue; it’s an opera by Puccini
Posted in Guardian | 16 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 20th June 2008
| Across |
| 1 |
(MATERIAL SNAG)* - MARGINAL SEAT. |
| 9 |
ORPHANAGE - I think this is a reference to Wilde’s line from The Importance of Being Earnest: “to lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness”. |
| 11 |
S in THIRTY |
| 12 |
SQUARED - 12 SQUARED is 144, which is a gross. |
| 15 |
A,FOR,E S,AID |
| 17 |
PS in PIQUE,A,K - I knew the word but didn’t know it could mean “minor functionary”. |
| 18 |
TWINS - don’t get this one: “Women apparently preserved offspring”. |
| 19 |
EIRE< in QU,D |
| 23 |
T,(LUCK)* in ROAD |
| 24 |
I,N,TELL,GEN in ICE |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
PHI in (HELPS ONE MATE)* - MEPHISTOPHELEAN.”Setter of Beelzebub” is a nice touch, although something of an in-joke, as Phi does actually set the Beelzebub crossword (along with ex-Indy compiler Columba). |
| 4 |
R in AYES,ROCK |
| 5 |
US (going up),CU,L in CENT - SUCCULENT. I think this is a great clue, with a very well hidden definition. |
| 6 |
ALTERNATIVE VOTE - another way of saying (VETO)*. |
| 8 |
B[-arel]Y,R[ecorde]D |
| 14 |
AC,QUIESCE[-nt] |
| 15 |
(ONCE DATA)*,L |
| 16 |
A D in D,ISSUE |
| 20 |
W,RUNG - W for “weak” is not in the COED or Chambers Online but it may well be in proper version of C but I don’t currently have access to it so I can’t check. |
| 21 |
TO,KEN |
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 20th June 2008
I’ve always had something of a fascination with the 7 for 28 (maybe because I did my degree in English Lit) so this was fairly easy for me as I’d heard of all of the authors. Some are definitely more obscure than others (12, 16 and the author in 23 spring to mind) but a list of all the winners is just a Google search away so I expect this wouldn’t have held up most people for too long.
| Across |
| 7 |
(BRONZE PILE)* - NOBEL PRIZE. |
| 9 |
(HAS)*,W - George Bernard SHAW, who won the 28 7 in 1925. |
| 10 |
SINGER - Isaac Bashevis, winner in 1978. I nearly filled in PINTER here, even it didn’t fit the wordplay, as I was struggling to think of another name that fit. |
| 11 |
(GRID MORE)* - Nadime GORDIMER, South African novelist who won in 1991. |
| 12 |
BOLL[-ywood] - Heinrich, 1972’s winner. I think I’ve got the wordplay right - can’t think of how else it might work. |
| 13 |
GALS,WORTHY - John, author of The Forsyte Saga and the winner in 1932. |
| 14 |
LESS,IN,G - Doris, the most recent winner. |
| 16 |
CANE,T,IT< - Elias, who won in 1981. |
| 20 |
(ROLLED PAIN)* - Luigi PIRANDELLO, winner in 1934. |
| 23 |
FO< in TU - Dario FO, won the Big One in 1997. |
| 25 |
SIR< in MORON - Toni MORRISON, suddenly a lot wealthier in 1993. |
| 26 |
ANE in HEY - Seamus, Irish poet, booked his flight to Stockholm in 1995. |
| 27 |
hidden in “wronG IDEas” - Andre, had to write a speech in 1947. |
| 28 |
LITER,[-n]ATURE |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
DO,MINO[-r] - didn’t know that DOMINO could mean “mask”. |
| 2 |
LUG< in SEALS - SEAGULLS. |
| 3 |
I in DINGLY - Dingly Dell was an album by Lindisfarne but I don’t know if they coined the term. |
| 6 |
CASES,HOT - CASE SHOT, which was new to me, is a collection of projectiles in a case (oddly enough), that are fired from a cannon. |
| 8 |
P,A RAG,ON |
| 15 |
(COPIES ID)* - EPISODIC. |
| 18 |
(AT CENTRE)* - ENTR’ACTE |
| 19 |
PLANETS? - not sure if this is right as I don’t understand the clue: “Fifth scheme turned up stone globes”. |
| 22 |
(LASTED)* - DESALT, which means to remove the salt from sea water to make it drinkable. |
| 24 |
FLEERS - refugees might be people who flee. |
Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 20th June 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
* = anagram
An extremely easy puzzle which shouldn’t take much time to solve
Across
1 SUDOKU cd
5 PITCHERS dd
9 MOUSSAKA MOUS *(sumo) SAK(e) A Sake is Japanese rice wine
10 IMPUGN *(dumping minus d)
11 STARCH ha
12 EXPERTLY *(try expel)
14 COMMONWEALTH simple charade
18 CLOSED SEASON cd of a time of the year when it is illegal to kill certain game or fish, usually the breeding season
22 SCAVENGE Cha of S (second) ins of ENG (engraving) in CAVE (underground chamber)
25 BATTEN bat (club) TEN (rev of net)
26 OBJECT dd
27 EXACTING Ex - acting
28 EXISTENT Ins of IS in extent (reach)
29 DESPOT D (head of department) E (drug) +*(opts)
Down
2 U-BOATS Ins of boat in US
3 OBSTRUCTS dd
4 UNASHAMED UNA (girl) *(mashed)
5 PLACEBO Place + Body Odour
6 TWIRP Ins of W (when initially) in *(trip)
7 HYPER H (head of hunt) *(prey)
8 REGULATE *(ate gruel)
13 EVE eve (r)
15 WASHBOARD dd a corrugated metal board for rubbing clothes on in washing (also washing-board), utilised as a percussion instrument in certain types of music,
16 ANNOTATES An (article) *(on state)
17 BLACK BOX simple charade of the supposedly indestructible flight recorder…someone jokingly asked why the entire plane is not made from the same material as the black box
19 EXE ha of a river in Devon
20 ELEMENT dd
21 LEAN-TO Jack Sprat will eat no fat
23 VIEWS *(wives)
24 NITRE *(inert)
Posted in FT | No Comments »