Posted by NealH on 21st July 2008
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed
Some excellent clues from Tees on a grid that concentrated on shorter words rather than having the usual couple of 14 or 15 letter entries. No obvious nina that I could see, although the line at the top of the grid seemed to start promisingly with “ego if..”.
| Across |
| 9 |
Manifesto: (some faint)*. |
| 10 |
Ebony: (by one)*. |
| 11 |
Tamil: m in tail. |
| 12,19,13 |
Like a fish without a bicycle: (use catholic faith by Wilkie)*. |
| 14 |
Onwards: nurses work on wards. |
| 17 |
Elfin: f in Nile*. |
| 19 |
Wok: w + OK. |
| 20 |
Royal: double definition. I think the larger size refers to paper sizes. |
| 21 |
Derwent: Der (german “the”) + went. |
| 22 |
Piscean: c in sea in pin. |
| 24 |
Isherwood: I + sherwood (forest). |
| 26 |
Onset: double definition. Not sure what the link to the previous one is (maybe theatre sets). |
| 28,18 |
Penny farthing: Penny far thing. |
| 29 |
Tall tales: cryptic definition. |
| Down |
| 1 |
Emit: mite with e cycled to the start. |
| 2 |
Gnomic: coming*. |
| 3 |
Off licence: L in Office + N CE. The justification for lambert as an l is that it is the unit for luminescence. |
| 4 |
Isolde: Is olde[r]. I liked the use of much here to signify “much of” rather than the surface reading of emphasising the “more experience”. |
| 5 |
Folk rock: folk + rock. I think Fairport refers to Fairport Convention. |
| 6 |
Vera: V + era. I’ve never watched it much, but I believe she was in Coronation Street. |
| 7 |
Moriarty: MORI + arty = Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis. |
| 8 |
Myth: hidden |
| 13 |
Bread: bad around re, but I don’t see how you justify the “to”. |
| 15 |
Wordsworth: cryptic def (Prelude was his most famous work). |
| 16 |
Solon: so lon[g]. |
| 22 |
Piddle: Pile around dd - excellent clue. |
| 23 |
Easily: Ely around ISA<. |
| 24 |
Impi: MP in II. |
| 25 |
Rhys: RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) around y. Not sure which Rhys that is referring to - possibly Ernest Rhys. |
| 27 |
Test: double definition - apparently test is a type of shell. |
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
Posted by Andrew on 21st July 2008
A straightforward and enjoyable offering from Rufus to start the week. Some nice clues, and fewer cryptic definitions than usual, I think.
Key:
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
* = anagram
< = reverse
| Across |
| 1 |
STRIP OFF |
dd - you can strip off a coat of paint (I suppose) or … |
| 5 |
VERNAL |
RN (= Royal Navy) in VEAL |
| 9 |
ORDINARY |
The penny-farthing was known as the “ordinary” bicycle. We had “safety bicycle” as the opposite to this in a puzzle recently. |
| 10 |
CANTAB |
ANT in CAB - Ah, my clue of local interest. The suffix often added to Cambridge degrees - short for Cantabrigiensis, from Cantabrigia, tha Latin for Cambridge.
|
| 13 |
IDENTICAL |
I’D + (A CLIENT)* |
| 14 |
LONG SENTENCE |
A sort of cd - “life” is a LONG SENTENCE even though it only has one word |
| 18 |
LONELY HEARTS |
(ROSALYN, ETHEL)* nice anagram |
| 21 |
COMEDIANS |
CO (=Company=Firm) + MEDIANS |
| 23 |
OUNCE |
dd - the Ounce or Snow Leopard is a familiar inhabitant of Crosswordland |
| 24 |
OUTLET |
OUT (not allowed) + LET (permit, verb) |
| 26 |
TIDDLY |
dd |
| 27 |
REPTILES |
TILE in REPS |
| Down |
| 1 |
SPORTS |
P in SORTS |
| 2 |
RIDERS |
Horses race “under” their riders, and a rider is a condition added to a legal document etc. |
| 3 |
PUNCHBOWL |
PUNCH BLOW*. Chambers confirms it’s a dip in the ground in the form of a bowl. |
| 4 |
FORGING AHEAD |
dd |
| 7 |
LABELLED |
BELLE in LAD |
| 8 |
NOTICING |
(GIN, TONIC)* |
| 11 |
GENERAL STORE |
GENERAL is a soldier and to STORE is to husband. |
| 15 |
TATTOOIST |
A very obvious cd, but I liked “skinny artist” |
| 16 |
BLACKOUT |
LACK in BOUT |
| 17 |
ANIMATED |
(DIET A MAN)* |
| 20 |
SEWERS |
dd |
| 22 |
DWELL |
(be)D + WELL |
Posted in Guardian | 9 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 21st July 2008
The crossword that dared to cross Beelzebub with Ann Widdecombe …
| Across |
| 8 |
CLARA CLAR[e] A That clue felt a bit cheeky. It spells out the wordplay so clearly that it misleads. I couldn’t get it until most crossing letters were in place. Full clue:
Short, Clare: a different name (5) |
| 10 |
OVERHEARD OVER (”finished”) HEARD Homophone Hurd Ref. Douglas Hurd, ex- Hom. Sec. and For. Sec. |
| 11 |
RANGOON RAN, GO ON |
| 12 |
Y-FRONTS CD |
| 13 |
IN THE KNOW IN=”latest” THE=”article” KNOW=”Ken” |
| 16/25 |
BRIDE-TO-BE BR[own] (TIDE)* OBE Anagrind “turning” |
| 17 |
FUNNY OLD WORLD Ref. Victor Lewis-Smith’s unmissable regular Eye feature (see Page 15) (Previously Christopher Logue’s True Stories) |
| 21 |
REBUS Hidden in cultuRE BUSh |
| 23 |
THE MIRROR CD Ref. the tabloid |
| 24 |
BECKETT BECK from “Brook” then initial letters of “excoriate Tory Thatcher”. Tricky. I got this from the “(Margaret)” reference (Ref. Margaret Beckett) and only parsed the clue while writing this blog. Full clue:
Brook starts to excoriate Tory Thatcher (Margaret) (7) |
| 26 |
OPUS DEI (PSEUDO)* then I (”Cyclops”) Anagrind “rubbished” |
| 28 |
BEELZEBUB (BUBBLE E E Z)* Anagrind “burst” The two “E”s are from “a couple of uppers” and Z is from [snoo]Z[e] |
| 29 |
RIGHT [b]RIGHT |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
SCORPIO (CRIP[e]S O O)* Anagrind “changes” The two “O”s from second letters of both bOris and jOhnson. First clue I looked at but last to go in. Annoying as I had the method early on but didn’t spot the anagram then, not till getting the “sign” answer from the crossing letters and back-parsing. It shows that anagram clues are sometimes misleading.
Also, the clue’s surface reading is highly appropriate given the news this week about the resignation of Boris’s “second” Ray Lewis - I wonder if that was coincidence or if Cyclops managed to get a late clue change in place. Full clue:
Cripes! Boris Johnson seconds changes - ‘e’s out for a sign! (7) |
| 2 |
JACOBEAN JAC[k] OBE AN Cyclops has an extra OBE this week, presumably nicked them from the Birthday Honours list |
| 3 |
DOWN AND OUT DOWN (”unhappy”) OUT |
| 4 |
LEVY V[ery] inside LEY Ref. Lord Levy who seems to be becoming a regular Cyclops target |
| 5 |
CHERUB CHER[ie] UB Unemployment Benefit |
| 6 |
PAINKILLER PAIN (”trial”) KILLER |
| 7 |
ODYSSEY (YES SOD)* then Y[ear] Anagrind “off” |
| 9/15 |
ANN WIDDECOMBE Ref Princess Anne and Widecombe Fair. But the outspoken Princess is Anne with an “E” and the folksong only has one “D”, is this fair? |
| 14 |
THUMBSCREW Ref. Tom Thumb and then Roger=screw |
| 18 |
OBITUARY (A TORY U)* around BI[-sexual] Anagrind “outed” Tough clue:
Notice a Tory outed along with university’s principal - guards not entirely straight (8) |
| 19 |
CRYBABY (CABBY)* around R[o]Y Anagrind “windy” |
| 20 |
FRAILTY Ref the Shakespeare (”Bill”) quote from and by Hamlet: “Frailty, thy name is woman”. I’ll give this the best clue award because I was so pleased to get it and recognise the reference (Hamlet is my favourite of the handful of WS plays I’ve actually read, studied or seen). Full clue:
Weakness Bill dramatically named as “woman” (7) |
| 22 |
SLEAZE Hidden in hasSLE A ZEalot |
| 27 |
DOG (GORDON without R ON)* Anagrind “messed up” Clearly only “up” is required - this will work as a subtractive reversal, so “messed” is not necessary but it makes for a better surface |
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | No Comments »