Fifteensquared

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Archive for August 22nd, 2008

FINANCIAL TIMES 12,853 by VIKING

Posted by Gaufrid on 22nd August 2008

Gaufrid.

It’s now well past 7pm and the scheduled blogger hasn’t put in an appearance so here is a substitute. As this has been prepared in some haste there are not many comments.
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Across

1 PLIANT  I in PLAN (scheme) T (time)

4 MASSACRE  A (one) in *(SCREAMS)

10 NEPTUNIUM  *(IMPUTE NUN) - the next element in the periodic table after uranium

11 MOTET  OT (Old Testament, religious text) in MET (encountered)  - a ‘motet’ is a choral composition, usually unaccompanied, with a biblical or similar prose text - a very well constructed clue!

12 AMOK  A (answer) O (zero) in MK (mark)

13 TELESCOPIC  *(CLOTS PIECE)

15 LOITERS  L (left) *(SORTIE)

16 SORDID  RD (road) I in SOD (turf)

19 BEREFT  REF (umpire) in BET (gambling)

21 ATLANTA  dd

23 LEADERSHIP  READERSHIP (newspaper’s clientele) with initial R changed to L

25 MENU  MEN (army) U (uniform)

27 CREDO  saCRED Order - hidden word

28 EPISCOPAL  OP (work) in *(SPECIAL)

29 REASSESS  ASS (idiot) in SEER (fortune-teller) reversed S (son)

30 SMARMY  SM (sadomasochism) ARMY (forces)

Down

1 PENTACLE  EL (the in Spanish) CATNEP (mint) all reversed

2 IMPROVISE  IS (island) in IMPROVE (rally, or get better)

3 NOUS  NO US[e]

5 AIMLESS  IM in ALES (drinks) S (beginning of service)

6 SEMICIRCLE  cd

7 CUT UP  CU (copper) T (ton) UP

8 ENTICE  E (bridge player) NT (no trumps) ICE (diamonds)

9 BICEPS  BI (ac/dc) SPEC (specification) reversed

14 REDEVELOPS  *(PEEVE LORDS)

17 INNKEEPER  PEEK (look) reversed in INNER (secret)

18 CASUALTY  CASUAL (careless) T Y (last letters of at and DIY)

20 TASTERS  T[o]ASTERS

21 ACIDIC  CID (police) in AI (first-rate) C (clubs)

22 SLICER  S[p]LICER

24 ARENA  A N (new) ERA (age) all reversed

26 SCAM  SCAM[p]

Posted in FT | No Comments »

Independent 6,818/Phi

Posted by Ali on 22nd August 2008

Ali.

A mercifully gentle end to a tough week. There were one or two answers I wasn’t immediately sure about, but solid clueing as always from Phi.

Across
1 SACK - Straight DD to get us going
3 ABUTMENT - BUT,MEN in A,T
10 THE CHOSEN PEOPLE - Ref. the Israelites (Bible, 1 Chronicles 6,13 apparently)
11 SKEWWHIFF - S,KEW,WHIFF - Here we go again! Phi’s dealt with this much in the same way as Scorpion did last week. And, yes, it’s one word with no hyphen in Collins 2003!
12 NARK - N,ARK - Spent far too long assuming ‘navy’ would be RN here
13 DEFENCE - FEN,C in DEE - Great clue
17 ARREST - A,R,REST
20 ACTS - [-p]ACTS
21 ODALISQUE - DALIS,QU in O,E - Not a familiar word for me, but perfectly clued. An odalisque is a female slave in a harem
24 THE BACK OF BEYOND - ND being the back of [BEYO]ND and the state code (or whatever you call it) for North Dakota
25 HITHERTO - HIT + T in HERO
 
Down
1 SET ASIDE - (SEATS)* + IDE[-a]
2 CREWE - CREW,[-remot]E
5 THE ENTERTAINER - ENTERTAIN in (THERE)* - Needed to Google this one to understand the reference - Archie Rice from John Osborne’s play
6 EMPIRICAL - (CLAIM PIER)*
7 TIER - TI[-g]ER
8 THE WINTERS TALE - THE WINTER,STALE
9 ASPIRE - ASPIR[-in],E
14 FIRECREST - FIRE,C,REST - It wouldn’t be a Phi puzzle without a bird clue!
18 TOOLKIT - TOO,[-dea]L,[-oa]K,IT
22 QUOIT - O in QUIT
23 ITCH - [-h]ITCH

Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »

Independent 6813/Nimrod

Posted by neildubya on 22nd August 2008

neildubya.

I somehow managed to finish this, despite the half dozen or so clues that I filled in without really knowing why. Offers of enlightenment gratefully received.

Across
1/4 IN POLE POSITION - I knew Robert Kubica from somewhere, I just couldn’t remember where but unfortunately the clue’s pretty much unsolvable without that information so I had to Google. You either know that he’s a Polish Formula 1 driver, or you don’t.
10 BE(ASTI)E - “worker” is almost always ANT. Or BEE. HAND occasionally. ASTI is always my first choice for wine though (in crosswords I mean. I wouldn’t touch the stuff in real life)(.
11 E,LAST IN - unlike 1/4 this sporting clue does at least have a separate definition so you could possibly solve this if you had some checking letters and didn’t know that Monty Panesar is an England bowler and hence likely to be “last in” (to bat).
12 BIOLOGICAL CLOCK - cryptic definition.
14 (OLD TIME AREA)* - AMELIORATED
17 S,(AR,COP,HAG)US
20 COMMON,PLACEBO,OK
24 NAUTILI - sounds like “naughty lie”.
25 LE(THE)AN - a reference to the mythological river Lethe in Hades, whose water caused forgetfulness of the past in those who drank it.
26/27 IDENTITY CRISIS - can’t work this one out: “Part of personality is not just once being restricted by signs of criminal record - in this?”. “Is not just once” could be -ISIS but that’s all I can see.
 
Down
1 I,M(BIB)ER - I hesitated over this one as I didn’t know that a BIB is a type of Arctic fish.
2 PE(A SOUP)ER - I don’t understand how “very-well read” can be A SOUP.
6 I(SA)AC
8 NON-SKID - I sort of get this: “Dinky” is Double-Income-No-Kids and NO KID does appear in NON-SKID leaving NS to be accounted for somehow.
16 TURN(O,V)ERS - and the roll-call of befuddlement on my part continues: are “longer press articles” TURNERS? What does “one Tate display” mean. Have I even got this one right?
17 hidden in “theSE CONDItions” - finally, a clue I completely understand.
22 MO,USE - the 22 in this case is Burns I think.
22 ODIST - the underword is DIS but that’s all I can tell you, apart from the definition. Full clue: “Poet to look over shoulder on way out of the underword”.
23 ESTER - Occidental is “wESTERn”

Posted in Independent | 17 Comments »

Guardian 24,474/Gordius

Posted by Andrew on 22nd August 2008

Andrew.

I don’t much like this grid, with its four almost-isolated corners. Luckily there were enough easyish clues in each corner to get me going, though the SE corner held me up for a while. Some niggles on a couple of clues, but quite fun overall, with some amusing surface readings.

Key:
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
* = anagram
< = reverse

Across
1 TRAVERSAL A L after TRAVERS Ben Travers (1886-1980), a writer of many farces, of which the most famous is probably Rookery Nook.
9 KERRIA “Carrier” As pronounced by an Australian…
10 STANISLAW (WIN AS LAST)* There were at least two Kings of Poland with this name.
11 PLAGUE P(au)L + AGUE Plenty of apostles to choose from, but Peter and Paul seemed the most likely.
12 BLACKMAIL BLACK MAIL We don’t hear the language of industrial unrest as much as we used to - the reference here is that during a postal strike the unions would “black” (I.e. refuse to handle) the mail.
17 TEN hidden A bit of a naughty one - “illegal” is superfluous here (and could be omitted without affecting the surface too much)
20 ELATION I (=one =21ac) in TO in ELAN Slightly unsound wording I think but clear enough
21 ONE (E NO)<
23 EXPATS PAT in SEX*
27 ASPARTAME A SPARTA ME It’s an artificial sweetener.
28 LIABLE BAIL< + LE
29 BEGIN WELL dd Obvious when you get it, but hard to spot, I found.
30 ALIENS cd Ex-pats are aliens to the natives.
31 ITINERARY I TIN ERA RY
Down
2 RATTLE dd Sir Simon Rattle is the conductor
3 VENICE VENI CE As has been discussed here before, I don’t like “in Italy” as a definition of Venice. It also seems to be doing double duty to indicate the Latin (or Italian?) “veni”=”come”.
4 RESUME MUSE< in RE It’s always useful to know there were nine Muses - of whom on a good day I can name about three. And RE is a Royal Engineer, another regular visitor to Crosswordland.
6 JELLY BEAN BELLY* in JEAN I don’t really approve of indirect anagrams, but this one is relatively innocuous.
7 PRAGMATIC RAG in PM + (I ACT)* A bit of satire in the surface!
8 MADELEINE cd Only just a cd, though - this is more like a general knowledge clue. It’s a reference to Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu, where the taste of a Madeleine cake sets the author off on a long train of reminiscence.
14 ASPEN LEAF AS PEN LEAF Aspens are famous for their quivering leaves, literally and metaphorically.
15 CAMP DAVID CAMP + DAVID Not sure if true Guardian readers would approve of camp=gay. David (slayer of Goliath, later King of Israel) is the traditional (but probably not actual) author of the psalms.
16 FLATULENT FLAT + UNLET*
17 TWO OWT< “Two’s company”.
18 NEE NEE(d) A shame to have to break the pattern of having numbers in the three-letter words.
22 NASCENT AN< SCENT “During” seems superfluous here, except as part of the link from the previous clue
24 MALIGN M + ALIGN “Dress” in the sense of lining up troops etc.
26 AMBLER (g)AMBLER Eric Ambler, (1909-1998) was a writer of spy novels.

Posted in Guardian | 13 Comments »

Inquisitor 85 LOTTERY by Schadenfreude

Posted by Hihoba on 22nd August 2008

Hihoba.

Good stuff from Schadenfreude. Educational too! I spotted BARTHOLOMEW and hence the theme for the “complete set” early which made it fairly simple to fill in the most of the lights. The exception was 19D which I didn’t solve until I found out who the “loser” was. The rest of the puzzle was pretty tricky. It made me read the Bible carefully, and not many things cause that nowadays!

The eleven unclued answers were the twelve Apostles as listed in ACTS CHAPTER ONE which was the phrase spelled out by the misprinted letters in the across answers. JAMES does “double duty”, standing for both James the son of Zebidee (brother of John) and James the son of Alphaeus (the Less or the Just). Judas Iscariot is only referred to as Judas in Acts 1, but as Iscariot (”an alternative name”) in the crossword. 

Across, L to R, Top to Bottom:

JAMES, ISCARIOT, PHILIP, THOMAS, MATTHEW, PETER, ANDREW, THADDEUS and SIMON

Down:

JOHN and BARTHOLOMEW

In Acts, Chapter 1, Verses 23-26, there is a LOTTERY between two men, MATTHIAS and Joseph, aka BARSABAS, to see who should take the place of Judas. MATTHIAS is the winner, so replaces ISCARIOT as the top right unclued light, and BARSABAS, the loser, is to be highlighted starting at square 19 and reading down.

Finally, after the substitution, the down clues are all real words, indicated in italics in the explanations below.

Fiendishly clever!!

In the Across explanations below the grid entry is given, with the “correct” letter in square brackets.

Across
 9  BC[A]OBAB = gigantic tree, BOA in B(lack) AB all reversed. 
 11  HIT[C]K - double meaning
 12  NACARAR[T] = orangey red, [A CART AN]*
 13  SLEDE[S] = vehicles without wheels, LED in SS
 14  ETHNIM[C] = concerning races, [IN THE]* (Irish is the anagram indicator!!) + C(ollege)
 16  TR[H]READS = informal clothes, [RED HATS]*
 17  MO[A]FIA = criminal gang, letter by letter: M(oney) A(ccepted) F(ellow) I(n) A
 19  B[P]URPLE = cardinal’s robe, PUR (the jack in “post and pair”) + L(eft) in PE(ru)
 21  S[T]HROATS = voices, [THAT ROSE - E(cho)]*
 24  STRU[E]TTO = part of a fugue, [OPERETTIST - PIE]*
 26  SARTN[R]E = French philosopher, (i)S + A(bsolute) +RT + RE (on)
 28  MI[O]IRA Shearer, MO + I(nternational) + RA
 32  UR[N]CO = strange, U(niform) + NCO
 33  DS[E]WANI = prime minister, [EDWINA]*
Down
 1  AVIATOR = P(ilot) O(fficer), A(ccepted) + VIATOR (traveller)
 2  MATCH - double meaning
 3  SCORIA = piece of lava, C + OR + I in S(ex) A(ppeal) (”it”) 
 4  IOWA = state, I(sle) O(f) W(ight) + A(ustralia) - MOWA
 5  CAPER = crime, C(aught) + A(nte - before) + PER (a) - TAPER
 7  RAILERS = they make fun of, MAILERS are cottars - R(un) for M(iles) - HAILERS
 8  OVID = classic poet, DIV (spirit) + O(f) reversed - AVID
 10  TYPES = marks, T(ime) + P(ositive) in YES - SYPES
 14  FLEAPIT = shabby bulding, LEAP (sa[u]lt) in FIT 
 15  EMIT = issue, TIME magazine reversed
 18  FLORIDA = state, F(euda)L + OR + IDA (sacred mountain)
 19  BARS - double meaning
 20  EIRE = republic, IE reversed + RE(d)
 21  SMURRED = did drizzle, S(top) + [RED RUM]*
 22  SENECIO = plant, S(un) + [ONE ICE]*
 23  PATENS = communion plates, PA + TENS (honours in some card games)
 24  SMART = technologically advanced, TRAMS reversed
 25  TAWSE = a punishment, TA + W(ife’)S + E(xperience)
 27  THRUM = hum monotonously, THRU (a ghastly commercial spelling of through) + M(ass)
 29  INCH = an island, IN + CH (Switzerland)
 30  ABAS = striped garments, French À BAS means down
 31  WORN = displayed, W(ith) + OR (yellow) + N(umber)

Posted in Inquisitor | 4 Comments »