September 2008
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Archive for the 'Independent' Category

Across
1	(FILM DUO AT)* in SIGHT - STADIUM OF LIGHT. Quite a tricky one to parse: “originally directing” is the anagrind and “now visible” is a cryptic indicator for “in SIGHT”. The stadium itself is the home of Sunderland AFC.
9	(MIRACLE)* - RECLAIM.
11	E,STA(MINE)TS - one of those words I only know because of crosswords.
13	[-d]AC,ME
16	(ROUGH INSENSIBLE)* - NEIGHBOURLINESS. I took a guess that this would end with -NESS and eventually saw NEIGHBOUR.
18	(RAN OVER A ONE A SIX)* - ANOREXIA NERVOSA. Very Nimrod: “steamroller” as the anagram indicator and “full stretch” indicating turning “A1 and A6″ into A ONE and A SIX.
19	AMY,L - Amy is one of the Little Women in the novel by Louisa May Alcott.
20	SE(TINS)T,ONE
23	M(R,R)IGHT - the answer at 5 is FIRST PRINCIPLES (the 3 Rs).
25	LIP BALM - clever cryptic def which I think refers to the “film” that might cover a tin of LIP BALM, which of course prevents chapping.
27	(BAGHDAD WANTS AN)* - HANDBAGS AT DAWN. Great phrase, and a misleading anagram.

Down
1	SERGE,AN,TATAR,MS
2	A,SCOT - one of the races at ASCOT on “Diamond Day” is the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes.
3	IDA - “Princess Ida” is a Gilbert and Sullivan opera and A DI was another princess.
4	(OF TIME IN A MERTON)* - MOMENT OF INERTIA. The last but one to go in so I had most of the checking letters in place, which meant I could guess this. Here’s the full definition from Chambers Online dictionary: “in mechanics: the notion that, for a rotating object, the turning force required to make it turn faster depends on the way in which the object’s mass is distributed about the axis of rotation.”
5	see 23
6	A,[-t]WO,I (going up)
12	H,L in REAM (going up)
15	SIR,GIT (going up) - “banker” is a bit of a crossword cliche but it works well in the surface reading.
21	OS[AKA for LO]
26	POT - I think this is a triple def: “drug”, “ruin” (as in, “it’s all gone to pot”), and the rest is a cryptic def with a reference to Alex “Hurricane” Higgins, the snooker player.

Independent on Sunday 967 by Quixote (24 Aug 2008)

Posted by nmsindy on 28th August 2008

Solving time, 16 mins

* = anagram < = reversed

ACROSS

1 COME TO LIGHT Definition: be revealed Moths seek the light

7 A MASS Mass is another Indy setter

8 COUNT LESS

10 MONTEGO BA Y (Boatmen go)* y = unknown

11 DAIL(y) The Irish parliament

13 DAC HAS Cad<

15 ENORMOUS (us no more)*

17 S CREAMER

18 GEN ERA (are neg)<

20 O PEN

21 PAL (IMPS) EST Manuscript with writing over older writing

24 TAIL PIECE “tale peace”

25 PATER Hidden

26 GARDEN PARTY Cryptic definition

DOWN

1 CHA IN

2 MO (SHE DAY) AN Israeli General

3 TUC SON

4 LA US (ANN) E

5 GOT H Rock music

6 TREMATODE (to red meat)*

7 ARMED ESCORT (Rectors made)*

9 SELF-STARTER Cryptic definition (ref motor cars, I think)

12 GREEN PAPER (Prepare gen)*

14 CARPETING (Can trip e.g.)*

16 LE (BANES) E

19 SLIP-UP E (ecstasy) in (pupil)*

22 ENT RY (first letters)

23 SPAR Double definition

Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »

Across
1	MALAGA — (a gala m)rev.
4	PRESSING - 2 defs, a mental comma after ‘urgent’
9	TAB O O
10	IN CRE(MEN)T(e)
11	TANGENTIAL — (In Natal get)*
12	(f)OR A L — I think that’s right, although ’shortened’ perhaps doesn’t suggest shortening from the front
14	GE(R)T RUDEST EIN — r for radical isn’t apparently in Chambers, but it’s in Collins and the COD
16	ORNITHOLOGIST — (irons too light)*
18	TEA L
19	PAR(LIAM)ENT — Liam Gallagher of Oasis
22	SCARIFIER — scar I (fire)*
23	IDI OM
24	A BER(DEE)N
25	SNEEZY — of Snow White and the Seven …

Down
1	M(OT)ET’S
2	LEB(an)ON
3	GLOBETROTS — g((channe)l)o ((to Brest)*
5	ROCK AND ROLLER — 2 defs
6	SLEW — 2 defs — for a while was hopelessly trying to justify ’skew’
7	I NEAR NEST
8	GET ALONG — 2 defs
10	INTERROGATIVE — very nice clue — def. ‘maybe how’, (I’ve got trainer)*
13	E ST(I’M)ATION — channel as in the station you tune your radio to — excellent misdirection
14	GI N PAL ACE
15	CON TESSA — the TESSA was the Conservatives’ predecessor to the ISA
17	STUMPY — 2 defs, although I couldn’t quite see why there was a hyphen in ‘foxy’. Surely the question mark was enough?
20	EMILE — (lime)rev. (voyag)e
21	HIND — 2 defs

Independent 6,821/Virgilius - Numbers game

Posted by Ali on 26th August 2008

This was a belter of a puzzle, with every clue containing the word ‘number’. The fact that this word can be interepreted in, ahem, a number of different ways (quantity, music, anaesthetic, etc.), coupled with the fact that this is the first day after a long weekend (drinking, lack of sleep, etc.), made for a pretty tough solve for me. Some grey areas along the way, but very entertaining, very clever stuff from Virgilius. 23D is as good a clue as you’ll see anywhere.

Across
1	HIT LIST - Nice DD. ‘Numbers’ in the musical sense here
5	AT ODDS - AT,ODDS
9	SHEAF - Hidden in numberS HE AFterwards
10	TWENTY SIX - 26 being the numbers of letters in the alphabet, and also 2 x a baker’s dozen, but not sure how that relates to ‘11 minimally’
11	BAKERS DOZEN - 13 being ‘unlucky’ (for some!)
15	TWENTIES - WENT in TIES
16	STRAIN - R in STAIN
20	RIGADOON - RIGA,DO,ON
22	ANAESTHETIST - (IN THE STATE AS)* - One who numbs patients!
26	EXISTENCE - SIX rev. + TEN in E,CE
28	MELODY - DOLE rev. in MY
25	STEVENS - I checked this online and it is right. I’m assuming it’s T in SEVENS and refers to ‘even stevens’

Down
2	TRES - 3 in Spanish, ‘very’ in French (and English if you like)
3	INFRACTIONS - IN,FRACTIONS
4	TETHERED - This feel like it should be THREE in TED, but isn’t, so I’m a bit puzzled
5	AVERSE - A,VERSE
6	TWO - OWT rev.
7	DESPERADOS - (SPEARED)* in DOS
8	AXIS - A,SIX rev.
12	ON THAT SCORE - (NOT)*,HAT,SCORE
13	OTTO - 8 in Italian, male name to Germans
17	NINE - Not sure on this one. Does it relate to 10A?
18	FIFTEENS - F in (SEEN FIT)*
22	AXES - A,SEX rev.
23	FIVE - F,IV,E - An outstanding clue. Has it been done before? Probably, yes, but I don’t think I’ve seen it
24	XMAS - Had to check this online too, and presume it’s X,MAS, but unsure on the MAS part
26	TWO - As represented by the ii in Pompeii. Very nice indeed

Posted in Independent | 8 Comments »

Independent 6820 by Hypnos

Posted by NealH on 25th August 2008

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed

I found this very difficult, particularly the bottom right hand corner. There were two or three I didn’t understand and a few obscure words (tosh, lig) that I hadn’t come across before.

Across
7	Lagoon: loon around a g.
8	Campaign: Camp + gain*.
9	Lounge suit: l + out around genius*.
10	Blog: bog around l.
11	Aeneas: Sene[c]a< around a.
12	Snatches: I didn’t follow this one - “Special dancing performances and lyrical excerpts”. I assume the definition is excerpts, but I’m not sure of the rest.
14	Ealing: [d]ealing.
16	Distil: hidden.
19	Open door: op + Roone[y]< around d.
21	Belief: BEF around ELI. BEF was the British Expeditionary Force, the name for the army sent to France and Belgium in World War I.
23	Tosh: Double def. Tosh is another of those Scottish dialect words that I sadly miss out on as a result of living in England.
24	Gunslinger: Sling in gun[n]er and ref Jesse James. With so many Jameses around, I found this very tough. Having got the g and n, I was convinced for a while that the answer might be Gandolfini (of the TV series, The Sopranos).
25	Steinway: Another one whose wordplay I don’t understand - “Maybe, a grand style introduced by chef”. I assume “a grand [piano]” = Steinway, but don’t follow the rest.
26	Tattoo: double def which was cunningly made to look like an anagram.
Down
1	Gasolene: (A l[incol]n goes)* around e.
2	Ronnie: Hidden, reversed. Ref to the Two Ronnies.
3	Enters into: (stern tone I)*.
4	Emit: Time<.
5	Tabby Cat: Tat around cabby*.
6	Ignore: I + Gore around n.
8	Cruise: soundalike of crews + Tom.
13	Amiability: A liability with m replacing l.
15	Linchpin: Homophone of Lynch (David) + PIN.
17	Liegedom: Lig E around e + dom. I’d never come across lig but apparently it’s a slang word for to laze around.
18	Brandy: B + randy.
20	Pronto: PR + on to[ry].
22	Length: Another one that’s lost on me - “Part of swim twice in Hellespont ?”. Part of swim = length, but I don’t follow the rest. Is it just l = length and there are two of them in Hellespont ?
24	Gawp: (p + wag)<.