(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) A nice puzzle, quite straightforward I thought. Thanks to Chifonie. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8 Author in South Africa to stick around (8)
SALINGER : SA(abbrev. for South Africa) + LINGER(to stick around;to hang around and not go away).
Answer: J.D., best known for his novel “The Catcher In The Rye”.
9 Wise man follows universal convention (5)
USAGE : SAGE(a wise man) placed after(follows, in an across clue) U(abbrev. for “universal”).
10 Parody old Bob’s clothing (4)
SKIT : S(abbrev. for a shilling, the former British currency unit, aka a bob) + KIT(clothing;gear, especially of a traveller or soldier).
11 Angry about many a fashion being over the top (10)
IMMODERATE : IRATE(angry) containing(about) [ M(abbrev. for a million or Roman numeral for 1000, many in either case) + MODE(a fashion;a style) ].
12 Oscar meets clear disturbance in shrine (6)
ORACLE : O(letter represented by “Oscar” in the phonetic alphabet) plus(meets) anagram of(… disturbance) CLEAR.
14 Bring into effect law that’s about tax (8)
ACTIVATE : ACT(a law, passed by Parliament, usually) + I.E.(abbrev. for “id est”, Latin for “that is”) containing(about) VAT(abbrev. for “value added tax”).
15 Union leader rabbited on, but improved things (7)
UPRATED : The 1st letter of(… leader) “Union ” + PRATED(rabbited on;talked inconsequentially).
17 Dave can wreck progress (7)
ADVANCE : Anagram of(… wreck) DAVE CAN.
20 Veteran reservists brought about conclusion of feud (8)
VENDETTA : [ VET(abbrev. for “veteran”) + TA(abbrev. for the Territorial Army, now called the Army Reserve, the volunteer reserve force in the British military) ] containing(brought about) END(the conclusion).
22 Common sense of supporters drinking at home (6)
BRAINS : BRAS(short for “brassieres”, supporters of the female chest) containing(drinking) IN(at home).
23 Classic comprises great lines (5,5)
SAINT LEGER : Anagram of(comprises) GREAT LINES.
Defn: One of the UK’s 5 Classics in horse racing.
24 Trek endlessly? That’s the spirit! (4)
MARC : “march”(a trek;a long and hard walk) minus its last letter(endlessly).
Defn: Brandy made from grapes or fruit remaining after being pressed for wine-making.
25 Small well in rock (5)
SHALE : S(abbrev. for “small”) + HALE(well, as in “hale and hearty”).
26 Ought Eritrean leaders take responsibility (8)
SHOULDER : SHOULD(ought to;obliged to) + the 1st 2 letters of(… leaders) “Eritrean “.
Down
1 Wager some liquid is setting (8)
BACKDROP : BACK(to wager;to bet on, eg. a horse in a race) + DROP(some small amount of liquid).
Defn: … or background to any scene or situation.
2 Sweet in perfect condition (4)
MINT : Double defn.
This fits both defns:
3 Brown coal left off fire (6)
IGNITE : “lignite”(a soft brownish coal, aka, well, “brown coal”) minus(… off) “l”(abbrev. for “left”).
4 Sailor eating jam caught in vehicle (7)
TRAMCAR : TAR(informal term for a sailor) containing(eating) [ RAM(to push all the way into;to jam) + C(abbrev. for “caught” in cricket scores) ].
5 Abroad with girlfriend, duke is behind the times (8)
OUTDATED : OUT(abroad;out of the country) plus(with) DATE(a girlfriend one goes out with) + D(abbrev. for “duke”).
6 In foreign land painter gets thanks for artistic work (2,8)
LA TRAVIATA : [ LATVIA(a foreign land, unless you’re Latvian of course) containing(In …) RA(post nominal letters for a painter who is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts) ] plus(gets) TA(short for “thanks”;thank you).
Defn: An opera by Verdi.
7 Former model accepted by established band (6)
SEXTET : [ EX-(prefix indicating “former”;once) + T(the Ford car model, regarded as the first automobile for the mass market) ] contained in(accepted by) SET(established;determined).
Defn: … of six players.
13 Cautious about Italian lady’s wine (10)
CHARDONNAY : CHARY(cautious;wary) containing(about) DONNA(a respectful title of address for an Italian lady, equivalent to “Madam”).
16 Acclaimed old hack adopts customs (8)
EXTOLLED : [ EX-(prefix indicating old;former) ED(abbrev. for “editor”;a newspaperman;a hack) ] containing(adopts) TOLL(a fee for a service or usage;customs – though the latter is a duty on imports or exports, whereas the former for the usage of, say, a road).
18 Preserve house in archipelago (8)
CANARIES : CAN(to preserve, as in a tin or can) + ARIES(one of the houses in the zodiac).
Defn: … in the Atlantic Ocean.
19 Long to keep a horse? That’s amusing! (7)
WAGGISH : WISH(long for) containing(to keep) [ A + GG(abbrev. for “gee-gee”, English nickname for a horse, especially a racehorse).
21 Please arrange pass (6)
ELAPSE : Anagram of(… arrange) PLEASE.
22 Burial site in local dispute (6)
BARROW : BAR(the one that is near your place of work or home and which you frequent, is your local) + ROW(a dispute).
Defn: …, or the mound of earth and stones covering it.
24 Obstinate fellow gets the slipper (4)
MULE : Double defn: 2nd: Footwear without a back.
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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle.
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)
Hi scchua
Pic 2 looks like Maria Sharapova (no connection yet)
Pic 3 is a collection of strings – six of them could be in a SEXTET?
Pic 7 looks like Maria Callas – in LA TRAVIATA perhaps?
Pic 8 looks like a gigantic loom – no connection
Pic 9 is obviously of 4 girls called CHARDONNAY!
I don’t think I’ve Pic 7 correct – the images I’ve found online don’t match the costume (or the looks all that closely)
Natalie Wood as Maria in West Side Story
I suppose that it would be a little demeaning to describe West Side Story as a SKIT on “Romeo and Juliet”.
Pic 4 is the ensign of the UK Border Agency…
Hi cookie
Could they be on the lookout for drug MULES?
also called UK Border Agency Blue Ensign
Hi muffin, that’s a good guess!
or perhaps marc?
Pic 3, Salinger’s writing has been described ‘as tight as violin strings’.
Pic 3, in the film “SALINGER”, the violinist and cellist Christine Wu plays haunting music in the background.
(I,m starting to go down the garden path now.)
Is Pic 1 Pamela Anderson?
Pic 8, in weaving a TRAM is a weft yarn of two or more twisted strands of silk.
Come to think of it, the Border Agency could also be looking for CHARDONNAY.
I think you are right, muffin, I have found the photo.
Her Labrador dog is called Star.
I think that the strange-looking birds in Pic 5 are penguins that have been caught in an oil-spill.
Pic 5 is of Jess, the Springer Spaniel sheepdog, bottle feeding an orphaned lamb.
Hi muffin and Cookie, a couple right so far, one to each of you.
You are right muffin, how sad.
muffin, perhaps the penguins are covered with oil from SHALE?
Pic 9. Are these girls WAGS?
Pic 9, the girls are carrying SAINT LEGER handbags.
Hi all – late on deck.
Maybe the girls in #9 are carrying SHOULDER bags.
Does the Natalie Wood pic relate to the VENDETTA between the gangs in Wesr Side Story?
#6 BARROW Island (Western Australia) has both penguins and oil – but no major spills as far as I’m aware.spills as
The oiled birds are on Nightingale Island, part of the ARCHIPELAGO of Tristan De Cunha
There is no longer a UK Border Agency. In keeping with the policy of reorganising or at least renaming all government departments (repainting the buses etc) it has been renamed “UK Visas and Immigration” – so the flag in #4 is OUTDATED.
@Shirl – that’ll be right – I was looking at that major oil spill and failed to make the connection.
Hi all, so far:
Pic4: The agency that’s on the lookout for MULEs carrying contraband
Pic6: The stuff that’s bad when you spill it around can also be produced from SHALE rock
Pic7: West Side Story, had gang rivalry between the Sharks and the Jets, but the musical was based on Romeo and Juliet, in which there was a VENDETTA between the Capulet and the Montague families
Pic8: TRAM is a kind of silk yarn.
#8 – silk weaving; a TRAM (in weaving)is a weft yarn of two or more twisted strands of silk
Sorry Cookie @13, missed it!
There is a Pamela Anderson sculpture by MARC Quinn
Shirl @33
Wow – that’s obscure. Do you think scchua knew about it, or found it by accident?
A bit tenuous, but the four women in #9 were at the CANnes Film Festival
#1 Pamela Anderson was engaged to Marcus Lodewijk Schenkenberg van Mierop aka Marcus Schenkenberg – prolly just MARC at home.
#1 Pamela Anderson was reportedly gang raped by her boyfriend and six of his friends (SEXTET) when she was 14. Can that really be the link????? – I doubt it!
Pic 9, perhaps the girls are carrying POLO handbags?
#2 LA TRAVIATA means the fallen woman. Sharapova has had some spectacular falls.
I must be going soft in the head @38, the answer to 2d is MINT not Polo! Captcha ? x 1 = two.
#2 might be Maria Kirilenko. I thought there might be a LATVIAN connection but she seems to be Russian.
Some hints:
Pic2: Don’t get distracted from the 1down
Pics1, 3 and 9: The right answers have been mentioned in some of your tries.
Aah, big hint. TRAMlines on the tennis court.
#1 Pamela Anderson has had more blokes than any other Hollywood star – ie she has OUT-DATED them all.
Pi2 2, well, there are TRAM lines on a tennis court.
Pic 8 is a weaver’s loom. JD Salinger wrote under a pen name of Giles Weaver.
Pic 3, cellists often have SHOULDER problems…
#1 could it just be the star and ARIES connection?
#3 VERDI – La Traviata (Prelude to Act I) – FOUR CELLOS
Perhaps Freddy will come along soon, it seems there are still pics 1, 2, 3, 5 and 9 to get.
Cello SEXTET e.g. by Johan Strauss.
Hi Cookie, pic2 was answered by HKColin and yourself.
Another hint for pic3 – the cellos are in the minority.
#5 SHOULDER of lamb?
#3 A KIT is a kind of small violin, now obsolete, used esp by dancing masters in the 17th–18th centuries
scchua, any of these any good? I’m giving up soon.
Freddy just woke up to 51 comments!
Thanks Cookie but my batting average isn’t that high
Pic 9) Whilst entitled ‘fashionable women with sunglasses and bags, there’s a lot of SHOULDER on display ???
Robi @53, and MINT sauce, oh dear.
Right, Robi and Cookie, SHOULDER of lamb and MINT sauce or MINT jelly.
By the way, scchua, in NZ when I was young they only slaughtered hogget, one to two year olds. Perhaps it is the same in England and the States, I can’t remember, but here in France they do, I never eat lamb.
Thanks for all the fun.
#1 – According to the newspaper of record The Daily Mail, Pamela Anderson had a wardrobe malfuction while ice-skating; in her own words: “My boobs fell out”.
Does that make her LA TRAVIATA – the fallen woman?
Hi all,
The remaining answers:
Pic1: The CANARIES derived its name from “Canis”, Latin for “dog” (islands of the dogs).
Pic3: The violetta was a violin-like instrument, but with 3 strings. The main character in LA TRAVIATA was Violetta Valery
Pic9: MARC by MARC Jacobs is a line of fashion clothing and accessories.
Full marks for persevering.
Belated thanks for this scchua – it certainly had us thinking.
Thanks scchua, good fun; hope you liked some of the alternative solutions.
Thanks again scchua, laughed at the CANARIES, I thought of the ‘canis’ connection, but as there were two dog pictures ruled out that possibility!
btw my comment @59 reads wrong (I shortened it). I meant to say that lamb was not slaughtered in NZ when I was young, only hogget, but that in France it is. I only eat hogget.
Thanks scchua. Toughie that one – and the glamorous ladies were only there to distract us. I’ll be ready for that trick next time.