This is a very easy puzzle, more suited perhaps to the Sunday after the festivities than the one before. With 1A, 1D through 8D and 31A all very easy and a number of giveaways inbetween this was never going to cause many problems. No indication of starter clues for new solvers – far too many of them.
I see the instructions for 2522 still tell solvers to send their solution to Mephisto 2517!
Although today’s puzzle is the last of 2008 this is the last blog of the year, so my thanks to the setters for another year of fun and best wishes in the New Year to all setters and solvers.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CHRISTMAS,BOX – CHRISTMAS-BOX; Christmas Island; BOX=tree; absolute giveaway clue and definition; |
| 10 | AEFALD – AE-FALD(O); AE=aetatis=aged; reference Nick Faldo, retired golfer; Scots for single-minded (see ae in C); |
| 11 | MERI – hidden word aMERIcan; MERI=mere-3=a war club; easy but nice clue; (C) |
| 12 | RESPONSOR – RE-SPONSOR; part of a transponder; |
| 14 | SQUINCH – S(QUIN)CH; SCH=school; QUIN=one of five deliveries; to screw up the face; nice clue; |
| 15 | COCTEAU – CO-C(TEA)U; firm=company=CO; CU=symbol for copper; Jean Cocteau 1889-1963 French surrealist dramatist; |
| 16 | GUSLI – GU-SLI(d); GU=kind of viol; slide=fall out of (not on) use; Russian musical instrument; nice clue; |
| 17 | ACOUCHI – A(COUCH)I; AI=three toed sloth; a small rodent; |
| 22 | ATTUENT – AT-(tune)*-T; humming=anagrind; see attuition in Chambers; |
| 23 | RHEIN – R(H)EIN; H=Henry; German spelling of the river Rhine; |
| 24 | NUTLIKE – NUT-LIKE; NUT=National Union of Teachers; |
| 26 | YOLANDA – YO-LAND-A; |
| 28 | VULGARIAN – (valuing+ar)*; “ar” is half of “area”; |
| 29 | NANA – two meanings; 1=a fool; 2=granny; |
| 30 | GRU-GRU – URG(e) reversed twice; palm tree; |
| 31 | GREGARIANISM – (sign marriage)*; rather easy anagram; |
| Down | |
| 1 | CARDCARRYING – two meanings; 1=carrying Christmas cards; 2=openly supportive; very easy; |
| 2 | HEED – what’s done=deed; change “d” to H=hotel (phonetic alphabet); |
| 3 | IAPETUS – (suit)* contains APE; better known as Lapetus, a moon of Saturn; |
| 4 | SLOPE – S-LOPE; S=section; |
| 5 | MESQUIT – ME-SQUIT; ME=Maine; SQUIT=nonsense; North American tree; |
| 6 | ABOUGHT – AB-OUGHT; AB=Able Bodied Seaman; see aby in Chambers, old word (=traditional) for pay the penalty; |
| 7 | BERNSTEIN – BERN-STEIN; STEIN=steen=to line; Leonard Bernstein 1918-1990 long time conductor of NY Phil; |
| 8 | ORACLE – (c)ORACLE; too easy; |
| 9 | XIPHISTERNUM – (hints mix up)* surrounds ER=Her Majesty; a projection (= process) on the sternum (breast bone); |
| 13 | SCORELINE – S-CORE-(goa)L-INE; CORE=centre; SINE=trigonemtrical function; nice clue; |
| 18 | CANNULA – C-ANNUL-A; CA=circa=about; surgical tube we all know about because of gruesome TV hospital soaps; |
| 19 | HANDLER – HANDLE-R; HANDLE=slang for name; R=romeo (phonetic alphabet); second=handler (as in boxing); |
| 20 | BULL,RUN – BULL-RUN; BULL (market)=rising (stock market); American Civil War battle 1861 at Manassas, Virginia; |
| 21 | SHOFAR – S(H)O-FAR: wind instrument made from ram’s horn; |
| 25 | TIARA – T(I)ARA; I=symbol for electric current; |
| 27 | MARS – two meanings; |
Compared with 2520 I needed much more recourse to Chambers, which tends to be my measure of difficulty although, that being said, I finished it in a few sessions in the same day.
Oddly, 13d gave me the most satisfaction – although the word is in common use I didn’t see it until I had constructed it through the wordplay!
Overall, lots of nice clues and new words.
Happy New Year!
Amazed that 9 was a word (did a double-take before pulling the trigger on the BOX part of 1.
SHOFAR (and shophar) remind me of “Giles Goat Boy” and make me smile.
But now I’m worried I’m cheating and would value your thoughts.
The existence of the Chambers Word Wizard is so tempting I’m spending almost zero time trying to work things out and just creating lists of possible solutions from which to spot one that might work.
This can’t be right.
(Chambers 11th edition for Christmas though and it’s wonderful!)
miles3659
As far as bar crosswords are concerned you can’t solve them without recourse to Chambers. As you gain in experience you use the dictionary less but after 50 years of them I still derive a word from wordplay and then look it up to gain confirmation – it’s all part of the fun.
When I learned electronic aids hadn’t been invented so when completely stuck there was little choice but to hunt through the dictionary/thesaurus looking for possible answers. This usually involved guessing the definition part of the clue, finding a word in Chambers that fitted that and the checking letters and then reverse engineering the wordplay. What you are doing is the modern equivalent of that.
I think you should try to solve the clue first because if you don’t you wont develop. The hypothesis method is explained in “tips and tricks”. But I know that the pleasure of finishing outweighs other considerations. I didn’t finish one for ages when I started and I think that if I was stating today I too would be doing what you’re doing.
See how things develop over the next few months as you gain experience and never hesitate to ask for help on the blog if we can be of assistance.
I’m not expecting do be doing these in 50 years’ time (although perhaps there should be a specific centenarian’s solvers award if I am).
But I value your views and will keep my finger off the button marked Search as long as I can!
miles3659
As Jim says, it’s a bit like golf – if you’re not playing in a competition you can set your own rules, as long as you don’t brag about your score without mentioning a few kicks out of the bunkers.
I try as far as possible to use Chambers (in book form, not electronic) only for checking an answer arrived at from the wordplay. I would guess I have managed to finish about half the puzzles in that way.
If I really get stuck, I use an electronic aid to solve a particular clue and then revert to Chambers only. I find that with a barred crossword just solving one or two key clues can lead to the rest falling like dominoes. It’s “cheating” according to the rules I have set myself, but it lets me finish.
But ultimately it’s a case of each to his own.