I read through all the clues without solving one today. At first I put this down to apprehension knowing it was my turn to write the blog at the end of a difficult week, but having settled into it and solved the thing in a little over an hour I think it really was another harder than average puzzle. I shall be interested to read how others got on. My confidence suffered further set-backs when I found what had to be the right answers in a couple of instances but was unable to explain them. I’m thinking of 2dn and 18ac, both of which leapt out at me on first reading but I didn’t write them in because I couldn’t justify them at the time.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | S(A,PP)HIRE – Staffs being short for the English county of Staffordshire |
| 5 | L,A,SCAR – An Asian seaman. I knew the word but couldn’t have defined it. |
| 9 | PAR(e),SNIPS |
| 10 | F(ine),ALLEN – Fortunately I remembered the Irish bog from schooldays despite Geography being my most hated subject http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_of_allen |
| 12 | NO,D(ad)DY – Noddy was Enid Blyton’s most famous character. Her writing is deemed non-PC these days even though it brought so much pleasure and learning to generations of children. |
| 13 | R(END)E(-)RING |
| 14 | BOOBY-TRAPPED – (Baby torpedo + P)* |
| 18 | HA,P(PY-G,O)-LUCKY – This is a beast. HA! =”I’m surprised”, O GYP = “old pain” which is reversed inside PLUCKY = “brave”. The reversal indicator is “recurrence” here taking its anatomical meaning of “turning back”. I didn’t work out any of the reasoning until long after completion of the puzzle. |
| 21 | M,I,L,W(A,U.K.)EE |
| 23 | R(OOM)Y – MOO = “low” inside YR = “your” all reversed |
| 25 | S(TAG)HORN – My last one in. The material is deer antler used for making handles |
| 26 | C(R)EASE |
| 27 | P,LOT,IN,U.S. – I’m not familiar with this particular philosopher but thanks to |
| Down | |
| 1 | SU(PIN)E |
| 2 | PARA(graph),D, (pag)E – Another beast to work out especially as I convinced myself that the P came from “page” and ARADE would somehow be derived from “fourth chunk of text” |
| 3 | HUNK,Y,-DORY – The Y is supposed to sound like “why”, which it doesn’t always |
| 4 | RUPERT, BROOK,E – My first in after a very long wait. Noddy and Rupert Bear in the same puzzle! The second and different sort of “bear” = BROOK. |
| 7 | CALLIOPE – (Place oil)* This word meaning a type of organ that produces notes using steam whistles came up here recently, but I first met it about 40 years ago in the lyric to a song “Open the Window and See all the Clowns”. http://jackkt.livejournal.com/5607.html |
| 15 | ARK,W(R)IGHT – Richard Arkwright was the inventor of the spinning frame, not to be confused with the spinning jenny which was invented by James Hargreaves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Arkwright |
| 16 | SHA,MANIC |
| 17 | S,PILLAGE |
| 19 | M(O.T.)OWN – The second “cut” in the same segment (see 25ac). I hate it when setters do this. |
| 20 | H(YEN)AS |
Plucky = brave around O for old and GYP (pain)backwards.
I think.
Knowing nothing of Plotinus, once the N from MOTOWN was in, I got suckered into philosopher = Plato. Sticking US=American on the back end, I then invented PLATANUS, with Platan = “of Plato”. Should really have seen “Plot in US”, and was possibly distracted by vague memories of platanus being a real world (the plane tree genus). The same kind of instincts helped me out on CALLIOPE though.
Edited at 2009-07-17 07:54 am (UTC)
Had INSTRUMENTAL as my COD for its elegance but HAPPY-GO-LUCKY as my RCOD (Rotten) for its inelegance.
This thing has been trying to defeat me all week and finally managed it today with STAGHORN and MOTOWN not solved. Supposed PARADE without knowing why and needed Jack to explain FALLEN. Never heard of PLOTINUS or CALLIOPE as a steam organ.
Very tough but enjoyable week at least for those of us who don’t have to blog. Well-done to all bloggers this week.
Having failed O-Level geography, I was pleased to find that MILWAUKEE is a port. Currently I have a house guest from the US, and she didn’t know that maritime fact either. Out of a mutual interest, all she could say is that it’s where they make beer!
26ac was very close to a perfect &lit. Let’s hope that’s how the English batsmen are for a while.
I can see a chunk of text = PARAGRAPH, I can see bottom of page = E, but where does D come into it, and how come GRAPH gets dropped?
There were a few missing for me today 19,23, and 25.
First in for me today where Noddy, and Atlas. Both clues I rather liked.
Held up with not getting Sapphire (there should be a ‘Coppunty’ stone), and Rupert Brooke (again I there should be a poet by the name of ‘Winnie Browne’)
Last in for me was Hyenas, I knew the answer just couldn’t work it out until I came here. Ditto for Parade.
W
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_(mythology)
Clue to ATLAS was COD for me.
I kept thinking that 21 would be something like ‘Milbank**’ but couldn’t get that to work. I realize ‘British port’ was probably lift and separate, but still came back to UK names. Then suddenly I saw it.
My boost came by looking up words starting with ‘stag’ in the dictionary – yep, that’s it. That enabled me to get ‘Motown’ in short order.
My first in was ‘crease’. I had heard of ‘lascar’, ‘Plotinus’, ‘Rupert Brooke’, and ‘Noddy’, so I got them. My big problem came when I accidently put ‘renegrad’ instead of ‘renegade’, making ‘booby trapped’ very difficult when it should have been easy.
Last to go in was PLOTINUS (vaguely heard of) after eventually getting MOTOWN. I was also looking for a Plato type (PLATOSUS) solution but I had to dismiss as too improbable
History GCSE came in handy for Arkwright and ‘Hunky Dory’ always goes in quick, being my fave Bowie album.
Usually I can get a few clues most days but this week have been well and truly stumped!