Solving time 20 minutes
About average level of difficulty with no real obscurities. 5D is strange and I can’t help feeling I’m missing something subtle. I also don’t really understand the cryptic to 8D
The end of June 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of my learning to program the ICL 1301 computer, which was when I learned about Alan Turing. June 23rd was the 100th anniversary of his birth and I can’t let it pass without an acknowledgement to him and his immeasurable contribution to our lives without which this blog would not be possible
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CANNES – sounds like “can” to the French; Nice in France; |
| 5 | WHISTLER – (the swirl)*; James Whistler 1834-1903 who painted pieces of music and mothers; |
| 9 | OLD,WINDSOR – (lord)* surrounds WINDS-O; over=O (cricket – what else?); Thames-side village near Windsor; |
| 10 | FOIL – F-OIL; fine=F; sun lotion (perhaps!)=OIL; fencers cavort on a piste; |
| 11 | STRATEGY – STY surrounds (great)*; does the Euro Area have one?; |
| 12 | GEYSER – GREY-SE then move R=queen to the rear; as featured in Yellowstone National Park; |
| 13 | JACK – two meanings 1=sailor; 2=small ball used as a target in bowls; |
| 15 | ULTERIOR – UL(s)TE(RIO)R; the most interesting motive; |
| 18 | REST,HOME – REST-HO(M)E; (the) excess=(the) REST; not where I want to end up; |
| 19 | BOAR – BOA-(freeze)R; Tamworth no doubt; |
| 21 | ENAMEL – LE(MAN)E all reversed; what the hygenist cleans; |
| 23 | EQUALISE – cryptic definition; park=slang for football pitch; |
| 25 | UNDO – hidden (Ness)UN-DO(rma); |
| 26 | GREGARIOUS – GR(I-RAGE reversed)OUS(e); bitch=moan=grouse; |
| 27 | ASSIGNEE – ASS-GI reversed-NEE; charlie=slang for fool; |
| 28 | EL,NINO – (l)E(y)L(a)N(d)I(i)-NO; quinquennial movement in the South Pacific; |
| Down | |
| 2 | ALLOT – (sh)ALLOT; |
| 3 | NEWMARKET – NEW-MARKET; also a famous centre for horse racing; |
| 4 | SINGER – SIN-(pon)G-E-R; Isaac Merritt Singer 1811-1875 who invented the Singer Sewing Machine; |
| 5 | WISH,YOU,WERE,HERE – insincere message people sent before texting was invented; |
| 6 | IRRIGATE – (b)IR(d)-R(e)IGATE; |
| 7 | TUFTY – TU(F)T-Y(oga); following=F; road safety conscious squirrel; |
| 8 | EMILE,ZOLA – ALO(Z)E-LIME; what is an aloe-lime?; French writer and saviour of Dreyfus; |
| 14 | APENNINES – A-PENNI(N)ES; N from (woma)N; |
| 16 | REBELLION – (beer)*-ILL reversed-ON; last resort of slaves, peasants and poll-tax payers; |
| 17 | HOOLIGAN – HO(OLI)GAN; OLI from (s)OLI(d); golfer Ben Hogan 1912-1997; idiotic follower of football; |
| 20 | CURATE – two meanings 1=pastor 2=manager of museum; |
| 22 | MAORI – I-ROAM reversed; author=I(?); |
| 24 | SPURN – S-PU(R)N; |
You will much enjoy the Guardian’s most recent prize crossword (Puck on Saturday).
Ok, now to go off-topic.
Jimbo you’ve got me beaten by 3 years. I started on the ICL/Ferranti Orion in ’65.
Mike
Thanks for taking the trouble to reply. I am in a mainframe as we speak – compiling and installing code for the JSA (Job Seekers Allowance) system. I don’t time the crossword, preferring to enjoy the scenery, but finished today’s during a dull tele conference. Cheers.
If my memory serves me correctly the 2900 was preceded by System 4 if you were from north of Watford (ie. Kidsgrove or West Gorton) or 1900 if you were from Bracknell. When I started in Bracknell in 1973 we worked on a New Range (as it was then called) simulator, made out of bits of 1900s and VME was known as Supervisor B – other operating systems were available but all got scrapped! Other than Tony Sever, are there any other old ICL employees out there?
Edited at 2012-06-26 10:30 pm (UTC)
Steve Williams
Re Turing: my sons and I are looking forward to visiting the exhibition that opened last week at the Science Museum in London. Anyone been yet?
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/galleries/turing
Not much fun, but my fault, I think, not the setter’s.
CoD to UNDO – it appealed to my apparent need for simplicity.
At 17, I could think of Jones, Snead and Locke, but typically the one old golfer that was needed didn’t come to mind. At 20, I considered CURATE but was stymied by thinking it must be a charade rather than a double definition. COD to TUFTY.
I was a bit puzzled by “old money” for “pennies”, although I suppose the old ones were.
“an irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes affecting the equatorial Pacific region and beyond every few years, characterized by the appearance of unusually warm, nutrient-poor water off northern Peru and Ecuador, typically in late December” [my emphasis].
Without checking guessed NEW WINDSOR at 9ac until the impossibility of AVERT at 2dn dawned.
Not a good morning; but a very good puzzle.
17d was LOI for me – tried to do something with Langer for ages.
The pangram was helpful!
Progress was not helped by misspelling APENNINES (yet again!) and thinking 20 had to start with RUN.
Because of recent reading I had Rex WHISTLER in mind at 5ac: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Whistler
Didn’t know the piste / fencing connection.
All in all quite a tricky offering, I thought.
BTW El Nino is the nickname of Fernando Torres (Spanish footballer) and Sergio Garcia (Spanish golfer).
I’m amazed some of this learned crowd haven’t heard of the legendary US golfer Ben Hogan, aka The Hawk (!!) – arguably the best striker of a golf ball ever and one of only five men to have won all four major championships (US Masters, US Open, British Open, US PGA), several after a near-fatal car crash in 1949. His winning of the US Masters, US Open and British Open in a calendar year (1953) is unequalled.
I was also going to mention the Guardian Saturday puzzle, but I see Barry got there first.
I liked lot of the clues, ‘hooligan’ and ‘Old Windsor’ were very tricky.
You beat me to the 1301 by just over six months, Jim, as I started programming it (in machine code) in January 1963. Those who’d like to know more about this wonderful beast should follow this link. It brings it all back. Happy days!
I think I probably went on a couple of other courses in my career, but generally we were just given a manual (or told to buy one and claim it on expenses) and left to get on with it.