Posted by ilancaron on 22nd October 2007
A typical balanced Rufus opus with sensible surfaces and no cryptic definition overdose. And pleasantly not a rugby reference in sight. My last clue was 24A since my only exposure to opera so far has been via this medium.
Posted in Guardian | 1 Comment »
Posted by neildubya on 22nd October 2007
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 6 | EVA< in STS – “Mrs Peron” made this a very easy clue but “bars” was an ambiguous definition in the phrase “street’s bars”. |
| 9 | REC,(PIE)* |
| 10 | U,N in NEARED |
| 11 | IF in FE – a reminder that it’s useful for cryptic solvers to have a smattering of chemical symbols committed to memory. In this case: “Fe” is iron. |
| 12 | (THE LAST FEE)* – fairly easy anagram to spot and solve. |
| 13 | VAMPIRE BAT – cryptic def. |
| 16 | E,XI,T – nice clue, with a (usually) apt surface reading. |
| 19 | R,PEN,T in SEINE |
| 20 | E,R,C in WA[-i]TRESS – the clue is a bit of a mouthful but it reads nicely and is cryptically sound. |
| 23 | B OR N – when I solved this I thought the wordplay was (BR[ight]ON)* and I remember thinking it wasn’t a very good clue as it was a bit vague and there was no anagrind. I was obviously wrong about all that. |
| 24 | FAMILIA[L for R] |
| 25 | hidden in “minstREL ENTertainer” |
| Down | |
| 2 | CIDER (going up) in PATE – I was a bit surprised to see CIDER actually appear in the clue (albeit reversed), although it’s just as well that it did as I wasn’t having any luck thinking of 5 letter alternatives for it. |
| 3 | hidden in “zebRA IS Extinct” – “of” is the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hidden indicator. |
| 4 | REEF in TERNS – I hit upon TERNS for “sea-birds” fairly quickly but didn’t see REEF for “sandbank” for a good while after that. |
| 7 | MEN in A,GREET |
| 14 | (PET STORE I)* – POTTERIES. |
| 15 | RT<,E,A,SURE,R – an excellent clue and a very neat bit of deception here as the surface reading makes you think of Neville Chamberlain. However, a chamberlain is a TREASURER of a corporation or company. Here’s the full clue, for those that haven’t seen the puzzle: “Chamberlain was right to return having obtained peace finally and a certain end to war“. Great stuff. |
| 21 | A,G,APE – which can mean “Christian, brotherly love”. |
| 23 | L,S in BAA |
Posted in Independent | 12 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 22nd October 2007
This issue brought us the usual fare in the style we come to expect from our optically-challenged friend. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 2 Comments »