Independent 6623/Virgilius
Posted by John on January 8th, 2008
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | LATIN AMERICAN – (certain animal)*. This suggests the theme – all the across answers are Latin words, many of which have an American connection. I think this is all. |
| 9 | CAPITOL – (topical)*. It used to be a Roman temple but now it’s a US government building. Virgilius (unlike Azed) has the view that nounal anagram indicators are OK (I rather agree with him), and takes advantage of this here. |
| 11 | ABSCISSAE – (CIA bases)*. Cunningly concealed noun, when one was expecting a verb. An abscissa is the x co-ordinate (see here). |
| 12 | CO rev. TAD I think. An octad is a collection of eight, but how nine is connected with the Supreme Court I’m not sure. |
| 14 | E PLURIBUS UNUM, a motto that appears on US coins |
| 18 | (CARESS A)* PAL ACE. Caesars Palace is a famous Las Vegas hotel. |
| 23 | AL(MA MA)TER |
| 26 | EXPA(R)T E - I think “exile” is a noun here |
| 28 | I think this is PER CENT, but I don’t really see why, beyond the fact that a percentage of something is a proportion of it |
| 29 | SEMPER FIDELIS, the motto of the US Marine Corps; in English it means “always faithful”. |
| Down | |
| 1 | LAPPS – “Lapse” |
| 2 | T in (ATTIRE)*. Lovely simple good &lit. |
| 3 | (LL) in SUN rev. Not a very common word used as a verb, but it’s there. |
| 4 | MASSEUSES – I think this is just a cryptic def. |
| 6 | CAT is hidden in each of the words |
| 7 | NO-SIDE – Edison rev. A strange word – you never hear football commentators use it, but it is I think used in rugby. |
| 8 | SCRA(P)PED – it took me ages to see why; I couldn’t understand “scred”. |
| 16 | BE AWARE OF – (Arab foe we)* |
| 17 | SECRETE – simply two meanings I think |
| 19 | E (UP TREE)* - Euterpe was one of the muses |
| 20 | ADMIRAL - Pinkerton was a naval officer in Madam Butterfly. The butterfly reference is to the Red Admiral and the White Admiral. |
| 21 | DIVERS - two meanings |
| 24 | MOP(P)ED |
| 25 | TRESS – a forTRESS is a secure place. Good clue that took me some while to understand. |
| 27 | P AM |
January 8th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
MASSEUSES is USE in MASSES, I think. The US Supreme Court may have nine judges. Great puzzle as always from Virgilius.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
PS Did anyone else confidently write in PRO RATA first for the PER CENT one? Getting SECRETE (I agree it’s a double definition) showed me I was wrong.
January 8th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Put me down for PRO RATA – although I can’t say that I wrote it in completely confidently. And it was 20d rather than 17d which pointed me to my mistake.
Tougher than the average V I thought.
January 8th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Unfamiliar phrases such as 14ac and 29ac made this a tricky one for me. Gave up about three quarters complete before coming here.
15d and 22ac have got me stumped. The former I think might be lucre, but can’t explain why, apart from the R for river?
Jon
January 8th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
15d – LUC(R)E is right. A luce is a fully grown pike.
22a – ID EST (or i.e.), hidden in “MississippI DESTroyed”.
January 8th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Hi Jon,
15d – a luce is another name for a pike, so lucre’s correct.
22ac – id est latin, part of Mississippi destroyed.
Cheers
January 8th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Beaten to it!
January 8th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Thanks – both Google and Chambers online failed me when I look up Luce.
Jon
January 8th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Luce: It was a new word to me too – got it working backwards from LUCRE, but it’s in both Concise OED and Collins.