Independent 6,797/Virgilius
Posted by Ali on July 29th, 2008
I found this pretty tough going, not least because I completely failed to see what was going on until very late on. The theme is the Old Testamant (6D), books of which can be found scattered around the grid. I counted 7 after a quick Wiki (Job, Genesis, Kings, Ruth, Numbers, Samuel and Judges). I guess that 3D is also related. Not sure if John, Peter and Agnes have any thematic connection, though they all appear elsewhere in The Bible I’m sure.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | JERICHO – A reference to the Biblical battle (as described in the OT) | |
| 5 | SET FAIR – SET,FAIR | |
| 9 | BARBARISM – BARB + IS in ARM | |
| 11 | POULT – “You”,L in POT | |
| 12 | SHELL TOP – HE’LL in STOP | |
| 14 | STREAK – R in STEAK | |
| 17 | ROMANS – A nice double def. ‘Roman’ is the French word for novel | |
| 22 | FLAVOUR – L in FAVOURS | |
| 22 | AGNES – [-champ]AGNES – The ‘doesn’t sound like that!’ part presuambly refers the fact that the name AGNES is pronounced “AG-NESS”, whereas the drink sounds like “SHAM PAIN” | |
| 25 | ODOUR - O,DOUR | |
| 29 | DATA SET – AT AD rev.,SET | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | JOB - A crime as in ‘bank job’ | |
| 2 | RORQUAL – Hidden in feaR OR QUALms | |
| 3 | CHAPTER AND VERSE – (ADVENT PREACHER’S)* | |
| 4 | OTIOSITY – (IS IT TOO)*,[-da]Y – A new word for me | |
| 5 | SAMUEL – (US MALE)* | |
| 6 | THE OLD TESTAMENT – Our theme. ‘Willing’ as in writing a (last) will (and testament) | |
| 7 | ABALONE – AB,ALONE – ‘turns to..’ doesn’t seem to sit right here as no part of the clue involves a reversal | |
| 8 | RUTH – RUT,H | |
| 11 | PETER – Ref. Beatrix Potter and Prokofiev | |
| 16 | CLOSETED – CLOSE,TED | |
| 16 | MALCOLM – CO in MALL,M | |
| 20 | GENESIS – (SEEING)*,S[-ummer] | |
| 27 | POT – P,OT | |
July 29th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
7 Down I think “turns to” may mean “becomes” here.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Romans is also a book in the NT.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I wasn’t really very convinced by shell top – “he will cut and finish outside garment”. Assuming “outside garment” is the definition, it’s really “he will cut finish”. How you justify the “and” ? That threw me off the scent completely.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
12ac if ‘garment’ is the definition, might it not be read as,
‘he will cut’ = HE’LL
‘and finish outside’ S(HELL)TOP
July 29th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Yes, it could be the (somewhat optional) ellipsis indicator.
It might not be ‘somewhat optional’ at The Times, whence (spiritually) comes the boy Virgilius.
July 30th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Could someone please explain 9a a bit more thoroughly for dumbos like me?
July 30th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
9A Spike is inserted in weapon, showing such savagery (9) BARBARISM
BARB (Spike) then IS (inserted in) ARM (weapon); whole thing means savagery.