Posted by smiffy on 1st August 2008
At the risk of unintentionally damning with faint praise, I’d describe this as a pretty run-of-the-mill challenge today. A couple of clues stood out for me (e.g. 14A) and 25A was the only unfamiliar answer that required post-solving confirmation.
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 1st August 2008
As some of you might know there used to be a blog like this one dedicated to the Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword. Since its demise a few people have asked if we would be covering the puzzle on this blog. And on a separate note, one of our bloggers asked me about the possibility of covering the Telegraph’s advanced cryptic series, called Enigmatic Variations.
Posted in Announcements | 14 Comments »
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 1st August 2008
Posted in Announcements | 11 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 1st August 2008
Themed puzzle based on 24. When I saw HAWK hidden in the 2nd across clue, 6, I went straight to 24, and worked out BIRD. Bullet-proof clueing as always from Phi. I worked out quite a few words, new to me, from the wordplay. Solving time, 17 mins.
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by golgonooza on 1st August 2008
This was fairly straightforward and enjoyable; I started off racing through it until a few very clever clues and unfamiliar phrases slowed me down. A few of the clues made me smile – always a bonus!
Posted in Guardian | 28 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 1st August 2008
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | JACK,INK<,FED |
| 10 | (A QUIET COVE)* – EQUIVOCATE. “Divers” is the misleading anagram indicator here as it’s another spelling of “diverse”. |
| 11 | SU(NB)ED |
| 14 | PETER SELLERS? – haven’t the faintest idea if this is right but it’s the only thing I can think of that fits. Full clue is: “Purveyor of regular good line and short length Lancashire opener’s hooked across Lord’s”. |
| 17 | (POETRY CIRCLE)* – PYRO-ELECTRIC. |
| 20 | AFFORESTED – another one I can’t explain: “Unable to see the wood for the trees, upstart defeats pro, getting break”. |
| 22 | AR in TAIL (reversed) – LARIAT |
| 23 | I,COS,A[-s],HE,A RD< – “function” gave this away from me as once you’ve got ICOS- there aren’t that many alternative answers. |
| 25 | EASY STREET – which was also an answer in last week’s prize puzzle. |
| Down | |
| 2 | ACQUIRE – sounds like “a choir”. |
| 3 | hidden in “worK EITHer” – I did wonder what “not out of” meant but I guess it means that “he’s” inside – i.e., that “not out” is a containment indicator. |
| 4 | (ONE’S COVER)* in NATIVE – NEOCONSERVATIVE. I’m a bit unsure about “unsophisticated” for NATIVE – surely “naive” means unsophisticated but in that case where does the T come from. |
| 5 | FLANNELLED FOOL,S – Kipling is the “linesman” in question – from his poem “The islanders”: “With the flannelled fools at the wicket or the muddied oafs at the goals.” |
| 7 | INN,ERSE in DT |
| 8 | (GREEN C[-it]Y)* – REGENCY |
| 15 | EX,DIE in PENT – tricky one to parse this, but I think “one cast” must be DIE and “lock up” is PENT (the past participle of pen) |
| 16 | JAM in (PAYS)* – PYJAMAS |
| 18 | (FIERCE)*,E – ICE-FREE |
| 21 | SM,EAR – SM is “Sergeant-Major”. |
Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »
Posted by Hihoba on 1st August 2008
Loved this puzzle! Great stuff from Lato.
I (HI) can’t take much credit for solving it though. A weekend’s windsurfing left me exhausted physically and in no state mentally to tackle some very tricky clues. Fortunately HO and BA were on form and solved the clues. After a bit of collaboration we sorted out the “Thematic” words. The final strokes of genius came from a friend who said “it can’t be as simple as ‘Chas and Dave’ can it?” and I spotted that CHAD and SAVE could be converted into the aforementioned singers by a simple letter transposition – hence the title GIVE and TAKE. My wife armed with this information looked at the list of thematic words and said “POSH and BECKS” and proceded to solve the pairs!
Posted in Inquisitor | 5 Comments »
