Independent 6,869/Virgilius – In A State
Posted by Ali on October 21st, 2008
A nice, relatively gentle puzzle from Virgilius. There’s a mini-theme of people who share their name with US states, one of whom – 8/12A – got the better of me, largely due to a stupid error on 1D!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | INDIANA JONES – (JOINED IN AS AN)* – The first of our ‘statespeople’. Good to see Indy back in the Indy following the Crystal Skull puzzle which I had the pleasure of blogging a few months back |
| 8/12 | VIRGINIA WADE – VIRGIN + A WAD in IE – Statesperson No.2. Having entered ISADORA for 1D, I was always going to struggle to get this, and eventually conceded defeat. A very good clue though |
| 9 | DEBAR – Hidden in traDE BARrier |
| 10 | NO-BALL – NOB,ALL – ref. cricket |
| 11 | HANDRAIL – HAND,RAIL – RAIL is a wading bird |
| 13 | DIPHTHONGS – A diphthong is two vowel sounds pronounced as one syllable, thus au in Paul and eo in George |
| 16/7 | WASHINGTON IRVING – Statesperson No.3, ref. first US pres George WASHINGTON and actor manager Henry IRVING |
| 24 | EXODUS – ref. The Bible and the 60s film |
| 27 | ADHESIVE TAPE – (AT SPEED I HAVE)* |
| Down | |
| 1 | ISIDORA – IS,(RADIO)* – Not ISADORA! |
| 2 | DEGRADE – D,(AGREED)* |
| 3 | ANNELIDAN – ANNE,LID,AN |
| 4 | AWASH – A,WAS,[-noa]H |
| 5 | OLDEN – [-g]OLDEN |
| 6 | EMBARGO – MBA in ERGO |
| 15/21 | TENNESSEE WILLIAMS – Statesperson No.4 |
| 17 | AKIMBO – KIM in A,B,O |
| 19/25 | GEORGIA BROWN – Statesperson No.5. Georgia Brown was an English Jazz singer, named after the song ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’, aka The Harlem Globetrotters song! |
| 20 | SHUTEYE – (THEY USE)* – Nice anagram |
| 22 | ANNIE – Even letters of bArN oN fIrE |
| 23 | SAUDI – S,AUDI |
October 21st, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Excellent puzzle. I didn’t make your mistake with 1dn but at the same time I didn’t enter it for a while. I was convinced ISIDORA didn’t exist and so waited until I had all the checking letters before relenting.
Temporary failings: Trying to find a state to fit the checking letters in 27ac. Trying to fit IF into 17dn!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Excellent puzzle, from Virgilius, as ever, and rarely if ever ‘a loose end’ to be debated. An extraneous TINTERN seems to have crept into the blog.
October 21st, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I’m still puzzled as to the Greek reference in 1d.
October 21st, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Oops, cheers Niall, have removed TINTERN. I always use an old blog as the template for the one I’m writing, so I knew that an extra answer would creep in one day!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Testy
Check the list of first names in Chambers. Isidora is the feminine of Isidore which is a Greek name, perhaps meaning ‘gift of Isis’.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
A most enjoyable puzzle, and possibly my fastest ever solving time!
October 21st, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Nice puzzle. The one that held me up was OLDEN. I still don’t fully understand it. What was a “Golden” parachute?
October 21st, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Al
According to Chambers, a ‘golden parachute’ is ‘an unusually lavish cash payment to a senior member of a firm on his or her dismissal following a takeover’.
In other words, similar to a golden goodbye or golden handshake only larger.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 am
i was thrown a bit as, early on, i confidently put in as well (a swell) for 10 across !!