Independent 6951 by Punk
Posted by NealH on January 26th, 2009
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 9 | Epochal: Cope< + Hal. |
| 10 | Othello: Hello (magazine) after OT (Old Testament). |
| 11 | Yeast: [Baker]y + east. |
| 12 | Beelzebub: Bee + zebu in lb. |
| 13 | Ego: Go after [avenu]e. |
| 14 | Hummingbird: Humming + bird (in the prison sense). |
| 17 | Lateral Thinking: Kin in later Althing. The Althing is the Icelandic parliament (which, coincidentally, is mentioned several times in an article about Iceland). |
| 20 | Bearskin rug: (sure barking)*. |
| 22 | Yam: May<, although May as a synonym for spring seems a bit dubious. |
| 23 | Moonlight: Moo (low in its bovine sense) + first letter of luminescence in night. |
| 26 | Trust: Double definition. |
| 27 | On the go: ghent* in OO. |
| 28 | Monsoon: Monday soon. |
| Down | |
| 1 | Very well: double def. |
| 2 | Cosa Nostra: (actor’s son)* over a. |
| 3 | Thatcher: last letter of government + hatcher. |
| 4 | Club: double def. |
| 5 | Come hither: me in (the choir)*. |
| 6 | Phizog: Phi + Zog. |
| 7 | Flab: Fab around l. |
| 8 | Forbid: For bid. |
| 15 | Melting pot: E lt in Ming + pot. |
| 16 | I kid you not: I kid + youn[g] + o + t. |
| 18 | Negating: eating* + ng. |
| 19 | Gemstone: MS in get one. |
| 20 | Bamboo: Bamb[in]o + o. |
| 21 | Solver: Sole around v + r = u (you in text messaging). |
| 24 | Otto: This was the only one I thought was a little obscure. It seems to be the palindromic name of a cyclist. The only moderately famous one I can find is Dag Otto, although there might be someone else. |
| 25 | Tome: Self-addressed = to me. |
January 26th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
This was very enjoyable. 3dn, in particular, raised a chuckle. As far as 24 down is conerned, I suspect the two letters “o” suggest bicycle wheels.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
24 dwn. Nikolaus Otto. Schematic cycle of four stroke engine bears his name.
January 26th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Thanks NealH for the blog and thanks Les for the explanation of Otto. I thought this typical of Punk’s humour and I enjoyed it very much too.
I did stumble over 6d though. As a former student of the Beano and Dandy I recall seeing Fizzog used and I’ve never known any better. However after getting Othello it all fell into place.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Good crossword, although even now I’m not totally convinced about Otto, who seems too obscure. The only very slight grumble I had, and I may be wrong in any case, is with 26ac: surely a trust is not the same thing as a cartel?
January 27th, 2009 at 12:00 am
The definition of cartel in Collins says “also called trust”.
January 27th, 2009 at 8:34 am
… and American law to restrict cartels is called ‘anti-trust legislation’.