Posted by Gaufrid on 5th February 2009
What can I say? Nothing controversial today, nothing too difficult and nothing to quibble about. There were a couple of obscure words (9a & 8d) but these were easy to determine from the wordplay.
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Across
1 MOONLIGHTER MO (second) ON[e] (one for the most part) LIGHTER (not as arduous)
7 TAB BAT (club) reversed
9 RATEL *(LATER) – a South African 6-wheeled armoured vehicle according to Collins
10 UNCOVERED dd
11 TRENCHANT TRENCH (deep ditch) ANT (worker)
12 REIGN G[eorges] in REIN (check)
13 MACBETH *(MATCH BE)
15 SKIT S (saint) KIT (Christopher)
18 ERIC ERIC[a] (girl wanting a)
20 FUNFAIR F (loud) UNFAIR (ugly, not pretty)
23 AITCH H (i j k …..)
24 RAISE CAIN RAISE (mention) C (key) I (one) in AN (article)
26 HARMONICA HAR[p] (incomplete instrument) MONICA (girl)
27 RUCHE CH (child) in RUE (regret)
28 MAY MA[n]Y (lots giving away new)
29 MACKEREL SKY *(MAKES CLERK) [qua]Y
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Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 5th February 2009
In terms of time taken to solve, I found this the hardest of the year so far, 75 mins. There’s also a Nina which I refer to after the clue explanations
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Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 5th February 2009
I found this a very fast solve indeed, solving time, 11 mins
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Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by mhl on 5th February 2009
A mixture of very easy clues and some that are rather tricky to explain. I’m slightly doubtful about my explanations for 11a, 12a and could do with some suggestions for 28a and 20d. Update: Thanks to everyone’s suggestions, I think we have satisfactory interpretations of all of these now.
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Posted in Guardian | 86 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 5th February 2009
Monday Prize Crossword on 26 January 2009
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
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Posted in FT | No Comments »
Posted by Pete Maclean on 5th February 2009
Weekend FT prize puzzle from January 24
I found the top-left quadrant of this puzzle to be a challenge to complete. I was not familiar with the Battle of Solferino and was thwarted for a good time by the wordplay in 1D.
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Posted in FT | No Comments »