Posted by Gaufrid on 25th August 2009
Apologies for the late appearance of this analysis and for the lack of any real comment. I cannot remember too much about this puzzle having completed many more crosswords in the time between solving and writing this post. Had I known I was going to need to stand in at the last moment I would have made some notes whilst solving. All I can say is that, on my copy, I do not have a question mark against any of the clues so there cannot have been anything contentious (not that this is likely with an Azed).
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Posted in Azed | 4 Comments »
Posted by Agentzero on 25th August 2009
I had a number of questions or quibbles here.
| Across |
| 1 |
GOSSIP-WRITER *(I REPORT SWIGS) |
| 10 |
REELING EEL (fish) in RING (bell) |
| 11 |
VANILLA AN in VILLA (home in Rome). Vanilla is an orchid extract. |
| 12 |
MUSIC MU (Greek character) SIC (thus) |
| 13 |
KERCHIEF homophone of “cur chief” (head of scoundrels) |
| 15 |
TRANSCRIBE N (name) and CRIB (cheat) in *(TEARS) |
| 16 |
UGLY homophone of UGLI |
| 18 |
CHER dd |
| 20 |
GOOD FOR YOU *(DUO OR GOOFY) |
| 22 |
ROCK BASS ROCK (pop) B (beginning to bug) ASS (jenny) |
| 24 |
BIG UP BIG (huge) UP (increase). Hmm. I have heard the slang phrase “Big ups to …” generally meaning “kudos to …” I never heard of it being used in the singular. |
| 26 |
NARRATE *(RARE ANT) |
| 27 |
SUNBURN SUN (star) BURN (to make CD) |
| 28 |
TWENTY-TWENTY dd |
| |
| Down |
| 2 |
OPEN SEA *(EUROPEANS minus UR (hesitation)) First time I’ve seen UR rather than ER for hesitation. |
| 3 |
SUITCASE SUIT (appropriate) (how are these the same parts of speech?) CASE (cartridge). |
| 4 |
PAGE P (quiet) AGE (period). |
| 5 |
REVIEW BODY REVIEW (assess) BODY (corpus). IMHO, clues in which a two-word phrase are based on indicators for each of the two words separately generally aren’t that interesting. |
| 6 |
TUNIC hidden in PashTUN I Caught |
| 7 |
ROLLING [st]ROLLING (promenading when street’s blocked) |
| 8 |
DRAMATIC IRONY *(CRY + ADMIRATION) |
| 9 |
BARFLY JUMPING I think this is BAR (but) FLY (cunning? more slang?) JUMPING (vaulting). Apparently the practice of jumping up against a wall while wearing a velcro suit. |
| 14 |
ORION’S BELT ORION’S (hunter’s) BELT (career, as in to move fast and somewhat wildly). Same comment as re 5 down. |
| 17 |
SORBONNE SOR (homophone of SAW = “witnessed”) BONNE (“good,” French) |
| 19 |
EXCERPT R (Romeo) in EXCEPT (bar) |
| 21 |
YOGHURT *(HOG) in YURT (tent) |
| 23 |
BLAME B (second-rate) LAME (golden fabric) |
| 25 |
ISN’T I (one) + N (new) in ST (outer parts of “Somerset”) |
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 25th August 2009
A themed puzzle on the punk group SEX PISTOLS (2 down). The associated answers are titles of some of their best-known hits. I found it very tough indeed. Solving time, 70 mins. Perhaps a favourite of the setter’s in the light of his pseudonym.
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Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 25th August 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 Guardian | 45 Comments »