Independent 7417 (Sat 24 July) – Scorpion
Posted by petebiddlecombe on August 1st, 2010
I didn’t time this accurately but thought it was about average difficulty for a Scorpion puzzle – which means pretty tricky. It might have been easier if I’d solved 4A early on, as this announced the theme – seven other answers are racecourses.
Apologies for the late report – it’s been a busy week, so this will be a fairly quick report.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 4 | R.A.=Royal and Ancient=St Andrews,C(ECO=green)URSE |
| 8 | W,E=”card partners”,A,K |
| 9 | SCRU(m),F,F(lanker) |
| 10 | B=born,EVERLEY (Brothers)=singing siblings, giving us Beverley (Sisters) and our first racecourse |
| 11 | (r)ITE,M=married |
| 13 | HE’LL,S(BELL)S – “My” (exclamation) is the def |
| 14 | PA,LER from last letters |
| 15 | OUTR(ag)E |
| 17 | P(ONTEF=often*)R.,ACT – next racecourse |
| 18 | ROUT – 2 definitions – I got the woodcutting one from the tool called “router” |
| 20 | FOR((uncl)E)K,NOW |
| 21 | LA(YOU)T(est) |
| 23 | BAT(tenberg),H – a bath is a “tubby thing” and Bath is our next racecourse |
| 24 | SUCCOUR = “sucker”,IN,G=Gabon |
| Down | |
| 1 | BEAU(lieu) – Beaulieu is the Hampshire place |
| 2 | (unite)D,RIBBLE=”one flowing naturally” – a Lancashre river |
| 3 | SAX,(volum)E,BLUE=down – saxe blue is a colour or “tone” |
| 5 | ASCOT – (C(up),O) in sat* – Ascot is a kind of tie and another racecourse |
| 6 | OFF=poorly,SHORE=horse*,FUN=delightful,DS = Doctor of Science (I think) |
| 7 | ELVIS COST = (lives Scot)*,EL,LO |
| 8 | WORC=rev. of crow,ESTER=trees* – next racecourse |
| 12 | MILK TEETH – cryptic def hoping to make you think choppers are helicopters (or maybe bicycles) |
| 14 | PROP,OSAL=also* |
| 16 | W(AR(W.I.)C(h)K. – next racecourse |
| 19 | dUsT,URN |
| 22 | Y OR K = the letters which “key” has on the outside, York being a royal house and our seventh racecourse |
August 1st, 2010 at 9:12 am
Thank you P.
LAYOUT and YORK were last to go in. That was because I kept misreading ‘solver’ as ‘setter’ – weird. Then YORK was easy.
Didn’t understand 1a. so thank you.
Oh! There was a theme! Missed it completely.
Never heard of SAXE BLUE.
Elsewhere we’ve had Beth Ditto & L Cohen; and here we have Elvis Costello – gosh!
August 1st, 2010 at 9:54 am
Thank you Peter. Either the Saturday puzzles are getting easier or I’m getting a bit better at them, as I seem to be finishing more often nowadays. Didn’t quite get this one, putting PALE BLUE at 3dn because I couldn’t understand the wordplay. I liked LATEST and OUTRE, but there was lots of other good stuff as well.
Horseracing vies with golf as one of the most pointless activities on the planet, imho, so that should answer any questions about whether I spotted the theme …
Very good Saturday morning entertainment, thank you Scorpion.
August 1st, 2010 at 9:57 am
Enjoyable puzzle, which I found was a little easier than some by Scorpion, saw the theme only near the end. SAXE BLUE was my last answer.
August 1st, 2010 at 10:02 am
A challenging and stimulating puzzle. Failed to get SAXE. Thought RACECOURSE, YORK and MILK TEETH were great. Thanks Pete for explaining DRIBBLE, OUTRAGE, and ROUT. Failed yet again to spot the theme.
August 1st, 2010 at 10:18 pm
I’m with you, K’s D, about golf. What was it Mark Twain said – something about spoiling a good walk? Not exactly sold on horseracing either, despite having spent some of my career in the betting shops of a large national chain of bookmakers (as a property surveyor, I hasten to add!) But even with that experience I didn’t spot the theme either. And I was going for ‘pale blue’ at 3d before the ‘sax’ bit suddenly clicked.
Favourite clue ‘York’
August 1st, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Thanks Pete.
Super puzzle from Scorpion.
Quite a few here which I solved backwards i.e. guessed the answer, then confirmed by the wordplay after a bit of thought.Did spot the theme,as I have been known to squander a few pennies on “The Sport of Kings”.Think I would have struggled to complete without that.
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Got this done in record (unrecorded you’ll have to take my word) time for a Saturday except for saxe blue, guessing pale as well and I expect the majority of folks entering via dead tree will make the same mistake, the colour is not exactly trip off the tongue. (for me others may say different). Didn’t spot the race course theme but I’m not a betting man, I did however do a job in cheltenham which coincided with the the gold cup festival week. That was fun he lied cost me a packet as the hotels quadrupled prices…
August 3rd, 2010 at 12:20 am
SAXE BLUE was my last answer as mentioned above, and, yes, it was hard, but I can’t see how PALE BLUE could fit the wordplay. It was a bit of a penny dropping moment, but maybe I was lucky in that I had heard of SAXE BLUE.