Comments on: Cyclops 473: STAND THATCHER? I certainly can’t!

By: Claire Q

Claire Q — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 08:17:50 +0000

Feet being dogs comes up in the phrase, possibly American in origin, “my dogs are barking” which means “my feet are hurting” usually from a long walk or similar. That’s how I got it, anyway!

By: Bamberger

Bamberger — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:04:08 +0000

While it had to be cold feet , I had no idea that dogs=feet.

By: jetdoc

jetdoc — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 08:43:52 +0000

I have always thought of ‘arsey’ as meaning ‘bad-tempered, uncooperative’, but there is also the phrase ‘arsey-versey’ (or ‘arsy-versy‘ in Chambers) meaning ‘backside foremost, contrary’.

A reversal is just a more specific anagram, so I don’t think it really matters which we call it.

By: lemming

lemming — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 08:29:23 +0000

And there’s the OED online: arsey, adj 2. Chiefly Brit. Bad-tempered, uncooperative.

By: lemming

lemming — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 23:58:02 +0000

Not so sure about “arsey” as indicator of reversal rather than anagram. I’ve not found any previous instances of it, but have found

- the more explicit “arse over tip”, or “arse up”, to indicate reversal, eg:

“Dam Scotland Yard’s arse over tip” -> STEM, in No.300
“Char’s vice, say, is arse over tip” -> SINGE, in No.347
“Sort of business quickly caught going arse up in disaster?” -> DOT-COM, in No.221

- persuasively, to my mind, “arsing about” to indicate an anagram:

“Doing, er, arsing about: that’s France’s department” -> GIRONDE, in No.146.

By: SonicElder

SonicElder — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:08:10 +0000

Thanks jetdoc.

Damn and blast – I thought I’d got this one nailed but 18a caught me out – I had SLINGER. But I suppose a Singapore Sling isn’t really a rough drink, so fair enough. Not entirely happy with “tosser” equating to “plonker” though: I’ve always taken plonker to mean a harmless fool: tosser has a more proactively malignant feel to it (for me, anyway).

Oh well, better luck next time. Still an enjoyable and entertaining puzzle, as ever.

And now back to nervously listening to Englan’s rearguard action against South Africa…

By: jetdoc

jetdoc — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:28:02 +0000

Of course it is, and I knew that when I solved it! Silly me — now changed

By: Will

Will — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:11:32 +0000

3d is not an anagram, it’s a containment: In bED GINGerly.

By: jetdoc

jetdoc — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 08:40:58 +0000

True — that occurred to me too.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 08:15:20 +0000

It occurs to me that EYE is of course also an organ in the normal sense of “body part”.