As It Occurred To Me this week: I won 2nd prize in a contest!
You’re right, it wasn’t a Beauty Contest and I wasn’t playing Monopoly.
It was a crossword contest: The 2009 “3D Calendar puzzle” indeed.
So I have no hesitation, in best Smashy’n’Nicey “does a lotta work for chariddy” manner, in shamelessly plugging next year’s offering.
Follow these links and Buy! Buy! Buy!
http://www.calendarpuzzles.co.uk/calendar_puzzle_2010.html
http://www.calendarpuzzles.co.uk/RNIB-2010-calendar.html
Don’t forget to book a bit of time over Christmas to tackle Cyclops’s annual giant, due out soon. That really will be a double-size challenge.
Perhaps because that monster is on the horizon this issue’s crossword wasn’t too hard. Still, there is one I need help with: Runny Nose at 21. Can someone please give me a tissue.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | ORIFICE OR (gold) IF (provided) ICE (diamonds) |
| 5 | MODEST (DO)< inside M[inute] [cl]E[gg] ST (way) |
| 9 | SCAPEGOAT (GESTAPO)* AInd: Neo- Around CA (state) |
| 11 | PIG OUT PIG (reviled copper) OUT |
| 12/23 | BRIDGING LOAN (BINGO DARLING)* AInd: fixed |
| 13 | GINGER BEER (GEE BRING)* AInd: out, then ER (the queen). Rhyming slang for Queer – non-PC so I suppose that’s the reason for referencing that oaf Clarkson – he doesn’t seem likely to use cockney rhyming slang, the few times I’ve seen him he sounds quite posh, if he does it must be another laddish affectation. |
| 16/10 | LAID BACK LAID (screwed) BACK (rugby player) |
| 18 | TIE THE KNOT CD |
| 20 | HAIRGRIP AIR (broadcast) GR (king George) inside HIP (cool) Nice Def.: lock-keeper |
| 22 | SEDATE ED (ref. Ed Balls) inside (SEAT)* AInd: revolving |
| 24 | ENNOBLING (NONE)* AInd: organised BLING (show of wealth). Reminds me of a recent “New word definition from the Uxbridge English Dictionary” on ISIHAC: Tumbling – Jewellery for a belly button. |
| 25 | LLOYD’S (DOLLY’S)* AInd: bust. Ref. the loses suffered by the “Names” at Lloyd’s of London insurance market |
| 26 | PROGENY (PREY GORDON – R,DO)* AInd: pathetic |
| Down | |
| 2 | ROSSINI ROSS (presenter who went too far) IN, I. |
| 3 | FEAR OF GOD CD |
| 4 | CHEST HE’S (the bloke’s) inside CT (court) |
| 5 | MATRIARCH (MARCH AIR T[emperature])* AInd: affected |
| 6 | DEBAG (BED)< (have sex mounted) AG (silver) Heigh Ho! Appalling image conjured by the surface reading (completely “Tonto” in my opinion) mean this clue gets the gold sheriff’s badge: Get pants off and have sex, mounted, with Silver (5) |
| 7 | SECONDS DD Second helpings and parts of a minute |
| 8 | DOUBLE HELPINGS DD Wry reference to the cock-up 3 issues ago when Number 402 reappeared instead of 403 made this rather easy for regular solvers, and presumably left others mystified |
| 14 | RETURNERS TURNER (an artist) inside RES[idence] Last in. I suspect mainly because I was held up thinking “an artist” delivered RA as usual |
| 15 | NO KIDDING DD |
| 17 | ARAB OIL (A LABOUR -U +I)* AInd: about |
| 19 | OCTAGON O[bama] (CANT GO)* AInd: bombing. A bit unhappy with this def “Pentagon taking sides” as it doesn’t unambiguously lead to the answer. It could mean any polygon with more than 5 sides. |
| 21/15 | RUNNY NOSE I can’t parse this one: It’s not giving up sex and punctuation produces such a discharging organ (5,4) |
| 22 | SOBER (BOERS)* AInd: off |
I just got a form where they had put me in age bracket 54-499.
I was LIV-ID !
21/15 If you remove sex (it) and punctuation from “it’s not” you will be left with “snot”
Thanks for the blog. I really enjoyed this one, even though I was unable to finish the top left-hand corner… must admit I thought the definition for 19D was very clever, although I can see why you would be unhappy with it.
Thanks Radler for showing the way with the runny nose.
That clue seems to require a double leap from wordplay to snot to nose.
On 19D: Re-reading my comment I was probably a bit harsh, after all there aren’t many >5 sided polygons of 7 letters.
Thankfully the postie has just dropped the Xmas issue through my letterbox and I see that Crossword 407 is indeed a 27×27 monster – that’s worth nearly four normal 15 squared crossies – using “Dumb Britain” as the theme. Good job we have an extra week. I’ll try to get the blog up for that sometime on the last submission date: Monday 4th.
I can’t find a link to download the Xmas one -I’ve got the paper copy. Am I missing something?
The No. 407 Xmas special appears at the usual link:
http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=crossword&
It looks exactly the same as the paper copy, so I don’t think you’re missing anything.
Thanks -but there doesn’t seem to be the usual download acrosslite (or whatever it is called) and then the puzzle itself.