Is there a conspiracy? My turn to blog and there’s no magazine, again! Still, thanks to a fellow blogger, I appropriated a copy. 🙂 Though I don’t feel I can submit my entry since it’s not on the original paper 🙁
Once again, the preamble made little sense at first but since there was no mention of extra letters or suchlike, it was on to the process of solving.
There are 20 one-word definition-only clues to 10 otherwise unclued entries, which we can ignore for the moment. The normal clues presented one or two challenges but all came well in the end. Once the normal clues were solved, it was on to the task of solving the thematics; we were told that there are two linked groups. It turns out that one group of words could be succeeded by BOX and the other group could be succeeded by DAY, further the “DAY” words had to be placed inside the “BOX” words. So, it seems that the BOX contained DAY, or to put it another way, the DAY words were BOXed in by the BOX words, leading to the two words BOXING DAY. The puzzle was published on Boxing Day (or St. Stephen’s Day as they say round here.) Also, I thought it was quite nice to see that the thematic entries were all symetrical.
Thematic clues:
| Clue | Answer – BOX/RED DAY/BLUE |
Position in Grid |
| bomb | EGG | row 4 |
| background | FIELD | col 13 |
| tackle | GEAR | row 1 |
| capacity | HAT I wasn’t entirely happy with this (capacity=cap=HAT??) |
col 13 |
| dance | HEY | row 4 |
| reserve | ICE | row 9 |
| dance | JUKE | col 1 |
| spring | LEAP | col 9 |
| suit | MATCH | row 12 |
| month | MAY | col 4 |
| celebrity | NAME | row 9 |
| away | OFF | row 4 |
| liable | OPEN | row 12 |
| dismissed | OUT | row 9 |
| stake | PEG | col 10 |
| flower | POPPY | row 1 |
| scrap | RAG | row 9 |
| flatter | SOAP | col 4 |
| clean | WASH | col 1 |
| colour | WINE | row 4 |
| Across | ||
| No. | Entry | Wordplay |
| 1 | JOSH | Double def: JOSHua (book of bible) |
| 9 | MANGAL | MAN (chap)+GAL[a] (festival) |
| 10 | EBRO | Hidden word thE BROads. EBRO is Spain’s most voluminous river – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebro. |
| 11 | KEY IN |
Def: type KE[a]+YIN (Scottish for one.) I thought this was a great clue – very misleading definition. 🙂 |
| 12 | MOOLVIE | MOOL (loom rev.)+VIE (rival.) This isn’t in Chambers although several variations are (mullah, moolah, mollah or molla.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moolvie |
| 14 | CLOP | C (about)+LOP (cut) |
| 16 | SLUSHY | S[a]Y containing LUSH (drunk) |
| 17 | COPITA | COP (obtain)+IT (the very thing)+A[ntique] |
| 18 | HABOOB | HA[ve]+BOOB (blunder) |
| 21 | LOG OFF |
LOGO (design)+FF (very loud) |
| 23 | SURE | Double def. SURE is an old word for sewer. |
| 26 | GRUYERE | URGE (anag) containing YE+R(ector) |
| 27 | BASEL | BASE (bottom)+L(ine) |
| 28 | AIDA | AID (help)+A(mateur) |
| 29 | UNIQUE | UNI(versity)+QUE (what in Spanish) |
| 30 | MEET | Double def. MEET means qualified according to Billy Shakespeare. |
| Down | ||
| No. | Entry | Wordplay |
| 2 | O’NEILL | ONE (joke)+ILL (peevish) |
| 3 | HAIFA | HAI[l]+FA (football association: British teams) |
| 4 | EGENCY | [r]EGENCY minus R (king) |
| 5 | PAMELA | PAM (the Jack in the game of loo)+E-LA (highest note in church music) |
| 6 | POOH-POOH | POOH (bear) twice |
| 7 | ARIGHT | A+RIGHT (title) |
| 8 | ROEG | GORE (anag) Nicolas Roeg is a film director I’ve never heard of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Roeg |
| 9 | MYOTUBE | E (base)+BUM (scrounger) containing TOY (plaything) (all reversed) |
| 13 | PHOSGENE | HOPES (anag) containing GEN (information) |
| 15 | DIOCESE | DOC (medic) containing I (one)+SEE (anag.) DIOCESE is a city area. A nice confusing clue since DIOCESE is also a SEE and also contains most of the letters of MEDIC. |
| 19 | ANURIA | AIA (nursemaid) containing RUN (rev.) |
| 20 | ORIENT | def: EAST OT (occupational therapy) containing RIEN (of nothing in Paris) |
| 21 | LENTIC | CLIENT (anag) |
| 22 | FACETE | FACE (confront)+T[i]E (obligation) |
| 24 | IMAUM | I (one)+MUM (silence) containing A[gonise] |
| 25 | OGAM | O(ld)+GAM (school) |
HAT for ‘capacity’ was the last definition that I confirmed. Chambers has “wear several hats, wear another hat, etc to act in several capacities, another capacity, etc.”
HAT = capacity.
Chambers gives: “wear several hats, wear another hat, etc – to act in several capacities, another capacity, etc.”
Eg, a solver who also sets might say “I’d never use this sort of clue myself, but in my solver’s hat, I find it perfectly acceptable.”
Sorry, HolyGhost, you key in quicker than me!
The closing date of this was given as 31 December. i.e 5 days after publication, rather than the usual 12. Similarly, last week’s Inquisitor gave 7 January as the closing date. Is this a change in policy or an oversight?
We usually tackle these at leisure over a few days, it’s a bit of a rush to get it in the post that quickly.
I’ve not gone back to check, but I think Mike Laws commented earlier on this issue explaining that it was a mistake.
In spite of what has appeared in print for 157 and 1107, and will be doing for 1108 in the morning, entries have been, and will be accepted within the usual time-frame.
And Ken, when I phoned about the acceptability of entries not on the original newsprint, the magazine editor said “I don’t suppose anyone will give a …” before he was stuck for a word. I leave you to speculate what it might have been!
I know this is a bit late, but I would like to register my thoughts on the “hat/capacity” definition. I don’t like the definition at all because the equivalents are “WEAR a hat” = “ACT in a capacity”. To me this does not imply that a hat is a capacity. The phrases are equivalent not the words. Does it also follow that “act” can be used as a definition for “wear”? I rationalised the clue by the thought that a hatful was enough to fill a hat, but I still think this is sloppy. There were other definitions that would have done a better job, e.g. cap!