The Age Cryptic by RM #20,602

Happy Monday and we start with a lovely straightforward puzzle from RM. I did not find this a very easy puzzle but I got it all. I can't parse everything, though. I got hung up in the SW corner tripping over 18D and its acrosses. I also had first instincts very wrong and had to erase a lot. For 19A I'd put in FREE LOADER  then figured out 17D so knew that was off. Then I tried to put OVER LOADED for 13D - seems I was determined to get "load" in this grid, but that was wrong, too. No loads anywhere.

Here's my pic - and what a hassle this was! Did the mac update with new iPhoto and it's rubbish!

16A - Brace for year at top secret retreat (4)

Not very sure at all. I first had ARMY which also made little sense to me. I think the "year" = Y but how we're getting the STA I don't know. I get the "retreat" is like a vacation where you "STAY" in a hotel? Did you enjoy your stay? That sort of thing. Ok, I just had another look in case I missed an easy anagram or something - is this a reverse initialism? "Retreat" isn't the definition but the instruction that STAY is backwards in "Year At Top Secret" and that makes "brace" the definition instead. STAY is like a kind of leg brace thing? Corsetry?


8D - Girl's stuff at the art museum (7)

I got this from definition and cross letters. I don't know if "girl's" = GAL or if "stuff" is a container signpost and the "girl" is ELLA stuffed into...GRY. That doesn't seem to work. I'm stumped. How do we make GALLERY?

20D - Militant supporters have a strange fit of pique (7)

Again I got this from cross letters and definition. Apart from "militant" having the first four letters I can't see how we get our answer TANTRUM.

That's it. Not much else to go on about today except I just saw a couple of Pelicans fly over my house! My Goodness! Pelicans! You'd think living near the beach I'd see them all the time but those are the first ones I've seen here since we moved last year. Usually I only see them flying over the M1 at the landfill near Werribee.

The Age Cryptic by DA #20,600

A nice round number for a Friday. This was a mixed bag of a puzzle. I had many answers from the definition that I then couldn't parse to be sure if I had the right answer. Breaking into the puzzle was tough as my first clue in was 27A - the bottom left corner is not a good start point but then I took a trusty stab at 1A which I couldn't yet parse and was right. Never feels safe putting in definition guesses on a DA.

Once I was just over halfway with some cross letters the rest of the clues fell into place. That was a relief. I have a very active picture today and here's a reminder of what all the marks mean in the clues:

Definitions are underlined
Actionable signposts or words are circled
Anagrinds are in rectangles
Anagram fodder has a squiggly underline
Dashes above/below letters are beginning/end letters or odds/evens 
Curved underlines are clue elements I try and seperate. Looks like a wee hammock.
Underlined numbers are not fully parsed unless ticked, and circled numbers are ones I share with the Facebook Cryptic Crossword Learners club.

1A - Numerical data reversible after downsizing (10)

I got this first from the definition "Numerical data" but couldn't make the wordplay make sense. Turns out it means if you use the short term of STATISTICS as STATS it is "reversible" meaning it's a palindrome.

6A - Smack empire of old China? (4)

Double definition that I needed Google to get as I'm not well versed in old Chinese dynasties but the answer is TANG.

9A - Shorten decree produces stocks - week's first source of trouble (3,2,5)

I got help from Ray at D.A. Trippers. I had the answer from cross letters but couldn't parse it and wasn't even sure I had it right. Ray said "defn = “source of trouble”. “Shorten decree” is a 5 letter word for “decree” with last letter removed for letters 1,2,3,4. “produces” = 5 letter word for letters 5,7,8,9,10. “stocks” = position / container. “week’s first” = letter 6." Crikey, no wonder I was having a struggle. What he's saying is "decree" = CANO(-n), "produces" = FORMS and "stocks - Week's first" and here is where I was most confused as I'd thought "produces" was an anagram signpost and I've never seen "stocks" as a container. I got a lot of new stuff to work with in this clue. Thanks Ray! CAN O(F (W)ORMS

10A - Viewer complaint a dump on The Drum? (4)

"Viewer complaint" is our definition and what a sneaky clue because "The Drum" is a TV show so it makes us think it a TV viewer's complaint but it's really an eye problem. "A dump" = STY but what "on The Drum" means to get us an E I cannot tell you. Ah! It seems to be the clue that stumps us all although Mort is hinting it could be something about the eardrum. STYE is the answer.

Ah a conversation on Twitter with DA/ @dontattempt reveals that "on the drum" is a homophone signpost meaning on the ear. Thanks Celia Fate for asking.

Oh - even better DA popped into the DA Trippers to explain this too!

12A - I combine a study about foreign shoe fetishist (6,6)

A "shoe fetishist" is who we are looking for and "I combine" = I MELD which is a cards reference, right? I've played enough gin, canasta and euchre to know that. I suppose they use that word for flavours as well. "Study about" = CRAM reversed as "about" is a reversal signpost here making MARC and "foreign" = OS for overseas for IMELDA MARCOS.

15A - Fashionable follower didn't appear to reject catty noise from Twitter (7)

"Twitter" is our definition and it's the delightful sounds of wee birdies and not the social media kind we need. "Fashionable follower didn't appear" = CHI(-c) one of the longest signposts I've seen DA use. "reject catty noise"  = PURR  reversed to make CHI(RRUP). I've not heard this word in such a long time! It was one I used to see a lot in old romance novels but it's fallen out of favour. Don't judge me for liking romance novels - I just like a happy ending, don't you?

17A - Shot a lure (7)

"Shot" is our definition and "AT lure" = AT TEMPT as in to have a shot, chance at achieving something.

18A - Select Radiohead song (3)

"Song" is our definition and "select" = AI or A1 as in the choicest, best quality with "Radiohead" = R as a one-word instruction to make AIR.

19A - Agreed to swap hands, then lingered (7)

"Lingered" is our definition and I got this from the definition and cross numbers. I think "Agreed" = TALLIED and then "to swap hands" means to swap the LLs for RRs to make TARRIED but I'm not sure about how "agreed" = Tallied unless it's like in accounting and column A matches column B kind of thing and both columns tally up.

20A - Barossa town cheers author sheltering sister (7)

"Barossa town" is what we need and I had to confirm with Google maps but it's "Cheers" = TA and "author" = DA himself and they're "sheltering sister" = NUN  meaning she's hugged up between the others to make TA(NUN)DA.

21A - Strange, lamer kelpie bit German shepherd, perhaps... (6,6)

This bloody clue. Staring us right in face and yet we are so programmed to seek out signposts and "strange" being a great anagrind I fiddled about with a few combinations before giving up. A few cross letters in place later and I saw this was a hidden word clue cleverly disguised. Our "German shepherd" is hiding in "strANGE LAMER KELpie" gives ANGELA MERKEL, the German Chancellor.

25A - ...and it bites 6-across back (4)

But why these clues are linked is more a mystery. "And it bites" is what we're looking for and 6A was TANG and that "back" becomes GNAT. So is this for German National? It's not her party as she's in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Not sure why the ellipses.

26A - Spring-loading university papers into old volume (5,5)

"Old volume" is our definition and I think "Spring" = FLOUNCE "university" = U and "papers" = ID with UID going "into" FLOUNCE to make FL(UID) OUNCE.

27A - Light beam stripped sooty walls (4)

"Light" is our definition and this was my first solved. "bEAm stripped" = EA as we remove the outer layer, then "SootY walls" = SY as we take the outer letters to make EASY. A nice way to see how deletions are used.

28A - Fervid Druid seen embracing unknown midget (10)

"Midget" is our definition and for ages I though it was "fervid" because I'd never seen the word before and a "hotheaded druid" wasn't too hard to imagine. No "Fervid" is an anagrind and we need to mix "DRUID SEEN" with one more letter "unknown" = Z (of course DA uses Z and not the common X or Y) to make UNDERSIZED.

1D - Eavesdropped love making for a short time (4)

"A short time" is our definition and "eavesdropped" is a homophone signpost for "love making" = SEX to become SECS.

2D - Spots a staff ejecting admin head (4)

"Spots" is our definition and "A staff" = A CANE but we must do the "ejecting Admin head" = -A to make ACNE.

3D - They flog Psycho film scenario (12)

"They flog" is our definition and again it's a misleading clue because "flog" looks like a possible anagrind. No the anagrind here is "psycho" and the fodder is FILM SCENARIO to make INFORMERCIALS. Meaning"flog" here is to sell not to beat.

4D - Fish-net creep? (5)

Double definition of "Fish" and "Net Creep" = TROLL.

5D - Break up with me, a Norm in bed? (4,5)

"Break-up" is our definition and I'm fuzzy on the solution. The answer is COME APART. I can see ...oh..well let's see I may have this. "with ME A" gives ME A and "norm" = PAR all going "in bed" = COT to make this CO(ME A)(PAR)T? Maybe? Is norm akin to par?

7D - Liking email extra (10)

Double definition for "liking" and "email extra" = ATTACHMENT.

8D - Role reviewed after musical back-up is prevented by this (6,4)

"Back-up is prevented by this" is our long definition and "role reviewed" = PART reversed to TRAP which goes "after musical" and the musical we want is GREASE to make GREASE TRAP.

11D - Grumpy about grey matter engulfing ship (12)

"Grumpy" is our definition and "about" = CA for circa, "grey matter" = NOUS meaning intellect and they will be "engulfing ship" = TANKER to make CA(N(TANKER)OUS) This took me the longest to parse but was one of my first solves. I didn't know the definition of "noun" apart from "us" in French.

13D - Heard a prompt mix-up that's never right? (5.5)

"That's never right" is our definition and again I got this from definition and crosses but took a while to parse. I had the first bit where "heard a prompt" = A CUE but I didn't catch that "mix-up" = TANGLE for the homophone "A CUE TANGLE" = ACUTE ANGLE.

14D - Board's material lie implicating modern composer? (10)

"Board's material" is our definition and this was quick to get, too as I'm coastal.  "Lie" = FIB and I think "implicating" = RE and I'm guessing the "modern composer" = Philip GLASS to give us FIBREGLASS.

16D - Declared source of rice food by rock wallaby (9)

"Wallaby" is our definition and geez I punted this one around a bit trying to find the right bits. "Declared source of rice" = Paddy/ PAD-E and I think "food found by rock" = MELON as a rock melon (I forget if that's a Cantaloupe or a Honeydew. I know orange one is gross, green one is awesome) to make PADEMELON. A new word for me.

22D - European flower produced heroin nothing less (5)

"European flower" is what we're looking for and in true cryptic style it's a river and not a bloom. "produced HEROIN, nothing less" = where "produced" is an anagrind and we drop the O from our fodder HER(-o)IN to then be mixed up to create RHINE.

23D - Cartoon movie shot finale in bank (4)

"Cartoon movie" is our definition and "shoT finale" = T going "in bank" = ANZ to make ANTZ. Kind of old and crap animation.

24D - Done for flat (4)

I think it's a double definition of "done" and "flat" = DEAD and I'd noted "flat -> like roadkill"  thinking "flat as a pancake" but I now realise it's like a flat battery in the car.

Finished and mostly parsed. A much better Friday this week. I'm taking it easy this weekend as I'm having a slight reaction to my recent flu shot and just bumming about the house. Wishing you better.

The Age Cryptic by DP #20,598

Another quickie which I'm surprised about as it's full of cryptic definitions and puns which I'm pretty woeful at solving. I don't have a great pun bone. I'm an accidental punner, people often say "Nice pun" and I have to review what I said then nod and wink like "Yeah, you got that, huh? cool" I'm fucking clueless! Worse is my teenager is mad for puns and keeps coming at me with a new one everyday. She learns them from Tumblr. Maybe she's been helping me without my even knowing it. She does things like say to the kettle "Sorry water, you'll be mist!" and stuff like that, it's most disarming.

Quite a few beginner level clues which I've shared on Cryptic Crossword Learners. I don't even have a very interesting picture as there were so few charades clues to parse out.

What I'm fuzzy on:

10A - Look at the way to deflect a ball (6)

I got the answer ADANCE from definition "a ball" but as one word it's not in my dictionary so perhaps that wrong. It also makes no sense to me as "look at the way to deflect" so not sure what's the skinny here.

25A - A violin - a fast one! (6)

I got cross letters and put in FIDDLE. I don't know the phrase "fast as a fiddle" but "Fit as a fiddle" so am I missing a music reference here?

28A - In the hide-away, a region of the Arabian peninsula (4,4)

Again, cross letters and a bit of google for the answer NEAR EAST to mean the area around the "Arabian peninsula" but the wordplay eludes me.

That was it. I had a moment of confusion when I printed out the puzzle as I thought it was Thursday and expected the NS which is fine, except I thought it was payday so I'm having a private wee pout.

Happy Humpday!

The Age Cryptic by DH #20,597

I raced through this one. I only had a couple of questions and needed google a little to confirm things, mostly for 2D and 23D. I even managed most of the anagrams by myself without the anagram solver which I resorted to for 19D as it was a new word for me.

1D - Turn up in public conveyance? False! (5)

I don't know how "turn up" = GO unless it's like "I will go to the show, I will turn up." is that right?

2D - Either of the Chappells, with Charlie Eliot, producing old plainsongs (9,6)

Once I convinced my Google I didn't really want Schapelle Corbie (Google, I thought you knew me better than that!) I looked up what a "plainsong" was and got the answer. Then I could search for Gregor and Ian; both I'd never heard of before. What I couldn't find were the "Charlie Eliot" = CHANTS link. OH! I see it! Charlie CHAN the movie character and TS Eliot. Righto that makes sense now. Gosh I should see if there any Charlie Chan books on the ebooks (Yes, lots and most free as out of copyright). I now have a deep need to rewatch Murder By Death.

12A - Leading architect Thomas a famous character of Dumas (5)

I've had something similar before so I knew the answer once I saw "leading Architect" = A but how do we get the THOS? "THO(-ma)S? How do we know to drop the MA? Just not sure how we crack this one.

That was a nice way to start the day, who doesn't love winning? I'll print out the Brummie and have a go there as well and maybe the FT? Who knows. It's a quiet day for me otherwise - unless I get another call to pick my klutz kid up from school. She has yet to finish a full week of school uninjured. Yesterday it was a head crack with another kid while playing tag earning her a goose-egg on her forehead.

Have a great day.

LR's Bonus puzzle!

A quick extra post sharing @LRxword's puzzle that he gave us on Twitter yesterday. He must have known some of us would be sad to see him on hiatus from Mondays for a while. I'm glad to have RM back, though - I enjoy her wordplay.

This one had a trick to play to get the two 15-letter answers, only reading the clues there are more than 15 letters in the answer, so something has to go. It was confusing for a long time, mostly because for 8D I had one of the words wrong, but was close enough to make me think it was right.

The pic will be messy as it has printed out really small and is covered in wee ads. I think if you really want you can click mine to make it bigger and then zoom about it. I had to take a picture of the grid and then zoom around the pic on my phone to see the numbers in the corners to be sure I was putting the right clue in the right spot. I was too impatient for the PDF version but it is up now.

For this we have to solve 28A and 16A then apply those to the long answers of 1D and 8D. It's all a bit gobbeldegooky until most of the cross letters are in and we make some guesses. I was on the right track with both but with a word off in each. For "I went out with Hitler?" I could see TOOTHBRUSH was the (10) but I thought it was creepy of LR to make us think about making out with Hitler and needing the MOUTHWASH as well. Only "MOUTH" wasn't fitting. For 1D I got the first word wrong which worked in my favour because I could see the right word to remove. 1D was "MANDATORY DRUG TESTING" and if we apply the 28A OINTMENT it'll remove the STING. Now I knew what to do with 8D and changed that to "TOOTHBRUSH MOUSTACHE" and taking a PAINKILLER will remove the ACHE.

The rest had some tricky wordplay, the LHS being tougher than the right. I really liked 14A, 13D and I swear I've seen 15A before. The NE corner was the toughest with 2D and 3D in last.

This was a great puzzle, I'm sad to think it wouldn't get into a newspaper. It was very satisfying to finish. I'll return the favour and suggest if you like LR's puzzle he does have a collection of puzzles on the Crossword Light by Stand Alone, inc. and can purchase bundles of 20 LR puzzles for a fiver. Cheaper than a month of newspaper subscriptions for puzzles that won't disappoint. (He doesn't even pay me to say that)

LR just said he's sharing another puzzle next Monday - huzzah!

Onward to DH and the second cuppa!

The Age Cryptic by RM #20,596

Last week was a rough week. We get them. I haven't finished Friday's DA but it's in my file and I will finish at some point. I'll keep on trucking in the meantime and get on with today's RM.

A whole bunch of homophones in this puzzle - good practice!  Some worked better than others but accents are an issue for me. 6A worked fine enough with my Boston accent but 3D, which was my last clue in, is not said the same at all - here I think my accent is at fault. Just watch some Family Guy, you'll understand. Here's the pic:

Only a couple queries. For 1D which answer do we want? Since the changing letter is not link to another clue, both will fit the space. Which is the definition - SWEETSHOP or SWEATSHOP? I left SWEATSHOP but don't really know which is the correct answer.

17D - Took the trouble to get the alternative bed cover (8)

I guess that "Took the trouble" is the definition and I think we take the THE and BED from the clue and that "alternative" = OR but how do we know to get THE into OR? I can see "BED cover" has bed being split around everything with "cover" as a container signpost. I just think I'm missing something.

I don't if my way of making 25D work is right but it works for me. I also do not know if any of these answers are incorrect so apologies if there is an error. I can't cheat on my daughter's iPad until she's home from school.

I have printed out the bonus puzzle @LRxword shared on Twitter this morning (I may wait for the PDF version, my printout is teenie-weenie) and will have a crack later on. Who can a resist a puzzle with the tag "It's probably too quirky for the newspaper." Bring on the quirk!

Bring on the end of the day and a Long Island Iced Tea please. Cheers.

The Age cryptics by LR #20,590 and DH #20,591

We're still having internet woes here at Casa Crypticrochet so I couldn't get my post up last night. There was no way I was going to compose it from my iphone either. Today the router will only accept my laptop and all other devices are blocked. Seriously - this is getting annoying but since I'm the only one with internet access today, I'm going to ride this while I can.

Yesterday's LR was good fun. I got stuck on a couple and had to change gears, then shook my fist as I realised I'd fallen for trickery! 23A curse you! My last one in was 11A and I still don't know where the second letter V comes from. Here's my pic:

I struggled with 11A the most thinking of tomato and potato but that would've been (1,6) and I put int the AVOCADO even though I can't parse the V. I'm not really sure how this is parsed. LR said on Twitter he thought 20D would be his trickiest clue but that was a hidden word - easy for the aware (Ok I solved it late) but simpler than 11A in my opinion. I've also never heard of MUDFISH but it does not sound appetising.

I have raced through a rather easy DH this morning and I'm confident on my solutions. I nearly put PRON in for 28A but then thought internet porn is not a good breakfast. My only no solve is 9A - I just cannot get a word to work here. I can't pin down which end is definition but I think it's "apex" and I want something with "detective" = PI turned around and an L at the end. One Across doesn't help so I may have an error in here somewhere... OK I grabbed my daughter's ipad and cheated. I wasn't too far off, I just had the wrong use of "about" in the solution.

I also really like the grid design, it's fascinating. I swear if you cut this out and hinge the right sections it will fold up into a tower shape.

I have errands and when I return I'm giving Nutmeg's offing a try in the Guardian. I also found recently in my newsagent's a book of cryptics by Puzzle People and found they are all compiled by DH as well - at least issue No. 116 is. The neat thing is it breaks down and explains all of the clues for the first puzzle as a lesson for new solvers - I love this! It should be a standard for all cryptic books.

Have a great day!

Catch up post! DA #20,588 and LR #20,584

I'm around! I've not disappeared. I've just been neglectful here and distracted with the kids on school holiday and a fraught home-office based husband who's ready to do battle with iinet and Telstra over our woeful internet.

We were completely without internet for the last week because my daughter downloaded two full seasons of Game of Thrones and didn't tell us and took all of our monthly bandwidth.  We had to buy top ups and cut the kids off internet for a week - you'd think they were going to die! I had access over my phone for emergency stuff but 2.5gb doesn't go far either. We are back to full capacity again and the DTs are abating. Kids going back to school very soon will be good, too.

I've only made time for Friday and Monday puzzles but my head has not been there to finish any others. I've spent a lot of time in the crossword groups on Facebook too. I had a friend challenge me to start writing my own clues; he said that would help me be a better solver. I scoffed and said I'm pretty terrible at writing clues. A few months later and I've given in and had a go. I even had one recommended as Clue of The Month, so perhaps I'm not as bad as I thought?

I'm at least three puzzle posts behind - sad how fast time flies! I'll do short posts of those three working in reverse order from Friday10th's DA:

I'll run through the one's I'm unsure of:

19A - Ride and run to display tattoo? (10)

I think "ride" = NEEDLE as in to pester or "ride someone's ass" in a nagging, niggling manner and "run" = WORK as in something's in working/running order. what is the point of the word "display" here because I'd first thought it was hidden word signpost but for such a short clue with a long answer that quickly was discounted. Is it for surface?

26A - ...that winged NZ parrot (5)

I had to unwrap Saturday's paper to get the answer for this (and 9D). I'm sure it's linked in some way to 24A which I got from wordplay and had to google to confirm I had the right answers - I love cryptics for introducing me to new people to investigate. (I'd never heard the term "Bush Bard" either. If you'd asked me to define the term before looking up Les Murray I'd have thought "someone who wrote songs or poems just to get laid"). I thought something "winged" would be taking its first and last letter and the only NZ parrot I could name was a Kakapo which was too many letters. Were do we get the HA to make HAKEA?

6D - African renegade type hating shanty hubs (8)

I had cross letters in place to guess EGYPTIAN was the answer. I guess "renegade TYPE" is anagrind and partial fodder but don't how G-IAN is worked into the clue or how to mangle "shanty hubs" if that's right.

9D - Ecstasy party fracturing quiet street first off, then arrests (9,4)

I tried to work "event" and "st" together somehow but just couldn't make it work.

16D - Pigeon English? (3)

I just want to know if "english" could have been any language at all to make this like "pigeon speech" to get COO or was there a specific reason for "english" to be used.

That's it for the most recent post. I think my scribbles describe my thoughts on the other solutions but anyone wants to discuss one then by all means pip up in the comments.

Monday the 6th of April was an LR and I liked this puzzle. I shared several of the clues on the CCLearners group. Even though LR apologised for his 1A VULTURISH I thought the clue was fair.  I loved 20A and 23A. I was able to parse all the clues, too so it was full a on puzzle win. I would like to see LR get a weekly spot. Here's that pic:

I'm running out of time so I'll not put up the DA from the 3rd - unless someone really, really wants to see it. I have it filed away. Don't laugh! I've had enough moments of "Hey didn't someone do that a few weeks ago?" and now I have a file folder where I keep all the printouts. Yep, pretty sad but I don't care. You just cannot set me free in an Officeworks.

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend. LR tomorrow?