I appreciate the crisp style and lack of waffling link words. The clues have a very simple, clear style. It first looked like a short puzzle but it has 28 clues which is the average. It wasn't too difficult to suss out the definitions either, which was a much needed kindness. I had to hit the dictionary and thesaurus hard. As I use the Fifteen Squared solutions, here's a link to their page and Eileen's solutions. Here's my pic:
1A - Soldier's plot to be a freeloader (8)
our definition andI got this with cross letters. "Was inclined," = TENDED which will "embrace" or be split around a two letter word for "soldier" = ER...ER? Have I seen ER as a short for "soldier" before? I can't find anything from a quick google. I have asked my good friend who is in the military to tell me if he knows what ER could stand for in reference to soldiers. He tells me ER = Enlisted Rank. Thank you Jason Mackay! His google is better than my google.
weather frostis widespread," is fodder and anagrind to make FEAR THE WORST.
"Band," is our definition and I got this from definition and "Greek" = GR where we use the country code for Greece. Our answer is GROUP and I needed Fifteen Squared to explain the OUP part "GR [Greek] + Oxford University Press [publishers]"
"Drug," is our definition and "tarocooked" is partial fodder and anagrind, "hunger" = PINE to give us ATROPINE.
2D - Warden initially registered indignation (6)
"Warden," is our definition and "initially Registered" = R and "indignation" = ANGER to give us RANGER.
instante mense which is Latin for "this month."
And we are done! This was the hardest challenge this week so far and I've not yet seen Friday's offering *quick peek* oh an Enigmatist. I've not done one of their puzzles before. I also have our own DA today in The Age that I like to work through every Friday with the group over at The D.A. Trippers. I have my work cut out for me this weekend.
Wishing you a nice start yours. Weekend or puzzle, whichever or both.
"Light," is our definition and why did so many of the small word clues stump me? "Television system," = PAL and that has to do with number of lines on screen and frame rates used as standard in different countries. Our DVDs bought from the USA wouldn't work in UK machines because the USA uses NTSC, the UK used PAL. It would've been kinder (but obvious) to clue "digital" or "movie" or something. "Energy" = E as it usually does to give us PALE.
Maybe Algebra, Trigonometry, Histograms," = MATH. "For Americans," threw me because what is this saying about Americans and math? We can do math. Fifteen squared answered "the American spelling of maths" Oh, okay. Brits do like using superfluous letters. All those random Us in words, like "odour," are why I tell people I speak English in three languages. Almost four, I'm getting better at Australian.
I'm done. We're done! Doesn't that feel nice? This one wasn't as hard as yesterday and I think the large amount of anagrams is the reason. Still plenty of new tricks to try and get my head around and I do need to learn a bit more about the UK. Seems my 15 years there wasn't enough. That said, even the few American cryptics I find I'm lost in as I've been away for 19 years and things have changed. I'm in a continental cryptic limbo.
On reading the comments for this puzzle on the Guardian website a few people mentioned a theme - there was a theme? I missed that! How did I miss a theme? It seems there's a beer theme: Pale, Brown, Export, Stout, Wheat, Porter, Abbey, Bitter...well look at that, a beer theme. I don't drink beer (I like cider) so it never occurred to me until someone mentioned it. It would've made some of those clues easier to get! Did I miss any?
Don't know whose puzzle is set for today, I have to wait until 11am to find out (damned daylight savings) but I'm looking forward to it. Hoping for a Nutmeg or Boatman. Enjoy your day!
That was not nearly as easy as yesterday. Not a bit. This one had me hitting google a lot because I'm not up on my English castles. A few clues I got straight away, like 20D and 18A. Others I could get from the definition but had no idea about the parsing side of the clue. I never got a sense something was unfair or a stretch. Then again I couldn't parse several clues and will need Fifteen Squared to give me some hints. I can get some of the clue, but not all.
In the pic the one's circled red I had to cheat and where the number is underlined, I couldn't parse.
We suspect it's a reputed LEFT WINGER in BEARD and SANDALS..." becomes another new word for me (come on it's slang) GUARDIANISTA. A disparaging description. My beard is barely noticeable.
(4-4)
I got this with cross letters and the "check" option on the puzzle. I couldn't parse the clue at all - and no wonder as it contains a "homophonic definition" Not something I've ever encountered before. Fifteen squared helps again: "E + FT (Financial Times) + W in LINGERIE less ER I.E. , with a homophonic definition – “read, we hear” = red" What? LEFT WING is a "red?" That's a bit rude. Left wing does not automatically mean communist.
This clue completely baffles me. The clue itself I couldn't break into, the answer SOUTH KOREA is just as elusive to discern even though I knew that "Oklahoma" = OK, Fifteen squared, again to help by telling us "Oklahoma" = OK - yes got that right! This is an anagram of "OK ART HOUSE. but how "State" = SOUTH KOREA I'm not sure. It's a country. I'm missing something of historical importance here?
From the clue, I "18" must be the definition. "over 50s dancing" where 50 = L and the rest is fodder and anagrind we get SOLVER as our answer. What I don't know is what 18 and solver have in common to make them definition and answer. The answer could've been "lovers" until cross letters set us right. **I asked about the 18 at Fifteen squared and Jollyswagman was kind enough to reply "18 refers to 18a – ie its answer – there’s no 18d so the “a” was dropped." I'm relieved it something so simple! Thank you!
Cantabrigiensis," and got nothing but dictionary.com suggested "Cantabrigian" instead and wiki has more info including Cambridge massachusetts's (Ah my neck of the woods!) town seal abbreviating that to CANTAB. The "priest, doing a turn" means we want a three-letter name of a priest and then reverse that and we want ELI = ILE for CANTABILE. How I'm to know it's a priest from a Bible story vs any of the dozens of abbreviation for various religious people I don't know. I'm glad I didn't have to trawl those lists to end in miserable defeat.
My first thought was "password" but otherwise I couldn't break into this clue. I could see "morning" = AM and "left" = L and did we need another castle? There's no geography hint so it could be "rook" but I had to cheat in the end. Fifteen squared fills in my blanks "L in (TE EG) + R (rook – castle in chess) + AM" ok, I do not have the confidence to just drop the NO from NOTE and only use the TE. This was too difficult for my skill level.
This was definitely a learning experience. I'm not skilled enough to get these puzzles without a lot of cheating and research but that's fine. Eventually It'll be easier. It's got to get easier. How long do we think, a few months? Few years? don't tell me a lifetime...
Apologies for the wordiness of this write up. It is longer than normal. I've even driven myself mad trying to type it all up but there was a lot of information to glean from this puzzle. All that work and knowledge goes into crafting these puzzles, it's only fair and respectful to give them all the attention and appreciation they're due. (That's me justifying to myself as well. I shouted to myself many times "Stop typing! too much! shut up!")
