Crossword roundup: geese, crows and other creatures
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Version 0 of 1. The news in clues A term fondly familiar to all word buffs, suggestively clued by Morph (Meet the Setter) in the Independent ... 16ac Slip during PE – danger in loose seat fixing (14)[ synonym for “slip” in synonym for “PE”, then anag. of “danger in” ][ ERR inside GYM, then ANDERING ] ... GERRYMANDERING being a portmanteau of “salamander” and Elbridge Gerry, the American politician to whose benefit a district became snake-shaped. It’s a practice from bygone times and far-off lands. Here and now, a million voters only disappear when the registration system changes. Meanwhile, the Queen is the only living person allowed in the Times grid, but you can gain entry on the technicality of being fictional ... 3d Ban blocks Partridge becoming a star (9)[ synonym for “ban” inside first name of a Partridge ][ DEBAR inside ALAN ] ... hence Alan Partridge helping to clue the orange giant ALDEBARAN. Being fictional has its advantages and seemingly no downsides, as witnesses the petition demanding that Partridge replace the man who man who borrowed his catchphrase. Latter patter That same puzzle has a perfect showcase for how naturally a word which needs jumbling can be placed with one suggesting that an anagram is to take place ... 16d Doctor Seuss following headless corpse to see hero (8)[ anag. of “Seuss”, after synonym for “corpse” without first letter ][ SSEUS, after BODY without B ] ... “Doctor Seuss” operating, perhaps uniquely, as an instruction en route to ODYSSEUS rather than as a name. Seuss is a contender for the person whose name is pronounced least often by others (usually rhyming with “juice”) the way he said it himself (like “Joyce” with a Z instead of a J). Mangling German words and phrases is easily done, and usually fun. The OED pours cold water on the notion that our “gooseberry” comes from Krausbeere (curly berry), effectively arguing that lots of things get named after animals for no good reason and there’s little point asking why after so long (and to be fair, this applies even to other animals: I’m looking at you, “guinea pig”, neither porcine nor Guinean). It’s more upbeat about the prefix “horse-” coming from the German Rosz-, to denote a large, strong, or coarse version of something, from where we get horseradish, horse mackerel, the obsolete horse cucumber and possibly the subject of our next challenge. Whether people administered it to coughing horses because of the name or vice versa, the question remains: reader, how would you clue HORSE CHESTNUT? Clueing competition Thanks for your clues for BIGWIGGERY. Of those which used “wigger”, I especially enjoyed yungylek’s “Trustafarian entering into business internship with gap year starts showing off”. Alberyalbery was charmingly allusive with “Shocking example of pomposity”; likewise ousgg was both blunt and sharp in “Self-serving attitude of Louis XIV, cured by guillotine!” while hectorthebat conjured a cacophony with “Biggy, Geri and West mashup being number one”. Robinjohnson stayed topical with “Top Gear’s Jeremy finally a goner, getting reprimand for bombastic display”; despite “a goner”, it’s schroduck gets the audacity award for the use of “iPad” in “Mobile 3G by wire with iPad? Antiquated extravagance!” The runners-up are Middlebro’s “Astoundingly, Gigi grew by display of pomposity” and Ambush’s “Large and sinewy with egg thrown back in, á la Prescott?”; the winner is harlobarlo’s “Hefty rebuke very good for opposing acts of snobbery”. Kudos to Harlo; please leave this fortnight’s entries and your pick of the broadsheet cryptics below. Clue of the fortnight A break-in at the lounge bar is never to be applauded, unless it’s described as deftly as this clue from Pasquale (Meet the Setter) ... 9ac Opener of window used in plunder into saloon? (7)[ first letter of “window” inside synonym for “plunder” inside what a saloon is an example of ][ W inside ROB inside CAR ] ... for CROWBAR, which I’m happy to hear is not racist. Another mysterious animal etymology, do you reckon, or does the end resemble the beak of a crow more than that of any other bird? |