[Darren] It sure is - well done. I presume the pod rather gave it away, but I couldn't think of a reasonable alternative. I'm beginning to wonder if the use of <font="white"> is really necessary - coz. once they're solved we're moving onto the next one. What does everyone think ?
[Raak] I think there is a theme to your clues . . . . I know what the answers are but not sure how I get the answer from the Shower us . . . clue (unless it's a double sound-a-like).
[Raak] OK - someone has to do this and it may as well be me - URANUS - and, like Boolbar, I would also quite like to know how the 'URAN' bit works. I, do, however, have a hunch, that you may be referring to the practice of the 'golden shower' [which I'm not unfamiliar with] which points to the 'soundalike' that Bb hinted at, ie. 'urine' sounding like 'uran'. It is at this juncture, that I feel it may be best to continue with the 'hidden text' feature!
Have to say I'm a bit pissed off with this week's Everyman. Bird, girl and river clues aplenty... Also it seems that crosswords can sometimes be like bridges - if you get certain key solutions then the rest fits in around out. If you don't, the whole thing falls over. Maybe I'm just grumpy cos I can't finish it.
Well, I'm stuck here at the desk for a couple of days doing tedious accounts work. My brain needs teasing. Is everybody on holiday or exceptionally busy or somefink?
1.) Gay sports R-R-D (though not 100% on the D) 2.) Formerly in Greece, young men the last to be hip, perhaps -P---I [rab] Really? I thought it was quite easy this week. Or was that from last week? [Big Dave] Permitted?
Afraid I can't help with yours, apart from to suggest that Number 1) does not end in "D" - I have written out all the possibilities, assuming that the missing letters are vowels, and nothing seems to fit the clue. Number 2) may end in "phi" (anag. of "hip"). Sorry I can't be of more assistance.
[MF] I think your last one is EPHEBI - Big Dave was on the right track but it's "the last" (E), then an anagram of BE HIP (PHEBI). These are, according to http://76.1911encyclopedia.org/E/EP/EPHEBI.htm "a name specially given, in Athens and other Greek towns, to a class of young men from eighteen to twenty years of age, who formed a sort of college under state control."
[Darren] Thanx, that's the Sunday Times finished then. I'll send you a page of my new dictionary as soon as I've won it. [Big D] Lugano - as in the lake?
Clues I found which I made up some time ago. Posted here if anyone's arsed to solve them! Some of these are pretty old though.
1. A mad, mad, mad toy belonging to family of U2 member. (4,7) 2. Over the top? A Washington city found in Canada! (6) 3. Rustic walkway with shops, says Ian. (8) 4. Yard-arm (without my reconstruction) detects presence of other objects. (5)
I'd guess those are right, so here's one of mine. I'm not a great cryptics man, so my goal is merely competence: Ingrained bear of the ocean floor (4-6).
[Darren] It is, yes. Flesh-eating crone follows pig draped in the Koranic verses (11). This is a work in progress, and an experiment for me, so see how you do...
It's something like ----COPHAGE or (more likely) --COPHAGOUS, I think - but the Koranic verses bit has me stumped, and the whole is (I reckon) a word I don't know.
Got it, it's SARCOPHAGUS. The COP/HAG part is at Wol suggested, and it's surrounded by SURAS, i.e. Koranic verses, except it's backwards, which there's no indication of. The definition part is cleverly obscure, I had to search for this to confirm it. , Koranic verses might be indicating SURAS, but SURAPHAGOUS SARCOPHAGUS
[Raak, Wol] Thunderous applause Good work. A spot on the unfair side, I think; the experiment was in judging difficulty. If you hadn't got it, I'd have reposted as Flesh-eating Greek crone.... I do wish I could find a way to indicate the reversal of SURAS without losing the neatness and sense of the clue...
Hmmm - seeing as you say so, I'd agree. The English word doesn't mean flesh-eating (or anything like it); it merely derives from a foreign word that means that. Now, if the answer had been sarcophagous ... the clue could have been flesh-eating crone to love following pig draped in Koranic verses!
"Paul's about to compile, going back into business for very little money abroad" -E-T-S-M- (Paul is the setter.) And I promise not to emit furious noises if you get it this time!
[MF] I suspect it's CENTESIMO being the Uraguayan sub-currency. I except you'll be able to work out how to get there from the clue, so I shan't insult you by explaining it. Look forward to sitting down with a crossword later...
Nice to see you back [Blob]. This game's lost a bit of momentum, what with you being temporarily frozen out - and rab peregrinating all over the place. Anyway, I left a clue a while back - which doesn't appear to have been solved. I think it's disappeared off the top.
[rab] Great word, eh? One could imagine Kenneth Williams squeezing every last sinewy syllable out of it - much like the way he uttered his favourite word 'proclivities'.
Yes indeed either or both - I agree it's ambiguous, but in a xwd situation you'd soon work out which it was from the letters present - that's often the case with "back" - could apply to either half. As to the use of scale : The Concise OED has for "Lamina", A thin plate or scale - but I agree it's not the first word that jumps to mind for scale. [Chalky] I'll have a look for your clue. Whilst I know that peregrinations actually refer (usually) to fairly leisurely wanderings, the word always makes me think of the falcon - which is far from leisurely, being (how to start a arguement) the fastest creature on earth.
Blob]With several days without any attempts could you give a letter or two clue as if part of a crossword. In the mean time I have had to retreat from the attemt at solving the crossword in one of the broadsheets as I became depressed in my ever worsening attemts. However, I seem to have found my level in one of the tabloids, as an example of difficulty of my daily battle here are two from todays Wisdom of metropolis ending involved account (8) Traits game shows up in man at court (10) Needless to say when really stuck (frequently) there is always the 'Coffee Time' clues.