hint?
― kinder, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 17:26 (ten years ago) link
for starters = first letters of...
― koogs, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 17:54 (ten years ago) link
(stumbled on answer whilst looking up how to spell muscovy and it's obvious when you see it. (it's not 'muscovy'))
― koogs, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 17:56 (ten years ago) link
got it, i had the wrong duck at first and couldn't make it work
― for many people a really special folder makes a huge difference (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 2 July 2013 17:57 (ten years ago) link
lol yeah i was wrestling with muscovy
Good clue, I got it instantly but I've never heard of a muscovy!
― sjuttiosju_u (wins), Tuesday, 2 July 2013 17:59 (ten years ago) link
ah
― kinder, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 18:00 (ten years ago) link
still haven't got the capsule one. think it's an anagram of capsule. but 'upscale' doesn't fit the clue (or does it?)
― koogs, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 18:02 (ten years ago) link
Specula.
― ledge, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 18:10 (ten years ago) link
damn
― sjuttiosju_u (wins), Tuesday, 2 July 2013 18:12 (ten years ago) link
internet anagram server in doesn't know the word 'specula' shocker.
― koogs, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 19:57 (ten years ago) link
The duck one is mallard right?
― paolo, Wednesday, 3 July 2013 10:15 (ten years ago) link
correct
― Neil S, Wednesday, 3 July 2013 10:18 (ten years ago) link
also liked this, from the same crossword:
Nancy’s first person with second person’s servant (6)
got it fairly swiftly (we had all the other letters) but struggled to parse it for ages UNTIL i remembered some obscure geography
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 3 July 2013 10:25 (ten years ago) link
Guardian, today, I suspect non-Britishers need not apply:
Morals in Violet Elizabeth's county (6)
― Neil S, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 12:43 (ten years ago) link
lol nice one
― what makes a man start polls? (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 12:48 (ten years ago) link
ha nice
― woof, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 12:51 (ten years ago) link
Think I've got this one but would appreciate a hand...
Player of loud music told to get packing (6), R _ _ _ E _
― Neil S, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 12:53 (ten years ago) link
sounds like WR---E-
― click here to start exploding (ledge), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 13:01 (ten years ago) link
some dodgy stuff in that gordius (emi = musical?) but the following got a grin:
Induct Roger to such knowledge (6)
― click here to start exploding (ledge), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 13:02 (ten years ago) link
i have no idea how to parse the violet elizabeth one, i think i have the answer but why????
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 13:09 (ten years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_William
Other recurring characters include Violet Elizabeth Bott, lisping spoiled daughter of the local nouveau riche millionaire (whose companionship William reluctantly endures, to prevent her carrying out her threat "I'll thcream and thcream 'till I'm thick")
fyi i read these timeless classics in the eighties
― click here to start exploding (ledge), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 13:11 (ten years ago) link
Violet Elizabeth Bott is a character in the Just William stories who famously has a lisp
― what makes a man start polls? (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 13:11 (ten years ago) link
i know who violet elizabeth is, i don't understand what she has to do with the answer...
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 13:12 (ten years ago) link
pronounce a county with a strong lisp?
― what makes a man start polls? (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 13:12 (ten years ago) link
i realised as soon as i posted my last post. aaaaghhhhhh
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 13:13 (ten years ago) link
hah yeah either you get it or not I suppose
― Neil S, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 13:15 (ten years ago) link
Doesn't stand up imo as she'd lisp on the X too.
― Kind regards, (onimo), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 15:12 (ten years ago) link
you don't lisp on an x/ck sound do you?
― Neil S, Tuesday, 23 July 2013 15:14 (ten years ago) link
I think lispers would have trouble with both sibilants and pronounce it ethicth.
― Kind regards, (onimo), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 15:32 (ten years ago) link
Mr. Botts's was an Earthworm (7)
I am absolutely astounded I got this one. Just seeing if anyone else knows the obscure reference.
― Byron E. Coli (Dan Peterson), Friday, 26 July 2013 15:47 (ten years ago) link
no.
http://www.farmcollector.com/Farm-life/The-Natural-Born-Salesman.aspx
clue a bit lacking imo.
― koogs, Friday, 26 July 2013 15:56 (ten years ago) link
Agree. Frank W. Lewis (The Nation has a lot of those purely cryptic clues that aren't anagrams or other wordplay, they're just arcane references to things. I guessed this one only because I had spotted the movie title Earthworm Tractors in Leonard Maltin's guide. (Joe E. Brown, 1936. I've never seen it.)
― Byron E. Coli (Dan Peterson), Friday, 26 July 2013 17:07 (ten years ago) link
Took my own stab at it. Don't know if this exactly works, but I think so?
Model T, cart or farm vehicle. (7)
― Byron E. Coli (Dan Peterson), Friday, 26 July 2013 17:35 (ten years ago) link
Flurry of penetrating rain washed away camping equipment (4,3)
― lex pretend, Friday, 2 August 2013 12:54 (ten years ago) link
you got it?
― phasmid beetle types (Noodle Vague), Friday, 2 August 2013 12:59 (ten years ago) link
yeah
arachne is vg today
― lex pretend, Friday, 2 August 2013 13:01 (ten years ago) link
i did yesterday's online and it took less than 10 mins. arachne is pretty good as i remember
― phasmid beetle types (Noodle Vague), Friday, 2 August 2013 13:01 (ten years ago) link
One for the lex from today's grauniad:
Going further shaking bottom, extremely cute singer (7)
And I wouldn't have got this if I didn't watch Family Guy:
Clam — 50p with a pig? (6)
― click here to start exploding (ledge), Thursday, 15 August 2013 13:33 (ten years ago) link
And this neologism:
One following chatter incessantly, partial to rubbish, their characters limited (10)
― click here to start exploding (ledge), Thursday, 15 August 2013 13:35 (ten years ago) link
Ha nice!
I liked this one from today as well:
14d Like this clue: "Bowel disorder" — its location? (4,5)
― Neil S, Thursday, 15 August 2013 13:36 (ten years ago) link
i liked the beyoncé one obv but this was my favourite clue in that crossword:
Change of heart in a little Australian prayer (5)
yesterday's enigmatist prize crossword was actually impossible beyond three obvious ones. completely stumped otherwise.
― lex pretend, Sunday, 18 August 2013 10:08 (ten years ago) link
Today's Guardian:
Coldplay's latest hit (newer compilation) (3,7,4)
― Neil S, Wednesday, 18 September 2013 12:19 (ten years ago) link
Beware of misleading David Essex influences.
― click here to start exploding (ledge), Wednesday, 18 September 2013 13:08 (ten years ago) link
This is driving me crazy:
Mathematicians tables (8)
--B-T-RS
There are only 6 words in my online Crossword Solver that fit those letters, and none of them seem to fit the definitions.
― Low down bad refrigerator (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 19 September 2013 19:29 (ten years ago) link
Gah, finally solved it myself. Mathematicians and tables are both counters, which was my initial inclination. That makes the B incorrect, because the down clue was:
Johnny Reb's counterpart?
...and I had BILLY YANK, because according to wiki:
Johnny Reb or Johnny Rebel is the national personification of the Southern states of the United States.[1] The latter part of his name is derived from Rebellion. Patriots used Johnny Reb and his Union counterpart Billy Yank to symbolize the common soldiers in the American Civil War of the 1860s.
The actual answer was UNION JACK, and it's effing horrible.
― Low down bad refrigerator (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 1 October 2013 13:53 (ten years ago) link
Not particularly hard but a nice clue from today's Guardian:
Anne McGregor is, perhaps, being alarmist (14)
― Neil S, Tuesday, 15 October 2013 12:11 (ten years ago) link
ha
― koogs, Tuesday, 15 October 2013 12:40 (ten years ago) link
good but was slightly more impressed by
Those leading clubs ruffed Omar Sharif's spade in new game of bridge (8)
― as a chocolate salesperson (ledge), Tuesday, 15 October 2013 13:42 (ten years ago) link
Another nice one from today's Grauniad:
10 Liam Brady played like this (9)
― I like to think I have learnt a thing or two about music (Neil S), Friday, 25 October 2013 11:22 (ten years ago) link