Irish Times Crossword (Crosaire)

Spike440

I suppose we could do the Simplex now.

bothyhead

Yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk, yuk!

I've managed about half of it. The common word for the boundary clues this week was:

stand

I started to read Sandy Balfour's Pretty girl in crimson rose (8) over the weekend. It's an interesting little memoir of how the author left South Africa in the early 80's, in order to escape from apartheid, and emigrated to England. It was here that he discovered, and fell in love with, crosswords - specifically, the Guardian.

Roll on # 13,623!

bothyhead

Not exactly sprinting out of the blocks today:

5d

minnow

14d

eels

25d

tigers

26d

intact

13a

new broom

31a

picric (a type of acid)

stepinnman

I can't add much to the party yet except:

9a.

isobar

16d.

iron

30a.

tallow

24a.

abetting

18d.

hibernia

29a

frighten

- maybe

Spike440

9a -

ISOBAR

17a -

CHEDDAR

24a -

ABETTING

29a -

FRIGHTEN

32a -

ALBACORE

7d -

BALLOONS

16d -

IRON

18d -

HIBERNIA

23d -

AGENDAS

Spike440

6d -

TOTTER

11a -

ORNATELY

20d -

something to do with the tide? AT XXX EBB

?

Spike440

3d -

HIAWATHA

4d -

AGROUND

10a -

SEESAW

15a -

HIDE

Spike440

28d -

AMEERS

20d -

AT LOW EBB

?

27a -

LARVAE

?

I don't think 30a is

TALLOW

stepinnman

My mistake - 30a is

Wicked

not tallow - sorry!
21d

turncock

Spike440

OK get this:

19a -

LACTOSE - relating to milk (Milky Way) and the Edward LEar poem "The Pobble who has no toes" - the Pobble lacked toes

:eek:

1d -

SPHERE

8a -

APPYLING

12a -

SESTET

That's it for today!

SilverHeron

QUIRKY
1A

DRAW MONEY

9A

BARROW

11A

AFLAME

13A

GETS UP

20A

AGENDAS

27A

STIRRED UP

28A

LITTER

30A

SATURN

31

CHANTED

SilverHeron

3D

WARMED

4D

OTTERS

6D

HALF SEVEN

7D

BROADSIDE

8D

SWEEP PAST

16D

FIVE YEARS

22D

ARTISAN

25D

RETAIN

bothyhead

19a -

Am + Erica

Spike440

10a -

ADORATION

12a -

CASTOR OIL

31a -

ENCHANTED

2d -

RADIAL

3d -

WARMTH

5d -

EMOTION

24d -

BREATH

Spike440

14d -

CAUSELESS

15d -

DESTITUTE

23a -

SETTER

30a -

SATURN

stepinnman

26d

future

29a

asparagus

??

Spike440

I don't get 26d.

I think you're right about 29a. It pretty much has to be that but I can't see any relation to the clue.

The centre four have me stumped.

stepinnman

I based it on the "Will do" part of the clue - as in the future tense.

As for

asparagus

- the only logic applied was that it fitted! Not ideal I know!

Spike440

I'm very annoyed about the the centre 4.

Spike440

Gah! I really should have got at least one of them.

I'm still in the dark on ASPARAGUS though. Any thoughts?

stepinnman

1d.

crumbled

2d.

resonant

14d.

end

- maybe
19d.

endurance

??
29d.

scene

1a.

carats

12a.

banjo

16a.

ennui

24a.

dance

Spike440

9a -

UPSETS

15a -

OUT

17a -

TINDER

31a -

ACHES

33a -

POISON

35a -

PRUNED

3d -

TATTOOING

11d -

BOTTLE

19d -

ENDEAVOUR

20d -

IN THE SUN

21d -

REASONED

I thought that 13a was

OBJECTION

but that doesn't give good letters for 5d and 6d. Maybe it's

OBSESSION

?

Spike440

23d -

RUE

22a -

AGREED

?

SilverHeron

Spike440 wrote: »

Gah! I really should have got at least one of them.

I'm still in the dark on ASPARAGUS though. Any thoughts?

A yard is 'A SPAR' the yard in nautical terms mind, 'and in Ireland' is AGUS. A stick of ASPARAGUS, it's a bit flimsy.. .

Spike440

That's awful! I'm not doing well on today's.

SilverHeron

9A

UPSETS

33A

POISON

6D

SHUTS

15A

OUT

27A

DIE

11D

BOTTLE

bothyhead

One of Tuesday's clues:

It's to be a garden burial, so push it ... BARROW

I don't understand the cryptic meaning of "It's to be a garden burial"

There has been some really off the wall clues the past couple of days ...

bothyhead

... speaking of which

ZINNIA = in + ulster within ZA

is ZA some slang for well being or happiness? The only definition that I could find in Chambers was South Africia [international vehicle id]

I believe it's also short for pizza (thanks to a couple of scrabble players)

Spike440

Oh oh I really wanted to give out about yesterday's but I thought I would look like I was just trying to justify not getting a lot of the clues, but bothyhead has paved the way for me.

I didn't have a problem with barrow. There's a definition which gives it as "A large mound of earth or stones placed over a burial site". Tolkien uses it too as a burial site. I think the garden bit was a reference to the wheelbarrow though.

The zinnia one is also annoying as I have no interest in botany or obscure plant names. I don't think there clue attempts to give the "za" bit. It seems just to indicate a flower/plant with the letters "inni" contained therein.

While we're on the topic, I really think Crosaire must have got confused about 13a (Obsession). I originally "Objection" which I think makes sense (object=thing and one has an objection to sth.) Is it possible that he misread the answer as "possession" and set the clue accordingly? I assume that the grid gets filled-in first and then the clues are set.

bothyhead

So barrow = a heap of stones over a tomb ... I should have looked that one up.

Obsession ... the way that I saw this was that you have an unhealthy interest in something ... as in you have a 'thing' about it.

Spike440

That's very colloquial for Crosaire, but I see what you mean.

SilverHeron

Quite

bothyhead

Another show start for me

1a -

backhander

11a -

tea for two

4d -

nothing

7d -

ultra

16d -

iron shot

SilverHeron

17A

SO AND SO

28A

SEVER

27A

IN PROTEST

29A

LARK

12A

FREE WILL

5D

ENABLES

18D

DOWN RIVER

23D

TAPER

8D

TWO SECONDS

Spike440

6a -

MUST

19a -

CAST OFF

21a -

SUSPEND

22a -

SITES

24a -

FURTHERS

30a -

IN THE SCRUM

1d -

BALL

14d -

???C? STILL

18d -

DEEP RIVER

20d -

FIFTEEN

21d -

STRETCH

25d -

HOSTS

26d -

DRUM

stepinnman

2d.

cataracts

10a.

later

3d.

horde

Spike440

I was looking at 9a, specifically the "get stiff" bit. This led me to look up

starch

and in turn led me to this

cocoyam - a tropical starchy tuberous root

.

I don't think this is the answer because it would make 13a

O _ A _ E

and I can't think of any appropriate answer to fit that. Also, while the answer above does have the letters MAYO in it, I can't see how the "on sale" bit of the clue fits.

Thoughts?

Spike440

Scrap that, 13a is

GRAVE

!

Spike440

9d -

CONGEALS

Has anyone ever hear of

Cong - Co Mayo

?!?!

Spike440

The last two:

14d -

STOCK STILL

15a -

TACKING

"of course" is a sailing reference

SilverHeron

CONGEALS

Jesus, that would have been easier to solve if 'Mayo' was excluded from that clue. It's a left-field bizarro.. .

stepinnman

Todays so far:

1a.

discussed

10a.

foresail

12a.

recipe

15a.

tenet

18a.

disgust

24a.

turn to

30a.

iron

31a.

uneven

32a.

rankle

34a.

anthem

2d.

ironed

3d.

credit

5d.

enlists

13d.

peru

17d.

editorial

19d.

serenity

20d.

shore

22d.

amen

25d.

tiller

29d.

read it

Spike440

4d -

SHAVEN

6d -

DILATE

7d -

SCHNAPPS

11d -

CAPER

27d -

HURDLE

28d -

MONSOON

29d -

REBATE

9a -

DISCUS

11a -

CANNOT

14a -

SWAT

16a -

PEOPLE

21a -

TRANSOM

26a -

OTHER

33a -

OLD MAIDS

35a -

INTERESTS

Spike440

8d -

ISOTHERMS

.

stepinnman

1d.

demean

2d.

by the way

3d.

restored

4d.

all over

14d.

anon

16d.

ashy

18d.

launched

20d.

addicted

23d.

ascents

26d.

awaken

- i love this one!

8a.

very well

10a.

red hot

12a.

answer

13a.

easterly

15a.

earn

17a.

players

19a.

oatmeal

22a.

hand

24a.

tuesdays

29a.

accurate

30a.

chides

I think 9a might be

Russia

Spike440

7d -

VALHALLA

11a -

OUTRIGHT

Spike440

25d -

SOUNDS

Very unusual one.

34a -

PEDDLE

6d -

ADMIRE

Spike440

21d -

Myositis

32a -

The Times

bothyhead

I've a gripe about one of yesterday's clues. I can't remember the wording exactly: "It's my round so it is blooming well is. and don't you forget it!"

The answer should be "My + o + so +tis" which is a forget-me-knot flower

But Crosaire has "My + o + si + tis" which is an inflammation of muscle tissue

No wonder I could not finish the damn thing!

Spike440

Yes that was annoying. You should email a letter in to the editor about the mistake. There was one lately about another botanical clue.

The one which is annoying me is 9a (Indian). I can see now that the clue just about fits the answer, but it was the reference in the clue for 10a that prevented me from getting it.