Comments on: The Confoundings (7th November 2008)

By: housekeeping toys

housekeeping toys — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:28:27 +0000

Hey mate, thanks for posting but this page is hard to read in Firefox it is showing only half the page.

By: AS

AS — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:49:08 +0000

Damn, that’s awesome.

Andy is officially the go-to man.

Personally, I’d like to see Andy go up against the cryptic crossword champion, Peter Biddlecombe. http://anagrammatically.com/cryptic/2008/05/25/a-23rd-of-may-perplexity/#comments

By: NC

NC — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:19:08 +0000

Awesome explanation, Andy.

That one has been bugging my subconscious for ages. It’s so good to have it put to bed. What do you think, AS? I can see Andy is going to be our go to man in future for DA confusions, when all else fails.

By: Andy Livemore

Andy Livemore — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:05:12 +0000

re 22nd August 1 across:
I think DA was really pushing the boundaries with this one as it involves three steps for each component of the solution , so if you’ll bear with me…….
(by the way , the dictionary confirms both definitions), anyway it goes like this:
BEFORE= UNTIL= TILL ( as in time or event) “until you change , I can’t go out”. Then IN or TRENDY= HIP = HEP(alternative spelling).So we get TILL circling HEP gives THE PILL .Phew! It’s actually a beautifully concise clue but very tricky. Is this DA gold , nastiness or maybe DA’s three degrees of separation?
P.S. I can understand why some cryptos refuse to walk down DA’s street.

By: NC

NC — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:33:09 +0000

I am convinced Andy.

I was on the same track, trying to think of which synonym for ran could be the anagram fodder. I didn’t think of ran to = cost. Brilliant!

Now if you would like to turn your mind to 22nd August
1 across: Before circling in, produces contraceptive (3, 4), answer = THE PILL, you would do us all a great service.

By: Andy Livemore

Andy Livemore — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:54:12 +0000

re 6 across: AS, I have been cudgelling my alleged brain for days over this one. It’s interesting that I went down the revolutionary i.e.Castro route , some letters seemed to correspond. But no. After a somewhat sleepless night ( I’m not really a DA tragic) I had a eureka moment. Revolutionary seemed to me to be the cue instruction for an anagram. It all comes down to “ran to” which expression is quite often used in such phrases as: “Oh the amount I had to pay for renovations ran to thousands of dollars” In other words “ran to ” is a synonym for “cost” . So , anagram of “cost” gives “stoc” embracing “i” gives stoic. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it . ( Would love to know DA’s thoughts) He really is a legend.

By: AS

AS — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:07:58 +0000

I can’t believe I missed CASSEROLE!

I’ve been foiled by those clues three weeks in a row!

13 down is super nasty. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a clue like that where the synonym becomes an instruction for wordplay.

Thanks for the info everyone.

As for 6 across, Castro = Revolutionary might be a possibility given that Castro contains all the letters from STOIC except for the I.

By: Andy Livemore

Andy Livemore — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:20:14 +0000

re 8 down: this is a regular “twister” or reversal that DA regularly throws in to jerk your brain around and can be found in “bachELOR -ESSACtion. Turn round the capitals and you get “casserole”.

By: Andy Livemore

Andy Livemore — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:14:48 +0000

re 22 across: This one is a bit Sydneycentric, but I think it goes like this:
horse = Arab(breed of horse) to drop tail “b” gives “ara”.Tang is another word for “smack” as in “this smacks of trickery”.Hence tang followed by ara gives Tangara.

By: NC

NC — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 11:06:48 +0000

My suggestion for 13 down: It is crazy, perhaps, for desktop to be clean (9)

It is = itis; crazy = insane. It is crazy = itis insane = itis IN sane (where IN is the containment indicator) = san itis e; desktop = d. Hence san itis e d = SANITISED = to be clean.