12 thoughts on “A Themed AS Special: The Solutions”
ACROSS 1. 15-acrosssorca-51 = MALAY sorca-51 = MALAYALAM = tongue 6. weightless spirit quietly energetic = GIN – g P UP = IN PUP = canine mother-to-be 9. donut stunned first conjunction = OTUND first OR = OROTUND = stentorian 10. capture last triumph = NET last CROW = CROWNET = bauble of high birth 11. IBID (repeat of clue above) — as Rupert pointed out, this clue is incorrect. I changed it to be: 11. singular command = 1 bid = ibid = from the same book 12. readable jumble holds ultimate love = RARBLADE holds Z O = RAZOR BLADE = clean shaver — as RB points out, this clue is incorrect. I changed the clue to be: 12. blared cryptically holding yellow pages or = RBLADE holding AZOR = RAZOR BLADE = clean shaver 15. crap rhyme = DUNG rhyme = TONGUE = make out 16, 24. undermine catch = QUESTION MARK = ? 18. endless wind instrument = OBOE – e + LATIN = OBLATION = offering 20. bastard said loudly = CUR SED = CURSED = luckless 23. Chéri’s essential part encapsulated by saying “Arthur (the actress) — cut!“ = HER encapsulated by MOTTO BEA – a = MOTHER-TO-BE = expecting 27. abbreviated approval to fish activated = OK – o LING ON = KLINGON = tongue 29. shorten cartoon style with belief system marker = ANIME – e ISM = ANIMISM = spirits everywhere thought 30. destruction engulfs November = RUIN engulfs N = RUN-IN = scrape 31. turned her tone on = NONE OTHER = precisely the person
DOWN 1. red chief state = MAO RI = MAORI = tongue 2. not completely dead on arrival = DOA – d LATIN = LAOTIAN = tongue 3. Sly (as in Sylvester Stallone) affirmative to old city = YO UR = YOUR = in addressee’s possession 4. point out daily is back to front = N LYDIA back to front = LYDIAN = tongue 5. 10-6 clear dishes = MICRO BUS = MICROBUS = transport 6. second-rate interferes with perfection = B interferes with 10 = IBO = tongue 7. irrational encompasses a Spanish hit = PI encompasses UN JAB = PUNJABI 8. talk near Flanders (Simpsons character) = PATTER NED = PATTERNED = organised 13. sunbathe soundly = BASK soundly = BASQUE = tongue 14. loud porn star = loud luster = LUSTRE = glow 15. idiot generator = TOOL MAKER = TOOLMAKER = exemplar Vulcan (as in the mythological figure) 17. trigonometric function on time: around noon = COT T ON ON = COTTON ON = figure out 19. 5-across = V A + LATIN = LATVIAN = tongue 21. cover round-about = SPAN ISH = SPANISH = tongue 22. vomit to a bin = OBTAIN = get 25. hack edges off American three-piece = HK off MER = KHMER = tongue 26. yellow in open section = yellow in open = WINO = regularly lit 28. pop is one such = GUN = expert
Thanks AS. All extremely enjoyable.
Coronet is the term I’m used to , but I guess if Shakespeare was Ok with it I’m no-one to complain. ‘Bus’ to me in respect of dishes is a very US term; and I’m not sure of the sense of porn star/luster; surely thats more the role of the audience?
And in 26D, ‘lit’ is not a term I associate with intoxication, but then I don’t get out much.
Look forward to your next offering!
Agree with BRD about coronet and porn star, although I think DA himself has used lit = drunk before.
Bus = dishes??? never heard of this, can anyone explain the origin? I had microcar (for want of anything better) and this really stuffed me up on 6A!
Bastard = CUR is a bit dodgy too, why not use dog (could have linked it to 6A)?
Not quite clear on wordplay in 4D NLYDIA = LYDIAN is ok with the back to front bit and I guess out daily sort of tells us it is an anagram, but the whole thing is a bit convoluted when all you really need to do is indicate an anagram of NDAILY. (Not that I’d ever have guessed that Lydian was a language!)
7Dis good, although I didn’t get it.
10A I had Coronet, which in turn stuffed up all attempts to get anything out of 6D even though I could see what I had to do with the wordplay. As I’d never heard of IBO and as I didn’t get 6A I was in a mess with the top right corner.
8D, not quite sure why the word organised is at the start of this. I spent ages messing around with anagrams of “talk near” and poring over maps of Belgium! (I don’t watch the Simpsons!)
I don’t associate the word patterned with tongue either (nor does my thesaurus)
13A kicking myself I didn’t get this, very good!
Spent a lot of time trying to fit Spock into 15D before I worked that one out!
19A took me a while, but very clever.
22d As I said on the other thread, loved vomit!
really liked 27a 29a 31a and 18a(this was one of the first ones I got and put me on to the theme) Your use of LATIN and the instructions about it were fantastic!
So thanks for an enjoyable puzzle AS!
Thanks for your kind words, nn.
And it’s my explanatory mistake for 8D: organised is the definition, and the clue has nothing to do with tongues. Since fixed.
I thought it would have been unfair to do NLYDIA as an anagram because that would have been an indirect anagram, i.e. you would have to work out that POINT = N and then include that in the anagram. Hence, I went with the back to front device.
I also must admit that I used an wordfiller thingy to get CROWNET — I hadn’t heard of it before either, but I needed something to fit those cross letters.
While I think, nn and BRD, that you’re both right that bus is a US term, I thought it was in common parlance in Australia, or at least busboy.
Thanks AS. Organised as the def makes much more sense!
I wish my word filler had come up with crownet! It turned up chaplet, circlet, coronal and coronet, all fitting the few letters I had and all having something to do with head gear!
Fair enough with your reasoning on Lydian. Could also have worked with something like “mess of daily direction”
In any case well done, I look forward to the next one!
AS: thanks for the brain workout! Well done on the theme, and the clear instructions. Some of the tongues were a bit obscure and Google got a workout too!
10A: Like others, I tried manfully to fit CORONET in here, but it didn’t quite fit the wordplay. So in desperation I resorted to googling a word I thought I’d just made up – CROWNET!
11A: I thought the original clue was quite clever……… until Rupert pointed out the error! BTW your explanation above is not quite right (second occurrence of “command”).
12A: There is an error in the anagram. RARBLADE is not an anagram of READABLE.
16,24A: Lovely clue.
23A: Slight problem with def (adj, participle) and answer (noun). Nice misleading use of “saying”. Never heard of Bea Arthur.
27A: OK abbreviated = K?? Yuk! Am I missing something?
29A: Not sure about the def. The belief of “something” is not the same thing as the “something” itself. Am I nitpicking?
30A: November = N? Yuk! Can you justify it? What about January, June, July? Also a “run in” is more a quarrel or argument than simply a meeting.
31A: Nice clue.
2D: Your expalantion above is not quite correct. It should read DOA – d.
5D: Never heard of bus used in this way, but, as usual, Google came to the rescue.
14D: Agree with others about “luster”.
19D: Lovely clue.
12A: @RB’s right.
Glad you got through it, RB — especially after my mistakes! And thanks muchly for your commenting and appraisal.
I fixed up 12A — that’s a terrible mistake. Sorry about that.
23A: Damn… I did bend the rules on that one.
27A: I thought that was fine on two counts: people do say ‘K for OK, so abbreviated approval seems fine to me, and abbreviated approval also makes make OK short and make K.
29A: Not nitpicking, I think you’re right; I made an amendment to the clue.
30A: Don’t you see JFMAMJJASOND on calendars sometimes? I thought that was OK — I’ve made a slight edit to the clue anyway. And I thought run in as an encounter or meeting was OK.
14D: I thought that was fine. Surprised that it’s raised queries.
AS, re 30A, are you thinking of the phrase “to run into” someone, which I agree can mean “to meet” that person? I don’t have a problem with that. But I can’t accept that a “run in” with someone is merely an encounter. A “run in” surely implies conflict. And shouldn’t it be “run-in”? So it’s really (3-2)? Or am I barking up a different tree to you?
RB, I think you’re right.
I took the meaning of “run in” to be less confrontational and have amended the clue, as well as adding the hyphen (seems more common to have the hyphen than separating the words).
Got to this late, but for the sake of tidiness…8 down has nine letters.
November, I believe, is N in the radio alphabet. 30 is fine.
ACROSS
1. 15-acrosssorca-51 = MALAY sorca-51 = MALAYALAM = tongue
6. weightless spirit quietly energetic = GIN – g P UP = IN PUP = canine mother-to-be
9. donut stunned first conjunction = OTUND first OR = OROTUND = stentorian
10. capture last triumph = NET last CROW = CROWNET = bauble of high birth
11. IBID (repeat of clue above) — as Rupert pointed out, this clue is incorrect. I changed it to be:
11. singular command = 1 bid = ibid = from the same book
12. readable jumble holds ultimate love = RARBLADE holds Z O = RAZOR BLADE = clean shaver — as RB points out, this clue is incorrect. I changed the clue to be:
12. blared cryptically holding yellow pages or = RBLADE holding AZOR = RAZOR BLADE = clean shaver
15. crap rhyme = DUNG rhyme = TONGUE = make out
16, 24. undermine catch = QUESTION MARK = ?
18. endless wind instrument = OBOE – e + LATIN = OBLATION = offering
20. bastard said loudly = CUR SED = CURSED = luckless
23. Chéri’s essential part encapsulated by saying “Arthur (the actress) — cut!“ = HER encapsulated by MOTTO BEA – a = MOTHER-TO-BE = expecting
27. abbreviated approval to fish activated = OK – o LING ON = KLINGON = tongue
29. shorten cartoon style with belief system marker = ANIME – e ISM = ANIMISM = spirits everywhere thought
30. destruction engulfs November = RUIN engulfs N = RUN-IN = scrape
31. turned her tone on = NONE OTHER = precisely the person
DOWN
1. red chief state = MAO RI = MAORI = tongue
2. not completely dead on arrival = DOA – d LATIN = LAOTIAN = tongue
3. Sly (as in Sylvester Stallone) affirmative to old city = YO UR = YOUR = in addressee’s possession
4. point out daily is back to front = N LYDIA back to front = LYDIAN = tongue
5. 10-6 clear dishes = MICRO BUS = MICROBUS = transport
6. second-rate interferes with perfection = B interferes with 10 = IBO = tongue
7. irrational encompasses a Spanish hit = PI encompasses UN JAB = PUNJABI
8. talk near Flanders (Simpsons character) = PATTER NED = PATTERNED = organised
13. sunbathe soundly = BASK soundly = BASQUE = tongue
14. loud porn star = loud luster = LUSTRE = glow
15. idiot generator = TOOL MAKER = TOOLMAKER = exemplar Vulcan (as in the mythological figure)
17. trigonometric function on time: around noon = COT T ON ON = COTTON ON = figure out
19. 5-across = V A + LATIN = LATVIAN = tongue
21. cover round-about = SPAN ISH = SPANISH = tongue
22. vomit to a bin = OBTAIN = get
25. hack edges off American three-piece = HK off MER = KHMER = tongue
26. yellow in open section = yellow in open = WINO = regularly lit
28. pop is one such = GUN = expert
Thanks AS. All extremely enjoyable.
Coronet is the term I’m used to , but I guess if Shakespeare was Ok with it I’m no-one to complain. ‘Bus’ to me in respect of dishes is a very US term; and I’m not sure of the sense of porn star/luster; surely thats more the role of the audience?
And in 26D, ‘lit’ is not a term I associate with intoxication, but then I don’t get out much.
Look forward to your next offering!
Agree with BRD about coronet and porn star, although I think DA himself has used lit = drunk before.
Bus = dishes??? never heard of this, can anyone explain the origin? I had microcar (for want of anything better) and this really stuffed me up on 6A!
Bastard = CUR is a bit dodgy too, why not use dog (could have linked it to 6A)?
Not quite clear on wordplay in 4D NLYDIA = LYDIAN is ok with the back to front bit and I guess out daily sort of tells us it is an anagram, but the whole thing is a bit convoluted when all you really need to do is indicate an anagram of NDAILY. (Not that I’d ever have guessed that Lydian was a language!)
7Dis good, although I didn’t get it.
10A I had Coronet, which in turn stuffed up all attempts to get anything out of 6D even though I could see what I had to do with the wordplay. As I’d never heard of IBO and as I didn’t get 6A I was in a mess with the top right corner.
8D, not quite sure why the word organised is at the start of this. I spent ages messing around with anagrams of “talk near” and poring over maps of Belgium! (I don’t watch the Simpsons!)
I don’t associate the word patterned with tongue either (nor does my thesaurus)
13A kicking myself I didn’t get this, very good!
Spent a lot of time trying to fit Spock into 15D before I worked that one out!
19A took me a while, but very clever.
22d As I said on the other thread, loved vomit!
really liked 27a 29a 31a and 18a(this was one of the first ones I got and put me on to the theme) Your use of LATIN and the instructions about it were fantastic!
So thanks for an enjoyable puzzle AS!
Thanks for your kind words, nn.
And it’s my explanatory mistake for 8D: organised is the definition, and the clue has nothing to do with tongues. Since fixed.
I thought it would have been unfair to do NLYDIA as an anagram because that would have been an indirect anagram, i.e. you would have to work out that POINT = N and then include that in the anagram. Hence, I went with the back to front device.
I also must admit that I used an wordfiller thingy to get CROWNET — I hadn’t heard of it before either, but I needed something to fit those cross letters.
While I think, nn and BRD, that you’re both right that bus is a US term, I thought it was in common parlance in Australia, or at least busboy.
Thanks AS. Organised as the def makes much more sense!
I wish my word filler had come up with crownet! It turned up chaplet, circlet, coronal and coronet, all fitting the few letters I had and all having something to do with head gear!
Fair enough with your reasoning on Lydian. Could also have worked with something like “mess of daily direction”
In any case well done, I look forward to the next one!
AS: thanks for the brain workout! Well done on the theme, and the clear instructions. Some of the tongues were a bit obscure and Google got a workout too!
10A: Like others, I tried manfully to fit CORONET in here, but it didn’t quite fit the wordplay. So in desperation I resorted to googling a word I thought I’d just made up – CROWNET!
11A: I thought the original clue was quite clever……… until Rupert pointed out the error! BTW your explanation above is not quite right (second occurrence of “command”).
12A: There is an error in the anagram. RARBLADE is not an anagram of READABLE.
16,24A: Lovely clue.
23A: Slight problem with def (adj, participle) and answer (noun). Nice misleading use of “saying”. Never heard of Bea Arthur.
27A: OK abbreviated = K?? Yuk! Am I missing something?
29A: Not sure about the def. The belief of “something” is not the same thing as the “something” itself. Am I nitpicking?
30A: November = N? Yuk! Can you justify it? What about January, June, July? Also a “run in” is more a quarrel or argument than simply a meeting.
31A: Nice clue.
2D: Your expalantion above is not quite correct. It should read DOA – d.
5D: Never heard of bus used in this way, but, as usual, Google came to the rescue.
14D: Agree with others about “luster”.
19D: Lovely clue.
12A: @RB’s right.
Glad you got through it, RB — especially after my mistakes! And thanks muchly for your commenting and appraisal.
I fixed up 12A — that’s a terrible mistake. Sorry about that.
23A: Damn… I did bend the rules on that one.
27A: I thought that was fine on two counts: people do say ‘K for OK, so abbreviated approval seems fine to me, and abbreviated approval also makes make OK short and make K.
29A: Not nitpicking, I think you’re right; I made an amendment to the clue.
30A: Don’t you see JFMAMJJASOND on calendars sometimes? I thought that was OK — I’ve made a slight edit to the clue anyway. And I thought run in as an encounter or meeting was OK.
14D: I thought that was fine. Surprised that it’s raised queries.
AS, re 30A, are you thinking of the phrase “to run into” someone, which I agree can mean “to meet” that person? I don’t have a problem with that. But I can’t accept that a “run in” with someone is merely an encounter. A “run in” surely implies conflict. And shouldn’t it be “run-in”? So it’s really (3-2)? Or am I barking up a different tree to you?
RB, I think you’re right.
I took the meaning of “run in” to be less confrontational and have amended the clue, as well as adding the hyphen (seems more common to have the hyphen than separating the words).
Got to this late, but for the sake of tidiness…8 down has nine letters.
November, I believe, is N in the radio alphabet. 30 is fine.
Thanks for that, Anthony. Fixed it up.