15 thoughts on “Solutions for the AS Atypical of January, 2012”
ACROSS
1. Thomson, say = Jeff Thomson, the Australian fast bowler, say = QUICK = inscription
10. Gandhi outright = INDIRA – R = INDIA = in Asia
11. a soft colour codification = A P PAL = APPAL = shock
12. mark will not pass by dolt = F (F is a failing grade or mark) OX = FOX = inscription
13. Mag icon = COSMO GRAPHIC = COSMOGRAPHIC = about waxing and waning stars
16. grows biting salmon principally = UPS TART S = UPSTARTS = rich noobs
17. dram of grog is uncustomarily drunk = grog is uncustomarily drunk = IGOR = common bad guy
20. orphan Cyrillic bard = PUSHKIN – KIN = PUSH = boost
22. salutation on air at summit = HI on air BROW = HIGHBROW = brainy
26, 4. a Mac program malting pi cracks = PANGRAMMATIC LIPOGRAM = this crossword in particular
29. Manx comic dog = Manx ODIE = ODI = non-purist sport format
30. missing nothing of fabulous ship drawn to land of opportunity = ARGO – O US = ARGUS = fabulous guardian
31. approvals in Zurich = OUI JA = OUIJA = board
32. slurring photos = slurring SNAPS = SCHNAPPS = drink for drunks
33. wow lubricant in a boudoir = MAN KY = MANKY = disgusting
DOWN
1. array drops what this crossword lacks = EQUIP – E = QUIP = Marx’s gift
2. kind Picts ripping noggins off = KIND – K PICTS – P = INDICTS = brings to trial
3. malaprop magician William Archibald humanly stocks gang = Spooner MANS KLAN = KLANSMAN = bigot
5. puck should aurally = IMP OUGHT AURALLY = IMPORT = thrust
6. could zip-on clothing undo = COULD – CD ZIP-ON – ZN = OULIPO = this crossword’s philosophical organisation
7. band around back = RING around AFT = RAFTING = Finn’s pursuit
8. 100.9 on transistor initially = MIX T = MIXT = quaint hybrid
9. Nick drops pill, scraps = CAVE – E ORTS = CAVORTS = frolics
14. Lo: marshals = J (from J Lo, AKA Jennifer Lopez) UMPS = JUMPS = inscription
15. U2 in sci-fi bomb starts in an unfamiliar way = UU in TRON starts in an unfamiliar way = TROWN starts in an unfamiliar way = BROWN = inscription
18. mantra splits AC/DC from Californian Fanny = OM splits BI (AC/DC is slang for BI) ASS = BIOMASS = organic stuff
19. Sri Lankan drink car to divvy lodgings = CHA T ROOM = CHATROOM = hang out for yaks
21. Bulgarian or Ukrainian or similar — kind of = SLAV-ISH = SLAVISH = inscription
23. Curtin uproar shrouding disc = RUCTIN shrouding O = RUCTION = brouhaha
24. craniums in giant urns astonish nosy arborists = I G U A N A = IGUANA = spiny animal
25. injunction against bowwow flip = BAN PUG flip = BANG UP = outstanding
27. Adriatic’s most high officials fourth post shorn = DOGES fourth post shorn = DOGS = inscription
28. Common boring night sound = LAY boring Z = LAZY = inscription
In addition to all that, the crossword’s clues were a PANGRAMMATIC LIPOGRAM, as was the comments before the crossword that went along with the post.
Hey AS. That was really interesting and very enjoyable. Got most of it out, comments below.
On looking up the theme, I read that creating this particular example, as in the crossword and in your comments, is one of the most difficult .. as cruciverbalists and lay linguists would understand. Must have taken a lot of work. Well done. Thankyou for your ‘gift’ to us, and have a great New Year.
Really liked 24D, 2D, 18D, 28D, 5D, 16A, 22A, 29a, 33A, 32A, 31A, 23A, 7D for the surface and the fun. 13A made me laugh …. COSMO .. the magazine about waxing, and waning stars.
12A had me foxed at first when I’d twigged to the X, which is also a mark, but as I’d got 8D, and had written out the number of letters of each word of the inscription, albeit with the wrong idea initially, it suddenly all became clear.
Some queries and teensy quibbles ..
3A: did lead me to discover Spooner’s other names… but I don’t know if the indicator needed to be that indirect as the fodder and the definition aren’t a dead giveaway (but good) and I truly was looking for a malapropism rather than a Spoonerism.
15A: I thought that was the trickiest clue of all. If I understand your explanation: U2 to UU to W, then inserted in TRON > TROWN, then a substitution on first letter, with no indication of the letter to be substituted. Phew!!
17A: reversed hidden from ‘uncustomarily drunk’?
20A: didn’t get, but I like the wordplay.
19A: There’s a difference in the clue and in the explanation in the solution ..car/model.. baring.. maybe needs an edit? Love the def though!
6D:I finally get the wordplay! Fascinating read on OULIPO on Wiki. Would love to find some of their work. As wordnuts go, DA and Trippers seem tame in comparison.
Thanks for the comments, Gayle.
I didn’t mention Spooner’s name in 3A because Spooner has an e in it. I wanted all the clues to also be a pangrammatic lipogram, so I had to think of another way to mention Spooner without mentioning Spooner.
15A was ridiculously hard, I admit. But I also figured that the inscription would have made the direct definition quite simple — and I really wanted to use U2 = UU = W somewhere in the clues because I thought it was funny.
17A is yes, a reversed hidden, i.e. a dram of grog I reversed. Will fix up the formatting on that one, which didn’t come through.
19A – oops, will fix up the explanation there.
The oulipo guys are nuts. Especially Georges Perec, who wrote a whole novel in French without an e, and French uses the letter e more than English does.
3A Ohhh, that’s why malaprop magician! I should of (sic) twigg’d to what Dish ran away with, plus royal woman. (It is bloody difficult, isn’t it?)
You beat [occasional commenter] David H and I. We failed to get 6D and 11A.
Pardon my ignorance, but isn’t a lipogram by definition NOT a pangram?
You need to be slapped for 20A!
Could we get some more explanation on 12A, please?
6D is tough if you’ve never heard of the gang.
On 20A, I consider myself duly slapped.
And a pangrammatic lipogram or a lipogrammatic pangram is a combination — at least that’s what Wikipedia says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipogram
On 12A, a mark that will not pass is an F. Have made it clearer in the solutions too.
And I deleted the repeated comment on the other thread — I can reinstate it if you wish.
most of it way too hard for me although some good ones in it. loved the cosmo one but i initially put cosmopolitan which made a right mess of my grid. although i got 9d i still don’t get the wordplay for the ORTS bit
Good Lord, AS – what are you smoking? Do you have any left? Not sure what wallops me more: the theme – or the sheer ambition.
Loved the last 3 Across clues – all triggering a grin, as did the orphaned poet in 20ac. Among the Downs, admired the gag in 2dn, the definition in 19dn, the story told in 23dn, and 28dn too. Loved 14dn – what a great signpost for J.
Overall I dug your instincts to freshen the language (William Archibald, craniums, Puck), though this same desire can sometimes tangle the fluency, or serve as a less than fair instruction. But hey, this is the work of a gifted dilettante, and worth a place in any Oulipo Almanac – a million miles from 33ac! Thanks for the head-trip. And a great 2012 to you, and all the other Trippers.
nn, ORTS means SCRAPS, something I learnt while doing a cryptic crossword many moons ago.
And DA, thanks for bothering to the cryptic and the kind words. And I’ll take it as a compliment that you, the Sergeant Pepper of cruciverbalists, ended up asking me what I’m smoking after attempting one of my crosswords.
On the choice of language: The aims of the Oulipo movement is specifically to freshen the language by putting restrictions on what words one can use. Hence, I had to use William Archibald instead of Spooner and craniums instead of heads specifically because I had to avoid using the letter e. Normally I wouldn’t be so, on the one hand, inventive, on the other, dastardly in my choice of words.
It was a very interesting process — avoiding words like head, left, the was a great brain teaser.
thanks AS, another new word for me to add to pangramatic lipogram and Oulipo !
cheers
I finally got around to looking at this crossword today (and finishing it), and it’s an inspiring work. But… shouldn’t your inscription contain a ‘T’?
Geoff, you’re absolutely right!
I can’t believe I missed that. How embarrassing.
Luckily there’s a quick fix: I’ve changed “on” to “onto” in the inscription.
Congrats AS, that was a mighty work! I was using a coin of low worth (sort of zloty) when also that coin did drop (It is jolly hard, isn’t it?!). Gold cluing with 20a, 32a, 33a and your inscription. I thought about quitting or throwing in that drying cloth, as it was so difficult, but I’m glad I stuck to it. I’m voting this into that Roman-goddy building.
I’m saving my last glyph of my lipogramatic pangram for you…..X
RC
My, my, RC (pulling out the zloty was numismatic genius), you are gifted in the art of the pangrammatic lipogram (or lipogrammatic pangram).
I especially savoured that last glyph you reserved for me.
I did your crossword and was through with writing that blog-bit and had to author a thing for my work. It was fucking with my mind as I was phrasing in odd ways, lots of “ing” words, and using “that”, and such gambits. Thankfully, TH could smackdown his flight-lag and put in hours fixing it, although his arrival in your folk’s original land, city of the sun woman-god, was only hours old.
Actually it’s fun, all this lipogramming, though A-MGM says such pursuits show a symptom of too many hours in hand. But as my work is past, I think I’ll carry on! I’m starting to hold the hang of it!
ACROSS
1. Thomson, say = Jeff Thomson, the Australian fast bowler, say = QUICK = inscription
10. Gandhi outright = INDIRA – R = INDIA = in Asia
11. a soft colour codification = A P PAL = APPAL = shock
12. mark will not pass by dolt = F (F is a failing grade or mark) OX = FOX = inscription
13. Mag icon = COSMO GRAPHIC = COSMOGRAPHIC = about waxing and waning stars
16. grows biting salmon principally = UPS TART S = UPSTARTS = rich noobs
17. dram of grog is uncustomarily drunk = grog is uncustomarily drunk = IGOR = common bad guy
20. orphan Cyrillic bard = PUSHKIN – KIN = PUSH = boost
22. salutation on air at summit = HI on air BROW = HIGHBROW = brainy
26, 4. a Mac program malting pi cracks = PANGRAMMATIC LIPOGRAM = this crossword in particular
29. Manx comic dog = Manx ODIE = ODI = non-purist sport format
30. missing nothing of fabulous ship drawn to land of opportunity = ARGO – O US = ARGUS = fabulous guardian
31. approvals in Zurich = OUI JA = OUIJA = board
32. slurring photos = slurring SNAPS = SCHNAPPS = drink for drunks
33. wow lubricant in a boudoir = MAN KY = MANKY = disgusting
DOWN
1. array drops what this crossword lacks = EQUIP – E = QUIP = Marx’s gift
2. kind Picts ripping noggins off = KIND – K PICTS – P = INDICTS = brings to trial
3. malaprop magician William Archibald humanly stocks gang = Spooner MANS KLAN = KLANSMAN = bigot
5. puck should aurally = IMP OUGHT AURALLY = IMPORT = thrust
6. could zip-on clothing undo = COULD – CD ZIP-ON – ZN = OULIPO = this crossword’s philosophical organisation
7. band around back = RING around AFT = RAFTING = Finn’s pursuit
8. 100.9 on transistor initially = MIX T = MIXT = quaint hybrid
9. Nick drops pill, scraps = CAVE – E ORTS = CAVORTS = frolics
14. Lo: marshals = J (from J Lo, AKA Jennifer Lopez) UMPS = JUMPS = inscription
15. U2 in sci-fi bomb starts in an unfamiliar way = UU in TRON starts in an unfamiliar way = TROWN starts in an unfamiliar way = BROWN = inscription
18. mantra splits AC/DC from Californian Fanny = OM splits BI (AC/DC is slang for BI) ASS = BIOMASS = organic stuff
19. Sri Lankan drink car to divvy lodgings = CHA T ROOM = CHATROOM = hang out for yaks
21. Bulgarian or Ukrainian or similar — kind of = SLAV-ISH = SLAVISH = inscription
23. Curtin uproar shrouding disc = RUCTIN shrouding O = RUCTION = brouhaha
24. craniums in giant urns astonish nosy arborists = I G U A N A = IGUANA = spiny animal
25. injunction against bowwow flip = BAN PUG flip = BANG UP = outstanding
27. Adriatic’s most high officials fourth post shorn = DOGES fourth post shorn = DOGS = inscription
28. Common boring night sound = LAY boring Z = LAZY = inscription
In addition to all that, the crossword’s clues were a PANGRAMMATIC LIPOGRAM, as was the comments before the crossword that went along with the post.
Hey AS. That was really interesting and very enjoyable. Got most of it out, comments below.
On looking up the theme, I read that creating this particular example, as in the crossword and in your comments, is one of the most difficult .. as cruciverbalists and lay linguists would understand. Must have taken a lot of work. Well done. Thankyou for your ‘gift’ to us, and have a great New Year.
Really liked 24D, 2D, 18D, 28D, 5D, 16A, 22A, 29a, 33A, 32A, 31A, 23A, 7D for the surface and the fun. 13A made me laugh …. COSMO .. the magazine about waxing, and waning stars.
12A had me foxed at first when I’d twigged to the X, which is also a mark, but as I’d got 8D, and had written out the number of letters of each word of the inscription, albeit with the wrong idea initially, it suddenly all became clear.
Some queries and teensy quibbles ..
3A: did lead me to discover Spooner’s other names… but I don’t know if the indicator needed to be that indirect as the fodder and the definition aren’t a dead giveaway (but good) and I truly was looking for a malapropism rather than a Spoonerism.
15A: I thought that was the trickiest clue of all. If I understand your explanation: U2 to UU to W, then inserted in TRON > TROWN, then a substitution on first letter, with no indication of the letter to be substituted. Phew!!
17A: reversed hidden from ‘uncustomarily drunk’?
20A: didn’t get, but I like the wordplay.
19A: There’s a difference in the clue and in the explanation in the solution ..car/model.. baring.. maybe needs an edit? Love the def though!
6D:I finally get the wordplay! Fascinating read on OULIPO on Wiki. Would love to find some of their work. As wordnuts go, DA and Trippers seem tame in comparison.
Thanks for the comments, Gayle.
I didn’t mention Spooner’s name in 3A because Spooner has an e in it. I wanted all the clues to also be a pangrammatic lipogram, so I had to think of another way to mention Spooner without mentioning Spooner.
15A was ridiculously hard, I admit. But I also figured that the inscription would have made the direct definition quite simple — and I really wanted to use U2 = UU = W somewhere in the clues because I thought it was funny.
17A is yes, a reversed hidden, i.e. a dram of grog I reversed. Will fix up the formatting on that one, which didn’t come through.
19A – oops, will fix up the explanation there.
The oulipo guys are nuts. Especially Georges Perec, who wrote a whole novel in French without an e, and French uses the letter e more than English does.
3A Ohhh, that’s why malaprop magician! I should of (sic) twigg’d to what Dish ran away with, plus royal woman. (It is bloody difficult, isn’t it?)
You beat [occasional commenter] David H and I. We failed to get 6D and 11A.
Pardon my ignorance, but isn’t a lipogram by definition NOT a pangram?
You need to be slapped for 20A!
Could we get some more explanation on 12A, please?
6D is tough if you’ve never heard of the gang.
On 20A, I consider myself duly slapped.
And a pangrammatic lipogram or a lipogrammatic pangram is a combination — at least that’s what Wikipedia says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipogram
On 12A, a mark that will not pass is an F. Have made it clearer in the solutions too.
And I deleted the repeated comment on the other thread — I can reinstate it if you wish.
most of it way too hard for me although some good ones in it. loved the cosmo one but i initially put cosmopolitan which made a right mess of my grid. although i got 9d i still don’t get the wordplay for the ORTS bit
Good Lord, AS – what are you smoking? Do you have any left? Not sure what wallops me more: the theme – or the sheer ambition.
Loved the last 3 Across clues – all triggering a grin, as did the orphaned poet in 20ac. Among the Downs, admired the gag in 2dn, the definition in 19dn, the story told in 23dn, and 28dn too. Loved 14dn – what a great signpost for J.
Overall I dug your instincts to freshen the language (William Archibald, craniums, Puck), though this same desire can sometimes tangle the fluency, or serve as a less than fair instruction. But hey, this is the work of a gifted dilettante, and worth a place in any Oulipo Almanac – a million miles from 33ac! Thanks for the head-trip. And a great 2012 to you, and all the other Trippers.
nn, ORTS means SCRAPS, something I learnt while doing a cryptic crossword many moons ago.
And DA, thanks for bothering to the cryptic and the kind words. And I’ll take it as a compliment that you, the Sergeant Pepper of cruciverbalists, ended up asking me what I’m smoking after attempting one of my crosswords.
On the choice of language: The aims of the Oulipo movement is specifically to freshen the language by putting restrictions on what words one can use. Hence, I had to use William Archibald instead of Spooner and craniums instead of heads specifically because I had to avoid using the letter e. Normally I wouldn’t be so, on the one hand, inventive, on the other, dastardly in my choice of words.
It was a very interesting process — avoiding words like head, left, the was a great brain teaser.
thanks AS, another new word for me to add to pangramatic lipogram and Oulipo !
cheers
I finally got around to looking at this crossword today (and finishing it), and it’s an inspiring work. But… shouldn’t your inscription contain a ‘T’?
Geoff, you’re absolutely right!
I can’t believe I missed that. How embarrassing.
Luckily there’s a quick fix: I’ve changed “on” to “onto” in the inscription.
Congrats AS, that was a mighty work! I was using a coin of low worth (sort of zloty) when also that coin did drop (It is jolly hard, isn’t it?!). Gold cluing with 20a, 32a, 33a and your inscription. I thought about quitting or throwing in that drying cloth, as it was so difficult, but I’m glad I stuck to it. I’m voting this into that Roman-goddy building.
I’m saving my last glyph of my lipogramatic pangram for you…..X
RC
My, my, RC (pulling out the zloty was numismatic genius), you are gifted in the art of the pangrammatic lipogram (or lipogrammatic pangram).
I especially savoured that last glyph you reserved for me.
I did your crossword and was through with writing that blog-bit and had to author a thing for my work. It was fucking with my mind as I was phrasing in odd ways, lots of “ing” words, and using “that”, and such gambits. Thankfully, TH could smackdown his flight-lag and put in hours fixing it, although his arrival in your folk’s original land, city of the sun woman-god, was only hours old.
Actually it’s fun, all this lipogramming, though A-MGM says such pursuits show a symptom of too many hours in hand. But as my work is past, I think I’ll carry on! I’m starting to hold the hang of it!