(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) Slow to get started, but the pace quickened towards the finish (maybe it was the late night last night). Thanks to Picaroon for an enjoyable solve. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Where you might find sheep to hug (6)
INFOLD : [IN FOLD](in the fenced enclosure for sheep).
Answer: Variant of “to enfold”;to embrace.
5 Tamper with gold or silver, by the sound of it? (6)
MEDDLE : Homophone of(…, by the sound of it) “medal”(awarded in a competition, and refered to as gold, silver, or even bronze).
8 Erratic leader of London embroiled in capital cock-up (7)
AIMLESS : The 1st letter of(leader of) “London ” contained in(embroiled in) [AI(with the Roman numeral, A1;excellent;capital!) + MESS(a cock-up;a balls-up).
9 Artist admitted to revolutionary artist’s workshop (7)
SEMINAR : EMIN(Tracey, English artist) contained in(admitted to) reversal of(revolutionary) RA(member of the Royal Academy of Arts;an artist)‘S.
11 Sorrowful musings, having called honeymoon off (3,2,10)
ODE ON MELANCHOLY : Anagram of(… off) CALLED HONEYMOON.
Answer: The poem by John Keats describing the poet’s perception of melancholy.
12 Food from cooks in Hackney (4)
EATS : “heats”(cooks) as might be pronounced by cockneys in Hackney (or is that ‘Ackney?) in East London.
13 New home, tax-free, that is housing five (10)
INNOVATIVE : IN(at home) + [NO V.A.T.](free of Value Added Tax) + I.E.(abbrev. for “id est”;that is) containing(housing) V(Roman numeral for “five”).
17 Love plumpness? It’s a puffed-up quality (10)
OROTUNDITY : O(letter representing 0;love in tennis scores) + ROTUNDITY(the state of being round;plump).
Answer: Pomposity;excessive self-esteem.
18 Force back cold brandy (4)
MARC : Reversal of(… back) RAM(to force a solid object into/through another) + C(abbrev. for “cold”)
Defn: … made from the remains of grapes that have been pressed.
20 Imprisoned old fellow given sentence before it’s too late (2,3,4,2,4)
IN THE NICK OF TIME : [IN THE NICK](in slang, to be in prison) + O(abbrev. for “old”) + F(abbrev. for “fellow) + TIME(slang for a prison sentence).
Defn: …, just about.
23 Intended, without waiting, to break ruler (7)
KNOWING : NOW(at once;without waiting) contained in(to break) KING(a ruler).
Answer: Intended;deliberate;conscious, as in ” a knowing attempt to hide the facts”.
24 Miserable wretch in sort of cloth hat (7)
REPTILE : REP(a sort of ribbed fabric from various materials) + TILE(British term for a hat).
Answer: A mean and contemptible person.
25 A setter – one in the money! (6)
CEMENT : ME(self-referential pronoun for this puzzle’s setter, indicated by “one”) contained in(in) CENT(a unit of money in some currencies).
Answer: A substance that sets and hardens.
26 One won’t stand for teacher penning dry English (6)
SITTER : SIR(a term used by pupils to address a teacher) containing(penning) TT(abbrev. for “teetotal”;dry;abstaining from alcohol).
Down
2 Cracked town walls in dark shade offering a short cut? (6,3)
NUMBER TWO : Anagram of(Cracked) TOWN containing(in) UMBER(any dark, dusky or indefinite colour).
Defn: This short haircut:
3 Southern and Indian cane so in need of cultivation? (6)
OCEANS : Anagram of(… in need of cultivation) CANE SO.
Defn: The Southern, or Arctic, and the Indian are 2 examples.
4 Round object made without a saw (9)
DISCERNED : DISC(a round flat object) + “earned”(made;gained through one’s effort) minus(without) “a “.
Defn: …, as the past tense of “to see”.
5 Tea from the south Tuscan town (5)
MASSA : Reversal of(… from the south, in a down clue) ASSAM(a tea grown in the Assam region in India).
6 Politician‘s curse about rejected advance (8)
DEMOCRAT : DRAT(a mild curse;swearword to express annoyance) containing(about) reversal of(rejected) COME(to advance to where one is, as in “come to me”)
7 Zip up coat of gigolo making speech (5)
LINGO : Reversal of(… up, in a down clue) NIL(nothing;zip) + the 2 outermost letters of(coat of) “gigolo “.
8 Reason to fall out of boat one scuttled with sharp tool (1,4,2,4)
A BONE TO PICK : Anagram of(… scuttled) BOAT ONE plus(with) PICK(a sharp tool for breaking hard surfaces).
10 Maybe ABBA anthem cut short amid wild cheers by yours truly (5,6)
RHYME SCHEME : “hymn”(a song praising, say, a nation;an anthem) minus
the last letter of(cut short) contained in(amid) anagram of(wild) CHEERS plus(by) ME(yours truly).
Answer: A rhyming pattern in a verse where the 1st and 4th lines rhyme (A) and the 2nd and 3rd lines rhyme(B).
14 Clearly not straight bypasses in suburbia? (9)
OUTSKIRTS : OUT(openly not straight in reference to sexual orientation) + SKIRTS(bypasses;goes around rather than across or through).
15 Put slant on current story – one Conservative is involved (9)
ITALICISE : I(symbol for an electric current in physics) + TALE(a story) containing(… involved) [I(Roman numeral for “one”) + C(abbrev. for a member of the British Conservative Party) + IS].
Defn: …, like this.
16 Spooner’s in favour of county, it’s guaranteed (4-4)
SURE-FIRE : Spoonerism of “for”(in favour of) “shire”(a British county … or the land of the Hobbits).
19 Rancid milk on the turn? Exactly (3,3)
OFF PAT : OFF(rancid;gone bad, as of butter, for example) + reversal of(… on the turn) TAP(to milk;to draw liquid from, like sap from a tree).
Answer: As in “he recited the ode off pat”.
21 Figure in time line (5)
TROPE : T(abbrev. for “time”) + ROPE(a line made of cord, say).
Defn: … of speech.
22 Metal block‘s hot, with raised thermal resistance (5)
INGOT : IN(hot;popular at the moment) plus(with) reversal of(raised, in a down clue) TOG(a unit of thermal resistance to measure the insulating capability of a fabric, garment, etc.).
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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle.
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)
Even I know that #1 is Abba.
Pic 3 is blank.
#6 looks like Ian Fleming and Sean Connery, no doubt on the set of a Bond film, but I’ve no idea beyond that yet.
Thanks, scchua
Pc 1 is ABBA, relating to 10d
2 is on the cover of “The hitchhikers’ guide to the galaxy” – no connection yet
3 not showing
4 ?
5 is the Sierpinski triangle (or gasket) – no connection yet
6 ?
Marvin the robot in HHG was melancholy?
Pic 3 Southern OCEAN
the gasket is made by putting three points at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. a random point is plotted on one edge; then iteratively a point is plotted half way to a randomly chosen vertex from the current position. could this relate to NUMBER TWO?
NUMBER TWO is a character in Thunderball (#6).
There was at least one escape IN THE NICK OF TIME in the Hitchhiker’s Guide … but that seems unconvincing.
…..or REP-TILE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rep-tile
Congratulations, Cookie, on being able to see #3. I still can’t.
#4 is Singapore, but that’s all I have.
Ah, #3 appears now. A BONE TO PICK?
Or denture CEMENT?
Pic 3 denture CEMENT?
Ian SW3 @8, I googled it and that is what I got, but it should be coloured blue.
Felipe MASSA might drive in the Singapore GP (Pic 4)
Pic 3 now dental CEMENT
Ian SW3, muffin and Cookie,
Pic1: yes, that’s Abba, but the answer is not 10d (that would have been too easy)
Pic2: “Hitchhikers” yes, but not Marvin
Pic3: I’ve repasted another pic which you should be able to see
Pic4: Yes, that’s Singapore
Pic5: Yes, that figure is made of REP-TILEs
Pic6: Yes, NUMBER TWO (aka Largo) was in Thunderball.
pic 3 how about A BONE TO PICK?
We crossed:
Pic3: Dental cement is used to fill in cavities, but that lady has a perfect set of (natural) teeth. But you’re close.
Pic4: MASSA is correct (and that lighted route is the Singapore GP course).
[scchua, there is natural CEMENT around a tooth root]
pic 3 LINGO (tongue)
pic 1, surely not the song ABBA dabba honeymoon.
Many of ABBA’s songs are MELANCHOLIC
Could the ABBA song be ‘KNOWING Me, KNOWING You?’
ABBA “Knowing me, knowing you”?
I wondered if you were going to argue that ABBA were innovative!
pic 2, SURE FIRE?
Marvin asked Arthur Dent whether Earth had OCEANS, then said something like “I hate oceans”…….but you said that it wasn’t Marvin.
Cookie, yes, cementum, alternatively CEMENT, covers the tooth root – more to do with anatomy than dentistry.
Robi/muffin, that’s the song.
That leaves pic2.
There is of course NUMBER (forty) TWO; the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
pic 2, OUTSKIRTS
Don’t Panic a literary TROPE ?
Thanks, scchua for the fun
Hi, all
NUMBER TWO was a minor character, a Golgafrinchan officer in “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”. (I know, quite obscure.)