The Demon knows his hose! – BIG 197

According to John Ayto in his book 20th Century Words the term ‘panti-hose’ first appeared in the New York Times in 1963 – panties being an American word for women’s briefs, and hose an Old English word for stocking. In this country we know them better as as tights.

The history of this handy garment seems to have begun in the theatre, where stockings were sewn to undergarments for ease and comfort, and soon manufacturers saw a market advantage. As materials improved and got cheaper, and with the mini skirt craze, panty hose became a big seller. In answer to The Demon clue at 6ac, the word could be spelled PANTIHOSE or PANTYHOSE.

One clue over at 12ac ‘Body build’ was PHYSIQUE and not PHISYQUE. We had a query about our clue sounding like a verb but it is the way of The Demon to be a bit tricky and we are happy that our clue is okay.

If you remove the HYS, you get the answer to 18ac ‘Stimulate (curiosity)’ PIQUE (not PICUE). This word is best known as a noun in the phrase ‘fit of pique’ describing a state of indignation but, coming from the French for ‘prick’, as a verb it means either cause offence or arouse.

A CHANTEUSE for a ‘Nightclub songstress’ also has its origins in French and is related to the word ‘chant’. A few entries had CHANTEURE.

‘Smiles coyly’ (76ac) you needed SIMPERS not WIMPERS. A whimper is a soft cry.

Karma is the Indian philosophical belief that your actions influence your future, so good karma is a way of banking for your future by doing good deeds – bad karma, the opposite. A few Demon entries had KHARMA at 81ac for ‘Hindu cosmic law’ but this is DHARMA, also the name of a character in an American sitcom about a free-thinking flowerchild married to a lawyer, Dharma and Greg.

A real-life girl with an unusual name is singer/model, Bijou Phillips. Her name is said to mean ‘jewel’ in French but in our Demon at 117ac, BIJOU is clued as ‘Compact but elegant’, so what is the connection?

The word comes from the Breton for finger ring but evolved to mean any small trinket or gem. In English it has also become an adjective; James Joyce in Ulysses described resorts as ‘bijou spots’. A couple of guesses in entries included BITON and BITES. A few of you tried MINOR or PICOT but then found 117dn impossible. BOLSHOI was the ‘Russian ballet company’.

At 137ac ‘Limb brace’ was ORTHOSIS, though it was suggested we were incorrect and this should have been ORTHOTIC. Our references all indicate that both words are correct, but only ORTHOSIS fitted. ORTHOSES was incorrect as this is the plural form of the word.

A DETRACTOR is a person who belittles, or a ‘Fault-finder’ (141ac). DEFRAUDER did not fit with the other clues around – nor did it fit the clue!

At 45dn the ‘Big-game shooting platform’ was a MACHAN. A few blanks appeared in entries (& on puzzled faces!).

Goliathon clue 41dn was ‘Took shape’ and proved a bit of a toughie by Goliathon standards. CRYSTALLISED turned out to be the answer, often used to describe the forming or taking shape of ideas or thoughts.

On the opposite side of the grid 92dn ‘Two-faced’ was a spelling nightmare! HYPOCRITICAL was correct but we found lots of different combinations of Ys, Is and a couple of stray Es.

At 1dn ‘bawdy’ was RIBALD not RIBAND or RIBAUD and 163dn ‘Default (on)’ was RENEGE not RECEDE or RELENT.

I’ll leave you happily puzzling for another month. Look out for our new MEGA! magazine – perfect for lovers of giant crosswords!