Fishy Folk? Collection 34 Contests

At 132ac in the Stinker the clue ‘Ramses III’s foes had the answer SEA PEOPLES, but who were these folk with the intriguing name?

Much of the story is hidden in the depths of history, but Egypt was invaded a few times by groups from across the Mediterranean. It is thought they were perhaps displaced people fleeing famine, hence were spurred on by a desperate need to find a new home.

Ramses III recorded how he defeated the invasion in 1191 BC, “Those who came forward together upon the sea, the full flame was in front of them at the river mouths, and a stockade of lances sur-rounded them on the shore.” The Egyptians were not known for their seamanship but Ramses had archers lined along the shore, shooting out barrages of arrows, before sending out ships with grappling hooks to haul in the enemy craft.

While they were completely defeated by Ramses III, others of the Sea Peoples did manage to settle in Palestine.

The next clue along was a lot more whimsical in nature. ‘Prancing clumsily’ 136ac was GALUMPHING, a wonderful word that entered our language thanks to Lewis Carroll. It is thought to be a mix of gallop and triumph. Carroll was very fond of using these portmanteau words, a name he also coined for them. Other examples are slithy and chortle.

The clue at 124dn ‘Louis XV’s mistress, Madame de …’ wanted POMPADOUR in answer. For twenty years this lady, who gave her name to a hairstyle, had great influence in France and was a patron to artists and writers.

Coming off this was OGHAM at 167ac for ‘Ancient Celtic alphabet’. This earliest form of writing in Irish used straight lines and notches. Ogham inscriptions can still be seen, particularly in Kerry and Cork, and especially on standing stones.

We had a few queries about ‘Dice’ as a clue for CUBE. Die was the original singular form but, probably because of the confusion this word caused, dice has been used as a singular noun as well as a plural. Its meaning of a small cube (singular) is first in modern dictionaries.

‘Downward slope’ at 164ac was DECLIVITY not DECLINITY, which appeared a few times. For 217ac ‘Mountaineering stick’ ALPENSTOCK was correct. A few entries had ALPINSTOCK.

Clue 286ac left some wondering. The answer was RUBRIC. Ancient Romans highlighted important events in red on manuscripts and this gives us the phrase a red-letter day. RUBRIC was the name of the red earth used for colouring.
The meaning of rubric has stretched over time to mean direction or rules, or ‘Document heading’ as we had in this Stinker.

Finally for the Stinker 298ac ‘Arranging, … up’ was TEEING and not TYEING.
In the Giant Cryptic 43dn was quite a test if you don’t know of the hot chilli sauce TABASCO. Here’s how you unravel the clue; ‘Running bar total (TAB) as (AS) company (CO) gets on the sauce’. TOBACCO was incorrect.

Once you had this then 43ac ‘What you may be in when overcome with emotion’ TEARS slipped easily into place. If you didn’t get either of them you may have been left crying!

In the Collection Contest 134dn had some thinking. ‘Transplants’ had nothing to do with medical genius in replacing body parts, rather it was more about gardening or migration. The answer was UPROOTS.

‘Howl’ at 209dn was BAWL not BAUL or BALL and 299ac was SENATOR not SENATER.

In the Monster Colossus we had a few phone calls about 66dn as many thought ‘Indian woman’s forehead mark’ was TILAK, but this didn’t fit. You could make note of BINDI in case it comes up again. The word comes from the Hindi language.

‘Self-importantly’ 233dn needed to be POMPOUSLY and not POMPOSITY to be correct. The latter also made 268ac impossible to solve. ‘Bounce-back’ was UPTURN.

I must wish you all the very best for the Christmas New Year season. May all the words you have learnt from our crosswords be on the tip of your tongue to impress friends and family. We are looking forward to entertaining you with more brain-teasing clues in 2010.