Colossus Winners (Issue 226)

BAFFLER No 226
5 x £50 Prize Cheques
M Anderson, Castle Douglas; Rita Tuck, Leyland; N Veasey, Nailsea; Jill Winkle, Leek; D Wrinch, Ipswich

GIANT CRYPTIC No 226
2 x De’Longhi ICM30 Filter Coffee Machines
K Bryan, Leicester; Juliet Lewis, Shrewsbury

2 x Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s Dictionaries
P Batty, Tarvin; Carole Rigden, Ramsgate

2 x Lovatts Kitchen Packs including Tea Towel, Apron & Coffee Mug
Joan Barnes, Warrington; A McGregor, Larbert

CASHWORDS No 226
£300 Winner
S Harrison, Mansfield

5 x £40
E Fenwick, Darlington; Cora Kernaghan, Cheadle; M Liggitt, Ringwood; J Stewart, Peterlee; Janice Thompson, Swindon

STINKER No 226
1 x Canon 10MP Digital Camera
Gloria Lawrence, Ipswich

2 x Lovatts Engraved Weather Stations
Sue & Ken Candler, Southport; N Gayton, Rotherham

3 x Collins Gem Packs including 2 x Collin’s Gems & 1 x Pocket World Atlas
S Bishop, Clacton-on-Sea; Frances Douglas, Bognor Regis; D Norris, Camelford

THE KNOWLEDGE No 226
2 x Antique Desktop Globes
Steve Smith, Preston; Sheila Tattersall, Poulton-Le-Fylde

Puzzle Collection Winners (Issue 70)

COLLECTION CONTEST No 70
2 x £100
V Gardner, Morley; David Veal, Ringwood.

6 x £50
K Healy, Withywood; M Mitchell, Dalgety Bay; Mary Richards, Ryde; Margaret Stanworth, Burnley; Clifford Stimpson, Whitley Bay; Sheila Sutherland, Harby.

Double Monster Drawer No 70
2 x £100
Thelma Connolly, Newtownabbey; G Roberts, Llanelli.

Monster Colossus Winner No 70
1 x £50
A Johnson, Ecclesfield.

Monster Colossus Runners-Up No 70
4 x £25
Linda Howes, Bromley; Keith Mowbray, Barrow-in-Furness; E Stephenson, Consett; Joanne Whitelaw, Irvine.

Monster Starhunt Winner No 70
1 x £50
David Rushton, Burnley.

Monster Starhunt Runners-Up No 70
4 x £25
D Hart, Gwent; A Morris, Birkdale; B Taylor, Colchester; J Walton, Preston.

STINKER No 70
2 x Olympus X43 14MP Digital Camera
Judy Darkins, High Wycombe; J Morrison, Pitlochry.

3 x Silver Personal CD Players
M Cannon, Great Barr; Peter Okell, Horsham; Jean Smith, Newmarket.

GIANT CRYPTIC No 70
2 x Breville Illuminating Kettles
M Henson,Acle; Douglas Pollock, Bournemouth.

3 x Bradford Crossword Solver’s Dictionary
Peter Barber, Forfar; P Eakin, Portrush; Paul Kendray, Sunderland.

COLLECTION CONTEST COUPON No 70
Chain Letters – P53
Solution: Collaborating
3 x Lovatts Puzzler’s Packs
J Adderley, Erdington; John Brennan, Wigan; Chris Pine, Chelmsford.

Spirogram – P59
Solution: Secrets
3 x £10 One-4-all Multi-store Gift Cards
Michael Conway, Naas; P Macleod, Marlborough; Pam Rhoades, Sittingbourne.

Pop Words – P60
Solution: Kylie Minogue
3 x “Original Easy Listening” 3CD Box Sets
E Oborne, Pewsey; Carol Olds, Stapleton; Sharon Tetley, Doncaster.

Findaword – P64
Solution: Late For A Date
3 x Lovatts Kitchen Packs
Rose Andrews, London; Lindsay Elliott, Watford; Joan McMillan, Ayr.

Starcross – P65
Solution: Inception
3 x Collins Gem Dictionary & Thesaurus
Bernadette Lyons, Basingstoke; Hilda Mullins, Northampton; Margarethe Owen, Dundalk.

Cluedunnit – P70
Solution: Michael Caine
3 x Film Strip Flip Over Photo Frames
Michael Chidwick, Dover, USA; Betty Mitchell, Garthdee West; M Newton, Cheadle.

Retroflex – P71
Solution: Pasture
3 x Lovatts Out & About Prize Packs
Dorothy Baguley, Salford; Barbara Clarke, St Neots; M Edge, Higher Heath.

Who Am I? – P72
Solution: Julia Roberts
3 x Collins Gem Packs
T Bailey, Rugeley; Allan Robertson, Stanley; A Stocks, York.

Hello – Colossus 225

As the world around us grows and changes, so do the languages we use. Technological advances, scientific discoveries, environmental awareness, politics and the world of fashion and pop culture are constant sources for our ever-increasing vocabulary.

As we gain new knowledge, new terms and concepts are created. Some become accepted and enter our language after being used by the public over time; others don’t survive long enough. The term for a recently coined word or phrase is a neologism. The word comes from the Greek neo (new) and logos (word).
Just as neologisms enter our language, old words take on new meaning or context and others leave our language. The definition in the Collins Dictionary for the word document now includes ‘a piece of text stored in a computer as a file for manipulation by document processing software’, and the word traffic now also means ‘the aggregate volume of messages transmitted though a communications system in a given period’.

Words that are no longer commonly used are called archaisms. Some examples of words that have been lost in time are blive (right away), huderon (a lazy person), ostrobogulous (unusual or interesting), rhathymia (light-heartedness) and skibility (the power of knowing).

The use of archaic words or expressions is called gadzookery, from the exclamation gadzooks! This is most likely a shortening of ‘God’s hooks’, referring to the nails of the crucifixion.

So, blive! blive! Don’t be a huderon and with your skibility, mayst thou enjoy our ostrobogulous clues with rhathymia.

Happy puzzling!

Irish BIG Winners October (Issue 215)

Irish Crossword
Page 2
Solution: Ciaran
1 x €100
Sean Walsh, County Wexford

2 x Lovatts Puzzler’s Prize Packs
Margaret Smith, County Cavan; Mary Wall, County Roscommon.

BIG Winners (Issue 215)

BIGCASH
£300 Winner
M Divine, Kirkby-in-Ash

5 x £40 Winners
Angela Allen, Jersey; E Clarkson, York; Lynne Brodie, Enfield; J Burroughs, Newlyn; Stephen Evans, Builth Wells

Goliathon
1 x Antler Expandable 4 Piece Luggage Set
Michelle Felstead, Orpington

2 x Lovatts Engraved Glass Decanter Sets
James Grant, Bromley; Andrew Loheide, Bolton

2 x Crossword Solver’s Dictionaries
Rebecca Carruthers, Paisley; G Webb, Shipston-on-Stour

DEMON
1 x Olympus X43 14 MP Digital Camera
Joan Heselwood, Leeds

2 x Lovatts Engraved Weather Station
Christine Evans, London; Carol Mullett, Malaga, Spain

2 x Collins Pocket Spellers
Ros Robinson, Watchet; Pat Wall, Great Barr

BONANZA
Big Easy – P4
Solution: Championship
3 x Collins Gem Prize Packs
Amanda Horton, St Ives; Debbie Keating, Bridgend; Eileen Slinger, New Malden

Ninesies – P8
Solution: Battle
3 x Lovatts Puzzler’s Packs
L Branch, Whitchurch; J Clements, Woodingdean; John Kelly, Okehampton

Wheel Words – P10
Solution: Gratitude
3 x Crossword Solver’s Dictionaries
Mavis Elgie, Shirecliffe; Sue Parton, Crewe; C Routledge, Runcorn

Elevenses – P14
Solution: Bandit
3 x Elevenses Prize Packs
H Brooks, Okehampton; Reg Fletcher, Shepshed; Sue Murray, Bognor Regis

Acrostic – P28
Solution: Coffee Break Festival
3 x Kodak Disposable Cameras With Flash
I Branch, Whitchurch; W Gronow, Cadoxton; Mark Matchwick, Bristol

Do Your Block – P36
Solution: Rescues
3 x Lovatts Out & About Prize Packs
Chris Chapman, Hertford; Margaret Parrish, Radcliffe; C Wilson, Kingstanding

Fill-In – P36
Solution: Leaving
3 x I Love Coffee Prize Packs
Anne Bailey, Clayton; J Bayes, Kirkbymoorside; P Charles, Penllergaer

Wiz Words – P37
Solution: Triumph
3 x Collins Electronic Crossword Solvers
P Cowell, Birchington; D Hugh, Manchester; Halina Langley, Taunton

Starhunt 5 – P40
Solution: Forest Whitaker
3 x Collins Gem Prize Packs
A Dykes, Hertford; Jackie Murray, Maldon; Linda Watts, Lincoln

Starhunt 6 – P40
Solution: Gene Hackman
3 x Lovatts Kitchen Prize Packs
Cheryl Boyle, Folkestone; Sylvia Lovley, St Leonards; Sue Wright, North Walsham

Starhunt 7 – P41
Solution: Hugh Jackman
3 x Gardener’s Prize Packs
Pamela Baxter, North Walsham; S Dawson, Sandbach; D Urquhart, Aberdeen

Starhunt 8 – P41
Solution: Hilary Duff
3 x Lovatts Stationery Sets
John Morgan, Herne Bay; Christine Rawlinson, St Andrews; Kathleen Thomas, Farnborough

Big Tougher – P44
Solution: Achievement
3 x BUSH – Clock Radios
J Hough, Hawarden; Dorothy McDonald, Angus; A McGregor, Larbert

FindaWord – P75
Solution: Vivid Vocabulary
3 x Cookbooks
Sister Magda Howe, Dumbarton; Pamela Matthews, Cullompton; Wendy Richards, Kidderminster.

Colossus 226 Judge Sums Up

Intriguing and interesting
Our Baffler has perhaps some of the most intriguing clues of all our crosswords, but the answers are not always easy to find. Well done if you tracked down these ones.
MAIGRET was the answer to ‘Simenon detective’. Georges Simenon was a Belgian author who created Jules Maigret, a Parisian sleuth second only to Sherlock Holmes as the world’s best-loved detective. Simenon was a prolific writer with over 400 books published. He is considered perhaps the most widely published author of the 20th century. If you haven’t read any of his books, then maybe a trip to the local library will uncover a new world of reading for you.
WU HU, the answer to ‘Han dynasty foes’, equates to something like barbarian in European history. Wu Hu was a collective term for the nomadic non-Chinese tribes who invaded Northern China.
We had a query about our clue ‘Guitar music icon, Isaac … ALBENIZ’. While this Spanish composer and pianist wrote for piano, much of his music was transcribed for guitar and has become more famous as a part of classical guitar players’ repertoire.
We also received a call suggesting that our clue ‘Domestic servant’ was incorrect as the answer MENIAL is an adjective. No gremlin – our Collins and Oxford also list the word as a noun.
Over in the Stinker all was looking good. At 82ac LOUCHE was needed for ‘Sordidly seductive’. A couple of entries had LOSCHE which, according to some websites, is the French word that louche comes from, but it doesn’t appear in any of our dictionaries.
At 92ac ‘Cool & humid’ was DANK, not DAMP, which made 48dn incorrect as well. ‘Vineyard owner’ was VIGNERON not VIGNEROM.
179ac was PROLIX for ‘Garrulous’ and 135dn was EPISTAXIS for ‘nosebleed’ not EPISTASIS – X not S was needed to make these two words correct.
The ‘Study of flags’ sounds like quite a vexed subject! The origins of the word VEXILLOLOGY are in Latin but the word is not related to vex. A vexillum was the sort of flag used by Roman Legions and vexillology was originally coined to describe a branch of heraldry. Our Stinker clue 129dn needed VEXILLOLOGY, however we spotted a few wrong spellings here.
There was an interesting bit of trivia, if you didn’t already know it, at 196ac. A ‘Brood of pheasants’ is known as a NIDE. This comes from the Latin for ‘nest’.
PTAH, a strange spelling for English, was the ‘Chief Egyptian deity’ at 68dn. Ptah was the creator god and the patron of artisans. He is usually depicted holding the ankh, another word we like to slip in to crosswords from time to time. The ankh is the symbol for health and life and looks like a cross with a loop on the top.
At 210ac ‘Social climber’ was an ARRIVISTE not ARRAVISTE. This word, as you would expect, is related to ‘arrive’.
A couple of clues seem to have resulted in mix-ups or mental blanks. At 319ac ‘Reject’ was SPURN not SHURN (maybe you were thinking of SHUN) and at 10dn THRIFT not SHRIFT was the answer to ‘Prudent spending’. Shrift you would be familiar with from the phrase ‘make short shrift’ and means ‘to dispose of quickly and unsympathetically’. To shrive is to make penance and ‘short shrift’ was a short time for which a prisoner could be granted a confession.
English is always fascinating with its endless interesting historical references, most of which we hardly give a thought to – except perhaps when we are doing crosswords.