Colossus 230 Judge Sums Up

Kidding around with cryptic
We seem to get more and more entries to the Giant Cryptic all the time. Perhaps you are all honing you lateral thinking skills by doing the crosswords in our Christine’s Cryptic Crosswords magazine which is now on sale every two months.
While most of you are successfully unravelling the devious clues, a few errors did occur in Colossus 232.
The first across clue, ‘Stories related when Nat arrives unexpectedly’, wanted the answer NARRATIVES, which is an anagram of ‘Nat arrives’. A few entries had NARRATIONS and one had NARRATATES. In cryptics you have to look for the trigger words. In that clue ‘unexpectedly’ was the trigger to say you needed an unexpected mix of the letters in the previous two words.
Another clever clue to catch out a few of you was at 34ac. ‘A little butter?’ was KID and not BIT, as some had. I’m sure if you got this one out it made you smile at the thought of that little baby goat attempting to butt!
At 9dn ‘Luggage item in which to store diamonds, for example?’ needed you to think of a pack of cards and the suit diamonds. That led you easily to the answer SUITCASE. A couple of entries had SLIPCASE.
Finally for the Giant Cryptic, at 57dn ‘Wild about mad tune’ was another anagram clue with ‘about’ as the trigger word. The answer was UNTAMED and not ENRAGED.
In the Cashwords there were only a few spelling errors to note.
‘Hurdle’ at 49dn was OBSTACLE, not OBSTICLE; ‘Hors d’oeuvre’ at 124dn was APPETISER, not APPATISER; ‘Spotted dogs’ at 160dn was DALMATIANS, not DALMATIONS and ‘Rind’ at 188dn was PEEL not PEAL.
In the Baffler some had trouble finding RAGWEED for ‘Allergy-triggering plant’. Those who are allergic to it suffer sneezing, itchy eyes and congestion – not pleasant at all. I assume those who couldn’t find the answer are lucky not to suffer from its effects.
The ‘Mythical wise Swedish king’ was DAG (not FAG). Legend has it that he could understand the speech of birds and that sparrows gathered information for him from far and wide.
Down at the bottom right-hand corner of the puzzle ‘Hip hop’ was RAP and not RAD.
The ‘Albanian kilt’ at 20ac in the Stinker was a FUSTA­NELLA. FUSTANELLE and FUSTAN­ELLI both appeared in entries. The garment has its history in the attire of ancient times and it is now mostly worn for ceremonial dress in Greece and Albania.
‘Licentious’ at 136ac was LASCIVIOUS not LISCIVIOUS and ‘Animosity’ at 157ac was MALICE not MALACE.
The ‘Colliery slack’ was CULM – a few guesses appeared here. The word possibly comes from Middle English colme, from Old English col or coal.
The most common error in the Stinker was down at the bottom at 295ac. ‘Gaffer’s assistant (4,3)’ needed you to know that a gaffer is an electrician or lighting expert on a film set, not just an affectionate name for an old man. The BEST BOY is the gaffer’s right-hand man. We didn’t take BUSH BOY or BUSS BOY. A bus boy is the assistant to a waiter.

BIG 218 Judge Sums Up

BIG Christmas Bonanza
We were thrilled to receive mountains of mail telling us how much you loved the Christmas edition of BIG with all the extra contests. We hope to bring you another bumper issue later in the New Year.
Perhaps the Christmas Demon was a little easier than usual, or you were all inspired by the seasonal good cheer, as there were not many errors noted by
our judges.
For ‘Anglo-Saxon freeman’ at 18ac some of you found this as CHURL, which we found as an alternative spelling. We found CEORL in the Oxford and Collins dictionaries.
Most of you put WASSAIL for 24ac ‘Mulled wine at Christmas’ but do you know the origin of this word? It comes from a Middle English phrase meaning
‘good health’.
Wassailing was a ceremony held in autumn to ward off evil and to drink to the health of the cider apple trees, so that they would yield
good crops.
A couple of incorrect vowels were noted in answers to 56dn and at 62dn. ‘Exuberant’ was EBU­LLIENT and ‘Palaeozoic marine crea­ture’ was TRILOBITE.
In the Bigcash we spotted a couple of entries with ACCUSED for ‘Whipped up’ at 40dn. Our clue would perhaps have been easier with (interest) after it, as the answer we needed was AROUSED i.e. whipped up /aroused interest. This fitted with PHOBIA for ‘Anxiety disorder’ at 50ac.
At 136ac the answer to ‘Aromatic burning stick’ was INCENSE not INSENSE.
A similar error occurred in the Goliathon where ‘48ac ‘Authorising’ was LICENSING not LICENCING.
The ‘Predecessor’ at 60ac was a FOREBEAR and not a FORESEER.
‘Mistreat’ was ABUSE and not ACUSE at 179dn and ‘Unknowing’ was UNAWARE not UNAWAKE
at 192ac.
Since Christine’s Cryptic was a competition in this issue I thought it timely to pass on a few tips to help those who are unsure of the tricks in these addictive puzzles.
Clue 1ac ‘Take a bow when Dora leaves courtyards transformed’ required you to remove ‘Dora’ from ‘courtyards’ and then ‘transform’ the letters left to make CURTSY, the answer to ‘take a bow’.
For ‘Extremely choosy apprentices have options’ at 5dn the straight part of the clue was ‘options’. ‘Extremely’ was a trigger to look at the extremes of ‘CHOosy apprentICES’ to find your answer.
The clue at 23dn, ‘Girl often found with fool following march’, was a play on the girl’s name April. April Fool’s day follows the month of March.
We had a couple of queries about our Diamond clue 21ac ‘Wind instrument’. Our answer was TUBA and a few readers called to say that the tuba is a brass, not wind instrument. The truth is that we are both right. Wind instruments are those where sound is made by a vibrating column of air. In the orchestra the wind is made up of woodwind and brass. Many woodwind instruments, such as the flute and piccolo, are now more commonly made of metal. The Oxford describes a tuba as a’ large brass wind instrument’.

Colossus 229 Judge Sums Up

A tale of two queens
Interesting that Elizabeth I
went down in history as Gloriana, whereas the other Tudor queen lives on as ‘Bloody Mary’. Both queens ordered many executions of enemies so why does history remember them so differently?
Perhaps the reason is in religion. The Roman Catholic Mary ordered the deaths of Protestants and Elizabeth the deaths of Catholics, including the very notable Mary, Queen of Scots. The battle for religious dominance was fierce and eventually England passed a law so that no Catholic could ever again be monarch.
The name Gloriana came from Edmund Spencer’s epic poem, The Faerie Queen, a work written in praise of Elizabeth. The poem’s books had such titles as ‘Temperance’, ‘Chastity’ and ‘Justice’ and it connected the Tudor queen with King Arthur. At a time of political and religious upheaval Spencer’s poem helped confirm Elizabeth’s rightful place as queen. GLORIANA was the answer to Stinker clue 40dn.
Another borrowing from literature was found at 321ac. DEMI-MONDE means ‘half world’ and originated in Alexandre Dumas’ 1855 play Le Demi-monde. The demi-monde described those who inhabited a hedonistic world of drinking, gambling and promiscuity. Toulouse-Lautrec lived in Paris in the late 1800s, was known to be fond of more than a drink or two and associated with the world of dancers and prostitute; the subjects of many of his artworks. Our clue ‘Toulouse-Lautrec’s louche world (4-5)’ required a bit of detective work, so well done to all who found the answer.
‘Tour coach’ at 228dn was CHARABANC. This wonderful word comes from the French for ‘carriage with wooden benches’. Originally horse-drawn, these open-topped vehicles were popular with the wealthy for sightseeing before WWI. Post-war saw motor charabancs used to take factory workers on annual outings to the seaside.
PHISHING, the answer to ‘Internet fraud’ at 224ac, is a new word to many of you. In fact it is a very new word, only appearing in the latest dictionaries. It is thought to come from fishing and be influenced by another recent coinage connected with computer hacking, phreaking, a portmanteau of phone and freak. Luckily in our Stinker this answer was all crossed by other words going down and so it didn’t cause too much trouble.
In the Giant Cryptic 25ac had some of you scratching your heads. In ‘Badly suited detective first to have prepared for test’, the straight part of the clue is at the end. ‘Badly’ is an anagram trigger applying to ‘suited’ and ‘detective first’, or the letter ‘d’. Rearrange these letters and you get STUDIED.
‘He works in an underground group’ was an amusing clue at 28dn for COAL MINER. If you put GOLD MINER then 39ac was incorrect. ‘Difficult request that’s in high demand?’ was a TALL ORDER not TIDY ORDER.
In the Baffler ‘My Fair Lady director, George …’ saw some visiting the video shop or dusting off the film guide. George CUKOR worked from the 30s till the 80s directing over 60 films.
Another few words to prove elusive were PHO for ‘Vietnamese soup’, AGORA for ‘Hellenic forum’ and RYOKAN for ‘Japanese inn’.
We had a query that there was a square missing after the clue ‘Black’ but EBON was correct, a poetic form of ebony.

Colossus 228 Judge Sums Up

op spots for Panga and Tosh
The two top corners of the Baffler caused most trouble in this issue of Colossus. The ‘African machete’ was a PANGA and TOSH was the answer to ‘Reggae’s Peter …’.
Rasta­fa­rians Peter Tosh and Bob Marley both rose from the slums of Kingston, Jamaica to become international music stars. These pioneers of reggae formed the band the Wailers and their music was political as well as entertaining. Tosh had many run-ins with the police, usually over marijuana smoking. On leaving the Wailers, Tosh had a successful solo career with songs demanding equal rights for black people and opposing apartheid. He was shot and died during a home invasion in 1987.
The Stinker had two words starting with V which were hard to find. ‘Neighbouring’ at 56ac was VICINAL, related to the more familiar vicinity.
At 62ac ‘Spoil quality of’ was a bit harder, as the first and third letters were not crossed by other words. VITIATE was the answer. An example of its use might be; “The triumphant mood of the meeting was vitiated by the rowdy protestors in the audience.”
ARGOT, not ARGON, was the answer to ‘Group’s jargon’ at 150ac and at 201ac an ‘Enthusiastic film-goer’ was a CINEASTE.
For 202ac ‘Trudge’ we accepted both TRAIPSE and TRAMPLE.
A strange spelling at 212ac caught out a few. IQALUIT not IQULUIT was the ‘Capital of Nunavut’.
Everyone has heard of the Dalai Lama but less well known is the ‘Second-ranked Tibetan priest, PANCHEN Lama’. Panchen means ‘great scholar’ and was the answer at 232ac.
CABOCHON not CABACHON was the ‘Unfaceted gem’ at 268ac. Interestingly, this word is related to the French for ‘cabbage’.
LUCULLAN is a word you might like to add to your vocabulary. It appeared in the Stinker at 70dn in answer to ‘Sumptuous (feast)’. Lucullus was a Roman general known for his extravagance and love of luxury, which he funded with the spoils of war.
For 137dn ‘Shepherd’s pouch’ you needed SCRIP. It seems this one wasn’t in some dictionaries as SCRAP appeared in a number of entries. There is a herb with flat seed pouches, which is known as Shepherd’s Purse and sometimes also as Shepherd’s Scrip. Its Irish name, Clappedepouch, is an allusion to the beggar’s purse. The beggars rang a bell or used clappers to draw attention.
Xero is a prefix from Greek indicating dryness and phyte a suffix indicating a plant, so the ‘Desert plant’ at 119dn was XEROPHYTE.
There are many shades of blue and many wonderful words for the different shades; sapphire, azure, royal, cobalt, Prussian, periwinkle, cornflower and CERULEAN, the answer to 201dn ‘Deep sky-blue’. The word comes from Latin, probably related to caelulum, ‘heaven or sky’.
’Colour bar’ at 117ac had some of you on the wrong track. The answer we needed was RACISM but a few entries had CUBISM as a guess. This gave you ELUDE for 101dn but you needed EVADE for ‘Avoid’.
We had a query about the Giant Cryptic clue ‘Exposed to the breezes, snakes cried’ at 7ac. ‘Snakes’ referred not to the slippery creatures but to the movement and gave you WINDS. Cried was WEPT. Put them together and you got WINDSWEPT.

Colossus 227 Judge Sums Up

Huntress of
the moon
Greek deities are right at home in our crossword grids, sure to find themselves in the company of another of Mount Olympus’s inhabitants featured on another page. What can I say? We cruciverbalists simply love our ancient gods.
In the Baffler the ‘Greek moon god-dess’ was Artemis (not ARTEMES/US). The daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin to Apollo, her time was spent hunting stags and panthers with her bow and arrow. She is also the protector of wild animals, as well as the guardian of children, virgins and women in childbirth. The Temple of Artemis in Ionia was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
We had a query about our clue, and it is true that Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, but she is also associated with Selene and known as a goddess of the moon, hence she is often depicted with a crescent moon above her head. Her Roman equivalent is Diana, who is also associated with hunting and the moon.
Also in the Baffler was the ‘Spanish playwright, Garcia LORCA’. Now highly regarded as one of Spain’s finest dra­matists and poets, tragically, in 1936 at age 38, Lorca was executed without trial by Franco’s fascists. His works were banned in Spain until 1971.
‘Jot’ at 75ac in the Stinker meant not very much and needed WHIT not CHIT in answer. At 85ac ‘Temperate in habits’ was ABSTEMIOUS not ABSTEMEOUS and at 174ac ‘Harsh criticism’ was OPPROBRIUM not OPPROPRIUM.
GILET (114ac) is a ‘Ballerina’s waistcoat bodice’. As is the case with many words associated with ballet and cycling gilet comes from French, in this instance the word for a sleeveless jacket.
228ac had a few bewildered but ‘Blurred vision in old age’ was PRESBYOPIA, which comes from the Greek for ‘old man’.
At 12dn a few entries had BREACH for ‘Pitch side-on to waves’ but you needed BROACH to be correct.
The ‘Study of selective breeding’ at 49dn was EUGENICS, which looks at the potential to improve the human race by increasing the number of children produced by those considered superior. Eugenics was at its most evil when Hitler ordered the killing of the Jews.
A tiny word caused a few big headaches at 133dn. ‘Fabric colours, … dyes’ was AZO. Azo dyes are usually red, brown or yellow dyes derived from amino compounds. Azo sounds like a great brand name thought up by a marketing team but in fact it is a scientific name.
Jan van EYCK painted master­pieces such as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Portrait of a Man in a Turban and The Arnolfini Portrait, from which Bristols’ Arnolfini arts centre gets its name. Van Eyck lived in Bruges in the early 1400s, is considered one of the century’s finest artists and was the answer to ‘Flemish painter’ at 188dn.
The Giant Cryptic made us giggle at 1dn with the clue ‘Lacking energy like an unprepared shopper?’ An unprepared shopper has left home without a list – they are LISTLESS.
At 73ac a bit more thinking was required. The trigger in this clue led you to the beginning and ending of the words. ‘Extremely generous donation for production’ – GENERATION was the answer.

BIG 217 Judge Sums Up

Goliathon gets revenge
In the Goliathon at 151ac was the clue ‘Revenge, tit for …’ with TAT (not TOT) as the answer. It is interesting that a few entries had this wrong – probably our younger puzzle-lovers.
An eye for an eye, measure for measure, and quid pro quo are all similar-meaning phrases. Tit for tat dates back to the sixteenth century and means retaliate in equivalent measure. It is thought to come from ‘tip for tap’ i.e. blow for blow.
‘Upsurge (of public sentiment)’ at 13dn was GROUNDSWELL. A few of you struggled over this clue. Interestingly groundswell originally meant a deep ocean wave, from an archaic meaning of ground as a place covered by water. The usage suggested by our clue has been around for a couple of hundred years.
We received a query about NOTICEABLE for ‘Conspicuous’ at 145dn. Why is it not NOTICABLE? It is true that dropping the final e is most common when adding -able and some words can take either the -able or -eable ending (i.e. not drop the final e). An example would be LIKABLE / LIKEABLE. However in this case the final e is needed to maintain the soft ‘s’ sound to the ‘c’.
At 78dn you needed EDUCATORS not ERS and at 92dn KALEIDOSCOPE was correct, not KALIEDOSCOPE.
In the Bigcash at 8dn for ‘More cautious’ we expected WARIER but we also took CAGIER. We did not accept LAZIER.
‘Tribute’ at 12dn was EUOLOGY not ELLOGY and the ‘Early counting instrument’ at 81ac was ABACUS not ABACAS.
The Demon put on his waders and went angling with a CREEL to hold all his gear at 25ac. CHEEL was incorrect for ‘Fishing basket’. Usually made of wicker the name comes from the French for latticework.
A vowel swap resulted in errors at 76ac where ‘Hebrew script precursor’ was ARAMAIC not ARAMIAC.
FRIEZE comes from the Latin for embroidery. It was the answer to 81ac ‘Decorative wall band’. In ancient times a frieze was made using relief sculptures, in modern suburbia a frieze is more likely a stick-on strip, especially popular in children’s rooms. We did not accept FRIESE.
FUCHSIN as the name for ‘Magenta dye’ is thought to originate from the colour of the fuchsia flower, which took its name from the botanist Leonhardt Fuchs, and also from the German translation of the French Renard for fox, Fuchs. Whatever the truth, 97ac could not be FUSHSIN. Some of you found this as FUCHSINE. According to our references both words are correct but only one fitted the spaces.
A confusion of vowels again caused trouble at 111ac and103dn. The ‘Back-brushed forehead hair’ was QUIFF not QUAFF fitting with HAILE not HIALE for ‘Ethiopian emperor, … Selassie’.
The word bowdlerised is often misspelt and mispronounced as bowlderised. A way to remember this is that it comes from the name of a Mr Bowdler. In 1818 the prudish Thomas Bowdler and his sister Henrietta reproduced some of Shakespeare’s plays removing any expressions they considered ‘indecent in nature’. The term BOWDLERISED was born and it was the answer to 141ac ‘Expurgated’.

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.

Colossus 225 Judge Sums Up

Switched on
with Nora
In Woody Allen’s Oscar-winning film Hannah and Her Sisters, a film about the rocky paths in relationships and marriage, Hannah is congratulated by her family on her performance in A Doll’s House. Her mother says, “I played Nora , I hate to tell you what year….. and it’s difficult ….. I think that Ibsen would have been damn proud of our Hannah”.
In our Baffler ‘Ibsen’s A Doll’s House heroine’ needed the answer NORA not NINA, as some entries had. This, Ibsen’s best-known play, opened the doors on domestic life looking at the roles of men and women in marriage. At the time it was first performed in 1879 it caused quite a scandal.
Further down in the Baffler was the ‘Flash lamp element’ which has the chemical symbol Xe for XENON not ZENON. ‘Fetid air’ was FUG not FOG, which is mist or haze but not stale and musty.
Dr Robert Moog (pronounced to rhyme with ‘rogue’) was a pioneer of electronic music and changed the way popular music sounded forever. When Switched-on Bach was recorded in 1968 listeners were amazed at this futuristic sound and the instrument was taken up by many musicians – techno was born! Baffler clue ‘First name in synthesisers’ was MOOG not MORG or MONG.
In the Stinker the ‘Loopy lace pattern’ at 21ac was PICOT not PIVOT and at 24ac ‘Pathogenic’ wanted MORBIFIC not MORTIFIC.
In Italian, polite forms of address include Signor, Signorina and SIGNORA, which was the answer to ‘Italian Mrs’ at 48ac – not SINNORA.
A circlet is a simple crown without arches or a cap covering the top. At 65ac the ‘Consort’s crown’ was a CIRCLET not CIRCLES or CERCLET. If you put the latter then you also had 38dn incorrect. The ‘Explorer, … Vespucci’ was AMERIGO not AMEREGO. A couple of answer also had the incorrect AMERICO. The Americas are thought to have been named in honour of this Italian adventurer.
For 97ac, ‘Grim’, you needed DOUR not DOOR or DOAR. ‘Wrinkle’ was RUCK not RICK at 126ac and the ‘Clergyman’s land grant’ should have been GLEBE at 190ac not GREBE, which is a diving bird.
If at 215ac for the clue ‘Beijing’s … Square’ you put TIANAMMEN instead of the correct TIANANMEN you also had 218dn incorrect as MEMESES – ‘Agents of fate’ should be NEMESES, the plural of nemesis. Nemesis was the Greek goddess of retribution and vengeance. She avenged crimes and punished arrogance before the gods. She was the one you couldn’t escape from, which is perhaps how nemesis came to mean an archenemy; one who is opposite to you but somehow familiar at the same time.
There is an old tale about a monkey who persuades a cat to pull chestnuts out of the fire using its paw. The cat gets burnt paws and the monkey gets a delicious fill of hot chestnuts. It is from this tale that the meaning of ‘Cat’s-paw’ for clue 266ac derives. The answer was DUPE not DOPE.
NUMMULAR means ‘Coin-shaped’ and was the answer to 269ac (not NUMNULAR) and at 200dn GIOCONDA not GIACONDA was needed for ‘Da Vinci’s La …’.
We have had lots of positive comments on the addition of The Knowledge to Colossus, but this time a couple of entries had PARADISE LEST for the mystery answer, which should have been PARADISE LOST. This came about from confusion over the spelling of the answer to 39ac. AOTEAROA is ‘New Zealand’s name translated as ‘the land of the long white cloud’’ – not AETEAROA.

BIG 216 Judge Sums Up

A nut feast on
St Philibert’s Day
The Demon was a bit ‘Shadowy’ at 20ac. Well done if you filled in TENEBROUS – a few entries had TENEVROUS or TENETROUS. This obscure word for gloomy or dark also has the meaning of obscure.
The Frankish abbot, St Philibert, or Philbert, gave his name to the ‘Hazelnut’ and so the answer to 54ac was FILBERT not FIBBERT. The nuts are ready for eating in England around St Philibert’s feast day of August 20, hence the nut has his name.
With not many letters crossed from other words to help, 76ac proved tricky for some. The ‘Clay oven’ we needed was a TANDOOR.
One clue on at 77ac, the ‘Ballet tights’ were MAILLOT, but again a few misspellings appeared here. Not surprisingly this word, like many ballet words, comes from French. Maillot is also used for a ladies swimsuit and a jersey in cycle racing – you may have heard it during the annual Tour de France, where the maillot jaune or yellow jersey, is worn by the overall race leader.
A little further on at 90ac there was another cycling term. The ‘main pack of race cyclists’ is known as the PELOTON not PELATON.
Most of you got COTE for 102ac ‘Dove shelter’ but did you know that this word is closely related to cottage? A dovecote is a small cottage for doves.
The ‘Lunar trench’ at 110ac needed RILLE. This comes from the same German word from which we get the word ‘rill’ for a small stream.
A letter Q was needed at the crossing of 136ac and 122dn – a couple of entries had a C here. The ‘Region of SW France is AQUITAINE and the ‘Chef’s hat’ is a TOQUE.
At 123dn was a clue for those who have kept horses on other people’s land. AGIST was the answer required.
You may have heard of the colour name EAU DE NIL but did you know that it means literally ‘water of the Nile’? It is a pale yellowish green colour and the answer to 140ac. It sounds like something you might find on a sheet of paint colours along with Gumleaf, Asparagus and Sea Dream!
Karl Gauss was a German mathematician who had a unit of magnetic induction named after him – DEGAUSS was the answer to ‘Demagnetise’ at 14dn.
The ‘Indian starling’, a huge pest in many parts of Australia, was MYNAH not MINAH at 15dn. First brought into Australia to control insects they are now often called ‘flying rats’ and are second only to cane toads as the most hated feral animal.
At 35dn the composer we were looking for was Sir Edward ELGAR not EDGAR. Elgar, the son of a piano tuner from Worcester, is best known for his Pomp and Circumstance Marches, particularly No 1, from which Land of Hope and Glory comes. King Edward IV found the music stirring and Elgar asked AC Benson to write some lyrics. It was first performed in 1902 and is now often sung at sporting matches as well as the Last Night of the BBC Proms.
Finally for The Demon I am happy to say that at 48ac for ‘Chair wheels’ we took both CASTER and CASTOR.
In the Goliathon the ‘Spine part’ (44dn) was a DISC not DISK and the answer to ‘Not binding’ (55dn) was NULL not NILL. At 166dn ‘Thickly’ was DENSELY and not DENSLLY or DENSILY.
Not much to mention in the Bigcash – a couple of entries had EMOTE for 8dn but you needed EVOKE and at 109dn ‘Liveliness’ was PEP not ZEP. Pep apparently comes from the word pepper.

BIG 215 Judge Sums Up

A Demonful of words
Another month down and another batch of BIG contests in the bag! Well done to everyone who ventured forth into the puzzling pool and congratulations if you were clever enough to answer all the clues.
Our judges noticed a few errors in Demon entries but as always, we were impressed by your efforts.
First up, JACKAL not JACKEL was the answer to 4ac ‘Wild African canine’. Next up at 17ac ‘Bugle farewell’ needed TAPS, not TAPE. Tape came about if you put PINE at 2dn for ‘While away’. You needed PASS here, which also gave you the S at the beginning of SALUBRIOUS for ‘Wholesome’ at 13ac. Salubrious come from the Latin salubris ‘health’.
Sir Francis Drake’s ship, the Golden HIND, appeared at 56ac and most of you had this correct. Sir Francis was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I but was also a successful pirate. The Golden Hind was sent on a voyage around the globe and plundered and destroyed Spanish ships met along the way. Francis made himself and his queen very rich and earned himself a knighthood and a place in history.
The Golden Hind was originally called the Pelican, but renamed by Drake. It sailed from Plymouth in December 1577, circumnavigated the globe and returned to Plymouth in September 1580. It is true that the galleon is also spelled as Golden Hinde, but only HIND would fit in our crossword.
At 10ac, an EFFIGY not EFFEGY is a ‘Sculptured likeness’. In English folklore, effigies were often made of disliked people and then often burnt. The most famous effigy is the guy, which is paraded and burnt on November 5th to commemorate the failed attempt by Guy Fawkes to blow up the Parliament in 1605.
Clue 21ac needed the past tense SPAT for ‘Expectorated’ and not SPIT, which is present tense and was also the answer to 126dn ‘Elongated strip of sand’.
Helios was Greek for sun and at 22dn PERIHELION was the answer to ‘Planet’s orbit point closest to the sun’.
Speaking of the sun, at 34dn we had the young man who, to his peril, flew too close to the sun. ‘Daedalus’ son’, ICARUS had artificial wings made for him by his father so he could escape from Crete, but not heeding the warnings, he soared towards the sun, the wax melted on the wings and Icarus plun­ged into the Aegean Sea.
At 37ac DIRGE not DURGE was the answer to ‘Funeral song’ and the ‘Nihilistic art movement’ was DADA not RADA 91ac.
Clue 35dn brought to my mind the saying, “It’ll either cure you or kill you”. A NOSTRUM is an unproven elixir or medication and was the answer to ‘Favourite remedy’. A couple of entries had NOSTRUN making 68ac also incorrect. ‘Afghanistan border river’ is the AMU Darya.
The answer to 20dn eluded a few of you. ‘Crushed coffee beans’ are NIBS (not NOBS or NAGS or NUTS). Well done if you tracked this down. Nibs might be included in chocolate bars or desserts for a coffee flavour and caffeine hit.
The AGA KHAN was at 77dn, but a couple of you had this as AGA KAAN. This came about if at 100ac for ‘Pasture grass’ you put ACREAGE. You needed HERBAGE.
BANDEROLES and not BANNERROLLS are ‘Coffin flags’ (74dn) and the ‘Indigestion symptom’ (118dn) was REFLUX not REFLEX. 109dn ‘Coerce’ was DRAGOON not DRAGONN or DRAGOWN.
Dragoon started life as a noun, a cavalry musket, the weapon of 16th century cavalrymen. The word came to also mean the soldier and then became a verb meaning force someone to do something against their will.

« Previous Page — Next Page »