ShopMEGA 6 Judge Sums Up
February 11, 2011 by The Judge
Filed under Uncategorized
Our Mega Stinker clue ‘Graph peak’ at 174ac cofounded many of you competition lovers. The clue was not looking for a mountain called ‘Graph’ but was referred to graphs. If you ever watch or listen to finance reports they often talk about the latest oil price spike making our petrol more expensive. SPIKE was the answer we were looking for and not SPIRE, SLIDE or SPINE.
Another word that caught out some of you was at 37ac where ‘Palm-reading fortune-teller’ had you wishing you could see the answers in a crystal ball! CHIROMANCER was the answer but various other guesses at letters to fill the gaps appeared in entries.
The ‘Camargue delta waterway’ at 93ac was RHONE but RHINE fitted the space and many of you opted for that. The Camargue delta is Europe’s biggest and is in the south of France. The Rhine River is a major waterway in Germany.
At 1ac most of you put the correct WEDLOCK for ‘Matrimony’ but if you tried to fit WEDDING you found yourself in quite a pickle. Similarly at 114dn ‘Quite recent’ needed NEWISH but if you put NEWEST you were again in all sorts of trouble with the surrounding words.
A couple of tricky words of foreign derivation trapped some. At 96ac the ‘Japanese zither’ was a KOTO not KITO or KUTO and at 57dn the ‘Judo novice grade’ needed KYU not KOU.
Only one letter was not crossed by another word at 51dn but still it proved a headache for some. ‘Surgically remove’ was not REJECT but was RESECT.
A Stinker is supposed to be tough, but sometimes our puzzlers look for a challenge that is not there. ‘Hurtled’ at 152ac was ZOOMED and not ZEOMED as one entry had.
Finally for the Stinker, 13dn was ‘Robert Burns poem’ and we were surprised that quite a few entries had TOM O’SHANTER instead of the correct TAM O’SHANTER. This epic poem is the tale of a man who stays too long at the pub and sees frightening visions on his way home. It concludes with:
No, wha this tale o’ truth shall read,
Ilk man and mother’s son take heed;
Whene’er to drink you are inclin’d,
Or cutty-sarks run in your mind,
Think! ye may buy joys o’er dear -
Remember Tam o’ Shanter’s mare
Over to the Mega Mix and 19dn proved too cryptic for some of you. ‘Leave to create contrast with trigger (3,3)’. This was a clue which combines three different meanings of the answer. SET OFF means ‘leave’ but also ‘create contrast’, as a brooch might set off an outfit. You also use a ‘trigger’ to set off an explosive. Unfortunately GET OFF, POP OFF and LET OFF didn’t match these clue parts.
The other place to slip up in the Mega Mix was 22ac. The former Serbian president was Slobodan MILOSEVIC. Many different guesses at the spelling were noted by our judges.
There was magic in the Mighty Mega but the incantation was tricky to spell. ABRACADABRA was the answer to 65dn. We did accept ABRAKADABRA but not ABBACADABRA (a song from Mamma Mia?) or ABRADACABRA where the consonants are mixed up. The word dates back to the 2nd century when the Gnostics used it to ward of illness and misfortune.
A couple of other words to note, 11dn ‘Adding (up)’ was TOTTING not TOTEING, 124dn ‘Hebrew holy day’ was YOM Kippur not YUM Kippur and one which made us smile, at 5ac for ‘Kisses lightly’ we had PECKS but one entry had PASHS!
Well done to you all. Very few errors showing your word knowledge and research skills are firing.
FREE World Cup Trivia App by YouPlay & Lovatts
July 8, 2010 by Webmaster
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BIG Winners (Issue 211)
June 7, 2010 by Webmaster
Filed under BIG Winners, Latest Prize Winners, Magazine Updates, Uncategorized
£300 Winner
Alison Burke, Radcliffe.
5 x £40 Winners
Gaynor Armitage, Wirral; Robert Hamlen, Chippenham; Sue Healey, Grantham; Sharon Holtham, Bishop’s Stortford; P Williams, Cheltenham.
Goliathon No 211
1 x Stainless Steel Kitchen Pack
Pamela Lucas, Romford.
1 x Rachel Allen Cookbook
Diana Ball, Lymington.
3 x Lovatts Note Pad & Pen Set
L Duncan, Alyth; Andrew Satterthwaite, Lancaster; Derek Varley, Morley.
DEMON No 211
1 x Atmosphere Illuminated Globe
Bruce Davies, Oxford.
2 x Lovatts Engraved Weather Station
Y Batchelor, Reading; John Otter, Northallerton.
2 x Lovatts Note Pad & Pen Set
P Radburn, Eastleigh; W Stratton, Hitchin.
BONANZA No 211
Wordygig – P8
Solution: 1a, 2b, 3c, 4b
2 x Collins Scrabble Dictionaries
R Morfett, Waltham-Abbey; H Walker, Sheffield.
The Knowledge – P10
Solution: George Clooney
2 x Times Mini Atlases of the World
M McCann, Liverpool; M Smith, Tywyn.
Starhunt 1 – P16
Solution: David Letterman
2 x Lovatts Thermo Mugs
J Clements, Brighton; J Holmes, Bournemouth.
Starhunt 3 – P17
Solution: Gwyneth Paltrow
2 x Lovatts Tea Towels & Trolley Token Key Rings
Carol Perrin, Nailsea; M Ward, Sandwich.
Ninesies – P18
Solution: Android
2 x Lovatts Coffee Mugs & Trolley Token Keyrings
Phil Bennett, Salisbury; D Young, Christchurch.
Pop Words – P20
Solution: The Eagles
2 x Boxed CD Sets – Original Easy Listening
Jean Nash, Royton; B Richards, Enfield.
Elevenses 1 – P22
Solution: Specialists
2 x Lovatts Shopping Bags & Tea Towels
P Sheward, Kidderminster; Laura Youseman, Inverurie.
Wheel Words – P24
Solution: Matriarach
2 x Collins Pocket Dictionaries & Thesauruses
Pauline Carpenter, Eastbourne; Mary Hartley, Halifax.
Memory Lane – P28
Solution: Channel Islands
2 x Lovatts Coffee Mugs & Tea Towels
Christine Burslem, Stone; Rodger Turnbull, Dyce.
Two-Way Teaser – P38
Solution: Against All Odds
2 x Clip On Booklights
Barbara Davis, Flackwell Heath; May Edwards, Ellesmere.
Do Your Block – P42
Solution: Sailors
2 x Crossword Solver’s Pocket Dictionaries
Glenna Davies, Swansea; Hazel Montague, Windsor.
Starhunt 5 – P46
Solution: Freddie Prinze JR
2 x £10 WHSmith Vouchers
Judy Darkins, High Wycombe; J Turner, Chesterfield.
Starhunt 7 – P47
Solution: Mike Myers
2 x Lovatts Shopping Bags & Tea Towels
Zena Hardinge, St Keverne; Len Porter, Blackpool.
Elevenses 2- P52
Solution: Amusement
2 x Collins Gem Books – 5 Minute Memory Workout
V Payne, Skipton; Lynne Turner, Bedwas.
Starhunt 9 – P58
Solution: Eddie Murphy
2 x Lovatts Thermo Mugs
S Alcock, Stoke-On-Trent; Angela Allen, St Lawrence.
Starhunt 11 – P59
Solution: Virginia Madsen
2 x Lovatts Coffee Mugs & Trolley Token Key Rings
K Batham, Stourbridge West; T Foord-Divers, Ashford.
FindaWord – P75
Solution: A Grin Without a Cat
Christopher Rose, Shanklin; Linda Taylor, Bicester.
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January 6, 2010 by Webmaster
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How do you do? Colossus Contests 213
November 10, 2009 by The Judge
Filed under Uncategorized
‘How do you do’ is a polite formal greeting, one associated especially with the upper class. Our Baffler clue ‘Imbroglio’ had this greeting as its answer, but in a less than polite sense. The phrase also has a sarcastic meaning, used for an unpleasant situation. It’s the sort of thing you might say if you spill coffee on your crossword, for instance.
Use your noggin – MEGA Contests 01
November 10, 2009 by The Judge
Filed under The Judge Sums Up, Uncategorized
a wondrous toy,
Made for a girl and boy;
We’ll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy!
So go the lyrics to this much-covered song about the famous ‘New York borough’ that appeared in the MEGA Stinker at 53ac. Unfortunately for some entries, MANHATTON and MANHATTEN were incorrect spellings.
In 1626 the Dutch paid the local Lenape Indians a few trinkets for the land. The name Manhattan comes from the local language meaning ‘island of many hills’. What was New Amsterdam was renamed New York in 1664 when the British took over the settlement.
Welcome to the MEGA! Judge Sums Up. In each issue I will happily chat about the words in the competition puzzles from MEGA two issues back, the solutions for which will be printed in the back of the magazine along with the prize winners.
You always have to use your noggin to solve the Stinker clues. Perhaps best known as a slang word for head, it also means a small cup or liquid measure and NOGGIN (not NUGGIN) was the answer to ‘Nip’ at 56ac. We have lots of terms for the head, including brainbox, conk, dome, nut, and perhaps the oddest, noodle. Noodle is probably adapted from noddle, (perhaps because it nods?).
On to 62ac where SCILICET in answer to ‘That is to say’ proved hard to find. It comes from Latin for ‘it is permitted to know’. In English we are more likely to say ‘namely’ but scilicet is sometimes used, especially in academic writing.
ESOTERIC is often used to mean ‘difficult to understand’ or ‘obscure’. In philosophy it means ‘understood only by a few’, so was the answer to 72ac ‘Only for the initiated’. EXOTERIC and ECOTERIC were incorrect. Exoteric is in fact the opposite, meaning ‘suitable for the public’.
At 126ac ‘Nicked’ was FILCHED not FINCHED (perhaps you were confused with PINCHED) and at 138ac ‘Squashed (rumour)’ was SCOTCHED not SCORCHED. Scorch can be used metaphorically but means to criticise harshly not squash. A couple of other incorrect answers were STOUCHED and SMOOTHED, which also made 139dn wrong.
COLOPHON comes from the Greek kolophon ‘finishing touch’. It was the answer to 139dn ‘Publisher’s emblem’ and refers to an identifying imprint or trademark on the title page of a book. A colophon was originally a description written into the back of a book with information relating to its production.
This crossed with 149ac ‘Hominid hoax, … man’. The PILTDOWN man was seen as the possible missing link between apes and humans, when a skull was discovered in Piltdown, Sussex in 1908. By the 1950s it was conclusively shown to be a fraud. Someone had fooled the scientific community for over 40 years with bits of ape and human bones. If it had been found on April 1 perhaps the joke would have been spotted sooner!
In the Mega Mix clue 6dn ‘Is Tibetan monk wicked in Pakistan’s capital?’ gave you ISLAMABAD (Is lama bad?). A couple of entries had ALLAMABAD.
Finally, we had a query about the clue in MEGA! No. 3 ‘Cinch’ for SHOO-IN. This is a tricky clue but is referring to a sure thing or certainty. It comes from the world of racing where a horse seen as a certain winner was said to be a shoo-in. Cinch also has this meaning.
See you next time – happy puzzling!
Active and energised
October 29, 2009 by Christine
Filed under Mailbag, Uncategorized
Corinne Lloyd
Windsor, Berks
Puzzle Collection Winners (Issue No. 64)
October 13, 2009 by Webmaster
Filed under Uncategorized
2 x £100
Angela Bryans, Fife; Jade Harper, Huddersfield.
6 x £50
Janette Bennett, Dromore; Emma Burtenshaw, Great Dunmow; M Kelly, Llandudno; Jill Kuhn, Plymouth; M Logan, Dalbeattie; Pat Pearson, Knott End.
Double Monster Drawer No 64
2 x £100
Elizabeth Oborne, Pewsey; Jeanette Wiffill, Plymouth.
Monster Colossus Winner No 64
1 x £50
Pol Robson, Swindon.
Monster Colossus Runners-Up No 64
4 x £25
Helen Batey, Durham; Mildred Cutting, Colchester; J Kinane, Wigan; Paul Needham, Sheffield.
Monster Starhunt Winner No 64
1 x £50
E Allen, Manchester.
Monster Starhunt Runners-Up No 64
4 x £25
Linda Huffen, Kirkby-In-Ashfield; W Humphreys, Maidstone; J McMurdock, East Ravendale; Maureen Montgomery, Langtoft.
STINKER No 64
2 x Sony Personal CD Players with Tuner
Mildred Cutting, Colchester; Jacqui Sohn, Great Yarmouth.
3 x Franklin Pocket Spellers
Rosemary Boud, Leeds; P Charles, Penllergaer; M Wilson, Chester-Le-Street.
GIANT CRYPTIC No 64
2 x Hitachi HDC-891E 8MP Digital Cameras
D Berresford, Poole; R Crampton, Lincoln.
3 x Lovatts Prize Packs
Rebecca Cruickshanks, Holmes Chapel; I Lees, Mansfield; D Urquhart, Aberdeen.
COLLECTION CONTEST COUPON No 64
Chain Letters – P53
Solution: Hallucination
3 x Collins Gem Books & Correction Pens
T Cleary, Aylesbury; A Scholefield, Wishaw; J Stewart, Peterlee.
Spirogram – P59
Solution: Present
3 x £10 Gift Vouchers
J Jenkins, Churchdown; Linda Littlewood, Salford 6; Elizabeth Rutherford, Fawdon.
Pop Words – P60
Solution: Mick Jagger
3 x Lovatts Coffee Mugs & Trolley Tokens
Jean Bailey, Burscough; Tamara Markarian, Burnley; Joyce Woolley, Northwich.
Findaword – P64
Solution: Creepy Crawly
3 x £10 Gift Vouchers
Liz Dunn, Cheadle; L Huffen, Ashfield; Deirdre Morrow, Newtownards.
Starcross – P65
Solution: Public Enemies
3 x Lovatts Rain Jackets
Ruth Carson, Burnage; Catherine Morris, Southampton; J Payn, Ryde.
Cluedunnit – P70
Solution: Lindsay Lohan
3 x Collins Gem Books & Correction Pens
John Brooke, Hatch End; Wendie Kaye, Longwood; Margaret Smith, Beverley.
Retroflex – P71
Solution: Drivers
3 x Collins Gem Dictionary & Thesuraus
E Down, Hailsham; J Fillingham, Lincoln; K Greenway, Redruth.
Who Am I? – P72
Solution: Gwyneth Paltrow
3 x Lovatts Rain Jackets
Rowena Griffiths, Fishponds; Maureeen Montgomery, Langtoft; Elaine Williams, Mangotsfield.
