ShopThe Judge Sums Up
The Judge loves language and loves to show off by writing about the tricky clues in Lovatts contest crosswords. The Judge will also point out where you went wrong! You will find the wise words of The Judge in each issue of BIG Crossword, Colossus Crosswords, MEGA! and Holiday Crossword Collection. If there are any clues you would like explained The Judge is the one to ask.
Demon Aficionados - Jan BIG Contests
Last modified on 2010-03-02 02:28:18 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
AFICIONADO comes from the Spanish for ‘arouse affection’ and means an enthusiast or ‘Ardent devotee’ (Demon 22dn).
Most of you Demon aficionados had no trouble with this answer but a few of the less canny crossworders had AFICIANADO, AVICIANADO or even OFFICINADO. The latter caused more problems in across clues, ’Slipstream’ (21ac), which was WAKE not WORE, ‘Japanese martial art’ (29ac) was AIKIDO and ‘Heather’ (42ac) was ERICA.
If you had HILT for ‘Axe handle’ at 56ac then you also had AFICIONADO incorrect. A hilt is also called a HAFT. So it seems being an aficionado has many possible pitfalls.
Our compilers found a couple of new challenging words for our Demon.
At 18dn ‘Dealer in hides’ was a FELLMONGER, a word some of our more senior crossworders might remember from the days when carts carried skins to where the fellmonger expertly separated the wool from the pelt. FELTMONGER appeared in a few entries.
Even more of a challenge was 74dn. ‘Opera singers’ coach’ threw up a new word for many of you. Originally from French, REPETITEUR is sometimes shortened to ‘rep’. Reps are highly skilled musicians who play piano at rehearsals and advise singers on vocal technique. This word proved elusive and a few guesses and blanks were noted.
A repetiteur would probably be able to give you the answer to 45ac. ‘Resonant’ was OROTUND, which comes from the Latin for ‘with rounded mouth’ – sounds quite fitting for an opera singer.
Back at 13ac a few errors were spotted. PLAGIARISM is ‘Literary piracy’. This fitted with SKIVE for ‘Malinger’ at 4dn but if you had SCAPE or SKATE or SHAKE you ended up with the incorrect PLAGAIRISM.
Finally for The Demon, 132ac ‘Stamp of approval’ had some of you stumped. The answer which comes from the Latin for ‘let it be printed’ was IMPRIMATUR (not IMPRIMATER).
In the Goliathon 17ac clue ‘Make known’ was IMPART not IMPACT or INPART.
Clue 58ac was unexpectedly controversial. For ‘Seediest’ we had SLEAZIEST but other answers were spotted in entries. Seedy means sordid, disreputable, shabby, squalid, unwell or full of seeds. Looking carefully at these definitions we decided not to accept STEAMIEST, SNEAKIEST or SWEATIEST.
Other clues that caught out a few of you included ‘Early harp’ at 173ac, which was LYRE not LUTE and at 194ac ‘Revitalised’ was RESURRECTED not RESSERECTED.
Not much to note in the Bigcash. At 12dn for ‘Lag behind’ one entry had DRUDGE, perhaps thinking of TRUDGE, but DAWDLE was correct (not DAUDLE).
‘Mount’ at 102ac needed SCALE but a couple of entries had STAGE and we realised that this was also correct. As well as climb, mount can mean organise so you can mount or stage an event. Thanks to reader Linda Martin who emailed us to point this out as well. If our judges find an answer other than the one we expected, they always check the dictionaries to see if it is a valid alternative.
Another BIG month’s contests are waiting to be tackled so sharpen those pencils and dust off those reference books.
Phineas returns - Dec BIG Contests
Last modified on 2010-03-02 02:29:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Anthony Trollope was a very successful and popular novelist in Victorian England. One of his famous series of books was the Palliser novels, including Phineas Finn written in 1869. When it came to our Demon clue, ‘Trollope novel, Phineas …’ at 27ac, many of our puzzlers not surprisingly tried to fit FINN, but this caused trouble for the crossing words and there were five spaces, not four.
The fourth in the Palliser series was the sequel, Phineas Redux. REDUX, meaning ‘brought back’ or ‘restored’ fitted our Demon space perfectly. Phineas is not to be confused with Phileas Fogg, Jules Verne’s character who attempted to travel around the world in 80 days.
Clue 58dn also caused some bemused looks. ‘Futile (task)’ needed SISYPHEAN, a word once well known, but now of obscure meaning to most of us, as we are not so familiar with classical references. Sisyphus was a bit of a bad boy of Greek mythology, known for deceit, murder, lechery and all manner of evil. On his final demise he was condemned to roll a big stone up a hill for all eternity. This is where the meaning of futile comes from, associated with his name.
If your bracelet matches your hair clip, matches your earrings, matches your brooch, matches your belt buckle, then that is a PARURE, coming from Old French for ‘adornment’. Our clue for this was ‘Matching set of jewellery’ at 98ac.
At 136ac ‘Upper jawbone’ wanted MAXILLA not MAGILLA, which sounds like a gorilla (quite a mouthful!). If you like to keep an eye out for aliens then you could call yourself a UFOLOGIST (not UFOLIGIST), the answer to ‘Flying saucer researcher’ at 56dn.
SAPIENT was an answer familiar to the ‘Wise’ who tackled 86dn. This word comes from sapiens meaning wise and yes, is the same as in homo sapiens, or ‘wise man’.
On the top line of the Goliathon our judges spotted a couple of CLARAFIEDs, but CLARIFIED is the correct spelling in answer to ‘Explained’ (6ac).
The ‘Hot water springs’ (104dn) are GEYSERS not GEESERS or GEEZERS making ‘Barks shrilly’ (118ac) YAPS not EEPS. Geezers are men, the word is thought to come from a dialect form of guiser, someone who takes on a guise.
Thanks to Ellen Dean, who emailed us with her concerns over the clue ‘Two-by two craft (4’1,3)’ at 149ac. The clue was a reference to the animals going in two-by-two and so the answer was NOAH’ S ARK. Ellen thought this clue was too obscure for a Goliathon. What do others think about this? You can email us on postbox@lovatts.com.au about this or with any other queries or comments.
One clue that did catch out a few in the Bigcash was at 50ac. ‘Conforming, … the line’ was TOEING not TOWING. This is a not uncommon mistake but most of you lexicon lovers did know the correct choice of word.
As with many expressions, the origin of ‘toe the line’ lingers somewhere in the haze of history. Royal navy sailors were lined up for group punishment with their toes along the decking boards (toe the crack), early boxing matches had boxers ‘toe the scratch’ and the British parliament had lines separating the opposing front benches. If debate became heated, they would be told to toe the line, that is, keep their toes on or behind the line.
For those of you who did get this wrong, I hope you have now learnt something interesting. Unfortunately if you did have this wrong it made 40dn impossible. ‘By and large’ was OVERALL.
Our judges also spotted EULOLY instead of the correct EULOGY at 9dn for ‘Tribute’ and AMBIGUTTY instead of AMBIGUITY at 56dn for ‘Uncertainty of meaning’.
Happy Valentine’s Day and happy puzzling!
Aim High- Nov BIG Contests
Last modified on 2010-03-02 02:20:39 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Tackling a Demon can be like climbing a mountain and this was true of clue 7dn in the November BIG. ‘Mt McKinley’ didn’t even seem like a clue to some, but the clue referred to the fact that Mt McKinley has another name.
The highest mountain in North America is in Alaska and in 1896 was named in honour of President William McKinley. These were the days when Europeans thought they were making new discoveries, but of course such landmarks had been known to the locals for thousands of years. The Native American name for the peak was Denali meaning ‘The Great One’ and this is now recognised in the same way that Ayers Rock is also known as Uluru.
The next clue along, ‘Grump’ at 8dn, wanted MISERY not LIVERY or VILELY, and a couple more clues over at 12dn ‘Absorb’ needed INGEST not INJEST. The correct answer fitted with GOTHS (not JUTES) at 21ac for ‘Roman Empire invaders’.
For 69ac ‘Woollen overcoat cloth’ we expected KERSEY, a coarse fabric named after the southeast England town. Many of you put JERSEY, which is named after the largest of the Channel Isles. Jersey was originally made of wool and the island was famous for exporting its knitted goods. As you can have a jersey overcoat, we accepted this answer as well.
For the next clue across ‘Sycophantic group’ (71ac) CLAQUE and not CLIQUE was the answer. The latter made 57dn BOI but the ‘Fluffy stole’ was a BOA. Claque comes from the French for applaud or clap. A claque was originally a group of people hired to applaud so the audience would be encouraged to join in.
NOISOME sounds like it might be loud but in fact it is related to annoying and means offensive or foul. It was the answer to ‘Malodorous’ at 76ac. A few incorrect answers appeared here including NAUSATE, ABUSIVE and IRKSOME. The initial N was needed to fit with 73dn ‘Virus’ genetic material (1,1,1)’ or RNA (ribonucleic acid).
The ‘Nutty gelato’ at 78ac was CASSATA, not CASSAVA, a shrub with starchy roots used as a food staple in Central America. A couple of other incorrect answer here were PASSATA and MESSAVA, meaning 58dn was also incorrect. ‘Opportunist’ wanted CHANCER and not TRAPPER or CHALMER. There was a TV series called Chancer starring Clive Owen as conman Stephen Crane.
BÊTE noir is used to describe a ‘Dreaded thing’. It came into English from French a couple of hundred years ago. Perhaps your bête noir is a clue you don’t know the answer to! A few entries had BENE at 86dn.
A couple of vexatious vowels to mention -16ac was TINEA not TINIA, 26dn was SANGRIA not SANGREA and 82dn was ELAN not ELIN.
The Goliathon seemed to cause few problems this time. So well done to all our clever entrants!
Our judges did spot an INJUSTLY instead of UNJUSTLY at 60ac and a KNEEDED instead of KNEADED at 197ac – but that was about it for errors.
In the Bigcash the main thing to mention is clue 77ac. For ‘Magnify’ we wanted ENLARGE but also accepted ENHANCE.
A few entries had EMAIL for 88dn ‘Microsoft spreadsheet software’ but the answer was EXCEL. I agree this one was a bit tough but some who didn’t know it asked around their more computer-savvy friends or contacted a computer seller. Good to see you were all determined to not let the Demon OUTFOX you! (And not OUTFIX as some had at 81ac).
Asleep on the job? MEGA! 59 Contests
Last modified on 2009-11-24 23:14:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
The Mega Stinker was as smelly as usual in issue No. 59. It was enough to keep some of you awake especially at 47dn where ‘Wakefulness’ was INSOMNIA and not IMSOMNIA.
As you saw the sun come up you may have been tackling 134ac ‘Solar radiation (1,1-1)’. This was UV-B not USB or UBB. Ultraviolet means beyond violet in Latin. Violet has the shortest wavelength of visible light and UV is shorter again. We need UVB for vitamin D but it can also cause skin damage. To avoid this we all ‘slip, slop, slap’ on sunny days.
If you’re lucky, while you’re out enjoying a sunny day at the beach, you might spot a whale off the coast. At 61ac ‘Rorqual’ needed SEI Whale (not SKI or SHI). Rorquals are a group of whales including some of the largest, such as the Blue Whale and Humpback Whale. The Sei is the third largest of the group.
A POMANDER is a ‘Scented ball’ 12dn. The word comes from the French for ‘apple of amber’. Pomanders were used in the Middle Ages to counter bad smells and to try and ward off infections. A couple of misspellings included POMADDER and POMANDOR.
In Shakespeare’s Othello IAGO is the double-crossing villain. He was the answer to 152ac in Mega Stinker. If you put LAGO then you also had 125dn incorrect. BRUNEI not BRUNEL is the ‘Borneo oil-rich sultanate’.
Finally for the Stinker 110dn ‘Ruling family’ was DYNASTY not DYNESTY.
We love to have some fun in our crosswords but many of our words are ‘Significant’ or MEANINGFUL. Perhaps because of its length and number of vowels, this word stumped a few of you in the Mighty Mega at 10ac.
At 70ac the ‘Mexican snack’ was an ENCHILADA not an ENCHILIDA and ‘Prising tools’ at 87ac needed LEVERS not JEMEYS.
16dn ‘Other way round, vice …’ was VERSA not VERCA, 83dn ‘Antarctic bird, … penguin’ was EMPEROR not EMPORER and 116dn ‘Impersonator’ was IMITATOR not IMITATER.
Christine’s Mega Mix is an entertaining crossword that gets you thinking.
For 22ac ‘”Ne’er cast a … till May be out” needed the word CLOUT to finish the phrase but some of you put CLOUD. The phrase from the 1700s means don’t cast away your warm clothes before the end of May. This was a toughie, so well done all who tracked it down.
SHIMON PERES at 12dn also caused problems with various spellings of his name appearing.
The clue was ‘Current Israeli leader, first cousin of Lauren Bacall. Peres was born Shymon Perski in Poland, which is where Lauren Bacall’s family had come from. Her original name was Perske but it was changed to her mother’s name, Bacall when her parents separated.
The TV series at 32dn was Mad MEN (not MAN) and at 28dn the spicy sauce was TABASCO and not TAMPICO or TAMPERO.
NEANDERTHAL (11dn) and not NEANDERTHOL man was found in a valley near Dusseldorf in DEUTSCHLAND (10dn) not DEURSCHLAND.
Well done to everyone who tackled the contest crosswords and MEGA congratulations to all who conquered!
Best wishes to everyone for a wonderfully happy and safe Christmas and New Year. We at Lovatts are looking forward to bringing you many more fine crosswords in 2010.
For the birds - OCT BIG Contests
Last modified on 2009-11-24 23:13:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
As this is our Christmas issue I am going to try and stick to writing only about words that make us feel good.
Our clue for HALCYON was ‘Golden (past)’ but the word came from a Greek myth about a bird (no not a partridge) and has a Christmas association.
Alcyone, daughter of Aeolus, who controlled the winds, was married to Ceyx. When Ceyx drowned in a shipwreck, Alcyone threw herself into the sea and the gods took pity and turned them both into birds. Aeolus calmed the winds over the winter solstice (around Dec 17-27) so that the birds could nest. HALCYON came up a number of times when we surveyed readers’ favourite words a few years ago, however some still spelt it incorrectly at 48ac replacing the Y with an I.
The notion of an ideal place has always captured the human imagination. When in 1516 Sir Thomas More published his book mocking the English political and social system, he called his fictional perfect place, Utopia, from the Greek for ‘no place’.
Stories of a utopian place on earth have been around as long as literature and in 1933, British author James Hilton created such a place in his novel Lost Horizon and he called it SHANGRI-LA (Demon 141ac). Shangri-la is a hidden Himalayan valley of happy, long-lived people.
If you lived in Shangri-la I am sure you would not be concerned by the misspelling SHANGRA-LA but our Demon is not so laid back and forgiving.
Interestingly we had PARADISE in the same crossword at 12ac for ‘Heaven’. Of Iranian origin, it means ‘a wall enclosing a garden’. Greek soldier and historian Xenophon, who appears in our crosswords from time to time, used the word paradeisos to describe the large gardens of the Persian rulers. Centuries later it was used for the biblical garden. From there it gained momentum and we use it for everything from amusement parks to retirement homes to holiday resorts to casinos. Perhaps it’s time we had a Paradise Puzzle!
I wonder if they have the ‘Black diamond’ in paradise. It sounds like a most desirable thing -something that might be stolen in an Indiana Jones movie, but in fact the CARBONADO is used in industry to make drill bits and grinding and cutting tools. The name is easily explained as diamonds are chains of carbon. The word came into English from Portuguese. At 20ac in the Demon CABBONADO and CARBANADO were incorrect.
Star ANISE is a terrific spice to add to your Christmas pudding. Our clue at 110ac ‘Fruit, star …’ confused some who thought it should perhaps be apple. The fruits of the Chinese evergreen tree are star-shaped, hence the name.
As Christmas celebrates the birth of the baby Jesus, I thought I’d bring to your attention a nice crossing of words in October’s Demon. LULLABIES at 62ac met up with LAYETTE at 63dn. Layette comes from Old French for a box or chest of drawers and was traditionally all the items a mother knitted and sewed during pregnancy.
In the Goliathon we got in early with the first clue ‘Christmas month’ for DECEMBER.
At 103ac ‘Eccentric’ had as its answer one of my favourite words, BIZARRE, unfortunately easily misspelt as BAZARRE or BAZAARE, if confused with the Middle East market, or bazaar.
Another lovely word was at 129dn, but this one did not cause trouble to you wacky readers. ‘Wackiness’ was ZANINESS and zany comes from an Italian nickname for Giovanni, a common name for clowns in the Italian commedia dell’arte.
Christmas can seem like a lot of rush and fuss but I am sure once the New Year routines settle in we all look back on these as ‘halcyon days’.
Peace and goodwill to you all this Christmas.
