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.
MEGA! 71 - Judge Sums Up
Last modified on 2012-01-31 04:17:58 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Sibyl’s prophecy
for a Stinker
A simple spelling mistake caught out some Stinker-lovers at 1dn. ‘Prophetess’ needed SIBYL not SYBIL. Sibyl’s were depicted as old women who lived in caves making prophecies. The most famous was the one who assisted Aeneas in his journey to the underworld.
Another often misspelt name caught out others of you at 103ac. ‘Othello plotter’ needed IAGO not LAGO.
Interestingly a sibyl appears in Shakespeare’s play. Othello gives Desdemona a handkerchief which he says was woven by a 200-year-old sibyl. The handkerchief is a symbol of loyalty, but Iago uses it to convince Othello of Desdemona’s infidelity.
The conniving Iago could perhaps be described as a roué, but not as a roux! ROUX not ROUÉ was the answer to 49dn ‘White sauce base’. Roux comes, like many cooking terms, from French and is related to the word russet, coming from the Latin russus, meaning ‘brownish’.
Our clue at 42dn was ‘Box-shaped solid’, but what is a box-shape? Our compiler was thinking of a regular cube-shaped box, but surely a box can have other than six sides. This was something we had to consider when faced with the answer DECAHEDRON instead of the expected HEXAHEDRON. Should we allow it? So back to maths class we went.
Hedron is a suffix meaning a solid with a specific number of faces. A polyhedron is a solid bounded by polygons, that is, closed planes of at least three sides (e.g. triangles, squares, rectangles). So far so good. A hexahedron has six faces, i.e. is a cube when those faces are squares. But a tetrahedron is 3-sided, a pentahedron is 5-sided and a heptahedron is 7-sided. Are they not still boxes? None of these fitted the space in our grid but DECAHEDRON did, and as it can be argued that you can have a 10-sided box, after due deliberation we accepted it as an alternative answer to our clue.
Imminent, coming from the Latin for ‘project over’ means ‘impending’. Immanent, coming from the Latin for ‘remain in’ means ‘existing within’. Our clue at 139dn ‘Inherent’ needed IMMANENT not IMMINENT. One little letter, but a whole world of difference!
The answer to 167dn, while perhaps not immediately obvious, was a ‘light bulb’ moment once realised. ‘Southerly’ was AUSTRAL. DUSTPAN and QUETZAL fitted the space but can only be described as wild guesses.
The Greeks used the word australis to mean the southern part of the world and terra australis incognita was the ‘unknown southern land’ that became Australia.
Austral is used for things relating to, or from the south, so an austral breeze or austral summer. It is used quite a lot by southern hemisphere businesses; Austral Gold, Austral Bricks, Air Austral are examples.
Now I feel in need of some refreshment, how about you? Look no further than 177dn where you’ll find ‘Drink, mint …’. A mint JULEP (not JULIP) originated in Kentucky as a mix of bourbon, ice, sugar syrup and mint. According to Oxford the word julep comes from the Persian gulab or ‘rose water’. A similar drink is a mojito, which has the addition of lime.
In the Mega Mix ‘Ireland’s new PM since March 2011’ (70ac) proved hard to find for some. One reader even told us she rang the Irish Consulate and was told Brian Cowen, who was in fact the previous leader. ENDA KENNY leads the Finn Gael party and heads a coalition government formed on March 9, 2011.
It is no surprise that Iran and Iraq are often mistaken, as they are neighbours and differ in English by just one letter. The ‘Gulf War nation’ was IRAQ at 55dn in the Mighty Mega, not IRAN. The United States invaded Iraq in 1991 following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. This is sometimes called the First Gulf War because of the coalition invasion in 2003, usually known as the Iraq War. Just to confuse things further, both are sometimes referred to as Desert Storm. And if that wasn’t enough confusion, there was also a conflict in the 1980s between the two nations known as the Iran-Iraq War.
Not much else to mention from the Mighty Mega I’m pleased to say. Just a couple of AVIARIES instead of APIARIES for 72ac ‘Bee farms’ and one or two ABASE instead of ABATE for 12dn ‘Diminish’.
I would like to wish you all the best for the festive season and I look forward to joining you in 2012 to make it the best puzzling year yet.
Holiday Collection 77 - Judge Sums Up
Last modified on 2012-01-31 01:50:58 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Magnificent Monster
The Double Monster is one of your favourite contests, combining the fun of cracking the code in the Monster Starhunt, with the challenge of unravelling the clues in the Monster Colossus.
With so many clues to solve it is no surprise when a few errors appear.
At 33dn the clue ‘False doctrines’ needed HERESIES and not HERETICS, who are the people espousing the doctrines.
‘Concert venue, … Square Garden’ (83ac) needed MADISON and not MADISAN, which also made 118dn incorrect. ‘Became threadbare, … out’ was WORE no WARE.
Clue 121dn ‘Quaff’ needed GULP as the answer. Quaff is defined as ‘to drink heartily or in one draught’ so I’m sure you will agree that QUIP, ‘a sarcastic or cutting remark’, didn’t fit at all.
At 310dn ‘Hangers-on’ was RETINUE and not RESIDUE and 243dn ‘Claim’ was ASSERTION not ASCERTAIN.
Over in the Stinker at 72ac the ‘Short-stemmed clay pipe’ was a DUDEEN; a word to note if you couldn’t find it. Dudeen comes from a Gaelic word for pipe. ‘Torn asunder’ (74ac) was RIVEN. Quite a few incorrect answers were spotted here including RILED, RISEN and RIPER.
The word NEVE has been known to crop up in our puzzles, usually with a clue like ‘Glacial snow’. A NENE, on the other hand, is a ‘Hawaiian goose’ and was the answer to 283dn. As you can see the two are not interchangeable!
While once common on the islands, the nene is now the world’s rarest goose and is sadly threatened. Conservation and breeding programs have been successful in saving the goose from the brink of extinction.
The Greek island of Santorini is also known as THIRA or THERA, but not PHIRA, as a few of you had for clue 77ac. Interestingly, this tourist haven is the remains of a volcano that erupted 3600 years ago. The island is very steep and its whitewashed towns perched high on its rocky slopes make for picture postcard views.
Giant Cryptic clue 1dn ‘Honey, jacket will make things appear more attractive (5-4)’ needed SUGAR-COAT but a few instances of SUGAR-WRAP appeared. You can sugar-coat unpleasant news to lessen the negative impact. Politicians are good at sugar-coating policies they think will be unpopular.
A couple of entries had ADOLECENCE instead of ADOLECENTS for 49dn ‘Al does distribute money to youths’ (the CENTS are the money referred to). If so, you also had 72ac incorrect. ‘The kind of stockings anglers use?’ was FISHNET, of course!
In the Collection Contest at 307dn quite a few of you had a different answer to ours, with a completely different meaning. For ‘Downfall’ we wanted RUIN but many entries had RAIN. We checked our dictionaries and agreed that you were correct, so we accepted either answer.
However, at 111ac ‘Adversaries’ needed FOES. We couldn’t make FEES work.
‘Outshining’ at 125ac was ECLIPSING not ECLIPTING and ‘Cattle parasite’ (singular) at 209dn was TICK not TICS, which are muscle twitches.
We’ve put together another collection for your enjoyment. There’s hours of fun and plenty of brain-boosting exercise,
so dive in! Wishing you all a very happy 2012!
BIG Crossword November - Judge Sums Up
Last modified on 2012-01-31 01:49:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Keeping the
judges honest
Judging the competition entries always results in much discussion around words and meanings. Sometimes things get a little heated, but we always come to a decision and are as kind as we can be, while still being fair to all entrants. This month’s entries provided much brain-stretching for our team.
At 1dn in the Goliathon ‘Originated’ was BEGAN but a few entries had BEGUN. Testing out our lexicological abilities, we realised that in an example such as ‘Language may have originated in Africa/ Language originated in Africa’ BEGUN and BEGAN replace the single word ‘originated’ – so both answers were okay.
The clue at 10dn ‘Widely’ wanted BROADLY. However quite a few entries had GREATLY. As greatly can mean extensively and widely can mean largely, we had to admit that, while in general use the two words are different, there is enough overlap that it was also acceptable for this clue.
Another dilemma arose at 3dn ‘Hanker after’. We wanted CRAVE and most of you had this but CHASE appeared a few times. Looking up ‘hanker’ it definitely means ‘have a yearning for’ and so we only accepted CRAVE.
ELLIPTICAL means ‘Egg-shaped’ (123dn). Eclipsis is a rare word for ellipsis, but this is unrelated to the shape. It refers to an omission in a sentence or the three dots that indicate this (…). We often use ellipses in our clues. The entries that had ECLIPTICAL for 123dn were unfortunately incorrect.
The Bigcash was not without its pitfalls. ‘Ponder’ at 9ac suggested CONCENTRATE to some of you. This seemed okay until you came to 12dn ‘Slowly removed, … out’ which was PHASED. To make all fit you had to come up with CONTEMPLATE for 9ac.
UTILISE and UTILIZE were both fine for ‘Put to work’ (77ac) but you needed NEWSMEN, not NEWSMAN, for 32dn ‘Journalists’. ‘Maintains positively’ at 56ac was ASSERTS not ASSENTS, which means ‘agrees’.
At 8dn in The Demon was the clue to a ‘Textured upholstery cloth’ that many of you had not heard of. The answer was DIMITY, a word that comes from Medieval Latin, originally from the Greek di- ‘two’
and mitos ‘thread’, i.e. double-threaded. The cloth has fine raised cords or ribs running as stripes, squares or diamond patterns on the warp. It was originally silk or wool but is now made of cotton. This pretty fabric and dainty word have inspired some to call their baby girls, Dimity. Perhaps there is a Dimity amongst our puzzlers.
At 69ac ‘Knave’ needed the answer VARLET. A couple of entries had HARLOT, which we immediately thought incorrect. However we always check alternative answers in a few sources and to our surprise under ‘harlot’ in Oxford, the original meaning is listed as a ‘promiscuous woman or man’. It comes from the French for knave or vagabond, so we had to concede that this answer was, while borderline, now acceptable.
The ‘Gated canal sections’ at 28dn were LOCKS not LOCHS and ‘Fertilised ova’ at 77ac was ZYGOTES not ZYGOTIS.
The ‘Medieval outer petticoat’ at 119dn was a KIRTLE. A few of you had found this as KYRTLE, so we accepted that also. For men the kirtle was a knee-length tunic but for women it was a full-length garment. As a petticoat it was worn by upper class women over a chemise, with a formal gown over the top. For the less well-off, a kirtle would have been worn as a dress.
Where else would you come across so many wonderful words?
Colossus 135 - Judge Sums Up
Last modified on 2012-01-31 01:48:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
Teeing up
the clues
In the Cashwords, for ‘Arranged, … up’ at 170dn, we accepted both TEED and TIED. Tee comes from the sporting world. A tee is a stand for a ball, perhaps the best known being the golfer’s tee. A golfer tees up and tees off.
Arranged can also be to tie up, especially loose ends! Tie up loose ends is thought to come from the world of sailing, but what about ‘to be at a loose end’, meaning having little to do? I found this relates to the fact that a captain would order his crew to repair the loose ends of ropes only when there was nothing more pressing to be done. Now let’s press on.
A couple of grammatical errors to mention; at 207ac for ‘Re-evoked (memories)’ you needed AWAKENS not AWAKING and for 147dn ‘Gained victory’ you needed WON not WIN.
We expected SOAR for ‘Skyrocket’ at 178dn but some entries had STAR, perhaps more poetic, but sadly, incorrect.
‘Harassing’ at 215dn was HOUNDING, giving you HEMISPHERE for ‘Half-ball’ at 215ac. SEMISPHERE and SOUNDING were not suitable alternatives.
Over in the Baffler the ‘Ancient Greek region in Anatolia’ was
IONIA not IONIC, which is an architectural style.
The ‘Anti-communist’ was Joseph MCCARTHY not MACARTHY. McCarthy was famous for his spurious claims that there were many Soviet spies within the US federal government and armed forces.
A few entries had GREY for ‘Anatomy author’ but the textbook was written by Henry GRAY.
Just to confuse things, the
American medical drama is called Grey’s Anatomy.
If you had GREY then ‘Neoclassical style’ ended up as the cheesy EDAM, instead of the correct ADAM. This style was named after Robert Adam, a Scottish architect and designer.
In the Giant Cryptic 61dn ‘Announce hotel has slice I made’ was PUBLICISE; PUB coming from ‘hotel’ and LICISE being a mix of the letters from ‘slice I’. A couple of entries had PARTITION.
The Brenner Pass has been used as a route between Northern and Southern Europe since before Roman times. Once a mule track, it is now a major motorway providing a way through the Alps.
In the Stinker, clue 16dn ‘Austria/Italy’s … Pass’ needed BRENNER and not BREMNER as some
of you put.
A plutocracy is government by the wealthy, not by that Disney dog! So the ‘Members of the wealthy elite’ at 20ac were PLUTOCRATS not PLUROCRATS.
A GILLIE is a ‘Scottish hunting guide’ (7dn). This is also spelt ghillie or gilly, but these didn’t fit. We couldn’t find the variant GILLEE.
Clue 146ac proved a bit tricky. ‘Caving hobbyist’ was SPELUNKER not SPELUCKER. Is not spelunker a wonderful word? It comes from the Latin spelunx ‘cave’.
Coming off the P was ‘The golden ratio’ (147dn) or PHI (PYI and PSI were incorrect). Phi comes from the first letter of the name of Greek sculptor and architect Phidias, whose buildings seemed to reflect the golden ratio, which is an aesthetic ideal relating to the ratio of the base to the height of a rectangle.
‘Cosa Nostra mobster’ at 192ac needed MAFIOSO, not MAFIOSA, to fit with LOW for ‘Trough’ at 184dn. One clue over at 185dn, ‘Israeli-designed sub-machine gun’ was UZI. According to Collins this weapon was named after Uziel Gal, the officer who designed it.
Ossuary is a word that appears in our Stinker from time to time. It is a vault to contain bones. In this Stinker at 265dn was the related word OSSEOUS (not OSSUOUS) in answer to ‘Bony’. The base word is the Latin oss ‘bone’. Perhaps we should rename our Skeleton puzzle The Ossa!
Hopefully there are no bones of contention there. Make no bones about it, I’ll be back in the New Year! Wishing you a fantastic fun-filled festive season.
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.
