Aka The Crosswords
…and Monday’s crossword gets the crossword week off to a
great start as I only had to cheat on two of the 25 clues. For some reason,
instead of going with ‘Gable’ I thought ‘Gabot’ was an ‘American film star,
d.1960’ and I didn’t remember that ‘lees’ were the ‘sediment from wine and beer
production, bit aside form that the answers flowed from the little grey cells
to my pen, e.g. 13 down, ‘The “backbone of England” had me stumped and thinking
about different types of people who might be considered “the backbone…”, but
then it came to me that the clue meant the literal backbone and pop there was
‘Pennines’. And I only got ‘usurer’ thanks to reading (and re-reading) John
Higgs excellent book about The KLF, which talks about usury in relation to the
K Foundation burning of a million quid (although I should point out that all of
Mr Higgs books are excellent and are well recommended)…
…and the great start continues with Tuesday’s crossword as I
only had to cheat on a tenth of the clues (two out of 21). I was a little
worried when I started as the answers just weren’t coming to me, but then
something clicked and they started to flow and by the time I’d finished my
first pass the little grey cells had gotten a good chuck of the answers. Like,
I just couldn’t figure out what the answer to ‘trained’ was, but then I got the
intersecting l (from ‘lie in’) and ‘schooled’ just popped out. Or ‘admonish’
for ‘reprimand firmly’, so I started thinking “what letters normally go before
an h….well, mostly it’s an i and an s” and that led straight to ‘admonish’. And
I learnt that ‘Ives’ was an ‘American composer of Three Places in New England,
d. 1954’ and that ‘Judaism’s Hell’ is ‘Gehenna’…
…Wednesday’s crossword goes okayish, I had to cheat on a
sixth of the clues (four out of 24) – not too bad, but not great. A few of the
answers came easy, but most had to be chewed over by the little grey cells
before they would fall into place, e.g. ‘basso’ from ‘lowest male singing voice
(sometimes profundo)’ – I know that the bass notes are the low notes and
sticking an ‘o’ at the end makes words look Italian (I know, I know it’s
sailing close to being dodgy, but I think it’s just about on the non-dodgy
side) and luckily ‘basso’ was the right answer! And I learnt that there is a
‘kind of watch chain’ called an ‘Albert’, that spoonerisms come from ‘Spooner’
an ‘Oxford academic notable for mixing up his syllables when talking, d. 1930’
and that ‘Joshua’ was ‘Moses’s successor, victor of the Battle of Jericho’…
…while Thursday’s crossword was a tougher proposition and
was a real struggle to do. All of which meant that I had to cheat on nearly a
third of the clues (five out of 18). The little grey cells just couldn’t get
the answers from many of the clues, many of which I should have gotten, it was
like trying to run through mud ☹ But I did learn that a ‘rissole’ is a ‘small cake of
deep-fried minced meat’ and I would argue that ‘brassed off’ doesn’t mean
‘bored’, rather it means annoyed or frustrated (a bit like me with how this
crossword went!)…
…and Friday’s crossword is also a bit of a dog’s dinner. I
only had to cheat on four of the clues, but it’s four out of 19, so nearly a
quarter of the clues! And it was a real 8 across (‘slog’) to get those 15, it
was like the answers were on the tip of tongue/pen, but it took forever for the
little grey cells to make that final leap to the answer. Like ‘gangrene’ should
have been obvious (as the answer to ‘death and decay of body tissue’), but all
I could think of was ‘decompose’ and it took ages to get beyond it to the
answer. Que sera sera I guess, at least I learnt that a ‘linnet’ is a ‘small
finch, once popular as a caged songbird’…
…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on an okayish note.
I had to cheat on a sixth of the clues, four again, but from a larger number of
clues, 24. Unlike yesterday’s crossword the answers came pretty easily,
although the last word on the multi-word answers, like ‘…world’ and ‘…plunge’,
took the little grey cells a few chews to get right 😉
Although I’m a bit annoyed that for ‘wood cut and prepared as building
material’ I went for ‘timber’ and not ‘lumber’, but I did learn that
‘discursive’ means ‘rambling’ and that the ‘capital of Belarus’ is ‘Minsk’…and
now, before the crossword week begins again, a day of rest for the little grey
cells…
Monday 9th
September 2019 - Saturday 14th September 2019
…and we get the week off to an ‘meh’ start with Monday’s crossword,
I had to cheat on five of the 23 clues. Which is not good but does have the
bonus of giving an Illuminati score. This was a chewy crossword for the little
grey cells, a few of the answers came easily, but most had to be chewed over
and considered until they sorted into place. Like I just couldn’t get
‘amnesty’, but when I got the intersecting ‘a’ and ‘n’ it just popped out of
the little grey cells. Or ‘abattoir’, which I only saw when I got all the
intersecting letters. At least I learnt that the ‘Duma’ is the ‘Russian
parliament’, that a ‘Dryad’ is a ‘nymph of the woods’ and that ‘Astrakhan’ is
the ‘curly fleece of an Asian breed of lambs’…
…and the mehness dissipates a little with Tuesday’s
crossword as I only needed to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 25),
which isn’t great, but isn’t terrible. Most of the answer came easily enough,
but a few needed to be chewed over by the little grey cells. I’m a little
annoyed that I went for ‘literate’ and not ‘legible’ for ‘able to read’,
especially as it has eight and not seven letters! But I did learn that
‘Funchal’ is the ‘capital of Madeira’…
…Wednesday’s crossword went a little bit about the same, I
needed to cheat on five of the 24 clues…the mehness continues…which is probably
better than I deserve, as it was a struggle for the little grey cells to get
many of the answers, but most of the time they just about managed it. And I did
learn that ‘Anatolia’ is the ‘Asian part of Turkey’ and that ‘Gouache’ is a
‘watercolour painting with opaque colours…
…but we bounced back with Thursday’s crossword, as I only
needed to cheat on an eleventh of the clues (two out of 22). Either the clues
were easier today or the rest of the weeks were extra hard or the little grey
cells were knackered and it took till now for them to be back up to strength?
And I learnt that ‘Las Palmas’ is the ‘capital of Gran Canaria’ and that I had
forgotten that ‘mostly’ can mean ‘on the whole’…
…while Friday’s crossword goes in the opposite direction,
the little grey cells had a real hard time figuring out the clues and I had to
cheat on five thirteenths, of over a third, of the clues (ten out of 26). Not
good at all, as I should have gotten ‘noble’ from ‘blue-blooded’, ‘Sahara’ from
‘about 3,500,000 square miles of Africa’, ‘ergo’ from ‘therefore’, etc. But I
did learn that ‘entrecote’ is the ‘steak cut from between the ribs’, that
‘greengage’ is a ‘variety of plum’ and that ‘orlon’ is a ‘synthetic acrylic
fibre’…
…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on an okay note of
mehness as I had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 24). Most of the
answers came easily now, with a little chewing over by the little grey cells
but those last four were just out of reach. But I did learn that ‘Ajaccio’ is
the ‘Corsican capital’ and that ‘Deneb’ is a ‘star in Cygnus’. Maybe next
week’s crosswords will go better…
Monday 16th
September 2019 - Saturday 21st September 2019
…and we get the week off with a terrible start, the little
grey cells found this grid to be a bit of an nightmare and I had to cheat on a
third of the clues…not good, not good at all…and I think I was lucky to get
some of the clues that I did get. And some I missed by a hair, like for
‘twisting force (7)’ I know that it was to do with torque, but I couldn’t get
from there to ‘torsion’. And how could I forget about the ‘frankfurter’! But,
on a happier note, I did learn that an abbreviation for last month is ‘ult’,
that ‘pulchritude’ means ‘beauty’, that a ‘toccata’ is a ‘baroque keyboard
composition’ and that the ‘Black Bottom’ was a ‘popular 1920s American dance’…
…and we’re back on track with Tuesday’s crossword as I only
had to cheat on a seventh of the clues (three out of 21)…the little grey cells
are back on track…or the clues were easier today! Either way most of the clues
were straight forward for the little grey cells and they only needed to chew
over a few of them (aside from the three I didn’t get, although I’m not sure
how ‘brutal’ in ‘brutal – high moorland’ is a clue for ‘fell’, maybe I should
have ignored it and stuck with ‘high moorland’ as the clue?) and I learnt that
the ‘Aardvark’ is also called an ‘Antbear’ and that a ‘Syrah’ is a
‘dark-skinned red wine grape’. Hopefully the tide is turned and the rest of the
week’s crosswords are as easy to solve…
…and we’re still on track with Wednesday’s wonderous
word…puzzle…sorry I ran out of w words...anyway, I only had to cheat on an
eighth of the clues (three out of 23). Again, the little grey cells just
chomped their way through the clues, like Pac-Man (although I should have
gotten ‘giveaway’ and ‘arcade’). And I learnt that the ‘transept’ is the ‘part
of a church at right angles to the nave’…
…the little grey cells kept up their Pac-Man like pursuit of
answers with Thursday’s crossword and I only had to cheat on a seventh of the
clues (three out of 21). But, again, there were a couple of obvious answers
that I should have got that I didn’t, namely ‘pigeonhole’ from ‘categorise’ and
‘hat trick’ from ‘threefold feat’, but I did learn that a ‘Swazi’ is person who
is a ‘citizen of a monarchy landlocked within southern Africa’…
…wakka wakka, as the little grey cells continue their
Pac-Man like devouring of the clues, chewing them up and spitting out answers,
except for four of the 23 clues. I should have gotten ‘succumb’ and ‘turbine’,
but I did learn that a ‘bedspread’ can also be called a ‘coverlet’ and that
‘Caxton’ was the ‘first English painter, d. 1491/2’. I did like 21 across ‘down
on a map’, for ages I though it meant ‘down’ as in a type of hill or other
geographical feature, but then I realised that I was being thinking to deeply
and it literally meant down or ‘south’…
…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week with the little grey
cells continuing their Pac-Man imitation (but will it continue next week?). I
only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (four out of 23) and I learnt that
the ‘artistic district, part of the Left Bank in of Paris’ is the
‘Montparnasse’ that the ‘city previously called Madras’ is ‘Chennai’ and that
the ‘illustration facing a book’s title page’ is called a ‘frontispiece’, which
seems obvious in hindsight. Roll on next week…
Monday 23rd
September 2019 - Saturday 28th September 2019
…and Monday’s crossword got the week off to a pretty good
start, the little grey cells were going gangbusters and I only had to cheat on
two clues and I really should have gotten ‘eclipsed’ from ‘overshadowed’, but I
did learn that ‘Tallinn’ is a ‘capital on the Gulf of Finland’…
…things took a bit of a nosedive with Tuesday’s crossword,
the little gey cells had trouble with a lot of the clues and couldn’t chew all
of them over into answers. Which meant that I had to cheat on nearly a third of
the clues (six out of 21). But it did mean that I learnt that a ‘tumulus’ is an
‘ancient burial mound’, that ‘omicron’ is a ‘Greek vowel’ and not a
transformer, that ‘Accra’ is a ‘West African capital’, that the ‘East Indiaman’
was an ‘old trading ship’ (but I know about the East India Company and should
have extrapolated from that) and that ‘quinquennial’ means ‘recurring every
five years’…
…things tick up with Wednesday’s crossword as I only had to
cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24). The little grey cells are
back from the pounding they took yesterday and chewed through the clues. And I
learnt that ‘passata’ is a ‘sieved tomato puree’ and that another name for a
‘soothsayer’ is ‘augur’…
…but we take a tumble with Thursday’s crossword as I had to
cheat on nearly a quarter of the clues (four out of 18), slightly annoyed that
I didn’t remember that ‘annoying’ is a synonym for ‘vexatious’, but it was
pretty much the best I was going to do as I didn’t know that a ‘box containing
cutlery’ is called a ‘canteen’, that a ‘Dabchick’ is also called a ‘little
grebe’ and that a ‘cowshed’ is called a ‘byre’…
…and we take a massive uptick with Friday’s crossword as I
didn’t have to cheat on any of the clues (zero out of 19). The little grey
cells took their time and chewed right through the clues until they got the
answers, roll on the next crosswords…
…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on an okay note, as
I have to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 23). And I should have
gotten ‘fathom’ from ‘come to understand’ and ‘held’ from ‘defended
successfully’, but I did learn that the former name of Sri Lanka was ‘Ceylon’
and that ‘Roald Amundsen’ was a ‘Norwegian polar explorer, d. 1928’…not a bad
week all in all, roll on next week…
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