Days 868 – 916 part 5

The Crosswords: 

Days 868 - 873

Aka Monday 17^th June 2019 - Saturday 22^nd June 2019

 

Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a bad start as I have to cheat on a quarter of the clues (six out of 23). The little grey cells just weren’t clicking, firing on only half cylinders. I should have gotten half of these six clues – ‘macho’, ‘byword’, ‘gyrate’ – but I did learn that a ‘Leveret’ is a baby hare’, that ‘Andorra’ is a ‘principality in the Pyrenees’ and that the ‘Zloty’ is the ‘Polish currency unit’…

…and Tuesday’s crossword goes even worse as I had to cheat on two fifths of the clues (ten out of 25), which I put down to not feeling well. I felt like I had sun or heat stroke, a little dazed and confused and tired and not able to full concentrate on things. Liker I should have gotten that an ‘alcoholic pick-me-up’ is a ‘bracer’ or that ‘liking to wear fancy or formal clothes’ is being ‘dressy’, but I did learn that ‘cream sherry’ is a ‘full-bodied sweet fortified wine’ and that ‘Rossini’ was an ‘Italian operatic composer, d. 1868’… 

…so, Wednesday’s crossword went okay, I just had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (five out of 24), but it should have been a clean sweep as those five clues were pretty straight-forward/obvious, but I guess that being unwell meant that I missed them – I should have gotten ‘Bosnia’ from ‘Balkan region joined with Herzegovina’, ‘leakage’ from ‘discharge of fluid through a small gap’, ‘donkeys years’ from ‘beastly long time’, ‘Twain’ from ‘pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, d. 1910’ and ‘Cage’ from ‘confine – US composer, d. 1992’…

…Thursday’s crossword went much worse, I had to cheat on over a third of the clues (eight out of 22), again I should have gotten most of the eight, but the little grey cells were still recuperating, just a pretty dire performance…

…but Friday’s crossword went pretty well, as I only had to cheat on a ninth of the clues (three out of 26). Would have been better if I’d known the plural of fulcrum and spent a bit longer on ‘with a feeling of comfort and warmth’ I might have gotten ‘cosy’. And I learnt that a ‘tabard’ (as well as being like a tunic) is also a ‘jacket worn by a herald’…

…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on a high note as I didn’t have to cheat on any of the twenty-four clues. After a week spent feeling pretty awful and unwell, the answers just flowed, and there were just a couple with I had to pause and consider what the answer was. It was easy like a Sunday afternoon…

Days 875 - 880

Aka Monday 24^th June 2019 - Saturday 29^th June 2019

Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a good start as I only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24) and I really should have gotten those three as well – ‘fragmentary’, ‘generic’ and ‘testimonial’ – but I guess the little grey cells weren’t firing on all cylinders…

…Tuesday’s crossword went a little worse, I had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (four out of 21) and while most of the answers came easy enough, those four eluded me, I guess the little grey cells are still warming up…

…and on Wednesday’s crossword the little grey cells were firing on all cylinders as I only had to cheat on an eleventh of the clues (two out of 23) and I learnt that ‘lengths of yarn, loosely coiled’ are called ‘skeins’ and that ‘someone who has abandoned their religion’ is an ‘apostate’…

…Thursday’s crossword took a nose dive as I had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (five out of 21), the little grey cells must have been knackered after yesterday and that’s why I didn’t get ‘sign’, ‘amicable’ and ‘ventilator’, but I did learn that a ‘slow movement in a musical work’ is called ‘adagio’ and that a ‘sudden thrust in fencing’ is a ‘lunge’…

…while Friday’s crossword pulls out of the nose-dive, as I only have to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 23), although I should have gotten ‘sleaze’ from ‘cheap and vulgar behaviour’, but I did learn that ‘causing moral revulsion’ is being ‘abominable’ and that ‘garment – promontory’ can mean ‘cape’ (as in “a point of high land that juts out into the sea or a large lake” for promontory’…

…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week heading back into the nose-dive as I had to cheat on a third of the clues (seven out of 23), the little grey cells were not operating at full capacity! I should have gotten most of those seven, but I did learn that ‘the colour of unbleached linen’ is ‘ecru’, that ‘cosset’ means to ‘overindulge’’ and that ‘Lille’ is a ‘university city in French Flanders’…

Days 882 - 887

Aka Monday 1^st July 2019 - Saturday 6th July 2019

Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a so-so start as I had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (four out of 25). I should have gotten ‘wake’ from ‘vigil – wash’, but I was thinking of wash as in clean and not in turns of tides and bodies of water, but I did learn that ‘Rabat’ is the ‘capital of Morocco’ and that ‘equivocate’ means ‘hedge’…

…Tuesday’s crossword went much, much better, as I only had to cheat on one of the 21 clues. The little grey cells were firing on all cylinders and it would have been a clean sweep if my knowledge of Heraldry was better, I would have known that the ‘sign of bastardly on a coat of arms’ is a ‘bend sinister’…

…Wednesday’s crossword went a teeny bit worse, having to cheat an eighth of the clues (three out of 24). I was let down by my lack of classical knowledge, otherwise I might have known that the ‘port of Athens’ is ‘Piraeus’ and that the ‘French composer of the Gymnopedies, d. 1925’ was ‘Satie’…

…Thursday’s crossword went a tad better, I only had to cheat on a ninth of the clues (two out of 18). The little grey cells have been firing pretty much on all cylinders this week and, today, I learnt that the ‘set of containers for salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, etc.’ are called ‘cruet’ and that the ‘musical setting of a text’ is called a ‘cantata’…

…but Friday’s crossword upset the apple cart and I had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (five out of 19). I guess the little grey cells have been worn out this week! I should have gotten four of those five (‘disturbed’, ‘shield’, ‘minstrel’ and ‘pranks’), but I did learn that ‘bellicose’ means ‘aggressive and ready to fight’… 

…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on a bit of a bum note, as I had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (five out of 24). I think the little grey cells have been worn out by work, crosswords and the heat, ‘cause I should have gotten ‘insolent’ from ‘cheeky’ and ‘avows’ from ‘declares’, but I did learn that ‘Meissen’ is a ‘city in Saxony, famous for its porcelain’, that ‘Tableland’ means ‘Plateau’ and that the ‘pin of a sundial whose shadow points to the hour’ is a ‘gnomon’…

Days 889 - 89

Aka Monday 8^th July 2019 – Saturday 13^th July 2019

Monday’s crossword gets the week off to an okay start with an Illuminati score (cheating on five of the 23 clues). It was a bit of a slow start, only got about a third of the clues on my first pass, but then the little grey cells kicked in and the rest followed and I learnt that a ‘Charr’ is a ‘Trout-like fish found in mountain streams’, that ‘de luxe’ is spelt as two words not one, or can be spelt as two words, and that a ‘tarn’ is a ‘small mountain lake’. So, a little let down by my lack of mountain knowledge, but otherwise an okay start to the week…

…Tuesday’s crossword went a tad better, I only had to cheat on a fifth of the clues (four out of 25). A bit annoyed that I didn’t get ‘twelve’ from ‘AM/PM separator’, I tired ‘noon’, ‘lunch’, ‘midday’, etc, but the little grey cells didn’t make the leap from them to ‘twelve’. But I did learn that ‘Croesus’ was a ‘rich old king’ (“the king of Lydia who…was renowned for his wealth”) and that ‘abjured’ means ‘renounced’…

…and Wednesday’s crossword goes even more “a tad better” as I only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24). The little grey cells are mostly holding their own, although I should have gotten ‘fecklessness’ and ‘yawn’, but I did learn that the ‘genus of trees that includes hollies’ is the ‘ilex’…

…and Thursday’s crossword goes almost as well, I just had to cheat on a seventh of the clues (three out of 22), but I think that it would have been better if I hadn’t rushed the grid, ‘cause I probably would have gotten ‘mortification’ from ‘great embarrassment and shame’ and ‘tight spot’ from ‘difficult situation’, rather than going for ‘rough spot’. And I learnt that ‘Malaysia’ is a ‘federal monarchy of South-East Asia’…

…Friday’s crossword went worse, I had to cheat on nearly a quarter of the clues (seven of the 26), while I got most of the answers, with a little work, those last seven were just beyond my little grey cells, like I went for ‘shhh’ instead of ‘hush’ and ‘die out’ instead of ‘run out’. But I did learn that ‘Signorina’ means Miss in Italian, that a ‘Wesleyan’ is a ‘Methodist’ and that a ‘Liege Lord’ was a ‘feudal superior’…

…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on an okay note, as I only had to cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 24). Slightly annoyed that I dismissed ‘Tweed’ as the answer for ‘Scottish and English river’, I had gotten the ‘T’ and ‘d’ and ‘Tweed’ was the only river sound five letter word beginning with ‘T’ and ending in ‘d’ that I could think of, but I assumed that it would have been something else! It’s like pub quizzes, 90% of the time your first thought, your first answer is right. And I learnt that a ‘gourmet’ is also an ‘epicure’…

Days 896 - 901

Aka Monday 15^th July 2019 – Saturday 20^th July 2019

…and Monday’s crossword gets the week off to a near perfect start, as I only had to cheat on one of the 24 clues. I just couldn’t get ‘nit’ from ‘muggins’. The rest of the answers just flowed like honey, even the ones I didn’t know! Like ’kettledrums’ from ‘timpani’, because I’d gotten the clues that intersected and had ‘_e_t_e_r_m_’ it was clear that ‘drums’ was in the answer and then it was clear that ‘kettle’ was the only word that fitted ahead of it. Roll on the rest of the week’s crosswords…

…Tuesday’s crossword went a teeny-weeny bit worse, I had to cheat on a seventh of the clues (three out of 21). Most of the clues were pretty straight forward, except for those three, which eluded me. At least I learnt that that ‘Mary Baker Eddy’ was the ‘Christian Science movement founder’ and that Flora Macdonald was the ‘heroine of the 1745 Jacobite rising’…

…and Wednesday’s crossword also goes a tad worse, with having to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 23). Again, most of the answers were straight forward, or were once I got a few letters, like it wasn’t till I got the intersecting answers that I got ‘glad rags’ for ‘best bib and tucker’. And I did learn that a ‘Gondolier’s song’ is a ‘Barcarolle’, that ‘Tannhauser’ is a ‘Wagner opera’ and that a ‘swan’ is a ‘long-necked bird’…

…while Thursday’s crossword goes worse as I had to cheat on nearly a third of the clues (six out of 21), which I would put down to an upset tummy and lack of sleep (due to said upset tummy) making the little grey cells very tired and unable to work at full capacity, except that the bad score was mostly down to my lack of knowledge, rather than not being able to solve the clues, which meant that I learnt that ‘hard by’ can been ‘near’, that s ‘two-masted square-rigged sailing ship’ is called a ‘brig’, that a ‘jardiniere’ is an ‘ornamental stand for plants’, and  ‘’Lundy’ is a ‘island in the Bristol Channel’…

…and Friday’s crossword goes even worse, which I defo put down to the continued upset tummy and lack of sleep (due to said upset tummy) making the little grey cells very tired and unable to work at full capacity. All of which means that I had to cheat on a third of the clues (eight out of 23). But, I did learn that ‘raw cured Italian ham’ is called ‘prosciutto’, that ‘blini’ are ‘buckwheat pancakes’, that ‘Sarajevo’ is the ‘capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina’, that ‘Villette’ is a ‘Charlotte Bronte novel’, that ‘toxophilites’ are ‘archers’ and that a ‘trireme’ is an ‘ancient vessel with three banks of oars on each side’ (I did get ‘tri____) from three but couldn’t get the rest)…

...and I still feel unwell today, but Saturday’s crossword goes surprising well, all things considered, as I only had to cheat on a sixth of the clues (four out of 23). Most of the clues were pretty straight forward and the little grey cells got the answers without much stress, although I shouldn’t have gone for ‘gasp’ for ‘breathe nosily after running’ (the answer was ‘pant’). And I learnt that a ‘Russian wolfhound’ is a ‘Borzoi’ and that a ‘valpolicella’ is a ‘dry red Italian wine’. Hopefully next week will go better/less unwell…

Days 903 - 908

Aka Monday 22^nd July 2019 - Saturday 27^th July 2019

Monday’s crossword got the week off to an okay start, cheating on a fifth of the clues (four out of 25), as most of the answers were relatively easy to come by. And I learnt that a ‘bight’ is a large broad bay and the middle part of a slack rope, that ‘Vasco’ da Gama was a Portuguese explorer, who died in 1524, and that Siegfried and Tristan Farnon were/are vets…

…and then we take a big nose-dive with Tuesday’s crossword, as I had to cheat on over a third of the clues (eight out of 21). The signs were there as I only got a few answers on the first pass and the rest were a real struggle to get too. Although with some, like ‘Cough Drop’, I just needed to get one or two letters, from intersecting answers, to jog the little grey cells to get the answer. But, it does mean that I learnt lots of facts, like ‘Ariel’ is the ‘spirit in The Tempest’, ‘brocade’ is ‘thick material with a raised pattern’, a ‘trimaran’ is a ‘three-hulled craft’, ‘groyne’ is ‘breakwater’, a ‘crotchet’ is a ‘musical note equal to half a minim’, that the ‘right-hand page of an open book’ is called a recto’, that an ‘oratorio’ is a ‘large choral work’ and that ‘Bremen’ is a ‘German port city and state’…

…and Wednesday’s crossword pulls out of the nose-dive and corkscrews to new heights as I only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 24) and if the little grey cells had been working a little harder I think I would have gotten ‘agape’ from ‘wide open’ and probably wouldn’t have gone with ‘snakes’ for ‘vipers’ and might have gotten the answer of ‘adders’…

…while Thursday’s crossword goes in the complete opposite direction, as I had to cheat on nearly half the clues (eight out of 18). A very bad crossword day., which I put down to the extreme heat knackering out the little grey cells. Because I should have gotten ‘sons’ from ‘male offspring’, I went with ‘boys’ and ‘mustard’ from ‘pungent condiment’, but I went with ‘vinegar’ or ‘callers’ from ‘visitors’. But I did learn that ‘Budapest’ is a ‘capital on the Danube’ and that ‘avoirdupois’ is a ‘non-metric system of weights’…

…while the cooler Friday brings an almost clean sweep, almost on the first pass, and I only had to cheat on one of the 19 clues. My little grey cells couldn’t remember that Don Quixote’s squire was called Sancho Panza…

…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on an another almost clean sweep, I only had to cheat on a twelfth of the clues (two out of 24). The first pass went okay and after a little chewing over the little grey cells got almost the rest of the clues, they just couldn’t get ‘uses’ from ‘functions’ and didn’t know that a ‘Lhasa Apso’ is a ‘Tibetan breed of dog’. A pretty good crossword week overall, but will next week be as good???

Days 910 - 915

Aka Monday 29^th July 2019 - Saturday 3^rd August 2019

Monday’s crossword got the week off to a good start, as I only had to cheat on almost an eighth of the clues (three out of 23). Most of the answers just flowed out of the little grey cells onto the grid. I would have done a little better if I hadn’t misread ‘without affectation’ as ‘without affection’ and I learnt that ‘attest’ means to ‘give sworn evidence’ (that it’s not limited to testify) and that ‘austere’, as well as meaning grim or harsh, can also mean ‘severely simple’…

…Tuesday’s crossword went a tad better, I only had to cheat on a little over an eighth of the clues (three out of 25). The little grey cells were firing on pretty much all cylinders and I learnt that ‘lozenge’ is not just a type of sweet, but also the name of a ‘diamond shape’, that the ‘mark made under a “c”’ is a ‘cedilla’ and that ‘archly’ can mean ‘in a sly manner’ and not just playful or camp or mischievously…

…things took a dip with Wednesday’s crossword as I had to cheat on a quarter of the clues (six out 24). I think the little grey cells were worn out or on the fritz. But I did learn that ‘Hesse’ is a ‘German state, capital Wiesbaden’, that Belgrade is in Serbia, that a ‘baby swan’ is a ‘cygnet’ (although this may have crop up in a previous crossword?), that ‘obdurate’ means ‘inflexible’, that ‘compositions to be played by a small group’ are ‘chamber music’…

…and Thursday’s crossword goes in the opposite direction and I almost get a clean sweep. The little grey cells were back on form and I only had to cheat on one of the 22 clues, ‘winnow out’ for ‘sift’, and I really should have gotten it, given how many of my job application shave been sifted in and out in the last eight months!...

…Friday’s crossword goes almost as well, I just had to cheat on a ninth of the clues (three out of 26), again the answer pretty much flowed like wine at a bacchanalia and I learnt that ‘dictum’ means ‘authoritative declaration’, that ‘Tenerife’s main city’ is ‘Santa Cruz’ and was reminded that a ‘stretched circle?’ is an ‘oval’…

…and Saturday’s crossword ends the week on an almost perfect note, as I only had to cheat on one of the 24 clues. Although I’m slightly annoyed that I didn’t get ‘amass’ from ‘collect’. Either way, the little grey cells have been on tip-top performance this week, but will it continue for next week’s crosswords?...