Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Wednesday, Sept.10 LAT & ST

Cryptic clues today have nearly everything -- anagram, double definition, hidden, homophone, reversal, even a strange mixture of some of the above. All solutions are in the grids below.

Three from LAT:


Squeaky see-saw back in current condition (2,2)

Windblown glyphs I call a flower (5)

Flower tube Daniel replaced the top of (6)

Two from ST:

Inside volcano pen, eruption took the top off (3,6)

Boring queen's dress (4)



LAT

             
Seattle Times
7/30/14  NYT

Here are the solutions to yesterday's clues:

Take the | bottle top | off the | hooch | and watch it | flow (4)
[subtract] [B{ottle top}] [from] [BOOZE] [=] [OOZE]

Shepherd voiced | looming concern (4)
[{dog's bark}: WOOF] =  [{weaving} WOOF]

Cold | dice | should be shaken (4)
[ICED] = [DICE] [anagram]

Proud | hobbit removed his dragon's heart (4)
[SMUG] = [{hobbit's dragon}: SMaUG, center letter removed]

Plant | vibrating, | harmless toys (4)
[FERN] = [anagram] [NERF]


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7 comments:

  1. LAT1: Squeaky see-saw back in current condition (2,2)
    Nice. I assume “squeaky” means (very) approximate homophone. Not many choices.

    LAT2:Windblown glyphs I call a flower (5) The answer seems to be a straightforward anagram, but I do not see where the “glyphs” come in.

    LAT3: Flower tube Daniel replaced the top of (6) Aha! That other flower! Blue in parts I am told.

    ST1: Inside volcano pen, eruption took the top off (3,6) Nice construction/destruction.

    ST2: Boring queen's dress (4) Yes, we have the phrase ….-queen, but a genuine gay person would not say they dressed that way, so it might be better rephrased : “Boring dress for a queen”. Of course in Brit-speak, one ….s on a fag (cigarette), which offers all kinds of double-entendres, mostly non-PC, to clue this.

    Nice Set

    NC

    ReplyDelete
  2. With regards LAT3, I see that "replaced" is doing double duty. Perhaps "displaced" would be a better verb.

    NC

    ReplyDelete
  3. A simple selection for you:

    LAT4: Second columns surround 500 Middle-Earth monsters (7).
    LAT5: Good French, but lacks East and West German capital (4).
    LAT6: Religious leader is cut too late to be known for his fecundity (5).
    LAT7: Charity has elements of fecundity that lack withdrawal symptoms and ask no questions (6).
    LAT8: The call of the French horn is a digestif (7).


    NC

    ReplyDelete
  4. LAT2: the surface sentence needed a noun, so I used a synonym for "letter".

    LAT4: Second columns surround 500 Middle-Earth | monsters (7).
    I think you mean FIFTH columns (or fifth estate). Nice ingenuity.

    LAT5: Good French, but lacks East and | West German capital (4).
    Easy enough, though I would have used "...to NE..." since my French is so non bon.

    LAT6: Religious leader is | cut too late to be known for his fecundity (5).
    Shouldn't that be "...too early..."?

    LAT7: Charity has | elements of fecundity that lack withdrawal symptoms and ask no questions (6).
    Just one symptom & question, neither is plural. Convoluted subtraction, but good.

    LAT8: The call of the French horn is a digestif (7).
    I get call and digestif, and suspect what's in between involves a language I don't speak.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LAT4: The allusion to 5th columns was deliberate, but only Second Columns fits the cryptic.
    LAT6: Yes, I realized belatedly I had snipped at the wrong time. Careless.
    LAT7: Yes, agreed singular would be better. But when I tried that, it sounded awkward.
    LAT8: Agh! and Hint: I just found out that what the French call the "Cor Anglais", Brits call the "French horn" (nice reciprocation). But Americans call it the "English horn". Horribly confusing. My TransPonder has now been updated.

    Brit's first foreign language is invariably French, for obvious geographical reasons; just as Spanish is for the U.S. - especially for the Southern parts. Clearly, I should be more sparing with my French.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've noted that, in general, foreign words are acceptable iff they are part of a phrase that's used in English. For the French word for horn, I thought of unicorn and cornicopia, but since that "n" wasn't to be found, figured it was something beyond my frail 50 year recollection. I had 2 years of grade school French, which I calculate was the equivalent of 2 weeks of high school French or 2 class sessions of college French. But I can read Braille!

    ReplyDelete