Huh?
By hook, crook and perhaps a sly look, I managed to solve these five clues you see here. But still can’t fathom how any othem work.
Most are the work of my favourite compiler, John Halpern, aka Paul in the Guardian, and Mudd in the Financial times – and possibly the anonymous setter behind these cited Times examples.
Whichever the case, the Cryptic One can also be the Elliptic One. Any insights welcome:
1) VIKING [Financial Times]
Ignoring politician, fuzz imprisons musician = ROSSINI
++
2) MUDD [FT]
Reasonable skill needed to overtake good vehicle = GO-KART
++
3) Times 8288
Cavalryman engages a paid entertainer = LAP DANCER
++
4) Times 8290
Monster bird not quite managing to get up = ORC
++
PAUL [Guardian]
Writer brings to mouth very fine port = NABOKOV
++
PAUL [Guardian] – two adjacent clues dovetailed in this case:
Where Jack meets Frank”¦. // ”¦this, too, may be the end of the line = LONDON BRIDGE/WATERLOO
February 13th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
> Cavalryman engages a paid entertainer = LAP DANCER
cavalryman = lancer; a paid = apd; lancer engages apd = lap dancer
February 13th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Stunning work, Michael.
ROSSINI is very sneaky, while Frank Bridge – the other composer in the six-pack – is one of my cultural blind spots.
Paid = PD? I can wear that, I suppose. And ORC is d’oh writ large. (I was trying to make ROC work for yonks.)
Thanks for the analgesia, a brilliant effort, leaving us Vladimir in his go-kart to figure.
February 13th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
PS – apologies Michael, but your other 3 posts took to the ether. Here they are restored for all solvers to see. From Michael Fuller:
Ignoring politician, fuzz imprisons musician = ROSSINI
politician = MP; imprisons ignoring politician = irisons; fuzz irisons = rossini.
+
Where Jack meets Frank… = LONDON BRIDGE
Jack = Jack London; Frank = Frank Bridge; Where Jack meets Frank = London Bridge
+
Monster bird not quite managing to get up = ORC
Was this a down clue?
bird = crow; crow not quite managing to get up = orc; orc = monster
February 14th, 2009 at 9:59 am
> Reasonable skill needed to overtake good vehicle = GO-KART
Upon reflection …
Reasonable = OK; skill = art; good = g; ok art overtakes g = go-kart = vehicle.
February 14th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Of course. So easy when you know how. Thanks Michael.
And so to NABOKOV: Writer brings to mouth very fine port (7)
I’m still trying to locate the ‘mouth’…BOK is a beer, but that’s a distraction. OK is fine, and ‘very fine’ is V-OK…but why reversed?
Doing a Google I came across OBAN – a Scottish resort on the Firth of Lorn, which could be a tenuous mouth, but why are we turning things west? My kingdom for a compass.
February 14th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Port = left (west)
February 14th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Port = left (west)
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:06 am
Going back to an old posting called “Panama Hats and Tacoma Topcoats”, there was discussion of the clue “Sailor one may need to pay on boat (3)”. The correct explanation for “one may need to pay on boat” is that “pay” has a nautical definition – “to seal the deck or seams of a wooden boat with pitch or tar”. So to “pay on boat”, you need tar.