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Clues and Grid by Soup
Enter the prize draw by 30 November.
The background for this puzzle is a Graham Fox photograph depicting many large spools of thread.
This puzzle by Soup uses an unconventional 7x5x5 grid in which the numbers are placed in shaded squares. Every clue gives rise to an eight-letter solution. These should be entered in a ring around the clue’s number (not the Day) in the grid. Solvers should determine where in the ring the solution starts, and which direction it should go in (clockwise or anticlockwise). Assuming vertical solutions are viewed from the right-hand side of the grid and horizontal solutions from the top down, 18 solutions go clockwise and 16 go anticlockwise.
Clues are presented in alphabetical order of their solutions.
A small portion of such a grid with four clues is provided to illustrate how the process works.
Soup has cleverly managed to construct a 3-D version of one of my favourite Azed special puzzles: known as Eightsome Reels. This can be a little intimidating at first sight, since all the answers have 8 letters and you cannot immediately enter any solution until you know one or two neighbouring answers. Fear not: you may be able to start entering answers sooner than you expect, and once you have started you will get plenty of help back from the grid.
To illustrate the grid-filling process, I have composed a document showing, in gory detail, how one could fill in Soup’s example grid from the answers.
I found this a real treat and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Day 2
Arkansas park-keeper is one who works out
American vocabulary here starting with Ar. Not so much Schwarzenegger, more Quincy. [GS]
Day 7
6 balls batting in MCG - opener dismissed putting in a guard
6 balls and MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) set the picture. Carefully separate the parts — name for 6 balls followed by word for batting surrounded by MCG with opener dismissed to give you putting in a guard. [JP]
Day 10
Tart Daly from Strictly wiggling belly, showing boredom
Rather unkind picture! Think of a word for an open tart and follow it with the first name of the hostess from Strictly, changing round (wiggling) the middle letters (belly) to give you ‘boredom’. [JP]
Day 19
Opposing Nursery End openers facing former England captain after time out
Nursery End references Lords cricket ground and openers are the first two batsmen to play. Thus we need a captain in cricket. Clever double use of the word “openers”. So we have NE followed by a family name of seven letters containing a double t (ie tt) and then remove one of them (time out). Howzat! [GS]
Day 21
They shade Passiflora if pruned and trained
Not a difficult clue but a clever variation on the use of the word pruned. Normally this would suggest the first and last letters, i.e. PA. But not here. Here it’s the removal of the letters IF, themselves leaving eight letters for the required anagram (indicator: trained). [GS]
Day 23
They found 3.14 + 1 + 2.718 after exhausting researches
Some research may be required! Start with the Greek letter for 3.14 then add 1 in letters. Follow this with the letter for the exponential constant approximately 2.718. After this, exhausting researches gives you r and s, leaving you with people who found. [JP]
Day 29
Striking longships taking out aft of poop with a crash
Nice nautical surface here. Striking indicates an anagram, but longships has too many letters so we have to take out the aft (last letter) of poop. The definition is 'with a crash', though you might expect this word to have a more watery meaning. [NI]
Day 30
Relay makes footballer Campbell audibly cross
You need to follow the short first name of a former centre-back who played for two North London rivals with a synonym for cross (in the sense of irritated). Audibly suggests that the answer, which is an electro-magnetic relay, is a homophone of the previous phrase. Be careful with the spelling: the homophone may tempt you to put the wrong vowel as the fourth letter. [NI]
Day 31
Arguing with convenience-store cartel
Take the name of a convenience store chain and add a synonym for cartel, both the same length, to give a word meaning arguing. [NI]
Day 33
With love for a more rugged new arrival
Start with a word for more rugged, remove a letter for love and replace with a. The answer is a word for new arrival. [NI]
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