i paper, No. 189 by "PUNK", 19 Sept 2011

[FamilyGuyBrian]

Hello, I've been trying to finish this crossword for a couple of weeks now, but I'm stuck. Only been doing cryptics for a year or so - never been *this* stuck before though - usually I can finish a crossword or get stuck on a couple of clues only, but this one's a pig.
Any help appreciated...

9A Passing time, student put on record by The Edge (9)
????M?R??

10A A horrifying problem? (5)
?????

13A No time for view - oh well (4)
????
At first I thought VIS(T)A, but I don't see how VISA = "oh well"

16 Instinct about bad returns for US author (7)
??????N

19A Shady 3 between Dixie and The Commitments (10) ["Dixie" and "The Commitments" appear in italics in the original] [the answer to 3D is IMAGE]
??M???I?U?

22A/7D Orange tint with severe winds (4,6)
?I?? ???E?T

1D Yellow closing in on an equaliser, say? (9,6)
???C????? ??U?R?

2D/15D Blue finds The Guardian is not good, with nothing to write about (3,5,9) ["The Guardian" is in italics in the original]
??? A???? ?????G?O?

5D Number of red 7s in the main? (6)
???E?S

6 Pink bit - say it again? Pink, brown, red, green, yelllow, orange and blues (9)
???T?H?L?
My thoughts:
- possibly "pink" is being used in the sense of "to cut" [to pink: cut or puncture (the skin) as a decoration; tattoo] and so is an indicator word meaning to shorten the words in some way?
- the colours could apply to snooker balls (except orange)
- "blues" could refer to the music, depression, sth else?

7D See 22A

8D Brown or otherwise, man given terrible ordeal (11,4)
???T?C?A??? R?A?

15D See 2D

It's possible of course that one or more of the answers I've entered is wrong, but they *appear* to fit. It could be of course that a different word (i.e. more than one word) might fit a specific clue - that's happened once before.

Thank you...

[bibblebub]

9a ep hem era l

[bibblebub]

13a sigh(t)

[Euphemia]

22a wind swept

[Euphemia]

Sorry miscounted letters on 22A

[bibblebub]

2d/15d The Angel Islington

And I've just remembered that you need a monopoly board for the colour references - use this is you don't have one to hand http://4.bp.blogspot....25252525252Bboard.jpg

[FamilyGuyBrian]

Thanks for the quick answers.

bibblebub, THE ANGEL ISLINGTON definitely fits, although I think the setter referring to it as simply "Blue" was being a bit mean. Perhaps "Blue square" would've been fairer? (since, in addition to a blue square on the Monopoly board, it could also be read as meaning "a depressed/Conservative/vulgar unfashionable person")

13A SIGH(T) and 9A EP-HEM-ERA-L are obvious now you say it - I presume L meaning a learner driver (hence "student" in the clue)

I'll see if I can make more progress now with some of the clues filled in...

[FamilyGuyBrian]

Also, my thoughts regarding 19A:

19A Shady 3 between Dixie and The Commitments (10) ["Dixie" and "The Commitments" appear in italics in the original] [the answer to 3D is IMAGE]
??M?I?I?U? [the second I of ISLINGTON added another I]

Dixie:
- the southern US states in the American civil war
- Confederate song during the war
- the south (simply the lettter "S"?)
- a kettle
- a cooking pot

The Commitments:
- a 1991 film filmed in Dublin: http://en.wikipedia.o...ommitments_%28film%29


My NSOED gives nothing for ??M?I?I?U?

[FamilyGuyBrian]

I think my answer to 20D was wrong.
I thought the answer was MERINO, but I think the correct answer is STRAND.

The S of STRAND gives the 3rd letter of 19A, which I think is S-US-PIC-IOUS.

19A Shady 3 between Dixie and The Commitments
- shady = SUSPICIOUS
- 3D = IMAGE, so PIC
- Dixie = S US (i.e. southern US)
- The Commitments = IOUs (I OWE YOUs)

The clue for 20D is: Red fibre
I thought the answer was MERINO because according to my OED, "Merino" can mean [in addition to wool/material] "a person of fine breeding or good character" and "red" can mean "of superior quality or stock".
But now I think the answer must be STRAND - a strand/fibre (e.g. of a carpet), and the colour of The Strand on the London Monopoly board is red.

[bibblebub]

yes, strand looks right.

Some clues from this particular crossword have been asked before, so if you get really stuck you might find the answer somewhere in this site.

[FamilyGuyBrian]

Thanks for the tip, a search for 189 (i.e. i paper crossword 189) gave me 16A: E-LLI-SON (i.e. NOSE about ILL reversed).
I'll try that in future before posting - obvious really.
I'm getting there...!

[FamilyGuyBrian]

Sticking to the Monopoly theme, 22A/7D is VINE STREET, which is orange on the London board.

22A/7D Orange tint with severe winds - anagram of TINT + SEVERE

"winds" is a bit of an odd anagram indicator IMO (although it makes sense if you think about it, e.g. a winding/twisting road, so meaning that the letters should twist/wind, i.e. be rearranged)

I still think the setter is being a bit (well, no, very) mean here, since normally the non-cryptic element of the clue (i.e. "Orange" here) should *mean* what the answer is. VINE STREET is orange on the London Monopoly board, but "Vine Street" and "orange" aren't synonyms.

Oh well, live and learn...

[FamilyGuyBrian]

I think 1D is LEICESTER SQUARE (yellow on the London board), although I don't fully get it.

1D Yellow closing in on an equaliser, say

I assume "say" is an anagram indicator here.

If I remove the letters EQUALISER from LEICESTER SQUARE (pronounced LESTER SQUARE for those who don't know/are wondering) I'm left with the letters ECTSRE, which my NSOED anagrams as:
- CERTES
- ERECTS
- RESECT
- SECRET
- TERCES

Um, don't get it, please explain someone....

[bibblebub]

maybe it sounds like "less to square" e.g. if you were 3-0 down and pulled it back to 3-2 then you would have less goals to equalise/square the score

[FamilyGuyBrian]

Possibly, although it's a bit obscure, isn't it??!!

[bibblebub]

it's the only explanation I can think of

[FamilyGuyBrian]

It wasn't a criticism! I can't think of a better explanation myself.