Irish Times Crossword (Crosaire)

stepinnman

I'm currently finding myself with a lot of time on my hands and this has enabled me to have a good crack at the Crosaire in the Irish Times every day. I'm getting closer to finishing it and I'm hoping there are some other people out there who might be interested in a regular thread to swap answers.

For today's Crosaire (16th April 08) I'm missing 5 and 6 Down if anyone can help!

For what it's worth here's a few of the other Solutions:

Across:

1.Esteem
4.Ptomaine
9.Unfair
10.Panniers
12.Error
16.Idiot
17.Upkeep

Down:
1. Eau De Vin
2.Taffrail
3.Emigrates
8.Easter
11.Enough

Malice

I do it every so often. Depending on the crossword compiler though, I can get stuck very easily . I find I might do some clues at lunch, more in the afternoon and either finish it or get completely bogged down in the evening.

stepinnman

I can tell already it's not going to be a good crossword day!

For what it's worth though, and for a start, 1 across is "Spring Over"

Across:
12.Pillaged
15.Nobbled
27.Resistant
19.Endures
21.Present
22.Tense

Down:
1.Sage
3.Natal
4.Oranged
8.False Teeth
14.Indentures
16.Largesse
20.Sultana
21.Prattle

Does this thread have legs or am I just entertaining myself!

Ace2007

Down
2. Readinbed
5. Emended
11.Elevenses

Tar.Aldarion

If you are really stuck some day there are programs to solve it, not as fun though ya know...

bothyhead

Crosaire # 13,590

30a By way of a rasher? (10)

Answer: carelessly

I'm just starting to do the Crosaire and am having various degrees of success. I'm going back over yesterday's (Thursday's) and can make sense of most of the answers apart from the one mentioned above. Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks,

spurious

bothyhead wrote: »

Crosaire # 13,590

30a By way of a rasher? (10)

Answer: carelessly

I'm just starting to do the Crosaire and am having various degrees of success. I'm going back over yesterday's (Thursday's) and can make sense of most of the answers apart from the one mentioned above. Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks,

Rash is another word for careless.
By way of rasher is like by way of careless.
So, carelessly.

bothyhead

spurious wrote: »

Rash is another word for careless.

Ok, I'll go with that - thanks spurious!

stepinnman

Any help out there in boards land with today's Crosaire - I'm having a bad bad day!

bothyhead

stepinnman wrote: »

Any help out there in boards land with today's Crosaire - I'm having a bad bad day!

I haven't had a chance to look at it yet! (one of those days)

28 erebus
32 a good buy

p.s. I really only get a chance to look at it after work - sorry

stepinnman

Thanks - Didn't have Erebus!!

11. Athletes
17.Suppose
20.New Broom (I think)

stepinnman

Here's a start on Today's:

Across:

1. Try in Vain
9.Sugary
30.No Need

Down:

4.Villas
22.Insects
26.Demean

stepinnman

Only missing a few today so if there is someone out there in boards land that could help please!. 7, 8 and 9 Down would be a great help.

Across:
1.Sheepshank
10.Whelp
11.Resembles (I think)
12.Aggrieve
15.One Knot
19.Bandage
22.Evens
24.Seascape (I think)
27.Haversack
29.Nose
30.Mendicants

stepinnman

Mark the date and time - I've finally managed to finish the Crosaire!

My work here is done.

I was hoping that this thread might catch on a bit but it doesn't look like there's many interested so I probably won't post again.

Thanks to those who did help anyway

bothyhead

I managed to get it out today as well, though to be honest I did need to ask a friend for help with about four of the clues.

It's a pity about the thread not catching on - though I didn't look at it too closely this week for one reason: there were too many answers given! I enjoy tackling the crossword after work; it's the challenge I look forward to. Having the answers presented to me straight away kind of spoiled it a bit What I would really like is to ask for advice and to be given a hint which I could go away and thing about, or even to go a bit deeper and to have a discussion about how good a clue was worded (for instance Auric in today's was a nice word, but the Royal Irish Constabulary bit was a bit too much of a give away)

Anyway, you never know, maybe something interesting may still come out of it.

bothyhead

This came up earlier this week:

See you, Esso, for the sapphire perhaps (9)

Answer = Bluestone

How do you decode the "see you, esso" bit?

Many thanks

bothyhead

Just to let you all know that I've found the answer to this.

Bluestone is another name for Copper Sulphate

Copper Sulphate = CuSO4

which sounds like: See you Esso for

stepinnman

Very clever - That part of the clue had gone over my head!

I understand the sentiment in the earlier post about not wanting to see just a list of answers. Initially that was all I was looking for and was hoping to get a bit more active thread where they could be swapped but it doesn't look to have happened. Also, I'm really only online during the day at the moment and all the other crosaire(rs) out there seem to be around in the evening.

As for today's effort, infuriatingly it is the small 4-letter words that are killing me - even when I have 2 letters!!!

bothyhead

stepinnman wrote: »

As for today's effort, infuriatingly it is the small 4-letter words that are killing me - even when I have 2 letters!!!

I only had a quick peak over lunch, but I think that 16 is HEAP

HE + PA reversed

Malice

I had a chance to grab the Irish Times for the first time in a while today. I have started off okay but a few clues have me stumped. I will try again at lunch and then post in here. Hopefully someone will be able to help me out .

bothyhead

Don't hold your breath on me. I've glanced at it from time to time this morning, and have a grand total of 3 so far - we'll see what lunch brings.

Good luck with it!

bothyhead

I buy the Times every day, but for those who don't ... for about the past three weeks or so, the daily crosswords have been available free online, in PDF format.

http://www.irishtimes.com/games/crosswords/

stepinnman

I've about 6 at the moment but as usual I'm atuck with the fiddly small ones around the centre - any ideas?

Malice

bothyhead wrote: »

I buy the Times every day, but for those who don't ... for about the past three weeks or so, the daily crosswords have been available free online, in PDF format.

http://www.irishtimes.com/games/crosswords/

Nice find! I find it handy to be able to step away from the desk which is only really possible with the old-style paper one .

stepinnman wrote: »

I've about 6 at the moment but as usual I'm atuck with the fiddly small ones around the centre - any ideas?

I think these are right:
20 Down:

Fur

21 Down:

Fop

28 Across:

Pro

I think 17 across is

Lea

but that makes 4 down even more confusing :mad:. I'm also stuck on 23 down as I thought it was

Grammar

and stupidly started writing it in!

Also need 23 across, 3 down (might be

Root

but I'm not sure), 4 down and 33 down.

bothyhead

Hi stepinman - I haven't many more than 6 myself - it's a bit tough today; however, I think that I have the 4 small ones.

17 is a pretty regular one I believe ... 4 (Sea)sons

The others are ATE, ACE, and by process of elimination SPA

FYI: Crosair's 'of course' usually refers to something to do with a a meal (as in 4-course meal), or else something like a golf course, green, tee, etc.

bothyhead

Hi malice - I'm new to boards, and hadn't noticed the SPOILER tag. This will be very useful for crossword solutions - nice one!

p.s. Judging from your answers, I think we're looking at two different crosswords

Malice

I hope today is Tuesday July 28th otherwise I've missed a bunch of important meetings this morning .

I'm doing the crossword from the paper, maybe the online version is different?

stepinnman

Hey,

You're right about the day and that is today's crossword but it's the simplex one. This thread is for the Crosaire (Cryptic) crossword.

Dizzyblonde

bothyhead wrote: »

How do you decode the "see you, esso" bit?

I'm showing my age now but back in the 60s/70s there was an ad for Esso paraffin (for heaters) on the telly with the ditty 'boom boom boom, Esso blue' !

Malice

stepinnman wrote: »

Hey,

You're right about the day and that is today's crossword but it's the simplex one. This thread is for the Crosaire (Cryptic) crossword.

Oops, sorry, that will teach me not to read things properly!

bothyhead

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

... back in the 60s/70s there was an ad for Esso paraffin (for heaters) on the telly with the ditty 'boom boom boom, Esso blue' !

Looks like you're not the only one who remembers!

http://space-hopper.blogspot.com/2006/10/boom-boom-boom-boom-esso-blue.html

Don't remember the 60s myself, but I have very fond memories of the 70s ... waking up in the morning, running out side for the milk, only to find that the crows had picked through the foil top, but did that stop me giving the bottle a good shake and lashing it on my corn flakes?