Monday 16 September 2013

Clue Challenge: Annotate These Answers VIII

annotate-clues Battle with this batch of clues today that tease you with mind-bending wordplay. The clues are given with their answers. How many of them can you correctly annotate?

Post the annotated answers in the comments section.

Update (19th September 2013): Annotations added.

1. Guardian 25837 (Araucaria): Married criminal's misplaced article: take leader off for disastrous decision (1,3,7) A BIG MISTAKE
Annotation:BIGAMIST (married criminal) with A (article) misplaced i.e. moved to the front, [t]AKE; definition: disastrous decision.

2. Times 25364: Each beer chap had during escapade was a new adventure (4,2,3,4) LEAP IN THE DARK
Annotation:EA (each), {PINT (beer) + HE'D (chap had)} during i.e. in LARK (escapade); definition: a new adventure.

3. Indy 8193 (Rorschach): Model covered by bikini top in trailers for Home and Away? (8) ADVERBS
Annotation:T (model) covered by i.e. substituted with B (bikini top = B), in ADVERTS (trailers); definition: Home and Away, D-by-E for adverbs. 

4. FT14219 (Redshank): Riot's abandoned, rained off (6) UNREST
Annotation:UNRESTRAINED (abandoned) with RAINED off i.e. deleted; definition: riot.

5. Times 25385: Characters behind bars perhaps appear quite grown-up  (3,4,3) ACT ONES AGE
Annotation:TONES (characters) in A CAGE (behind bars); definition: appear quite grown-up. See Tricky Indicators for more examples of such wordplay.

6. Times 25478: Contribution that, on reflection, sounds of little value? (5) INPUT
Annotation:TUPNI i.e. INPUT on reflection, sounds like 'tupenny' (of little value) ; definition: contribution.

7. Times 25555: Baggy article of Dior's in copies with belt up on top (9) SHAPELESS
Annotation:LES (article of Dior's i.e article in French) in APES (copies), with SH (belt up – slang for 'be quiet') ; definition: baggy.

8. Guardian 26033 (Puck): Form of transport initially discovered in Pharaoh’s time (4-5,5) HIGH-SPEED TRAIN
Annotation:High-Speed Train is "initially" i.e. in abbreviated form HST, which can be discovered in the letters of 'PharaoHSTime'; definition: form of transport.

Visit our past clue annotation challenges: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII.

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26 comments

Kishore said...

Nice ones, though I might be found a little wanting in No.5 and 8

1.BIGAMIST with misplaced A= A BIG MIST+ tAKE ( TAKE with leader off) Def: disastrous decision
2. Each=EA, Beer=PINT, had= HE’D in the escapade=LARK, during=insertion indicator. L(EA P- INT HE’D)ARK Def: new adventure
3. Model=version=ver., bikini top=b, trailers=ads, covered by=insertion indicator. AD(VER B)S Def:
Home and Away, by example
4.Abandoned=with abandon=unrestrained, rained off= rained deleted,UNREST(rained) Def: Riot
5.behind bars= in A CAGE, character=t, ones? A C(T ONES) AGE, defn: appear quite grown up
6. Homephone on reflection= TUPNI= ~TWOPENNY, of little value. Def: contribution
7. Article of Dior, a French co.=LE, in copies= insert into APES, belt up on top=SASH< SH(APE (LE)S)S I seem to have an extra A to account for. Def=baggy
8.HST? in pharoaH’Strain Defn: form of transport, initially=its initials?

Srivathsan said...

BIGAMIST with A moved ahead + tAKE

L(E A PINT HE'D)ARK

Bhalchandra Pasupathy said...

1) BIGAMIST (married criminal) with A changing position + (T)AKE

2)PINT + HE'D inside LARK

3) ADVERTS (trailers) with B (bikini top) replacing T (model). Not sure I agree that bikini top = bikini's top

4)UNREST(rained) = abandoned, take off rained for def = riots

5)TONES (characters) inside A CAGE (ie behind bars). Found this a bit devious, getting the anno perhaps a bit easier than the solution

6)INPUT <-- sounds like tuppenny

7) SH (silence, ie belt up)+ LES (article in French, viz Dior's) inside APES (copies). Not sure if there is another explanation for LES, this was a bit iffy for me

8)HST (initials) - telescopic (I had solved this puzzle recently, brought a smile)

SandhyaP said...

I got only the 1st five:
1. Married criminal's misplaced article: take leader off for disastrous decision (1,3,7) {+A} BIG(-a) MIST}{(-t)AKE}

2.Each beer chap had during escapade was a new adventure (4,2,3,4) L{EA}{P IN T}{HE 'D}ARK

3. Model covered by bikini top in trailers for Home and Away? (7) ADVER(-t){+B}S

4. Riot's abandoned, rained off (6) UNREST(-rained)

5. Characters behind bars perhaps appear quite grown-up (3,4,3) {A}{C{T ONES} AGE}

Rengaswamy said...

4. FT14219 (Redshank): Riot's abandoned, rained off (6) UNREST

Defn: Riot = UNREST
Abandoned = unrestrained
off = removal indicator of rained
unrestrained - rained = unrest

Raghunath said...

1. Guardian 25837: A BIG MISTAKE: A moves ahead from BIGAMIST + t AKE
2. Times 25364: L(EA)(P IN T)(HE’ D)ARK. LARK:escapade
3. Indy 8193: ADVERBS: ADVER(B) -t S Trailers: ADVERTS
4. FT14219: UNREST: Abandoned: UNRESTrained
5. Times 25385: ACT ONES AGE. No clue yet
6. Times 25478: INPUT: Reversed: TUPNI, sounds like Tupenny. But do both sound alike?
7. Times 25555: SH + APE(LES)S: Belt up: SH!, as in Silence, Dior’s article: ‘LES’ article in French, inside APES: copies
8. Guardian 26033: HIGH-SPEED TRAIN: H.S.T acronym. Embedded in pharaoH’S Time

dram said...

I have:

2. EA + PINT + HE'D in LARK
4 UNREST(RAINED) - fabulously simple
6 reversed, sounds like 'Tuppeny'
7. SH + EL in APES - but where does the last S come from?

I will be very interested to see the others!

Thanks as ever for the blog Shuchi, keep it up!

David

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

FT14219 (Redshank): Riot's abandoned, rained off (6) UNREST
UNREST(RAINED)

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Indy 8193 (Rorschach): Model covered by bikini top in trailers for Home and Away? (8) ADVERBS
Adverts -trailers T is replaced by B- so ADVERBS?

Anonymous said...

(2) L (E A PINT HE'D) ARK

Deepak Gopinath said...

1 – {(+a) A BIG(-a) MIST}{(-t)AKE}
2 – {L{EA}{P IN T}{HE’D}ARK}
3 – ADVER(-t+b)BS
4 – UNREST(-rained)
5 – {A}{C{T ONES} AGE}
6 –
7 – SH{APE{LES}S}
8 – High Speed Train from (pharaoH’S Time}

Anonymous said...

(1) (+A) BIG(-A)MIST + (TAKE - T)

Sarang said...

Hi,
I just saw these and thought I'd post what I got. I'm really a novice though, so please excuse me.

1. Disastrous decision = def.
Married criminal=BIGAMIST with A misplaced; TAKE - T, so {A BIG MIST}{AKE}.

2. New adventure = def.
Each = EA, beer = PINT, escapade = LARK, chap had = HE'D. So L{EA}{PIN T}{HE D}ARK.

3. Home and away = def (both are adverbs).
Trailers=ads, bikini top = B, AD{VER}{B}S. Can't make out the VER.

4. Abandoned = wild/unrestrained. Unrestrained - rained = UNREST. Riot=def.

5. Bars perhaps appear = ONES (1 looks like a vertical bar?!) Characters = role/ACT(not sure) ; quite grown-up = almost AGED = AGE.

Sally Maughan said...

Here are my annotations. My first go at trying the proper notation. Let's see how I do.

1. BIG{A}MIST -> {A}BIGMIST + {-t}AKE

2. L{EA{-ch} PINT HE{-'}D}ARK

3. ADVERTS - T + B [model T and Bikini top]

4. UNREST{-rained} [unrestrained = abandoned]

5. AC{T ONES} AGE [tones = characters] [in a cage = behind bars, perhaps]

6. TUPNI<=-tuppenny [which is of little value]

7. SH + APE{LES}S [sh = belt up, apes = copies, les = French article, à la Dior]

8. pharaoH'S Time [abbreviation of high-speed train is HST - I lowercased the p of Pharaoh for clarity - is this correct?]

Vinod Raman said...

1. Guardian 25837 (Araucaria): Married criminal's misplaced article: take leader off for disastrous decision (1,3,7) A BIG MISTAKE
Married criminal=BIGAMIST, Married criminal's misplaced article=A BIGMIST, take leader off=TAKE-T

2. Times 25364: Each beer chap had during escapade was a new adventure (4,2,3,4) LEAP IN THE DARK
Each=EA, beer=PINT, chap had=HE'D, escapade=LARK

4. FT14219 (Redshank): Riot's abandoned, rained off (6) UNREST
abandoned, rained off=UNRESTRAINED - RAINED

7. Times 25555: Baggy article of Dior's in copies with belt up on top (9) SHAPELESS
article of Dior's=LES (since Dior is French), copies=APES, belt up=SH



Anonymous said...

I had looked up 1 and 8 on the Fifteensquare blog before, so am not going to anno them here.

2. LEAP IN THE DARK
EA (each)+PINT (of beer)+HE'D in LARK (escapade)

3. ADVERBS
Trailers: ADVERTS; replace (cover) T (Model T) with B (Bikini top letter) def: Home and Away are examples of adverbs.

4. UNREST
UNRESTRAINED (abandoned), with RAINED off.

5. ACT ONES AGE
TONES (characters) in A CAGE (behind bars)

6. INPUT
INPUT< Sounds like Tupenny, meaning 'of litle value'.

7. SHAPELESS
SH (belt-up meaning to be silent) on top of LES (French - indicated by Dior - article) contained in APES (copies)

Some nice ones in there!
Ganesh N.

Anonymous said...

1 and 8 - I'd looked up the Fifteensquare blog for these two clues, so I'm not going to anno them here.

2. LEAP IN THE DARK
EA (each) + PINT (of beer) HE'D (chap had) in LARK (escapade)

3. ADVERBS
Trailers: ADVERTS; replace T (Model T) with B (top letter of bikini). Home and Away are examples of adverbs.

4. UNREST
Abandoned: UNRESTRAINED; remove RAINED (rained off)

5. ACT ONES AGE
TONES (characters) in A CAGE (behind bars)

6. INPUT
INPUT< sounds like Tuppeny, meaning 'of little value'.

7. SHAPELESS
SH (belt up which means to be silent) first (on top of) LES (French article - French indicated by Dior) contained in APES (copies)

Some nice clues in there!
Ganesh N.

sancryptic said...

Not sure of many of the annos - but taking a shot...

1. Guardian 25837 (Araucaria): Married criminal's misplaced article: take leader off for disastrous decision (1,3,7) A BIG MISTAKE
BIGAMIST misplaces A = A BIGMIST
TAKE leader off = AKE
Anno = (A BIGMIST) + AKE
Definition = disastrous decision

2. Times 25364: Each beer chap had during escapade was a new adventure (4,2,3,4) LEAP IN THE DARK
Each = EA[CH]?
Beer = PINT
Chap had = HE'D
Escapade = LARK
Anno = (EA + PINT + HE'D) in LARK
Definition = new adventure

3. Indy 8193 (Rorschach): Model covered by bikini top in trailers for Home and Away? (8) ADVERBS
Model = VER
Bikini top = B
Trailers = ADS
Anno = VER covered by (B in ADS)
Definition (by example) = Home and Away

4. FT14219 (Redshank): Riot's abandoned, rained off (6) UNREST
Abandoned = UNRESTRAINED
Anno = UNRESTRAINED with RAINED off
Definition = Riot

5. Times 25385: Characters behind bars perhaps appear quite grown-up (3,4,3) ACT ONES AGE
Characters = TONES (?)
Behind bars = in A CAGE
Anno = TONES in A CAGE
Definition = appear quite grown-up

6. Times 25478: Contribution that, on reflection, sounds of little value? (5) INPUT
Little value = INEPT
Sounds like INUPT
Reflection = INPUT?
Definition = contribution

7. Times 25555: Baggy article of Dior's in copies with belt up on top (9) SHAPELESS
Article of Dior's = LE'S
Copies = APES
Belt up = [SA]SH?
Anno = LE'S in APES with SH on top
Definition = Baggy

8. Guardian 26033 (Puck): Form of transport initially discovered in Pharaoh’s time (4-5,5) HIGH-SPEED TRAIN
Definition = Form of transport
Initial of High-Speed train = HST = found in [Pharao]H'S T[ime]

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Times 25385: Characters behind bars perhaps appear quite grown-up (3,4,3) ACT ONES AGE
A C(TONES)AGE TONES inside A CAGE.

Raghunath said...

5. Times 25385: ACT ONES AGE

Something to do with barMEN?

Nadathur Rajan said...

1. married criminal - BIGAMIST
misplaced article - (+A)BIG[-a]MIST
Take leader off - [-t]AKE
Defn: disastrous decision {(+A),BIG,[-a]MIST}{[-t]AKE}

2. Each - EA
beer - PINT
chap had - HE'D
during - insertion indicator
escapade - LARK
Defn: a new adventure - {L(EA)(P,IN,T)(HE,'D)ARK}

3. Model (T) replaced by Bikini top (B) in trailers (ADVERTS)
Defn: Home and Away - ADVER[-t](+B)S

4. abandoned - UNRESTRAINED
rained off - delete RAINED
Defn: riot - UNREST[-rained]

5. characters - TONES
behind bars - in A CAGE
(TONES) in (A CAGE) = AC(T,ONES),AGE
Defn: appear quite grown up - ACT ONES AGE

6. of little value - twopenny or tup'nny
sounds - homophone indicator
~twopenny = TUPNI
on reflection - REVERSAL INDICATOR
TUPNI<= = INPUT
Defn: contribution INPUT <= (rev of TUPNI ~ twopenny)

7. article of Dior's = LES (French article)
in - Insertion indicator
copies - APES
with
belt up - SH
on top
defn: baggy {SH}{APE(LES)S}

8. Defn: Form of transport HIGH SPEED TRAIN
initially - HST
discovered in PharoaH'S Time
PharoaH'S Time contains HST (T)
which are the initials of HIGH SPEED TRAIN (form of transport), may be also what High Speed Train was called initially.

Sreelakshmi said...

I never thought figuring out the annos of already given answers would be so challenging!:D It was really enjoyable, though.
2. Times 25364: Each beer chap had during escapade was a new adventure (4,2,3,4) LEAP IN THE DARK
  {L(EA PINT HE'D)ARK}
4.FT14219 (Redshank): Riot's abandoned, rained off (6) UNREST
UNREST-rained 
8. Guardian 26033 (Puck): Form of transport initially discovered in Pharaoh’s time (4-5,5) HIGH-SPEED TRAIN
PharoaH'S Time. It's "initially" discovered.
Still stumped by the others.

Siva said...

Hi Shuchi,

I could only get these:

1. Guardian 25837 (Araucaria): Married criminal's misplaced article: take leader off for disastrous decision (1,3,7) A BIG MISTAKE
A BIGAMIST {T}AKE

2. Times 25364: Each beer chap had during escapade was a new adventure (4,2,3,4) LEAP IN THE DARK
L{EA+PINT HE'D}ARK

6. Times 25478: Contribution that, on reflection, sounds of little value? (5) INPUT
(Homophone) TUPNI sounds like tuppenny

7. Times 25555: Baggy article of Dior's in copies with belt up on top (9) SHAPELESS
belt up (SH) on top of {article of Dior's (LES) in APES(copies)}
SH+APE(LES)S

Best regards,

Siva

Shuchi said...

Wow, so many of you could crack so many! *Applause*

Looks like #4 was the easiest of the crop. I had rather struggled with seeing that a word as big as RAINED was to be removed.

@Kishore: #5 was simpler than that, #7 is parsed differently, but I like the tone of your response overall ;)

@Srivathsan, @SandhyaP, @Rengaswamy, @Vinod Raman, @Siva, @Anon: Right!

@Bhala, @Ganesh N: You got each one, bravo. The debate on whether X top = X's top is a never-ending one :-)

@Raghunath: Since TUPNI is not a real word, I'd go by whatever pronunciation suggests itself intuitively. It does sound like tuppeny to me. Who is to say the trailing 'I' should match the 'I' of FUNGI?

@dram: Thank you!

@Colonel: Precise and concise as ever - well-solved.

@Sarang: You did great for a novice :-)

@Sally Maughan: Welcome here. Nicely annotated. I indicate homophones with "~" to differentiate them from the deletion symbol "-". For complex clues on the blog I'm using descriptive annotation nowadays rather than shortcodes - more on that in the post Demystifying Clue Annotation Shortcodes.

@sancryptic: Good to see you here!
EA is standard abbreviation for Each.

@Nadathur Rajan: Fantastic!

@Sreelakshmi: Glad you enjoyed it. You cracked a pretty tricky one in #8.

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Hi Shuchi,
For Input clue I was thinking puny +t ,but could'nt anno for t :(
Ea- abbr for each learned a new one.
Your blog is very interesting & a good place to learn a lot of new things .Keep it going.All the best!:)

Shyam said...

Hi Shuchi

3 is my favourite of the lot. 8 seems to be a form of lazy cluing where the wordplay caters to a short-form of the answer. 6 is poor as well: there is no 'official' way to pronounce TUPNI.

However there is something I find amiss in 2; it was surprising to see 'wordplay WAS answer' and that too in a Times crossword! Do you see any reasoning for that?