Cryptic Forumites 2

Kai Laddiman · Post by **Kai Laddiman** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:00 pm

Kai Laddiman wrote:
Phil Reynolds wrote:Kai's score has now risen to 19.5 (10 right answers with one only partially correctly explained).
Can we round up?

Yay! I think I have it!

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:15 pm

Mmmm, I suspect I know which 2 I'm missing, but oh well. Was good stuff

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:54 pm

Kai 20/20

Joseph Bolas · Post by **Joseph Bolas** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 9:33 am

I don't suppose it's possible to PM for the answers, because I'm not smart enough to solve any of these

and I am curious to see what the answers are.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:55 am

Two revised scores and one new entry:

Clare 20/20 (finally!)
Dinos 10/20
Ralph 19/20 (all 10 answers correct but one incorrectly arrived at)

Clare Sudbery · Post by **Clare Sudbery** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 1:30 pm

Joseph Bolas wrote:I don't suppose it's possible to PM for the answers, because I'm not smart enough to solve any of these and I am curious to see what the answers are.

I'll pm you. Obviously answers to be kept to yourself!

Joseph Bolas · Post by **Joseph Bolas** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 1:43 pm

Clare Sudbery wrote:
Joseph Bolas wrote:I don't suppose it's possible to PM for the answers, because I'm not smart enough to solve any of these and I am curious to see what the answers are.
I'll pm you. Obviously answers to be kept to yourself!

Thank you for the PM Clare

I will keep these to myself

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:40 pm

Chris Corby - 20/20. This prize is going to be spread very thinly I'm afraid.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:14 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:Chris Corby - 20/20. This prize is going to be spread very thinly I'm afraid.

Mars Bar party

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:50 pm

Howard Somerset - 16/20

Eoin Monaghan · Post by **Eoin Monaghan** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:50 pm

when can we have the answers ?

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:56 pm

Eoin.V.Monaghan wrote:when can we have the answers ?

Call me old-fashioned but I thought after the competition closes would be a good time.

Eoin Monaghan · Post by **Eoin Monaghan** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 7:30 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Eoin.V.Monaghan wrote:when can we have the answers ?
Call me old-fashioned but I thought after the competition closes would be a good time.

when does it end?

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:03 am

Eoin.V.Monaghan wrote:
Phil Reynolds wrote:
Eoin.V.Monaghan wrote:when can we have the answers ?
Call me old-fashioned but I thought after the competition closes would be a good time.
when does it end?

Tomorrow night (Tuesday) at midnight. It's considered good manners, Eoin, to look for information yourself before asking for it to be repeated.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:38 pm

Ralph now also has 20/20.

Eoin Monaghan · Post by **Eoin Monaghan** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:43 pm

Yes Mister Reynolds. sir.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 9:31 am

The response to this has been good and I'm looking forward to being able to announce the results on Wednesday morning. If that seems a long time to wait (it certainly does to me, but bear in mind I was asked to extend the deadline!), here's a bonus one just for fun to keep you ticking over. No need to PM me, just work it out and the first one to post the answer gets a big smile from me.

Here goes:

First man to the right in ancient Rome.

(Hint: it's a newbie.)

More excitingly, I've nearly finished preparing a proper C4C cryptic crossword which I'll post in the next day or two. This will be a genuine competition with a real, tangible prize for the winner.

Chris Corby · Post by **Chris Corby** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:03 am

Phil Reynolds wrote:The response to this has been good and I'm looking forward to being able to announce the results on Wednesday morning. If that seems a long time to wait (it certainly does to me, but bear in mind I was asked to extend the deadline!), here's a bonus one just for fun to keep you ticking over. No need to PM me, just work it out and the first one to post the answer gets a big smile from me.

Here goes:

First man to the right in ancient Rome.
(Hint: it's a newbie.)

More excitingly, I've nearly finished preparing a proper C4C cryptic crossword which I'll post in the next day or two. This will be a genuine competition with a real, tangible prize for the winner.

Adam Porter?

First man = ADAM, Right=R, PORTE is near Rome now but Porte was known as Rome eons ago............

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:12 am

Chris Corby wrote:Adam Porter?

First man = ADAM, Right=R, PORTE is near Rome now but Porte was known as Rome eons ago............

Nope. Wrong newbie I'm afraid, and the explanation doesn't work - it would require the R to be contained within PORTE, rather than tacked on the end. (Your geography may also be suspect, but I'm ill-equipped to comment.) Good effort though!

Chris Corby · Post by **Chris Corby** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:18 am

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Chris Corby wrote:Adam Porter?

First man = ADAM, Right=R, PORTE is near Rome now but Porte was known as Rome eons ago............
Nope. Wrong newbie I'm afraid, and the explanation doesn't work - it would require the R to be contained within PORTE, rather than tacked on the end. (Your geography may also be suspect, but I'm ill-equipped to comment.) Good effort though!

Well it was worth a quick stab. Seems odd for you to point out that there is no R contained in 'PORTE' !

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:22 am

Chris Corby wrote:Seems odd for you to point out that there is no R contained in 'PORTE' !

I didn't say there wasn't an R in PORTE, I said the R (viz. the one you derived from 'right' in the clue) isn't in PORTE. To get PORTER from 'to the right in ancient Rome', you would somehow have to make 'ancient Rome' = POTER. There's no anagram indicator in the clue. You probably knew all this and were just being whimsical.

Kai Laddiman · Post by **Kai Laddiman** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:53 am

ADAM DEXTER!

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:12 am

Kai Laddiman wrote:ADAM DEXTER!

Well done.

Clare Sudbery · Post by **Clare Sudbery** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 11:35 am

Damn. Beaten to it. ;o)

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:57 pm

Kai Laddiman wrote:ADAM DEXTER!

Humour me with an explanation, or was that just a search for newbies called Adam?

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:00 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:
Kai Laddiman wrote:ADAM DEXTER!
Humour me with an explanation, or was that just a search for newbies called Adam?

Adam was the first man, and http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/640

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:36 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:
Kai Laddiman wrote:ADAM DEXTER!
Humour me with an explanation, or was that just a search for newbies called Adam?
Adam was the first man, and http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/640

Thanks Michael but the only bit I wanted to know about, the reference to Ancient Rome, was the only bit you didn't explain!

The Adam bit had already been explained, at that point anyone could have solved it by looking through the new members for an Adam, I was just asking (not in an accusatory way) whether that is what Kai had done or if he'd worked it out. Cheers anyway.

Paul Howe · Post by **Paul Howe** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:50 pm

Matt Morrison wrote: Thanks Michael but the only bit I wanted to know about, the reference to Ancient Rome, was the only bit you didn't explain!

It's just a clue to use Latin, Dexter being Latin for right.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:32 pm

Paul Howe wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote: Thanks Michael but the only bit I wanted to know about, the reference to Ancient Rome, was the only bit you didn't explain!
It's just a clue to use Latin, Dexter being Latin for right.

Quality stuff, thanks Paul.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:51 pm

Matt Morrison wrote:
Paul Howe wrote:It's just a clue to use Latin, Dexter being Latin for right.
Quality stuff, thanks Paul.

To be fair, the link that Michael posted did tell you that.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:10 am

Right, the competition has now closed so here are the answers..

Deceive (or start to terrorise) partygoers.
Conor Travers (deceive = CON, or = OR, start to terrorise = T, partygoers = RAVERS)
In France, I shop around for missile.
Joseph Bolas (in France I = JE, JE + SHOP around = JOSEPH, missile = BOLAS)
Nine blows, approximately.
Ben Wilson (anagram of nine blows)
Scottish church gives bill of exchange for French wines.
Kirk Bevins (Scottish church = KIRK, bill of exchange = BE, French wines = VINS)
Crudely bears analysis.
Clare Sudbery (anagram of crudely bears)
Exercise room, we hear, with posh car.
Jim Bentley (exercise room we hear (i.e. homophone of gym) = JIM, posh car = BENTLEY)
Told little lies back when faced with shortage.
Debbi Flack (told little lies (i.e fibbed) back = DEBBIF, shortage = LACK)
New York goes in to maze.
Tony Warren (NY in TO WARREN)
Dickens initially keen to overdose on his little heroine.
David O'Donnell (Dickens initially = D, keen = AVID, overdose = OD, on = ON, his (i.e. Dickens') little heroine = (Little) NELL)
Brand new? Makes me sick!
Jon O'Neill (Brand = JO, new = N, me sick = ONE ILL)

As Gary hinted, number 2 is slightly unfair: it requires you to first decode 'In France, I' as 'je' and then use that word along with 'shop' as anagram fodder. By convention, words that are to be 'de-anagrammed' should appear in the clue as plain text. Luckily, most of you saw through this pretty quickly.

So, the results in reverse order:

In 9th place: Matt with 1 point
In 8th place: Dinos with 10
In joint 6th place: Howard and Michael with 16...
...and, the joint winners, five people with nothing better to do over the weekend - Gary, Kai, Clare, Ralph and Chris with perfect scores of 20/20.

Special mention must go to Gary who submitted his fully correct entry just 2 hours after the competition was first posted.

I did originally say that the prize would be something highly desirable; it was going to be a salacious photograph of me but, given that one of the winners is a minor and I value my liberty, I've had to think better of it. So, instead, here's a picture of Chris Tarrant at the precise moment he realised the tabloids had found out about his affair:

Enjoy.

Dinos Sfyris · Post by **Dinos Sfyris** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:20 am

Thanks Phil great clues, some of which now I cant believe I didn't get! But then they're only easy if you know the answers...

Adam Dexter · Post by **Adam Dexter** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:37 am

Phil Reynolds wrote:The response to this has been good and I'm looking forward to being able to announce the results on Wednesday morning. If that seems a long time to wait (it certainly does to me, but bear in mind I was asked to extend the deadline!), here's a bonus one just for fun to keep you ticking over. No need to PM me, just work it out and the first one to post the answer gets a big smile from me.

Here goes:

First man to the right in ancient Rome.
(Hint: it's a newbie.)

More excitingly, I've nearly finished preparing a proper C4C cryptic crossword which I'll post in the next day or two. This will be a genuine competition with a real, tangible prize for the winner.

It's ME!

I know I'm late but I didn't know this existed

And I can't do the other clues... it's not like The Telegraph!

Howard Somerset · Post by **Howard Somerset** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:19 pm

Thanks Phil. Great competition, and congrats to the five winners.

Very annoyed at not getting number 5, as I was on the right lines, but when I extracted BRIAN from those letters couldn't make a sensible surname from what was left. Just didn't pick the right person.

I got hit by the number 2 problem. While out in town this morning, I was wondering whether all the words in the clue might have to be translated into French, and when I realised that the letters of DANS and MAGASIN all appear in DAN V's name, I thought I had to be on the right track.

I hope you're working in the next one now. And I really look forward to seeing the clue anyone can come up with for Dan V

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 12:50 pm

Howard Somerset wrote:Very annoyed at not getting number 5, as I was on the right lines, but when I extracted BRIAN from those letters couldn't make a sensible surname from what was left. Just didn't pick the right person.

Also, you fell into my carefully planted trap by picking the wrong word ('crudely') as the anagram signifier. So you were looking for an anagram of 'bears analysis' instead of 'crudely bears'. (Amusingly, Clare herself also spent a while down this particular cul de sac.)

I hope you're working in the next one now.

My full-scale C4C cryptic crossword will be published later today or tomorrow - I'm just finalising details of how I'm going to finance the prize.

And I really look forward to seeing the clue anyone can come up with for Dan V

Amanda's having inn demolished?

Howard Somerset · Post by **Howard Somerset** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:16 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:Amanda's having inn demolished?

Nice one.

Joseph Bolas · Post by **Joseph Bolas** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:27 pm

Some very good clues there Phil

They were too smart for me to solve

, even #2, as I could only work out how you got JOSEPH

.

Clare Sudbery · Post by **Clare Sudbery** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:28 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:Amanda's having inn demolished?

And destroying a Ford Transit. And shaming Ian, to boot.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:33 am

Phil Reynolds wrote:
First man to the right in ancient Rome.

Haha. I remember thinking when I set this clue that "Adam Dexter" sounded like the kind of iconic name that a thriller writer would choose for an incorruptible detective or avenging superhero. Unfortunately, of course, such names also tend to be chosen by "actors" with rather specialised CVs...