All entries for Monday 09 January 2006

Volcanoes and Monkey Puzzles

This clue, which turned up recently in The Week, appealed to me:

Mount Vesuvius strikes, engulfing Naples, taking just seconds (4)

It seems to have appeared originally in a Listener crossword by BeRo which also included the novelty clue "H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O (5)" mentioned below; except BeRo noticed that adding "and P" to the clue provided a definition too! The puzzle was punningly called Pseudo-Clue because its grid includes a 9 X 9 Sudoku when the letters other than H — P are removed. (Who was BeRo?)

Just in case you haven't seen it before, here is one of the flashes of brilliance Araucaria (the sobriquet used by John Graham) is famous for:

Poetical scene has surprisingly chaste Lord Archer vegetating (3, 3, 8, 12)

The poet was Rupert Brooke.

: 09 Jan 2006 10:38 |  Tags: Bagatelle Cryptic Crossword Clues |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem