Every Friday at 1300 hours, Tally-Ho Corner’s cleverest clogs come together to solve a ‘foxer’ handcrafted by my sadistic chum and colleague, Roman. A complete ‘defoxing’ sometimes takes several days and usually involves the little grey cells of many readers. Don’t be shy. All are welcome to participate.
The honeycomb below is a fancy form of wordsearch in which every cell is used, and words can curl and zigzag but never overlap. Each hive foxer has a theme (some past ones: gloves, mazes, earthquakes, and The 39 Steps). Identifying the theme is a vital part of the defoxing process. Today’s puzzle is composed of 22 answers.
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SOLUTIONS
Last week’s missing vowels foxer: “33 things wot existed/lasted for 33 years or less”
1. WRSFT HR SS – WARS OF THE ROSES (Nutfield)
2. BRST NSTRK – BURSTON STRIKE (Phlebas)
3. FR STT YRLBR DG – FIRST TAY RAIL BRIDGE (ylla)
4. NTH NYR YH NTNST MND T HRW – ANTHONY RAY HINTON’S TIME ON DEATH ROW (Phlebas)
5. NTFSCH STSCHRSCHTZWLL – ANTIFASCHISTISCHER SCHUTZWALL (Phlebas)
6. DW RDNR – EDWARDIAN ERA (Colonel_K)
7. CLDFRT RSSB YMSY KN GR – CLOUD FORTRESS BY MASAYUKI NAGARE (Nutfield, Mrs Nutfield, ylla)
8. RS HF RSTT – IRISH FREE STATE (AFKAMC)
9. SV TBNND CT RZH VG – SOVIET BAN ON DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (Nutfield)
10. PTRSH LTNSGL KPN GCRR – PETER SHILTON’S GOALKEEPING CAREER (Nutfield)
11. THS NDY RRCH – THOUSAND YEAR REICH (ylla)
12. P PPSXSP PC Y – POPE PIUS IX’S PAPACY (ylla)
13. T GFW RSNL YM PCS PR T – TUG OF WAR AS AN OLYMPIC SPORT (Colonel_K)
14. WRS WR DMST – WARSAW RADIO MAST (Nutfield)
15. SYL VPLTH – SYLVIA PLATH (Colonel_K)
16. CKL NDSST N TSCPT LFN WZL ND – AUCKLAND’S STINT AS CAPITAL OF NEW ZEALAND (Viscount)
17. LNGPRL MNT – LONG PARLIAMENT (Nutfield)
18. CLT CTGR – CELTIC TIGER (ylla)
19. RFC RRFT HSCT TSHV TNB LL DG – RAF CAREER OF THE SCOTTISH AVIATION BULLDOG (Nutfield, Colonel_K, Phlebas)
20. RPB LCFP P RVLT – REPUBLIC OF UPPER VOLTA (Nutfield)
21. HNSCR NJ – HANSIE CRONJE (Colonel_K, Nutfield)
22. PLPN NSNWR – PELOPONNESIAN WAR (Viscount)
23. FR NZSCHBRT – FRANZ SCHUBERT (Colonel_K)
24. SR CHF RNSD KR – SEARCH FOR INS DAKAR (Phlebas)
25. MPRNTR CTV – EMPIRE INTERACTIVE (ylla, Phlebas)
26. LNDNN DNRT HST RNRL WY – LONDONN AND NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY (Nutfield)
27. RDR M – RED RUM (Colonel_K, Nutfield)
28 BNN NDCLY D – BONNIE AND CLYDE (Colonel_K, ylla)
29. HP PYTR – HAPPY EATER (Nutfield)
30. GRM NYSL VFF RWT HTHZP PLN – GERMANY’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE ZEPPELIN (Colonel_K)
31. STFR NC SDM – ST FRANCIS DAM (ylla, Nutfield)
32. BRT SHBNNBT TLS HPPT MKN – BRITISH BAN ON BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (Colonel_K, Nutfield)
33. WLLSTW RSST TSST LL STBL DN GNT HWR LD – WILLIS TOWER’S STINT AS TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD (Viscount)
G13 – MAHOUT?
E2 – THE CLOCK TICKS? :p
Ok, a lot of random stuff:
L6 – POLKA
H8 – RUMBLE(S)
or
K5: BABOON
A lot of Ms adjacent to Hs – might be a Gaelic thing?
E1 or G2: CELTIC
After the 30 minute clear-up of last week’s Foxer it looks like Roman has come in studs-up this week.
Looking for the like button :)!
I forgot it was Friday, because I’m having a day off, and phlebas is actually away… I’ll see what I can do when I get home, it’s often just critical mass with these ones 😀
The most promising word I’ve found is A7 KHARTOUM.
H12 KHAKI
I10 MUMBLE (!)
D6 RAVING
A1 FORT(Y)
E4 HARDY
Nothing jumping out…
J6 feels like it must make axolotl, but it doesn’t 🙁
Something -BOX to I7?
If we’re just throwing out some randoms to inspire one another…
A1 FORT YORK
A7 KHAT
E11 TRUNK
I11 HUKA
J1 BASKET
J5 BOX DRUM
J5 BRICK
I10 MAD HOWL
Hey, sometimes it works. And sometimes we make 30+ words and they’re all wrong…
I10 is interesting, because I’d just found MURDOCK at H10 – sadly they don’t join up!
There is also E9 PINK and C6 GRAY/GRAVE. Those were ones I found looking for something around Khartoum, along with D10 RUNGU, for an East African theme.
Gah. Nothing has jumped out at me yet, lots of short words, but no theme. Some promising ones might be…
D3 MILLET
D6 RAVEN
C4 TRAMWAY
G8 TROUBLE(S)
H3 SOCKET
I1 POCKET
Some themes I considered were staple crops, India, Ireland, snooker and Lewis Carroll, but I couldn’t find enough matches to make any of them work. Don’t TARRY, but don’t RUSH, if your mind has a CLOG, just CHILL, or stay perfectly STILL, take a BATH, wash your FACE, then FOLLOW the SEAL or PUFFIN to the DOCKS, rack your BRAIN, or take a TRAIN to LIMA, try be HUMBLE, realize you’re no MAVEN, no GURU on a HILL, then POUT, or SHOUT: “BOLLOX!”
The theme is still at large, but five words have been correctly identified.
alison: 2
Nutfield: 2
ylla: 1
Well, Nutfield has the fewest to look through…
RUMBLES and MAHOUTs might both be found in jungles?
But…
Elephants have MAHOUTs and (alison’s) TRUNKs.
(And there’s MERRICK at J2, although no Joseph)
So Nutfield’s other word – there’s a circus polka written for elephants, but that K would be more useful for H12 KUMKI, a tame elephant used to trap wild ones. There are some baboons living with elephants in Eritrea, apparently.
Oh, but elephants do RUMBLE…
Am I onto something or is this a huge red herring? 😀
Bother, no use because MAHOUT and TRUNK overlap 🙁
Still, KHARTOUM means ‘Elephant’s trunk’, from the shape of the river. And elephants can be PINK…
Well done. This foxer is indeed elephantine.
Yes, Khartoum had just convinced me, in spite of the lack of trunk!
Elephant words:
G13 MAHOUT
H8 RUMBLE(S)
A7 KHARTOUM
D9 PINK?
A1 FORTY? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty_Elephants
J2 MERRICK?
H12 KUMKI
I was going to leave it for a bit to let anyone else catch up, but I’ve just noticed
L1 HANNIBAL
It could also be L1 HANNO, Pope Leo X’s pet elephant, allowing for M7 TUFFI
Amazing how much clearer things are when the theme is known.
D4 – WHITE
D3 – MATRIARCH
No kidding! Things like POLO and GUN which were on my list of “too short to be worth mentioning” now make sense. Good job, everyone.
E1 – CLOCK – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_clock
C6 – GRAVEYARD – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephants%27_graveyard
C8 – GUN
J1 – BASTILLE – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_of_the_Bastille
H1 – GOP – the Republican Party
I will pause here so the rest of you can have some fun.
Leaving something at D8/E10 which can only be SURUS, who turns out to be Hannibal’s last war elephant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surus
F10 SURUS
K1 MUSTH
J5 BABAR
L8 HOWDAH
J7/8 LOXODONTA, genus of the African elephant
I was going to say ‘leaving either POOL or LOOP’, but presumably it’s POLO at L6!
All done!
ylla was right – these foxers are like snowballs, once they get going.
But sometimes it takes a *lot* of random words to get them going, until someone falls over the right one.
A1 FORTY
A7 KHARTOUM
C6 GRAVEYARD
C8 GUN
D3 MATRIARCH
D4 WHITE
D8/E10 SURUS
E9 PINK
E1 CLOCK
G13 MAHOUT
H1 GOP
H8 RUMBLE
H12 KUMKI
J1 BASTILLE
J2 MERRICK
J5/K5 BABAR
J8 LOXODONTA
K1 MUSTH
L1 HANNO
L6 POLO
L8 HOWDAH
M7 TUFFI
Amazing that this was solved on Saturday! I thought the fact that no letter could be used twice would cause problems with solving it collegiately. This was one where my dyslexia really meant I would be of no help!
Lol, I can’t believe Mahout was correct and I can’t believe after doing that i searched the grid for Elephant with no luck and then promptly gave up :p.