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: elephants, earthquakes, heraldry…). Identifying the theme is a vital part of the defoxing process. Today’s puzzle is composed of 21 answers.
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SOLUTIONS
Last week’s “33 Things You Might Find in a Zoo” missing vowels foxer:
1. KP = OKAPI (ylla)
2. MNRL = MONORAIL (Colonel_K)
3. GLD = GELADA or GOLDIE (Colonel_K)
4. BMBC RTR = BOMB CRATER (AFKAMC)
5. TBN G = OTA BENGA (Colonel_K)
6. QGG = QUAGGA (ylla)
7. HM LYNTHR = HIMALAYAN TAHR (Phlebas)
8. DDLYDR SLY = DUDLEY DURSLEY (Phlebas)
9. BLWPP = BLOWPIPE (AFKAMC)
10. LNDG NTPN D = LOANED GIANT PANDA (Colonel_K, ylla)
11. LS SRHD GHGTNRC = LESSER HEDGEHOG TENREC (ylla)
12. TYR = TAYRA (Colonel_K)
13. LN GN SDPTR = LONG NOSED POTOROO (ylla)
14. GRLDDR RLL = GERALD DURRELL (Phlebas)
15. SNB RFR ST = SUN BEAR FOREST (Phlebas)
16. V NCNR = VINCE NOIR (Colonel_K)
17. ZRSG T = AZARA’S AGOUTI (Colonel_K)
18. LN CCRP RLSTP HNBRKS = LANCE CORPORAL STEPHEN BROOKS (gusdownnup)
19. BRBB RS = BURU BABIRUSA
20. LD BRGNTT RTS = ALDABRA GIANT TORTOISE (AFKAMC)
21. NKS = ANKUS (captaincabinets)
22. DSMR STSHT = DESMARET’S HUTIA (ylla)
23. HTZN = HOATZIN (Colonel_K)
24. RG NTSCNL = REGENTS CANAL (Phlebas)
25. BR DDSK = BEARDED SAKI (captaincabinets)
26. SCRM NGHRYR MDLL = SCREAMING HAIRY ARMADILLO (ylla)
27. BR HMLRKB = ABRAHAM ULRIKAB (Colonel_K)
28. MP RRTMRN = EMPEROR TAMARIN (Phlebas)
29. NR THR NLZ NGNTCL DRT = NORTHERN LUZON GIANT CLOUD RAT (ylla)
30. CS TRNDPL LX = CASTOR AND POLLUX (gusdownnup)
31. RYMN DHLLRN = RAYMOND HALLORAN (Phlebas)
32. B LTRMN TR = BLUE TREE MONITOR (Phlebas)
33. M = EMU (ylla)
H9 QUILT
J8 METAL (not complatible with the above)
H5 CLEAR
I2 HIT
K3 MISS (but no AND in between)
Let the spitballin’ commence. There’s AMMETER at D10
A1 ZIGZAG
I2 HATHOR
E5 HORUS
both Egyptian deities
in fact A4 EYE OF HORUS fitting around ZIGZAG
Eye of Horus looks very convincing, but leaves a stray A at the end of zigzag
But it’s not quite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagazig, which would put us generally in Egypt. Maybe the foxer can’t spell?
ZAGAZIG does fit in – left from B4 then along the A row
Ooh, clever you 🙂 I had tried from both ends, honest!
Hmm not quite, as it would make an orphaned A at B1. But Eye of Horus seems more plausible than zigzag.
If we’re talking deities then you can have either ZEUS at K4 or MARS at J8
Actually you could have both, they don’t have to share the same S
C9 – MEMPHIS
Fings wot are Egyptian is looking good
I5 – SALAH (on a tasty run of form for Liverpool at the moment)
H5 CLEOPATRA
L7 NASSER
oh but I8 BAST
can’t be both NASSER and BAST though as they share an S
You can make DIAMETER round the edge from F12, but I’m not sure why you would want to…
E1 DENSHAWAI
I4 MASTABA
L8 – BES – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bes
E6 NILOMETER?
Fits with D7 RA
H7 COPT?
No, COPTS, with RA at D7
G10 – FAROUK (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_of_Egypt)
D10 could be AI-DA (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/20/egypt-detains-artist-robot-ai-da-before-historic-pyramid-show)
perhaps more likely to be the Verdi opera Aida?
Ha, well, a far more cultured person than me would say that.
I had no idea Aida was Egyptian!
Here’s where we’re at so far: https://ibb.co/rMYtt9s
(excluding Nasser/Bast as it could be either)
If COPTS was just COPT, SADAT would fit in starting at F8
I had the Ss of MEMPHIS and COPTS the other way round, which was why I thought it was needed to leave RA. You could well be right.
That’s probably just as well; it turns out Daty is a NSFW initialism.
M3. Simsim is Arabic for sesame. Alam Simsim (the Egyptian version of Sesame Street) would have been nice.
More concretely H9. Sayyid QUTB – Islamist idealogue
ETA: 5 answers left to find, presumably 2 to the right of Nasser and 3 to the left.
ETA2: M3. SIMSIMIYYA – Egyptian stringed instrument
leaves K4. Zeus
More likely M5 SUEZ!
K9 ATEM (another Egyptian god) is possible
Adding in NASSER, SADAT, QUTB, SIMSIMIYYA, SUEZ and ATEM to captaincabinet’s earlier graphic would leave one answer to get from the six letters NUALID going clockwise from G13 and I can’t get anything from those so unless someone can do better we may have gone wrong somewhere.
Roman recommends you discard two deities then find another.
I presume that means take out BES and leave out ATEM.
There could be G13. NU (primordial, waiting to be turned into stuff) or, very unlikely, H11. DUA (God of toiletry and sanitation) since it leaves an orphan N.
(Theoretically, if it was NU, Aida could run from I11 and there’d be AID/DIA along the right edge, but I don’t recognise them as particularly egyptian.)
In short, 3 answers to find; Nu might be one of them.