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: owls, rugby, Egypt, UFOs…). Identifying the theme is a vital part of the defoxing process. Today’s puzzle is composed of 17 answers.
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MUG UP
If you dwell in the UK*, would like to sup from an apt tea/coffee tankard while defoxing, have £15 (price includes p&p) spare, and don’t mind braving a somewhat Heath-Robinson purchase process, you can buy (while stocks last) one of the handsome mugs pictured above by following these steps:
1) Use the donation form at the bottom of this page to pay your £15.
2) Email me, tim at tallyhocorner.com, your address.
3) Wait patiently for your vulpine drinking vessel to arrive (I plan to dispatch orders on Mondays and Fridays).
* Sorry, I need to do some postage cost research before offering mugs to overseas purchasers.
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SOLUTIONS
Last week’s ‘33 things wot there are six of’ missing vowels foxer:
1. C NT RSTHTBR DRCHD – countries that border chad (Viscount)
2. PL YRSNV L LYBL LTM – players in a volleyball team (Electric Dragon)
3. GSL YN G – geese a-laying (Electric Dragon)
4. MR KSFVCK RSLG HTTN K – marks of vickers light tank (Viscount)
5. FT H RSNT HN BCLG – feathers on the NBC logo (Zwack23)
6. TRC KSNT HBTL SMG CLM YS TRYT RP – tracks on the beatles’ magical mystery tour EP (Viscount)
7. LG LDL V RSNC RCK TVR – legal deliveries in a cricket over (Electric Dragon)
8. CH M BRSNT HCYL N DRFBR TTST MPD – chambers in the cylinder of a beretta stampede (Electric Dragon)
9. SSGR TSTR NSMS TS – ss great easterns masts (captaincabinets)
10. PN TSNT HS T RFD VD – points on the star of david (Viscount)
11. F TNF TH M – feet in a fathom (Phlebas)
12. L VNGSPRSDN TS – living us presidents (Zwack23)
13. RL S DCGM VS – released ice age movies (captaincabinets)
14. PRSR VDDLTCS – preserved deltics (Phlebas)
15. RDS T RPSNL BRSF LG – red stripes on liberia’s flag (Phlebas)
16. W H LSNSR CN – wheels on a saracen (Zwack23, Viscount)
17. NGL CNCTHD RLSNW LS – anglican cathedrals in wales (Electric Dragon)
18. NG N SNC N V RBPCM KR – engines on a convair b-36 peacemaker (Phlebas)
19. HNR YVW VS – henry viii’s wives (Viscount, Phlebas)
20. CNTSFNR THR NRLN D – counties of northern ireland (Viscount)
21. LG SNNR G NP PM DD BR – legs on an organ pipe mud dauber (Phlebas)
22. FN DNGM MBR SFTHR PNC NMCCM MNTY – founding members of the european economic community (Zwack23, Electric Dragon)
23. DGTSNHN NB LL CTRSL FTHN D – digits on hannibal lecter’s left hand (Phlebas)
24. CR BNT MSNFR CT SML CL – carbon atoms in a fructose molecule (Phlebas)
25. SHK SPRSGNTRS – shakespeare signatures (Electric Dragon)
26. TP LSNSN WD RP – tepals on a snowdrop (Viscount)
27. GT SFL HR – gates of lahore (Phlebas)
28. CRM RNSTR KNVLS – cormoran strike novels (Phlebas)
29. RG NLMNPLYTK NS – original monopoly tokens (Electric Dragon)
30 G LSNT HN NT NSX TYS XWR LDC PFNL – goals in the nineteen sixty six world cup final (Zwack23)
31. FL VRSFQR K – flavours of quark (gusdownnup)
32. S PCSFSP NBLL – species of spoonbill (Zwack23)
33. PR SNRSW HSC PDF RMMC K LNBRGCR RC TN LFCLTYNNN TNGHTYFR – prisoners who escaped from mecklenburg correctional facility in nineteen eighty-four (gusdownnup)
I think the very hungry caterpillar has been at this foxer…
F8 – EVO MORALES
C6 JILTED
I8 – GHOST OF KYIV, though what that would have to do with either jilted or evo morales is lost on me at the moment.
Edit – in fact it overlaps evo morales so one of them must be wrong.
M5 – BAYRAKTAR, which is a Turkish drone used in the ongoing Ukraine war, which would provide a link to Ghost of Kyiv
J5 – ZAPORIZHZHIA, so it looks like Ukraine is the theme
L3 – MOSKVA, the ship that was sunk.
K1 – could be NAFO
C2/3 – KHERSON
E1 – HIMARS, which leaves A1 – PATRON, but I’m not sure what it’s relevance is.
Edit – PATRON the bomb dog! Should have read the other post first.
F1 – SAKY (air base)
E5 – PEACE
C3 – KHERSON
G/H5 AZOVSTAL
I11 SNAKE ISLAND
This is a bit of a cop-out guess, but i have a suspicion the Z at B6 might just be “Z” and nothing else. I also see B4 GAIN and E9 HOME, but not sure how to fit the rest.
Just in case anyone is trying to figure out what’s left on the board, another candidate for a single-letter answer could be E8 “V”.
A6 BILOHORIVKA
That leaves ITED or DETI in the corner, but neither of those ring a bell.
B4 might be GANJA… I have a vague memory of a clip of one of the refugees being asked by a reporter what he thought about the war and he used the opportunity to say Ukraine should legalize pot.
Just before bed I checked on my phone and now C7 JAVELIN is staring me right in the face. I’ll turn off my phone now to avoid any future late night facepalms.
G9 – MRIYA. There’s only MRIYACO in that area now. Mriya is that big Antonov plane that was destroyed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225_Mriya
Mriya Co is a company selling t-shirts for Ukraine but I’m assuming it’s MRIYA and a separate CO or OC rather than a reference to the t-shirt company.
There’s a group in the centre which can only be SITNAG or GANTIS or some split of those, which seems wrong. Maybe there’s a red herring somewhere.
I think E5 PEACE is wrong. That opens up a more space for a word or two, but not quite sure yet what they could be.
G6 COPE CAGE, which is the term military meme dudes are using to refer to the improvised slat armor the Russians are putting on their tanks.
That makes me think we have E6 SAINT JAVELIN, another meme refering to the ATGM.
So confirmed B6 is just “Z”.
And I have no idea what ITED or DETI are in the top corner. Anyone?
Apparently “deti” is Russian for “children”… there are a couple of news stories out there saying that people would write the word on their cars and outside buildings in the hopes that they would be spared shelling.