Friday Foxer #114

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.

To completely defox today’s word chain you’ll need to provide Roman with the sequence of 24 words suggested by the clues below.

A word can be any length and is linked to the next word in the chain by its last two, three, or four letters. For instance ‘honeysuckle’ might be followed by ‘leviathan’. ‘Handel’ could come next. Then ‘delta’. And so on. Complicating things a tad are the six green italicised clues. These have been shuffled. For example “Outside of Europe, this mid-Nineties FPS was known by another name” probably doesn’t refer to word #8.

1. None of the consonants in this US state name are from the first half of the alphabet
2. An animal once involved in Danish coronations
3. This castle
4. This Co**a** deposited a fortune in a London bank, allegedly
5. Players of this game seek one
6. The location of Britain’s first ***n***o**
7. A SUV and a desert
8. Outside of Europe, this mid-Nineties FPS was known by another name
9. A notable naturalist who was killed by a ***** in the year this battle took place
10. This geezer
11. A city on the frontline in the Russo-Ukrainian War
12. You need a head for heights to do this job
13. This city
14. The protagonist in this game goes there
15. Rarefied rain
16. Where this loco spent its working life
17. This ten-letter word appears on all three of these Wikipedia pages
18. Where this photo was taken
19. A city around seventy miles from 18
20. This job/role inspired a famous pen name
21. A fictional pyromaniac and a vessel in the National Historic Fleet
22. Something you might find on the wall of an English church
23. The company behind this games console
24. An area of Scotland referenced in a weapon name

* * *

SOLUTIONS

Last week’s rithmetic foxers:

12/4*20=60
(defoxing team: Aergistal, Colonel_K, Phlebas, Viscount)

414-(330/10)+19=400
(defoxing team: Aergistal, Colonel_K, Nutfield, Phlebas)

500/(14+16+20)*2+5=25
(defoxing team: Aergistal, Colonel_K, Electric Dragon, Nutfield, Phlebas, Viscount)

43 Comments

  2. 9. Hugh Edwin STRICKLAND, killed by a train 14 September 1853

    The sea battle is the Battle of Sinop, 30 November 1853, Imperial Russia vs Ottoman Empire

  16. 22 – HABILIMENT – the clothes of a priest (though I suppose in an ultra-extreme church you could also have handmaiden…)

  21. Assuming all the above answers are right then we are missing:

    10
    11
    15

    and then

    4
    8
    20

    to slot into

    8
    12
    24

  22. 1. ARIZONA
    2. NARWHAL
    3. HALLWYL
    16* WYLAM
    5. AMULET
    6. LETCHWORTH
    7. THAR ?
    8.
    9. STRICKLAND
    10. This geezer
    11. A city on the frontline in the Russo-Ukrainian War
    12.

    13. TOKYO
    14. KYOTO
    15. Rarefied rain – (o)TO…LIN ?
    12* You need a head for heights to do this job – LINEMAN ?
    17. MANDEVILLE
    18. LEUVEN
    19. VENLO
    24* LOCHABER
    21. BERTHA
    22. Something you might find on the wall of an English church – HABILIMENT ?
    23. ENTEX
    24…

  26. 8 can’t go into itself so therefore

    8 (20). This job/role inspired a famous pen name – THAR – ??????? – STRICKLAND
    15. Rarefied rain – KYOTO – ??????? – LINEMAN
    24 (8). Outside of Europe, this mid-Nineties FPS was known by another name – ENTEX – ??????

    • It can go into itself, it just doesn’t happen often.

      And we’ve got 4-letter overlaps today, if that makes any difference.

      • Would be especially naughty of Roman to explicitly use 8 as the example in his intro and then not shuffle it.

        Also, I missed the four-letter overlap. Is that new? None of the answers so far have a four letter overlap.

        • The four letter overlap comes and goes, I think – I remember being caught out by it before, so now I mostly remember to check!

    • We might have it wrong, and it ought to be 20* at 16.
      From the Wikipedia on Mark Twain
      Piloting also gave him his pen name from “mark twain”, the leadsman’s cry for a measured river depth of two fathoms (12 feet), which was safe water for a steamboat.

      14. KYOTO
      15. Rarefied rain – (o)TO…LE ?
      20* LEADSMAN
      17. MANDEVILLE

      ETA. I feel we’ve had the
      12. You need a head for heights to do this job
      clue before, and the answer was ARBORIST or similar, which would fit at 8.

      7. THAR
      12* ARBORIST
      9. STRICKLAND

  28. Just 15. remaining

    8. Powerslave – known as EXHUMED in Europe
    20. LEADSMAN ? (see above) = Mark Twain

    1. ARIZONA
    2. NARWHAL
    3. HALLWYL
    16* WYLAM
    5. AMULET
    6. LETCHWORTH
    7. THAR
    12* ARBORIST / ARBORICULTURIST
    9. STRICKLAND
    10. ANDRANIK
    11. NIKOPOL
    4* POLUBOTOK
    13. TOKYO
    14. KYOTO
    15. Rarefied rain – (o)TO…LE ?
    20* LEADSMAN
    17. MANDEVILLE
    18. LEUVEN
    19. VENLO
    24* LOCHABER
    21. BERTHA
    22. HATCHMENT
    23. ENTEX
    8* EXHUMED

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