Friday Foxer #123

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 18 answers, a few of which are acronyms.

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SOLUTIONS

Last week’s ‘33 Things Wot Have Been Renamed’ missing vowels foxer:

1. CLD – cluedo (Colonel_K)
2. GZHTSK – gzhatsk (ylla)
3. THNT NLSP ST CSSCTY – the national spastics society (ylla)
4. STR NGRSFRMWT HN – strangers from within (Phlebas, copperbottom)
5. MCCW NSLNGSPR – mccown’s longspur (copperbottom)
6. WN STNCHR CHLLVN – winston churchill avenue (ylla)
7. B BLB LLTH TDLM NL MSD – bib-label lithiated lemon-lime soda (Phlebas)
8. CL STNTWR – colston tower (Phlebas)
9. T HLHRST DM – the lahore stadium (ylla)
10. LRDD GW RDS – lord edgware dies (copperbottom, Colonel_K)
11. CH HTRPTS HVJTRMNS – chhatrapati shivaji terminus (Electric Dragon)

12. SNCR P – asian carp (copperbottom)
13. RCLSM – racialism (Colonel_K)
14. CC L DNL X – ice cold in alex (Phlebas)
15. HR LDFF RNTRP RS – herald of free enterprise (Electric Dragon, ylla)
16. HS TNLRS – houston oilers (ylla)
17. MNTD N – mount doane () or mount eden (Phlebas)
18. FRRKHBL SR – farrokh bulsara (Phlebas)
19. THMN CH STRGR DN – the manchester guardian (Electric Dragon)
20. STP LSCNTR – staples center (Electric Dragon)
21. MR CJSPHMC KLWHT – maurice joseph micklewhite (Electric Dragon)
22. NTJ MMR GNLP NCKN DWF F LMX – aunt jemima original pancake and waffle mix (Phlebas)

23. LLT – lilt (Colonel_K)
24. NF R DY – on a friday (ylla)
25. RTPR TG – rat portage (Phlebas)
26. KVNDMST – kvindemuseet (ylla)
27. RN CHBYR SRPRT – rancho boyeros airport (ylla)
28. GLDNSHT TL – golden shuttle (Colonel_K)
29. BLC KRBSFT BL LCLB – black arabs football club (Colonel_K)
30. VNDM NSLN D – van diemen’s land (Phlebas)
31. WN DSCLNDCL DRWR KS – windscale and calder works (ylla, Colonel_K)
32. V RMN CHS TRMK – avro manchester mk iii (Colonel_K)
33. TN YFL WNDT HMR CLSLYM JST CMST RSFM YHM – tony flow and the miraculously majestic masters of mayhem (Colonel_K)

55 Comments

  1. My first impression would be that it has to do with optics/photography: chromatic aberration in the black letters with yellow ‘shadows’. Sepia toned as well?

    ETA:
    A7. BOYS
    E9. SWORD

  2. Tradition dictates that we’ll come up with 30 words and then tomorrow morning Tim will post ‘you have half of one right’. Nevertheless:

    E9 – SWORD (this may well end up as something-sword)
    T9 – TEELING (a distillery in Dublin)
    L1 – AMBER

  3. G3. SHEN ZHU – God Pig / Holy Pig are pigs that have been chronically fattened for use in Hakka religious and cultural ceremonies

    ETA. A1. STY

    ETFA: K5. ANIMAL
    J1. SNOW – frustratingly, not Snowball

  4. G7 – INSOMNIA, which would rule out ANIMALS. It fits well with SHEN ZHU but leaves an awkward peninsula of letters underneath from which I can’t find anything.
    M7 – BEETLING
    A7 – BLAIR
    D1 – DINAR
    E1 – FLATS

    Kind of disappointed that MOTHER OF TAGINE is unlikely, unless the subject is North African restaurants. I suppose it could be some other kind of MOTHER OF though.

  5. F2 – SINDH
    D5 – BRAND
    G9 – TUBER
    E7 – MARS
    J3 – BODMAS
    K2 – MANSON
    B2 – READY

    The customary flailing around until the theme is solved seems to be taking a while this time.

  6. A7. BOYS, E9. SWORD, L1. ANSON, J3. BOMBER, H10. MOTHER, E1. FLAG all looks promising, but I can’t find anything that gives us a theme.

    The aircraft manufacturer AVRO, Scouts, pigs, none seems to work.

    If MOTHER is right, we may have J9. AFRO.

  7. 10 words so far:
    E1. FLAG
    E3. NUDIST
    J1. SWASH ZONE
    F6. STRANDBEEST
    G6. HUT
    B5. BAR
    B2. READY
    B4. ECHO
    A7. BOYS
    E9. SWORD

    I will continue tomorrow, if any left

  8. F8 or 10 – BUM

    Struggling with the acronyms as I can’t think of any that are beach-related, and they could be anything. It’s a tough one this week.

    • I’ve picked a few words out of the uncovered part – B7 COMMUTER, F7 VITERBO, H10 MOTHER OF… (as someone noted before), a_monk’s PLAGE – but except the last they don’t seem to have much to do with beaches.

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