This week’s handmade co-op puzzle won’t defox itself. If you’re a dab hand at quizzes, lateral thinking, and search engine sleuthing, why not help out.
The ‘cluster foxer’ is regarded by some as the most demanding form. Solving one involves identifying 25 pictures and five hidden themes. The enlargeable mosaic below consists of five interlocked picture clusters (some possible cluster arrangements are shown above) each with its own theme. Themes have nothing in common with each other. Don’t be surprised to find, for example, “Crocodiles”, “Tulip mania”, “Words beginning with “ter””, “1948” and “Fictional policemen” sharing a puzzle. A picture’s connection to a particular theme won’t always be literal. An image of the Brandenburg Gate is just as likely to be part of a “Bach” cluster as a “Berlin” one.
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SOLUTIONS
Colonel K’s “Things Found In, On, Or Under Frozen Places” missing vowels foxer:
1. MLN – moulin (Phlebas)
2. WLL YMMMTH – woolly mammoth (Nutfield)
3. B LDFLLS – blood falls (Nutfield)
4. WMP – wampa (Nutfield)
5. PT FFKSP CBS – pituffik space base (a_monk)
6. FVHN DR DNDTH RT YTH RRL SFSL NTF LM – five hundred and thirty three reels of silent film (Nutfield)
7. G LCRMC – glacier mice (Electric Dragon)
8. KHRKVCHNK – kharkovchanka (Nutfield)
9. CS LTSFT HW HTW R – casualties of the white war (Nutfield)
10. MND – amanda (a_monk)
11. MR CLNNDFR NCND MLN – marcelin and francine dumoulin (Phlebas)
12. GRTGH T – great eight (Electric Dragon)
13. TZ – otzi (Electric Dragon)
14. F VCR TSFMCK NLYWHS KY – five crates of mckinley whiskey (Nutfield)
15. WHTW NGDD CFN CH – white winged diuca finch (Nutfield)
16. JHNTR RNG TNSGRV – john torrington’s grave (Nutfield)
17. MTRTSCN TST – meteorite scientist (a_monk)
18. LCK HDPFL GHT NNG – lockheed p-38f lightning (Nutfield)
19. WR LDSLR GSTDSRT – world’s largest desert (Nutfield)
20. PSYCHRPHL – psychophrile (Nutfield)
21. DR NKNTRS – drunken trees (Nutfield)
22. GM BRTSVMN TNRNG – gamburtsev mountain range (Nutfield)
23. DT HSPRL – death spiral (Nutfield)
24. ML BRPRNCSS – malabar princess (Nutfield)
25. SK DNY QV – skoda enyaq iv
26. CHLD RNFLLLL LLC – children of llullaillaco (Electric Dragon)
27. N NFRND LL – anna of arendelle
28. RNBWVL LY – rainbow valley (Nutfield)
29. CG R – ice auger
30. RC KFLR – rock flour
31. GR GLVCKSNT BK – george levick’s notebook (Nutfield)
32. PT GNNDRGN – patagonian dragon (Viscount, Nutfield)
33. LYN SMDC DRBR RL – lyons maid cider barrel (Electric Dragon)
B3 – The execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche, one of our fave paintings 🙂
B3. The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche
D5 – Universal Monsters Pinball machine.
E2 – Italian film poster of ‘The Plainsman’ – La Conquista del West
C2 – Stephen King, Skeleton Crew book cover
C4 – Looks like a Pangolin, but isn’t on the wikipedia page which it normally is.
NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO (female)
There’s another 9 above, but that seems a bit simple…
OSS 9 too.
D3 – USS O-9
A1. SKELETON ARMY Rioting at Worthing, 1884
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton_Army
So A1 Skeleton Crew & C2 Army
D2 appears to be these feet – Ramesses II
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA29282
‘The image of the king placed over the depiction of the Nine Bows, a representation of the traditional enemies of Egypt, is an important visual depiction of the king fulfilling his role as protector of Egypt.’
So another 9?
A4 – Think it is Sendai Daikannon in Japan
That it be
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.2998627,140.8254963,3a,75y,305.14h,99.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s662o0NzSZVDDX2Y1cNSQ7g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
A2 – I think it’s a Skeleton Tank
Yep. Being relocated to Fort Lee, Virginia as part of America’s Ordnance Museum (Aug. 3 to 7, 2009).
E5 – looks like a Regal Raptor car – a K3 or a K5? I’ve not found the advert pictured yet
B4. Celier XENON 2 – Polish-made autogyro
ETA: D4. Cardiff SEARCHLIGHT TATTOO 1975
B2 – Greyfriar’s Friary where the Skeleton of Richard 3rd was found. GREY or SKELETON?
E1. 591 SIGNALS UNIT of the RAF, motto (?): Vigilanter
https://www.raf.mod.uk/our-organisation/squadrons/591-signals-unit/
E4 – I think it’s a Macedonian Rolo Kima, meatloaf with a boiled egg in it, like an extreme scotch egg… No idea!
Right, second guess it’s a Polish Pieczeń rzymska which then links with E5 as POLISH
B5. HOPE FOR PEACE Monument, Yarze, Lebanon
(made to celebrate the end of the Lebanese Civil War in 1990)
That’s three things ending in -non in that corner – although again it all seems a bit simple!
C5 – RUSSIAN TOY TERRIER
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russkiy_Toy
C3 R-9 Desna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-9_Desna
Location:
https://goo.gl/maps/VHyDiesjxAPCNDz47
E3 – I think its the Flying Scotsman at the national rail museum, it’s in its war time livery.
LENR A3 4472
ylla’s ending -NON’s:
A3. Neil HANNON of The Divine Comedy as Napoleon
A4. Sendai DAIKANNON
A5. (to be identified)(Super) Constellation doesn’t quite work
B4. Celier XENON 2
B5. HOPE FOR PEACE Monument, Yarze, LEBANON
Xenon 2 as an answer and the connection isn’t Bitmap Brothers games! I’m very, very disappointed.
Skeletons:
A1. SKELETON ARMY
A2. SKELETON TANK
B1. (to be identified)
B2. Greyfriar’s Friary where the Skeleton of Richard 3rd was found
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.6339206,-1.1366262,3a,90y,82.51h,85.55t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1siI3b4gxgfCJhX49yNxVFBg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DiI3b4gxgfCJhX49yNxVFBg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D7.3082376%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en-GB&entry=ttu
C2. SKELETON CREW by Stephen King
Nines:
B3. Lady Jane Grey – “NINE DAYS’ QUEEN”
C3. R-9 Desna
C4. NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO
D2. NINE BOWS beneath the feet of Rameses II
D3. USS O-9
A5. Caravelle III ‘Guyane’ at AVIGNON-Provence airport
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.9033351,4.8981027,3a,75y,167.59h,81.81t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAF1QipMUy8fdGe2p5SSfIN5y_o2HjXY9d1JX88yioAMr!2e10!7i12000!8i6000?hl=en&entry=ttu
Frankly, I expect that interior caused more air-sickness than any turbulence.
B1. Skeleton Coast
It is a movie with Ernest Borgnine
The picture of the movie poster: https://www.ebay.com/itm/302687882593
(Assuming the above is correct) Unidentified Group 1:
C5. RUSSIAN TOY TERRIER
D4. Cardiff SEARCHLIGHT TATTOO 1975
D5. Universal Monsters Pinball machine
E4. (unidentified) Some sort of central/east european meatloaf?
E5. (unidentified) Nutfield thinks is something Polish?! Post in moderation?
Unidentified Group 2:
C1.
D1. (unidentified) Some kind of spaniel? Or the spaniel’s owner?
E1. 591 SIGNALS UNIT
E2. ‘The Plainsman’ – La Conquista del West (Gary Cooper plays Wild Bill Hickok?)
E3. Flying Scotsman LNER A3 4472 ?
Viscount thinks E5 is a Regal Raptor car, so it must be Polish?
I don’t there’s a link between Regal Raptor K5 and Polish – as far as I can see it’s Chinese.
Mysterious. I think it was B4 which was Polish, and it’s accounted for.
Maybe it’s that there’s a polish brand of motorcycles, Junak, that also make something known as a Regal Raptor.
However, the thing shown seems to be a Regal Raptor K5 (Long) electric mini car.
Re: C1.
I assume the counters are for the Panzer Lehr Division and 11th Panzer Division. With a cursory scan of their histories, the only battlefields they shared would be (the bridge at) Remagen and then the Ruhr pocket, both 1945.
(The 11th Panzer Division entered combat in Saarland and Moselle and fought at Remagen with 4,000 soldiers, 25 tanks and 18 guns that still remained; Panzer Lehr was sent to crush the bridgehead).
C1. Tigers in the Mist: Ardennes Offensive
The counter from the game:
https://boardgamegeek.com/image/3464678/tigers-mist-ardennes-offensive
This game simulates the start of the Battle of the Bulge, in December 44.
Based on Tim’s comment below, it matches the Gravity’s_Rainbow first part of the novel, which also happens in December 44.
Well, it actually match the day of the Cinema Rex bombing
Re: D1. President Reagan holds REX in the Diplomatic Reception Room, March 7, 1986
(Cavalier King Charles Spaniel)
I can connect D1. REX to E2. The PLAINSMAN via the Cinema Rex bombing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_Rex_bombing
Antwerp cinema destroyed on first day of Ardennes offensive by a V2; 567 killed. – insipration for Thomas Pynchon’s novel “Gravity’s Rainbow.”
Unfortunately the others don’t fit:
not 591 casualties
V2 is not a flying bomb
Apologies, defoxers. The ‘e1’ tile is a rogue – a leftover from an abandoned cluster that Roman forgot to remove/replace. A portion of ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’ book cover should have been in that spot.
E3. LNER V2 No. 4771 Green Arrow
Photo taken at the Doncaster museum
https://www.focustransport.org/2021/02/great-northern-railway-atlantic.html
V2 makes it the Cinema Rex Bombing
I think my brain got the car and helicopter origin mixed up so ignore my Regal Raptor Polish idea!
Really struggling on E4. (At least until we know who Roman considers the ultimate authority on culinary matters).
Might just be meatloaf, and the egg’s not important.
Germany: falscher Hase (“false hare”)
Jewish: Klops
Czechia: sekaná
Poland: pieczeń rzymska (“Roman roast”) or klops
Hungary: Stefánia
Romania/Bulgaria: Rulo Stefani, after the Hungarian
Greece: Rolo kima
Italy: polpettone
even Chile: Asado Aleman (German roasted meat)
Cuba: pulpeta
Puerto Rico: albondigón
Philippines: embutido
Unidentified Group:
C5. RUSSIAN TOY / Russkiy Toy (in case it was a word one) / Terrier
D4. (Cardiff) SEARCHLIGHT / TATTOO (1975)
D5. UNIVERSAL / MONSTERS / PINBALL
E4. (unidentified) Some sort of central/east european meatloaf?
E5. (Viscount identified, apologies) REGAL / RAPTOR / K5 (or K3 possibly)
Obviously Universal is a movie studio, and Searchlight Pictures became a part of Fox.
D5 – Is actually the “Monster Bash” Pinball machine by Williams….