Friday Foxer #154

Every Friday, 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. All are welcome to participate.

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.

* * *

Last week’s geofoxer theme: Stevens (defoxed by Electric Dragon)

a. Steve Irwin (Colonel_K)
b. John F. Stevens (Aergistal, Phlebas)
c. Steven Ferencz Udvar–Házy (Aergistal)
d. Steven Holl (Electric Dragon)
e. St. Stephen (Nutfield, Viscount)
f. Isaac I. Stevens (Aergistal)
g. St. Stephen (ylla)
h. Stephen King (Phlebas)
i. Stevenage (Viscount)
j. Stephen Sondheim (Electric Dragon, Nutfield)
k. Major Richard Stephens (Viscount, Electric Dragon, Phlebas)
l. Stephen Lawrence (Colonel_K)

44 Comments

  17. Astoundingly, the picture for E5. came up as the first answer to my search
    https://news.virginia.edu/content/varon-union-forces-sought-souths-salvation-us-civil-war
    “Union soldiers on Mason’s Island, which served as a training camp, in Washington in 1861. Across from them is the Potomac Aqueduct Bridge; Georgetown University is on top of the hill. (George N. Barnard, Library of Congress)”

    (I guess the two on the rock on the right are fishing in their own ways)

    So… MASON, POTOMAC, AQUEDUCT, GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON…

  20. D1. FS (Ferrovie dello Stato = Italian State Railways) Class 480 (2-10-0 steam locomotive) at the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa
    https://www.google.com/maps/@40.8210068,14.3210192,3a,90y,145.93h,89.79t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNGtzSBvovTKV2RsgqY62ahoW-0CNGwKSn6pRz7!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNGtzSBvovTKV2RsgqY62ahoW-0CNGwKSn6pRz7%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya184.75282-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352?hl=en&entry=ttu

    (Oh, and regarding A4.,the plane that crashed was called Mozart)

  21. Balvano Train Disaster:
    E1. 517 dead (official figure by Italian government)
    D1. FS Class 480 locomotive 480.016 was one of the two steam locomotives involved
    D2. the trains involved stalled in the tunnel
    C2. Order of Nakhimov was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 3, 1944 – train disaster happened 3 March 1944 some time after 00:50
    B2. poisoning by Carbon Monoxide was the cause of death and injury

  23. Back-in-the-news Geert Wilders:
    C3. FITNA – title of his 2008 short film
    B3. ??? – (A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, organizers of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that occured 28th August 1963)
    B4. Partij voor de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom) = PVV
    A4. MOZART (Niki Lauda Air Crash Flight 004) – Wilders has acquired nicknames such as “Mozart” and “Captain Peroxide”
    A5. VENLO – birthplace 6 September 1963

  24. D4. I think it’s the Burmese 8888 Uprising, aka People Power Uprising and the 1988 Uprising. Key events occurred on 8 August 1988, but this picture is supposed to have been taken 26 August 1988 in downtown Rangoon (Yangon)

  25. C4. GLIWICE RADIO Tower, Poland
    https://www.google.com/maps/@50.3124715,18.6897199,3a,75y,354.46h,95.45t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMrewS7hrQEs_OSM66vgizQuaQf0FUKb6uzVZT1!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMrewS7hrQEs_OSM66vgizQuaQf0FUKb6uzVZT1%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya126.087166-ro-0-fo100!7i5660!8i2830?hl=en&entry=ttu

    – currently the world’s tallest wooden structure (/lattice tower) (if I’m reading things correctly)
    – site of German false flag attack in 1939 used as pretext for war

  26. As identified by Viscount, E3. is indeed an Argentine Super Étendard approaching the deck of a US aircraft carrier (USS Abraham Lincoln).
    My Foxer-senses suggest the answer may then be TOUCH-AND-GO

    (Not having an aircraft carrier of their own, the Argentines practise Touch-and-go landings when the Americans are sailing past their bit of South America; known as Gringo-Gaucho manoeuvres (which also has an outside chance of being the answer)).

  27. D3. is, as Nutfield stated, King Leopold of Belgium.
    It’s one of the first stamps issued by that country and known by philatelists as the EPAULETTES series
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epaulettes_(stamp)

    E4. “Girl stranded in hyacinth patch, 1972”
    -> JOHNBOAT

    ETA: Hidden Beatles:
    E2. trumPETEr (Best – one of the fifths)
    D3. ePAULettes (McCartney)
    E3. gRINGO-gaucho (Starr)
    E4. JOHNboat (Lennon)
    E5. GEORGEtown (Harrison)

  28. ‘Incidents’ ?:
    C4. GLEIWITZ Incident – 31 August 1939 false flag attack by German SS
    D4. CSX 8888 (Crazy Eights) Incident – runaway train in Ohio on May 15, 2001 – inspired the (clearly mistitled) film Unstoppable
    B5. DYATLOV Pass Incident – Russian outdoors-types weird deaths, February 1-2, 1959
    C5. Command: Shifting Sands by Slitherine – ???
    D5. VLORA Incident – Albanians push out Soviet forces from Pasha Liman Base, March 28 – June 8, 1961

    Re: C5. There’s a Sand War between Algeria and Morocco in 1963

Leave a Reply