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.
Every image in an Alphabet Foxer represents a different letter of the alphabet. Roman sources all the images from Wikipedia pages and the subjects of those pages, once identified, reveal the letter. For example, a photo taken from Warsaw’s Wikipedia page would be W, one from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus would be O. To fully defox the puzzle, link all the pics with their letters, discovering in the process the one letter not represented on the grid.
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SOLUTIONS
Last week’s ‘33 Things Wot You Might Find in the Netherlands’ missing vowels foxer:
1. BR RLRGN – barrel organ (Electric Dragon)
2. DMNTBWRKR – diamantbewerker (Electric Dragon, Colonel_K)
3. ZRKLSTMPT – zuurkoolstamppot (Phlebas)
4. WM NRD NGLT TR – woman reading a letter (Electric Dragon)
5. KRPLP – kraplap (Colonel_K)
6. BSTVR – bestevaêr
7. DFDF FDL – daf daffodil (Colonel_K)
8. W GHHS – weigh house (Nutfield)
9. THWR LDSLD STDSTL LDSP RTSCM PNY – the world’s oldest distilled spirits company (Nutfield, Electric Dragon)
10. BLMNCRS – bloemencorso (Electric Dragon)
11. GH DGL S – go ahead eagles (Zwack23)
12. KBTR – kabouter (ylla)
13. FSLTDJK – afsluitdijk (Colonel_K)
14. T HVNG GH – theo van gogh (Electric Dragon)
15. DT CHMNT NTRL – dutch mountain trail (Electric Dragon)
16. JHNF RSTBRG – john frostbrug (Phlebas)
17. BRG NSSPKR – bargoens speaker (Colonel_K)
18. WB BCKLS – wubbo ockels (Colonel_K)
19. KNNGSDG – koningsdag (ylla)
20. SJL BKPCK – sjoelbak puck (ylla)
21. B BLBLT – bible belt (Colonel_K)
22. FR STH DFST TSS SSNTDB YH NDGN – first head of state assassinated by handgun (Colonel_K)
23. NTR – enter
24. HLLBRNR – hellburner (Nutfield, Zwack23)
25. WLTNFJ NRDPNT SRWGN – wilton-fijenoord pantserwagen (Colonel_K)
26. PR NCS PNHD – prince spin-head (Electric Dragon)
27. PCPL C – peace palace (Colonel_K)
28. THFR STTL SCP – the first telescope (Electric Dragon)
29. GZNMDL – geuzen medal (Colonel_K)
30. TMT MSHDQRTRS – tomtom’s headquarters (Electric Dragon, Colonel_K)
31. MSSRSS KLL – mosasaurus skull (Colonel_K)
32. DRSRP HGN – dries riphagen (Colonel_K)
33. T HWR LDSB GGS TCL GCR VDF RMSN GLP CFW D – the world’s biggest clog carved from a single piece of wood (Nutfield)
18 – North Macedonia. Also Macedonian Nationalism, but probably N.
18 – North Macedonia
16 – Echidna
But 22 is Cat People…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_People_(1942_film)
Also on the wiki page for Jump Scare – so maybe a J
7 – Barack Obama visiting Cape Coast Castle, which is pretty emphatic C
21 – Unisphere
3 – Dante Aligheri
13 – Cropped out at the start of the image is the R of the Real Irish Republican Army – R
14 – Xoloitcuintle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xoloitzcuintle
Does not appear on the page for Diego Rivera, who is also in the picture.
23. Nemes – striped head cloth worn by pharaohs
“Yul Brynner wearing a nemes as Ramesses II in The Ten Commandments”
23 – Nemes, which might make 18 Macedonian Nationalism after all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemes
In case you haven’t twigged it yet – Roman muddies the waters through the fact that the same image may appear on more than one wiki page.
Hang on. I have just realised that we’re supposed to be finding one picture for EACH letter, not one letter for all the pictures. So confused!
12. has something to do with the coat of arms of the State of New York (Novi Eboraci)
ETA: Brasher Dubloon – rare American doubloon of eight escudos worth sixteen dollars, privately minted in and after 1787
Sold for 9.36 million dollars
Brasher Doubloon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasher_Doubloon
Also on the page for Chandler’s The High Window, in which the Brasher Doubloon is a major plot point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_High_Window
Does that count as H?
24 – Łódź Ghetto (I assume we take that as L? It doesn’t appear on any other English wiki pages)
2. Wigwam – “Apache wickiup, by Edward S. Curtis, 1903”
is _not_ also on the Apache page
“The following pages on the English Wikipedia use this file (pages on other projects are not listed):
Dome
History of early and simple domes
List of pre-Columbian inventions and innovations of Indigenous Americans
Southwestern United States
Vernacular architecture
Wigwam”
6 – Landing gear & APU on a C-160 Transall.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transall_C-160
17. Ziba Ganiyeva
(image not used on any other pages of English Wikipedia)
9 – Gibbet of Montfaucon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbet_of_Montfaucon
15 – Second Battle of al-Faw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_al-Faw
25. either Avro Shackleton
or Hispano-Suiza HS.404
11 – Mac the Moose from the titular page or Giants of the Prairies
20 – Sentetsu Matei-class locomotive on a lot of pages starting with either K, P or S
10. “Dorothy meeting the Cowardly Lion (Denslow, 1900)”
The following pages on the English Wikipedia use this file (pages on other projects are not listed):
– Cowardice
– Cowardly Lion
– Lion
– List of Oz characters (created by Baum)
– The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
– Visual arts of Chicago
– W. W. Denslow
– Yellow brick road
5 – Fiat 600 Multipla Marinella, could be Fiat 600, Giovanni Michelotti, Franco Maina or Carrozzeria Fissore
4 – Alpha Jets from Asas de Portugal or Portuguese Air Force (repost since it’s in moderation)
1 – Quartets or Happy families
I didn’t see any I or O.
8 – Hitchcock’s Head or Hoxton
19 – Ocelot
So the missing letter is I
OK. Let’s try to set it out properly as Roman expected.
I assume ‘List of…’ pages aren’t intended to be included. I’m not entirely sure what stance to take on those beginning ‘The…’
NB. So far 20. is unidentified
Anyway, things that can only be one letter:
3. Dante Alighieri
6. Transall C-160
9. Gibbet of Montfaucon
13. Real Irish Republican Army
14. Xoloitzcuintle
15. Second Battle of al-Faw
17. Ziba Ganiyeva
19. Ocelot
23. Nemes
24. Łódź Ghetto
16. Echidna (because S of Short-beaked Echidna is taken)
11. Mac the Moose (‘cos G of Giants of the Prairies is taken)
7. Cape Coast Castle (no M for Ministry of Tourism… or T for Tourism in Ghana)
Most probable
12. Brasher Doubloon (can’t be T for The High Window, and there are a lot of other H’s already also)
1. Quartet / Happy Families
2. Wigwam etc.
4. Asas de Portugal / Portuguese Air Force
5. Fiat 600 Multipla Marinella etc.
8. Alfred Hitchcock / Hoxton
10. Cowardice etc.
18. Flag of North Macedonia etc.
20. ?
21. Unisphere etc.
22. Cat People (1942 film) / Jump scare / William Rose (illustrator)
25. Avro Shackleton / Hispano-Suiza HS.404
Sorry, 20. has been identified; I was assuming it’d be DMZ or something.
Anyway, can’t be S, so it’s either:
K – Korean State Railway
or P – Pyongui Line, Pyongbu Line
8. is Hoxton / Alfred Hitchcock and
25. Avro Shackleton / Hispano-Suiza HS.404
Can’t tell which is which, but between the pair of them they eliminate A and H. With those two out of the way, it must be.
1. Quartets (card game)
4. Portuguese Air Force
That removes P, leaving
20. Korean State Railway
Remaining to be sorted:
2. Wigwam etc.
5. Fiat 600 Multipla Marinella etc.
10. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz / Visual arts of Chicago / W. W. Denslow / Yellow brick road
18. Flag of North Macedonia etc.
21. Unisphere etc.
22. Jump scare / William Rose (illustrator)
I’ve been assuming we’re limited to English Wikipedia, so it’s
5. Fiat 600 (can’t be G of Giovanni Michelotti, and other suggested subjects are on German or French Wikipedia)
Roman used no ‘list of’ pages, or pages beginning ‘The’ when preparing this puzzle. If he ever runs one of these again, I think I’ll ask him to make all the rows or columns strict alphabetical sequences to aid defoxing.
Columns/rows will be shuffled, natch.