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
Last week’s ‘33 Things Wot You Might Find in the Amazon Basin’ missing vowels foxer:
1. JKHG GNS – jake higgins
2. PDTMR N – pied tamarin (Phlebas)
3. RB BRBM – rubber boom (Phlebas)
4. CHN CHM CWCLYL CK – chuncho macaw clay lick (Phlebas, Nutfield)
5. MP LWHTL ND – maple white land (Nutfield)
6. LLGLLG GNG – illegal logging (Electric Dragon, Nutfield)
7. CRPR – curupira ()
8. NCNT CTDTRB – uncontacted tribe (Phlebas, Nutfield)
9. GNTT TR – giant otter (Nutfield)
10. HTZN – hoatzin (Colonel_K)
11. THTL LSTSTR CT RNS THM RC – the tallest structure in south america (Nutfield)
12. KMBRT L – kambo ritual (Nutfield)
13. CTRST – ecotourist (Colonel_K)
14. JN NFRLP ZN DCC B – jennifer lopez and ice cube (Nutfield)
15. RNG R – rio negro (Colonel_K)
16. S LVN – soul vine (Colonel_K)
17. CRN LCHRCH – coronel church (ylla)
18. RGRCSM NT – roger casement (Nutfield)
19. NDNRDC TN – indian reduction () or indian eradication (Phlebas)
20. FSTVPRR T – festive parrot (Nutfield)
21. FRDLND – fordlandia (Nutfield)
22. RPM – arapaima (Colonel_K)
23. PDRTX R – pedro teixeira (Phlebas)
24. MRCRYPLL TN – mercury pollution (ylla)
25. GTH NMPRR – agathina emperor (Nutfield)
26. L ST CT YFZ – lost city of z (Nutfield)
27. PRRC – pororoca () or pirarucu (Colonel_K)
28. NPL NCHGNN – napoleon chagnon (Nutfield)
29. BRMLD – bromeliad (ylla)
30. GLTHBR DTR – goliath birdeater (Nutfield)
31. PLML PLN TTN – palm oil plantation (Colonel_K, Nutfield)
32. DSTFR MT HBD LDPRS SN – dust from the bodele depression (Colonel_K)
33. T HBCDG RP – the abcd group ()
E4 – The Men Who Stare at Goats. George Clooney and John Goodman. Based on a book by Jon Ronson.
Sorry! It’s actually The Monuments Men. Got confused by a uniformed Clooney.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monuments_Men
B4: The Stone Roses playing at Spike Island on the 27th of May 1990
https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/stone-roses/the-stone-roses-play-spike-island-27-may-1990/
B2 – Pont-a-Mousson
D1 – Christine by Stephen King
A3 – The Steppe Wolves by K N Kostov
A1 – Golden Sands / Gullsandur
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203535
A4 – Weserstadion, home of Werder Bremen.
E1 – Kurt Waldheim
C4 – The Hermit tarot card.
E2 – portrayal of Roman soldiers outside the British Museum – the “Legion” exhibition? Haven’t found the exact picture yet.
Yup! https://www.erminestreetguard.co.uk/news/legion-exhibition-at-the-british-museum
Ah, so not outside the BM but in its Great Court.
B5 – Red Bull Air Race pilot Luke Czepiela lands a plane on the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah helipad in Dubai
B5 – Luke Czepiela lands a plane on the helipad of the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah.
C2. HERMherakles – yes, it is the appendage you’re thinking of
presumably goes with C4. HERMit
C3 HERMES spaceplane
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_(spacecraft)
Re: C1.
I haven’t found the correct firearm, but it a multi-barrelled pistol (I’m thinking 4 (or more) but it might just be 2). It resembles a Howdah pistol made by Charles Lancaster – for personal defense when out hunting on elephant-back.
It is indeed a Lancaster double-barrelled pistol held by Jonathan Ferguson of the Royal Armouries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inMAiX0y4zc
A2. LARS – (I think first version) German Leichtes Artillerie-Raketen-System
36 barrels, 110mm
D5 – vintage map of Elliott Bay, Seattle
Specifically: Anderson’s new guide map of the city of Seattle and environs, Washington.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4284s.ct000273/?r=0.1,0.442,0.545,0.297,0
D4 – I haven’t found the actual document, but I believe it’s this ship – the Heraclides, later renamed Hermes.
http://www.searlecanada.org/sunderland/images17/anglochilean5.jpg
D4 appears to be the SS Walnut, a naval trawler
https://walnutship1948.ca/ShipStatistics.html and keep scrolling down!
So it does! Not a Hermes, then.
B1 Real Tennis racquets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jeu_de_paume_racquets_and_battoirs,_1772.jpg
B1 looks like they are real tennis racquets, which are slightly asymmetric.
The Train(1964) is based on the same true story as Monuments Men (E4), stars Burt LANCASTER (C1), and features characters called Christine (D1) and Colonel Franz von WALDHEIM (E1).
Sadly C1 and E4 are too far apart to be in the same cluster.
‘After the works he selects are removed from the Jeu de Paume Museum…’
And?
Actual train route: Paris, Vaires, Rive-Reine, Montmirail, Châlons-sur-Marne, St Menehould, Verdun, Metz, Pont-à-Mousson, Sorcy (Level Crossing), Commercy, Vitry Le Francois, Rive-Reine.
B3 – HERMann Hesse
Ahh. To mislead us with Steppe Wolves, except that we’ve done it the wrong way round.
Unless he actually belongs with the Steppenwolf?
The location is here https://maps.app.goo.gl/EJzx8VU9EdumdCY39
LARS(A2) Mittank, a WERDER BREMEN (A4) fan, disappeared from the GOLDEN SANDS(A1) resort in Bulgaria on 8 July 2014 after being treated by a Dr Kosta KOSTOV(A3).
A5 – The Hotel Color Varna, where he stayed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Lars_Mittank
E3. Czartoryski Museum, Kraków
https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0648598,19.9406497,3a,75y,269.05h,101.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9CcFbEEU0GPU9jPNtR7NNw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en&entry=ttu
The part on the right is a former monastery. I don’t know if the skywalk/skyway has a name.
Probable group: da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine
Either D2 or D3, the other belongs with the HERMs
E2. ERMINE Street Guard
E3. Czartoryski Museum – current home
E4. Monuments Men – recovered artwork in 1946
D4. WALNUT – panel made from a single piece of this wood
Subject is Cecilia Gallerani; not sure if that’s anything to do with the initial G in D3.
C5. Miniature model of Dejima, Nagasaki
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7433839,129.8741225,3a,41.8y,254.45h,82.82t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sejvDYCp1nnd9ffYpu3jaoQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DejvDYCp1nnd9ffYpu3jaoQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D214.52039%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Artificial islands:
B4. Spike Island, Widnes
B5. Burj al Arab built upon one
C5. Dejima – 17th century that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (has Roman been watching Shogun?)
D5. Elliott Bay – Harbor Island was once the world’s largest artificial island
E5. ???
E5 – Nankai 50000 series serving Kansai International Airport which is built on an artificial island (Kankūjima).
D3 – Hermila Galindo
D2 – Cecilia Bartoli as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare in Egitto
Should be part of the Lady with an Ermine group.
Summary:
Artificial islands
B4-B5-C5-D5-E5
Disappearance of Lars Mittank
A1-A2-A3-A4-A5
Lady with an Ermine
D2-E2-E3-E4-D4
The Train (1964)
B2-B1-C1-D1-E1
Words starting with HERM
C2-B3-C3-D3-C4