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 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 12 answers.
(Next week’s Friday Foxer will be posted at 07:00 rather than 13:00)
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SOLUTIONS
Last week’s geofoxer theme: female inventors and their inventions (defoxed by Phlebas)
a. henrietta vansittart (Viscount)
b. ninni kronberg (Electric Dragon, Aergistal, Phlebas)
c. anna connelly (Colonel_K, ylla)
d. melitta bentz (Phlebas, Colonel_K)
e. josephine cochrane (Colonel_K)
f. bette nesmith graham (Colonel_K, Phlebas)
g. hedy lamarr (Phlebas)
h. beatrice shilling (Electric Dragon)
i. katherine burr blodgett (Aergistal, Phlebas))
j. windscreen wipers (Viscount, Phlebas)
k. hertha ayrton (Colonel_K, ylla, Phlebas)
l. letitia mumford geer (Colonel_K)
Could be F1, but it won’t be:
M4 – BRAWN
K4 – GLOCK
L1. HORSELL COMMON – dun dun DAH! der der Dun Dun DER!
In the early years of the 21st Century no one could have believed that someone might have got the theme so quickly.
Location of first Martian landing in War of the Worlds
i9. PEVENSEY – I don’t think it’s War of the Worlds related
But it is invasion related – this is where William the Conqueror landed
Minor kerfuddlement as also starting from the P at i9. is PERKIN WARBECK
(c. 1474–1499) pretender to the English throne during the reign of King Henry VII
ETA: Oh, Pevensey can start at H12.
e5 (or 7) DORKING
The Battle of Dorking – a novel describing the invasion of Britain by a German-speaking country.
F9. HARALD HARDRADA – casualty at Stamford Bridge
(somehow, up til now, I always missed out the first R in HaRdrada)
ETA: Leaves G11. BOULOGNE – not sure what the connection is
Siege of Boulogne by Henry 8th?
It’s where Napoleon gathered the Armee d’Angleterre which didn’t manage to invade
K2 – VOLGANS (2000AD story invading the UK)
LITTLE at J7, but I don’t know what follows it if it’s right.
(No Fishguard or Eriskay.)
Conflicts with F7. MARTELLO TOWER (goes round Battle of Dor…)
which leaves i3. FLOTILLE DE BOULOGNE – yes, Napoleon
I3 – FLOTTILLE? Something to do with U Boats stationed in the Netherlands?
Ah..
FLOTTILLE DE BOULOGNE.
I7 MARTELLO TOWER
H5 starts BATTLE OF DORKING
D1 could be the start of STATE or the end of ETATS. Or not.
There’s a terrible tangle of consonants around the Q!
8 down 4 to go, I think, which would make a ~6 letter average for what’s left
E3. THE SWOOP ! – P G Wodehouse parody in which England is simultaneously invaded by nine different armies, including Switzerland and Germany. English elites appear to be more interested in a cricket tournament, and the country is eventually saved by a boy scout named Clarence.
I think E2. is friend of the Foxer William TATE, the Irish-born American commander of a French invasion force known as La Légion Noire (“The Black Legion”) which invaded Britain in 1797, resulting in the Battle of Fishguard.
There should be two answers remaining.
B5 (or C6) GHQ Line
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GHQ_Line
Last one – AUTONS from Doctor Who
Who invaded Earth in the first episode of the Eccleston era.