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.
In an attempt to ensure as many people as possible get a chance to participate, Roman requests defoxers solve no more than five squares per person on Day 1, and guess no more than one cluster theme. (After 24 hours have elapsed, fill your boots!). Use your ration to complete an entire horizontal or vertical line before anyone else to win ‘Connect 5’ bragging rights.
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SOLUTIONS
Last week’s ‘33 Words Or Word Sequences Wot Can Be Found In The October 28th, 1972 Issue Of Look And Learn’ missing vowels foxer:
1. HPTRCHY – HEPTARCHY (Colonel_K)
2. DRDNLLS – DARDANELLES (Zwack23)
3. FRYFRF LY – FAIREY FIREFLY (copperbottom)
4. FLT WYHS – FLEETWAY HOUSE (copperbottom)
5. WL DBSS SSN – WOULD-BE ASSASSIN (Aergistal)
6. DSSDSW R – DISUSED SEWER
7. TRQCNC LLNGPR PRTS – TORQUE-CANCELLING PROPERTIES (Colonel_K)
8. ST DTLRDR WNGSTS – STAEDTLER DRAWING SETS (Colonel_K)
9. MT TNDB LY – MOTTE AND BAILEY (Colonel_K, copperbottom)
10. L RDJHNR XTN – LORD JOHN ROXTON (Aergistal)
11. THHR RRT HTHN TDHWT HRN – THE HORROR THAT HAUNTED HAWTHORN (Colonel_K)
12. RHNLND – RHINELAND (Mrs Nutfield)
13. CMC LBDGS – COMICAL BUDGIES (Colonel_K)
14. RGN TNNBY – ARGENTINIAN BOY (Colonel_K)
15. LVNGQRT RS – LIVING QUARTERS (Nutfield and Mrs Nutfield)
16. SFM RM R – SEA OF MARMARA (Colonel_K)
17. PRHNSL – PREHENSILE (Jimbob)
18. HG HPTCL LRY – HIGH PIT COLLIERY (Jimbob)
19. SHRTLG GDNG HTPRW LR – SHORT-LEGGED NIGHT PROWLER (Zwack23)
20. HLSL SS – HAILE SELASSIE (Colonel_K)
21. DC TRDLTTL – DOCTOR DOOLITTLE (Aergistal)
22. HLFT RKS HBL LTS – HAIL OF TURKISH BULLETS (Colonel_K)
23. SLVTR D – SLAVE TRADE (Mrs Nutfield)
24. MRC RNYR – MERCURIAN YEAR (copperbottom)
25. DD SBB – ADDIS ABABA (Aergistal)
26. NDRCRRG – UNDERCARRIAGE (Aergistal)
27. KLLT HHGN TS – KILL THE HUGUENOTS (Aergistal)
28. TR RNTDCK – TORRENT DUCK (Colonel_K)
29. CLDR NFSTPF YN GHT – CAULDRON OF STUPEFYING HEAT (Aergistal)
30. MR TRNDP STL – MORTAR AND PESTLE (Colonel_K)
31. F MSDV YLMP – FAMOUS DAVY LAMP (Nutfield)
32. THC KDVNSHRC RM – THICK DEVONSHIRE CREAM (Nutfield)
33. GR NSHS PYL QDCL L DCHYM – A GREENISH SOUPY LIQUID CALLED CHYME (Aergistal)
D1 is keyhole surgery on a lung:
https://yperman.net/en/longchirurgie-thorax-heelkunde-2
The two surgeries mentioned underneath the diagram are ‘lobectomy’ and ‘wedge resection’.
B4 is piglet from Winnie the Pooh. Illustration by E.H. Shepard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piglet_(Winnie-the-Pooh)
B2 is a protester holding up a picture of Jeffrey Epstein outside the federal court in New York. Can’t find the exact date of the protest / what court case was on at the time.
D4. Snatch (weightlifting)
Has Roman gone geezer?
ETA: D5. Errol Flynn in Captain Blood
Hobart Cavanaugh was an actor in Captain Blood, though he’s not in that image and it’s a bit of a tenuous link.
Errol Flynn was born in Tasmania
That’s definitely a less tenuous link!
A1. Flag of Alderney (within the Bailiwick of Guernsey)
A4. Field Marshal Montgomery examines the remains of a German V2 rocket near the HQ of Major General Percy Hobart, GOC 79th Armoured Division (left), 30 October 1944
A5. Port Arthur (2020) – Russo-Japanese War boardgame
Hobart and Port Arthur are both towns in Tasmania.
C2 is Merck’s 1912 patent for MDMA. Roman may have gone party geezer…
B5. The Silver Tassie by Sean O’Casey
C5 – Looks like an Eastern Quoll, which is a native of Tasmania.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_quoll
The Tasmania group is filled out
A4 – Hobart
A5 – Port Arthur
B5 – Tassie (nickname for it)
C5 – Eastern Quoll – native to there
D5 – Errol Flynn – born there
A3 is the great plate of Bacchus from the Mildenhall Treasure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildenhall_Treasure
E5 – Super Huey, Commodore 64
E4 – cover of The Ultimate Alphabet, by Mike Wilks
D3 – submarine exhibit at Naval Museum Complex Balaklava
Group – LAND ROVER
E4 – designed by Maurice WILKS
E5 – first one made had the registration HUE 166, thus nicknamed HUEY.
D4 – The SNATCH Land Rover is a protected patrol vehicle based on the Land Rover Defender 110 chassis.
B4 – The Land Rover PIGLET is an uparmoured version of the basic Series III Land Rover intended for patrolling urban areas with a low-medium threat level.
A2 – Vladimir Nabokov on the cover of TIME, 23rd May 1969
That’s that same day that Sergeant Paul A. Meyer stole a C-130 Hercules.
A3. Mildenhall – RAF airbase departed from
A1. Alderney – parts, including a life raft, washed up near the Channel Island of…
B2. Epstein – assumed the alias “Captain Epstein” when ordering the aircraft to be prepped.
And, most likely, B1. Hercules.
The boardgame is Sons Of Hercules (1965) which was a tie-in with a TV show that “was a repacking of a number of Italian sword-and-sandal epics, most of which had nothing to do with Hercules.”
Roman’s may have got his finger on the pulse with Irish rap trio Kneecap
C1. Mural outside The Hawthorn Bar, Belfast
https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Hawthorn+Bar/@54.5956739,-5.9583016,3a,90y,94.77h,92.79t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sYWGEsE4Jm2CDW_fkCN8ELw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-2.793953059646654%26panoid%3DYWGEsE4Jm2CDW_fkCN8ELw%26yaw%3D94.76566755485823!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x4861090067f86e91:0xb36619d4ad2058bd!8m2!3d54.5957059!4d-5.958191!16s%2Fg%2F11yb6rc2f5!5m1!1e1?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDUwNy4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDU1SAFQAw%3D%3D
one of them wears a D3. Balaclava
and they “sing” about C2. MDMA
Would mean that B3. and C3. also belong to this cluster.
B3 – Flag of HEZBOLLAH
E1. A Flood by John Everett Millais
E2. Pennsylvania Railroad loco inside Horseshoe Curve
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Horseshoe+Curve+National+Historic+Landmark/@40.4983688,-78.4856319,3a,90y,160.74h,93.57t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sCIHM0ogKEICAgICUq7SaEA!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2Fgpms-cs-s%2FAB8u6HbfdWkHoW_N6ZmkxUEc7mHxxfJq1mT8B3SCvzlzE6XS206SQoEP3uwQVNxdKB6G5kKyr3_lSicSskVSb78Amold8RYCExSqO2EDEuEQx6nraqiEQynKpvlHjDhBb_q_rgRyq78%3Dw900-h600-k-no-pi-3.5689231827188905-ya290.7374696658886-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352!4m7!3m6!1s0x89cb9a7b39faf631:0x5cbcfc82f751d88!8m2!3d40.4977027!4d-78.4842843!10e5!16zL20vMDJfOHZz?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDUwNy4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDU1SAFQAw%3D%3D
Remaining to be identified:
D2.
B3. , C3., E3.
C4.
Isn’t C3 a KNEECAP, or am I underthinking this?
C3. PATELLA / KNEECAP
It is. In Wikipedia, I found the picture on the patella/kneecap article.
Here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patella
C4. HMS M33 in Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
We can also see one Royal Navy aircraft carrier. It is HMS Prince of Wales (R09). On the right and not visible on the picture, there is also the HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08).
According to Wikipedia:
HMS M33 is an M29-class monitor of the Royal Navy. Built in 1915, she saw active service in the Mediterranean during the First World War and in Russia during the Allied Intervention in 1919. She was used subsequently as a mine-laying training ship, fuelling hulk, boom defence workshop and floating office, being renamed HMS Minerva and Hulk C23 during her long life. She passed to Hampshire County Council in the 1980s and was then handed over to the National Museum of the Royal Navy in 2014. A programme of conservation was undertaken to enable her to be opened to the public. HMS M33 is located within Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and opened to visitors on 7 August 2015 following a service of dedication. She is one of only three surviving Royal Navy warships of the First World War and the only surviving Allied ship from the Gallipoli Campaign, the other being the Ottoman minelayer Nusret, preserved in Çanakkale.
Here: https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8020437,-1.1103694,3a,75y,214.66h,91.65t/data=!3m11!1e1!3m9!1sCIHM0ogKEICAgIDMtubheA!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2Fgpms-cs-s%2FAB8u6HYdBHg_i4JQMLi4Bcnrpr2jU89cKPRnNOGU55AkqUet_ObTSRlCeWnorDa7sjlIvbatX_9q0jKGDX6JXHmEU8Wj4xMIcSgMXK-lp0rxRea38-iFT5lOCCvb9-nkCCK2DLtlmGQ%3Dw900-h600-k-no-pi-1.650769213852513-ya165.66172128485874-ro0-fo100!7i11264!8i5632!9m2!1b1!2i29?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDUwNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
D1. is found on the Wikipedia page for VATS (Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery)
Last group: London Beer Flood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood)
D1 – wooden beer VATS
E1 – beer FLOOD
D2 – ST. GILES rookery (from Noon in the Four Times of the Day painting series by William Hogarth)
E2 – HORSE SHOE brewery
E3 – fermenting PORTER (railway porter)