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: guitars, lions, New Guinea, ghosts…). Identifying the theme is a vital part of the defoxing process.
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SOLUTIONS
last week’s ‘33 Things, Words, or Phrases Wot You Might Find In Twelve-Year-Old Tim’s Lavishly Illustrated Humanities Exercise Book’ missing vowels foxer:
1. NTCL – anticline
2. SL RSTLL – solar still (Nutfield)
3. MRH K – maori haka
4. FRC TNTNGTWR – fractionating tower (Nutfield)
5. DR WN GFTHM SSLN GB RG – drawing of a thames sailing barge (Colonel_K)
6. RSHHS HNH – rosh hashanah (Nutfield)
7. TT TDCNT RLRC KTMTRS – attitude control rocket motors (Colonel_K)
8. MS SVCRLTC RP – massive coral outcrop (AbyssUK)
9. SPLLN GMSTKS – spelling mistakes (captaincabinets)
10. RV WFT HF RTHR M – review of the fourth arm
11. XPL RN GTS P RDRL GNWSCM MNP LCNT HVCT RNR – exploring to spread religion was commonplace in the victorian era (AbyssUK, Nutfield)
12. TNCHTTLN – tenochtitlan (Zwack23)
13. GRN NK – guru nanak (Colonel_K)
14. BRDMRG LCR – beardmore glacier (Zwack23)
15. KSM BPWRSC HM – akosombo power scheme
16. DRW NGFB TH NGMC HN – drawing of a bathing machine (captaincabinets)
17. LK GNT HF RWR DHLD – leakage in the forward hold (Nutfield, Colonel_K)
18. F VPL LRSFB LF – five pillars of belief (Nutfield)
19. R NRC LNDLM ST N – iron ore coal and limestone
20. NT R LG SSS FRTH NT WNGS – natural gas is safer than town gas (Colonel_K)
21. BR M NGH MST HD DNT – birmingham is the odd one out (Nutfield)
22. MHM MDB C MSDR V RNC MLT RN – muhammad becomes a driver in a camel train (Nutfield)
23. KNGH – kangha
24. YMKP PR – yom kippur (Zwack23)
25. SSMCSR VY – seismic survey (Zwack23)
26. RDT NLK – radiation leak (Nutfield)
27. THFM SDC KTR PN – the famous dick turpin (captaincabinets)
28. D RW NGFP NGN – drawing of a penguin (Zwack23)
29. GR GHRBR TLGHML LRY – george herbert leigh-mallory (captaincabinets)
30. MNSTH RSTF RKNWL DG – man’s thirst for knowledge (captaincabinets)
31. NS T RYST HM T HFR V R – an estuary is the mouth of a river (Colonel_K)
32. VR YST PM DMW NCW THP N – every step made me wince with pain (Colonel_K)
33. THSL VSW RK PTWR K NGBYG RDW HWHP PDTH MW HNTH YSL CKN D – the slaves were kept working by a guard who whipped them when they slackened (captaincabinets)
A1 – blinding
k2- spigot
L7 nineteenth.
The H at the end is surrounded by consonants – this is the only way to use it that I have come up with.
G11 has GHOST that would fit in with NINETEENTH. GUTSY and PHONO also fit around there but a theme eludes me.
E11 – BELLOW
E9 – WITCH, though it uses the same W as BELLOW
Could add …ing to make it
E11. BELLOWING, immediately followed by
H10. HOLY GHOST
J9. PUTT – would go with 19th for golfing terms
I’m favouring PUTTEES now.
Some others:
H2 – MOTOR
G3 – the very obvious LIGHTNING
E11 – BLOWING or D8 – CHEWING
C7 – CRUMPET
E11 – BELLOWING then?
H10 – HOLY SEE or HOLY GHOST (Probably GHOST?)
I2 – MEMORY
K2 – SPIDERS
K3 – PIGEON
L6 – LOGO (Only thing that can fit at the moment?)
J4 – OCCULAR
Nikolai L4. GOGOL would disagree.
E7. PRINTER and/or H7. PRINT
I count 4.9 correct answers in the above comments.
Someone with a better understanding of Roman’s Mathematics and Anti-ratiocination (no idea if it is a word; I use it to mean the generation of the least helpful clues possible) should weigh in.
A) No mention that the theme has NOT been found, so it is possible that IT IS Golf.
B) 0.9 would imply 9 letters found from a 10 letter answer, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s 0.5 + 0.4 which would be half an answer (ie. one word from two) plus whatever 0.4 means.
0.9) Bellowing +1
0.9) Holy Ghost -> Holey Ghost ?
0.9) Lightning +1
0.4) Logo +6
B1 – EMPIRE, which fits nicely with BLINDING
Assuming the .9 merely indicates a very close miss rather than an exact number, we could have either PUTTS or NINETEEN, though that one leaves a mess of consonants.
The theme has yet to be identified. Roman says there’s a tenuous clue in the puzzle’s decoration.
I assume that might be Thunder & Lightning… Or scones.
Or maybe the weird ziggurat at the edge, which does look a bit like Albert Hall?
Last Night of Proms :p
Hmm, i just realised we do have SCONE & CRUMPET, dunno what the other 2.9 would be though.
The logo is that of the Royal Albert Hall.
I was thinking maybe the connection could be Invisible, but that was largely based on F2. TOUCH (Genesis song) and Holy Ghost.
Invisible Spiders are a thing, based on the fineness of their webs. Invisible Empire referred to the KKK amongst other things.
– – – – – – – – – –
The phrase ‘Royal Albert’ makes me think Dock, but as Tim warns it’s gonna be tenuous whatever way.
Is the theme holes?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Ghost_hole
Nineteenth hole
Putt
Memory hole
Nutfield had Pigeon, as well as Spider(s).
Putt -> Putts = (5/4)-1
Spiders -> Spider = -( (7/6) -1)
You certainly unlocked it with that, well done.
Maybe the .9 is H3 – OCULAR
Medically, the eye socket is the Orbit.
E11. BLOW rather than Blowing ?
A1. BLIND rather than Blinding ? – engineering term for a hole that does not go completely through the material
PUTT could be PUTLOG hole, just realised we have these on the outside of our house :p
H7 – PRIEST (Mrs Nutfield)
Y5 – Likely too short LUG
F2 – TOUCH
J2 – SCOUR (Under bridges?)
E3 – I need TP for my BUNG hole
G3 – LIGHTENING (Ffs, there is the 0.9)
D7. MURDER ? – ending at D4.
E7 – PRITCHEL
C7 – CRYOCONITE (With Mrs Nutfield)
D5 – WINDING
C3. PILOT
C3 – PILOT (Mrs Nutfield)
A2 – LIMBER
K4 – TONE
J3 – COAL
I think that’s it?
Just have to explain the Royal Albert Hall connection.
“Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall” from the Beatles’ song “A Day in the Life” (Final track of Sgt. Pepper I’m led to believe) ?