Friday Foxer #258

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.

Roman is feeling nostalgic. ID the collage theme and explain the presence of all eighteen components to complete the defox.

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SOLUTIONS

last week’s ‘33 Things Wot Happen or Happened in December’ answers:

1. WR NDY – wren day (AbyssUK)
2. STRNL – saturnalia (Zwack23)
3. SN KNGFT HSCHRNHR ST – sinking of the scharnhorst (Nutfield)
4. SNTRKLSVND – sinterklaasavond (AbyssUK)
5. PR MRFCLC KW R KRNG – premier of a clockwork orange (AbyssUK)
6. SVTNNN VD SFG HNSTN – soviet union invades afghanistan (Colonel_K)
7. SRTX TRR DNRDN VDD – sorteo extraordinario de navidad (Colonel_K)
8. NT RNTNLN TCRR PTNDY – international anti-corruption day (AbyssUK)
9. DNG ZHFSTVL – dongzhi festival (Zwack23)
10. PRT NJSTC SBGN S – operation just cause begins(AbyssUK)
11. RTNVY GRCRC MNVGTST HRT HWTHTR FL LNG – rutan voyager circumnavigates the earth without refuelling (copperbottom)

12. SSH R – susu-harai
13. LSNFR NTS – els enfarinats
14. P TRPNC P – peter pan cup (Nutfield)
15. CLPLYTC HNQMS SCR – ecole polytechnique massacre (Colonel_K)
16. FTDLS C LD – fête de l’escalade
17. KNYG NSNDP NDNC – kenya gains independence
18. LQMD LD BL – la quema del diablo (Colonel_K)
19. RMN NRVLT NBGNS – romanian revolution begins (Zwack23, Colonel_K)
20. FR STHM NHRTTR NSPLNTPRF RMD – first human heart transplant performed (Nutfield)
21. FVGR MMNV NG RSDSP PRV RTHBR MDTRN GL – five grumman avengers disappear over the bermuda triangle (Nutfield)
22. DL KSP P RNTLV SNFRT HFR STT M – daleks appear on television for the first time (Nutfield)

23. PRDSPR G – pride’s purge
24. XNNCD NT – xian incident (Colonel_K)
25. SP RMCDS – supermac dies (Colonel_K)
26. CHR STMSTRC – christmas truce (Zwack23)
27. CP TNMR CDBTS – captain america debuts (Colonel_K)
28. DCMB RSTRVLT – decemberist revolt (Colonel_K)
29. BST NTPR TY – boston tea party (Colonel_K)
30. BR CPLYT HRFR STMT CH – barca play their first match (Colonel_K)
31. SSS SNTNFJ HNLN NN – assassination of john lennon (Colonel_K)
32. SN GN GFT HNT PHNS – singing of the o antiphons (Colonel_K)
33. RP LNL NC HDFR MNRS HPF RT HFR STTM – aeroplane launched from an airship for the first time (Nutfield)

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24 Comments

  1. The chap with the lightbulb on his head looks like the time-travelling protagonist of Hamlet or the Last Game without MMORPG Features, Shaders and Product Placement.

    • The artwork is not titled Tail Piece.
      It’s a book of the poem Parler seul (“Speaking Alone”, 1950) that’s illustrated with works by Joan Miró. It’s listed as Tail Piece because it’s the graphic that marks the end of the chapter (as opposed to a Headpiece).

      The relevant matter is the poem’s author: TRISTAN TZARA

  14. The profile from a medallion is of A. E. HOUSMAN

    Recapping other answers:
    – Tristan Tzara
    – Razzle
    – Felicity Kendal
    – part of Vienna
    – Hamlet
    – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
    – footballer named Broadbent
    – Brodie
    – Road to Revolution: A Century of Russian Radicalism
    – Darjeeling
    – {a mnemonic for EGBDF which I’m not spelling out}

    I have a guess how Detective Droopy might connect.

    I haven’t identified the specific aircraft, but I’m highly confident a Czechoslovak manufacturer of training airplanes would connect to the theme.

    Still to be defoxed are:
    the jumble of Georgian townhouses
    the abstract human figure (which is annoying me as it seems vaguely familiar)
    the plant – I was thinking a nettle (Urtica) but the leaves are a bit too rounded; maybe a mint

  15. I haven’t got anything better for Detective Droopy than The Real … …

    Haven’t got anything at all for the stinging nettle.

    Not sure what to make of the sprite either…

    • Droopy – the intro song mentions Master Detective Hound, it’s burned into my memory forever.

      Nettles – could be either a reference to a theme in A. E. Housman’s poetry or possibly about Leopold Nettles from Largo Desolato by Vaclav Havel. The name Vaclav appears on the Zlin, but there’s already a better link for the aircraft.

  17. So the theme is Tom Stoppard and the clues that we have the link to include:

    Arcadia – play
    Zlin – birthplace
    Droopy – The Real Inspector Hound, play
    Darjeeling – boarding school
    Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – screenplay
    Felicity Kendal – ex-wife
    Lord Malquist and Mr Moon – novel
    Tristan Tzara – appears in Travesties
    Razzle – On The Razzle, play
    Vienna – setting of Leopoldstadt
    Hamlet – Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
    AE Houseman – The Invention of Love, play
    Road to Revolution: A Century of Russian Radicalism – The Coast of Utopia, trilogy of plays

    Still not sure about the nettle, EGBDF or the Magritte.

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