Friday Foxer #260

21 Comments

1. M3. CARESSING

2. H4. TAKE YOUR PICK – presumably referring to the British gameshow

   I think I’ve got the theme and am afeared I’ll find Noel Edmonds somewhere within.
   (I don’t think Roman would have Caressing as an answer to that theme, so leave it out)

   • If you have the theme, why don’t you share it?

     I tend to when i know it.

     (Just getting to this now)

     • Is it boxes with mystery items in them?

       Take your Pick & Schrodinger’s cat?

3. A2. BROWNIE – I’m fairly confident (moreso about the Brown part), though will admit to not having totally solved the top-most right area

   • G3. CHOCOLATE BROWNIE

     • Ah! Didn’t spot that. Don’t think it works as a (helpful) two-word answer, though.

       The CHOCOLATE part I’m 99.9% sure is right, and on its’ own.

       BROWNIE works as an answer on it’s own. Could be just BROWN, however, which would be far more unusual.

4. E8. GORE VIDAL – fairly confident that’s the correct starting ‘G’, but what’s left above it is still a mess

5. H13. STRONG – one word answer, confidence level: very high

6. G9. SCHRODINGER’S CAT – what are the odds of that turning up by chance, and how would you know?

7. Seeing as it looks like this might be the last of these for a while (and the Christmas schedule has thrown people off – suggesting this is a ‘Friday lunchtime at work’ pursuit for many…)

   F1 – TOOL
   E2 – LOOT
   I1 – TICK
   I5 – SPANNER
   D13 – MARTIN BIRD (could be separate but makes sense together)

   And CHOCOLATE and BROWNIE are separate answers.

   I hope Roman finds his sabbatical invigorating and productive.

   • While i1. TICK does meet the theme, it’s actually part of a longer answer.

     (I haven’t totally solved it myself: there’s a mess in the top centre-right involving two K’s, an H and a Y; and I’m not happy how I’ve split the right-hand outer edge into answers)

     I’ve only got D13. MARTIN pencilled in at the moment. It’s an obvious sequence of letters, but doesn’t have a stand-out connection to the theme and I’m not sure if it shouldn’t be followed by BRIDGE.

8. So for mystery Boxes, i can see:

   LOOT, SCHRODINGER’S CAT & TAKE YOUR PICK, maybe LOTTO too?

   • If it’s just BOX then we can add:

     CHOCOLATE, PILL (G15), TOOL, TICK, STRONG

     C10 – JACK IN THE

9. F11 – NIGHT (Mrs Nutfield)
   M5 – SIGNAL
   K9 – MITRE (D)

10. D6 or 7 – KICK
    G or E7 – EGG (Mrs Nutfield)

11. I wonder if someone was stupid enough to name their kid LECIL instead of CECIL?…

    A8 – LECIL MARTIN Boxcar WIllie

12. B3 – TORSION

    Right, that’s enough boxes from me for now!

13. Highest confidence:
    H4. TAKE YOUR PICK
    G9. SCHRODINGER’S CAT
    i5. SPANNER
    M5. SIGNAL
    K9. MITRE
    E8. GORE VIDAL – used the pseudonym Edgar Box for several books
    F1 – TOOL
    F2 – LOOT
    G3. CHOCOLATE
    B3. TORSION
    A8. LECIL MARTIN
    G15. PILL
    H13. STRONG
    C10. JACK IN THE

    The letters are there in that order:
    i1. TICKY-TACKY – what Little Boxes are made of in the song
    E7. EGG
    D6. KITE – Nutfield would use the starting K for Kick
    K10. GUARD ? – but I’m really thinking of a Sentry box

    Pencilled in:
    A2. BROWNIE – else Box Brown is an American cartoonist, or something else
    C6. ICE
    J13. BIRD (or Bridge but ought to have Girder before it)

    Some word with … F11. NIGHT… in it. There’s a loose S at the end and a K in front so it could be Knights

14. E10 – KNIGHTSBRIDGE BOX (part of the Battle of Gazala in WW2)
    A10 – ABDO GUARD (the box that saves the crown jewels when facing a fast bowler in cricket)

    This still leaves a mess of ten letters (YAHARKKKER). Maybe there’s an Arabic word in there somewhere ??

    • D7. KAY HARKER – schoolboy protagonist of John Masefield’s ‘The Box of Delights’ (and its’ antecedant ‘The Midnight Folk’)

      ETA: meaning both BROWNIE and ICE are correct