Friday Foxer #60

Every Friday at 1300 hours, 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. Don’t be shy. All are welcome to participate.

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”, “The Spanish Armada”, “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.

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SOLUTIONS

Last week’s geofoxer theme: Peter Greenaway films (defoxed by Viscount)

A) Hubert Bals Handshake (Viscount)
B) Tintoretto. A Rebel in Venice (Nutfield)
C) Eisenstein in Guanajuato (gusdownnup)
D) The Draughtman’s Contract (gusdownnup, Colonel_K)
E) The Baby of Mâcon (gusdownnup)
F) Goole By Numbers (Electric Dragon, Viscount)
G) The Belly of an Architect (Electric Dragon, Nutfield, Colonel_K)
H) Prospero’s Books (gusdownnup, Colonel_K, Zwack23)
I) Lucca Mortis (honanhal)
J) Drowning by Numbers (ylla)
K) Revolution (Viscount)
L) Nighwatching (Viscount)

48 Comments

    • The video game is “Peaky Blinders: Mastermind”; however, connecting it to A5. Miles Master is somewhat unlikely.

  12. C1. BUTTON-hole scissors ? (On the Scissors wiki page)

    A group of BUTTONS ?!

    ETA. Actually it isn’t the same picture, but that what they most resemble; so I’m not as confident as I was.

    • Not a unicorn; nationality undetermined. Badge of the ROYAL ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS (REME).

      The Horse and Lightning were adopted in 1947.

      • Ooh, interesting. The crown and chain are quite Scottish – you can see it on e.g. the UK royal arms, or the arms of Nova Scotia, but not on e.g. the arms of Lithuania. But I didn’t know they turned up on horses.

  24. Ice-breakers / Polar Research vessels?
    A1. Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker CCGS TERRY FOX
    B1. LENIN, Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker launched 1957
    A2. RRS Sir DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, operated by the British Antarctic Survey
    A3. L’ASTROLABE, Polar Logistics Vessel of the French Navy
    then B2, B3 or A4

    The only other half-connection I’ve got is Aldous Huxley:
    E5. Brave New World
    D4. Peyote (picture not confirmed), the mescaline extract of which he tried and then wrote Doors of Perception.
    No idea how that’d pass through D5. Royal Oak or E4. Cawdor/Necromunda.

  25. The Battle of Fishguard, on 22–24 February 1797, is the most recent landing on British soil by a hostile foreign force (Revolutionary France).
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fishguard

    E4. Lord CAWDOR – British commander
    E5. William TATE – invaders’ Irish-American commander
    D5. ROYAL OAK – pub in Fishguard where Lord Cawdor set up his headquarters
    C5. La Légion Noire (The BLACK LEGION) – army of French criminals raised as part of the invasion force

    E3. ST. MARYS, Church, Fishguard – where heroine, Jemima Nicholas, is said to have locked up the twelve French soldiers she had single-handedly captured.

    ? B5. 23rd JANUARY – main day of manoeuvers and issuing of ultimatum to surrender

  29. D3: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir and Ronald Reagan in Iceland, 1986.

    Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was president of Iceland from 1980 to 1996.

    • Right you are, but B3 is going to be Tommy SHELBY = (Carroll) Shelby, the designer/team principal he drove for. As played by Matt Damon in said film.

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