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 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: gloves, mazes, human migration, and The 39 Steps). Identifying the theme is a vital part of the defoxing process. This rare ‘double-bubble’ puzzle is composed of 28 answers, two of which are acronyms.
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SOLUTIONS
Last week’s ‘33 things wot you might find in a 19th Century painting’ missing vowels foxer:
1. FF TSDS R – effets de soir (Colonel_K)
2. TH RSK L LSNR G – three skulls on a rug (Nutfield)
3. CDMMYL LW – cadmium yellow (Mrs Nutfield)
4. MRHR TN SFQT – Marie-Hortense Fiquet (Colonel_K)
5. RNTLSM – orientalism (ylla, Nutfield)
6. SC NSFR MT HLDTST MNT – scenes from the old testament (Electric Dragon)
7. FRN GSQD – firing squad (Electric Dragon)
8. TGRN TR PC LST RM – tiger in a tropical storm (Phlebas)
9. DLSQ – odalisque (Electric Dragon)
10. BLCKB NP SD – black bean episode (Zwack23)
11. STRND VRN GH SSN – saturn devouring his son (Phlebas)
12. GMTN – gumtion ()
13. FLSBR GR – folies bergère (Colonel_K)
14. LPNMST FFSR NMTNGDS TR SSDT RVLLR – alpine mastiffs reanimating a distressed traveller (ylla)
15. THN NT HWV – the ninth wave (ylla)
16. LZB THSDDL – elizabeth siddal (Nutfield)
17. PNTN F – pont neuf (Nutfield)
18. LNL LVN VNBRTNSK YPRN CSSFSY NWT TGNS TNSYN – leonilla ivanovna bariatinskaya, princess of sayn-wittgenstein-sayn (Nutfield, Electric Dragon)
19. T HPLCFWS TMN ST RBLZ – the palace of westminster ablaze (ylla)
20. NP LNCR SSNGTHL PS – napoleon crossing the alps (Nutfield)
21. THW RDNV RMR – the word nevermore (Nutfield)
22. LMMN KNNSMTHR – lemminkäinen’s mother (Electric Dragon)
23. SNRS – asnières () or sunrise (Colonel_K)
24. GRN MLK – geranium lake (Electric Dragon)
25. RRKSDR FT – rorkes drift (Nutfield)
26. BSNTH – absinthe (Nutfield)
27. T HPT HS SFWR – the apotheosis of war (Electric Dragon)
28. MNBSPSSN GRS – omnibus passengers (Electric Dragon)
29. MNTSS TDB T – monet’s studio boat (Colonel_K)
30. JM SBBTTM CNL LW HSTLRSMM – james abbott mcneill whistler’s mum (Electric Dragon)
31. M S SLL – miss la la ()
32. MDNHDRL WYB RDG – maidenhead railway bridge (Nutfield, Electric Dragon)
33. ND L Z DS C NFNR CT CSWT HWR CK DSH PNT HH PDM S S SFC – an idealized scene of an arctic sea, with a wrecked ship on the heaped masses of ice (Nutfield, ylla)
T2: RED HERRING, this starts well.
POISSON D’AVRIL
Boom!
N6. COCK-UP ?!
H7 CATCH
J4 QUEEN
Q1 ROLLING
(Does anyone out there play Heardle? I had completely forgotten what day it was this morning…)
I thought R1. TROLLING, but it still isolates double E.
J4. QUAINT
W9. GLAUCUS – sea-god, river, couple of ships
or Y5. INCUS – bone in the ear (might be known as the stirrup)
O5 CLOCK(ED)
D8 – SQUID
J4 – QUAINT
I’m going to say the topic is Fishing / Fishermen (fisher-persons? – probably don’t want to go there).
So, yeah, Herring might be correct, but now Poisson d’Avril gets a double-Boom!!
H9. BY-CATCH (taking the upper A)
F5. LUZZU – traditional Maltese fishing boat
Probably correct:
D8. SQUID
W9. GLAUCUS – believed to rescue sailors and fishermen in storms
L5 TACKLE
G13 COCHA is another protector of sailors
Y4. LONG-LINE ?
L4. ANDREW ? – patron saint
Q1. ROD ? – may be goes with S3. WRIST as an affliction
N1. EEL ?
G11. GHOST ? – abandoned / lost / discarded nets and the animals they still trap
P4 CUTTER
A7. COARSE ?
E9 JIGGER
F9 DIZZY
G12 CHAOS
H9 BENTO
L1 FRAZE
L6 PASTA
P4 CRACKLE
Y2 WATER
I feel like the R at W3 which only has one vowel next to it should be easy to deduce, but i can’t find anything.
K6. ANTIQUE ?
fits neatly next to Tackle and Andrew, but I’ve no idea what it might mean
Roman recommends you refine your theme suggestion slightly, Colonel_K.
Several answers have been fully defoxed. Portions of others have been wittingly and unwittingly IDed too (alison, for instance, has two ‘halves’ to her credit).
K1 – ANNELIES ILENA
Sea/Ocean fishing? Or fishing boats?
A2 – SHETLAND BUS BOAT
So generally boats then? Or oceanic things?
N7 – COCKLER ?
Random combining of others’ suggestions led to
D8 – SQUID JIGGER
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/squid-jigger
Which one might find on a fishing boat, making that seem more likely to be the theme.
As Electric Dragon suggests, the topic is more firmly settling on Fishing Boats.
(In decreasing order of confidence) Pretty much certain:
K1. ANNELIES ILENA – largest freezer trawler
A2. SHETLAND BUS BOAT – despite sounding like a Caledonian ferry service, it was a WW2 clandestine use of Norwegian fishing boats between Shetland and occupied Norway
(Uses one of alison’s halves) D8. SQUID-JIGGER – factory ship that uses powerful lights to attract squid
High confidence:
H9. BY-CATCH
F5. LUZZU – traditional Maltese fishing boat
W9. GLAUCUS – believed to rescue sailors and fishermen in storms
Moderate confidence:
Y4. LONG-LINE
L5. TACKLE
G11. GHOST – abandoned / lost / discarded nets and the animals they still trap
(Using second of alison’s halves) R4. NET-CUTTER – small handheld tool carried by scuba divers to extricate themselves if trapped
C9. Lillian BILOCCA – “Big Lil”, fisheries worker and safety campaigner
ETA. G11. might in fact be GHOST NET
Yes!
He is there…
N6. CAPTAIN BIRDSEYE
L5. Tackle is no longer an answer, and up at the top, it looks like something could end with E6. …WORK
Y4 – LONGLINES
Perhaps Commercial/Industrial Fishing is closer than Fishing Boats? Depends how picky Roman is feeling.
Oh, the Col already had longline ages ago. I always miss one comment somewhere!
O8. PURETIC POWER BLOCK – mechanised winch for hauling nets, introduced in the ’50s
I think R4. Net-cutter ends at P5.
There might be two fishing boats:
M4. SMACK
U4. HERRING BUSS
I still have the feeling that S3. Wrist is going to be part of some horrendous malady that affects workers who spend many hours gutting fish
G3 COD END
J4 QUOTA
I6 SAINT ANDREW (half from Colonel_K)
If R1 TROLLING is correct, then i feel like there should be a word ending in M1 ZEE, and i can’t find it. Alternatively it could be O1 EEZ (exclusive economic zone). But that leaves a difficult jumble above it.
L1 FAD (fish aggregating device)
O1 EEZ (exclusive economic zone)
N3 WELL SMACK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_smack
D’Oh. I should’ve got Well Smack as it’s on the same Wikipedia page of fishing vessel types as Smack and Herring Buss. I even moused over it.
T4. ANDREA GAIL – lost with all hands during the Perfect Storm of 1991; subject of book and film.
W1 VIOLA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_(trawler)
That leaves not much space if R1 TROLLING is also correct. Perhaps S1 SIDE WIND ? Something with T5 LANDER ? I’m still stumped by the R at W3.
R1. TROLLING probably is correct. It’s drawing multiple lines through the water at the same time – not to be confused with trawling which uses a net.
W1. VIOLA is the oldest surviving steam trawler in the world, currently beached at Grytviken in South Georgia.
Yes, S1. is SIDEWINDER – also known as side trawling (Mincarlo is the last surviving sidewinder fishing trawler of the Lowestoft fishing fleet.)
W4. LOBSTER WAR – stand-off between Brazil and France
1. T11. OTTER BOARD – keeps mouth of the trawl net open.
2. S12. GANSEY – aka guernsey, knitted woollen sweater from Channel Islands
3. T4. ANDREA GAIL
4. W9. GLAUCUS
5. Y4. LONG-LINE
6. W4. LOBSTER WAR
7. U4. HERRING BUSS
8. W1. VIOLA
9. S1. SIDEWINDER
10. R1. TROLLING
11. R4. NET-CUTTER
12. O8. PURETIC POWER BLOCK
13. N3. WELL SMACK
14. O1. EEZ
15. L1. FAD
16. N6. CAPTAIN BIRDSEYE
17. I6. SAINT ANDREW
18. J4. QUOTA
19. G3. COD END – trailing end of the net where fish are finally “caught”.
20. G11. GHOST NET
21. H9. BY-CATCH
22. F5. LUZZU
23. D8. SQUID-JIGGER
24. C9. BILOCCA
25. K1. ANNELIES ILENA
26. A2. SHETLAND BUS BOAT
Two answers remaining, neither of which are acronyms.
27. A7. CONDER – person who stood on a tall cliff directing fishing boats to shoals of herring
Seems to leave Dead Rise Work
28. D7. DEADRISE WORK(-boat) – aka Chesapeake deadrise, traditional fishing boat and the official boat of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Well done! You are more persistent than me – i gave up on that cluster after trying every permutation of RED COD NEAR WORK i could think of.