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”, “Tulip mania”, “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 hive-foxer theme: beaches (defoxed by Zwack23)
barv (a_monk)
belgian gate
berm (copperbottom)
boys (Colonel_K)
bum (Zwack23)
comb (a_monk)
echo (Zwack23)
flag (ylla)
from here to eternity
hut (a_monk)
nudist (copperbottom)
plage (a_monk)
ready (Zwack23)
sandboni
somerton man
strandbeest (a_monk)
swash zone (copperbottom, a_monk)
sword (Colonel_K, Viscount)
terminal (copperbottom)
C2 is in Le Havre – https://www.google.com/maps/@49.4851571,0.1069491,3a,75y,148.13h,99.33t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sdF9OQgbujxsxzVYR9d2Vmw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DdF9OQgbujxsxzVYR9d2Vmw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D243.11302%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192
On a road named after John Kennedy, if that is important.
E5 Harry Styles
B2 appears to be Avalon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalon_(video_game)
Aha https://worldofspectrum.net/pub/sinclair/games-maps/a/Avalon_Front.jpg
A Spectrum classic!
E3 – Thrust 2 and Richard Noble
It is Thrust 2, but it’s the designer John Ackroyd with it – as in the murder of Roger.
https://www.islandlifemagazine.co.uk/a-life-built-on-speed/
D2 – the game Day at the Races- https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/2346730/ss_1bdd7ba5f75102d8bf6c310652bbf57f6089220c.1920×1080.jpg?t=1683615521
Something to do with Queen?
Or the Marx Brothers?
D1 is an STS-27 Mission badge – space shuttle Atlantis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-27
Mystical lands with Avalon?
And Utopia?
I’ve put myself into moderation for B2…
Avalon https://worldofspectrum.net/pub/sinclair/games-maps/a/Avalon_Front.jpg
E4 – looks like Arnold Palmer in a golf game – from the UI it looks like a Links game, possibly Links 2001, around that era.
EDIT – yes I was right – https://www.old-games.com/screenshot/9929-13-links-2001.jpg
1C – UTOPIA for the Mattel Intellivision
B4 – 1000 Miglia
https://www.mobygames.com/game/12691/1000-miglia/screenshots/
A5 – I think its the chemical formula for Cocaine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine
Not quite, actually it is A5. SCOPOLAMINE, also known as hyoscine, or Devil’s Breath
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopolamine
E1 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krauss-Maffei_ML_2200_C%27C%27
aka JZ 761 “the Blue Train” That Tito used… so might be a Tito link
B3 is the Lincoln Tank Memorial
https://www.visitlincoln.com/things-to-do/lincoln-tank-memorial
Two presidents, then, but that seems a bit obvious!
E2 – The centre of the area is Indianapolis, but I can’t figure out the lines
Looks like the railroad map or river map of the region. The CSX or the Pennsylvania Railroad lines seems very close to me, but I can’t say which one for sure
Here goes :
E2. The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad and commonly abbreviated CCC&StL
https://www.railfanguides.us/oh/marion/cccstl1.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland,_Cincinnati,_Chicago_and_St._Louis_Railway
Agatha Christie titles with the Blue Train at E1? Not that any more are jumping at me…
D5 – Guiseppe Garibaldi, depicted on the May 1 1960 edition of Domenica del Corriere
https://oliaklodvenitiens.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/gg1.jpg
A4 – Is a view from a hotel towards Venice….
D3 – is from the Battle of Gettysburg, the attack on the wheatfield
B3 – Lincoln, D3 – Gettysburg address – is Lincoln a link?
A4 is a view of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, from somewhere on the island of Giudecca, looks like it’s near here: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@45.4273425,12.3398067,3a,84.1y,155h,97.56t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sv2N7DFrKEPLXK-WEtK1KHA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
The Hotel Cipriani is in about the right location and is the right style but can’t find a pic with the chess board
Aha it’s the Dogaressa Suite at the Hotel Cipriani:
https://elitevoyage.com/southern-europes-most-exceptional-suites/
A3 – The WILTON diptych
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilton_Diptych
C4 – Map of the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, in Paris in 1937, which must have been quite the event given the unique political backdrop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_Internationale_des_Arts_et_Techniques_dans_la_Vie_Moderne
B1 – the Great Seal of the State of CALIFORNIA, another mythical island.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Seal_of_California
A1 could be around the Thirty Years’ War, but no luck so far
Looks like A2.Sud-Ouest SO.6000 Triton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sud-Ouest_Triton
But I can’t find the exact picture
Edit: The car seems to be a Panhard Dynavia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhard_Dynavia
C3. De Tomaso DEAUVILLE
https://detomasodc.co.uk/deauville
D4. Thousand Islands Railway number 500
https://www.google.fr/maps/@44.3277565,-76.1645217,3a,48.7y,269.74h,92.29t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1siZEtjFCh7sW1_mYVOLQlNA!2e0!5s20090801T000000!7i13312!8i6656
There are a few things now with food named after them – Thousand Island dressing, the Arnold Palmer, Garibaldi biscuits – but Harry Styles would have to go in that group, and I don’t think he does…
Well, apparently, his nickname is “Watermelon Sugar”. I guess that can make it.
B5 – Bachhawali Tope, “the cannon which induces child birth”
https://goo.gl/maps/mJPWtJuyoyY7Yz6n6
A1 – Soldier Kings: The Seven Years’ War Worldwide
https://boardgamegeek.com/image/326552/soldier-kings-seven-years-war-worldwide
A1/A2/A3/A4 + one other – I think the connection is the Gold State Coach used at coronations and jubilees of the British monarch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_State_Coach
Decorated with symbols representing British victory in 7 Years War
Leather straps held by tritons
Features panels painted by Giovanni Battista Cipriani
Has carvings made by Sir Joseph Wilton
Could be A5, as Scopolamine is used to counter motion sickness. According to wikipedia, The Gold Coach is not the most confortable ride.
I think B3 must be the fifth fictional island – Lincoln Island, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Island
Found Groups so far:
Fictional Islands
B1 CALIFORNIA
C1 UTOPIA
D1 ATLANTIS
B2 AVALON
B3 LINCOLN
Gold State Coach
A1 SEVEN YEARS WAR
A2 TRITONS
A3 Sir Joseph WILTON
A4 Giovanni Battista CIPRIANA
?A5 SCOPOLAMINE
Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot all down the right hand side:
E1 The Mystery of the BLUE TRAIN
E2 THE BIG FOUR
E3 The Murder of Roger ACKROYD
E4 The Murder on the LINKS
E5 The Mysterious Affair at STYLES
Thousands?
B4 1000 Miglia
D4 Thousand Islands
B5 Palace of the Thousand Doors? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazarduari_Palace
C5 ???
D5 Expedition of the Thousand? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition_of_the_Thousand
You can see how much attention I’m paying to Eurovision! But I’ll let someone else find the last theme 😀
One group is 1000
B4 – 1000 Miglia
B5 – The cannon is located at the Kila Nizamat, which also has Hazarduari Palace, known as ‘the palace of a thousand doors’
D4 – Thousand Islands Railway
D5 – Garibaldi led the Expedition of the Thousand
The as yet unidentified C5 must also go in this group.
Isn’t it Robert Patrick, the T-1000 Terminator?
The ears were enough, but yes here’s the actual photo: https://img.youtube.com/vi/RJ8vKfzewuk/hqdefault.jpg
The painter RAOUL DUFY.
C2 – born in LE HAVRE
D2 – AT THE RACES
C3 – DEAUVILLE
C4 – THE WHEATFIELD
C5 – created a huge painting for the 1937 EXPOSITION INTERNATIONALE