Every Friday, 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. 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 geofoxer theme: Shakespeare’s The Tempest (defoxed by Viscount)
a. Ariel (a_monk)
b. Blackfriars (Zwack23)
c. Minack Theatre (Mrs. Nutfield)
d. Caliban (Aergistal)
e. Harpy (Nutfield)
f. Prospero and Ariel (Viscount)
g. Gonzalo (Nutfield)
h. Sea Venture (ylla)
i. Miranda (Viscount)
j. Ceres (a_monk)
k. Trinculo (Colonel_K)
A4 – I think this is Dead of Winter
D2 is the Norwegian Nordland Line
https://assets.simpleviewcms.com/simpleview/image/upload/c_fill,g_xy_center,h_702,w_1200,x_1064,y_682/f_avif/q_65/v1/clients/norway/Skjermbilde_2022_08_10_kl_09_51_57_ac54d663-35b5-47e9-8ced-54a3592d83e6.png?_a=BATCtdAA0
D1 – Ankh Morpock City Watch – https://www.discworldemporium.com/author/dale-2/
D3 is the ballot paper for the 1938 Austrian Anschluss referendum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_Austrian_Anschluss_referendum
D5 – Is a winch on the front of a Jeep Wrangler, i assume it’s the manufacturer’s name?
E5 – Birds at Winter Nightfall by Thomas Hardy – https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/birds-winter-nightfall
B2 – southern brave 100 cricket team – Lauren Bell
E5 is ‘Birds at Winter Nightfall (Triolet)’ by Thomas Hardy
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/thomas_hardy/poems/10771
B3 – Kelloggs Sugar Smacks
D1 is this picture of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch
https://www.reddit.com/r/discworld/comments/g9wfou/ladies_and_gentlemen_the_watch/
Sorry, Nutfield, I’ve just been hunting without reloading!
Some people… 😉
A1 – Newfoundland dog
Taking out the armor preemptively:
E2 – Valentine tank captured by the Axis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine_tank#/media/File:Pz_Kpfw_Valentine.JPG
E4 – The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Excavation_of_Hob's_Barrow
D4 – Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace
C2 – Soviet Sub B-80 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_B-80
A3 might be Fair Isle more or less here https://maps.app.goo.gl/HeUg1ZKnFNP47c9u5, although there seem to be two piers on the maps and one in reality, but I have no idea where the map comes from.
It’s the only part of the UK at that latitude, anyway!
The boat is the Good Shepherd IV. It’s a ferry and mail boat.
E1 – Algerian 100 Dinar note
C1 – Heron Cross Pottery, Fenton, Stoke.
http://www.thepotteries.org/listed/71a.html
First link is the Disgrace at Gijon where the West German and Austrian teams decided to fix the result of a match at the world cup so they both went through at the cost of Algeria.
D4 – Disgrace
D3 – Anschluss (Known as this where Austria was annexed)
E1 – Algerian Note
E2 – Valentine was the name of the ref
E3 – GIJON sculpture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace_of_Gij%C3%B3n
B5 – The plane is a P40 Curtiss Warhawk or Kittyhawk… I think it’s the one in the Canadian air museum
B1 – 22 – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3843282/
A5 – Rashtrapati Bhavan – So, that’s nice… – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtrapati_Bhavan
Re: C5.
The image is a cover for Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, but is there an adventure game version?
ETA: Yep. From 1995, which is later than I was expecting.
“16th-worst computer game ever released” less surprised
I really should have got that one, shouldn’t I… 😀
C5/D5/E4/E5 have to be a group, with either B5 or C4
D5. Quicksand ? – concept car from Jeep, haven’t found the exact photo though
“the Warn winch concealed in the ‘Moon’ tank at the front are pure hot rod.”, in the unlikely event that the clue is the winch.
C3. I think is a JOHN DORY, presumably taken under UV light
I haven’t located the exact photo, but it has the false eyespot in the middle of its body and the fins look about right.
Also known as: St Pierre or Peter’s fish; Binomial name: Zeus faber
B5. Yokosuka D4Y1 at Yūshūkan War Museum
I can’t get to the same exact spot as Roman, but this is close:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.6952591,139.7432485,3a,90y,253.62h,76.64t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNCUNlqMSym-eI6g2c42G3boQRvhRjGspAgoqgl!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNCUNlqMSym-eI6g2c42G3boQRvhRjGspAgoqgl%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya250.01715-ro-0-fo100!7i8000!8i4000?entry=ttu
Suisei = “Comet”, Allied reporting name “Judy”; the plane itself is serial 4316
B4. GOSFORD Castle, Northern Ireland
Films featuring the recently-passed Michael Gambon:
A3. The Good Shepherd, 2006
A4. ???
A5. Viceroy’s House, 2017
B5. Judy, 2019
B4. Gosford Park, 2001
Frustratingly, A4. is not plain “Sleepy Hollow” but
Legends of SLEEPY HOLLOW
London’s tallest eyesores (with position in Europe):
A1. Newfoundland – 45th
A2. ???
B1. Twentytwo (22 Bishopsgate) – 17th
B2. The Shard – 7th = Lauren Bell’s nickname because of her height (6’1)
C1. Heron Tower – 36th
Unidentified group 1:
D1. City Watch / Nobby Nobbs ? / Cecil Wormsborough St. John “Nobby” Nobbs ?
D2. Nordland
C2. B-80 / Project 611 or Zulu-class
C3. John Dory / St Pierre / Peter’s fish / Zeus faber ?
B3. Dig’em Frog / Sugar Smacks / rechristened Honey Smacks during his reign as mascot
Unidentified group 2:
C4. ??? (reckon he has slavic origins)
C5. Martian / Chronicles / Ray Bradbury
D5. Quicksand ? / (jeep/winch/moon tank)
E5. ‘Birds at Winter Nightfall’ / Triolet / Thomas Hardy
E4. Excavation / Hob’s / Barrow / Thomasina
C4 – Andy Warhol
I wondered yesterday if that group was David Bowie songs, but I can’t remember now what I had except Quicksand, and I couldn’t make it work. But it does look like it might be.
Oh, Life on Mars…
ETA: Hob’s Barrow is set in the village of BEWLAY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bewlay_Brothers
They all seem to be from Hunky Dory, so the last one must be ‘Eight Line Poem’, for triolet.
A2 – SS-24 _SCALPEL_ ballistic missile
I can find four of Unidentified Group 1 on this page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Types_of_fishing_vessels
D1. Nobby
D2. Nordland
C3. Dory, but also Peter boat
B3. Smack
But can figure out how C2. B-80 / Zulu might fit.
Intriguingly, vowels reversed E4. Bawley is also there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_east_coast_fishery#The_Zulu