Tuesday 2 January 2018

Globe and Mail Cryptic 20100102

Tuesday January 02, 2018

Difficulty: Hard


North-west corner stymied me. Had to resort to google to finish.


Skipping obvious ones; definitions underlined.

Across

7. A love outwardly secure
Nail [charade]: "A" with love ("nil") around it (outwardly)

8. International shipping line
Plimsoll [cryptic]: A Plimsoll line (or waterline) are lines on the sides of ships to indicate safe load levels. I didn't know this (or likely have forgotten it).

10. Superficially he maintains our ways
Road mender [cryptic]: I guessed this, but wasn't very convinced. Maybe more of a British term.

12. Fishermen use many spinners
Creels [charade]: C (many; C = 100) + reels (spinners). Is "use" part of the definition? Creels are wicker baskets for holding fish, not fishermen themselves as far as I know. But "fishermen use" sounds like an incomplete definition to me.



Down

3. One way of underlining a decision
Ruling [double def.]: I had trouble getting this one until I got the "L" from Plimsoll.

4. A sober habit
Temperance [cryptic]: I had abstinence first, which threw things off a bit (not to mention misspelling it with an "A").

5. Cry from a small boat
Ahoy [double-def]: I had "yawl" here first, which seemed to fit pretty well (yawl is a British variant of yowl). A "hoy" is another kind of small boat: "a small sloop-rigged coasting ship."

6. Kissed perhaps - the usual start between girl and boy
Saluted [charade]: Sal (girl's name) + u (start of "usual") + ted (boy's name). Saluted meaning kissed seems a bit tenuous to me.



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