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EJ's Crosswords

(You'll find Links to other crossword sites here)

SOME CLUES I LIKE (see also 'clues I DON'T like!')
The clues below aren't necessarily brilliant - they're just ones that have taken my fancy. They're chosen as much for the pleasure I had from solving them as for any special cleverness or wit in their construction.

A nice penny-dropper from Pasquale (Guardian 24013)
Tramp won't hurry up! (4,5) L _ _ _ S _ _ _ _

A neat clueing idea from Paul (Guardian 24018)
Scrap . - . . ? _ O _ S _ _

Answers and explanations will be revealed shortly

Answers to earlier clues:
Uplift spiritually (8) Ans: LEVITATE  [cyptic definition] by Rufus (Guardian 23844)

Government enterprise stifles political understanding (7)
Ans: ENTENTE [governmENT ENTErprise] by Cyclops Private Eye 1017

What's for pudding? Answer is a lemon (8)
  Ans: SEMOLINA  [anag. of IS A LEMON] by Tim Moorey (The Week)

Given large drink and a spliff, journalist can twist your arm (6-7)
  Ans: DOUBLE-JOINTED  [DOUBLE + JOINT + ED] by Paul (Guardian 23835)

Crease up foreign article? That's disgusting! (5)  Ans: LAUGH (LA + UGH!) by Peebles (Chambers online July '06)

Tail of largest howler monkey (6)   Ans: TERROR  [(larges)T + ERROR]
by Paul (Guardian 23817)

Play 'The Frog' da capo (9)
  Ans: GODFATHER   [anag of THE FROG DA] - but is 'capo' = 'godfather' correct?
  Winning clue (by Dave Williams) in June '06 competition set for Crossword Centre

Experimental biology sheds by arctic quarters (5)   Ans: IGLOO   [anag of (b)IOLOG(y)]
  by Taupi (Guardian 23767)

Hairline fracture? (7)  Ans: PARTING  [cryptic def.]   by Auster (Guardian 23758)

Look round very fast (6)  Ans: STARVE  [V(ery) inside STARE]
by Chifonie (Guardian 23750)

Cruise, a belligerent sort of missile (8)  Ans: TOMAHAWK
   [TOM (Cruise) + A + HAWK]  by Shed (Guardian 23749)

Gathering storm (7)  Ans: FLOUNCE
   [2 defs: gathering of material / to storm (off)]  by Pasquale (Guardian 23745)

Two clues to "CROSS" in the Short-clue Competition at Guardian Talk (April '06)
(i) Caught the Supreme Diana in a bad mood? (5) [C(aught) + (Diana) ROSS]
(ii) Angry ex (5) [double def. 'ex' = letter X]
  (i) was by iamadoughnut  (ii) was by BackWurdz

Married and put in order? Rubbish! (6)
Ans: MALIGN [M(arried) + ALIGN] by Cyclops Private Eye 1154

Rock venue? Good place for orchestra to entertain composer (6,3)
Ans: GRAVEL PIT (RAVEL inside G(ood) (orchestra) PIT)   by Pasquale (Guardian 23720)

Recently built a cracking shop for ceramics (9)  Ans: STONEWARE
(NEW inside (i.e. 'cracking') STORE) by Taupi (Guardian 23727)

Indulgent, despite a piece of cake vanishing (4-5)  Ans: EASY-GOING (EASY = a piece of cake + GOING) by Logodaedalus (Guardian 23721)

With difficulty, a nurse gets him to swallow (5,6)  Ans: HOUSEMARTIN - by Enigmatist (Guardian 23101) This is an anag. of A NURSE HIM TO, so 'gets' should not really be in the clue. I forgive the setter, however, as the clue reads so well and has the nicely misdirecting 'swallow'.

Goldfish in silent tomb (9)  Ans: MAUSOLEUM (AU +SOLE in MUM) - by Taupi (Guardian 23134)

Saw dog wearing lead (7)  Ans: PROVERB - by Chifonie (Guardian 23099)

Time to press for return of former Central American politician (7)
Ans: NORIEGA - by Gordius (Guardian 23109)

Fall perhaps for American violin concerto - one of four (6)  Ans: SEASON
(Alberich Free Crosswords Online #18)

Sculptor trying Job's patience (5, 7)  Ans: JACOB EPSTEIN - by Orlando (Guardian 23050)

The Artist Formerly Known As Princess (5)  Ans: RANEE - by Shed (Guardian 23019)

Bats need ears for evening air (8)  Ans:SERENADE - by Orlando (Guardian 22995)

Not published abroad, as New York Tribune is (10)  Ans:UNHERALDED - by Brummie (Guardian 22989)

Run as "today's politician" (10)  Ans: ADMINISTER - by Janus (Guardian)

Self-catering jazz fan eats ready-cooked chicken (7,3))  Ans: SCAREDY CAT (Smithers Enigmatist.com)

Neckline that's naughty located with glee? (11) Ans: DECOLLETAGE - by Columba (Independent Mar 5th)

Bar selling other sandwiches (5) Ans: INGOT - by spurius (Independent Feb 2003)

A bleak prospect : its the middle of Christmas with presents to wrap (9)  Ans: SNOWSCAPE by Ian Harper, a runner-up in a clueing competition run by the Crossword Centre (see links)

www.bowler.con (3,5)  Ans:HAT TRICK - by Trinculo (www.crossword.org)

Saw property that could make a baby cry (7,5)  Ans:CUTTING TEETH - by Rover (Guardian 22637)

Pope's w-well? No - take Popemobile No 1 back (7)
  Ans: PONTIFF (by Smithers Enigmatist web site

The core of Freud and Jung's precise analysis of a sanctimonious character (8,5)
  Ans: CREEPING JESUS (by Shed Guardian 22073 - see link below)

Senior citizen job centre left to fade away (5)  Ans:OLDIE (Times No. 21529)

Upwardly mobile spa hosts Irish Dancing for Blimps (8)  Ans: AIRSHIPS (by Theresa Cunningham)

Silent film star’s scene at Little Bighorn, as delivered by Spooner (6,6)
  Ans: BUSTER KEATON (by Paul of the Guardian)

Nabokov’s refusal to restrict rate of progress for Lolita? (7) Ans: NYMPHET (by Guardian’s Fawley)

End of manned space flight? It doesn’t bear consideration! (1,4,2,3,5)
  Ans: A DROP IN THE OCEAN (1970s clue!)

RANDOM OBSERVATIONS, ANECDOTES AND THE LIKE

What makes a good clue? Click here

Trials and Tribulations of a Crossword Setter
A victim of censorship ...
I used to do a crossword for Beijing Journal, aimed mainly at the ex-pat community. It was often a nightmare coping with the anglicized spellings of Chinese place names - not to mention the thorny problem of using e.g. 'Mao Tse Tung' instead of the politically correct 'Mao Zedung'. That wasn't the least of my problems, though. The very first puzzle I submitted contained the name of China's prime minister, Zhu Rongji. Even though I'd taken care to clue this quite non-controversially, the editor came straight back to say it was a political no-no. The mere mention any incumbent leader's name, however innocent the context, was banned. So, I spent a couple of hours changing a quarter of the grid and clues, ruefully reflecting on the rather different demands made on me by Private Eye!

Punny Shop Names

Chinese restaurant in Sussex: Brighton Wok (contributed by Richard Bailey)

Board outside a large office near LeamingtonSpa, Warwickshire: Wright Hassall, Solicitors

Observed by me in Stourbridge, West Midlands: Walter Wall Carpets

North London hairdresser: Leonardo da Finchley (heard on Capital Radio many years ago)

Essex antique shop: Look Back in Ongar (from Deborah Moggach's novel The Stand-in)

Three Indian restaurants:
1. The Shirley Temple (in West Midlands' district of Shirley)
2. Posh Spice (a new up-market establishment in London)
3. The Empire Strikes Back!
plus ... The Bombay Doors - a (non-existent, as far as I know) restaurant name suggested by a correspondent, who points out (for the non-squeamish) that their opening might also suggest a serious bowel movement. Of course, the name could equally apply to the Indian version of the cult US rock band with lead singer Jim Khan A. Morrison.

Stephen Sondheim Sees the Light (cruciverbally speaking)
Did you know that Stephen Sondheim is a crossword author? (His hit musicals are just a sideline, of course.) He's had many puzzles published - including a speciality 'Murder Mystery' crossword in which the clues are embedded in a whodunnit tale.
Some years ago in an interview he gave on British TV, he recalled the moment his fascination with cryptic crossswords began. On that occasion, he was standing outside a movie theatre that had a large banner publicizing what was then the latest wide-screen process, Cinerama. It came to him that 'Cinerama' was an anagram of 'American' and from then on he was hooked on cryptic clues.