The Mega Stinker was as smelly as usual in issue No. 59. It was enough to keep some of you awake especially at 47dn where ‘Wakefulness’ was INSOMNIA and not IMSOMNIA.
As you saw the sun come up you may have been tackling 134ac ‘Solar radiation (1,1-1)’. This was UV-B not USB or UBB. Ultraviolet means beyond violet in Latin. Violet has the shortest wavelength of visible light and UV is shorter again. We need UVB for vitamin D but it can also cause skin damage. To avoid this we all ‘slip, slop, slap’ on sunny days.
If you’re lucky, while you’re out enjoying a sunny day at the beach, you might spot a whale off the coast. At 61ac ‘Rorqual’ needed SEI Whale (not SKI or SHI). Rorquals are a group of whales including some of the largest, such as the Blue Whale and Humpback Whale. The Sei is the third largest of the group.
A POMANDER is a ‘Scented ball’ 12dn. The word comes from the French for ‘apple of amber’. Pomanders were used in the Middle Ages to counter bad smells and to try and ward off infections. A couple of misspellings included POMADDER and POMANDOR.
In Shakespeare’s Othello IAGO is the double-crossing villain. He was the answer to 152ac in Mega Stinker. If you put LAGO then you also had 125dn incorrect. BRUNEI not BRUNEL is the ‘Borneo oil-rich sultanate’.
Finally for the Stinker 110dn ‘Ruling family’ was DYNASTY not DYNESTY.
We love to have some fun in our crosswords but many of our words are ‘Significant’ or MEANINGFUL. Perhaps because of its length and number of vowels, this word stumped a few of you in the Mighty Mega at 10ac.
At 70ac the ‘Mexican snack’ was an ENCHILADA not an ENCHILIDA and ‘Prising tools’ at 87ac needed LEVERS not JEMEYS.
16dn ‘Other way round, vice …’ was VERSA not VERCA, 83dn ‘Antarctic bird, … penguin’ was EMPEROR not EMPORER and 116dn ‘Impersonator’ was IMITATOR not IMITATER.
Christine’s Mega Mix is an entertaining crossword that gets you thinking.
For 22ac ‘”Ne’er cast a … till May be out” needed the word CLOUT to finish the phrase but some of you put CLOUD. The phrase from the 1700s means don’t cast away your warm clothes before the end of May. This was a toughie, so well done all who tracked it down.
SHIMON PERES at 12dn also caused problems with various spellings of his name appearing.
The clue was ‘Current Israeli leader, first cousin of Lauren Bacall. Peres was born Shymon Perski in Poland, which is where Lauren Bacall’s family had come from. Her original name was Perske but it was changed to her mother’s name, Bacall when her parents separated.
The TV series at 32dn was Mad MEN (not MAN) and at 28dn the spicy sauce was TABASCO and not TAMPICO or TAMPERO.
NEANDERTHAL (11dn) and not NEANDERTHOL man was found in a valley near Dusseldorf in DEUTSCHLAND (10dn) not DEURSCHLAND.
Well done to everyone who tackled the contest crosswords and MEGA congratulations to all who conquered!
Best wishes to everyone for a wonderfully happy and safe Christmas and New Year. We at Lovatts are looking forward to bringing you many more fine crosswords in 2010.
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