Category Archives: Crosswords

Useless side plot with Rose and Finn both acting weird! (5,5)

Inspired, after a fashion, by The Last Jedi, Episode VIII of the Star Wars movies, here’s a cryptic crossword. Enjoy!

As a PDF: no35

Across
1 Blaster Solo mostly nudged by mistake. (7)
5 Just in time, pervading magical force comes back, allowing clear dialogue. (7)
9 Glaring farce, bad editing without direction. (9)
10 Part of film containing origin of Ben Solo. (5)
11 Watch cyborg’s central turret structure. (6)
12 Kick oneself for taking side—postmodern garbage. (7)
14 Current leaders of rebellion investigate Sarlacc’s orifice. (4)
15 In retrospect, volcano remade operatic Star Wars charac- ter. (3,7)
19 Useless side plot with Rose and Finn both acting weird! (5,5)
20 Maybe white males immediately understand agenda. (4)
22 Expand General Grievous. (7)
25 Want Vader to embrace right side of Force. (6)
27 Acid dissolves badly-written minion without explanation, ultimately. (5)
28 Gender-bending ruined tale. Which function did Threepio serve? (9)
29 At the end of the day, Jedi virtues were misunderstood. (7)
30 Hostile alien’s stones. (7)

Down
1 Obi-Wan looks like one who boldy shows it. (4)
2 First off, contrarian lambasted storytelling. (9)
3 Perceptive newspaper journalist supports infuriating, unsubstantial review. (6)
4 They are filled with lifeless actors, like first prequel or clone wars. (9)
5 Cassian conjunctions. (5)
6 Boring writing without emotion ultimately sucks. (8)
7 Made snide remark about dumb Last Jedi. (5)
8 Period of mother-in-law’s hestitation after supreme leader finally confused two characters. (10)
13 Terrible direction without point or taste. (10)
16 Remove classic monster? (9)
17 Alt-right teen stuck in tirade; not salient. (9)
18 Problem for armored Stormtrooper: stop odor eruption. (8)
21 Pilot mostly followed by the Spanish fictional sibling. (6)
23 Dishonest apprentice girl embodies passive female principle. (5)
24 Return of Jedi’s second space endeavour. (5)
26 Wagers Count Snoke’s head. (4)

Fx zulu, beta, alfa, november, tango, uniform. (5)

1 Reply

Mit tredje forsøg på en dansk kryptisk krydsogtværs i den engelske »bjælkede« stil, som man kan finde hos Guardians Azed eller Times’ Listener.

Jeg finder det fortsat uhyre svært at komponere naturlige kryptiske nøgler på dansk, og resultatets kvalitet er langt under, hvad man kan finde en en almindelig engelsk avis.

Jeg prøver stadig at holde mig inden for de etablerede engelske regler, som nedfældet af mesteren Ximenes (What are Ximenean clues?).

Ikke mindst har jeg forsøgt at være nogenlunde stringent med at indikere definition ved eksempel. Hvis jeg fx vil beskrive HUND kan jeg gøre det ganske ligefremt ved en kategori (»Husdyr (4)«). Men hvis jeg vil indikere HUND ved at angive et eksempel, så skal jeg indikere det med »fx« eller »måske« eller lignende. Jeg kan altså skrive »Måske en schæfer (4)« eller »Lassie, fx (4)« men ikke bare »Grand Danois (4)«. Jeg finder selv, at de resulterende nøgler virker ganske kluntede i forhold til de tilsvarende engelske konstruktioner, men i første omgang bestræber jeg mig på at sætte så enkle kryptiske kryds og tværser som muligt, så æstetik og elegance må forblive underordnet indtil jeg bliver dygtigere.

Jeg har brugt samme gitter som til nummer 28.

PDF-udgave: no31. Løsning.

Vandret
2 Småfed kvinde, travlt besat. (7)
7 Drej knækket krus. (4)
10 Tilpasning af dato: Patina ændres. (10)
11 Anarkistisk junta tilbageholder strøm d. 24. december. (7)
13 Atter skjult i lykkelig ensomhed. (4)
14 Ungt rådyr går frem og tilbage efter plante. (7)
15 Nu ses vrede efter Cæsars første folketælling. (6)
16 Eremit vaskede spejlet. (4)
17 Omorganiseret natolager bruges til kommunikation. (9)
21 Oprørt generer de dem, der bestemmer. (9)
25 En klovn tilbage til landet. (4)
27 Handles kort efter dyrket mark. (6)
29 Betragt i fuglekæbe en del af skelettet. (7)
30 Hvor man kan mødes omkring sagnvæsen. (4)
31 Hvad siger det lille lam i skrift til europæer. (7)
32 Omdanne sær, opdyrket jordart. (10)
33 Angrib rent ud. (4)
34 Tømt glas for hastig dukkert. (7)

Lodret
1 Afvisning af smykke efter skaldyr på tog. (10)
2 Tænk nu gedens indvolde klemte. (7)
3 Slagmarken tabes i begyndelsen passivt. (6)
4 Fx zulu, beta, alfa, november, tango, uniform. (5)
5 Måske Gråbøl returnerer en frokost. (7)
6 Julemad i kristendommen fx, den sidder fast i munden. (7)
7 Station lever af større byer. (6)
8 Se rundt om min horisont. (6)
9 Flytte bruskfisk. (5)
12 Åbner udstilling: Firserne er misforstået. (10)
18 Bredt stykke stof gør din barm gyngende. (7)
19 Organ findes og yder. (7)
20 Lincoln, mellem venner, pruttede til vildt gilde. (7)
22 Gammelt ømtåleligt helium fx. (6)
23 Bære en rådden frugt. (6)
24 Promovere dansk kulturradikal uden ende. (6)
26 Fornuft er mærkelig baglæns på engelsk. (5)
28 Mesterskaber i vanvid i soveværelse fx. (5)

Conflicting git merge runs for several minutes. (3,5)

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[as PDF]

A cryptic crossword themed around the distributed version control system git. This is partly inspired by the sorry state of the git documentation, which reads like a hodge-podge of cryptic clues on its own. I’m pretty happy with some of the surface readings.

Cryptic solvers with no understanding of git will have a very hard time with a few of these clues. On the other hand, git users without any understanding of cryptic clues will feel right at home.

Across
1 git rebase a ref, keeping the current branch. (11)
8 It horizontally connects a group of developers that is second rate at heart. (3,4)
9 Port one good upstream class. (5)
10 Stash /home with Eclipse, say. (4)
11 Plumbing in git finally offers interface letting everybody test SHA1 abbreviations. (7)
13 Better bring changes from the repository into the working copy if you use Subversion. (6)
14 Announce merge of HEAD in real life. (6)
17 Repent misguided introduction of DVCS sham. (7)
19 Git in detached HEAD state at the beginning of checkout is a proverbial irritation. (4)
22 Rebuke from git-fetch I’d enjoy. (5)
23 Angry rant about central part of GUI editor reveals having a temperament of a particular kind. (7)
24 Social gathering attended by men only to regain a ludicrous git concept. (7,4)

Down
1 Force print download objects and refs from another repository. (5)
2 Truly departed, I left and rewrote history. (7)
3 Pay attention to the editor features. (4)
4 Romeo to overplay origin, maybe. (6)
5 Conflicting git merge runs for several minutes. (3,5)
6 Sounds like the results of a collision, stupid. (5)
7 Made sense of the syntax, quietly bothered, … (6)
12 … and replaced caret with revspec’s second symbol, among others. (8)
13 Carefully analyse a French command to lose virginity. (6)
15 He makes changes later re compilation. (7)
16 Creator accepts first pull on computer, behaving with some degree of autonomy. (6)
18 Finally committed its changes. (5)
20 Hardy eccentric used lots of branch heads. (5)
21 Scandinavian man’s revolutionary version control system. (4)

(UPDATE: I’ve received a lot of feedback on this one, so I took another round polishing the surfaces. This is the 3rd revision.)

Er Norge i dette nedrustningsforsøg?

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Mit andet forsøg på at komponere en kryptisk krydsogtværs i samme stil som Guardian’s Azed. Resultatet er nok lidt enklere at løse pga de mange krydsende bogstaver, men meget vanskeligere at sætte. Spørgsmålene er så ximeneanske som jeg nu kan gøre dem.

[PDF-version]

Vandret
2 Jævner en sovs, spiller snerpe inderst inde. (7)
7 Sang lyder som vrede. (4)
10 Vedrørende en reaktion, ofte komisk, ophidset. (10)
11 Parlamentets førstekammer giver Sprogøe Rigshospitalet under starten af sommeren. (7)
13 Noget man skal huske: Udkanten af Maribo holder europamesterskaber. (4)
14 Spiste engelsk slik og det yderste af madæble af overbevisning. (7)
15 Støde på reklame til hende på fransk. (6)
16 Navn i hver tredje novellefilm. (4)
17 Tag om øse og betl som en ung pige. (9)
21 Lederne af Tiberius’ senat afskaffede retroaktivt denne smertefulde regeringsform. (9)
25 Fryse eller tilsande, kun lige. (4)
27 Kobberfarvet gin? Rør voldsomt. (6)
29 Stegt ret er nemlig vendt uden fagkundskab. (7)
30 Væremåder af indisk Premierminister. (4)
31 Strålebehandling for plante med karakter 1. (7)
32 Pervers analakt ses i udstilling på balkon. (10)
33 Del af mange armbåndsures tandhjul. (4)
34 Er Norge i dette nedrustningsforsøg? (7)

Lodret
1 Mon efterretningtjenesten er indsat i kedeligt orkestermedlem? (10)
2 Organekspert sendes. (7)
3 Indhold af »De Fem« erindres flygtigt. (6)
4 Endeligt købe varm drik til stor kvinde. (5)
5 Overdreven hudlidelse dækker over begyndende trodsalder. (7)
6 Hårplejer mangler spænding omkring formiddagstid i USA. (7)
7 Fodring med modermælk til kejser af Kina, som indeholder kvælstof. (6)
8 Den sure kvinde har kigget efter mønster. (6)
9 Landtunge er tysk til midten af Femern. (5)
12 Jomfru Maria, hinde gennemboret af hjorten. (10)
18 Flottenhejmer fra Sjælland fx: partér en fugl der serveres juleaften. (7)
19 Kost er værktøj af højeste rang. (7)
20 Forvente en jomfru, de holder kort. (7)
22 Kvinde formodet at omvendes. (6)
23 Ses i februar, ej marts, Jonny. (6)
24 Bygningsværk med sol og i mange farver. (6)
26 Søge hurtigt, fx igennem en film af stjerner, inklusive Pacinos første. (5)
28 Kigge efter Rudolf for at gøre rent. (5)

At first, Eppstein liked minimum spanning trees. (4)

2 Replies

I spent a splendid week at Schloss Dagstuhl for Dagstuhl Seminar 14451: Optimality and tight results in parameterized complexity. As usual, this was intellectually extremely stimulating and very exhausting.

My head is full of tempting research ideas that I immediately need to pursue. Instead, I finalised a small cryptic crossword about parameterized complexity. If you are in the tiny demographic targeted by this puzzle, enjoy!

[As PDF]

Across
7 Freethinker Nelson hides a smaller problem. (6)
8 Mr No is crazy for graphs like K₅ and K_3,3. (6)
9 Remote application for algorithm rejected initially. (4)
10 Uppermost parts of perennial Unix command for displaying acyclic graph in PostScript? (8)
11 Peer pressured? (8)
13 Gadget for viewing booty in the mirror. (4)
14 Leaders of Japanese universities lament yearly when ICALP is. (4)
15 The German left room before Erik Demaine briefly blushed. (8)
16 Holger Dell, perhaps, to date teen in disguise. (8)
19 At the start of reduction, apply a trick. (4)
20 Rod is covered in soft hair, reportedly. (6)
21 Importance of mean and variance, for instance. (6)

Down
1 Important concept in exponential time complexity is belittling to slave. (4-9)
2 A connected, bridgeless cubic graph with chromatic index equal to 4 expresses “I love you” in a sharply critical fashion. (8)
3 Leaf lattice contains a set whose closure equals itself. (4)
4 Aunt had intercourse, as represented on a surface. (8)
5 Sounds like you mend one. (4)
6 Unix filesystem in important kernelization. (13)
12 Ask wordy drunk when Dagstuhl seminars take place. (8)
13 Robertson and Seymour’s results maybe confused me and others. (8)
17 Blow nose for very long running times. (4)
18 At first, Eppstein liked minimum spanning trees. (4)

I sent letters about Cersei’s first sexual relationship! (6)

1 Reply

A cryptic crossword themed after George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. This is about as good and polished a cryptic as I can make it. Earlier drafts were run by the Facebook group Cryptic Crossword Society, which generated useful feedback. Enjoy!

Three entries are unclued, they form the puzzle’s solution.

[Whole thing as a single PDF for printing]. Solution.

Across
1 Heathen ironborn plundered plowed field. (7)
5 Behaviour of a cruel and terrifying person—I therefore left leaders of Sorrowful Men. (7)
9 Sellsword captain carried goods, having a change of heart towards early retirement. (5)
10 Rev. Spooner escorted laggard to a guardsman sworn to House Lannister. (3,6)
11 Short moments filled with endless lay for relatives. (6,4)
12 Wants to sell daughter’s maidenhead and partially redeem maester. (4)
14 Ned heard two manoeuvres in despair. (11)
17 Reward tenth sworn brother of the Night’s Watch. (6,5)
19 Leave out central promise to Targaryen leader. (4)
20 A few groats and pennies holding unit back before first ride for Ser Duncan at Ashford Meadow, say. (10)
23 Dwarf returned cup-shaped metal object to unknown artisan. (9)
24 Eyrie facing the French is situated in a sheltered position. (7)
25 Hedge knight’s coat of ice is surrounded by expression of surprise. (7)

Down
1 I sent letters about Cersei’s first sexual relationship! (6)
2 Initially festive, until Gwyneth and Cletus Yronwood’s banishment. (6)
3 Return command to Eddard before soldiers become priests. (7,3)
4 Solar remodelled for knight of the Kingsguard. (5)
5 Honor-clad, destroyed seat of a noble house in the Vale of Arryn. (3,6)
6 Noble house: A stag rampant. (4)
7 At home, Tangletongue consumed close friend. (8)
8 Sam mired in a mess, attending the Drowned God. (8)
13 Atop Reek, he jerked Jaime’s junk. (10)
15 Fails to disclose how an area can be fortified? (9)
16 Maesters and the King’s Hand, for example, cover the face after short announcement. (8)
18 House Mallister’s heraldic beast, beheaded in the morning, catches sunlight. (6)
21 Staunch and kingly, after change of allegiance. (5)
22 Bard sounds talented. (4)

Kun et træk fra remis – hvor er champagnen? (5)

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Endnu et kryptisk krydsord i den britiske tradition på dansk. Sværhedsgraden er meget let (tror jeg).

Forklaring:
(Næsten) hver nøgle består af to dele, der sammen bevidst prøver at vildlede læseren. Den ene del af nøglen er en ligefrem forklaring, ganske som i skandinaviske korsord (synomym, beskrivelse, kategori, etc.) Den anden del af nøglen forklarer samme begreb igen, gerne med hjælp af et langsøgt ordspil. Et specialtilfælde er den dobbelte definition, hvor begge dele er ligefremme nøgler. I modsætning til skandinaviske krydsord bør hele nøglen have en entydig løsning. Mere (på engelsk) på Solve a Cryptic Crossword på Wikihow eller Cryptic Crossword på Wikipedia.

no21-grid

Vandret
8 Kun et træk fra remis – hvor er champagnen? (5)
9 Image og ambition for ankenævnet? (7)
10 Varmt agterparti. (7)
11 Første tone i adagio for blæseinstrument af træ. (5)
12 Derek, måske, udtrykker glæde omkring dans. (6)
13 Ødelægger fugle. (6)
15 Kan være gul, blå eller rød og bor foran hulrum. (6)
17 Resultater udsender et signal. (6)
20 De allierede holder på det jævne. (5)
22 Biskop fra smukt udstyret værelse. (7)
24 Studerende har opgivet ungkarletilværelsen for narkotika eller alkohol. (7)
25 I løbet af et naturstridigt fænomen. (5)

Lodret
1 Fang en ådselæder. (4)
2 Børnebogsfigur med mandlig kraft og styrke holder Gargamels hovede. (6)
3 Jernvarer, husgeråd, værktøj og maskiner skal ødelægges. (8)
4 Lad være med at huske om starten af Odysseen beskriver en levende statue. (5)
5 Højtidelig erklæring ved dansk digt. (4)
6 Dårlige råd, som består af ganske få bogstaver. (6)
7 Bruden er betuttet af tilbeder. (8)
12 Betro bil, som skal repareres, til nogen, der lægger vægt på aftalens ordlyd. (8)
14 Gummi er juks? Akut forvirring. (8)
16 Osende trafik på Fyn. (6)
18 Indholdsløs machiavellisme hos opadstræbende forbillede afslører et motiv. (6)
19 Flytte socialklasse. (5)
21 Aflevere tilbage til enhver tid. (4)
23 Vandområde i morænelandskabet med dybde og retning. (4)

Som PDF: no21

Type of French lady with compiler for high level programming language. (4)

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Cryptic crossword with a theoretical computer science theme. Enjoy!

no14

no14-grid

Across
1 14d Bank managing a museum exhibiting bad art? (7,10)
5 17d Smooth ways of talking, readily accepted. (7,9)
9 Number system used around the end of the year? (3)
10 Kept by virtuous diarists and, one hopes, research libraries even after cutbacks. (4,7)
11 Headless monsters may be off by one. (6)
12 Repository hosting 18 down introductions explaining semantics and verification. (4)
13 King’s writ, maybe a quill. (2)
16 Good idea when checking if string argument has zero length; otherwise result oft not OK when k goes left. (4,3,4,3)
19 Cunningly silences top men in foundations of mathematics, such as Gödel’s most important contribution. (14)
21 God is in the particulars more than in the details. (2)
22 Architecture sounds like a gamble. (4)
24 Plutoniom store added on top of the others. (6)
27 Arbitrary model in statistical mechanics often improves bound on worst-case behaviour, at least in expectation. (11)
28 Apply resolution to a Horn clause. (3)
29 Author of election scheme and determinant 3 down (following 6 down) and connoisseur of acrostics did often draft good stories on nonsense! (7)
30 The simplest sets, i.e., a partial order. (7)

Down
1 Go from place to place in the pursuit of pleasure to understand a complicated construction in an NP-hardness reduction. (6)
2 8 Frequently visiting mother-in-law, for instance, can be a difficult challenge. (10,8)
3 Preparing for the oral might be a good strategy. (9)
4 Very long narrative in retrospect sounds like the specification of a structured information exchange protocol for web services. (4)
5 About first Java class compiled at even update. (10)
6 German summer takes the edges off temper, laid back. (5)
7 Favourite reference in many lists: My name is Bond. (4)
8 See 2 down.
14 See 1 across.
15 Building with supplies for Spooner’s unique key partner, where tea is served for a penny. (5,5)
17 See 5 across.
18 Becomes partly colder or rimed when applied to itself. (8)
20 Development to release after many years. (6)
23 First person to attach the head to statues. (5)
25 Where most computational geometry problems are easily solved, e.g., done by convolution. (3,1)
26 Type of French lady with compiler for high level programming language developed by the US Department of Defence. (4)

Fransk antropolog bor ude i u-vending (8)

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PDF-version: no20

no20-grid

Vandret
1 Luftig dessert bliver uden side i presse. (6)
5 Forvirret genkalde Hannas Glawaris ægtestand. (4,4)
9 Fransk antropolog bor ude i u-vending. (8)
10 Kattejammer?! (6)
11 Resultatlønnet beskæftigelse, fx for rytmeguitarister? (13)
13 Ignorer hver anden artikel, engelsk digter og forfatter. (6)
15 Hvor land bygges i orkesteret. (8)
17 Fx tillægsord, der ender på trykstærk vokal, lader sig ikke overtale. (8)
19 Handelsskoleelev omvendes til en for eliten. (6)
20 Anetes myntete, omrørt, indeholder mange blade. (3,10)
24 Ord i jantelov er berømte. (6)
25 Lave hul bag smykke for person som er blevet forført til at indlede et kærlighedsforhold. (8)
26 27 Herkules i en stridsvogn i opløftet og euforisk stemning. (4,4,2,4)
27 Se 26 vandret.

Lodret

2 Mærkelig zoo nordpå producerer giftgas. (4)
3 Tekstiler for små størrelser og intelligenskvotienter. (5)
4 Enkeltstående begivenhed i højtideligt digt, først fortællende men uden jambisk slutning. (7)
5 Kaj Munk og Søren Kirkegaard og andre: giv nu riget oprør! (15)
6 Leder for meteorologisk institut i centralasiatisk sø. (7)
7 Holde af elektrisk bestik. (5)
8 Beruset? Drik dyrere, fx kakao og anis. (10)
12 Mad med mange kulhydrater er . . . og andre sportsudøvere og kriminelle. (10)
14 Lingeri, måske skjult i blufærdigt øjeblik. (3)
16 Falde i ens smag for hovedbeklædning. (3)
18 Glad og optimistisk gruppe i forstad til Aarhus. (7)
19 Det meste af trosbekendelsen til pige som husede mange instrumentmagere. (7)
21 En halv snes nederlag for besat land. (5)
22 Stork flyver og svømmer i Atlanterhavet. (5)
23 Kan skimte forfædre. (4)