June 24 2011
Read All About It
Four days of exile. Ninety-six hours of Telstra twilight. Five thousand-odd minutes of living La Vida Muta. You get my drift. The data point has arrived in the ad-hoc office, and your blog host is back online, ready to resume the verbal rumble.
Mind you, after such an extended limbo, I do have 300 emails to sort, and not a few clues, columns, puzzles and TV yarns to research….So excuse me, while I sustain a certain website lull.
Meantime, to bring the faithful back to the fold, here’s a little word challenge you may like to mull. Let’s call it, Moving the Goalposts.
If the letter H represents the goalposts (and go The Tahs tonight), then what words can see the goalposts budged to spell a new word? SHOO is one such candidate. One tweak, and SOHO appears. Another specimen is HEIGHT, which renders EIGHTH.
The key is one neat manipulation, with no other shuffling involved. Think of any more examples? Feel free to give them cold, such as my last two pairs, or maybe we can clue them. Hence my SHOO/SOHO coupling would be:
Scram/London’s tenderloin?
Any more goalpost-movers we can name? Post them here.
Comments
Boniface — 24 June at 01:57PM
Middle ground (5,5)
Boniface — 24 June at 02:09PM
Fade, getting paler (6,6)
Boniface — 24 June at 02:17PM
Treating negative declination (8,8)
PRS — 24 June at 02:30PM
Together but loose (5)
PRS — 24 June at 02:31PM
oops - cancel that - moved the goalposts to infinity
RK — 24 June at 02:47PM
Call out direction (5)
RK — 24 June at 02:55PM
Should we number these and solve them, so we know what's been done?
1. heart/earth
2. wither/whiter
3. ?
4. Not going to answer my own!
RK — 24 June at 02:58PM
This could be the same as 3.
5. Calming game pursuit (8)
Boniface — 24 June at 03:03PM
@RK - for your 4, see my 3 above.
5. Change a letter in 3.
Here's another:
6. Furious gal? (8,8)
RK — 24 June at 03:15PM
7. Plus a little bit (4)
DA — 24 June at 03:17PM
7 with whit
8 howl down (5)
Boniface — 24 June at 03:19PM
9. Launder money in Bangkok (4)
RK — 24 June at 03:21PM
I think 8 is 4 which is also kind of 3
DA — 24 June at 03:21PM
5 soothing shooting - nice one (and so is 'middle ground': brilliant clue, Bon)
RK — 24 June at 03:21PM
So I think we've established south and shout
RK — 24 June at 03:23PM
9. bath/baht
Boniface — 24 June at 03:26PM
10. Egyptian symbol having a loop! (4)
RK — 24 June at 03:30PM
10. ankh/hank
RK — 24 June at 03:34PM
11. Pine affected by tsunami
Boniface — 24 June at 03:40PM
12. Owns what we return to, apparently (3)
RK — 24 June at 03:41PM
Oops, 11 is (4)
RK — 24 June at 03:48PM
12. has/ash
13. Infuriated Manchester (8)
DA — 24 June at 03:50PM
13 seething sheeting
DA — 24 June at 03:50PM
14 Paul's sister? (6)
Boniface — 24 June at 03:54PM
13 was also my 6.
Boniface — 24 June at 03:58PM
Must have tipping (2,5/7)
Boniface — 24 June at 03:59PM
Sorry, putting a number on it:
15. Must have tipping (2,5/7)
SK — 24 June at 04:06PM
16. Fashionable individual, and a must-have accessory (3,3/1-5)
RK — 24 June at 04:08PM
16. Hip one/iPhone
Boniface — 24 June at 04:09PM
16 Hip one, i-phone. Very nice SK
RK — 24 June at 04:09PM
15. in thing/hinting
RK — 24 June at 04:11PM
14. Hester/Esther?
RK — 24 June at 04:30PM
17. Childish Indian garments
Boniface — 24 June at 04:36PM
17. Dotish dhotis. Neat.
Mauve — 24 June at 05:27PM
brilliant concept DA (how do you keep coming up with them?)
18. one who meditates by lisping a deadly disease
DA — 24 June at 05:42PM
Thanks Mauve - just one of those tangents the brain took, on hearing a familiar phrase.
A bit like the Times setter who realised GALLEON denotes ALL IN GOOD TIME. Just wish it was me to see that baby first.
Mauve — 24 June at 05:47PM
Yes, it must have been a pity to spoil that perfect wordplay by having to tack on a definition
Boniface — 24 June at 06:02PM
11. Aceh/ache
RK — 24 June at 06:10PM
19. O yuck! (3)
RK — 24 June at 06:15PM
20. Belongs to him, sort of (3)
SK — 24 June at 06:43PM
Such a pity that Copperhead/Chopper Read misses by a wiskher. I was thinking "Snake charmer?" as a possible clue.....
PRS — 24 June at 10:58PM
21. Forceful friendliness (8)
PRS — 24 June at 11:00PM
A couple for the mathematicians
(no inkling how to clue them)
than/tanh
shin/sinh
PRS — 24 June at 11:04PM
22. What we go through for love (6)
PRS — 24 June at 11:06PM
23. Reaction to unwanted attention? (3)
PRS — 24 June at 11:12PM
Missed 19 - same as 23
SK — 25 June at 01:57PM
24. Beam, and duck maths function (8/4,4)
philth — 25 June at 03:31PM
25. Following leading high card (7)
philth — 25 June at 03:39PM
26. Menage a trois in the forest (9/4'1,4)
DC — 25 June at 03:52PM
26. threesome, tree's home
Nice
Boniface — 25 June at 04:00PM
25. Chasing cashing
Boniface — 25 June at 04:01PM
20. His-ish
19. Hug ugh
RM — 26 June at 10:24AM
Equine canine, so (4)
RM — 26 June at 10:27AM
That would have been 27.
27. Equine canine, so (4)
And, to lower the tone a bit:
28. Crap Star Wars villain (4).
Boniface — 26 June at 03:24PM
28 This hits?
Nib — 26 June at 07:24PM
29. Accompanying barely any? (4)
RM — 26 June at 09:52PM
Re: 28 by Boniface, I thought only the H could move?
29: With/Whit