WoW: Tassie tuxedo
TASSIE TUXEDO - puffer jacket [Comedic slang alluding to regular outwear favoured by Tasmanians] Not just hikers and skiers rely on the Tassie tuxedo to cope with wintry blasts.
WoW: Corflute
CORFLUTE - lightweight, waterproof sign made of layered corrugated plastic, often used by candidates or real estate agents. [Proprietory name] During elections in swing seats, voters can't swing a boot without hitting a corflute.
WoW: Brontide
BRONTIDE - deep rumbling sound attributed to seismic activity [From Greek - bronte - thunder] Road trains in the Outback night can create their own terrestrial brontide.
WoW: Flimp
FLIMP - to steal by means of one partner hectoring or pushing the victim while their accomplice fleeces property [Criminal cant - origin uncertain] Pickpockets work in pairs to allow for a brisk flimp in crowded spaces.
WoW: Remontoir
REMONTOIR [reh-MON-twah] - clock's device that compensates for any minor variation occurring within a pendulum's impulses [From French remonter - to wind] Atomic clocks, as epitomes of precision, have no call for remontoirs.
WoW: Landau Bar
LANDAU BAR - S-shaped mounting on a car's rear panel, an embellishment common among hearses. [Named after Landau, a Bavarian town where the carriages were first made] Just as flame-shaped globes on a chandelier revive an earlier finery, so too does a hearse's landau bar.
WoW: Absit Omen
ABSIT OMEN - interjection or aside equating to 'may what is said not come true'; equivalent of 'God forbid' [Latin: may the omen be absent.] If lockdown life is a 2022 reality, absit omen, then I'd best upholster my patio chair.
WoW: Yichus
YICHUS [YEEK-us] - prestige; social standing; air of nobility [From Yiddish yihus - pedigree] Some rabbis define yichus as the 'legacy of generations past'.
WoW: Pygmalion Effect
PYGMALION EFFECT - whereby positive expectations have a positive influence on outcomes; opposite of Golem Effect. [Allusion to Greek sculptor Pygmalion whose love for his own statue brought the figure to life.] When strong results are met by students whose teachers anticipated strong results, this showcases the Pygmalion Effect.
WoW: Shemagh
SHEMAGH [shair-MARG] - Arabian headdress fashioned from a cotton scarf, used to guard against sunburn, sand and dust. [Arabic] Popularised by Yasser Arafat, the shemagh is also known as a keffiyah, a ghutrah, a hattah and a mashadah.
WoW: Talaria
TALARIA [tuh-LAIR-ee-ah] - the winged sandals worn by Mercury (and his Greek counterpart in Hermes) as a divine means of speed. [From Latin talaris - of the heel or ankle, from talus - anklebone] The Delta variant of Covid-19 can spread like malaria wearing talaria.
WoW: Kafkatrapping
KAFKATRAPPING - opaque procress whereby a citizen can be arrested or detained for crimes that are never specified. [Coined in 2010 by US software developer, Eric S. Raymond in honour of Franz Kafka's nightmarish novel, The Trial] As homeland powers grow in Australia, we may see more instances of Kafkatrapping.
WoW: Gerygone
GERYGONE [jair-REE-gon-EE] - dainty, sweet-tuned breed of Australasian warbler [From Greek, gērygonē - 'born of sound'] Now and then, twitcher chatrooms twitch with pronunciation debates surrounding the gerygone.
WoW: Muay Thai
MUAY THAI [MOY tyyy] - martial art known as 'Thai boxing', where fighters can strike their opponent with hands, feet, shins, elbows, and knees [Lit 'Thai boxing'] Queensbury Rules are KO-ed by the ferocity of Muay Thai.
WoW: Hügelkultur
HÜGELKULTUR [HYOO-guhl-KULL-chur] - gardening method where a mound of decaying wood is layered, then covered with soil, to create a fertile bed [From German - literally 'hill culture'] Hügelkultur is viewed as an alternative to composting.
WoW: Brocken Spectre
BROCKEN SPECTRE - mountaineering phenomenon where the observer's shadow is eerily magnified against clouds, often ringed by a halo [First cited by Lutheran pastor Johann Silberschlag in 1780, while climbing the Brocken, a peak within Germany's Harz Mountains] A climber can be spooked by divine or alien notions on seeing their own Brocken spectre.
WoW: Eloign
ELOIGN [eh-LOIN] - (archaic) to remove oneself (and one's property) to a considerable distance [From Anglo-French esloigner to go far away; related to Latin longē - far.] To avoid the sheriff, a felon may eloign from Dodge City.
Huh 64
Another plea for help, with eight cryptic clues that remain evasive in their elements. I have the answer, I reckon, but not every bit of wordplay to get me there. Or a nuance has slipped my grasp.
The first four samples hail from a Times compendium [published 2016], while the rest are from the daily media churn. Any insights would be welcome. And feel free to craft your own clues, using any of the same solutions.
1. Man given short measure = VALET
2. Simple Simon and what he didn’t have for such a pie = SAPID
3. Security device for phone one lifts quickly for emergency = SCRAMBLER
4. No persons in part of office = NONE
5. Sort of terror about to overwhelm model = AS IT WERE
6. Memorial for Bradley? = HEADSTONE
7. Camp, say, where you can park for a drink = LAGER
8. Form of insect – imagines more than one = IMAGO
WoW: Ruy Lopez
RUY LOPEZ - popular chess opening in which White moves king's bishop to the fifth rank; also known as the Spanish opening. [Named after Ruy Lopez de Segura, a Spanish priest who explored chess openings in his 1561 book.] Queen's gambit is a more aggressive opening, compared to the Ruy Lopez.
WoW: Kebab-case
KEBAB-CASE - a coding convention where every word is hyphenated [Named after the hyphens' skewer-like role, simulating a shish-kebab] Fly-by-night isn't a true example of kebab-case, unless that's a coding instruction for a midnight escape.
Recent Comments