Comments on: Panama Hats and Tacoma Topcoats

By: NC

NC — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:07:41 +0000

Aye aye, sir!

By: david

david — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:32:37 +0000

Appreciate the sleuthing, NC – you may be close to the mark. Thinking of ‘pay’ as verb for letting out, or slackening – and tar as a sheet, or nautical rope coiled in the back of the Chambers Dictionary…

But ultimately that requires more toil for the solver than your average transatlantic crossing. I vote we leave the conundrum to wither on some neglected isle, and sail on.

By: NC

NC — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:35:48 +0000

“Sailor one may need to pay on boat (3) __ __ R [if this is TAR, why?]”

Just a guess, but maybe the thing “one may need to pay on boat” refers to a tarpaulin (or sail), seeing as tar is shorthand for tarpaulin (which is also the origin of the term for sailor).

However, I would be more confident of this explanation if the clue was “pay out” rather than “pay”. When I google “pay out the tarpaulin” and “pay out the sail”, I get 2 hits, both with the appropriate sense of “let out a rope by slackening”, but not when I google “pay the tarpaulin” or “pay the sail”.

By: david

david — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 05:24:04 +0000

Solid work, AS, though I remain unsold on the Charon link. Yes, ferries and fares are both in evidence….where does TAR hop aboard?

Meantime MALAGA looks as likely as the ravishing MANTUA, a triangular gown that also doubles as Virgil’s birthplace in Italy. (Hardly a major burg at 60,000 bodies, but the dress infests most BBC costume dramas:)

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/18sil/hd_18sil.htm

By: AS

AS — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 05:09:55 +0000

Could the sailor clue have something to do with Charon?

Also, Google tells me that there is such a thing as a Malaga dress.

http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/carolinemcgrath/product/malaga_wrap_around_dress

By: david

david — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:11:09 +0000

Yo Cazzam, respect.

Exactly how it works. Thanks.

By: Cazzam

Cazzam — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:05:02 +0000

Can only help you with the last one.

Take IF out of PREFECT IS and you are left with RESPECT.