If we give you the hearts of three related words or names, can you supply the wholes? RAP, RANG and EMO, for example, point to grape, orange, lemon. Can you pick these other peeled trios?
yen, ease, lot
ryde, ilk, ant
air, then, uni
ewe, she, tin
ear, erne, or
err, run, ooze
live, at, arouse
ran, sets, arc
ear, ape, otter
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB211 SOLUTION: [...]
What links Hill Street Blues, an umbilical cord, British Leyland, windmills, chemical warfare and a self-righteous playwright?
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB210 SOLUTION: Calmer karma, barred bard, banned band, paltry poultry, coughers’ coffers, lacquer lacker, medal meddle, cashew cachou
Just like last week, where a GROSSER GROCER was a “cruder merchant”, you have to scratch your melon to find a homophone pair as each clue’s answer. If this Birdbrain makes your shoulders stiff, you may be needing kneading.
Steadier Buddhist idea (6,5)
Taboo poet (6,4)
Taboo musos (6,4)
Bantam (6,7)
Emphysema fund? (8,7)
Unpolished one? (7,6)
Marion Jones’ crime? (5,6)
Nut candy [...]
If vital wharf is KEY QUAY, can you crack these other sound-alike pairs?
Satisfy requests (6,5)
Boozing? (2,3)
Cruder merchant (7,6)
Sick of IVF (4,3)
Trap cheese (6,4)
Lectured in Law (6,4)
Usurper’s souvenir? (6,6)
Ice-angler? (7,6)
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB208 SOLUTION: Sw(in)ish
What quaint five-letter word for stylish can swallow a short word for fashionable to create a slob’s description? No mixing needed.
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BB207 SOLUTION: Ian Baker-Finch, Daniel Day-Lewis, Olivia Newton-John, Lisa Curry-Kenny, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Nick Farr-Jones, Troy Cassar-Daly, Debbie Flintoff-King, Vita Sackville-West, Kath Day-Knight
If CZJ = Catherine Zeta-Jones, can you ID these other double-barrel notables?
IBF
DDL
ONJ
LCK
JBP
NFJ
TCD
DFK
VSW
KDK
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB206 SOLUTION: IC TP, KG SA, ODS IV, DVS SKP, NVS FND, TDS OPM
If hungover doll is ‘CD QP’ (seedy kewpie), can you solve these other clues, where each word stems from a sounded-out cluster of two or three letters? Cluster counts appear in brackets.
Draughty wigwam (2/2)
Sly thesis (2/2)
Vile vine (3/2)
Cunning fugitive (3/3)
Jealous Turkish gent (3/3)
Dull drug (3/3)
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB205 SOLUTION: Open-C, U-bet, auto-Q, herbal-T, P-souper, I-opener
Busby, a tall hat worn by Hungarian hussars, can be jumbled to spell BUSY B (‘busy bee’). In a similar vein, where one letter is sounded out to mimic a separate word, can you create a new phrase (or compound word) from the words below?
PONCE
TUBE
QUOTA
BLATHER
PURPOSE
PIONEER
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB204 SOLUTION: All six films incorporate American spellings
Without needing to know any film trivia, what links these flicks?
Prizzi’s Honour
Analyse That
My Favourite Martian
Pearl Harbour
Crimes and Misdemeanours
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB203 SOLUTION: Gerbil, polite, primal, regale. Other words are possible.
ARM, EAR, EYE, GUM, HIP, JAW, LEG, LIP, RIB, TOE
Ophite, a greenish stone, combines HIP and TOE. Omerta, the Mafia code of silence, mixes TOE and ARM. Can you continue to blend anatomic pairs from above to make four common English words?
SOLUTION NEXT WEEK
BB202 SOLUTION: The Little Mermaid, Little Miss Sunshine, Stuart Little, Little [...]