Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Happy 80th Birthday, Rufus!

Roger Squires, Rufus, Dante A very happy birthday to Roger Squires aka Rufus/Dante, one of the best-loved crossword setters in the world. There's a nice profile of him up on the Guardian blog today, a special cryptic crossword by Enigmatist in the Guardian [25565] and many glowing tributes written for him on fifteensquared. Do check them out.

And if you haven't yet, read Roger's interview on Crossword Unclued – the most visited post on my blog in 2011.

Here's a selection of 10 superbly crafted clues by the inimitable setter. Enjoy solving.

1. News rooms (8) Q_______

2. Well-fed, he is round in form (9) N_______

3. Loaf around for a while? (5,5) S____ ____D

4. Physical training instructor (6) M_____

5. Still to come or already gone? (4) L___

6. Father is up and about (4) S___

7. Asian playing solitaire, but not having to? (7) I______

8. Gay Lib - the organisation (6) B_____

9. Lincoln died sleeping? Apparently so (4) A___

10. Out of sight, out of mind (5,3,4) R____ ___ ___D

Update: More birthday posts for Roger Squires – a special puzzle on Big Dave's blog and an interview by Alan Connor.

Related Posts:

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

at

20 comments:

  1. sriks722 February 2012 at 15:25

    Still to come or already gone? (4)
    Late?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shuchi22 February 2012 at 15:39

    LATE is right, a double-definition.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bhalchandra Pasupathy22 February 2012 at 20:30

    News rooms: Quarters? rooms being def, and NEWS standing for the four quarters

    Well fed.... straightforward anagram I believe, as also Gay Lib...

    Loved the Asian playing solitaire... I make this out to be Israeli

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shuchi22 February 2012 at 22:13

    Hi Bhala, Right on all counts.

    I loved #7 too, very nicely done deletion from anagram fodder.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sumitra23 February 2012 at 13:29

    6.SI<RE
    9.A BED

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bhalchandra Pasupathy23 February 2012 at 14:16

    No other offerings, so just to progress this further:

    #6 SIRE

    #10 ROUND THE BEND

    #9 ABED?

    I am not sure about 3 and 4

    ReplyDelete
  7. Shuchi23 February 2012 at 14:22

    Well solved Sumitra and Bhala.

    9. The parsing is ABE (Lincoln) + D (died)

    Hints for the remaining ones: #3 is a cryptic definition, #4 a double definition.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bhalchandra Pasupathy23 February 2012 at 14:36

    #3 I am guessing this is SHORT LIVED

    #4 MASTER? but no I don't get it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Shuchi23 February 2012 at 14:41

    #3 S____ B___D
    #4 M____L

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bhalchandra Pasupathy23 February 2012 at 14:50

    oh oh #4 MANUAL -- grey cell fatigue!

    Let me reflect on #3 and come back

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sumitra23 February 2012 at 14:51

    4.MANUAL[dd]

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sumitra23 February 2012 at 14:55

    3.SHORT BREAD?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Bhalchandra Pasupathy23 February 2012 at 15:08

    I had thought of SHORT BREAD earlier, but discarded because for one I thought it is either a single word or hyphenated, and secondly in parsing, one can get the 2 components, but where is the def?

    Perhaps Shuchi will throw some light

    ReplyDelete
  14. Shuchi23 February 2012 at 19:53

    Nearly there :)

    S____ BREAD

    ReplyDelete
  15. Bhalchandra Pasupathy23 February 2012 at 23:53

    Tantalising but I'm not biting -- being mildly hung over could be my excuse. Not able to use my loaf, please rescue

    ReplyDelete
  16. Shuchi24 February 2012 at 07:38

    Giving it out...

    STALE BREAD.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous25 February 2012 at 08:44

    Weighing in late, but I would like to thank Rufus for his excellent offerings and wish him all the very best.

    ReplyDelete
  18. veer28 February 2012 at 02:49

    One of my favorite chuckle inducing clues, think this is Rufus's clue from memory,

    Two girls, one on each knee (7)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Navneeth19 March 2012 at 13:09

    Give only the first-letter constraint, wouldn't LEFT also fit "Still to come or already gone? (4)"?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Shuchi19 March 2012 at 21:30

    Hi Navneeth, That's a fair point. LEFT fits well too...didn't strike me when solving. Good choice for grid-fill in a puzzle like the NYT Election Day one!

    ReplyDelete