The Foxer
The defoxing annexe is much more than just a communal puzzle solving space. It's also a library, a picture gallery, a museum, a bar, a micro-brewery, a day centre, a love shack, a de-consecrated lighthouse, a dismal oubliette, a Belgian colony, and one of Britain's biggest retailers of under-the-counter fireworks.
The answers to last week's ’25 Things You Might Find On A Beach’ missing vowels foxer (The bonus foxer remains unsolved)
1. NTRST - naturist (Ace Rimmer)
2. LN DYCHT - land yacht (Ace Rimmer)
3. NRDL - nurdle (unsolved)
4. DKKH NMK - Duke Kahanamoku (Arioch_RN)
5. BLT CMBR - Baltic amber (Little_Crow)
6. BT HNGMCHN - bathing machine (Little_Crow)
7. HNYRY DR - Honey Ryder (Little_Crow)
8. PMRNK - Pomornik (unsolved)
9. MRM DSPRS - mermaid's purse (Arioch_RN)
10. SW SHZN - swash zone (Little_Crow)
11. BNG LRTRPD - Bangalore torpedo (Little_Crow)
12. CR DL - crude oil (Arioch_RN)
13. TWNT TR - Twin Otter (Little_Crow)
14. FLT BCKST RTL - Flatback Sea Turtle (Little_Crow)
15. MR YNNNG - Mary Anning (pertusaria)
16. GRTPN JNDRM - Great Panjandrum (Little_Crow)
17. RZRS HLL - Razor Shell (Little_Crow)
18. TMH NKS - Tom Hanks (Little_Crow)
19. MR RMGRSS - Maram Grass (Little_Crow)
20. JQNSR LL - Joaquín Sorolla (Arioch_RN)
21. NKB* - bikini (alison)
22. ZGGCC DHHH* - Czech hedgehog (Arioch_RN)
23. YLLLLBV* - volleyball (Little_Crow)
24. PTNTFR* - footprint (Little_Crow)
25. NRGY* - groyne (Little_Crow)
* * * * *
Roman’s word ladders don’t work like standard word ladders. You clamber from bottom to top placing appropriate five-letter words on each rung. Usually a word inherits three letters from the word below it (the positions of those three letters are inherited too). The exceptions are the words next to [A] clues which are anagrams of the words below them, up to two letters being identically positioned.
Clues should make the climb easier, but be aware that my unspeakably fiendish foxer setter has shuffled the ten clues on the upper half of the ladder (clues 11 to 20). For example ‘[A] Name shared by three different video games’ probably doesn’t belong next to rung 20.
20. ----- [A] Name shared by three different video games
19. ----- Site of a Thomas Telford structure
18. ----- Brutal Bolsheviks
17. ----- Sought the source of the Nile
16. ----- Tank landing ship severely damaged off Guadalcanal
15. ----- 20th Century Italian victory
14. ----- Civ leader
13. ----- RAMC reptile
12.----- This city boasts a monorail
11. ----- Piano design
10. ----- Dam that withstood two aerial attacks
09. ----- [A] Battle orchestrated by the “The Father of New France”
08. ----- Heavily bombed Greek island
07. ----- Central European aircraft manufacturer
06. ----- Fruity hand grenade
05. ----- Sonar system component
04. ----- Long-serving jet trainer
03. ----- Dönitz, Raeder, and Göring all owned one
02. ----- Crocodilian cluster bomb
01. Razor