Thursday, December 9, 2010

Literary Stuff 3

Each Clue explanation is divided into Analysis, Aesthetics and Afterword.

Visual Key to Clue Analysis :
Definition : BOLD
Wordplay : Italics with keywords underlined as well
Link : Normal


________________________________________________________________________________________

D2. Stranger grabbing supporter is bemoaning linesman. (7)   _ _ E _ _ _ T

Analysis

Stranger grabbing supporter is bemoaning linesman.

Stranger = ET ( extra terrestrial )
Grabbing is Containment indicator.
supporter is = leg is

E  LEG  IS T  = bemoaning linesman

Aesthetics

Bemoaning linesman conjures up a classic image of a complaining sports official.Yet it neatly fits as a cool definition of an elegist.

Afterword

An elegist is the author of a mournful poem lamenting the dead.
An elegy brings forth the classical idea of memento mori, a Latin phrase which means, "Remember that you must die."

Some lines from Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" :  

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,  
Or busy housewife ply her evening care:  
No children run to lisp their sire's return,  
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.


E2. Promise forger he'd be good at coining? (9)  _ _ _ D _ _ I _ _

Analysis

Promise forger he'd be good at coining?

Promise = word
forger = smith
wordsmith = he'd be good at coining

Aesthetics

Coining refers to the ability to put together words effectively.Excellent combination of forger and coining which would set you thinking of counterfeiter.

Afterword

Someone who makes up words, intentionally, creatively, or purely on accident with the slip of the tongue.That's how some would define a wordsmith. Here are some words which might catch on and become part of our regular vocabulary:

Ignoranus:  A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
Foreploy:  Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
Giraffiti:  Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
Sarchasm:   The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
Glibido: All talk and no action.
Hindkerchief:  Really expensive toilet paper; toilet paper at Buckingham Palace.
Cashtration :  The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.


F2. Aesthetic writer sees beauty by assignation on radio (10) _ _ _ _ E _ _ _ S _

Analysis

Aesthetic writer sees beauty by assignation on radio

Beauty = Belle
Assignation = Tryst
on radio is homonym indicator
tryst becomes trist
by just indicates that belle is beside trist
sees is the link word.
belletrist = aesthetic writer

Aesthetics

Very effective coupling of Aesthetic and Beauty.

Afterword

The word comes from belles-lettres meaning light and elegant literature, esp. that which is excessively refined, characterized by aestheticism, and minor in subject, substance, or scope.

Gustave Flaubert wrote Madame Bovary , a novel which in the telling paid great attention to the trivial details of everyday life and which started a trend in 1857 and later became a craze.


He also wrote Salammbo: The Maid of Carthage ,  a powerful romance - realistic in the deepest sense. This is a must-read book.The ancient world comes alive in all its horror and voluptuousness.

But it is to another story I would draw your attention. From "Three Tales" - a story that encapsulates the violence and mysticism of the Middle Ages - The Legend of St Julian the Hospitaller. It is a short story but to feeeel the effect of a master belletrist , you must  read it slow and aloud.Each sentence is like a scene in a movie.

The three clues below refer to fictional characters.

G2. Treasure-seeker pants hugely, having diseased liver. (4,4,6)

H2. Is man left without old woman an outcast? (7) _ _ _ _ A _ L

I2. He opposed the Turkish brothel local keeps. (7)

Jay.

No comments:

Post a Comment