Words to Love: Levidrome Cryptic Clues Part Two ANSWERED

Let’s see how you did with the Levidrome Cryptic Clue challenge. If you haven’t tried the quiz yet and would like to before seeing all the answers, then check it out here.

Intertwined Bumper Sticker.

LACED/DECAL

This was a pretty simple one, although it did make me think for a while. What made the lightbulb turn on over my head was thinking of synonyms for intertwined. I came up with interlaced. While interlaced spelled backwards is lacedretni- definitely not a word- LACED backwards is DECAL. A bumper stick is a type of decal.

Avoid purling mishaps; do it backwards.

KNIT/TINK

I can’t be the only yarn-o-holic out there. I am a crocheter. However, if you’re forte is knitting then this was the clue for you. If you’re knitting forward, you’re most likely purling. However, if you’re knitting backward, you’re tinking. The levidrome here is KNIT/TINK.

The Old Wagon Stays Behind the House.

DRAY/YARD

So many of the answers to Levidrome Cryptic Clues start by going through synonyms. One this one, I went through ones for wagon. A DRAY is a type of cart or wagon that doesn’t have sides; ordinarily it was used for delivering large barrels or kegs of beer. Dray spelled backwards is YARD, and most often a yard is found behind a house. And, if a dray is in the yard, it sounds like it’s going to be a great party.

Ottoman sultan turns jazz artist.

SELIM/MILES

If you’re like me then you needed to brush up on your Ottoman history. However, I am a jazz lover, and from there I was able to figure this one out. Miles Davis is one of the most premier jazz artists of his day. While such notables as John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk were his contemporaries, Miles really cornered the market in his field. And Miles spelled backwards is Selim. A quick google search later, and I learned that there was not only on Ottoman sultan named Selim, but three.

A bursting star that becomes a body of water.

NOVA/AVON

For this clue, you might have had to take some of Cole Porter’s advice and brush up your Shakespeare. In fact, if you’re familiar with Porter’s lyrics for Brush Up Your Shakespeare, you’ll find the answer nestled in there somewhere. However, if you’re like my husband, your approach was decidedly more scientific. A bursting star is called a NOVA. Backwards, that spells AVON. And Shakespeare- you knew I had to come back to him, dear readers- is known as the Bard of Stratford-On-Avon. The ON-AVON (which is actually two levidromes together) references the river by which the town was built.

Shakespeare is never boring.

BARD/DRAB

Since we’re already on the topic of Shakespeare, this levidrome clue is just on time. As mentioned in the previous explanation, Shakespeare is the BARD of Stratford-On-Avon. Bard backwards is drab. And while drab means colorless, boring, and all together bleak, it has no place being mentioned in conjunction with Shakespeare.

Jacked-Up - Fashionista

ROID/DIOR

This levidrome cryptic clue has the levidromers a little stumped over on Twitter. Several levidromes were proposed, such as AVID and DIVA. The answer was a little more creative, though. While it is not always the case, many people who are jacked-up have resorted to steroids. There’s even a condition known as ROID rage. And ROID backwards is DIOR. Now, while I can’t say with any authority that Dior himself was a fashionista, I can make a very educated assumption that a slew of fashionistas have flocked to his fashion house.

Step in the mire? Or was it a lump of goo?

BOG/GOB

Did this one bog you down? No. Good for you. But it got me a wee bit stuck for sure. Literature is strew with a slew of famous bogs, most notable and oft referenced, is Bunyan’s Slough of Despond. Of course, one needn’t get so literary or archaic. Simply think of Luke Skywalker in the Degobah system. He crash lands his fighter jet in a BOG. And a GOB is a lump of viscous or slimy substance. Like phlegm. Or goo.

Let’s gather where the river swarms with salmon.

MEET/TEEM

I tend to get way to literal with these clues. This one had me researching what part of the river is the most active with salmon. All I could come up with for specific locations in the river where salmon is concerned is upstream, and maertspu is not a word. The answer is far less complicated. When we gather together, we MEET. And anywhere in a river where the salmon swarm is a TEEMing place.

A prince who leaves the door open to smell the spices in the air.

RAJA/AJAR

I was hoping, if this one stumped you, that the spices portion of the clue would invoke India to your mind. A RAJA is another name for a prince. And a door left open slightly is AJAR.

Cork it or drink it down

PLUG/GULP

This clue is also very good advice when you open a bottle of wine. To put a cork in it is to PLUG something up. But to drink it down would be to GULP it.

Phasers set to… almonds or pecans?

STUN/NUTS

As William Shatner has been such a great levidrome supporter, it is only appropriate that there be a levidrome cryptic clue that invokes Star Trek. If you’re unfamiliar with Star Trek, the crew carries phasers. They STUN people. Stun backwards is NUTS, which is where those pesky almonds and pecans come in.

You know it’s bad when a Roman god takes legal action against you.

DEUS/SUED

Again, this clue had me getting way to specific. Suffice it to say, I went through the long list of Roman gods and could not come up with any levidromes, or at least any that made sense. However, as the Roman gods are all studied if you take Latin, I made a hop, skip, and jump to DEUS, which is the Latin word for god. Deus spelled backwards is SUED, which is definitely legal action against someone.

The brightest star in Pegasus is better than okay.

ENIF/FINE

While this clue was difficult because it demanded specific knowledge, I found it to be so much fun. The brightest star in the Pegasus constellation is ENIF, also known as Epsilon Pegasus. Enif spelled backwards is FINE and fine is better than okay.

Juvenile leader of a ‘mad equine;’ an IOU.

NEIL/LIEN

I had to reach out to the levidrome community for help in solving this clue. It was the mad equine that stumped me. I couldn’t get past Crazy Horse. While Crazy Horse definitely has something to do with the answer, I wasn’t thinking of the right Crazy Horse. While the clue is referencing NEIL Young’s hit Crazy Horse, I was hung up on trying to find out all I could about the Oglala Lakota chief Crazy Horse. I was running all sorts of words backwards from the Battle of Little Big Horn to Custer himself. Nothing fit. When Lucky explained it to me, I understood why. I was tunneling in the wrong direction. So, the first part of the clue is about NEIL Young. A LIEN is a type of IOU.

Classic Boy Detective bites into a sour fruit.

EMIL/LIME

The harkening back to classic childhood books goes quite far in this clue. The classic boy detective refers to Emil and the Detectives, one of the most successful books written by German author Erich Kästner. This book was one of the only ones to escape Nazi censorship during their reign. It’s translated into over 50 languages and made into countless movies, one even produced in the ‘60s by Walt Disney productions. EMIL backwards is LIME. And limes are decidedly sour fruits.

I hope you enjoyed rising to the challenge of these Levidrome Cryptic Clues. If you’re looking for more, then check out the clues in the post and the answers in this one.

And, by all means, join in the fun on Twitter. There are numerous people to follow if you want to get in the daily game of Levidrome Cryptic Clues. Here are a few of note: levidrome_daily, Lucky Budd, Professor Berman, and, of course, William Shatner.