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CiSRA Puzzle Competition 2013 - Solutions

2A. Cryptic Hexagon

This puzzle can be solved more easily if the theme around hexagons and the number 6 is observed. For example, each of the six cryptic clues has a six-letter answer.

The six answers are:

  • 1. SCUTES (attractive=CUTE, two south poles, magnetically repellent=SS)
  • 2. LASERS (girl=LASS, hesitation=ER)
  • 3. BASALT (lowly=BASAL, model=T, in a common cryptic crossword reference to the model T Ford)
  • 4. BUBBLE (both air-filled cells and inflated speculation point to this)
  • 5. BROLLY (bun=ROLL, endless farewell=BYE minus the last letter)
  • 6. OXYGEN (bovine=OX, born between 1980s and 2000s puts it in the Y generation, "YGEN")

The answers can be fitted to the edges of the outer hexagons, such that a common edge implies the same letter, as follows:

solution image

Doing this also produces a word in the inner hexagon: SATURN, which is the answer to the puzzle.

The answer, and the puzzle title, refer to the unexpected hexagonal cloud formation at Saturn's north pole, discovered by the Voyager probes.