{"id":1798,"date":"2025-09-22T16:15:48","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T22:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/?p=1798"},"modified":"2025-09-22T16:24:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T22:24:27","slug":"a-crossword-for-cppcon-2025-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/?p=1798","title":{"rendered":"A Crossword for CppCon 2025 – Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

See https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/?p=1795<\/a> (or https:\/\/crosshare.org\/crosswords\/aZ0lpCTDSztWEsvvuboa\/cppcon-2025<\/a>) if you want to try it. If you’re here for solutions, read on. Definitions are given in italics<\/em>. My personal likes are 4D and 13D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1A BABBAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supergroup among leaders to back grant endowment for computing pioneer<\/em> (7)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABBA (“supergroup”) inserted into (“among”) BGE (“leaders to B<\/strong>ack G<\/strong>rant E<\/strong>ndowment”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5A MAD RUSH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headlong dash<\/em> for Spooner’s marvellous porridge (3,4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Marvellous porridge” = RAD MUSH<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9A CASKS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barrels<\/em> of (a hundred) requests (5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C (“a hundred”) + ASKS (“requests”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10A & 21A LIGHTNING TALK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wasted all night knitting, not in time to give quick speech<\/em> (9,4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anagram (“wasted”) of (ALL NIGHT KNITG)* — “all night knitting” without IN and T (“not in time”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11A TICKER TAPE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Band with heart going first in parade?<\/em> (6,4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TAPE (“band”) preceded by (“going first”) TICKER (“heart”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12A STAT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A single 6<\/em>, quickly<\/em>! (4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DD. A single piece of DATA (6D) or abbreviation for statim<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14A EAR FOR MUSIC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artistic skill<\/em> cures AI hallucination about class (3,3,5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anagram (“hallucination”) of CURES AI around FORM (“class”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18A SEAL THE DEAL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apply varnish<\/em> with shaking hands? (4,3,4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DD\/CD. (DEAL = pine wood)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

22A REFLECTION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consideration<\/em> of percentile spread without price-to-earnings (10)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anagram (“spread”) of OF RCENTILE (“of percentile” minus PE “P<\/strong>rice-to-E<\/strong>arnings”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25A PROTECTED<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How a class, or members of one, may be guarded<\/em> (9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DD\/CD. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Protected_group<\/a> and https:\/\/en.cppreference.com\/w\/cpp\/language\/access.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

26A BYTES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data<\/em>? I buy it less, with holes in (5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternate letters (“with holes in”) of I B<\/strong>uY<\/strong> iT<\/strong> lE<\/strong>sS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

27A SUSPEND<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially on board, flip and postpone<\/em> (7)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPEND (“flip”) with it’s initial letter placed inside SS<\/a> (“on board”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

28A V-NECKED<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against Calvin Klein, restricted by need of clothing line<\/em> (1-6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

V (“against”) + CK (“Calvin Klein”) inside (“restricted by”) NEED<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1D & 2D BACK TO BASICS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track<\/em> S? (4,2,6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CD. S is the “back (letter) to” BASICS. https:\/\/cppcon.org\/b2b\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3D AISLE SEATS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sat, confused about key main points, in the audience<\/em> (5,5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anagram (“confused”) of SAT around ISLE (“key”) + SEA (“main”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4D E-FLAT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key<\/em>, in leadership positions, to find loophole anywhere in terms of non-compete agreement (1-4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FLA (leadership positions to F<\/strong>ind L<\/strong>oophole A<\/strong>nywhere) inside ET (terms — last letters — of non-competE<\/strong> agreemenT<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5D MEGAPHONE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poor PA system<\/em> is huge local joke (9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MEGA (“huge”) + PH (“local” – Public House) + ONE (“joke”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6D DATA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bit flipped in input<\/em> (4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reversal (“flipped”) of A TAD (“bit”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7D UNIT TEST<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could be nuttiest way to ensure quality<\/em> (4,4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anagram (“could be”) of NUTTIEST<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8D HIGH-TECH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophisticated<\/em> but stoned? Train with no advantage (4-4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HIGH (“stoned”) + TE(a)CH (“train with no advantage”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13D IMPLACABLE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the terminator<\/em> of a limp, frayed wire (10)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anagram (“frayed”) of ALIMP + CABLE (“wire”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15D REELECTED<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After dance, city detective back in office again<\/em> (9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

REEL (“dance”) + EC (“city<\/a>“) + TED (reversal — “back” — of “DETective”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16D ISOTOPES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I call for help! Drink contained hydrogen and deuterium<\/em> (8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I + SOS (“call for help”) with TOPE (“drink”) contained within<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17D BALLOONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Party followed by two rounds necessitates emptying bladders<\/em> (8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BALL (“party”) + OO (“two rounds”) + NS (“necessitates emptying”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19D TIKTOK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horologists’ network<\/em>? (6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Not very) CD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20D UNUSED<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New<\/em> education puts posh students first (6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ED (“education”) with U (“posh<\/a>“) + NUS (“students<\/a>“) preceding<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23D LCD TV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panel<\/em> shows regularly elucidate vi (3,2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternate letters (“regularly”) of eL<\/strong>uC<\/strong>iD<\/strong>aT<\/strong>e V<\/strong>i<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24D MERE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engineers cycle around lake<\/em> (4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

REME (“engineers<\/a>“) rotated (“cycle”) and reversed (“around”) — although the reversal is kind of optional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/?p=1795 (or https:\/\/crosshare.org\/crosswords\/aZ0lpCTDSztWEsvvuboa\/cppcon-2025) if you want to try it. If you’re here for solutions, read on. Definitions are given in italics. My personal likes are 4D and 13D. 1A BABBAGE Supergroup among leaders to back grant endowment for computing pioneer (7) ABBA (“supergroup”) inserted into (“among”) BGE (“leaders to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cpp","category-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1798"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1802,"href":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1798\/revisions\/1802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elbeno.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}