お留守になる means “fail to be attentive to” (for example, studies), so it’s ルス
27-across クスダマ
This one stumped me for a while. I knew exactly what it meant - it’s those balls that pop open at ceremonies with ribbons and confetti and a banner saying おめでとう - but I had no idea what it’s called, and typing “those balls that pop open at ceremonies with ribbons and confetti and a banner saying おめでとう” into Google surpringly failed to generate any useful results.
Interestingly, the English Wikipedia article for Kusudama says it’s an origami model - the Japanese article for くす玉 talks all about the celebratory ball, and only mentions “oh, it’s also an origami model” as an afterthought and a “see also”.
35-down ダメ
36-across メイ
23-down ホラー
24-across ラシ
16-across モノホシ something, something. There seem to be several words that’ll fit here.
Makes 28-down シシ, which I don’t really get. The clue is clear, but nothing in the dictionary seems to match.
31-down: パズルに夢中で勉強が、の場合は上に「お」がつく - I read this as “When you’re too absorbed in the puzzle to study, this will have 「お」 attached”. Which is to say 留守, which becomes お留守 when you’re neglecting your studies.
What interpretation results in ルビ being the answer?
Oh I see. When you put お留守 I thought you were quoting the clue, so I wondered if you were reading a different clue. I suppose I read that wrong, I read 上に as “attached above” (I forgot that it also has the “before” definition) so I figured ルビ fit.
21-across モクゲキ
29-across コヨミ
30-across ヤスリ
32-across シコ
34-across ギキ
25-down クク (I can see how that makes sense)
29-down コゲチャ
32-down ショキ
33-down スギ
38-down キリキリマイ
I’m seriously tapped out on the rest. I can’t see anything that makes sense for 5-down (if 5 and 6 across are correct) nor 7-across (if 26-down is correct).
Biggest issue with 5-down is that it’s gonna be some kind of sumo technical term. And after a bit of Wikipedia research, 幕下 ranked wrestlers fight seven times in a tournament, so one who’s won four times has more wins than losses, or in other words, カチコシ.
Makes 6-across チチ, though I don’t entirely see why.
7-across シドロモドロ
15-down クロ
19-down ドギモ, because 度肝を抜く is a synonym for 驚く
And that’s done. Gonna have to draw up the finished grid in the morning, because it’s too late at night now…
7-across リンカン
1-across ソヨカゼ, I guess
Though that makes 8-down ヨミ, which I don’t really get.
14-down ゼイム
11-across ツムジカゼ
11-down ツキ - 月に叢雲花に風 is apparently an expression meaning it’s easy for problems to interfere with good things (i.e. clouds block the moon, the wind scatters petals)
27-down ゼヒ
There’s too many clues that are some variant on 吹き荒れます. We might need a thesaurus for this one…
I picked up the book a while ago to get back into it, and immediately spotted a clue that should have been obvious from the start, but I was a bit distracted by packing up to move house, so I put it down again.
20-down アジサイ
15-across イアイ
34-across, turns out お勝手 is an older colloqualism for 台所, so both of them mean キッチン
@Kazzeon The link to the spreadsheet doesn’t seem to be working. Have you still got it? I never made a backup…
Don’t worry, I bought a crossword magazine and I am planning to scan more…
There are a couple of nice prices to win.
I also had a look at a Kanji puzzle magazine but it looks very difficult.
