Irregular Crossword Clue Explanation (January 2006)
3 across: Was "Who's that Pokémon?" in the only anime episode where the Pokémon talked with subtitles. (7)
Answer: SLOWBRO
The episode referred to is Island of the Giant Pokémon. Slowbro was the featured "Who's that Pokémon?" in that episode.
4 across: The one Pokémon most related to a ghost. (6)
Answer: CUBONE
Well, the ghost Marowak was Cubone's mother, wasn't she? Can't get much more related than parent and child.
5 across: Sounds like a singer or something very close to one. (7)
Answer: ALTARIA
"Alt" is a type of voice (specifically, a deep female voice), and an "aria" is a type of musical piece.
6 across: Has been compared to a ballerina. (6)
Answer: REGICE
I and some others have referred to Regice as the "ballerina ice cube".
7 across: The spikes aren't what makes this one so powerful. (6)
Answer: ZAPDOS
Zapdos is a very spiky Pokémon and it's powerful, but it doesn't actually use any 'spiky' attacks.
9 across: Doesn't actually toss anything. (12)
Answer: FLAMETHROWER
Just looking at the word "Flamethrower", it sounds like something that throws flames.
11 across: In a banned episode. (9)
Answer: DRAGONAIR
Dragonair was in the episode "The Legend of Dratini", which was banned for showing guns.
14 across: Mouse? (9)
Answer: CYNDAQUIL
Cyndaquil has extremely little in common with a mouse, so it's a wonder it ever got that classification. It's obviously based on an echidna.
15 across: Zubat perhaps isn't the best Pokémon for this. (9)
Answer: LEECHLIFE
Zubat is one of the most avid users of Leech Life, but sadly, Leech Life has 20 power and is a Bug attack, so Zubat doesn't do a lot of damage with it.
16 across: Wouldn't its pre-evolved form see red? (6)
Answer: SCIZOR
Scyther, according to the anime episode "Showdown in Dark City", hates the color red, so it's interesting that its evolution is red all over.
17 across: Don't let it put you under its spell... (5)
Answer: UNOWN
This is both an individual pun (spelling and the fact that Unown form an alphabet) and a reference to the title of the third Pokémon movie (Spell of the Unown).
18 across: Has a custom sprite in the sprite system. (7)
Answer: MOLTRES
An inside reference - at the Cave of Dragonflies forums, people could at the time the crossword was made post Pokémon sprites by typing the Pokémon's name in between two colons, and while most of the sprites that could be shown in this way were straight from the games, Moltres is one of the Pokémon that has a customized sprite.
21 across: Xikaze will like this one. (10)
Answer: WHITESMOKE
An inside reference - the forum member Xikaze adores Torkoal, and White Smoke is Torkoal's ability which no other Pokémon has.
22 across: Skarmory's doom. (10)
Answer: MAGNETPULL
Magneton's ability, Magnet Pull, is one of the reasons it's most likely the best Skarmory counter around in competitive battling. Magnet Pull prevents Steel types from switching out, leaving poor Skarmory helpless to be fried by a Thunderbolt.
23 across: Fwee! (7)
Answer: SCYTHER
An inside reference - I like to say "FWEE, SCYTHER!" wherever Scyther is mentioned.
24 across: Evolves from Banebuu in the Japanese version. (7)
Answer: GRUMPIG
Spoink's Japanese name is Banebuu.
25 across: This is like made for last letter games. (5)
Answer: YANMA
A common Pokémon forum game is "The Last Letter Game" where you have to post a Pokémon in whose name the first letter is the same as the last of that of the Pokémon posted by the above poster. Many Pokémon's names end in a y, but Yanma was at the time of the crossword's creation the only Pokémon whose name starts with one, which is very convenient for such games.
1 down: Extremely annoying in many people's opinion. (9)
Answer: TENTACOOL
In least favorite Pokémon threads, Tentacool always pops up, the explanation being that it's so annoying that you can't surf anywhere without being attacked by a dozen of them.
2 down: A dangerous lookalike. (7)
Answer: VOLTORB
Voltorb is infamous for its resemblance to a Pokéball, and it explodes, which makes it rather dangerous for people who attempt to pick it up.
3 down: -273.15°C, according to the Japanese version. (9)
Answer: SHEERCOLD
-273.15°C is absolute zero, and in the Japanese version, Sheer Cold is called Absolute Zero.
4 down: Can melt boulders. (9)
Answer: CHARIZARD
The Pokédex says Charizard's fire is hot enough to melt boulders.
5 down: Fake, but with forum-wide fame. (7)
Answer: ANDUATH
An inside reference - Anduath is a fake Pokémon created by forum members for the short-lived Dragonfly Times.
8 down: Loved by many, but hated by just as many. (7)
Answer: PIKACHU
Pikachu is both extremely popular and extremely hated by those who dislike it for being overpopular.
10 down: Ghosts play with fire. (9)
Answer: WILLOWISP
This one is rather obvious - Will-O-Wisp is a Fire attack, but it is most famously used by Ghost types.
12 down: Has at some point been possessed by two Gym leaders in the games, even though one of them does not actually claim to train either of its types. (4)
Answer: ONIX
The two Gym leaders are of course Brock and Jasmine. While Jasmine trains Steel Pokémon and has a Steelix, an in-game character mentions that she used to train Rock Pokémon like Onix, which shows that obviously, she simply ended up evolving her Onix and switching to a Steel-type team.
13 down: One would think it was Psychic-type... (11)
Answer: FOCUSENERGY
Well, focusing one's energy sounds Psychic-like, similar to Meditate. The trap here is that you could think it means a Pokémon, and obviously won't find an answer since no Pokémon has 11 characters in its name.
19 down: Babies love it. (5)
Answer: CHARM
The move Charm is learned by a lot of baby Pokémon.
20 down: A perfect representative for The Cave of Dragonflies. (6)
Answer: FLYGON
Flygon is a dragonfly, and it's the Cave of Dragonflies, so this is fairly obvious.
Page last modified August 13 2016 at 02:34 UTC