Irregular Crossword Clue Explanation (October 2006)
Theme: MEWTWO
4 across: It's not purple, but I guess the rest fits. (9)
Answer: DRAGONITE
Dragonite's appearance is commonly likened to Barney the Dinosaur, but Barney is purple. One can see the resemblance in the rest, though. Dragonite connects to the theme because it was a Dragonite that delivered the invitation to Ash in the first movie, which starred Mewtwo.
8 across: The only correctly identified member of the family by name... or is it? (9)
Answer: BLASTOISE
Squirtle and Wartortle's names both stem from 'turtle' while Blastoise's comes from 'tortoise'. The Squirtle family resembles tortoises in appearance, but then again they ARE Water-types... It connects to the theme because Blastoise was one of Mewtwo's cloned Pokémon in the first movie.
9 across: Love at first snuggle... (10)
Answer: WIGGLYTUFF
Wigglytuff's Gold version Pokédex entry says that if two of them snuggle together, they don't want to be separated. Wigglytuff relates to the theme because it, like Mewtwo, has a W in its name. :P Hey, who said the words had to relate to the theme in some sensible way? At least, one of the trainers who got across the storm that Mewtwo created had a Wigglytuff, so we can pretend that's it.
10 across: Would it be a close relative of Donphan? [Think real-life...] (7)
Answer: DEWGONG
Dugongs, Dewgong's namesake, are related to elephants, so one could assume this applies to the Pokémon as well... One of the trainers who crossed the storm to get to Mewtwo's island had a Dewgong.
11 across: Bubble? How ironic. [The answer to this is actually a Pokémon, and this has to do with numbers.] (6)
Answer: ZAPDOS
Bubble is Zapdos's 'counterpart' among Pokémon attacks: Zapdos's National Pokédex number is 145, and move number 145 is Bubble. This is ironic as Bubble is a weak Water attack, and Zapdos is a powerful Electric Pokémon. Zapdos, like Mewtwo, is a Kanto legendary Pokémon that has played a part in a movie.
13 across: Kadabra, Psyduck, Slowpoke, Lickitung... [No, this is not a Pokérap reference.] (7)
Answer: DISABLE
Disable is the only move that all four of those Pokémon learn by level-up. It is also one of Mewtwo's starting moves.
15 across: So close to being an anagram of the theme... (6)
Answer: MEOWTH
'Meowth' is nearly an anagram of 'Mewtwo' - all you'd need to do is change the h to a w, and you can rearrange the letters into 'Mewtwo'.
17 across: The females' neck has apparently become fuzzier. (5)
Answer: HYPNO
Hypno is one of the Pokémon that show gender dimorphism in Diamond and Pearl - female Hypno have thicker fur around their neck than male Hypno. Hypno is a Psychic Pokémon like Mewtwo.
20 across: Related to the theme. (3)
Answer: MEW
Mewtwo is, as we all know, cloned from Mew.
23 across: Yay! (8)
Answer: NURSEJOY
Isn't a word like 'Yay!' a sign of joy? :P She relates to the theme because Mewtwo kidnapped her in the first movie to be his servant.
26 across: Would be nice with Team Galaxy. (8)
Answer: VENUSAUR
Its name is VENUSaur, and Team Galaxy has an admin named Mars and a leader named Jupiter, so it would fit right in. Venusaur was one of the Pokémon that Mewtwo cloned in the first movie.
27 across: Has a possessed new evolutionary stage. (7)
Answer: PORYGON
In Diamond and Pearl, Porygon2 evolves into 'PorygonZ' if traded while holding an Eerie Patch. PorygonZ looks rather possessed, and the name of the patch doesn't help. Porygon, like Mewtwo, is a man-made Pokémon.
28 across: I'm siiiiiinging in the rain... [Okay, forget about the singing.] (6)
Answer: KYOGRE
Kyogre's ability Drizzle causes an automatic downpour. Like Mewtwo, Kyogre is an '00ber', a Pokémon banned from most ordinary competitive play due to its extreme power.
30 across: TM73 (11)
Answer: THUNDERWAVE
Thunder Wave is TM73 in Diamond and Pearl, and Mewtwo can learn this TM.
32 across: Alas, its counterpart still outdoes it. (6)
Answer: PINSIR
Pinsir's counterpart is Scyther, who got an evolution in Gold and Silver. Many people thought Pinsir should get an evolution in Diamond and Pearl to be a better counterpart to it, but that didn't happen. Pinsir was one of the Pokémon owned by the pirate that Ash battled at the beginning of the first movie, which was of course about Mewtwo.
33 across: I guess it decreases in usefulness now that we have #377. (7)
Answer: RECOVER
The #377 refers not to Pokémon #377, but to move #377, translated by Coronis of Serebii.net as Restore Imprison. This move prevents recovery moves from being used for five turns. It relates to the theme because Mewtwo learns Recover.
34 across: Opposites attract, don't they? [This is based on a very similar premise to 11 across.] (6)
Answer: SPLASH
This is slightly similar to 11 across: we are again talking about move counterparts to Pokémon. Mewtwo, according to the first movie the most powerful Pokémon that ever existed, is Pokémon number 150 - and oh-so-ironically, attack number 150 is none other than Splash, the only move in the game that does absolutely nothing.
35 across: Mickey? [Yes, this is referring to the first Mickey you thought of.] (6)
Answer: MARILL
Marill is a mouse and its silhouette, minus the arms, legs and tail, is scarily similar to Mickey Mouse's head. o.o Marill's first appearance was in the Pikachu short before the first movie, which starred Mewtwo.
1 down: Masculine version of upcoming song? [It's not the song that is upcoming, it's just a confusing sentence.] (7)
Answer: MACHAMP
This clue is very bizarre, but it refers to 'Wii are the champions', a parody of Queen's 'We are the champions' that is about the upcoming (at the time of this crossword's release) Wii console. Machamp's name is derived from 'macho' and 'champion'. It connects to the theme because one of the Pokémon that the pirate Ash fought at the beginning of the first movie (which was about Mewtwo) was Machamp.
2 down: Ewww... (9)
Answer: METAGROSS
It's MetaGROSS, so one can interpret it as an 'Eww, gross' kind of thing. It connects to the theme because Metagross and Mewtwo are both Psychic Pokémon.
3 down: @_@ [Okay, forget about the smiley! Well, it does slightly relate to it, but the main point of this clue is the character @, not the smilie. Also, this is a rather far-fetched clue, as in that it relates to something which then relates to something else, which is the answer] (9)
Answer: WOBBUFFET
Wobbuffet is commonly used for capturing Latias and Latios in R/S, thanks to its Shadow Tag ability. Latias and Latios are often referred to collectively as Lati@s due to the @ character's resemblance to both a and o, and that is the point in this clue. Like Metagross, Wobbuffet connects to the theme because it's a Psychic Pokémon.
5 down: Spicy... (11)
Answer: SAFFRONCITY
Saffron is a spice. Saffron City was home to the most major Team Rocket takeover of Red, Blue and Yellow - Mewtwo's generation - and Mewtwo was of course created for Team Rocket.
6 down: Dynamite, ROTFLMAO [Yes, dynamite... not explosions, dynamite.] (5)
Answer: GOLEM
Okay, random clue, but basically Golem is rounded and learns Rollout, and its Crystal version Pokédex entry says that even dynamite can't scratch its hide. One can speculate that it could roll on the floor laughing its a** off... it it had one. o_O Golem was one of the Pokémon that the pirate Ash battles at the beginning of Mewtwo Strikes Back had.
7 down: Signal Beam, Silver Wind and Sludge Bomb are special now, yay. (8)
Answer: VENOMOTH
Venomoth is one of the Pokémon that is now, after the physical/special split of attacks in Diamond and Pearl, finally able to use its STAB attacks efficiently - its Special Attack is much higher than its Attack, and previously both Bug and Poison attacks were physical. Venomoth was one of the Pokémon that the pirate Ash battled at the beginning of Mewtwo Strikes Back had.
12 down: So many people took pleasure in its torture... [They didn't take pleasure in it BECAUSE it was being tortured, but because of the method...] (6)
Answer: DEOXYS
This clue refers to the first Pokémon Battle Revolution video, in which Pikachu and Groudon are seen battling Deoxys and Wailmer. In the video, Pikachu was seen running up to Deoxys, jumping at it and physically striking it - a feature that Pokémon fans had been moaning for in the 3D games for years - and Groudon used a Hyper Beam on Deoxys that showed destructable environments, another feature of Pokémon Battle Revolution that got many excited. Both of those interesting attacks had Deoxys as their target. Deoxys relates to the theme because like Mewtwo, Deoxys is a legendary Psychic Pokémon that has been the star of a movie. Additionally, both of them are connected to the concept of DNA - Mewtwo has modified Mew DNA, while Deoxys literally is a DNA Pokémon according to the game.
14 down: Ignorance... (7)
Answer: BLISSEY
They say ignorance is bliss... In G/S/C, Blissey and Mewtwo both excelled in one particular stat above all other Pokémon - Blissey in HP and Mewtwo in Special Attack. Mewtwo has admittedly later been robbed of this honour.
16 down: Game Freak is finally getting things halfway right again. [Yes, it's that simple. They used to get it right, then got it wrong, now got it right again. So what is it, and what is one of the most important things about it?] (6)
Answer: ESPEON
Espeon evolves from Eevee by happiness at day, but none of the Advance games had any such thing as day and night - the closest to it was the clock of R/S/E, so Eevee was forced to evolve into Espeon and Umbreon despite the lack of day and night. In Diamond and Pearl, the day and night system are back, and evolving Eevee into Espeon and Umbreon is no longer as awkward as it used to be.
18 down: Heh, they've got to have a lot of money to afford it... (12)
Answer: NUGGETBRIDGE
Nugget Bridge is a place where a Team Rocket member asks you to join the gang once you reach the end of it in Red, Blue and Yellow. He will also give you a Nugget - an item you can sell for 5000 Pokédollars and supposedly gives it to anyone who can beat all the trainers on the bridge, so Team Rocket are clearly spending a whole bunch of unnecessary money. What's more, according to The Origin of Mewtwo, they were funding Professor Fuji's research as well. Giovanni's got to be pretty darn rich.
19 down: ...or perhaps they're earning it all in semi-honest ways by making people obsessed with these? [Okay, they're not obsessed with THESE, but they're obsessed with what they put in them.] (8)
Answer: COINCASE
Team Rocket runs the Celadon City Game Corner in Red, Blue and Yellow, where people pay oodles of money for game coins to fill their Coin Cases with. See above for the relation to Mewtwo.
21 down: No nickname, eh? (9)
Answer: CHARIZARD
In Mewtwo Strikes Back, the Venusaur, Blastoise and Charizard that the surviving trainers brought to the island are made to battle Mewtwo's cloned versions. Out of the originals, only Ash's Charizard does not have a nickname.
22 down: a.k.a Dodge Unknown Nun. [Anagram...] (12)
Answer: CERULEANCAVE
Cerulean Cave is also known as the Unknown Dungeon, and 'Dodge Unknown Nun' is an anagram of 'Unknown Dungeon'. Cerulean Cave is of course where Mewtwo is found in Red, Blue and Yellow.
24 down: Bear, join, undo and increase. (5)
Answer: UNOWN
Those four words are the words that appear in the Unown Pokédex in G/S/C for the B, J, U and I Unown. Unown was the title character of a movie, like Mewtwo.
25 down: Persian fan? (8)
Answer: GIOVANNI
Giovanni has a Persian he is very fond of. He is also the man who commissioned the creation of Mewtwo and later abused Mewtwo's trust.
29 down: The theme prefers to fly. [...instead of doing this.] (8)
Answer: TELEPORT
Mewtwo likes flying places instead of teleporting there for some reason. Well, perhaps it's no wonder: Mewtwo only learns Teleport as a R/B/Y TM.
31 down: Funny it wouldn't be bigger. (7)
Answer: DONPHAN
Hey, it IS based on the elephant after all. Donphan was first shown in Mewtwo Strikes Back, as one of the Pokémon that the pirate Ash battles near the beginning owns.
Page last modified August 13 2016 at 02:34 UTC