Irregular Crossword Clue Explanation (February 2006)
4 across: Learned by 28 of the 41 Pokémon of its type. (9)
Answer: SYNTHESIS
Synthesis is a Grass attack and is learned by 28 of the 41 existing Grass Pokémon (at the time of the publication of the crossword).
10 across: Extra treat for those who look around in their new rooms before embarking on a long and dangerous Pokémon journey. (6)
Answer: POTION
In all the Pokémon Game Boy games, there is a Potion in your item storage on the PC in your room, which you can withdraw before you start your journey. Nothing tells you it's there; you'll only find out if you happen to look at your item storage by chance.
11 across: 360 and 361. (6)
Answer: WINONA
This does not refer to Pokédex numbers, as one would think, but anime episodes. Winona features in episodes 360 and 361 by the Japanese episode numbering.
12 across: Item in R/B/Y with a Colosseum spin-off. (9)
Answer: GOLDTEETH
You need to find the Gold Teeth for the Warden in Red, Blue and Yellow, but in Colosseum you also need to find an old man's teeth in an obvious reference to the games that started it all.
14 across: Level 7. (3)
Answer: MEW
The Mew Trick always gives a Pokémon at level seven, and as that is about the only interesting thing about level seven, the Mew Trick should be the first thing that avid Pokémon fans think of when they see "Level 7". Mew, of course, is the namesake of the Mew Trick.
15 across: Your Pokémon apparently like the spotlight. (6)
Answer: ENCORE
When encore is used on the Gameboy games, the attack animation shows a spotlight appearing over the Pokémon it's used on and then two clapping hands. Pokémon clearly like standing in that spotlight, since Encore makes them obediently repeat their last move.
18 across: His first Pokémon is the pre-evolution of his last, but the others are different. (5)
Answer: DRAKE
Drake has a Shelgon, an Altaria, two Flygon and a Salamence. Shelgon is the pre-evolved form of Salamence, but neither Altaria nor Flygon have anything to do with that evolution line.
20 across: Theorized to be called Wreckage. (8)
Answer: RAYQUAZA
In the days when the English names of the Hoenn Pokémon were being guessed at, a top candidate for a possible name for Rekkuza was "Wreckage". Of course, it turned out to be Rayquaza.
21 across: The only guaranteed way to do what it does. (11)
Answer: THUNDERWAVE
Many attacks can inflict paralysis, but Thunder Wave is the only attack that will 100% of the time both hit and inflict the paralysis. (Of course, the fact it doesn't work on Ground-types doesn't count.)
25 across: Too bad Pokémon names can only be ten letters long. (10)
Answer: FERALIGATR
It's obvious that the game makers would not have made its name end in -tr if Pokémon names weren't restricted to ten characters.
26 across: Yellow looks more shiny than brown to me. (5)
Answer: NUMEL
Numel is yellow when normal but brown when shiny. Considering that "shiny" implies bright colors more than dull ones, this is a little bit weird.
27 across: Strange sleeping habits with strange but annoying sleeping reflexes. (4)
Answer: ABRA
Abra, according to the Pokédex, sleeps sixteen hours a day. However, it can teleport away from danger even while asleep, as most frustrated players who wanted one will have realized.
28 across: Forms a kind of combo with Curse. (12)
Answer: EXTREMESPEED
Curse (for non-Ghost Pokémon) lowers Speed but raises Attack and Defense. Extremespeed is a physical attack, meaning that the Attack boost is beneficial for it, but it also always strikes first, so the Speed loss is negated when you use it.
30 across: I wonder if it's really dancing or just that confused. (11)
Answer: TEETERDANCE
Pretty self-explanatory...
1 down: Furry #317. (6)
Answer: FURRET
Furret is Pokémon number 317 by Hoenn Pokédex. Swalot also fits and is 317 by National Pokédex, but the "furry" should tell you that it's not likely to be Swalot.
2 down: Appears to float but does not levitate. (7)
Answer: GEODUDE
Geodude does not have the Levitate ability, but it still seems to float in the air in the anime and games...
3 down: Two without arms in January. Am I being particularly evil by writing the number out? (7)
Answer: VOLTORB
The original clue was just "Two without arms", but it was too nasty like that. The "two" refers to 2 down in both this and the January crossword. 2 down in this crossword is Geodude. Both the clue and the word length of 2 down can also apply to Voltorb. Geodude, however, has arms, while Voltorb does not. Voltorb was additionally the answer to 2 down in the January crossword.
5 down: What a waste, considering the Pokémon that learn it learn no special attacks... (8)
Answer: TAILGLOW
The only Pokémon that can learn Tail Glow is Volbeat. Tail Glow raises Special Attack by two levels, but Volbeat doesn't learn any special attacks, rendering the attack completely useless for it and only made to be Baton Passed to other Pokémon.
6 down: Fifty-two and nine. (6)
Answer: MEOWTH
Meowth is Pokémon number 52 by National Pokédex, and it is a cat (thus having nine lives). The "nine" is a kind of a trap, though, more made to make you think Meowth can't be it than to hint that it is.
7 down: Despite its 80 power, some prefer a 60 power attack with a side-effect. (10)
Answer: DRAGONCLAW
Dragon Claw has no effect, but 80 base damage. Dragonbreath, though has 60 power and a 30% chance of paralyzing the opponent, which can be very useful and leads to Dragonbreath sometimes being chosen over Dragon Claw.
8 down: Learned at level 19 both by a Fire-type in FR/LG and a Water-type in R/B/Y. (11)
Answer: SMOKESCREEN
The Fire-type in FR/LG referred to is Charmander; the Water-type in R/B/Y is Horsea. Both learn Smokescreen at level 19.
9 down: Funny name, it just has a few pale yellowish parts and that's about it. (7)
Answer: GOLDUCK
Well, there is not much gold on it.
12 down: Remember, Pokémon are not humans... (9)
Answer: GARDEVOIR
From time to time, threads pop up on Pokémon forums where people complain about Gardevoir being able to be male because it looks so feminine. Of course, Pokémon aren't human, so nobody says what we find to look feminine has to look feminine to them.
13 down: Was often more beneficial for the opponent than the user in R/B/Y. (4)
Answer: HAZE
In Red, Blue and Yellow, Haze would not only have its intended effect (to remove stat changes from both parties) but also remove all negative status effect from the opponent (but not from you). Hey, we all know R/B/Y were buggy.
14 down: Despite theories about it being gray, it turned out to be powerful. (9)
Answer: MIGHTYENA
The clue doesn't appear to make much sense at first glance, but basically, people thought its English name would probably be "Grayena" (or "Greyena") because of its Japanese name (Guraena), but it turned out to be Mightyena.
15 down: Too many fanfiction characters start with one, in many people's opinion. (5)
Answer: EEVEE
Eevee is infamous for being used as a starter Pokémon for Mary-Sue characters in trainer fanfiction.
16 down: 2'0", 21.8lbs Emerald sprite looks distinctly like the Silver one. (6)
Answer: VULPIX
Well, it does, and Vulpix is 2'0", 21.8lbs.
17 down: Confused with its pre-evolution during name-guessing. (8)
Answer: SWAMPERT
When the English names of the Hoenn Pokémon were being guessed and it had been found out that "Marshtomp" was registered by Nintendo of America, people thought that was Swampert's name and then started looking for Marshtomp's (and of course, found nothing).
19 down: Pure Normal-type that evolves into pure elemental type... how odd. (7)
Answer: AZURILL
Yes, contrary to popular belief, Azurill is a Normal-type. Marill, of course, is a pure Water-type.
22 down: Some say it holds garbage. (9)
Answer: REGISTEEL
When people talk degradingly about the Regis as the "legendary trash cans", they're usually first and foremost thinking of Registeel.
23 down: Only one attack will ever cause your Pokémon to be this. (6)
Answer: SEEDED
Well, nothing will ever make your Pokémon seeded except Leech Seed, and unlike "cursed", the game actually officially acknowledges the existence of such a thing as being "seeded", seeing as the game message when you use Leech Seed says "POKÉMON2 was seeded!" but when you use the Ghost-type Curse it simply says "POKÉMON1 laid a curse on POKÉMON2!"
24 down: Pronunciation reveals that it is not named that for young age. (6)
Answer: CUBONE
Cubone's name contains the letter combination "Cub", which COULD mean the word, if it weren't for the fact that its name is pronounced "Cyoo-bone", not "Cub-bone".
29 down: Hoenn finally brought purity to it. (3)
Answer: ICE
Before Ruby and Sapphire, there was no pure Ice-type, but with Hoenn and the arrival of Snorunt, Glalie and Regice, that changed.
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