Independent/7,874 – Punk
Posted by Ali on January 10th, 2012
Apologies for the delay with the blog.
This was quite something, with 2 very long thematic answers relating to 16/12. I haven’t actually read any of his work, but am familiar with the titles, and the clue for 16/12 was gettable early on, so the grid opened up very nicely for the rest of the clues.
And great clueing as ever from Punk. Some lovely anagrams and trademark cheekiness to boot.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | ELOPER – E(nergy) + LOPER |
| 8 | YOURSELF – (SURELY OF)* |
| 16/12 | DOUGLAS ADAMS – DOUGLAS + A DAM’S |
| 13/21/28 | THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE – THE REST (those left) + AURA (feeling) + (THIN SERVED ET EATEN HOT FUN)* – I think! |
| 19 | NOSTRUM – Cryptic def. i.e. NO STRUM |
| 26 | ATRIA – A TRIA[-l] |
| 27/24/11/9 | SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH – (D[-olphi]N + STROLLING OFF HAK[-e] SHOAL THEN AS)* |
| 29 | RECKON – Double def. |
| Down | |
| 1 | SELF-STUDY – ELF STUD (supernatural womaniser!) in S[-hrewsbur]Y |
| 2 | COARSE -CO. + ARSE |
| 3 | WELL WELL – WELL (fit) x 2 |
| 4/22 | SOLE TRADER – Double/cryptic def. |
| 5 | DECANTER – Cryptic def. |
| 6 | ARMADA – A R(oyal) M(arines) + [-h]AD + A |
| 10 | STET – [-deletion]S + TE[-x]T |
| 14 | URN – “EARN” |
| 15 | IMPENDING – IMP ENDING |
| 17 | UNAFRAID – [-t]UNA + F (strong) + RAID |
| 18 | SEE – “C” |
| 20 | SPOONFED – N(ew) in SPOOFED |
| 23 | NILE – Hidden in peNILess |
| 25 | BAKU – B[-ritain] + A[-zerbaijan] + UK rev. |
| 27 | SASH – S[-l(eft)]ASH |
January 10th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Can anyone explain the anagram for 27/24/11/9 (I assume it’s an anagram). However I cut it, I can’t quite get it to work.
January 10th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
I reckon it’s an anagram of {d[olphi]n strolling off + hak[e] + shoal then + as}, via ‘case of dolphin’ = dn and ‘virtually all of hake’ = hak.
January 10th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Concur: dn/strolling/off/hak/shoal/then/as*.
January 10th, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Enjoyable as this was, having found the author very early on, the two book titles were dead giveaways and therefore 50% of the crossword was solved with three clues in almost as many minutes. The distribution of checking letters made the remaining 50% of the grid easy to complete as well. Much as I enjoy themed crosswords, here cracking the theme simply gave too much away for the solver.
January 10th, 2012 at 3:22 pm
I agree with Prolixic. I usually enjoy a Punk (when I can complete him), but having got ARMADA, that gave me the A for a guess at DOUGLAS ADAMS, which fitted the clue; the two long titles went in and the rest, as they say, is history. I’m not really a big fan of these long anagrams, clever though they are. I didn’t even bother to work them out once I’d put the solutions in.
January 10th, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Somewhat have to concur with Prolixic and K’s D even down to the well it must be an anagram and enter it anyway – if I was blogging I’d do a check but… Fell apart for me probably under ten minutes with a heavy cold! quite like the clue for the author though.
January 10th, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Agree with the above comments. Really liked 1d for the image of an ‘elf stud’.
January 10th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Have to agree that two (very) long anagrams and a related answer don’t leave too much else to do. Having said that I didn’t bother working out the anagrams; I got a few checking letters in 27a which led to “So long and”, and googling just that phrase led me via Wikipedia to the rest of both anagrams and the author.
NOSTRUM and DECANTER prompted groans when the pennies dropped.
January 10th, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Thanks Ali and Punk. I enjoyed this one but I’m still feeling a bit thick about both NOSTRUM and DECANTER. For me the word play seems to imply NOWSTRUM and DEC CANTER. What am I missing, anyone?
January 10th, 2012 at 7:13 pm
I also don’t really see the point of this. The 2 long anagrams were pretty much insoluble taken alone (i.e. without the author) but then everything was too easy once you had the author. Like others I didn’t bother parsing the anagrams after getting the author as the answers were obvious. Is today any special date to do with DA?
January 10th, 2012 at 7:14 pm
DECANTER: A cantering horse is faster than a trotting one, so to slow to a trot one would have to de-canter.
NOSTRUM: you can pluck the strings of a guitar or strum the instrument. If there is instruction NO STRUM(ming) so then you will have to pluck it.
January 10th, 2012 at 10:28 pm
It hasn’t been said by anyone, but I thought the Douglas in the author’s name (Man’s man) referred to the Isle of Man. Is this so?
Like several above I didn’t bother to work out the long and tortuous anagrams once I had the titles.
January 10th, 2012 at 10:51 pm
@Wil re Douglas that’s what I thought anyway. I think in hindsight having such long anagrams of well known books that really gave away the rest of the grid was a mistake, sorry Punk, making your hard work futile and a facile solve for us. (Well except Ali, as a blogger I’d have hated to spend time trying to sort it out.)
January 10th, 2012 at 10:59 pm
It’s strange how people solve puzzles so differently! Before I had time to even look at the first clue, Bert had put one of the book titles in which then led to the author without even looking at the clue for it!
The rest is history….. but enjoyable none the less.
It’s such a shame though that Punk couldn’t fit in Arty Blartfast or Zaphod Beeblebrox or however you spell them. Sorry it’s too late to google.
Thanks Punk and Ali.
January 10th, 2012 at 11:10 pm
Thanks Allan_C. All is clear – and, as you said previously, very groanworthy!!