One or two that I can’t understand, but plenty of nice clues today. No doubt there is a Nina staring me in the face, but apart from several references to pans and to cakes I can’t see anything. Eimi has certainly made work for himself with 36 clues — the most I’ve ever seen in a daily cryptic.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BEDWARMER — (mad brewer)* | |
| 6 | TORT E | |
| 9 | POACHER — 2 defs | |
| 10 | CU PC {t}AKE{n} — does this help with the incomprehensible words of ‘Mrs Robinson’? | |
| 11 | PE{W}TER | |
| 12 | STOL(L)EN | |
| 15 | PA{t}ELLA I think: Only Chambers seems to give the patella as the knee-pan, although the COD gives the origin of patella as connected to a shallow dish, but it looks as if the meaning of dish as a pan has been stretched to dish as a food, and this is too far for me, if I’m understanding it all correctly: OK pan can = dish and dish can = eg paella, but I don’t think the equals should be transitive | |
| 17 | DOUGHNUT — filled in simply because a doughnut is I suppose an unhealthy food and it’s the only word that fits, but ‘Surround John Prescott …’??? | |
| 19 | COLANDER — co-lander | |
| 21 | EC LAIR | |
| 24 | DUSTPAN — (sand put)* — excellent &lit | |
| 25 | PATTY — party with the r replaced by {Harriot}t | |
| 27 | SKILLET — (ell)rev. in skit | |
| 29 | {s}C(R)ULLER | |
| 31 | SLATE — 2 defs | |
| 32 | TIPSY CAKE — (cityspeak)* | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | BOP — 2 defs | |
| 2 | D(RAFT)EE | |
| 3 | AB H OR | |
| 4 | MOR(O)SE | |
| 5 | RECKON ON — “wreck anon” | |
| 6 | TIP — 2 defs | |
| 7 | sectaRIAN NONsense | |
| 8 | {sw}EDEN | |
| 11 | PA PACY — Ratzinger is Pope Benedict XVI | |
| 13 | LOGIC — 1 in (clog)* | |
| 14 | STOREY — “story” — refers to David Storey | |
| 16 | LINES — 12, 15, 27 and 29 all have LL in them | |
| 20 | LUDMILA — (Maud lit)* | |
| 22 | AN({I}TALY)A | |
| 23 | IN K(c A)P | |
| 25 | P{a}L U MY! | |
| 26 | IS IS | |
| 28 | LEE — eel rev. | |
| 30 | RUE — rue = road in French | |
DOUGHNUT is where MPs gather around the speaker so the Chamber does not look empty on TV, I think. Some great clues in this, e.g. POACHER, PLUMY. Think it’s just a PANCAKE Tuesday theme. Tough but very satisfying.
A nice way of incorporating Shrove Tuesday I thought, though I found this fairly tough going. My knowledge of pans and cakes has improved though, so all good. Enjoyed the PLUMY clue a lot. I don’t doubt there’s a genius clue involving gr8, u r, lol and suchlike just waiting to be written!
One thing I have often wondered about the Indy puzzle given the tendency towards topical themes (and apologies if this should be asked in the Chatroom!)is if Eimi and co. decide in advance who’s doing what. Do the setters call dibs on time-specific themes way in advance?
I also meant to mention COLANDER as a great clue.
Thanks EIMI for a great crossword. (I don’t think it’s been explicitly mentioned above that theme appears in every clued line across, given the diversity of “pans” used.)
Thanks to all for the kind comments.
Yes, Richard, the idea was that for each of the across lines the clues could read pan, cake, although rather cheekily on occasion.
The constraints brought about the large number of clues, which could only have fitted if some were extremely brief, e.g. 1 Down. It also threw up a few unusual words, for which I’ve tried to provide the easiest clues.
To answer Ali, and I think it’s appropriate as the question was generated by a themed (or is it a Nina as it’s not explicit) crossword, some setters book a spot in advance and occasionally I’ll look in the pot and see if anyone has come up with anything topical and if not, I’ll have a go myself, as here and on Armistice Day, etc.
Paella and patella are both defined as pans in Collins, a coincidence I hadn’t noticed until I became an expert on pans and cakes for this puzzle.