Something of a seasonal treat for us today – a special, thematic Thursday Phi.
Wordplay in many of the clues leaves us a letter short. The collected missing letters can be rearranged to form A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Two characters from that work form the two unclued answers. I’ve noted the missing letters in bold.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | AIRCRAFT – IR + C + RAFT. A. |
| 6 | MARLEY – thematic, see preamble. |
| 9 | DEHISCENCE – (DICE SCENE)*. H. |
| 10 | FOGY – ([part]Y GO F[or])<. |
| 11 | TURN IN – (N + N + RUT)<. I. |
| 12/17 | EBENEZER SCROOGE – thematic, see preamble. |
| 13 | SENORITA – (ONE AIRS)*. T. |
| 15 | COTTON – COT + TON. |
| 16 | ASTERN – S[hips] in (ATE + RN). |
| 18 | PANORAMA – (NORA + M) in PA. A. |
| 20 | PRETENCE – [sec]RET in PENCE. |
| 22 | OCHRES – H in ORES. C. |
| 24 | PONY – P[h]ONY. |
| 25 | KOOKABURRA – (AUK + ROOK + A B)*. R. |
| 27 | GERUND – GER[man] + UND. |
| 28 | DOTTEREL – DOT + TREE*. L. |
| Down | |
| 2 | ICE CUBE – (E + CUB) in IE. C. |
| 3 | CAIRN – I in CAN. R. |
| 4 | ASCENSION – (IN CANOES)*. S. |
| 5 | TAN – I think this must be [g]NAT< but I can't see anything in the clue to specify dropping the G. |
| 6 | MAEVE – AM< + EVE. |
| 7 | REFLECTOR – F in (R + ELECTOR). Not sure about the wordplay here, especially the prince/elector bit. |
| 8 | EL GRECO – ELG[a]R + E + CO. |
| 12 | EXAMPLE – AXE< + PLE[a]. M. |
| 14 | OVER TO YOU – OVER + TOY + OU. |
| 15 | CONSONANT – (ON + ON) in CANT. S. |
| 19 | MCENROE – M + CEN[t]ER*. O. |
| 21 | NAKED – NA[r]KED. |
| 23 | HAUTE – HUT + [pist]E. A. |
| 26 | OLD – [f]OLD. |
I think 5 down refers to ANT. I think ELECTOR = PRINCE from Germany way back.
Some German princes were called electors but according to Chambers the term goes back earlier than that – “the title formerly belonging to those princes and archbishops of the Holy Roman Empire who had the right to elect the Emperor”.
Yes, that’s right, was in a bit of a rush when posting comment 1 so wrote from memory. Looking in Collins now, it says “(in the Holy Roman Empire) any of the German princes entitled to take part in the election of a new emperor”
Very enjoyable puzzle, as the letters appeared they seemed to mean very little – I was expecting them to be in order, so that was a nice twist.
The letters of A Christmas Carol are in a definite order, as you’ll see if you look down the diagonal from top left to bottom right. I only noticed this when I already had worked out what the book title was, and had most of the puzzle solved. A really well constructed puzzle and something a bit different. Thanks Phi.
They do indeed! I missed that completely – I had wondered when solving why the unusual HAUTE appeared (feminine of the French adj haut = high tho it’s familiar from its use in phrases).
Welcome, Pandean, to the comments (don’t think I’ve seen your name here before) and a very merry Christmas to all Indy solvers.
Well spotted Pandean. I just assumed the letters were random, but it all fits together perfectly. A nice puzzle, and good to have an extra gimmick in a daily cryptic
A lovely puzzle, there should be more like this – festive and very tidy.
I think 5dn is as simple as ANT tail first i.e TAN.
A merry Christmas to all compilers, editors and solvers.
I think 19 down is M = Male + Cen[t]re (Court finally = last letter of Court “knocked out”). This still leaves the O as the book title letter.
Well spotted John – I think that’s how I read it too, and then blogged in a bit too much of a hurry. I’ll amend the post.
I guessed the theme and 12/17 and 6 from the preamble, but it was still a satisfying puzzle working out which clues were incomplete.
For anyone in the dark about 2dn, Ice Cube is the stage name of O’Shea Jackson – try googling ‘Ice Cube’.