Independent 7322 by Punk (Newspaper had Old Puzzle Printed in Error)

by

*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism

As a fan of horror films, this was right up my street. Having said that, I wasn’t completely convinced by the cryptic def for the theme – “star coming out at night ?”, although I appreciate that part of its purpose was to misdirect you towards astronomy.
 

Across
1/18 Peter Cushing: Pushing around Crete<.
4 Werewolf: Odd letters of when + flower<.
9 Neo-nazi: Neon + A-Z + i.
10 Stomach: S[ore] + (cam in hot)<.
11 Elba: Able<. Quite an easy one if you remember the palindrome supposedly attributed to Napoleon – "Able was I ere I saw Elba".
13 Bela Lugosi: Belug[a] around La + OS i.
15 Rorqual: R + or qua[i]l.
16/29 Vincent Price: I assume this is Vin + cent + price. I’m not sure in what context cent is Euro sign and 0.01 ? for price seems a bit weak.
19 Let Slip: Slip on let.
20 Changeling: Angel in chin + g.
23 Brae: Chest held in this = bra + E (English). A brae is a Scottish hillside.
26 Inkwell: Well after [s]ink.
28 Valkyrie: Val + kyrie.
Down
1 Pontefract Cake: (Tern peacock fat)*.
2 Two: Owt<. Def is the clue number.
3 Roam: Hom of Rome.
4 White Flag: (E.g. half-wit)*.
5 Rasta: (A star)*.
6 Whodunnits: Who (as in Doctor Who) + dun + nits.
7 Llano: (On all)<.
8 Christoper Lee: (Torch he replies)*.
12/25 Boris Karloff: Risk in boar + l + off.
14 Tuning Fork: (Go Finn Turk)*.
16 Valentine: Didn’t follow this one – “Fast to no avail, it’s suggested ? Drug required, darling.” Darling is the def and drug is probably the final E, but don’t follow the valentin bit.
17 Euler: [Raptur]e + rule*.
21 Aorta: A + O over art<.
22 Lifer: Refil[l]<.
24 Skip: DD.
27 Eli: [D]eli.

23 comments on “Independent 7322 by Punk (Newspaper had Old Puzzle Printed in Error)”

  1. The wrong crossword (one from about a year ago) has been published in the newspaper. If Eimi reads this, could he perhaps arrange for a pdf version of the correct one to be made available online?

  2. Curious! I managed the one in the paper and didn’t recognise it, so must have missed it last time round. Indeed, the date in the top right hand corner is 5 April 2009.

  3. I didn’t get out to buy a newspaper today, so obviously just did the online version. I didn’t recognise this one, so perhaps I didn’t do it the first time round.

  4. Neal
    16dn is LENT (fast) in VAIN (to no avail) E (drug)
    21dn ART is not reversed in AORTA so ‘put up’ must be an anagram indicator which is rather unfair in a down clue.

  7. Curioser and curioser, said Alice. 5th April 2009 was a Sunday, so goodness knows what’s happened. Anyway, I enjoyed Hypnos’s puzzle in the paper version today.

  8. Though I hardly ever solve puzzles online, I made an exception today for Punk.
    Just like you said, Neal, I was (at first) nicely misdirected into the Universe.
    But after finding BELA LUGOSI the penny dropped.
    The actors either played Frankenstein (Karloff, Cushing) or Dracula (the others) – and I guess the Dracula connection is why Punk let them ‘come out at night’.

    In 6d: are we at a point now that WHO can be defined by just ‘Doctor’? [it was clear while solving, but I don’t like it]

    In 16d: nice libertarian device (to no avail = in vain), but are the words “it’s suggested” needed here?

    VINCENT PRICE was a bit dodgy [that is: the clue]: of course, VIN can be Burgundy, and “0.01 euro” = “cent”, but probably it meant to be something like “wine for the price of 1 cent” – btw, in the online version there’s strangely enough a question mark in brackets, so maybe that is hiding something that we don’t know.

    The AORTA of 21d is, in my opinion, a clear mistake of the setter (a thing which recently occurred to him as Mudd as well).
    As “say’ isn’t an anagrind, ‘Painting, say’ stands for ART, which must be ‘put up’
    [giving TRA] under A&O – result not being AORTA, for me no doubt about that.

    Having said that, all in all a gentle, not too challenging crossword, with the CHANGELING of 20ac my Clue of the Day, because of the beautiful surface.

  9. BTW, Gaufrid, I did see you post at #4.
    But I cannot agree with ‘put up’ being the anagrind, as I can’t find any meaning of it (in my Chambers) that justifies the use of it.
    [in several online anagrind lists you won’t find it either].
    Indeed, if, I say if, it was meant to be the anagrind, then – as you say – it is completely unfair.
    Another reason to think that this is a mistake is the fact, that I think a professional and seasoned setter as Punk, would never have used ‘put up’ here when looking for an anagrind. He surely would have gone for something else, which shouldn’t have been a big problem, because the surface doesn’t make much sense anyway.

  10. Just to clarify, in case other people are as confused as I was this morning, the paper version printed a Hypnos puzzle from last year. I’m assuming that the online version that I blogged was the intended puzzle, unless of course it’s a different incorrect puzzle.

    And they want us to buy the newspaper !

  11. Sil van den Hoek,

    When you say WHO, are you thinking of World Health Organisation ? I think the clue meant the sci-fi character Doctor Who (who is invariably just called “the Doctor”, so I think the association is fairly reasonable).

  12. Hi Sil
    I fully agree with your comment #9. I’m sure Neal wasn’t the only one to think ‘reversal’ and then enter the answer without noticing the error.

    I favour a mistake but Eileen did mention to me the possibility of ‘put up’ as in ‘put-up job’. Chambers defines this as “A dishonest scheme prearranged usu by several people” so, at a stretch, the anagram indicator could just about be ‘dishonest’ (ie bent or twisted). Acceptable in an across clue? I think not, and definitely not in a down one.

  13. Neal, of course, I know ‘Doctor’ refers to ‘Doctor Who’
    [but a nice idea to let me think of the W.H.O. :)].
    And, indeed, I think, too, that the association is ‘reasonable’.
    But, there’s something inside me that says that “Doctor” = “Who” is one step too far – there are more Doctors in this world, aren’t there?
    That said, I don’t want to make a point of it – it’s just purely me that doesn’t like it.

  14. Quite a tough puzzle, very enjoyable. Took quite a while to see the theme, then I got BORIS KARLOFF and it became easier after that. Some great clues eg WHODUNNITS, CHANGELING, TUNING FORK, LIFER.

  15. I really enjoyed this puzzle. I took it that the theme was specifically Dracula, since all the stars played the vampire except Peter Cushing and he, as the vampire-hunter, also came out at night.

    Re 21dn, I agree that this must be a mistake – but I find it interesting that there seem to be several of us who mistakenly read it as a reversal. A similar thing happened in a fairly recent Bonxie puzzle: One who thinks about fluid: SERUM, which more than one of us [me included, again!] had read as a reversal of MUSER, until seeing the blog. It’s rather like the old ‘Reading test’ puzzle here:

    http://www.echalk.co.uk/amusements/OpticalIllusions/SpringtimeInParis/paris.html

  17. Apologies to all for the cock-up today, but I’ve been enjoying the rare Bank Holiday sunshine with friends and have only just opened the paper and come to the blog here. I can only assume that some member of the skeleton holiday staff has got his or her knickers in a twist and published an old crossword – I can confirm that it appeared on Monday April 6 last year. I’ll get on to the paper and attempt to get them to either publish the correct crossword in the paper or make the PDF available on line.

  18. Sorry Eileen,
    But I couldn’t let it lie.
    I’m afraid neither Boris Karloff nor Vincent Price played Dracula on screen.
    And Sil, Price didn’t play Frankenstein, either.
    (And I’m not even going to go into the fact that Cushing DID play Frankenstein, but Karloff only played the monster)
    That is the end of tonight’s pedantry…

  20. Ian, I don’t plead guilty.
    I didn’t say Vincent Price played Frankenstein.
    [and indeed, he didn’t play Dracula either – that is to say: there is a documentary about the genre from 1982 called Vincent Price’s Dracula]

  21. The Easter break, which led to the problem, has also delayed the response, but I understand that an apology will appear in the newspaper tomorrow, along with a link to a PDF of the puzzle.

    I’m sure Punk intended a reversal in 21D – sorry for not spotting that it didn’t work. These almost always occur in down clues.

  22. Really enjoyed this.Didn’t get 23a but see it now! Put 8d in without really reading clue as it fitted! Not a lover of horror but wasn’t frightened by this!!

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