A mixed bag from Cinephile today, some really great clues and some that seem a little lazy.
This crossword shares the Barrett-Browning theme with the August bank holiday special produced by Cinephile for the Guardian (writing as Araucaria). I am curious to know which puzzle came first, the FT or the Guardian. Did he like the idea begun in the FT and so explored it more fully in the Guardian, or is he using the FT puzzle as a vehicle for some ideas that he could not fit into the holiday special?
Hold the mouse pointer over any clue number to read the clue.
| Across | ||
| 1, 4 | ROBERT BROWNING | ROBERT (policeman, after Robert Peel) BROWNING (fixing/making the gravy) – this clue is copied almost verbatim from this year’s August bank holiday crossword in the Guardian |
| 10 | SCOTCH EGG | SCOTCH (frustrate) EGG (incite) |
| 11 | See 3 | |
| 12 | JUTE | double definition – early Europeans and sack cloth |
| 13 | SIGN WRITER | (STIRRING E W)* trouble=anagram – somone who you bring to your sign/notice to have it painted |
| 15 | See 17 | |
| 16 | YORKER | double definition – a cricket delivery pitched at the batsman’s feet and a New Yorker |
| 19 | SHADOW | HAD (deceived) in SOW (broadcast) – opposer in the sense of the shadow cabinet |
| 21 | SESSION | anagram of S (opening letter of scene) and NOISES |
| 23 | ROTHERMERE | the river ROTHER in Yorkshire and MERE (lake) – Harold Harmsworth, former owner of Associated Newspapers given the title Viscount Rothermere |
| 25, 26 | FAIR ISLE | IRIS (flower) in FLEA* – a style of woolen jumper |
| 27 | HABIT | cryptic definition |
| 28 | OVERSLEEP | LEEP sounds like (reported as) ‘leap’ after OVERS (some cricket) – to oversleep is to be in a trance too long. I don’t think the tense matches, the definition doesn’t really work for me. |
| 29 | MANNERED | ER (Elizabeth Regina) kept by MANNED (given crew) |
| 30 | METHOD | MET (came across) HOD (carrier) – definition is ‘the way’ |
| Down | ||
| 1 | RUSH JOBS | RUSH (water plants) and Steve JOBS, the late principal of Apple Inc |
| 2 | BLOWTORCH | W (western) TOR (hill) in B (born) LOCH (lake) |
| 3, 11 | RACE TRACK | Spoonerism of “trace rack” (draw, instrument of torture) |
| 5 | REGENCY | GREEN* revolution=anagram CenturY (ends of) – historical period in UK from 1811 to 1820 when George III was too ill to rule and the Prince of Wales (his son) ruled by proxy as the Prince Regent |
| 6 | WATERCRESS | (WAR SECRETS)* anagram=exposed by |
| 7 | INAPT | NAP (forty winks) in IT |
| 8 | GO-CART | TRAG (a piece of tragic) without (going outside) OK (authority) |
| 9 | DEPICT | DE (of, French) PICT (Scot, member of Pictish people) |
| 14 | DEAD NETTLE | (DANTE ED)* anagram=new and LET* (anagram=out) – plant of the Lamiumgenus. I don’t like indirect anagrams, ED for Edition. This one is pretty obvious but I think the clue is poorer for it. |
| 17, 15 | ELIZABETH BARRETT | (BETTER HEAT BRAZIL)* anagram=nuts. The poet Elizabeth Barrett married Robert Browning. This solution was also in the August bank holiday Guardian, but the anagram that time was HAZEL BETTER RABbIT (missing the b). Maybe he was frustrated at missing the full anagram first time round so he has another go in the FT? |
| 18 | INTREPID | I (one, Roman numeral) NT (part of the bible) with PI (p1, front page) in RED |
| 20, 21 | WIMPOLE STREET | WIMP (feeble fellow) OLE (hurrah, applause Spanish syle) and SETTER* – 50 Wimpole Street was the family home of Elizabeth Barrett until she eloped with Robert Browning. The courtship and elopment is the subject of the play The Barratts of Wimpole Street by Rudolf Besier. |
| 22 | GRAHAM | multiple definitions – Graham Land in Antarctica, Grahamstown in South Africa and Grahams (wholemeal wheat biscuits from the US) |
| 24 | TOBIN | TO BIN (to scrap) – tax on short term currency conversions proposed in 1972 by the economist James Tobin. |
| 26 | See 25 | |
*anagram
Thanks for the blog.
Don’t some painters sign their work in the bottom right hand corner? I suppose this setter does take the biscuit.
LOL
I always thought ‘takes the biscuit’ meant something particularly fine and admirable but find it means something near its opposite. Scrub my comment @ 1, obviously.
I assumed you were referring to his notorious habit of “taking liberties”
(more as Araucaria than Cinephile I admit)
Well, not a bad puzzle, but very familiar for the reasons you give in your very good blog, PeeDee!
Unlucky with your biscuit there, aztobesed.
Thanks all
Rowly.
PeeDee and Rowly @ 3 and 4.
“Well that takes the biscuit” is a phrase that has often sprung to my lips when tackling this setter. It sort of means either contingency. It’s always accompanied by a chuckle. Interesting to wonder whether this puzzle was a starter that became a main course or is the bubble and sqeak concocted after the previous day’s roast. No matter, it was a satisfying snack, either way.
Many thanks PeeDee & Cinephile
GRAHAM certainly took the biscuit as a reference to Cinephile’s real name.
Maybe that was the allusion?
Thanks PeeDee and Cinephile. Enjoyed this but had to use aids in the SW corner. Don’t know why I hadn’t got MANNERED already. However, the interesting (to me) thing is that Chambers word wizard came up with both GRAHAM and ARNHEM for 22d. I remembered that there was an Arnhem land (in Northern Australia) and checked out that there was also a biscuit by that name. I confess that I didn’t check that there was a town in SA – I assumed that there would be, because of the Boer/Dutch connection. Feeling rather dull that I had lazily got it wrong, I googled Arnhem south africa: lo and behold, there is indeed such a place. So this triple-defined clue really does have two possible solutions. Maybe that does “take the biscuit”;-)
Btw, owing to the Rev’s surname, I’m sure yours is the intended answer!
Very tight food analogies at 5 Azto! Chambers says that to ‘take the biscuit’ is to ‘surpass everything else that has happened’, or ‘to be worse than anything’.
Rowly.
MikeC – I thought of ARNHEM too but didn’t know any of the refernces and didn’t bother to check it out. Lax of me. I’m not convinced that GRAHAM is the intended answer as The Rev is a very modest person. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out!
Hi MikeC – I have been looking and I can’t find a town called Arnhem in South Africa. Where did you see this?
Hi PeeDee
More egg on face for me. I didn’t check carefully enough. Try Arnhem limpopo south africa: it does “hit” on google but it’s a farm, not a town. Sorry to spread confusion.
PeeDee @ 9
Even though tomorrow is supposed never to come, it has arrived and Yes: GRAHAM is the correct answer!