One of the little pleasures in life is being a Monday Indy blogger and seeing who you’ll be up against when Quixote is enjoying a long weekend. Today it’s Raich, who has given us the usual sound and entertaining puzzle, but one that I found tricky in a number of places. In fact, make that lots of places. There are one or two where I’m a bit uncertain.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 TV series in the first place about jogger
REMINDER
A charade, of RE for ‘about’ and MINDER for the long-running TV drama.
5 Was coach tense on the radio?
TAUGHT
A homophone of TAUT.
10 Sort of lock men fit in changing times
MORTISE
An insertion of OR for Other Ranks or ‘men’ in (TIMES)* I’d always spell this MORTICE, but dictionaries give both.
11 A rating‘s heading home entering foreign sea – this one?
MARINER
Well, this is a bit convoluted, but I think it’s an insertion of A, R for the first letter of ‘rating’ and IN for ‘home’ in MER, the French word for ‘sea’. But then isn’t ‘rating’ doing double duty? Or then the definition has to be ‘this one’, which is a bit vague, since it would appear to be referring to the sea and not the rating.
12 Look over sweets, beginning to tempt, and cheese
LEICESTER
Raich is asking you to insert ICES and T in LEER. Not sure I’d ever use this word to describe cheese without RED in front of it.
13 Dreadful howler to forget English botanical feature
WHORL
(HOWL[E]R)* with ‘dreadful’ as the anagrind. A word describing an arrangement of leaves; or of course also used for a fingerprint feature.
14 Fancy set with “Adios Spain” as objective?
DISPASSIONATE
(SET ADIOS SPAIN)* with ‘fancy’ as the anagrind.
17 Account including Corinthians (italic) sadly no longer seen as relevant
ANACHRONISTIC
An insertion of (CORINTHIANS)* in AC for ‘account’. The anagrind is ‘sadly’.
21 Bleak region occasionally producing some music
LARGO
Alternate letters of bLeAk ReGiOn.
22 Writer’s reserve about team missing player causes regret
PENITENCE
A charade of PEN for ‘writer’ and an insertion of TEN in ICE for ‘reserve’. And a lot of teams (though by no means all) have eleven players, so if they were missing one, then they’d only have …
24 One trio climbing cut off
ISOLATE
It took me for ever to see this: it’s I plus SO, LA and TE for the fifth, sixth and seventh notes of the tonic sol-fa, in ascending order. Hence ‘trio climbing’.
25 Distinguished flier down leaving university disturbance
BLERIOT
A charade of BL[U]E and RIOT. Louis BLÉRIOT, ‘distinguished’ because in 1909 he became the first man to cross the Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, winning £1000 from the Daily Mail in the process. Which was a lot of dosh in those days.
26 This trade would become more interesting if American were admitted
METIER
Here’s where it helps to know a bit of French. The setter is suggesting that if you included A for ‘American’ then you’d end up with MEATIER.
27 It’s topping to try to include aged in revised format
HEADGEAR
An insertion of (AGED)* in HEAR for ‘try’ in its legal sense.
Down
1 Find out about regulation doctor introduced
RUMBLE
An insertion of MB for Medicinae Baccalaureus (Bachelor of Medicine) in RULE.
2 Joined admirer in new arrangement
MARRIED
(ADMIRER)*
3 Sound from piano is excessive
NOISE
Cleverly hidden in piaNO IS Excessive.
4 Liking Dad‘s treacle
ELECTRA COMPLEX
A reverse anagram thingy. ‘Treacle’ is (ELECTRA)* and COMPLEX is the anagrind included in the answer. The ELECTRA COMPLEX is a Jungian concept and is named after ELECTRA in Greek mythology, who plotted matricide after the death of her father, Agamemnon. The female equivalent of the OEDIPUS COMPLEX. Penis envy has a lot to answer for.
6 A right dispute over Australian native initially truculent in plant
ARROWROOT
A multi-part charade: A plus R plus ROW plus ROO plus T.
7 Craft where German’s working shifting load
GONDOLA
A charade of G, ON and (LOAD)*
8 Article about stream and river that’s exciting
THRILLER
An insertion of RILL for ‘stream’ in THE, followed by R.
9 Easily influenced author’s believing literally everything at first after media lands on island
IMPRESSIONABLE
If you want a multi-part answer, this is your baby. I’M is ‘author’s’, BLE are the first letters of Believing Literally Everything; then the setter’s asking you to insert before that PRESS for ‘media’ and IONA for the Scottish Island.
15 Half-train learner? Wise to admit it when this stage is reached?
SCHOOL AGE
Raich isn’t half flexing his cryptic muscles this morning. It’s an insertion of CHOO and L in SAGE. And of course CHOO is half of the well-known children’s train, the CHOO-CHOO. It leaves from Track 29 in its Chattanooga incarnation.
16 Political movement‘s good, alternative aims seeing united Liberals getting involved …
GAULLISM
A charade: G followed by an insertion of U LL in (AIMS)*
18 … its founder perhaps bearing left
AIRPORT
Either this is very clever or very imprecise. I’m not a betting man, but I’d put money on the former. It’s a charade of AIR and PORT and is referring to Paris’s main AIRPORT, Charles de Gaulle, named after the man who could be described as the founder of GAULLISM. But how exactly the clue points us towards the answer, I know not.
19 He opposes penalty limit
CONFINE
A charade of CON and FINE.
20 Endeavour’s creator is right
DEXTER
A dd. If you’re not a Morse fan, then you’d be putting this in from the crossing letters and the second definition. Inspector Morse was written by Colin DEXTER, and it was revealed towards the end of the series that Morse’s first name was Endeavour. I think we can forgive Raich for this clue requiring esoteric knowledge, because the fictional Morse was a keen cryptic solver, as indeed is Colin Dexter. If you haven’t come across this before, have a quick look here.
From the Latin DEXTRA (cf SINISTRA for ‘left’). And it’s a right-handed world: DEXTROUS implies something positive, while SINISTER certainly doesn’t. Personally, I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous. Sorry.
23 Fashion tip tailor’s disheartened over
TREND
A charade of TR (‘tailor’ with its internal letters removed) and END.
Many thanks to Raich for today’s puzzle. I am going for a little lie-down now.
Thanks for the blog, Pierre. I agree that Raich was being on the tricky side with this one. I didn’t see the ‘climbing trio’, so special thanks for that. It makes a nice change from the usual I SO LATE charade.
I came to the same conclusions as you about 11ac and 18dn.
Many thanks for the Colin Dexter link [Oh I do miss Morse!]. [Incidentally, DEXTER and SINISTER are both Latin words – the masculine form, DEXTRA and SINISTRA being the feminine.]
Like you, I would expect to see the cheese prefixed by ‘Red’, even here in Leicester, but I did find this: http://www.britishcheese.com/redleicester . It made a nice surface for the clue, though.
I also liked ANACHRONISTIC and ELECTRA COMPLEX.
Many thanks to Raich for an enjoyable challenge to start the week.
Thanks for the blog, Pierre. I liked your joke @ clue #20d.
I liked 14a, 6d, 22a, 23d, 19d, 3d and my favourites were 4d ELECTRA COMPLEX , 15d SCHOOL AGE & 9d IMPRESSIONABLE.
New word for me was MORTISE.
I could not parse 25a.
For 11a, I parsed the definition as “this one” referring to “a rating” (ie the rating who was “heading home entering foreign sea”). I had already used “foreign sea” to get MER, so I though that “this one” can refer back to “A rating” at the beginning of the clue.
I thought 18d was very clever. The full name of the founder of Gaullism = the name of an airport. It was the first time I have truly appreciated the ellipses between a pair of related clues.
Gratias agimus tibi, Eileen. My Latin is extremely rusty, whereas yours is coruscating. (And yes, I got the first bit from Google translate …)
Thanks for the cheesy link.
I must have been on Raich’s wavelength this morning because I rattled through this one. All of the long answers, with the exception of ELECTRA COMPLEX (my LOI after I got the cheese), went in as soon as I read the clues. The only reason I don’t have a problem with LEICESTER as a cheese is because I have seen it before in at least one other puzzle, but I have only ever seen Red Leicester in the shops. I didn’t have a problem with MARINER or the clue for it and I thought the GAULLISM/AIRPORT linked clues were pretty good.
Actually found Rufus harder today(!) Last two were the linked clues with airport blindsiding me for a while. Electra was my way in as the clue shouted reverse anagram thingy.
Thanks Pierre for ISOLATE which i’d given up trying to understand and Raich for the lunchtime diversion.
The def is ‘Charles de Gualle perhaps’ which I think is good.
Many thanks for the excellent blog, Pierre, and to all for their comments. Re MARINER, michelle at #2 is right – the definition is ‘this one’ with the rest of the clue being the wordplay. Also, Rowland at #6 is correct about the definition for AIRPORT. I’ve learned quite a bit about cheese this morning but LEICESTER appears in dicts on its own as a cheese all right.
Enjoyed this. Nothing wrong with MARINER at all – good clue.
Thanks to Raich and Pierre.
Hi Raich
I wasn’t complaining about the cheese – it’s always nice to get a mention. Bannsider once defined LEICESTER as ‘fifteen – outageous, but I loved it! [Wrong shaped ball for you, I think.]
I struggled today. The connection Gaullism -> Charles de Gaulle -> AIRPORT seems rather hard work. You have solve two clues to enter one answer. All other clues parse well, but the actual phrasing is rather tortuous in many cases. As a musician, I loved ISOLATE.
I also struggled a bit today, but then, I’ve all along been thinking that Raich was a woman – – – and sometimes I get the answers in a sort of delayed action with ‘her’ puzzles.
Raich female? Hmm. No he’s quite a nice irish gentleman.
Merci Pierre! We solved 24ac without knowing why and came here fairly promptly to check so that we could get some much needed shut-eye.
We enjoyed the puzzle but were not that happy about the airport link. Now that we know how 24ac was parsed we forgive Raich as it was very clever.
All in all a good start to the week.
You can solve two clues and enter one answer if you want to Poddy: being a coward, I’d probably enter the two answers and hope to get some extra crossing letters.
But seriously, 16 & 18 were rather nicely worked, were they not, contiguous, and begging for a bit of ellipsis? All I checked was the definition for GAULLISM, which I thought might have been just some general Frenchiness in politics, but I see it’s directly related to the opinions of CDG, and CDG alone.
Great puzzle from Raich, lovely blog from Pierre.