Radian has served up one of his characteristic themed puzzles for this week’s Tuesday slot.
I found this a medium-difficulty Radian crossword, with fairly accessible gateway clues, but with enough intricate cross references to make it a challenge and enough flair and originality to make it an enjoyable solve. I say gateway clues in plural in that there were two, at 7/16 and at 12/21, and solving either of them would have helped with the other since the semantic field is the same. Radian has cleverly exploited the cryptic potential of 21 as an anagram indicator for the entry at 12. Obviously, once you twigged what he was doing, the solutions at 22A and 22D slotted into place fairly quickly.
I enjoyed this puzzle very much overall, but if pressed to nominate clues-of-the day, I would plump for 4, for its original construction, and 26, for its cleverly disguised definition.
I found myself wondering what purists would have thought of “here and there” to indicate the selection of alternate letters at 9, or indeed of 12 and 18 both appearing as grid entries, although neither of these potential quibbles bothered me unduly in what was such an entertaining puzzle.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 08 | VERBALLY | Extremely entertaining dance, so to speak
BALL (=dance) in VERY (=extremely) |
| 09 | ESPRIT | Sparkling quality of Welsh persists here and there
<w>E<l>S<h> P<e>R<s>I<s>T<s>; “here and there” is used here to mean alternative letters only |
| 10 | CANT | Type 16 hasn’t the ability without 6
CAN‘T (=hasn’t the ability); “without apostrophe” (=entry at 6); cant is a “type of speech” (=entry at 16) |
| 11 | CLEAR AS MUD | Obscure record covers as a rule mad Mike collected
*(AS A RULE + M (=Mike, i.e. in radio telecommunications)) in CD (=record); “mad” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | REPORTED | Type 16 embarrassed about ornate trope
*(TROPE) in RED (=embarrassed); “ornate” is anagram indicator; reported (speech) is a “type of speech” (=entry at 16) in linguistics, e.g. He said that …. |
| 15 | ORATION | Type 16 surgery bans exercises
O<pe>RATION (=surgery); “bans exercises (=PE)” means letters “pe” are not used; an oration is a “type of speech” (=entry at 16) |
| 17 | INSPIRE | Move home – father’s penny-pinching
IN (=(at) home) + [P (=penny) in SIRE (=sire)] |
| 20 | STACKS UP | Chimneys erected? Makes sense
STACKS (=chimneys) + UP (=erected) |
| 22 | SHERPA | 21/12 porter
*(PHRASE); “turn of” is anagram indicator; “turn of phrase” is entry at 21/12; sherpas often carry mountaineers’ equipment, hence “porter” |
| 23 | TROLLEY CAR | Fancy Tracey enjoying it in tram!
ROLL (=it, i.e. sex) in *(TRACEY); “fancy” is anagram indicator |
| 24 | PART | Separate article, for example, if 16 follows
The (definite/indefinite) article is a “part of speech” (=entry at 16); to separate is to part, split |
| 25 | POETIC | Quote work that’s revolutionary like Byron’s
CITE (=quote) + OP (=work); “that’s revolutionary” indicates reversal |
| 26 | RIPENESS | Mature stage writer rises, bent over
PEN (=writer, i.e. writing implement) in *(RISES); “bent” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | METAPHOR | 7/16 does poet harm
*(POET HARM); “does” is used here as anagram indicator; a metaphor is a “figure of speech” (=entry at 7/16) |
| 02 | OBIT | Remarks on passing old 24A
O (=old) + BIT (=part, i.e. entry at 24A); cryptically, an obit(uary) is a set of remarks made when someone passes away, hence “on passing” |
| 03 | CLICHE | Tired 21/12 shocked Chronicle after Ron quit
*(CH<ron>ICLE); “shocked” is anagram indicator; “after Ron quit” means letters “ron” are dropped from anagram; a cliché is a “tired – i.e. hackneyed, overused – turn of phrase” (=entry at 21/12) |
| 04 | BY HEART | Music by Rogers, lyrics —, sung from memory
Homophone (“sung”) of Hart; the reference is to the song-writing partnership between composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart, hence “music by Rodgers, lyrics by Hart” |
| 05 | TERRAPIN | Swimmer hauls up one salmon in net
[I (=one) + PARR (=salmon)] in NET; “hauls up” indicates vertical reversal |
| 06 | APOSTROPHE | A 24A/16 initially, 7/16 Henry put into punctuation
A + P<art> O<f> S<peech> (=entry at 24A/16; “initially” means first letters only) + [H (=Henry in TROPE (=figure of speech, i.e. entry at 7/16)] |
| 07/16 | FIGURE OF SPEECH | Huge fee for pics spoiled rhetorical feature
*(HUGE FEE FOR PICS); “spoiled” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | ARTICULATE | Showing fluency 16 // with joints
Double definition: articulate means “showing fluency of speech (=entry at 16)” AND “with joints”, i.e. connected, not disjointed |
| 18 | REPHRASE | Note E sharp’s transposed, put differently
RE (=note, i.e. in music) + *(E SHARP); “transposed” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | EPICURE | English film disheartened bon vivant
E (=English) + PIC<t>URE (=film; “disheartened” means middle letter dropped) |
| 21/12 | TURN OF PHRASE | Trope shaper?
*(SHAPER); “turn of” is anagram indicator; here, the grid entry is a cryptic clue to the wordplay element of the clue proper |
| 22 | SERAPH | 21/12 angel
*(PHRASE); “turn of” is anagram indicator; “turn of phrase” is entry at 21/12 |
| 24 | PUNS | People like me like them turned head to tail
S-PUN (=turned); “head to tail” means first letter goes to end of word; “people like me”, from Radian’s perspective, are crossword compilers! |
Well summed up RR. A very entertaining puzzle indeed. PUNS was my LOI after RIPENESS.
I agree with Andy B!
Thanks, RR, for the blog and Radian for a cracker of a puzzle – brilliant stuff and a lot of fun to work out. [And blow the purists!]
Re 10ac: the answer to 6 is APOSTROPHE, so the wordplay is CANT = CAN’T, without the apostrophe.
Thanks, Eileen, for the correction – how amazing that the clue in question worked with both apostrophe and figure, although less well with figure, as the clue suggested can’t, not cannot.
I am blogging from a hotel in Riga, jumping between screens, since the dodgy printer at the hotel won’t let me print out the puzzle, hence the confusion. Business travel and blogging are not always easy activities to combine 😉
Hi RR
I know how easy it is to misread clue numbers. 🙁
Have a good trip!
Agree with others, ingenious clueing, entertaining puzzle. Thanks to Radian and RatkojaRiku.
18D the anagram is of E SHARP.
Thanks RR. When I see Radian’s name on a puzzle I usually expect a tough one, and with it being themed one, I was a bit apprehensive. But it was all clearly clued and most enjoyable – thank you to the setter. I especially liked the way Radian interlinked all the themed clues.
K’s D @ 7: I second those remarks.
Usually, Tuesday is a day on not completing the crossword for me, but this was a pleasant surprise. Got the gateway clues quickly and after that it mostly came out. Couldn’t see 24dn at which point I went for a walk, and it came to me almost as soon as I’d gone out the door. So, easier than yesterday’s even.
I found this easier than yesterday, despite thinking it would be awful when I saw all those interlinked clues. I got figure of speech as soon as I looked at it, which gave the theme away. Thankfully, there weren’t too many obscure figure of speech words (no synecdoche or aposiopesis). The only one I didn’t quite follow was 23 – thought the roll bit was something to do with “rolling in it”.
Joyce’s brain was somewhat addled last night and this morning when the puzzle was completed but Bert would agree that this was a very entertaining puzzle! Crafty combinations and inventive clueing.
After reading the comments Joyce now wishes she hadn’t walked so far yesterday and drunk so much afterwards! Sorry Radian, she promises to do better next time.
Thanks RR, hope the work is going well – thanks for the blog! We can recommend retirement and walking the North Norfolk coastal path!