There’s nothing like seeing the New Year in in style, and that’s exactly what Anax does with his first offering of 2014.
I found this puzzle rather challenging, and not only because I have been in a semi-vegetative state for the past week owing to festive over-indulgence. For me, this was one of those puzzles where the letters already in the grid and the definition parts of the clues often led me to the answers, leaving me to do a lot of head-scratching to crack the wordplay. However, I feel that I have got there in the end with all but one clue, 17, where I don’t understand the function of “- without”. I look forward to being enlightened by fellow solvers – done, thank you!
The term at 23 was completely new to me and needed to be tracked down on Google, nor did I know the book at 1D or the bomb at 10. I had come across 19 before but had forgotten the meaning. As for my pick of today’s clues, I would go for the linked clues at 9 and 21, for being such a clever spot on Anax’s part; 24 for sheer flair in the wordplay, although it took some spotting; and 4 for sheer originality.
If this puzzle is anything to go by, we will have a lot of fun and games in store in 2014 from Anax and his fellow tormentors.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | TRIFFID | Killing growth is brilliant if the end moves one on
TRIFFI-D for C (=brilliant, i.e. slang form of terrific); “if the end moves one on” means that the last letter is replaced by the next letter in the alphabet; the reference is to the murderous plants in John Wyndham’s 1951 novel The Day of the Triffids |
| 05 | PATCHES | Beds – perfectly abbreviated county
PAT (=perfectly) + CHES (=abbreviated county, i.e. Cheshire); beds are patches, borders in a garden, e.g. vegetable patch |
| 09 | THE WOMAN IN WHITE | Novel visualised by 21
ASHEN (=entry at 21) is a visualisation of “the woman” (=SHE) in a word meaning “white” (=ASHEN); the reference is to Wilkie Collins’ 1859 novel |
| 10 | MILLS | Bomb // factories
Double definition: MILLS are factories, plants AND a Mills bomb is a type of grenade used by the British forces in both World Wars |
| 11 | TOODLE-PIP | So long clue for ‘lackey’ uses Spoonerism
POODLE TIP (=clue for ‘lackey’) as a Spoonerism becomes TOODLE-PIP |
| 12 | COS | Lettuce damage reduced
COS<t> (=damage, as in What’s the damage?); “reduced” means last letter is dropped |
| 14 | OVERPROTECT | Mother supporting investigator in public
[PRO (=supporting) + TEC (=investigator, i.e. detective)] in OVERT (=public) |
| 16 | FAMILY-OWNED | Involving old man & wifey?
*(OLD MAN + WIFEY); partially & lit. |
| 17 | END | Remainder – without residue
EN D<ash> (= -; “without residue (=ASH)” means letters “ash” are dropped); A – is an en dash in printing |
| 19 | AUTOS-DA-FE | Public executions sorted out in supermarket, fine when empty
[*(OUT) in ASDA (=supermarket)] + F<in>E (“when empty” means all middle letters are dropped); “sorted” is anagram indicator; the reference is to executions at the time of the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal, literally acts of faith |
| 21 | ASHEN | Stonewash ensures clothes bleached
Hidden (“clothes”) in “stonewASH ENsures” |
| 23 | CONVERSATION PIT | Dig for gas?
Cryptic definition: a conversation pit is a room layout incorporating a lower-level, carved-out (=dig) seating area conducive to conversation (=gas) |
| 24 | SECONDO | Part of duet that makes “SOS” average?
SO-S<o> (=average) is made by adding a second “O” to SOS; the secondo is the lower part in a duet |
| 25 | RATHOLE | Dirty room in hotel is in character
[AT (=in) + H (=hotel)] in ROLE (=character) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | TOTEMIC | Carry Biblical work for worship?
TOTE (=carry) + MIC (=Biblical work, i.e. The Book of Micah) |
| 02 | IDEAL | Dream one has to share
I (=one) + DEAL (=share); dream is ideal, perfect, ultimate, as an adjective |
| 03 | FOOTSTOOL | Female booty’s overly round for pouffe
F (=female) + [LOOT (=booty)’S + TOO (=overly); “round” indicates a reversal)] |
| 04 | DO AS THE ROMANS DO | Adapt to local fare?
Fare is to do in Italian, hence “local (to Rome) fare”; partially & lit. |
| 05 | POISON-PEN LETTER | No sleepin’ around when Harry crosses enemy lines?
*(NO SLEEPIN’) in POTTER (=Harry, i.e. in novels by J K Rowling); cryptically, “enemy lines” would be penned by someone who dislikes one, hence poison-pen letter |
| 06 | TOWEL | To fit shortened bathroom item
TO + WEL<l> (=fit); “shortened” means last letter dropped |
| 07 | HAIRPIECE | One repeatedly cuts cheaper woven rug
I + I (=one; “repeatedly cuts” means inserted separately) in *(CHEAPER); “woven” is anagram indicator |
| 08 | STEWPOT | Jam sandwiches soak up casserole
TEW (WET=soak; “up” indicates vertical reversal) in SPOT (=jam, as in in a tight spot) |
| 13 | SEMITONIC | Of sound, muffling release of some musical notes
EMIT (=release) in SONIC (=of sound) |
| 15 | ODD MAN OUT | One different amount
The solution is a cryptic clue to the wordplay, i.e. *(MAN OUT) to give “amount”, with “odd” as anagram indicator |
| 16 | FIANCES | Men engaged in resources ditching first quarter
FI<n>ANCES (=resources); “ditching first quarter” means that the first of N, E, S or W (=quarters) to appear in word is dropped |
| 18 | DINETTE | Sink to keep clear in kitchen area
NETT (=clear, e.g. of charges) in DIE (=sink) |
| 20 | SKEIN | Birds flying east, captured in film
E (=east) in SKIN (=film, i.e. thin coating) |
| 22 | HIPPO | Beast in river
HIP (=in, i.e. trendy) + PO (=river, i.e. in Italy) |
17a:
Remainder = def
– without residue = en dash (-ash)
Chambers has
– en dash or en rule noun (printing)
A dash that is one en long, used as a punctuation mark
Thanks to setter and blogger. For 20 I had SHEEN, which sort of fits, but I see now isn’t the correct answer, and I missed some of the cleverness of the word play in a few other clues (eg 4 &17), as so ably explained by blogger and B@1.
? Anything to MILLS and TOODLE PIP at 10 and 11 (think Dickens), plus a few other literary refs.
Overall pretty hard-going!
I managed to get there without recourse to aids but it was a struggle. Well blogged RR, although I’m sure you would have preferred a simpler introduction to 2014. Thanks to B@1 for parsing END because I couldn’t see it although the answer was obvious enough. Note to self: when there is unusual punctuation in a clue it is usually there for a reason …….
I struggled most in the SW corner and FIANCES was my LOI after SEMITONIC and SECONDO.
Hi WordPlodder @2
Sorry you had to post your comment three times and still it didn’t appear. It was intercepted by Akismet, the spam filter, and put into the queue for me to check. I cannot see why your original comment was considered to be spam (this usually occurs due to multiple links being included), but the second two attempts to add a comment will have correctly intercepted because of their similarity to the first one.
Thanks RR and Anax: a good challenge. Like WordPlodder@2 I had SHEEN for 20d – HENS “flying” (=anag), with East “captured – definition “film”. The actual answer is neater but this seems quite respectable to me!
As far as the suggestions of the alternative SHEEN for 20dn are concerned, it would require the use of an indirect anagram which is usually a no-no.
Thanks Anax for a very enjoyable challenge and RR for the blog. Favourite clues 24ac and 22dn.
17ac: No blame to Anax, but the dash on my printed copy (using Crossword Solver) looks a bit short to me for an en dash. A very nice clue if printed properly.
23ac: I guessed that there might be such a thing as a condensation pit, as a means of accessing gas trapped below the ground. This is the problem with one part cryptic definitions: if you do not get the setter’s idea, you have nowhere else to turn.
15dn: I would prefer a question mark on the end of this clue to indicate the inverse clue type. As always, I have no quarrel with anyone whose preferences differ from mine.
We struggled with this one last night – hence the comment this morning as we have only just completed it.
We did feel at first that some of the clues were a little over-complicated but on reflection we just seemed to be on the wrong wavelength.
We also couldn’t parse 17ac so many thanks to B@1.
Thanks to RR and Anax.
Thanks, B! I would never have fathomed 17 out. As has been said, one should always look closely at more unusual punctuation. The blog has been amended accordingly.