It’s the last Wednesday of the month, so it’s a Crosophile puzzle.
This is a crossword that contains words that I would consider to be in every day usage. I may not use OBELI and HEXAMETERS as much as some of the others, but I don’t think they can be considered obscure words. Perhaps the meaning of RODE as ‘undisturbed’ in the wordplay of 15 across is unusual, but it is clearly set out in dictionaries.
The clues were fair, possibly a bit on the less complex side in the Downs where I note I rarely have felt the need to illustrate the wordplay construction in many colours.
My favourite clue today was the one for OUTHOUSES (11 across) with its poultry surface. I also liked the clue for AVOCADO (13 across). I’m not a great fan of cryptic definitions, but I smiled at the clue for TURNSTILE when the penny finally dropped.
I saw the request in yesterday’s comments for bloggers to put any Ninas after the solution. I think if bloggers put Ninas at the very end then they might not be noticed, but I have kept today’s Nina to the conclusion of my personal ramblings.
There were a lot of Ls in the grid – in all but one of the cells in each of row 14 and all but one [two] of the cells in column 2. These are the only Ls in the grid. There are 13 in all but I am not sure if there is any significance in that as Crosophile usually appears about once every month in the weekday paper. The Ls form an ill-proportioned L shape. [thanks to Muffyword at comment 3] L of course is the Roman numeral for 50. 1 Across gives us FIFTY-FIFTY, so I guess Crosophile is trying to tell us something. A little bit of research using the Search function on Fifteensquared shows that Crosophile has produced 49 previous puzzles for the Independent on Tuesdays, Wednesdays [predominantly], Thursday and Sundays [once a quarter I think] since he first appeared in January 2011. The weekday puzzles latterly usually feature on the last Wednesday of the month to give Dac a rest. Sometimes though Crosophile is bumped to a Tuesday or Thursday if the relevant Wednesday is associated with some anniversary or special occasion. Well actually there are a couple of Mondays and one Saturday prize puzzle in the previous 49 as well. Her’s to the next 50!
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Across |
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|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay |
Entry |
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1
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Level at both ends? (5-5)
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FIFTY-FIFTY (I think the word play here is simply that the values at the beginning and the end [both ends] are the same – FIFTY) Writinghawk at comment 2 has given a much better parsing of this. There is an L (fifty) at both ends of the word LEVEL |
FIFTY-FIFTY (half and half; equal either ways; level)
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6
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Fancy a couple of choc-ices – and another! (4)
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CH (two letters of [a couple of] CHOC) + IC (two letters of [a couple of] ICES])
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CHIC (smart; elegant; fancy)
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10
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Keep away from Uncle Arthur (5)
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CLEAR (hidden word in [from] UNCLE ARTHUR)
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CLEAR (keep away [?]) I’m struggling to find a dictionary definition that actually matches ‘keep away’, but obviously CLEAR is the required entry
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11
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Ramshackle hut for keeping of ducks benefits more than one of them? (9)
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(Anagram of [ramshackle] HUT contained in [for keeping of] [O {zero, duck} + O {zero; duck}]) + USES (benefits) O (UTH*) O USES |
OUTHOUSES (more than one place where ducks may be kept. OUTHOUSES may well be ramshackle huts)
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12
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Latitude has no urban area to speak of (6)
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LAXITY (sounds like [to speak of] LACKS [has no] CITY [urban area])
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LAXITY (freedom; latitude)
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13
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Fruit and Cava cocktail with dash of orange at start of party (7)
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(Anagram of [cocktail)] CAVA containing [with a dash of] O [first letter of {at start of} ORANGE]) + DO (party) AV (O) CA* DO |
AVOCADO (fruit)
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| 15 |
Terminal put in office remained undisturbed (9)
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ELECT (put in office) + RODE (remained undisturbed, as in ‘RODE out the storm’)
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ELECTRODE (a conductor by which a current of electricity enters or leaves an electrolytic cell, terminal)
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17
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Carry maiden over as a sign of respect (5)
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TOTE (carry) + M (maiden over in cricket notation) Note that ‘over’ is not signifying a reversal in this clue
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TOTEM (any outward symbol given undue respect)
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19
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Maybe John‘s left in college (5)
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L (left) contained in (in) ETON (reference ETON College) E (L) TON |
ELTON (reference ELTON John, singer songwriter)
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| 21 |
Precious little time to put mind at rest with son missing (9)
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T (abbreviation for [little] time) + (REASSURED [put mind at rest] excluding [missing] S [son])
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TREASURED (precious)
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23
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Include slosh on the insides in remedy for blockage (7)
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LOS (middle letters of [on the inside] SLOSH) contained in (in) CURE (remedy) C (LOS) URE |
CLOSURE (blockage)
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25
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Very little to be got from adolescents at end of the day (6)
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TEENS (teenagers; adolescents) + Y (last letter of [end of] DAY)
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TEENSY (very little)
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27
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They raise tax – or else beaten up outside (9)
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Anagram of (beaten up) OR ELSE containing (outside) VAT (Value Added Tax) ELE (VAT) ORS* |
ELEVATORS (things that lift up; they raise)
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28
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Group of hunters travel on horses after piece of prey (5)
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P (first letter of [piece of] PREY) + RIDE (travel on horses)
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PRIDE (reference a PRIDE of lions; group of hunters)
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29
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Dodgy bloke giving bigwigs the runaround (4)
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VIPS (Very Important Persons) reversed (the runaround) SPIV< |
SPIV (someone who makes money by dubious means; dodgy bloke)
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30
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Lines seen in poetry test – there’s working in the margins (10)
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EXAM (test) contained in (in the margins) an anagram of (working) THERE’S H (EXAM) ETERS* |
HEXAMETERS (lines of verse of six measures or feet; (in Greek and Latin verse) ; lines seen in poetry test)
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| Down | |||
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1
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Stand up to loud one (4)
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F (forte; loud) + ACE (one)
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FACE (stand up to)
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2
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Bail Bond for an existentialist? (4,5)
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FREE (bail [give liberty to by the paying of a bond]) + AGENT (reference James Bond, 007)
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FREE AGENT (an existentialist believes in people as moral FREE AGENTs)
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3
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Suspect Kelvin is Tory – he’s no supporter of the red rose (7)
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Anagram of (suspect) (K [Kelvin, a unit of thermodynamic temperature] and IS TORY)
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YORKIST (supporter of the White Rose of YORKshire or to be more precise the White rose of the House of YORK Thanks to IanSW3 at comment 1; no supporter of the [Lancastrian; House of Lancaster] red rose)
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4
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Merchant’s partner is white (5)
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IVORY (reference the film company Merchant IVORY, founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant (d. 2005) and director James IVORY)
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IVORY (creamy-white colour; white)
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5
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Much-copied note about a private conversation (4-1-4)
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TE (note of the tonic solfa) appearing four times (much copied)and containing (about) A between the second and third occurrence TE TE (A) TE TE |
TETE-A-TETE (private confidential interview)
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7
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Decorative plant with a large mass on top (5)
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HOST (great multitude; large mass) + A
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HOSTA (a decorative plant)
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8
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Christian Union’s very keen to be in book that’s specially designed (6-4)
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CU’S (Christian Union’s) + (MAD [very keen] contained in [to be in] TOME [book]) CUS TOM (MAD) E |
CUSTOM-MADE (specially designed)
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9
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Fudge is cold and old leading to sulky look (3-3)
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C (cold) + O (ld) + POUT (sulky look)
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COP-OUT (avoid or evade responsibility for,; fudge)
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14
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Prayers and bishop’s energy on his patch encourages when half-hearted (10)
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B (bishops) + E (energy) + SEE (a Bishop’s area of responsibility; his patch) + (CHEERS [encourages] excluding one of the two middle letters [half-hearted] E)
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BESEECHERS (people who pray; prayers)
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16
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He’d one lot out and getting the benefit (2,3,4)
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Anagram of (out) HE’D ONE LOT
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ON THE DOLE (receiving benefit payments)
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18
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Person’s admitted using this revolver (9)
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TURNSTILE (means of letting one person in at a time)
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TURNSTILE (revolving frame) cryptic definition
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20
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Sitting on the fence after time out becoming nervous (6)
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NEUTRAL (taking no side; sitting on the fence) excluding (out) T (time)
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NEURAL (of or relating to the nerves; nervous)
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22
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Dear Lord excommunicates just the heads in upper part of church (7)
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STEEP (excessive; expensive; dear) + LE (first letters of [just the heads] each of LORD and EXCOMMUNICATE)
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STEEPLE (spire; upper part of a church)
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24
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Daggers visible in strobe lighting (5)
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OBELI (hidden word in [in] STROBE LIGHTING)
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OBELI (dagger-signs used in printing especially in referring to footnotes)
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25
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Least eccentric inventor (5)
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Anagram of (eccentric) LEAST
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TESLA (reference Nikola TESLA [1856 – 1943] Serbian American inventor best known for his contribution to the design and development of modern Alternating Current electricity supply systems )
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26
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Fish from undersides of boats, a thousand less (4)
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KEELS (the part of a ship extending along the bottom from stem to stern,; undersides of boats) excluding (less) K (kilo; one thousand)
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EELS (fish)
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Thanks, Duncan and Crosophile.
I think it might be more accurate to say a Yorkist is a (or was) a supporter of the House of York, rather than of Yorkshire.
I think the idea of 1a is that LEVEL has an L (fifty) at both ends.
Thanks for pointing out the nina – I never spot them. (You mean all but *two* cells in column 2.)
Thanks Duncan and Crosophile,
The Ls are in an L shape, which could be thought of as a fifty made out of fifties.
HEXAMETERS was my favourite.
IanSW3, Writinghawk and Muffyword @ 1, 2 and 3
Thanks – I think I’ve now covered all your points in the blog.
I just enjoyed the puzzle, and although the hidden message went over my head, congratulations to Crosophile for his fiftieth. Found it a bit trickier than normal, perhaps due to having to fit in all the Ls. Thought LAXITY was a clever homophone and being a fan of cds, I liked TURNSTILE too.
Thanks for blogging, Duncan.
An enjoyable puzzle, although the nina went over my head. Count me as another who isn’t a huge fan of CDs but thought that the one for TURNSTILE was a good one. I had the top half completed relatively quickly but was much slower in the SW, and once that was completed I went back to 30ac where my LOI was HEXAMETERS.
Nice. Hard in places but the Ls probably forced that. Well done to Crosophile on his half century, only taken 4 years, even Boycott was quicker than that. 🙂
Thanks very much Duncan for another of your amazing blogs and for your detective work on the ‘fifty’ nina. (I’m currently halfway through the across clues of #54). And thanks too for all the other clarifications and comments.
Congratulations to Crossophile and many thanks for the puzzle today. We missed the Ls unfortunately but they do explain the number of slightly unusual words.
Now all is revealed thanks to Duncan’s blog – another tour de force!