A mixed difficulty puzzle from Io, something for everyone. Things started off quite comfortably in the top left corner and then got progressively harder and harder as I moved through the grid. There are a couple that I still can’t fully explain, any help appreciated. Thanks Io.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SPECIAL | Peculiar records of the people both given a spin (7) |
| EPS (extended play records) and LAIC (of the people) both reversed (given a spin) | ||
| 5 | SCALADE | Fell on young man’s digit, neglecting to drive up the wall (7) |
| SCA (fell, Sca Fell in Cumbria) on LAD (young man) has toE (digit) missing (neglecting) TO – definition is ‘ |
||
| 10 | UNLUCKY THIRTEEN | Clue, hint and key turn out charmless Rugby League team? (7,8) |
| anagram (out) of CLUE, HINT and KEY TURN – definition is ‘charmles Rugby League team’, a cryptic definition rather than a literal one | ||
| 11 | SYSTEM | Time taken by horribly messy method (6) |
| T (time) following (taken by) MESSY* anagram=horribly | ||
| 12 | PIN-MONEY | Pence in my pockets one example of it? (3-5) |
| P (pence) IN then MY contains (pockets) ONE – small sum of money for spending on non-essentials, originally from buying pins for ladies hats and dresses | ||
| 13 | KILOWATT | Unit charged to the customer’s current account? (8) |
| cryptic definition | ||
| 15 | INCOME | What you make during business goes to me (6) |
| IN (during) CO (companjy, business) with (goes to) ME – definition is ‘what you make’. This can also be read as an &lit with ‘what you make’ read as an instruction to the solver to create a word from the following items… | ||
| 17 | STINGO | Policeman that was given to love and vigour (6) |
| STING (policeman that was) with (given to) O (love, zero tennis) – definition is ‘vigour’. Sting is the stage name of Gordon Sumner, former leader of the band The Police. | ||
| 19 | OPPONENT | Choose to accept P-A-N as rival? (8) |
| OPT (choose) contains (to accept) P ONE (A) N – definition is ‘rival’. The dashes indicate that the P,A and N have to be treated separately. | ||
| 21 | BEAU NASH | Remains after cremation to talk about Welsh popinjay (4,4) |
| sounds like (to talk about) “bone ash” (remains after cremation) – Beau Nash was a celebrated 18th century dandy, born in Swansea, Wales | ||
| 23 | SYNODS | In cycling tourists do NY state councils (6) |
| found in touristS DO NY State reversed (cycling, going round) | ||
| 25 | A LOT TO ANSWER FOR | Awkwardly careless telephone bidding may leave you this (1,3,2,6,3) |
| Definition could be ‘bidding may leave you this’, possibly ‘telephone bidding…’ or ‘careless telephone bidding…’ but I can’t explain the rest. | ||
| 26 | ITERATE | Ignorant, badly off again, say (7) |
| ILLITERATE with ILL (badly) missing (off) – definition is ‘again say’ | ||
| 27 | PRIMATE | Edge maintained by the head churchman (7) |
| RIM (edge) in (maintained by) PATE (the head) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2, 14 | PENNY-IN-THE-SLOT | Coin-operated “split”? (5- 2-3-4) |
| “split” is P (penny) in SLIT (the slot) – a clue in reverse | ||
| 3, 16 | COUNTDOWN CONUNDRUM | New arrangement required for end of show that may be crucial (9,9) |
| COUNTDOWN CONUNDRUM – the Countdown Conundrum is an anagram puzzle (new arrangement required) at the end of the TV show Countdown. I cant explain ‘that maybe crucial’. Crucial could refer to a cross, but I can’t see how this helps. It could be that crucial refers to the possibility that the Countdown Conundrum could decide the winner if the scores are close, but this does not seem cryptic in any way, just some verbiage at the end of the clue. (see Eileen’s comment @1) | ||
| 4 | ACK EMMA | Baking cake, mum’s wasted a morning at army base (3,4) |
| CAKE* anagram=baking MaMA (mum) has A missing (wasted a) – army slang for AM (morning). | ||
| 6 | CHIANTI | Red 19 of X? (7) |
| ANTI (opponent of) CHI (Greek letter shaped like an X) – an Italian wine, typically red | ||
| 7 | LET GO | Give up what requires reserve energy (3,2) |
| LET (re-serve, in tennis) GO (energy) | ||
| 8, 24 | DIEU ET MON DROIT | Part of the Queen’s Arms routine – odd item out? (4,2,3,5) |
| (ROUTINE – ODD ITEM)* out=anagram – written on The Queen’s coat of arms | ||
| 9 | STOP AT NOTHING | 3 will be ruthless (4,2,7) |
| double definition – ‘countdown will’ and ‘be ruthless’ | ||
| 14 | See 2 | |
| 16 | See 3 | |
| 18 | OF A SORT | Inferior sofas or tables? 7 in a row (2,1,4) |
| found in ( |
||
| 20 | POST-WAR | The norm to accept couples swapping halves after engagement (4-3) |
| PAR (the norm) cinains (to accept) TWOS (couples) with front and back hlaves swapped – definition is ‘after engagement’. I think of an engagement as a battle rather than a war, but I’m not complaining. | ||
| 22 | UTTER | Extreme state (5) |
| double definition | ||
| 24 | See 8 | |
*anagram
Thanks, PeeDee, for a great blog and Io for a great puzzle – which I actually managed to finish!
Re 3,16: I haven’t watched Countdown since Richard Whitely’s days but he certainly often used to refer to a ‘crucial conundrum’, in the circumstances you suggest, as here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmLEZpCUD7Q
I’m puzzled by 18dn, too.
Thanks Eileen. I’m on a mobile but will update the blog when I get to a proper keboard
Perhaps 18 down just refers to 7 consecutive letters? That’s the way I took it.
For 18d, I had the definition as “inferior”=”of a sort” i.e. just about adequate, poor quality; and the “7 in a row” as the inclusion indicator.
That said I got stuck in that corner – I thought of STINGO but just dimissed it as a cornish beer and didn’t think hard enough.
… and for 25 I thought…
“Awkwardly”=”a lot to answer for” as in “his waltz left a lot to answer for” i.e. missing something, missing style. Bit of a stretch I thought!
Then “careless telephone bidding..” is simply a cryptic definition i.e. you may end up with an auction lot if you are careless. However “telephone” seems a bit spurious?
Thanks for blog and thanks to IO for a challenge.
On reflection I’m probably allowing myself to confuse it with “a lot to desire”…
(Sorry for repeated posts..!)
For 25, I think the definition is “awkwardly careless”. Have a lot to answer for = be cause of a problem or unpleasant situation.
The rest of the clue is a cryptic definition / pun
I can’t see ‘awkwardly careless’ as a definition. To be careless in an awkward manner? What on earth does that mean? Could you say “He has awkwardly careless” in place of “He has a lot to answer for”?
To have a lot to answer for makes one very culpable. but not necessarily careless or even awkwardly so.
Eileen @1 – thanks for the link to the Richard Whitely video, he was a genius of irony and gentle self-deprecation.
I spent many hours watching countdown as a student instead of working. I can’t understand how I failed to notice his ‘crucial’ byline, I must have been half asleep or something. Now I come to think of it…
Thanks for the blog, PeeDee.
For SCALADE, Chambers only gives ‘an escalade’, so I think the definition
in 5ac must be in place of a noun: drive up the wall.
This may be too far-fetched for a possible homophone in 25ac:
If you were intending to “allot TWO” but actually said “FOUR”
the telephone bid would certainly be embarrassingly careless!
Thanks mike04, well spotted. OED had scalade as both noun and verb, but TO has already been used in ‘toe’, so it must be the noun.
PeeDee @9
Sad to say, I used to play along with Countdown in the Whitely / Vorderman days – but that was before I discovered 15². 😉
Re 6dn: Chi is not the Greek letter X – that’s Xi – but a letter shaped like a cross, with the sound of the ch in the Scottish ‘loch’, as in the Greek words orchestra, hence the Chi Rho symbol for Christ: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho
My puzzle of the day – and yes I have solved all 7 available cryptics.
Very enjoyable thank you Io – why don’t we see you more often? Thanks to PeeDee too.
Thank again Eileen for sharing your linguistic knowledge. I studied pure maths at uni so used the Greek alphabet daily (Hebrew too), but I never found out what any of the letters actually meant.
PeeDee @8, you’re right, it doesn’t really make sense to split the clue like that. Is it simply the whole clue that is a cryptic definition? Careless telephone bidding may leave you this, and that would be awkward
I think 25ac is a straightforward cryptic definition: “Careless telephone bidding may leave you this” and ‘Awkwardly’ is not required. It is either a hangover from an earlier draft of the clue or else an erroneous addition during editing/publication.
Much to enjoy here.
25a – I agree with PeeDee just above. Lots of allusions – answering phones – bidding for lots etc – the answer pops out as a CD but hard to pin it down. Awkwardly does seem superfluous; delete that and all’s well. It’s in a form which might have suggested a comp anag but the letters don’t agree with that.
Would you be in an awkward situation if you had a lot to answer for?
You can only take 25 one way, as I see it, and that’s the jokey way with the pun about auction lots. Key to this being ‘may leave you this’ rather than ‘may leave you WITH this’, although the latter would have worked for both interpretations. So in the end, as we proctologists say, it’s just one of them there ‘punning definitions’. Sorry!