A neat puzzle from Klingsor, with lots of lovely surface readings, and no twists in the tail in terms of Nina or themes, at least as far as I can see…readers may think otherwise?…
The top half fell in to place very quickly, especially for a prize puzzle, and given that I had been away for two weeks without solving a single cryptic puzzle – cold turkey! This was helped by spotting 1ac pretty much from the enumeration and the definition (detective story) which gave 8 first letters for those top down clues.
The bottom half didn’t offer too much resistance either, helped at the other end by a quick spot of 27A. Last one in was TANNERY – nice misdirection with ‘hide’!
All in all it left me feeling that as a straight solving exercise this was maybe a bit ‘light’ for a prize puzzle(?), but that is no bad thing in itself, and I think it is one for the purist, with some great surface readings: a scatty lady giving away the ending of 1A; a mountaineer using a PITON near the peak; Byzantine poetry scanning with ASSONANCE; Wagner operas vs. ‘Brahms and Liszt’!; and probably my favourite at 21D, with Nigel Short (chess grandmaster) attempting an Azed barred puzzle.
I may have missed a theme-ette – maybe some of the entries are words from or references to A STUDY IN SCARLET? But otherwise no obvious Nina or pangram.
Thanks to Klingsor for an enjoyable diversion, and a set of clues that it was a pleasure to blog…
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 1A | A STUDY IN SCARLET | Giving away ending, scatty English lady ruins exciting detective story (1,5,2,7) | detective story (first ‘Sherlock Holmes’ novel by Arthur Conan Doyle) / anag (i.e. exciting) of SCATTY E (English) LADY RUIN(S) – without S (giving away ending) |
| 9A | MARMITE | Spoil little child? It produces strongly conflicting opinions! (7) | it produces strongly conflicting opinions (their marketing is based on whether people ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’…other vegetable-based spreads are available!) / MAR (spoil) + MITE (little child) |
| 10A | LIGHTER | One illuminates boat relatively easily (7) | triple definition / a LIGHTER can be something that illuminates; a boat; or as an adjective, LIGHTER can mean relatively easy |
| 11A | NANNY | Old woman’s extremely nasty to nurse (5) | to nurse / NAN (grandmother, old woman) + NY (extreme letters of NastY) |
| 12A | IN THE DOCK | Cook in chaotic kitchen is facing criticism (2,3,4) | facing criticism / IN THE CK (anag, i.e. chaotic, of KITCHEN) around DO (cook) |
| 13A | AMICABLE | Friendly, retaining cordiality for a start? (8) | &lit-ish / friendly / AMI_ABLE (friendly) around C (start of Cordiality) |
| 15A | EARTHY | Listener solver’s lacking refinement (6) | lacking refinement / EAR (listener) + THY (yours, as in you, the solver) |
| 18A | AGENDA | Set programme and finish off in the oven (6) | Set programme / AGA (oven) around END (finish off) |
| 19A | COVENANT | Chap, a colonist, comprehends New Testament (8) | Testament / COVE (chap) + ANT (colonist) around N (new) |
| 22A | ASSONANCE | One scans a Byzantine poetic device (9) | poetic device / anag (i.e. Byzantine) of ONE SCANS A |
| 24A | PITON | What mountaineer may use around peak? That’s feasible (5) | What mountaineer may use / PIT (tip, or peak, around) + ON (feasible) |
| 25A | DEEMING | Daughter’s scratching head, appearing to be thinking (7) | thinking / D (daughter) + (S)EEMING (appearing, scratching first letter, or head) |
| 26A | IGNOBLE | Returning soldier faces arrest, having abandoned British base (7) | base / IG (GI, US soldier, returning) + NOB(B)LE (arrest, abandoning B – British) |
| 27A | NATIONAL GALLERY | Art – Goya, nothing less – all in one large building here? (8,7) | &lit-ish – large building with art in it (including any Goyas?) / anag (i.e. building) of ART G(O)YA (less O, or nothing) + ALL IN ONE + L (large) |
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 1D | ARMENIA | State troopers perhaps breaking into song (7) | State / ARIA (song) broken into by MEN (troopers, perhaps) |
| 2D | TYRANNISE | Woman is detained in Mediterranean port to intimidate (9) | to intimidate / TYR_E (Mediterranean port) detaining ANN (woman) + IS |
| 3D | DAILY | House in Ireland takes year to get cleaner (5) | cleaner / DAIL (Irish parliament, lower house of legislature) + Y (year) |
| 4D | INEDIBLE | Dine and be almost ill, cooking being this? (8) | &lit-ish – inedible cooking could make one ill? / anag (i.e. cooking) of DINE + BE + IL(L) (almost ILL) |
| 5D | SALUTE | Small curtsey regularly is a show of respect (6) | a show of respect / regular (alternate) letters of ‘SmAlL cUrTsEy’ |
| 6D | AGGREGATE | Annoy, for example replacing Bible for mass (9) | mass / AGGR(AV)ATE (annoy) replacing AV (Authorised Version, bible) with EG (for example) |
| 7D | LOTTO | Game could be tight after getting bowled out (5) | game / (B)LOTTO – drunk, tight, without B (bowled, in cricket) |
| 8D | TURNKEY | One’s in charge of convicts, note, in the middle of bird (7) | one in charge of convicts / TUR_KEY (bird) with N (note) in the middle |
| 14D | ANDANTINO | Fairly slow at nightclub initially? One can gatecrash party (9) | fairly slow (musical term) / AN (first letters of At Nightclub) + D_O (party) gatecrashed by AN (one) + TIN (can) |
| 16D | TRACTABLE | Put vehicle back on board? That’s easily managed (9) | easily managed / TRAC (cart, or vehicle, back) + TABLE (board) |
| 17D | SOBERING | Sons order four Wagner operas, getting less Brahms and Liszt (8) | getting less Brahms & Liszt (rhyming slang for drunk!) / S (sons) + OBE (Order – of the British Empire) + RING (cycle of four Wagner operas) |
| 18D | ABANDON | What live music venue often has to give up (7) | &lit-ish double defn? / A live music venue might have A BAND ON; without spacing ABANDON = give up |
| 20D | TANNERY | In which things are done to hide attempt to capture queen (7) | (place) in which things are done to hide (as in leather) / T_RY (attempt) capturing ANNE (Queen Anne) |
| 21D | ENIGMA | Amazed Nigel Short cracked Azed barred puzzle? (6) | puzzle / anag (i.e. cracked) of AM(AZED) NIGE(L) – with ‘Azed’ barred/omitted, and ‘Nigel’ short of one letter |
| 23D | SPELT | Wrote some letters in order to get wheat (5) | double defn / if you wrote some letters in order then you have SPELT; and SPELT is a type of wheat |
| 24D | PANEL | Board aircraft second to last (5) | board / P(L)ANE (aircraft) moving second letter to last = PANEL |
Maybe I was just on Klingsor’s wavelength this morning, but I found this very straightforward for an Indy prize puzzle. I saw 1ac almost immediately which obviously helped, and 27ac didn’t take long either once I had the G checker from 17dn. Having said that, it was still an enjoyable solve. COVENANT was my LOI after AGGREGATE.
Very similar experience to mc_rapper67. Immediately thought A STUDY IN SCARLET from enumeration, but didn’t stop to unravel the fodder, so let it sit for a while until crossers confirmed it. Also 27A a quick spot. Agree not the most taxing Prize Puzzle. Thought ANDANTINO a little contrived. Pleased to see the usual reference to Richard Wagner at 17D.
Thanks to Klingsor and mc_rapper67.
Thanks Klingsor and mc_rapper.
Small correction to the parsing of 1ac: To make the anagram work, the word shortened must be SCATTY not RUINS.
A puzzle of two halves for me – the top half came so quickly I wondered if I’d bought the Telegraph by mistake. But I was lulled into a false sense of security and crashed on the bottom half. I had three clues left and despite occasional glances at it over the week I didn’t fill them in. Improbably I didn’t get 15A in spite of having eart_y! Kicking myself at missing 17D – kept going for OM rather than OBE and clearly my rhyming slang is not up to scratch. COVENANT also missing.
I wasn’t sure about the clue for 13A – AMICABLE – it doesn’t seem right to have the definition and word play overlapping like this.
Late as usual. HUGE thanks to Klingsor and mc_hammer. Thought 21dn was glorious – a very special clue that should not be out of place amongst the very best!
No nina probably but quite coincidental that the 1st lot of unches contains “Ryan a go U” as U(nited) did give him just that at the week-end! Prophetic or what?!