One of my favourite setters this week, not to mention one of the most prolific here at EV. This week, we had a misprint in half the clues, with the incorrect letters spelling out a phrase which determined how ten thematic answers were to be entered.
A lot of the acrosses were solved on my first run through the clues, but I didn’t have enough misprints to see any well-known phrase. The down clues weren’t quite as forthcoming, but all in all, I was happy with my progress after about an hour.
It was obvious that the thematic entries, which lacked a definition, were going to be tricky. I hadn’t identified any at this point in my solve… until 19dn reminded me of a name that cropped up in a recent puzzle: L·K·HM· looked like it was LAKSHMI. Not only was it in the First Names section of old editions of Chambers, it is also in the main body of the current edition: Vishnu’s consort in Hindu mythology. Another look at the clue, A barrister on the radio and HAM SILK was staring me in the face, an anagram of LAKSHMI.
You can probably see how horribly wrong the puzzle was about to go for me! Guessing at other thematic entries — 1ac STUART, 20ac OTTO, 13dn MAXIMILIAN (not MAXIMISING) — I just couldn’t work backwards and see what the clues actually led to. 5dn looked like AIM (but was 5 letters) and 28dn was EVENT, but the letters I had were ·AMI·.
I finally got the thematic phrase: All things to all men, but how did LAKSHMI fit in with that?! The answer to 1ac revealed itself as PHOBIA, but what did that, HAM SILK and EVENT have in common! Or, for that matter, how was it to be treated to give STUART? After some time, I looked up phobia in Mrs B… to find ‘thing’. Bingo!
Not straight away, of course, but I eventually looked up thing in Chambers and almost everything fell into place. The undefined clues all led to words given under thing in Chambers, which then got changed into men. Even the barrister on the radio disentangled himself, leading to COUNSEL and then COUNCIL. Only LAKSHMI continued to confuse.
Now I have the greatest respect for Kruger… he is a fine setter. But I’m afraid that I didn’t really like this puzzle. In my opinion, there is no correlation between the answers to the thematic clues and what went into the grid. It was vaguely interesting to reverse engineer the clues as some of them were a bit tricky, but I only did that because it was my week to blog. It was, after all, possible to fill the grid in with names that fitted, forget about the clues, and complete the grid without understanding the theme or identifying the saying.
Perhaps this is a case of horses for courses, and there are solvers out there who disagree with my view and think the puzzle is absolutely fine. Oh well, c’est la guerre.
All that aside, I look forward to your next puzzle, Kruger, and I’ll buy you a pint next time we meet.
Legend:
Definition in clue
X = Incorrect letters in misprints
mispoint corrected misprint
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden
| ACROSS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Answer/Entry | Incorrect Letter |
Clue and Explanation |
| 1 | PHOBIA entered as STUART |
Prejudice shortly follows expression of contempt (6) BIA[s] (prejudice, shortly) after PHO (expression of contempt) |
|
| 6 | SPAULD | A | Foreign plaudits (not Italian) for Scotch (PLAUDITS – IT (Italian))* |
| 11 | VINHO VERDE | L | Challenge no longer includes navy helicopter from Hawaii approaching date VIE (challenge, obsolete) including N (navy) HOVER (helicopter in America, eg Hawaii) + D (date) |
| 14 | PROPERTY entered as BENEDICT |
Incomplete result of investigation returned on time – in case of perjury (8) REPOR[t]< (result of investigation, incomplete) + T (time in PY (case of PerjurY) |
|
| 15 | ANEMIA | American complaint upset Armenia after Republican is deported (6) (ARMENIA – R (Republican))* |
|
| 17 | POINTER | L | Playwright keeps ordinary PINTER (playwright) keeping O (ordinary) |
| 18 | IDEALLY | I do business laudably on vacation in the best conceivable way … (7) I DEAL (do business) + LY (LaudiblY, on vacation, ie empty) |
|
| 20 | FACT entered as OTTO |
… person doing business for another loses gold (4) FACTOR (person doing business for another) – OR (gold) |
|
| 21 | MIRE | T | M (front of Mother) + IRE (rage) |
| 23 | EXAMPLE entered as CAMERON |
Former politician enters festival once (7) EX (former) + MP (politician) in ALE (old festival) |
|
| 26 | INVOKER | He pleads for help from kin over changing appearance (7) (KIN OVER)* |
|
| 29 | FALL-IN | H | In the army, take regular FLAIL* + N (end of campaigN) |
| 30 | ISOTHERM | I | … all locations might be constantly IS (island) + OTHER (different from) + M (Malta) |
| 31 | FIMBRIATED | N | If a bird met up with a (IF A BIRD MET)* |
| 32 | MATTER entered as NEDDIE |
… talk superficially with no hint of sincerity (6) SMATTER (talk superficially) – S (hint of Sincerity) |
|
| 33 | GENERA | G | 40% of people of the same age lost GENERA[tion] (people of the same age, 40% lost) |
| DOWN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Answer/Entry | Incorrect Letter |
Clue and Explanation |
| 2 | TINNED | S | Pub in outskirts of Towie (the back of beyond) is covered in INN (pub) in T[owi]E (outskirts of TowiE) + D (back of beyonD) |
| 3 | UNRESERVE | Lack of restraint in university research into self-possession (9) U (university) + RES (reserve) in NERVE (self-possession) |
|
| 4 | AHIMSA | T | It’s a duty to AS (while) A (Albert, initially) holding HIM (Her Imperial Majesty) |
| 5 | AIM entered as ROBIN |
Claimed chapter left out – edition withdrawn (5) CLAIMED – C (chapter) – L (left) – ED (edition) |
|
| 7 | PREMIUM | Record company in first stages of producing recordings using mixing of the highest quality (7) EMI (record company) in PRUM (first letters of Producing Recordings Using Mixing) |
|
| 8 | ADD-ON | O | Further AD (advantage) + DO (thrash) + N (knight) |
| 9 | LOCKET | A | List of contents doesn’t include diamonds after start of looting in small DOCKET (list of contents) – D (diamonds) |
| 10 | DETHRONING | L | Endlessly brightens don involved in removal of ([b]RIGHTEN[s] DON)* |
| 12 | ENVOY | L | ENVY (wish to have) holding O (leader of Opposition) |
| 13 | POSSESSION entered as MAXIMILIAN |
Body of soldiers mostly sitting (10) POS[t] (body of soldiers, mostly) + SESSION (sitting) |
|
| 16 | OTTRELITE | M | Too much by Queen? The best is something OTT (too much, ie Over The Top) + R (queen) + ELITE (the best) |
| 19 | COUNCIL entered as LAKSHMI |
A barrister on the radio (7) sounds like COUNSEL |
|
| 22 | IN ESSE | What could be paranormal is seen to be existing! (6, two words) (IS SEEN)* |
|
| 23 | CELEB | E | reversed in superB ELECtion |
| 24 | EOLIAN | N | (OPALINE – P (pressure))* |
| 25 | ENTITY entered as OLIVER |
Long-time inhabitant of Australia has no infectious diseases (6) IDENTITY (long-standing inhabitant, Australia) – ID (Infectious Diseases) |
|
| 27 | OOTID | Immature cell contributes to the make-up of bandicoot, I discover (5) in bandicOOT I Discover |
|
| 28 | EVENT entered as JAMIE |
Snow mounting before onset of thaw (5) NEVE< (snow) + T (onset of Thaw) |
|
Thanks for the blog.
I agree with you about the thematic clues. I filled the grid having only solved one of them (FACT/OTTO). Having all the misprint letters told me what was going on. I then solved 3 or 4 other thematic clues, saw that there was no pattern/relationship between ‘things’ and the names & didn’t bother trying to solve the rest.
I’m sorry Dave didn’t enjoy this one (or indeed Shikasta and no doubt many others); some you win and some you lose! Nevertheless, I’m grateful for his excellent and enlightening blog – I actually think the 15^2 bloggers do a terrific “job” whether they take to a puzzle or not. Long may they do so.
I’m also looking forward to his promised pint of ale when we next meet!