We found this an enjoyable thematic puzzle and have to congratulate Hieroglyph on managing to get six thematic entries (which occupied twelve of the 29 answers) into the grid without having to resort to too many unusual words.
We’re not great fans of classic literature, but the six novels featured are all well-known – indeed, a search revealed that they are apparently the only six novels published by Ms Austen, two of them posthumously.
A slight niggle is that the definitions for the thematic entries are ‘1’s’ – i.e. ‘Austen’s’ – although it’s perfectly clear, it doesn’t really read correctly, whereas the non-thematic clues all have very good surfaces.
| Across | ||
| 6 | A massage on a Caribbean island | |
| ARUBA | A + RUB (massage) + A | |
| 7/7d | 1’s recipe – did jar end up smashed? | |
| PRIDE AND PREJUDICE | An anagram of RECIPE DID JAR END UP – anagrind is ‘smashed’ – 1st of the thematic entries | |
| 9 | It beats knitted fabric | |
| BATISTE | An anagram of IT BEATS – anagrind is ‘knitted’ | |
| 10 | Soldiers welcome motorway food in Japan | |
| SASHIMI | SAS (soldiers) + HI (welcome) + MI (motorway) | |
| 11 | Eastern Republican going missing in New York city for ages | |
| YONKS | YONK |
|
| 13 | A punch-drunk New England lecturer sailing from Portsmouth to Calais, say | |
| UP-CHANNEL | An anagram of A PUNCH (anagrind is ‘drunk’) + N (new) E (England) L (lecturer) | |
| 15 | See 15 down | |
| 17 | Falsehood hit on no new reflection – it’s beyond compare | |
| NONPAREIL | LIE (falsehood) + RAP (hit) + NO + N(new) all reversed or ‘on reflection’ | |
| 18/16/6d | 1’s novel began abhorrent story’s end | |
| NORTHANGER ABBEY | An anagram of BEGAN ABHORRENT and Y (last letter or ‘end’ of story) – anagrind is ‘novel’ – 2nd thematic entry | |
| 21 | Carbuncle, yes? Or even intrinsically so | |
| EYESORE | Cryptic definition – Hidden or ‘intrinsic’ in the clue: CarbunclE YES OR Even – Prince Charles notoriously referred disparagingly to one of the entries in the Architectural competition for an extension to the National Gallery as a ‘carbuncle on the face of an old friend’ | |
| 23 | It’s even colder, having a quick drink by a Brighton landmark | |
| NIPPIER | NIP (quick drink) + PIER (Brighton landmark) – perhaps fortunate that Hieroglyph chose Brighton, not Eastbourne, for this clue! | |
| 25 | They become mates? | |
| ENDGAMES | Cryptic definition – as in chess | |
| 26 | Astronomer Royal, grasping cork-tip, smokes | |
| REEKS | REES (Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, Astronomer Royal since 1995) round or ‘grasping’ K (last letter or ‘tip’ of cork) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Plausibly Scaramanga’s favourite author? | |
| AUSTEN | As the gateway clue, this had us baffled until we had some of the thematic entries from the wordplay and crossing letters – the answer was clear, but the parsing had us stumped – the penny dropped after we’d finished the puzzle – Scaramanga was ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ in the James Bond novels, so he would plausibly have a favourite AU (gold) STEN (gun) | |
| 2/8/24 | 1’s sample – find bananas on ship | |
| MANSFIELD PARK | An anagram of SAMPLE FIND (anagrind is ‘bananas’) on ARK (ship) – 3rd thematic entry | |
| 3 | Fruit originally forbidden in garden setting? | |
| FIGS | First or ‘original’ letters of Forbidden In Garden Setting | |
| 4 | 1’s according to number one South African university society? On the contrary! | |
| PERSUASION | PER (according to) + NO I (number one) SA (South African) U (university) S (society) reversed or ‘on the contrary’ – 4th thematic entry | |
| 5 | Rank insurgency abandoning ancient city in conflict | |
| ENSIGNCY | An anagram of INS |
|
| 6 | See 18 across | |
| 7 | See 7 across | |
| 8 | See 2 down | |
| 12 | In which you may join in angling trip – catching nothing on board ship | |
| SING-ALONGS | An anagram of ANGLING (anagrind is ‘trip’) around or ‘catching’ O (nothing) in, or ‘on board’ SS (ship) | |
| 14 | Voucher for fish that may be had from the butcher’s | |
| CHITLINGS | CHIT (voucher) + LINGS (fish) – we’d only come across ‘chitterlings’ before but this is an alternative spelling. | |
| 15/15ac | 1’s wit with talent – sends in clowns therein | |
| SENSE AND SENSIBILITY | SENSE (wit) + ABILITY (talent) with an anagram of SENDS IN inside or ‘therein’ – anagrind is ‘clowns’ – 5th thematic entry | |
| 16 | See 18 across | |
| 19 | Lobster-tail celebrity chef knocked up is scoffed | |
| RAILED | R (last letter or ‘tail’ of lobster) + DELIA (Delia Smith – celebrity chef) reversed or ‘knocked up’ | |
| 20 | Instruments are out of tune, top to bottom | |
| HARPS | SHARP (out of tune) with the first or ‘top’ letter moved to last or ‘bottom’ | |
| 22 | 1’s seen in Salem, Massachusetts | |
| EMMA | Hidden or ‘seen’ in SalEM MAssachusetts – 6th thematic entry | |
| 24 | See 2 down | |
Read a Jane Austen novel? I’d rather eat my own kidneys.
However, that’s just my 7dn. My problem with this is that the gateway clue is pretty impenetrable (if you’re solving this on the commute and – like me – you don’t know who Scaramanga is, then you’re stuffed). And then once you do reverse solve it, the six themed clues are write-ins, even if you are – like me – an Austen hater.
I thought 2/8/24dn wasn’t fair, because online at least, the enumeration was given as (4,5,4) and while MANS, FIELD and PARK are all words in their own right, the novel isn’t called MANS FIELD PARK.
I’ll stop bitching now. Thanks to B&J and Hieroglyph.
I’ve never heard of an Austen hater before (quite the opposite) and I can’t begin to imagine what’s not to like — but a chacun son gout. I’m afraid the gateway clue was pretty much a write in for me, as Scaramanga made me think of golden guns right off the bat. Thank you, Hieroglyph, for a pleasant puzzle — my only complaint is that it didn’t last long enough to let the Guardian fix their website. And thanks, B&J, for the blog.
This must have been a lot harder to set than it was to solve. I had no idea of the gateway clue so I just thought of an author whose second letter was U. Then I just filled in the six titles and that was pretty much it.
Ian SW3 you can get the Guardian puzzle at http://static.guim.co.uk/crosswords/pdfs/gdn.cryptic.20140805.pdf
Thanks for the blog, B and J.
I’m with Ian SW3 regarding Austen – but I had the opposite reaction to the gateway clue. I’d never heard of Scaramanga – but 7ac/7dn was such a giveaway that 1dn had to be AUSTEN and then it was simply a case of finding where the [only] other five novels would fit in. As B and J say, it was clever of Hieroglyph to include them all – but much more fun for him than for me, I’m afraid. The only one to cause a moment’s pause was MANSFIELD PARK.
The best bit was the clue for AUSTEN – which I had to come here to appreciate!
Congratulations to Hieroglyph on the feat – but it wasn’t so enjoyable as it might have been.
Don’t think the Guardian puzzle will appear as the clueing is convoluted and has confused the technology, apparently. So advice is use the link above and print it off.
Agree with lenny@3 once I got the author it all followed on easily. Also agree with bandj’s preamble and Kathryn’s dad about 2,8,24.
Thx
The dead tree enumeration for 2d etc. is (9,4) as it should be, all over too quickly alas, got the golden gun bit pretty much straight away and then the titles were write-ins with a cursory check for the validity of the word play. Bit of a shame really.
Thanks B&J – barely needed you today & Hieroglyph for the work put into this.
Well done Hieroglyph for being able to put this puzzle together, but I’m with the others who are of the opinion that once the theme has been cracked (my way in was EMMA) the rest of the themed answers are just about write-ins, incorrect enumeration or not. I didn’t even bother to parse the clue for AUSTEN, although it is pretty good.
Pretty much agree that the novels were a write-in once you got 1D. I parsed this as AU’s ten, with ten being the top mark and therefore the favourite- see the Dudley Moore film with Bo Derek. The rest followed without too much trouble, so no complaints from me.
Thanks to B&J and setter.
Turned out to be a remarkably easy solve. For me the gateway was 22dn, which was obviously EMMA, which gave me 1dn and then it was a matter of dragging the other novels out of my memory. I’m not a fan, but I had read a couple to get the flavour and a compendium was sitting in the next room, but I managed not to go and check it. 2/8/24 was the one I had trouble remembering.
Still, I couldn’t parse 1dn although I was vaguely aware the name had something to do with James Bond so thanks for the explanation. As usual, obvious now it’s been pointed out to me.
5dn was my LOI. Didn’t know the word (though I had heard of an ensign as a rank) and had to do an anagram search.
K’s D at #1, have you read one (or started to read one) and not liked it, or do you just think you would not like them so keep away from them? Just curious.
Started to read several of them; never got on with them, nms. In retrospect, ‘hate’ is a bit strong, and I withdraw that. Not my cup of classic novel tea. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” I know it’s of a time, but I rest my case …
Each to his or her own.
We’ve blogged so many Indy puzzles that it is difficult to remember all of them. By an amazing coincidence this wasn’t the first time that we had come across the theme! Have a look at the Indy 7999 .
Yes, that’s right, B&J. at #13 – no reason of course that a theme cannot be repeated (after a ‘decent interval’).
Thanks for your comments and to Bertandjoyce for the blog 🙂