This is last Saturday’s prize puzzle which did not appear in Saturday’s paper!
Unfortunately, the printed version of the paper had Friday’s puzzle No 26,531 by Qaos, instead of this puzzle, although it did not claim to be a prize puzzle. Very annoying if you rely on the paper version (although presumably anyone reading this blog will have had access to the online version).
This puzzle contained some splendid flashes of wit but did not detain Timon and I for long, unlike the previous weekend’s epic challenge from Maskarade. Thanks, Paul, for the entertainment.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ICE CUBE | Die in the cooler? (3,4) |
| A bit of a write-in for 1 across, thanks to the enumeration, with this simple cryptic definition. | ||
| 5 | AMENITY | Something useful I agree — it has practicality in the end (7) |
| AMEN ITY. A straightforward charade, although this one took us longer to solve. | ||
| 10 | See 28 | |
| 11 | BLOSSOMING | Doing well to disperse Lisbon smog (10) |
| *(LISBON SMOG). | ||
| 12 | STAMEN | Poles securing harmless part of a flowering plant (6) |
| TAME in S N. | ||
| 13 | CLUB ROOM | Brush on odd bits of colour where social events held (4,4) |
| CoLoUr BROOM. The reversal in the clue makes it a little more tricky. | ||
| 14 | TRUMP CARD | Advantage held by business tycoon, bounder about right! (5,4) |
| (Donald) TRUMP, R in CAD. | ||
| 16 | QUITO | Capital with 6, you could say, bringing 18 (5) |
| This only makes sense when you have solved the two cross-referenced clues, to give you MOSQUITO. Very clever. | ||
| 17 | OMANI | Asian home, a second knocked over (5) |
| IN A MO (rev). Apparently the Sultanate of Oman is in part of Southwest Asia, so an Omani is an Asian. | ||
| 19,24,2 | EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER | Moving ship beyond wave, an up-and-down experience (9,13) |
| EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER. Rollercoaster was easy to get from the definition, so this was another one that went in on the first pass. | ||
| 23 | CLUELESS | Compared with a crossword, Sudoku is so idiotic (8) |
| Just brilliant! Thanks to Timon for getting this one. | ||
| 24 | See 19 | |
| 26 | GRAND OPERA | Big performance one feeling someone must grasp and then appreciate, primarily (5,5) |
| AND in GROPER, A(ppreciate). | ||
| 27 | GOLF | Sport to sell that’s backfired (4) |
| FLOG (rev). | ||
| 28,10 | EASTERN CAPE | Where Port Elizabeth is a pretence, as liberal (7,4) |
| *(A PRETENCE AS). | ||
| 29 | REUTERS | News agency reporting writers from the Midlands? (7) |
| Imagine how someone from Dudley might say “writers”! Another flash of brilliance and a LOL moment for us. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | See 19 | |
| 3 | CREAM | Off-white stuff, single or double ultimately consumed (5) |
| E (the last letter of single and double) in CRAM. | ||
| 4 | BUBONIC | In young feline one head lifts, with swollen nodes (7) |
| 1 NOB in CUB (all rev). I hadn’t come across NOB as a variant of KNOB before, but it’s in Chambers. | ||
| 6 | MOSQUE | Church fairly dismisses it, after reduction in the majority (6) |
| MOS(t), QU(it)E. Well, a church is defined in Chambers as “a building set apart for public worship”, which would include religions other than Christianity, but I can’t help feeling that Paul is being a little provocative here. I needed 16 down to be sure that this was the right answer. | ||
| 7 | NUMERO UNO | Uncompromising leader breaking ground no more, UN chief (6,3) |
| U(ncompromising) in *(NO MORE UN). “Ground” is the anagram indicator. | ||
| 8 | TUNE OUT | Audibly, don’t eat in Yorkshire? Don’t listen! (4,3) |
| Sounds like “chew nowt”! Another LOL moment when the penny dropped. | ||
| 9 | CONCERTMASTER | Wheel round new cornet and drum finally, for top musician (13) |
| *CORNET and (dru)M in CASTER. | ||
| 15 | MONKEY NUT | Fruit, one of seven on top of two lockers (6,3) |
| MON KEY NUT. MON(day), KEY NUT. Took me a long time to see MONday. | ||
| 18 | MALARIA | Killer song, a hit written up (7) |
| AIR A LAM (all rev). | ||
| 20 | TARTARE | Raw pastry dish then cut, top sliced off (7) |
| TART (p)ARE. Thanks to Timon for helping me parse this one. | ||
| 21 | AREOLAR | Space around middle of hole beginning to reduce, describing coloured rings (7) |
| (h)OL(e) in AREA, R(educe). In this sense it refers to the iris, or to the flesh round the nipple. | ||
| 22 | RENOIR | Among maestri, one raised towards the heavens as an artist (6) |
| Hidden and reversed (“towards the heavens” in a down clue) in “maestri one raised”. | ||
| 25 | LIGHT | Easy crossword solution (5) |
| Double definition, although I had always supposed it referred to the blank cells before completion so was surprised to find that Chambers gives “in a crossword, the word (or sometimes an individual letter in the word) on the diagram that is the answer to a clue” as a definition of light. However that is more or less exactly how Don Manley defines it his Crossword Manual, so I have been labouring under a misapprehension all these years. | ||
*anagram
Many thanks Bridgesong & Paul
This was very enjoyable and when I entered TARTARE it reminded me of the occasion when I was in a Paris restaurant with an English colleague who tried to order ‘Steak Tartare – Well Done’.
Having bought the paper last Saturday before a train journey, and being hugely disappointed by the sight of the Qaos crossword, I didn’t get round to doing this online, and ended up doing the version that was printed in Monday’s paper after finishing the Rufus. I found it fairly straightforward, so the EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER was just getting hold of the crossword. Agree that CLUELESS was nice, though not strictly accurate – you can still find clues in any puzzle solving process. Liked TRUMP CARD too.
Thanks to bridgesong and Paul
A pleasant enough offering from Paul probably designed as light relief from last week’s “monster”.
Sadly somewhat lacking in his usual humour but some nice clues. Not enough to keep one occupied for the weekend though.
Thanks to bridgesong and Paul.
Thanks, bridgesong – and Timon.
I approached this puzzle decidedly grumpily – I’m used to doing my puzzle in the paper – and that may well have coloured my reaction to it.
I wasn’t really very impressed, especially by the simple charade of EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER, which filled up too many spaces early on.
I know that both Collins and Chambers define ‘church’ as being *especially* for Christian worship but I cannot imagine any MOSQUE being described as such. [I would say that I don’t know how that got past the editor but I’ve ceased to be amazed.]
And, as an East Midlander, I object to the omission of ‘West’ in the clue for 29ac.
I’ll stop now – there’s a Puck to cheer me up!
Eileen @4: as someone who works in Birmingham but has family in Leicester, I know what you mean about the range of regional accents in the Midlands!
I shall look forward to tackling today’s offering from Puck on the train to London later today.
Because I solve online I wasn’t affected by the Qaos shenanigans. I found this a pleasant enough puzzle, and CONCERTMASTER was my LOI. The East Midlands/West Midlands distinction for the homophonic element of 29ac passed me by completely.
Thanks for the blog. On the first pass I managed to write in nearly half the solutions: which is a record for me as I normally think I am doing well if I get more than 2. The rest followed quite quickly… which was OK as I was quite busy last weekend.
MOSQUITO + MALARIA was amusingly clever.
Eileen @4 – I’d forgotten about that – and I think that pronunciation is not even common to the whole of the West Midlands (does the west Midlands include Shropshire and Herefordshire?). I’ve always thought that the East Midlands rather lacks identity as it doesn’t have a hub and covers quite a diverse area (and North Notts and North Derbyshire have more in common with South Yorkshire than (say) Northamptonshire).
This will probably be my last comment here for a few days since I’m off on a walking trip tomorrow…
I blog for ‘idothei’ but I also read fifteensquared and the Guardian crossword comments. I’m afraid to say that, by comparison, fifteensquared has more than its fair share of grumpy commentators! This was a joy, as are nearly all crosswords in the Indy or the Guardian (the only ones I do). Dear people, if you don’t enjoy crosswords, don’t do them!!!
I too was grumpy about the cock up. Somehow I find it deeply unsatisfying to do puzzles online,even a printout doesn’t do it for me,so I was glad to get the newspaper version on Monday. Paul’s puzzle was entertaining. I particularly liked CLUELESS & EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER.
Thanks Paul
Cornick @9
“The purpose of this site is to provide a daily analysis of, and commentary on, the cryptic puzzles published in the Financial Times, Guardian and Independent”
I can’t find anything on this site which mentions that no criticism of puzzles is allowed and that all posts should be jolly and complimentary.
If you don’t enjoy reading positive criticism of puzzles then don’t read this site. ( You started it. 😉 )
Ha! You got me! Still there is an altogether more upbeat feel to the Guardian Cryptic comments. 🙂
@Bryan, 1: there’s a tale, of an English (Cumbrian) TV director, who wished to compliment his French camera crew for their Tour De France coverage, and did so with the words “bien cuit”.
Many thanks all.
Thanks Paul and bridgesong
Not too many problems … but ICE CUBE was certainly no write-in here … came about half way through.
Was a typical Paul offering with the MOSQUE, QUITO, MALARIA clues a prime example!
Huge grin when finally nailed REUTERS as the last one in. Had non idea of the ‘chew nowt’ at 8d, although the answer was pretty clear.
Also took an age to equate MON as Monday for the one of 7 … and another aha when I did.
although there were some nice clues there were equally some horrible clues disappointment here for i normally enjoy Paul