Monday Prize Crossword/Oct 27
The name Gaff is usually synonymous to ‘something special’ and today it wasn’t different. “An anniversary puzzle” celebrating the 100th birthday of one of Britain’s best-loved poets, featuring a truly exceptional anagram.
Dylan Thomas (7d, 22) was born on 27 October 1914, and Gaff produced a really stunning superlong anagram citing two lines from perhaps Dylan Thomas’ best known poem. One that comes close to the famous Grantchester anagram by the much missed Araucaria. However, the downside of it is, of course, that once you’ll get it, the grid will be half filled.
I consider Gaff to be one of the toughest setters in the FT, also because his clueing style is not fully mine. For example, I am not a great fan of ‘the wings’ for TE, ‘the last minute’ for E, ‘second thoughts’ for H, and ‘about middle’ for O. However, I know that many others cannot be bothered too much, so in the end I am kinda happy with it and won’t mention it in the blog.
There are other things that raised my eyebrows which I will mention. But to be fair to Gaff, my experience is that after re-reading his clues the vast majority of it is absolutely fine. Never a dull moment with this setter, which may be seen as a compliment.
Back to the theme.
– A broadcast of the poet reciting his own poem can be listened to here: Dylan Thomas recites.
– Coincidence or not, in episode 4 of the hugely watchable drama series Grantchester, aired by ITV on the 27th of October (indeed!), Sidney’s curate Leonard Finch spoke the words “Rage rage against the dying of the light”. In the same episode there was a full screenshot of a Dylan Thomas book of poems too.
As for this puzzle, definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ALMOST | Palm osteopath clenched roughly (6) |
| Hidden solution (‘clenched’): [p]ALM OST[eopath] | ||
| 4 | GOOD IDEA | Gunk acted on every brain wave (4,4) |
| GOO (gunk) + DID (acted) + EA (every, each (abbrev.)) | ||
| ‘EA = each’ and ‘each = every’ but it’s a bit indirect, isn’t it? | ||
| 9 | See 19 down | |
| 10 | FLOTILLA | After loft conversion, I will have a craft show (8) |
| (LOFT)* + I’LL (I will) + A [* = conversion] | ||
| 12 | See 19 down | |
| 13 | TANNIN | Beat up about retrograde pub that makes bitter taste of wine (6) |
| TAN (beat up) around NNI (reversal (‘retrograde’) of INN (pub)) | ||
| 15 | See 19 down | |
| 16 | See 19 down | |
| 19 | DINNERTIME | Session may end with mintier assortment (10) |
| (END + MINTIER)* [* = assortment] | ||
| I think the word ‘may’ is odd in this clue. Ernie @2 says something about this, suggesting that it makes a better surface which is true. However, I am talking about the cryptic grammar which doesn’t feel right to me. Now, two days later, after a short discussion (see comments), it is regarded to be a semi-&lit and therefore fully underlined. | ||
| 20 | BOSS | Stud openly boasts of sexual services (4) |
| Starting letters (‘openly’) of: B[oasts] O[f] S[exual] S[ervices] | ||
| The first of my real eyebrow-raisers: ‘openly’ to indicate taking the initial letters? | ||
| 23 | NELSON | Vice admiral in the hold (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | MECHANIC | Worker who starts to get paid? (8) |
| Kind of cryptic definition | ||
| It was clear that this had to be ‘mechanic’, a worker. The second part of the clue eluded me for a while. But now I see: he gets paid for starting a car (after a breakdown). | ||
| 27 | See 19 down | |
| 28 | EMIGRE | Fugitive from grim treatment in East European capital (6) |
| (GRIM)* inside {E (East) + E (European)] [* = treatment] | ||
| 29 | OMELETTE | Grub that destroys shells (8) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 30 | TSETSE | Match parts in the wings of fly (6) |
| SETS (match parts, think tennis) inside T[h]E | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ANGRIER | More cross winds rage in start of race (7) |
| (RAGE IN R[ace])* [* = winds] | ||
| 2,3 | MINUTE GUN SALUTE | With tiny revs an instrument forces funeral sound (6,3,6) |
| MINUTE (tiny) + GUNS (revs) + A LUTE (an instrument) | ||
| 5 | OILY | Socially just, even though slippery (4) |
| Even characters (‘just even’) of: [s]O[c]I[a]L[l]Y | ||
| I guess ‘just’ should be seen as part of the device (ignoring the punctuation) but it’s a bit funny, isn’t it? | ||
| 6 | DUTIABLE | May be excised from new build at the last minute (8) |
| (BUILD AT)* + [minut]E [* = new] | ||
| 7,22 | DYLAN THOMAS | Writer of plays last Monday having second thoughts (5,6) |
| (LAST MONDAY + [t]H[oughts])* [* = plays] | ||
| I know, most playthings (“play”, “playing”, “in play”) are fine anagram indicators but why is it that I don’t like “plays” here? | ||
| 8 | See 19 | |
| 11 | TAFFETA | Covering used for ball of excess turned cheese (7) |
| TAF (reversal (‘turned’) of FAT (excess)) + FETA (cheese) | ||
| 14 | CHIMNEY | Smoker high with pot (7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| I am not a fan of this device but this was a good one! | ||
| 17 | See 19 | |
| 18 | GENOTYPE | Information about middle class parents’ legacy (8) |
| GEN (information) + [ab]O[ut] + TYPE (class) | ||
| 19,9,12,17,15,15,8,27,16 | DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT, RAGE RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT | Desperately, I got to get high and tight – going to arrange aged sonnet to fight lonely death of 7, 22 (2,3,2,6,4,4,9,4,4,7,3,5,2,3,5) |
| (I GOT TO ……. LONELY DEATH)* [* = desperately] | ||
| Stunning but if you know the poem a possible write-in. As a solver I wouldn’t be bothered with parsing the anagram, as a blogger I had to. The full poem can be found here: Do not go gently …. . I am afraid there is a mistake in the enumeration: 9 (in 17d) should be 4,5. | ||
| 21 | SECRETE | Conceal sweat (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | See 7 | |
| 24 | LIEGE | Faithful collie gets hiding (5) |
| Hidden solution (‘hiding’): [col]LIE GE[ts] | ||
| I saw the solution rightaway but the definition is quite a bit of a stretch, in my opinion. See Jolly Swagman’s comment @1: it is apparently in Collins. | ||
| 26 | UNIT | Detachment leads to unfriendly nature in time (4) |
| Starting letters (‘leads to’) of: U[nfriendly] N[ature] I[n] T[ime] | ||
Excellent puzzle – plenty to enjoy even after the themester blows it to bits.
Thanks for the blog Sil – clearly you prefer literal translation puzzles to genuinely cryptic ones. Otherwise a great blog.
LIEGE as an adjective meaning “faithful” is given explicitly in Collins as meaning #4.
19a
I thought that this may be a reference to the notion that dinner may or may not end with an after-dinner mint.
Thanks to Sil & Gaff
JS, can you please explain what you mean by “clearly you prefer literal translation puzzles to genuinely cryptic ones”?
It sounds a bit belittling.
Of course, given discussions in the past, I have an idea what you’re pointing at.
I’m only half Libertarian, also not fully Ximenean but certainly not someone who thinks “anything goes”.
Allusion and imagination are fine (even important) in crosswords but for me “precision” is the ultimate keyword.
IMO, Gaff is a setter who at times deliberately crosses the borders of Crosswordland to tickle the solver, and I am generally fine with it. Sometimes not though, as I tried to make clear in the blog above.
Thanks for explaining LIEGE = faithful. I didn’t check Collins after both Chambers and Oxford didn’t come close enough.
I took one look at this and didn’t even bother starting. I wonder how many FT Monday regulars were of the same mind. All very clever I’m sure but beyond a mere mortal like me.
Hi Sil.
19a can be read as a regular clue with “may” using some licence to operate as a linkword but a better reading is to say that the whole surface is the def and “end with mintier assortment” is the WP – what some people call a semi-&lit.
If you want accuracy “best-loved poems” are the poems which are loved the most – they are not necessarily good poems. “Best loved poems” are probably the best ones out of all those poems which are loved – being the best they are probably good ones, as well as being loved by a lot of people – maybe not – it’s a dangler – best avoided – but it’s OK – I twigged your meaning first time.c;-)
Why isn’t my smiley smiling? 😉
Re your specific question at #3 – just one example:
“openly” doesn’t literally mean “the openers of” – but it cryptically suggests that; works for me – and also gets me halfway towards a smile – but then I’m easily amused. 🙂
JS.
Thanks for your enlightenment.
I wrote “best-loved” (now hyphenated) in the preamble without attaching a quality label to our birthday child.
I’m afraid, I am still not happy with 19ac.
Yes, it might be a semi-&lit but, in my opinion, also in a semi-&lit the cryptic grammar should still be right.
If we take “Session” as the key part of the definition, then it says: “def” may “wordplay”, which is nonsense (because Gaff means ‘may be’ or the like).
Anyway, I am happy to underline the whole clue now as that works much better than just “Session” for the definition.
As to “openly”, I do understand your smile and, of course, I had no trouble finding the solution. However, using a device that only alludes to what it is meant to do, is not my cup of tea.
“Openly” cannot mean “take the first letters” because it does not mean that.
Don’t worry, I can see why you enjoyed this clue, but unfortunately I am a bit more bound to the rules than you are. And I am actually quite happy with that.
Thanks Gaff and Sil
Late to this again … doing it yesterday (9/11). A little coincidence for when I saw the theme on the anniversary of his birthday being the date of the puzzle … it was the anniversary if his passing when I did it :).
Liked it a lot … and what an extraordinary effort to construct an anagram not only of that length, but with such a relevant surface reading.
A bit with JS in regards to the liberty of the setter – I take the approach that as long as clue leads one unambiguously to the answer, then it has done it’s job. I think that all of the clues here do that.
GENITYPE and the witty OMELETTE were my last two in.
May I add to the exchange of views between SvH and JS?
In Gaff’s world, ‘battery food’ is probably not chicken or eggs, but is the sort of fish you get from the chippy. ‘Battery’ obviously does not actually mean this, but it could do, and this seems to me to be an amusing misdirection. Similarly the use of ‘openly’ – no the word doesn’t mean this, but it could do; and it makes a lovely surface and maybe raises a smile!
In defence of ‘Second thoughts’=h, and similar, spare a thought for the setter trying to come up with original ways to clue a spare ‘h’ etc, rather than using ‘hot’ or ‘husband’ or any of the other cliched devices. It’s not quite exact, but again the resultant surface is pleasing and at least it’s not ho-hum!
As for cryptics, like CHIMNEY and OMELETTE, I think a few of these scattered through a puzzle provide variety and colour – a relief from definition + wordplay. And though you can’t work out the solution mechanically from the clue, once you see the solution, you know that it has to be right.
My hero Araucaria’s philosophy was that anything goes so long as it’s fair and leads to the one solution. While I can only dream about bending the rules with his skill and humour, some of his free spirit has apparently rubbed off on me!
SvH, I think you have done a very professional job of blogging a puzzle whose vagaries of style are not to your taste. Limiting your recorded reaction to ‘raised eyebrows’ was very kind. Thank you.
Very kind of you to drop by, Gaff.
I don’t think I was negative (at all) about the puzzle but I just wanted to indicate where I have slightly different views on clueing.
That does not mean that I think that what I think is right, nor do I want to marginalise the fun of others.
Moreover, in the end I am (nearly) always on the setter’s side.
The influence of Araucaria is surely visible (I remember me saying something similar in an earlier blog). And although Araucaria was my way in to British crosswords, and although his puzzles were always something to look forward to, and although I respected him so much that I attended his memorial service, I have meanwhile also developed my own style and/or preferences which ultimately made me what I am in Crossworldland.
What I am now in Crosswordland, I should say, because nothing is set in stone.
If one compares what happened in crosswords of, say, 5 years ago with what’s going on nowadays in (especially) Guardian puzzles, one must conclude that a lot of “new” devices have crept in.
It’s almost common to break down every single word in a clue (well, more or less) and virtually without noticing I have come to develop an antenna for it. Not that I feel an unconditional love for these novelties but I like (or at least accept) them more often than not.
I always say “we are all different, aren’t we?” but we also move on and find new ways.
So, Gaff, once again many thanks for the enjoyable challenge and the brilliant anagram that deserves a much wider audience than (so far) reflected on this site.
I really enjoyed attempting this puzzle, although I had to resort to aids for several of the clues. Knowing what the anniversary was made 19D etc. and 7,22 easy write ins. I think the parsing of 2,3D has REVS and “guns” the wrong way round! I saw GUNS as tiny=SNUG reversed (revs) but of course tiny has aready been used to define MINUTE. Thanks SvH for elucidating some of the other wordplay – 26D had me completely foxed.
Thanks Michael for pointing out my ‘mistake’ in 2,3d.
Now fixed.