Independent 8850 / Quixote

by

[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here

Quixote has given us a puzzle today with some good anagrams.

 

 

 

I don’t think is the best puzzle that Quixote has ever produced, but it proved a entertaining challenge with clues that I was able to parse without too much difficulty.

There were a couple of words new to me – CANAILLE at 3 across and CORRIDA at 21 across.  The first one gave me more trouble as I am not au fait with the locations of the miracles described in the Bible.  All the other words or phrases I have come across often before.  I have heard of LUCRETIUS (6 down) but I couldn’t have told you much about him.

All the long (13 and 14 letter entries) were derived from anagrams.  I liked the anagrams for the two down clues – BATHING MACHINE (7 down) and ICE-CREAM SUNDAE at 5 down

 

Across
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Problem creating rheumatism makes mother quiet (4)

 

DAM (mother) + P (piano; quiet)

 

DAMP (a condition contributing to increased pain in arthritis and rheumatism)

 

3

 

Place of miracle attended by sick Eastern people en masse (8)

 

CANA (Among Christians and other students of the New Testament, CANA is best known as the place where Jesus is said to have performed his first public miracle turning water into wine) + ILL (sick) + E (Eastern)

 

CANAILLE (the masses)

 

9

 

Bitter matron wandering round end of ward (7)

 

Anagram of (wandering) MATRON containing (round) D (last letter of [end of] WARD)

MOR (D) ANT*

MORDANT (bitter)

 

10

 

Sentimentality of elder maybe, enthralling a class (7)

 

TREE (elder is an example of a tree) containing (enthralling) (A + CL [class])

TRE (A CL) E

TREACLE (sentimentality)

 

11

 

Farmer rushed around pursued by that woman (7)

 

RAN (rushed) + C (circa; around) + HER (that woman)

 

RANCHER (farmer)

 

12

 

Gift from girl full of passion, article not acceptable (7)

 

LASS (girl) containing (full of) (RAGE [passion] excluding [not acceptable] A [indefinite article])

LA (RGE) SS

LARGESS (variant spelling of LARGESSE [bestowal or distribution of gifts] also defined in Chambers Thesaurus simply as gift and in Collins as the things so bestowed)

 

13

 

Single-mindedness of canon, contrite after going astray (13)

 

Anagram of (going astray) CANON CONTRITE

CONCENTRATION*

CONCENTRATION (single-mindedness)

 

14

 

Splashing shampoo, mister effects a complete transformation (13)

Anagram of (splashing) SHAMPOO MISTER

METAMORPHOSIS*

METAMORPHOSIS (change of shape, transformation)

 

18

 

Threatened – a church needing external repair (7)

 

(A + CE [Church {of England}]) contained in (needing external) MEND (repair)

MEN (A CE) D

MENACED (threatened)

 

19

 

See cow run even when ill (7)

 

Anagram of (when ill) RUN EVEN

UNNERVE*

UNNERVE (deprive of strength or vigour; to weaken; cow can be defined as to subdue the spirit of; to keep under)  I think ‘See’ is just being used to make the surface read more smoothly.

 

21

 

Passage men cleared before a bullfight (7)

 

(CORRIDOR [passage] excluding [cleared] OR [other ranks; men]) + A

 

CORRIDA (bullfight)

 

22

 

In Herts town notice activity in shops etc (7)

 

AD (advertisement; notice) contained in (in) TRING (town in Hertfordshire)

TR (AD) ING

TRADING (activity in shops etc)

 

23

 

Strive on with difficulty as one looking for financial return? (8)

 

Anagram of (with difficulty) STRIVE ON

INVESTOR*

INVESTOR (one putting money or time in, usually in the hope of gaining a profitable return)

 

24

 

Poor fellow with drug injection (4)

 

MAN (fellow) containing (with … injection) E (Ecstasy [hallucinogenic drug])

M (E) AN

MEAN (poor)

 
Down
No. Clue Wordplay Entry

1

 

Objects seen as odd turning up in possession of some Parisian (6)

 

(RUM [odd] reversed [turning up; down clue]) contained in (in possession of) DES (a form of ‘some’ in French)

DE (MUR)< S

DEMURS (objects)

 

2

 

Silly person runs into a huge mass of rock! (5)

 

R (runs, in cricket) contained in (into a) MOON (huge mass of rock)

MO (R) ON

MORON (silly person)

 

3

 

Group in bed overlooking lake (7)

 

COT (bed) + ERIE (reference Lake ERIE, one of the Great Lakes)  As this is a down clue, the letters of COT are overlooking the letters of ERIE

 

COTERIE (social, literary, or other exclusive circle; group)

 

4

 

Old phone used in final brief communication (7)

 

(O + TEL [telephone {number}]) contained in (used in) NET (final or conclusive [of a result])  I can’t find TEL as simply an abbreviation for telephone.

N (O TEL) ET

NOTELET (brief communication)

 

5

 

Seduce American naughtily offering sweet food (3-5,6)

 

Anagram of (naughtily) SEDUCE AMERICAN

ICE-CREAM SUNDAE*

ICE-CREAM SUNDAE (sweet food)

 

6

 

Philosopher needing money to acquire new suit (9)

 

LUCRE (sordid gain; riches,money) + an anagram of (new) SUIT

LUCRE TIUS*

LUCRETIUS (Roman poet and philosopher)

 
7 I’m a beach thing constructed to hide person’s bottom maybe (7,7)

Anagram of (constructed) I’M A BEACH THING containing (to hide) N (last letter of [bottom] PERSON)

BATHING MACHI (N) E*  Either N could be the one contained.

BATHING MACHINE (a wheeled bathing hut for transporting a bather into the sea; could well be used to hide all parts person’s body)

 

8

 

Time boys gets immersed under water (6)

 

SEA (water) + SON (boy)  Again a down clue, so SON is under SEA  I think there is a typo in this clue where ‘boys’ should be ‘boy’.  I am working from a pre-publication copy of the crossword so the typo may be corrected in print.

 

SEASON (any particular time)

 

13

 

Successive actions by batsman to get out of trouble quickly (3,3,3)

CUT (cricket stroke by a batsman) + AND (indicating a subsequent event) + RUN (what the batsman will do if the CUT beats the fielders and doesn’t reach the boundary)

 

CUT AND RUN (get out of trouble quickly)

 

14

 

Apes in Civil Service led by somewhat cold female (6)

 

MIMI (reference the heroine MIMI in Puccini’s opera La Boheme to whom is sung the aria ‘Your tiny hand is frozen’) + CS (civil service)

 

MIMICS (copies; apes)

 

15

 

Go on and on about a little girl looking happy (7)

 

RANT (declaim bombastically; go on and on) containing (about) (A + DI [abbreviation [little] of a girl’s name, DIANA)

R (A DI) ANT

RADIANT (beaming; looking happy)

 

16

 

One looking round attic initially for ghost? (7)

 

HUNTER (one looking) containing (round) A (first letter of [initially] ATTIC)

H (A) UNTER

HAUNTER (one who HAUNTs in a ghostly fashion; ghost)

 

17

 

Port with large lump of ice – undesirable potation ultimately (6)

 

BERG (reference ICEBERG, a large lump of ice) + EN (last letters of [ultimately] each of UNDESIRABLE and POTATION)

 

BERGEN (port city in Norway)

 

20

 

Lift what be light from what we hear (5)

 

RAISE (sounds like [from what we hear] RAYS [light])

 

RAISE (lift)

 

7 comments on “Independent 8850 / Quixote”

  3. I don’t remember having come across CANAILLE before and had to trust the wordplay for it. I was fairly sure that there was some kind of miracle at Cana even though my interest in things biblical is close to nothing.

  4. An entertaining puzzle, I thought.

    CANAILLE crops up in Iolanthe by Gilbert and Sullivan. At school our music teacher was keen on G&S, and the school choir regularly had to perform selections at school concerts. Funny how certain words stick in your mind for decades, however generally useless they may be. “Persiflage” is another one (from The Mikado).

    I couldn’t help smiling at 14d, with MIMI as “somewhat cold female”. 🙂

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  5. School wasn’t entirely wasted on me. I remembered the miracle at Cana from RE lessons and although I didn’t do Latin at school, we did have something called Greek and Roman Literature and I read a book by Lucretius in translation. Quite fun, I recall. (One of the things he tries to explain is why Britain has such a terrible climate.)

    Seemed to go in smoothly. Easiest this week, so far.

  6. Just a footnote: apart from being the first miracle, the one at Cana is the one mentioned at the beginning of the Marriage Service, so should be reasonably familiar (depending on what circles you move in!)

  7. Whoopie ! I have after many arduous efforts actually finished a cryptic crossword in the I newspaper in 2019. Thank you Quixote for redeeming my self belief and confirming that senile dementia has not yet set in (as far as I can tell)

Comments are closed.