The preamble told us that in 11 clues the wordplay produces a letter surplus to the solution. In order, these 11 letters provide a cryptic definition for 10 other solutions, represented in their clues as ****.
I took a long time to get going in this puzzle as answers I thought I had didn’t fit. I twigged that there was something going on with languages fairly early on, but it took much longer to realise that the languages were anagrams of the correct entries in all the clues containing ****.
Once the penny dropped and the wordplay seemed to fit these anagrammed languages, then the puzzle became a lot easier.
The clues with **** were all very clever as I think they are all sort of &Lit clues where the non **** bits, as well as giving the wordplay, could also be read as a very sensible whole when the answers were dropped into the clue. For example at 4 across it is true to say that At Hove [you can] run across hard SHINGLE, and at 1 down a native of Liege is indeed a BELGIAN
In the body of the blog I have given the languages that can be anagrammed from the entries derived from 10 clues with **** Some of the languages are not particularly well known. For a while I thought we were looking for languages that were nearly extinct.
The extra letters in the word play of 10 clues spelled out the phrase BAD LANGUAGE where BAD is interpreted in this case as an anagram indicator
While I struggled to start with, I got a good deal of pleasure over persevering to the end.
I have one clue where the full word play eludes me – that is at 5 down where the entry is clearly HIMSELF, but I can’t figure out the wordplay for the HIM part. I am sure someone will show me how easy it really is!.
|
Across |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Extra letter |
Entry |
Language |
|
1
|
**** sibling’s books online (6)
|
BRO (brother; sibling) + NT (New Testament; books) + E (electronic; online when used as E-mail, E-books etc)
|
|
BRONTË (reference the BRONTË sisters, Emily, Charlotte & Anne together with their brother Bramwell)
|
BRETON
|
|
4
|
At Hove run across hard **** (7)
|
SINGLE (term for a score of one run in cricket) containing (across) H (hard) S (H) INGLE |
|
SHINGLE (describes the nature of the beach at Hove on the South coast of England)
|
ENGLISH
|
|
9
|
Eastern plain wrong for ***
|
Anagram of (wrong) (E [Eastern] and PLAIN) ALPINE* |
|
ALPINE (a plant that thrives in high mountain areas; one that is unlikely to grow well on an Eastern plain)
|
NEPALI
|
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10
|
Centre politician joins idiots (8)
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NUB (centre) + MP (Member of Parliament; politician) + TIES (joins)
|
B
|
NUMPTIES (idiots)
|
|
|
11
|
American developed system of widescreen projection (8)
|
Anagram of (developed) AMERICAN CINERAMA* |
CINERAMA (a method of film projection on a wide curved screen to give a three-dimensional effect)
|
|
|
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12
|
Refrain from pursuing case round station (6)
|
(NOT [refrain from] + SUE [prosecute a law; take legal action; pursue a case]) all reversed (round) (EUS TON)< |
|
EUSTON (London mainline railway station)
|
|
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13
|
Is in (votes against leaving play) (6,3)
|
(IS contained in [is in] NOES [votes against]) + OFF (leaving) NO (IS) ES OFF |
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NOISES OFF (1982 play by English playwright Michael Frayn)
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|
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14
|
Sound character, all agreed (4)
|
AT ONE (all agreed)
|
A
|
TONE (character of sound)
|
|
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15
|
Originally succulent before becoming *** (4)
|
S (first letter of [originally] SUCCULENT) + ERE (before)
|
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SERE (dry and withered, what a succulent may become over time and lack of water)
|
ERSE
|
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17
|
**** doctor – so a pretence, largely (9)
|
Anagram of (doctor) SO A PRETENCE excluding the final two letters (largely) CE PERSONATE* |
|
PERSONATE (assume the likeness or character of, but in reality a pretence)
|
ESPERANTO
|
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20
|
**** uncovered scrap (6)
|
FRAGMENT (scrap) excluding the first and last letters (uncovered) F and T
|
|
RAGMEN (people who collect or deal in RAGS; people who uncover scraps)
|
GERMAN
|
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22
|
Did groom want to keep appointment? Not at first (8)
|
NEED (want) containing (to keep) (DATE + N [first letter of {at first} NOT]) NE (ATE N) ED |
D
|
NEATENED (did groom)
|
|
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23
|
Oh man! Heads of state really clueless – stupid ****! (8)
|
Anagram of (stupid) OH MAN and SRC (first letters of [head of] STATE, REALLY and CLUELESS) MONARCHS* |
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MONARCHS (if Heads of State were clueless, they could, in some countries be described as stupid MONARCHS [in others as stupid PRESIDENTS])
|
ROMANSCH
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24
|
Girl is essential in Van Goch painting (6)
|
IRISES (hidden word in [in] GIRL IS ESSENTIAL)
|
L
|
IRISES (painting by Van Goch)
|
|
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25
|
Blooming Democrat was an informer (7)
|
D (Democrat) + RATTED (was an informer, as in RATTED ON)
|
DRATTED (describing something vexatious; blooming)
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|
|
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26
|
Initially pitiful swordsman conveying **** (6)
|
P (first letter of [initially] PITIFUL) + ATHOS (one of the Three Musketeers; swordsman)
|
|
PATHOS (quality that arouses pity)
|
PASHTO
|
| Down | |||||
|
1
|
**** from Liège nearly beaten up in bar (7)
|
(Anagram of [beaten up] LIÈGE excluding the final letter [nearly] E) contained in (in) BAN (bar) B (ELGI*) AN |
|
BELGIAN (LIÈGE is a city in Belgium)
|
BENGALI
|
|
2
|
Mineral oil? I’ve ten jars (9)
|
Anagram of (jars) OLI I’VE TEN OLIVENITE* |
|
OLIVENITE (a mineral, hydrated copper arsenate, often OLIVE coloured)
|
|
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3
|
Drink? Household money’s spent getting 18, perhaps (7)
|
TEA (drink) + (MÉNAGE [household] excluding [getting spent] M [money])
|
A
|
TEENAGE (an 18-year-old would still be in his / her TEENAGE)
|
|
|
5
|
Will the writer after much success essentially promote ****? (7)
|
I’m not sure of the wordplay for the HIM part of this entry + SELF (reference WILL SELF [English author, [1961 – date]); Will the writer)
|
|
HIMSELF (Will SELF is a very effective SELF publicist and is unlikely to miss an opportunity to promote HIMSELF)
|
FLEMISH
|
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6
|
Minutes forwarded in turn (5)
|
SENT ON (forwarded) reversed (in turn) (NO TES)< |
N
|
NOTES (minutes [of a meeting])
|
|
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7
|
Go flat – romance not working (3,4)
|
LIE (fiction; romance) + DOWN (if the system is DOWN it is not working)
|
|
LIE DOWN (assume a prone position; go flat)
|
|
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8
|
Hit man beginning to shake is a nervous wreck – not a good quality (13) |
GUN (hitman; professional killer as in hired GUN)) + S (first letter of [beginning to] SHAKE) + an anagram of (wreck) IS A NERVOUS UN S AVOURINESS* |
G
|
UNSAVOURINESS (an unpleasant quality; not a good quality)
|
|
|
14
|
""Fountain pens useless": a child prince (9)
|
(TREVI [reference the TREVI fountain in Rome] containing [pens] [US {useless} + A]) + CH (child) T (S A) REVI CH |
U
|
TSAREVICH (the son of a TSAR; a prince)
|
|
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16
|
Attract by running Mae around unendingly (7)
|
Anagram of (running) MAE AROUND excluding the last letter [unendingly] D ENAMOUR* |
A |
ENAMOUR (attract)
|
|
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17
|
Slam champion gets trophy number 5 in style (7)
|
PAN (slate; slam) + (ACE [champion] containing H [5th letter of [number 5] TROPHY) PAN AC (H) E |
|
PANACHE (style)
|
|
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18
|
It’s blown over? About to rain, idiot! (7)
|
O (over in cricket scoring notation) + CA (circa; about) + an anagram of (idiot) RAIN O CA RINA* |
|
OCARINA (wind instrument; it’s blown)
|
|
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19
|
Quits biting on teams (7)
|
EVENS (quits) containing (biting) LEG (the ON side in cricket) E (LE) VENS |
G
|
ELEVENS (teams)
|
|
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21
|
Deliberate before accompanying setter (5)
|
ME ([crossword] setter) + ANTE (before)
|
E
|
MEANT (deliberate)
|
|
Thanks Duncan
HI(t), much success + proMote.
I liked this a lot.
sidey @ 1
Thanks for the parsing of HIM – that makes a lot of sense
Thanks for a very helpful blog, which has cleared up my queries. I got about three-quarters of the way there, but was largely defeated by the SE quadrant. Looking forward to tomorrow’s new offering…
Sorry, could I confirm the parsing of 14d – is US an abbreviation for USELESS? Thanks.
Thanks Duncan. Like you I couldn’t see where “him” was coming from, but now that sidey has pointed it out I can’t see how I missed it. I don’t think I appreciated just how good the **** clues were at the time – and printing them as four letter “bad language” was a nice extra touch.
(I also completely forgot to submit my entry so clearly wasn’t having a good month.)
Giudice, U/S was a services abbreviation for unserviceable, often now = useless.
Thank you – will note that for the future!
Thanks for the blog. We too, took a while to figure out the connection between the **** clues despite having got some of them.
Got them all in the end, but failed to parse TEENAGE, so thanks for that. Except for 14a where I didn’t spot ‘at one’ for ‘all agreed’ and ended up entering TUNE, vaguely thinking ‘character’ might be TAU.
But apart from that, it was very enjoyable – teasing without playing too hard to get 🙂
Thanks for the blog Duncan which was very helpful.
Well…I finished this without ever understanding what linked the 10 clues. Strangely I actually incorrectly entered Romansch for 23A without understanding why that was the answer, which of course it wasn’t in the end. Even then, I still did not make a link between my thinking of Romansch and the Bad Language that I had worked out.
I liked that all 10 were very good &lit clues with the exception of 9A which was barely so; still I have nothing to complain about that.
I also incorrectly assumed that Lie was Romance because of the old meaning of Lie for having ‘sexual relations.’
I found this tough overall, but pleasurable enough to want to finish it which I did only 4 or 5 days ago
I would bet there were no more than 250 correct entries this month.
As with Gordon@9, I failed to see that the theme was anagrams of languages, but was still able to submit a correct solution. (I’d put NEPALI at 9ac, but down entries meant it had to be erased)
So I regard the puzzle as flawed in that it wasn’t necessary to solve it completely to qualify for the prize, though I won’t complain if I’m lucky in the draw for a prize.
I found this Genius particularly brutal, and was on the verge of giving up when the BAD LANGUAGE penny dropped- a device I really enjoyed!
I initially thought ALPINE was an anagram of LAPINE though- the fictional rabbit language from Watership Down. That set me off on a wild goose chase of looking for other fictional languages (Klingon, Sindarin etc). Fortunately I had second thoughts, realising that while this is a tough crossword, there are limits!
I was lucky enough to get to test solve this. I loved it. Great puzzle.
Thanks to Duncan for the excellent blog and to others for their comments.
I have not seen any statistics on the number of correct answers recently. We enjoy seeing these figures and comparing how hard we found the puzzle with the number of correct answers. My memory is that in the easier months, there are slightly over 400 correct answers and in the tougher months it drops to about 200.
These figures are also important to my calculations of when we are due to win. We have entered most months for several years now and we have not won yet.
Bad John @14
Just over a year ago my wife told me that I would win ‘soon’. I told her that her intuition was suspect as my chances were only about 1 in 300 and therefore it might take me on average 12-13 years or so even if I completed each one correctly every month. I was very pleased at my logic until….the next week I found I had won the January 2014 prize [a Tramp puzzle I recall].
So, my wife’s intuition won the day. She still hasn’t stopped crowing about it.
Bloody typical
Disappointing, in that I completed the puzzle without the slightest understanding of the Bad Language theme