Hieroglyph is occupying this week’s Tuesday slot, with one of his themed puzzles for us to crack.
Like the themed puzzle of his that I blogged on bird species, there are a couple of fairly easy ways into this puzzle, e.g. at 12A, 14, 24, after which the theme can be confirmed at 5/27. Once the theme has been established, the solver can then peruse the clues and see where names of prime ministers may have been slotted into the grid by the compiler. There are enough such names to make the exercise interesting, but not impossibly difficult, for the solver.
Indeed, Hieroglyph should be complimented on having managed to fill all the across entries in the grid with theme words, and to have done so without resorting to too many obscure ones: only 7 and 11 were unfamiliar to me.
My favourite clue today was the gateway at 5/27, the surface of which gives little away as to the nature of the theme. 7 cleverly uses the name of a Japanese PM to arrive at the name of a British one.
Overall, I think themed puzzles of this kind, which reveal themselves fairly quickly to the solver, have a useful role to play in demystifying such puzzles, which many “uninitiated” solvers can find off-putting.
(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 05/27 | PRIME MINISTER | Home perhaps – items in disarray, covered in paint
*(ITEMS IN) in PRIMER (=paint): “in disarray” is anagram indicator; this is the gateway to the theme of this puzzle, in which all across solutions are the surnames of British prime ministers; the reference here is to Conservative Alec Douglas-Home, PM from 1963-4 |
| 07 | ABERDEEN | 5,27’s rule after Japanese 5,27 upset 25
ABE (=Japanese Prime Minister (=entry at 5,27); Shinzo Abe is the current Japanese PM) + R (=rule) + *(EDEN (=entry at 25)); “upset” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Peelite PM from 1852-5 |
| 10 | PEEL | 5,27’s to go left
PEE (=to go, i.e. to the toilet, to wee) + L (=left); the reference is to Conservative Robert Peel, PM from 1834-5 and 1841-6 |
| 11 | ADDINGTON | 5,27’s putting on century
ADDING (=putting on, summing) + TON (=century); the reference is to Henry Addington, Tory PM from 1801-4 |
| 12 | BLAIR | 5 27’s British retreat
B (=British) + LAIR (=retreat); the reference is to Labour’s Tony Blair, PM from 1997-2007 |
| 13 | BALFOUR | 5,27’s devious foul in boozer
*(FOUL) in BAR (=boozer); “devious” is anagram indicator; the reference is to Conservative Arthur Balfour, PM from 1902-5 |
| 14 | ATTLEE | 5,27’s a dry sheltered side
A + TT (=dry, i.e. teetotal) + LEE (=sheltered side); the reference is to Labour’s Clement Attlee, PM from 1945-51 |
| 16 | WILSON | 5,27’s with one liberal lad
W (=with) + I (=one) + L (=liberal) + SON (=lad); the reference is to Labour’s Harold Wilson, PM from 1964-70 and from 1974-6 |
| 20 | CAMERON | 5,27’s trick taking in a main in Paris
[A + MER (=main in Paris, i.e. the French word for “sea”)] in CON (=trick); the reference is to current Conservative PM David Cameron, in office since 2010 |
| 22 | BROWN | 5,27’s bowled right over with name
B (=bowled, on cricket scorecard) + R (=right) + O (=over, on cricket scorecard) + W (=with) + N (=name); the reference is to Labour’s Gordon Brown, PM from 2007-10 |
| 24 | GLADSTONE | 5,27’s happy weight
GLAD (=happy) + STONE (=weight); the reference is to Liberal William Gladstone, PM from 1868-74, 1880-5, 1886 and 1892-4 |
| 25 | EDEN | 5,27’s hosted by chartered engineers
Hidden (“hosted by”) in “charterED ENgineers”; the reference is to Conservative Anthony Eden, PM from 1955-7 |
| 28 | MAJOR | 5,27’s backing press officer’s initial run
MAJ (JAM=press, crush; “backing” indicates reversal) + O<fficer> (“initial” means first letter only) + R (=run, on cricket scorecard); the reference is to Conservative John Major, PM from 1990-7 |
| Down | ||
| 01 | ORFE | Junior featherweight holds fish
Hidden (“holds”) in “juniOR FEatherweight” |
| 02 | BAD DEBT | Arrears that must be written off after Spooner’s father gambled
Spoonerism of “dad (=father) bet (=gambled)” |
| 03 | KENNEL | Barbie’s other half finishes off in the proverbial doghouse
KEN (=Barbie’s other half, i.e. children’s dolls) + <i>N <th>E <proverbia>L (“finishes off” means last letters only) |
| 04 | TENNER | Note apple turnover
RENNET (=apple, of certain old varieties); “turnover” indicates vertical reversal |
| 06 | MALTA | Lecturer inhabiting Spanish footballer’s island
L (=lecturer) in MATA (=Spanish footballer, i.e. Manchester United’s Juan Mata) |
| 08 | DUTEOUS | Due to reformation, American’s obedient
*(DUE TO) + US (=American); “reformation” is anagram indicator |
| 09 | BARRIE | Playwright’s cheese overwhelms a recipe
[A + R (=recipe, i.e. the Latin for “take”)] in BRIE (=cheese); the reference is to Scottish dramatist J M Barrie (1860-1937), inventor of Peter Pan |
| 12 | BOA | Snake oil primarily accepted by graduate
O<il> (“primarily” means first letter only) in BA (=graduate, Bachelor of Arts) |
| 15 | TYMPANI | Kettledrums turned up in a premium yacht after a chaplain’s departed
IN A + PM (=premium) + Y<ach>T (“after a chaplain (A + CH)’s departed” means letters “ach” are dropped); “turned up” indicates (here full) vertical reversal |
| 17 | INBRED | Innate independence, note, with reference to daughter
I (=independence) + NB (=note, i.e. nota bene) + RE (=with reference to) + D (=daughter) |
| 18 | NUN | Sister’s love on the radio
Homophone (“on the radio”) of “none” (=love) |
| 19 | ANDORRA | Nationalist party, wearing army regulation, runs a principality
{[N (=nationalist) + DO (=party, celebration)] in AR (=army regulation)} + R (=runs, on a cricket scorecard) + A |
| 20 | CAGE IN | Imprison murderer on the outskirts of Georgia
GE (=Georgia, in IVR) in CAIN (=murderer, of Abel in the OT) |
| 21 | RESITS | Once again takes on small Italian soprano
RE (=on) + S (=small) + IT (=Italian) + S (=soprano); “to resit (an exam)” is to take it again |
| 23 | OMEGA | Cretan character brought up stone in old academy
MEG (GEM=stone; “brought up” means vertical reversal) in [O (=old) + A (=academy)]; omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, hence “Cretan character” |
| 26 | ETON | European to name Berkshire town
E (=European) + TO + N (=name) |
This turned out to be very easy, once the gateway clue was cracked. After a couple of down answers, I found 13A Balfour, and that hinted at prime ministers, and they all were write-ins. My only problem was seeing T…..I for 15D “kettledrum” and writing in “Timpani” without reading the rest of the clue. Thanks, Hieroglyph, for introducing me to Addington, who had quite slipped my notice. Thanks, RatkojaRiku, for explaining 15D!
Had a quick look at this as my Radio Times didn’t arrive today. I don’t think “rennet” is right for apple – it should be reinette: see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennet
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinette
Should have checked Chambers first – it’s in there as an apple.
Mystified by all the across clues being themed, I turned to the down clues, which with the exception of 4 (never heard of rennet as an apple, only as a curdling agent for milk) were all just about write-ins. The crossing letters then led to 5,27 and the rest of the acrosses followed quickly. Yes, a good puzzle for “unitiated” solvers provided they weren’t put off by all the acrosses and tackled the downs first.
Thanks, Hieroglyph and RatkojaRiku.
I don’t want to sound churlish, because we get all the (generally) wonderful Indy puzzles for free, but I don’t really see the point of a crossword like this. Pretty much impenetrable gateway clue; then get a few of the downs; then one of the acrosses; then get PRIME MINISTER and the rest is a write-in because the setter was being kind to us by making all the downs easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. All very clever, but …
I’ll crawl back under me stone now.
K’sD summarised this exactly, I wrote in 5/27 immediately and then this fell immediately, not really Indy standard tbh. Sorry hg this could have been done so much better.
I can see where you’re coming from KD, but I still quite enjoyed solving it (faint praise!). But it did at times seem like an example crossword for demonstrating Abbreviations, and some of those seemed a bit tenuous.
Anyway it made a pleasant amuse-bouche after Vlad’s meatier main course!
Thanks Hiero and RR.
I was simply being grumpy as usual, Limeni; it just wasn’t my tasse de thé. But then themed puzzles seldom are.
[And if your amuse-bouche came after the meat main course, you’ve booked into the wrong restaurant …]
I forgot my manners earlier, so thank you to RR for the blog.
Well, we finished it quite quicky after starting earlier than usual because we thought it may be tricky.
We still enjoyed it though – learnt that Aberdeen and Addington were Prime Ministers in the process. Our way in was Joyce solving 14ac just as Bert solved 10ac.
Thanks to RR and Hieroglyph.
Yes, quite a quick solve. Once I got 10 and 16, the theme was obvious, although I’d never heard of 11.
Except I see that at 15dn, I’d entered TIMPANI, which is how I usually spell it. I was wondering how to parse it.
@Kathryn’s Dad – I certainly wasn’t criticising you – ‘grumpy’ is my natural language! (..although I try to ‘positive’ things up a bit for postings here). Anyway, I think we all more or less agree with your appraisal today. But there was some fun to be had nonetheless.
As to the ‘amuse-bouche’ – hmm..it seems you’re right. I was looking for the word for those little creations the Michelin-starred restaurants spring on you between courses in France. Que diriez-vous si je vous offrais: ‘entremets’?
Je dirais que vous avez raison, Limeni. Although I don’t frequent Michelin-starred restaurants much these days. Welcome to the grumpy club.
Irritating I hate this type of cryptic crossword.