This was a tough challenge from Neo that tests your general knowledge as much as it does your ability to decipher the clues.
“The wages of sin” means there’s “hell to pay”
In order to solve it, you need to know about zoology (TREMATODE, PORBEAGLE, TETRA and the TITI in LETITIA), gastronomy (TORTINI), architecture (RIDGEPOLE), geometry (TORI in TORTINI) and drama (SYNGE).
The wordplay is generally very good, with some excellent surfaces which I feel was let down by a couple of clues which were a bit forced (OVERLOADING and SERVO), and I need a bit of help with the parsing of UPRIGHT.
Thanks, Neo, for getting the grey matter working early this morning.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HELL TO PAY |
An awful cost 19 21 23 paradoxically settles? (4,2,3)
A cost to be paid for by the wages of sin (see 19 21 23) |
| 6 | SET UP |
Arrangement has TV in higher place (3,2)
SET (“TV”) + UP |
| 9 | ANTWERP |
Port or schnapps essentially brought round by twit (7)
<=(sch(NA)pps) + TWERP
|
| 10 | PANNIER |
Musical rook, on piano, in basket (7)
P-ANNIE-R |
| 11 | TETRA |
Swimmer takes part in elite training (5)
Hidden in “eliTE TRAining” A tetra is a tropical fish, often seen in fish tanks. |
| 12 | RIDGEPOLE |
Supporter free European’s held back for example (9)
RID (<=E.G.) POLE |
| 14 | TEA |
Drink from nipple endlessly (3)
TEA(t) |
| 15 | OVERLOADING |
Having too much on bad for an evil god sacrificing female (11)
*(or an evil god) (The F of “for” is sacrificed.) This surface is a little awkward for my liking. “Having too much on” leads me to an adjective or past participle like “overladen” rather than the answer. Would have preferrred something like “putting too much on” |
| 17 | WICKET GATES |
Scots town’s bustling estate to incorporate good little entrances (6-5)
WICK + *(estate) incorporating G |
| 19, 21, 23 | THE WAGES OF SIN |
Whose feasting may lead to death? (3,5,2,3)
Cryptic definition |
| 20 | HOLY WATER |
Something blessed new hero staying fifty years by temple (4,5)
L Y WAT in *(hero) |
| 22 | SERVO |
Small over-supply in machine controller (5)
S + *(over) I’m assuming that the anagrind is “supply”, which I’m not convinced by. |
| 24 | UPRIGHT |
Stuff the Tories? That’s morally correct (7)
UP + RIGHT Might need some help from a fellow blogger here. UP meaning STUFF? I’m thinking as in “to increase” but I’m not convinced. |
| 26 | OMINOUS |
Sinister order in America banks one blood type (7)
O.M IN (O) US |
| 27 | EWERS |
They’re filled from river sheep must guard (5)
EWE(R)S |
| 28 | OBSESSION |
Period in pub with alumnus dominating thought (9)
OB + SESSION
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | HEART |
Core planet where the last shall be first (5)
Moving the H of EARTH to the front gives HEART |
| 2 | LETITIA |
Female monkey in meadow (7)
LE(TITI)A A titi is a small South American monkey. |
| 3 | TREMATODE |
Worm wants red meat to become rotten (9)
*(red meat to) A trematode is a parasitic flatworm. |
| 4 | PAPER-WEIGHT |
Journal with influence that keeps work down (5-6)
PAPER + WEIGHT |
| 5 | YEP |
Old solvers start to panic – that’s right (3)
YE + P(anic) “solvers ” = YOU, but “old” indicates YE |
| 6 | SYNGE |
Playboy playwright to tell in verse that’s heard (5)
Homophone of SING (“to tell in verse” John Millington Synge wrote “The Playboy of the Western World” |
| 7 | TRIPOLI |
Flow easily shifting oil produces capital (7)
TRIP (“flow easily” as in “trip off the tongue”) + *(oil) |
| 8 | PORBEAGLE |
Shark pair snatches old dog (9)
P(O)R + BEAGLE |
| 13 | DELETERIOUS |
Cancel FT to save capital? That’s destructive (11)
DELETE(RIO)US “FT” = US Rio isn’t a capital, however. It was, but Brasilia took over when it was built. |
| 14 | TOWNHOUSE |
Time at private hotel and river residence (9)
T-OWN-H-OUSE |
| 16 | ASSASSINS |
25 fools in society make killers (9)
2 x ASS + IN S(ociety) |
| 18 | CALORIE |
California Tales about one measure of heat (7)
CA + LOR(I)E |
| 19 | TORTONI |
Ice-cream – there’s a lot put into doughnuts (7)
TOR(TON)I TORI is the plural of TORUS (a doughnut shaped surface) Tortoni is made with cream and cherries, with optional nuts. |
| 21 |
See 19 across
|
|
| 23 |
See 19 across
|
|
| 25 | TWO |
Couple from Brentwood (3)
Hidden in BrenTWOod |
In 22 the anagram signal ‘supply’is not a noun but an adverb, ‘in a supple (pliable) manner’
Thanks Neo and loonapick
I was hoping someone would have come in by now with a better explanation than I can manage for 24ac. I took it to be something like UP RIGHT by analogy with UP YOURS.
Got 1a before the other which shouted at me, but I liked this. 6d beat me unaided, I’d sight read that as singe not sing, I’d prefer better wordplay but only complaining cos I didn’t get it. Thanks Neo and loona
@Pelham up yours is how I saw it too. Knowing neo that’s very likely it.
There’s a little more to 19, 21, 23. Romans 6:23 begins “For the wages of sin is death”; and “the wages of sin” is an anagram for “whose feasting”.
Indeed a riveting crossword from Neo, which sad to say defeated me in the end by a little more than a whisker. Thanks Loonapick for the enlightenment.
19,21,23ac – I think the parsing is meant to be an anagram of “WHOSE FEASTING” – the question though is if Neo meant for ‘may to the anagrind or is it a circular one via ‘feasting’.
Cheers
TL
Ignore my comment @6 – had typed it in quite some time back and was on other webpages before remembering to come back here and send through. Saw after the refresh that Deke already has it covered.
Cheers
TL
Deke and Turbolegs – I noticed the anagram as well, but for some reason forgot to include it in my blog.
Might have to agree about Rio, loona. Well spotted. Possibly the ‘putting’ rather than ‘having’ also.
1ac uses synonymy (as in there’ll be an awful cost/ there’ll be hell to pay) and the idea that it would perhaps be paradoxical to pay the Devil off with the wages of sin. You pays your money, as it were … !
19 21 23 is again hopefully synonymous, since ‘the wages of sin’ IS ‘death’. So it’s just that the anagram fodder (whose feasting) ‘may lead to’ the answer.
Tories, yes indeed, UP the RIGHT, and Synge is pronounced ‘sing’ I was advised recently. In particular when I did the clue for the homophone of ‘singe’, oops.
There’s a Nina too, with DIES IRAE (related as you’ll see to some of the entries) crossing (I can’t claim the right type of cross there, I guess) in the middle.
Many thanks to all who dropped in.
Cheers
Neo.
Neo
Thanks too for dropping in.
I missed the Nina, so thanks.
On UPRIGHT, that’s an interesting one, because UP THE RIGHT could also be a gesture of support for the Tories.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Liked this a lot. Challenging, but not impossible – although I did need to check up on the monkey, worm and playwright. A lot of depth in the clues, especially the thematic ones.
Admired the ‘playboy playwright’ for SYNGE whose play brought on a series of riots after it premiered, so I read – certainly an unusual story line ! It was my last clue, in what was a very enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks loonapick and Neo.
Late to the party as ever. Completed but failed to spot the Nina. Might one day that the devil is in the detail?
I had 7dn as a ‘capital’ error too given the current state of Libya. I seem to recall that a ‘capital’ needs to be the seat of the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. That’s why South Africa uniquely has 3 of them.