After the themeless crossword from Dac I blogged last Wednesday, this crossword from Hieroglyph fairly obviously has a theme
The theme is one that will appeal to some solvers, but generate groans from others. If you are a fan of DOCTOR WHO then this puzzle was possibly a write in for many of the entries. If you are not a fan of DOCTOR WHO then I suspect this would be a struggle, especially if you were born after the series began.
I fall somewhere in the middle. I was a fan when I was a young, but have drifted away from it in later years. I was able to deduce the actors I couldn’t remember from the crossing letters and clues, but I guess some solvers would just reach for an aid to help solve the clues.
The grid construction is impressive getting in all twelve actors’ surnames plus DOCTOR WHO and TARDIS, but some of the remaining entries illustrate the difficulty of fitting non theme words into the remaining spaces in the grid for a themed puzzle. EVANESCE and RAGOUT are reasonably well known but PROSODY and REPLEDGE are not common entries in daily broadsheet crosswords. I accept though that the wordplay for these four entries is fairly clear.
DOCTOR WHO on television dates back to 1963 and a full list of the twelve actors who have played the DOCTOR on BBC television together with the years they played is shown below.
|
Number |
Actor | Years playing DOCTOR WHO on television |
|
1 |
William HARTNELL | 1963 – 1966 |
|
2 |
Patrick TROUGHTON | 1966 – 1969 |
|
3 |
Jon PERTWEE | 1970 – 1974 |
|
4 |
Tom BAKER | 1974 – 1981 |
|
5 |
Peter DAVISON | 1981 – 1984 |
|
6 |
Colin BAKER | 1984 – 196 |
|
7 |
Sylvester McCOY | 1987 – 1989 |
|
8 |
Paul McGANN | 1996 |
|
9 |
Christopher ECCLESTON | 2005 |
|
10 |
David TENNANT | 2005 – 2010 |
|
11 |
Matt SMITH | 2010 – 2013 |
|
12 |
Peter CAPALDI | 2013 – date |
When I solved the puzzle, I got the theme very quickly as I had a quick look at 27 down and 22 down. 22 down fell very quickly as WHO which made me check that DOCTOR fitted 27 down. TARDIS at 10 across didn’t seem to have a particularly challenging as a clue.
One clue has given me some difficulty in parsing. ORNATE seems to break into OR and NATE. OR is clearly referring to the gold bit. I have given a fairly obscure reference for relating NATE to silver. I look forward to reading about something much better in the comments.
I liked the clues for BAKER and DOCTOR
After explaining 6 down, the blog simply uses 27/22 to refer to the DOCTOR WHO television series actor to play 27/22)
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
6
|
27/22/9‘s part of Greater Manchester fashion (9)
|
ECCLES (town in Greater Manchester) + TON (fashion)
|
ECCLESTON (reference Christopher ECCLESTON, the ninth actor to play DOCTOR WHO [27d / 22d] in the television series)
|
|
8
|
27/22/4/6 bowled a yorker, half-cut? (5)
|
B (bowled [in cricket scoring notation]) + A + KER (the three letters remaining in YORKER after the other three YOR are cut out [cut])
|
BAKER (reference Tom BAKER, the fourth actor to play 27/22 and Colin BAKER the sixth)
|
|
10
|
27/22’s craft‘s somewhat bastardised (6)
|
TARDIS (hidden word in [somewhat] BASTARDISED)
|
TARDIS (the name of 27/22’s time-machine or craft for travelling through time)
|
|
11
|
27/22/1‘s uncontrolled rant in the other place? (8)
|
Anagram of (uncontrolled) RANT contained in (in) HELL (Chambers Thesaurus that HELL can defined colloquially as the other place) H (ARTN*) ELL |
HARTNELL (reference William HARTNELL, the first actor to play 27/22)
|
|
12
|
Scruffy male’s presumably supporting himself outside (7)
|
UNKEPT (not looked after by anyone, e.g. not supplied with finance, food and lodging, thereby implying that the person so described is supporting himself) containing (outside) M (male) UNKE (M) PT |
UNKEMPT (scruffy)
|
|
15
|
27/22/12‘s top budget supermarket (7)
|
CAP (top) + ALDI (a budget supermarket chain)
|
CAPALDI (reference Peter CAPALDI, the twelfth actor to play 27/22)
|
|
16
|
27/22/10/10 incarnate, oddly ignored (7)
|
TEN (10) + NANT (letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 only [even letters, odd letters ignored {oddly ignored}] of INCARNATE)
|
TENNANT (reference David TENNANT, the tenth actor to play 27/22)
|
|
20
|
27/22/3‘s saucy number one? (7)
|
PERT (saucy) + WEE (urine; the phrase NUMBER ONE is slang or childish phrase to describe urine)
|
PERTWEE (reference Jon PERTWEE, the third actor to play 27/22)
|
|
23
|
27/22/5‘s teacher welcoming a viscount (7)
|
DON (lecturer; teacher) containing (welcoming) (A + VIS [Viscount]) D (A VIS) ON |
DAVISON (reference Peter DAVISON, the fifth actor to play 27/22)
|
|
24
|
Study of versification‘s for obnoxious person by the close of Friday (7)
|
PRO (in support of; for) + SOD (obnoxious person) + Y (last letter of [close of] FRIDAY)
|
PROSODY (study of versification)
|
|
29
|
Call to begin party around lunchtime ends in chemical abuse (8)
|
(REVEL [party] containing [around] I [one; lunchtime]) + LE (last letters of each of [ends in] CHEMICAL and ABUSE) REVE (I) L LE |
REVEILLE (summons to awake, get up or begin)
|
|
30
|
Extremes of gastrointestinal irritation? Hiccup! (6)
|
GL (first and last letters of [extremes of] GASTROINTESTINAL) + ITCH (irritation)
|
GLITCH (minor error or mishap, hiccup or temporary difficulty)
|
|
31
|
27/22/7‘s extremely melancholic and evasive (5)
|
MC (first and last letters of [extremely] MELANCHOLIC) + COY (evasive)
|
MCCOY (reference Sylvester MCCOY,the seventh actor to play 22/27)
|
|
32
|
27/22/2‘s tenor, feeling unwell, ultimately brought on (9)
|
T (tenor) + ROUGH (feeling unwell) + T (last letter of [ultimately] BROUGHT) + ON
|
TROUGHTON (reference Patrick TROUGHTON, the second actor to play 27/22) |
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
27/22/8‘s centre of gravity described by German writer? (6)
|
CG (centre of gravity) contained in (described by) MANN (reference Thomas MANN [1875 – 1955] German novelist and short story writer) M (CG) ANN |
MCGANN (reference Paul MCGANN, eighth actor to play 27/22)
|
|
2
|
Right away, crackpot pursues exhausts (4,2)
|
Anagram of (crackpot) PURSUES excluding (away) R (right) USES UP* |
USES UP (exhausts)
|
|
3
|
A noisy fuss 22 reported in this year (3-2)
|
HOO (sounds like [reported] WHO [22 down]) + HA (from the Latin hoc anno, in this year)
|
HOO-HA (noisy fuss)
|
|
4
|
Feature of sailing vessel mother isn’t about to accept rising in the morning (8) |
MA (mother) + (an anagram of [about] ISN’T containing [to accept] [AM {in the morning} reversed {rising}]) MA IN (MA<) ST* |
MAINMAST (important feature of a sailing vessel)
|
|
5
|
Once again drink a toast to theatre over 7D (8)
|
REP (reference REPERTORY theatre) + LEDGE (7 down)
|
REPLEDGE (once again PLEDGE [drink a toast to])
|
|
7
|
Sheltered Director-General attached strip (5)
|
DG (Director General) contained in LEE (sheltered side) The clue ‘Sheltered Director General’ could be expressed as’ Director General in a sheltered spot’ or DG in a LEE giving in as the containment indicator LE (DG) E |
LEDGE (attached strip)
|
| 9 | Silver under gold’s elaborately ornamented (6) |
The entry has to be ORNATE and OR is the reference to gold. That leaves NATE to be associated with silver. The only association I can find is an American named NATE Silver who is described by Wikipedia as an American statistician and writer who analyzes baseball and elections. He is currently the editor-in-chief of ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight blog and a Special Correspondent for ABC News I hope I’m wrong with this suggestion and there is some far more obvious association between NATE and silver that I can’t see. |
ORNATE (elaborately ornamented) |
|
13
|
No-good monarch’s family (3)
|
KING (monarch) excluding (no) G (good)
|
KIN (belonging to the same family)
|
|
14
|
One-time Kiwi runner’s detailed complaint (3)
|
MOAN (complaint) excluding the final letter (de-tailed) N
|
MOA (a gigantic extinct [one-time] bird (genus Dinornis) of New Zealand [Kiwi], resembling an ostrich [runner])
|
|
17
|
Disappear vehicle key in eastern Spain (8)
|
(VAN [vehicle] + ESC [Escape key on a keyboard]) contained in (in) (E [eastern] + E [International Vehicle Registration for Spain {España]) E (VAN ESC) E |
EVANESCE (vanish; disappear)
|
|
18
|
Like horseshoes, perhaps for dead cert at Ascot (6,2)
|
NAILED ON (horseshoes are NAILED ON to horses’ hooves)
|
NAILED ON ([of a horse] considered to be a near-certainty to win, e.g. at Ascot racecourse)
|
|
19
|
Simpleton to casually improvise on a guitar, say (6)
|
NOODLE (simpleton)
|
NOODLE (to improvise on a musical instrument [e.g. on a guitar] in a casual or desultory way, especially in jazz) double definition
|
|
21
|
Man leaving Greek island character there? (3)
|
RHODES (Greek island) excluding (leaving) DES (man’s name)
|
RHO (character of the Greek alphabet)
|
|
22
|
Anyone that resides in brew-houses? (3)
|
WHO (hidden word in [resides in] BREW-HOUSES)
|
WHO (anyone that)
|
|
25
|
Stew recipe? Starter of offal wrapped in a stomach (6)
|
R (recipe) + (O [first letter of {starter of} OFFAL contained in [wrapped in] [A + GUT {stomach}]) R A G (O) UT |
RAGOUT (highly seasoned stew of meat and vegetables)
|
|
26
|
27/22/11‘s mum entertaining American college (5)
|
SH (be quiet; keep mum) containing (entertaining) MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology; American College) S (MIT) H |
SMITH (reference Matt SMITH, eleventh actor to play 27/22)
|
|
27
|
Tipped up rubbish fish bones? (6)
|
(ROT [rubbish] + COD [fish]) all reversed (tipped up; down clue) (DOC TOR)< |
DOCTOR (bones is a nickname for a DOCTOR)
|
|
28
|
Get to know tragic character’s destination in the end (5)
|
LEAR (reference Shakespeare’s Tragedy of King LEAR) + N (last letter of [in the end] DESTINATION)
|
LEARN (get to know)
|
I’m not a fan of Dr. Who, not a fan at all, but what a remarkable gridfill from Hieroglyph, bravo.
Thanks to Duncan for the blog.
re ORNATE, Nate Silver is an American statistican who crunches politics and baseball numbers
@Duncan
sorry, ignore my comment at 2, it might have been smart to have read your parsing first!
I looked at this blog out of curiosity, and a curious coincidence (?) did arise – there was a Doctor Who themed crossword in the Guardian not long ago. See:
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2015/09/18/guardian-26680-tramp/
I’m not a big fan of Dr. Who, but was vaguely aware of most the actors who have played the good Doctor over the years so this wasn’t too bad. I’d never heard of NATE Silver (a bit unusual to include an American media commentator, but there’s no reason not to), HA for ‘in this year’ and NOODLE in the sense of improvising on a musical instrument. REVEILLE was my LOI and COD.
Congrats to Hieroglyph for so cleverly including all the 12 Dr. Who actors and thanks to Duncan for his usual clear explanation of the wordplay.
The Who fan in me just has to ask – where’s John Hurt? 🙂
Thanks, Duncan and Hieroglyph. Nate Silver is well enough known in recent years (and has been seen on the BBC predicting the last general election) that your parsing is undoubtedly correct, though I couldn’t figure it out myself. I’m afraid I had to google Dr Who actors for hints to all but Pertwee, Tennant and Capaldi (and some whose wordplay was obvious, like McCoy), which made for a lot of write-ins, though I found this otherwise a fun, if quick, solve.
@4 muffin, there was also this puzzle by Scorpion in 2 BC* http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/08/30/independent-7660-scorpion/
* Before Capaldi
Nice!
Thanks, Duncan, for a very thorough blog as usual.
Not my favourite type of puzzle. I got the gateway clue early on, but then it quickly became clear that you’d have to work out the surnames of all the Doctors, which for me is not a lot of fun. The difference with the Tramp (Jambazi to us) crossword mentioned above is that there, most of the Doctors were included in the clues, so you didn’t have to have an intimate knowledge of the series to be able to solve it.
Interesting that a couple of the comments so far have been congratulating the setter on the gridfill – getting all the actors into the puzzle. While this kind of stuff may have fellow setters (and some solvers) purring with admiration, I would just point out that crosswords are designed to amuse and entertain solvers, and not to be some kind of beauty contest between compilers.
That said, I think Hieroglyph has given us a puzzle today that will please a lot of people. Just not me.
The amusingly misleading method of enumerating the various 27/22s was a successful idea – particularly the 4/6, and the serendipitous 10/10.
When I saw all the references to 27/22, I felt a moment of dread but bit the bullet and looked at 27dn and suddenly got it. I was a Doctor Who fan from day one and could recite all the actors in order, so no problem there.
I am also a baseball fan and I did know the name Nate Silver, although I couldn’t remember the context.
In the end I needed to do a search for 29ac and couldn’t parse that and 3dn, so thanks for the explanations. I don’t recall ever coming across ha for hoc anno before.
Well, congratulations to Hieroglyph on constructing and clueing the puzzle. But, old enough not only to remember the start of 27/22 but also not to have had to hide behind the sofa, I’m nevertheless not a fan of the Doctor. But I soon twigged the theme and managed to google a chronological list of portrayers of the Doctor, which enabled me to complete the grid but took away a lot of the satisfaction.
Thanks, though, to Duncan for producing, as usual, such a thorough blog.