This is the third Knut puzzle that we have blogged. We have enjoyed the others with their topical themes but for some reason or other this did not hit the spot today.
Maybe it was the theme, revolving around cricket – a sport we are not very enthusiastic about or familiar with. Although the cricketing references were not particularly obscure (we have come across most of them through crosswords – what is it with compilers and cricket?), we had to google 6d to check that it really was a phrase used in the sport.
We can’t find any particular reason for Brian Close to feature on this particular date, but maybe Knut just wanted to dedicate a puzzle to his hero, and this was the only opportunity available to him. We’d also only heard of ‘close but no banana’ for 3d.
There is perhaps another theme which is very topical, based on 1ac who some say may be 2ac if he stays as chairman of the Olympic Committee after the recent scandals. He was definitely one of the sporting 22d during his athletic career, but was he 14ac doping in the sport?
| Across | ||
| 1 | Peer into middle distance? (4,3) | |
| LORD COE | A play on the fact that LORD COE was a middle distance runner. We needed quite a few crossing letters before this one fell into place. | |
| 5 | Mad farmers seize Noordhoek extremists (7) | |
| BONKERS | BOERS (farmers) around or ‘seizing’ NK (first and last letter or ’extremists’ in Noordhoek) | |
| 9 | Page reported enemy sign (5) | |
| FOLIO | Sounds like or ‘reported’ FOE (enemy) LEO (sign) | |
| 10 | A few great bats about to be seen at The Oval! (9) | |
| GASOMETER | SOME (a few) with an anagram of GREAT outside or ‘about’ (anagrind is ‘bats’). If you were at |
|
| 11 | Cat moves like Tigger without boundaries (5) | |
| OUNCE | Tigger in Winnie the Pooh |
|
| 12 | Slang reflected in gold pub sign (9) | |
| AUTOGRAPH | ARGOT (slang) reversed or ‘reflected’ in AU (gold) PH (pub) | |
| 13 | Able to pay cash for two ponies with a pound over? (6) | |
| LIQUID | Two ponies (£25) would make L (50) QUID. If there’s an extra pound over that would make LI QUID | |
| 14 | Aware of Tory VIP scandal (5,2) | |
| PRIVY TO | An anagram of TORY VIP (anagrind is ‘scandal’) | |
| 17 | Two parts of 3’s compound of carbon? (7) | |
| ORGANIC | An anagram of NO CIGAR (two words or ‘parts’ of 3 down) – anagrind is ‘compound’ | |
| 19 | Yo! Mister! He shot Knut’s lion! (2,4) | |
| MY HERO | An anagram of YO MR (‘mister’) HE – anagrind is ‘shot’ | |
| 21 | European Parliament’s a firm friend of the Church (9) | |
| EPISCOPAL | E (European) P (Parliament) IS CO (firm) PAL (friend) | |
| 23 | Speed, pure, Charlie’s pushed (5) | |
| HASTE | ||
| 24 | It takes spirit; good to get stuck in, go girl! (4,5) | |
| SHOT GLASS | G (good) getting stuck into SHOT (go) LASS (girl) | |
| 25 | See 1 Down | |
| 26 | One on board in international trial (4,3) | |
| TEST RUN | This took a bit of sorting out, but a RUN in a TEST match could be described as ‘one on (the score)-board’ | |
| 27 | One seeing doctor has to draw in breath (7) | |
| PATIENT | TIE (draw) in PANT (breath) | |
| Down | ||
| 1/25 | Film a tribute to a former 18 of 15, 16 and 4, 19A and 6? (4,2,5) | |
| LIFE OF BRIAN | This is the gateway clue to the theme – although we are not big fans of cricket, and are not from 15d, we had heard of Knut’s hero, whose surname appears in 3d. | |
| 2 | Weakening fast, Niger struggles to get a grip (9) | |
| RELENTING | LENT (fast) in, or ‘gripped by’ an anagram of NIGER – anagrind is ‘struggles’ | |
| 3 | Almost stuffy, although smoke-free (5,3,2,5) | |
| CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR | CLOSE (stuffy) BUT NO CIGAR (smoke-free) | |
| 4 | Swollen glands sweep across the nation (7) | |
| ENGLAND | Hidden in, or ‘sweeping across’ swollEN GLANDs | |
| 5 | Halt playful kiss first (3,4) | |
| BUS STOP | BUSS (playful kiss) TOP (first) | |
| 6 | Matthew bought in curry – he’ll likely get the runs (2,3,4,3,3) | |
| NO MUG WITH THE BAT | An anagram of MATTHEW BOUGHT IN – anagrind is ‘curry’ | |
| 7 | More wide, perhaps (5) | |
| EXTRA | Double definition | |
| 8 | Fresh, cooked food’s a non-starter for agricultural labourers (8) | |
| SERFHOOD | An anagram of FRESH (anagrind is ‘cooked’) + |
|
| 15 | Sidebottom? On the contrary, his team! (9) | |
| YORKSHIRE | We think this is a bit of an in-crowd clue, relating to Yorkshire cricket. Having googled ‘Sidebottom’ it appears that there is a Ryan Sidebottom and an Arnie Sidebottom who play or played cricket for YORKSHIRE, and Yorkshire fans would never consider their team to be the ‘Bottom side’. Well, this just goes to show how little we know about cricket. Thanks to Paul A and K’s D – again! | |
| 16 | Beginning of spectacular meteor shower over southern county (8) | |
| SOMERSET | S (first letter or ‘beginning of’ Spectacular) and an anagram of METEOR (anagrind is ‘shower’) around or ‘over’ S (southern) | |
| 18 | He skips and moves about the field (7) | |
| CAPTAIN | Our knowledge of cricket is as we have said is rather limited. We guessed it from the definition – a skipper or CAPTAIN. We can only think that it is the captain who decides where the fielders go or ‘move’ about the field, although Bert thinks it is more often the bowler who sets the field. Not our favourite clue we have to say – unless we are missing something! | |
| 19 | Wimp exploits work (7) | |
| MILKSOP | MILKS (exploits) OP (work) | |
| 20 | It’s found in shell fish served up after pike is gutted (6) | |
| PEANUT | TUNA (fish) reversed or ‘up’ after P |
|
| 22 | Exists to protect Tory legends (5) | |
| ICONS | IS (exists) around or ‘protecting’ CON (Tory) | |
I absolutely loved this puzzle but with your blog, it leaves very little room for hedgehoggy!
Same sentiment as copmus @1, really enjoyed it but brace yourselves…
15d I think refers to Yorkshire not being the side bottom, but the side top this season. Also in 10ac it is the Oval (as stated in the clue) rather than Lords which has the gasometer
Thanks to Knut for another nice one, and to B&J
Being a cricket fan, I did like the puzzle, but can you imagine the vitriol that would have spewed from my keyboard if this had been about golf?
Knut is obviously a Brian Close fan, and it’s all very clever, but should your average solver with no interest in cricket be expected to know the reference to GASOMETER? (By the way, B&J, you could only see said GASOMETER from The Oval cricket ground; you’d need a pair of binoculars or better to see it from Lord’s – and that’s no criticism, since it’s pretty arcane knowledge.)
SIDEBOTTOM? Well, I knew it, but your average Joe? The in-joke is that Yorkshire are currently county cricket champions, so their side would be far from bottom.
And if you think I am a grumpy old s*d, Google some stuff about BRIAN CLOSE. Professional Yorkshireman doesn’t even come CLOSE.
Thanks all three.
Beaten to it by Paul A.
I normally struggle to get on Knut’s wavelength but not with this themed crossword – My dad was a great cricket fan so I knew all about the GASOMETER.
I particularly liked 1a but did mutter a bit when the perishing cat turned up once again in 11a, although the clue itself was good. I am sure there are more of these cats in Crosswordland than there are in the wild.
Thanks to Knut and B&J too.
Does there need to be a special reason to include Brian Close in a Yorkshire/cricket themed puzzle? Whether this was compiled before or after his recent death doesn’t really matter.
A great puzzle, though tricky in places. Good to feature the small red ball for a change.
My first thought on 1ac was LORD COE but it seemed a bit too neat, so it was eventually one of my last ones in.
I hadn’t encountered CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR before and was still mystified when I got the answer. For anyone else mystified a possible explanation can be found here
Thanks, Knut and B&J
I’m an Australian with absolutely no interest in cricket and no idea who Brian Close is but I got the gasometer reference (don’t ask me why) and I loved this puzzle. Thanks for another cracker, Knut.
Bert and Joyce you have my sympathy. Unless you come from God’s own county or have an interest in cricket it’s an esoteric theme.
From my point of view, as someone who fits into both those categories, it illustrates another danger with themed crosswords. If you happen to be familiar with the theme there is no challenge whatsoever and it’s a big disappointment.
PS they say you can tell a Yorkshireman … but not much.
I thought 1 across was a nice idea but a bit weak as a clue. Is Coe still into middle distance running, given he retired from active sport decades ago and before he became a peer?
Brian Close was a little before my time as a cricket fan, so I didn’t find this particularly easy, but there were enough cricketing references in the clues to make it obvious that was the theme.
I’m with Copmus@1. I loved this. But I’m not with David@9 and didn’t find that there was no challenge whatsoever. Because I knew everything necessary I had no problems but I can see that if you are unfamiliar with cricket it might have been hard. However, it was about someone who was captain of England and there were no unfairly obscure references. And he did die recently so the theme is quite justified.
I painstakingly wrote something here on my phone but when I clicked on submit it disappeared intowhat’s appearedo I’m trying again and perhaps two posts from me saying much the same thing will at some point appear.
I’m with Copmus@1 and loved this. But I’m not with David@9 because I didn’t find it no challenge whatsoever. Although I knew everything necessary I still had to work at it. Perhaps the theme was a bit obscure but it wasn’t really. All the references were quite fair and Brian Close died recently and that is surely justification.
The little I know of cricket derives solely from the cryptosphere, but I relished this. So many witty tricks – FOLIO, GASOMETER, AUTOGRAPH, PATIENT – and some lovely surfaces – EPISCOPAL, HASTE, SOMERSET… I liked `curry` and `scandal` too.
I couldn’t have parsed LIQUID in a month of Sundays. Thanks, B&J,
and thank you, Knut.
Yes there we are. My apologies. That’s Samsung for you.
I thought this was a wonderful puzzle with plenty of variety and wit.
LORD COE clue was brilliant – can’t see why the fact he’s retired should make any difference.
Hi Wil @15
Your original comment was intercepted by Akismet, the spam filter. I unspammed it a couple of minutes after you posted it.
@B&J
Many thanks for the blog; I’m sorry you didn’t like the puzzle. I think a solver should be able to enjoy a themed crossword even if s/he dislikes the theme, and in this regard I’ve clearly failed. I wrote the puzzle the day after Mr. Close died in September; today was the slot allocated for it – there’s no other mystery.
Thanks to others for the comments, I’ve noticed down the years that a cricket theme is a bit Marmitey in crosswordland – where’s a JetDoc when you need one eh?
Anyway, back to my 25×25 Xmas special themed around the names of the holes on the links at Turnberry
best to all,
Knut
This one was perfect for me, but then I am a cricket nerd with quite a long memory (not quite long enough to remember DB’s 1976 heroics but I do remember seeing him on TV playing in the John Player League). Failed to parse SIDEBOTTOM, though it had to be right since neither Notts not Nottinghamshire would fit. Liked LIFE OF BRIAN and CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR, but my favourite was LORD COE (Sheffield lad). Last in was SHOT GLASS.
Thanks to Knut, Bert & Joyce
Oh and EXTRA is the most popular solution in Guardian crosswords since 1999 – there is no easy way to get hold of the equivalent stats for the Indie
[@beery hiker..
Actually, Seb was born in London and was most definitely the only Chelsea supporter in our Sheffield school (he was in my A-level Physics set)]
Bought the paper at 7.00am but no time to solve this until 9.00pm
Definitely worth the wait. Lovely stuff.
Thanks Knut – if it were only possible to reschedule the publication of crosswords at short notice – we’d then see your lightning fast topical puzzles as nature intended 🙂
Enjoyed this and thought it easier than your average Knut (despite my lack of leather ball and wooden stick [bat?] based knowledge). 1a was not only good for me, but solid as, although the fella has retired from sport, I reckon he’s still into the type of race he spent a lot of his life running.
Lots of good stuff and only a few clues I needed assistance with, so thanks to BertandJoyce for the blog, and thanks to Knut for a good puzzle.
Thanks B&J and Knut. I’m another fan of this puzzle. I can still remember newspaper photos of Brian Close’s bruised torso after his battering by the West Indies fast bowlers: heroic in my book, as well as Knut’s. This puzzle had wit, ingenuity and (imho) proper respect for a great sportsman. Funny that I still admire someone who I suspect I would have found quite difficult in person.
You can count me in as another admirer who is very surprised at the lukewarm reception accorded to what I thought was a very wittily constructed puzzle. Needed the blog to parse BUS STOP so thanks to the duo for that. Took me a long time to get GASOMETER, SERFHOOD and AUTOGRAPH but got there in the need.
LORD COE, PATIENT, CAPTAIN, and NO MUG WITH THE BAT all terrific clues in my humble. Bravo, Knut, and many thanks from a satisfied puzzler.
Enjoyable solve. Can’t fault the theme and the various direct direct and indirect allusions to it. Not being big on sport (my aim as a schoolboy cricket batsman was to get out, uninjured, as quickly as possible) by pure chance I was witness to Close’s final test innings against the ferocious West Indies pace attack – for me it was just somewhere to while away the time on a hot summer’s day.
The atmosphere was electric – the WI fans had some sort of percussion set-up, done with ring-pulls and drink cans, with which they accompanied the bowlers’ run-ups. There were plenty of them – and of course the WI captain was local Manchester hero “Big” Clive Lloyd.
Cricket history in the making apparently – completely wasted on me – but it was a shame to see Close, who was surely a household name even to non-sportophiles, being forced to make such a painful swansong.
I found this puzzle quite a bit easier than previous ones by this setter – less knotty (knutty???) – but that might have been on account of theme’s revealing itself easily – for me it was the counties that gave it away.
Many thanks to the setter and joint bloggers.
Knut @21 – I knew that really but couldn’t resist feeding you the line. If only he’d stuck with physics…