Monday Prize Crossword / Dec 21, 2015
It’s the festive season and so it’s time for the annual Carte Rosee , Dante’s Christmas treat.
It’s a crossword with a completely blank grid and clues without clue number and enumeration. Opinions are possibly divided but it wasn’t as bad as it looked.
My first solution was clue #2, one of many anagrams. It had 8 letters and therefore I decided that the first line of the grid had to be ‘6, black, 8’. As a blogger of nearly all Dante puzzles I am familiar with the grids he uses and it took me only five minutes to go for the right one. Coincidentally, the solution of puzzle 15,107 (placed underneath the clues) had exactly the same grid we were looking for – just like a couple of years ago. I’m afraid that the jigsaw element of Dante’s challenge was wasted on me. In the end, my approach felt a bit like cheating.
Others solvers may have had a different experience.
Although it is obvious, the preamble didn’t tell us that the clues were given in the order they appear in the grid. The preamble did tell us that the grid is symmetrical if turned through 180 degrees which is a bit of non-information as virtually all grids are like that.
This is how the finalised grid eventually should look:
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
Clue numbers and enumerations are added.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SLATES |
Abuses remaining longer than expected on board ship (6)
LATE (remaining longer than expected) inside SS (ship) |
| 4 | BELGRADE |
Badly garbled direction to reach capital (8)
(GARBLED)* + E (direction, East) [* = badly] |
| 9 | RESORT |
Make an anagram of a holiday place (6)
Double definition |
| 10 | TEARDROP |
Spot of sympathy from predator? (8)
(PREDATOR)* [* = from] |
| 12 | TARRAGON |
Arrogant cook employed in the kitchen (8)
(ARROGANT)* [* = cook] |
| 13 | GENDER |
Information on the German male or female (6)
GEN (information) + DER (the, in German) |
| 15 | HAIL |
A welcome cold shower (4)
Double definition |
| 16 | FOREFINGER |
Index often crossed? (10)
Definition plus a cryptic element ‘Fingers crossed’ usually involves the forefinger. |
| 19 | CANTERBURY |
Run to earth in cathedral city (10)
CANTER (run) + BURY (earth, as a verb) ‘To earth’ can mean to inter or to bury but Chambers considers the use of it as obsolete. |
| 20 | YOKE |
Agreement accepted by the old couple (4)
OK (agreement) inside YE (the, old) |
| 23 | YELLOW |
Colour likely to run (6)
Double / Cryptic definition If you are ‘yellow’, not brave, you may be ‘likely to run’. |
| 25 | CINEASTE |
Nice seat has to be reserved for a movie buff (8)
(NICE SEAT)* [*= (has to be) reserved] ‘Reserved’ as in re-served, served again. |
| 27 | TOREADOR |
Order to a dizzy ring fighter (8)
(ORDER TO A)* [* = dizzy] |
| 28 | PAGODA |
Father leads a dog back in the building (6)
PA (father) + GOD A (reversal of A DOG, indicate by ‘back’) |
| 29 | CHAPERON |
Attendant taking tea to Evita (8)
CHA (tea) + PERON (Evita) |
| 30 | STITCH |
The way desire gives you pain (6)
ST ((the) way, street) + ITCH (desire) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SCRATCH |
Minor injury is no handicap (7)
Double definition The second definition refers to someone in a sports event with no handicap given, a scratch player. |
| 2 | ASSERTION |
Such a declaration is treason, in a way (9)
(IS TREASON)* [* = in a way] |
| 3 | EARWAX |
Organ swell may affect one’s hearing (6)
EAR (organ) + WAX (swell) |
| 5 | EVEN |
Still without a rise? (4)
Double definition |
| 6 | GARDENIA |
Flowery plot – one with a shrub (8)
GARDEN (flowery plot) + I (one) + A |
| 7 | ACRID |
Getting little credit in support is irritating (5)
CR (credit, little i.e. abbreviated) inside AID (help) |
| 8 | EMPEROR |
Ruler in a temper, or so it seems (7)
Hidden solution, indicated by ‘in’: [a t]EMPER OR [so it seems] |
| 11 | COLOMBO |
See jazz group performing in Asian capital (7)
LO (see) with COMBO (jazz group) around it Well, that’s what I think Dante meant. However the clue doesn’t indicate an insertion and so this looks like a mistake. Or is it an anagram as ernie @1 suggests? If so, then I’m afraid that I am not overly happy (as I explain @2). |
| 14 | BEAR PIT |
Let tapir be moved to part of the zoo (4,3)
(TAPIR BE)* [* = moved] |
| 17 | GOOD SPORT |
Where stevedores work for a likable chap? (4,5)
Stevedores are dockworkers dealing with loading and unloading ships. They work in a GOODS PORT. |
| 18 | LEMONADE |
French newspaper accepts article that’s refreshing (8)
LE MONDE (French newspaper) around A (article) |
| 19 | CRYPTIC |
Enigmatic, keen and in charge, set about exercising (7)
CRY (keen, as a verb) + IC (in charge), together around PT (exercising, physical training) |
| 21 | EYEWASH |
Asian trees? Nonsense! (7)
E (Asian, i.e. Eastern) + YEW (a tree) + ASH (another tree) |
| 22 | PEDANT |
He’s a know-all and goes round in a temper (6)
(AND)* inside PET (a temper) [* = goes around] |
| 24 | LARVA |
Grub is right at the centre of a burning issue (5)
R (right) in the middle of LAVA (a burning issue) |
| 26 | YO-YO |
Toy that gives you endless repetition (2-2)
YO[u] (you, endless) , twice (indicated by ‘repetition’) |
Could 11d be seen as an anagram (performing)of lo and combo?
You might be right, ernie.
However, if that is the case, two things are not really elegant:
(1) the indirectness of the LO part of the anagram
(2) the letters of both LO and COMBO are present in that particular order
For me, reasons to clue the solution as an insertion rather than an anagram.
I am hugely impressed that anyone can start these never mind finish them. I wonder why it was not explained that he clues were in grid order -maybe if you tackle this, you will know the rules.
Can I just ask why you decided that the first line must be 6, blank, 8?
Why not
blank, 5, blank, 8
6, blank, 8 blank
and so on?
I note what you say about Dantes’ preferred grids but how could you be sure that he had used a different one on this occasion?
I know this site doesn’t go in for times but was this all day job or all done and dusted in 30 mins?
I struggled to get started on filling the grid as I could not solve the first two across clues. Eventually I got “SLATES”, tried it in the top left hand corner and everything fell into place. Fairly early on I noticed that the grid for last weeks solutions looked similar and so I started using it a as guide. It turned out that this was the exact same grid.
Apart form the unfortunate grid duplication this was a very entertaining solve.
Thanks Sil and Dante.
Bamburger @3. If the clues are in grid order (ie as normal) then the rotational symmetry means that the length of the first across clue is the same as the last across clue, 2nd across is same length as 2nd to last, 3rd same as 3rd to last etc. Hence it is sometimes possible to determine the length of a clue even if one has not yet solved it.
Thanks Dante and Sil
I dodged last year’s Carte Rosee, so this was my first attempt at one. I assumed that the clues would be in order. Am glad that I didn’t see the identical grid under the clues, it just added to the fun !!
YO-YO was my first answer and after getting CHAPERON soon after, I was on my way to painting the grid. Was able to get the mirrored BELGRADE and then continued to fill out the top half. Finally finished after four short sessions in the SE corner with CINEASTE and PEDANTS the last couple in.
Enjoyed this as a change of challenge … and will try to hunt down the one from last year to take on hols with me next week.
Not only was there ambiguity with the construct of 11d, but I was stunned to see that COLOMBO is no longer the capital of Sri Lanka, it is now officially Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte !! What one learns from crosswords …
This is the first one of these that I’ve tried. Although the clues were pretty easy, unless you know that they are in grid order, it is impossible to solve. This information really should be given in the preamble.
Thanks Sil and Dante, and thanks also to Bruce re the new capital of Sri Lanka – that’s one to re-learn.
I worked out the grid on the basis of 32 clues in total meaning 16 across and 16 down with a high probability of two per row/column and therefore – in a 15 x 15 grid – the end rows/columns had to be involved.
I solved BELGRADE first but for a while thought that 1ac could be SLAGS (to slag off) – i.e. LAG in SS- until the final across which had to be the 6-letter STITCH.
Thankfully – for Dante – not too many DDs or CDs to worry about so in the end it was all over relatively quickly.
Happy New Year to you all.