The honour of blogging the last weekday, dead-tree Indy cryptic puzzle falls to us on this rather sad day.
Although the future of the daily cryptic seems reasonably secure in the online version (not so the Inquisitor – still with an uncertain future, or Beelzebub, which disappeared last Sunday), we would beg the Indy to include the name of the setter as well as the number of the puzzle in the future online editions. Omission of the setter’s name does not affect the enjoyment of the solve, but, in crosswordland, we love to know who we are up against each morning.
We also get to understand the foibles and characteristics of the different setters – today’s Phi is no exception – he is renowned for his themed offerings, even if sometimes the themes are very obscure and personal. It is always good fun trying to figure out what the theme might be after completing the solve, sometimes to find out that there isn’t one!
We can’t find a theme today, but the inclusion of such an odd entry at 3d suggests that there must be one – any thoughts out there?
Unusually for a Phi, we have some quibbles about a few of the clues – Phi uses ‘excited’ as an anagram indicator in two clues very close together (8d and 13d) and ‘tuck in’ as a container indicator in two consecutive clues (13 and 14d). In addition, the wordplay for 12a caused some disagreement (see our comments below). Perhaps we’re being a bit pernickety – suffice to say, our enjoyment was not adversely affected!
Happy Easter!
| Across | ||
| 1 | Judge is playing with them about right-on comedian (9) | |
| JOKESMITH | J (judge) + an anagram of IS and THEM (anagrind is ‘playing’) round OK (right-on) | |
| 6 | Arm or leg? Nothing more needed for type of dancing (4) | |
| LIMB | LIMB |
|
| 10 | Like venture capitalist, uncomfortably plain re: return after investing with energy repeatedly (15) | |
| ENTREPRENEURIAL | An anagram of PLAIN RE:RETURN (anagrind is ‘uncomfortably’) round E and E (energy ‘repeatedly’) | |
| 11 | Director abandoning teams – cheers the rest (6) | |
| SIESTA | SI |
|
| 12 | Jewellery expert left following insolence? Exactly the reverse (8) | |
| NECKLACE | ACE (expert) L (left) following NECK (insolence) but with the ‘l’ and ‘ace’ changing places with neck – ‘reversed’ in other words. Bert was a bit unhappy with the use of ‘reverse’ in the clue feeling that it implied that reversal of the letters rather than the separate components. Joyce was perfectly happy and thought that Bert was being a grumpy of man! It didn’t come to blows thankfully. | |
| 14 | Animal chatter I’d recalled was taking a different line (9) | |
| DISAGREED | DEER (animal) GAS (chatter) I’D all reversed or ‘recalled’ | |
| 15 | Amount of warmth that her muff contains (5) | |
| THERM | Hidden or ‘contained’ in ‘thaT HER Muff’ | |
| 16 | Visit – return visit? (3,2) | |
| NIP IN | A palindrome or as we prefer to call it a ‘NOTLOB’ – memories of Monty Python. | |
| 18 | Argument with worker about English and Scottish plant (5,4) | |
| ROWAN TREE | ROW (argument) ANT (worker) RE (about) E (English) | |
| 20 | Harbour workers got at bus moving the wrong way (8) | |
| TUGBOATS | An anagram of GOT AT BUS – anagrind is ‘moving the wrong way’ | |
| 21 | Note stuck into a part of trellis at an angle (6) | |
| ASLANT | N (note) in A SLAT (part of trellis) | |
| 24 | Further banding in body to control expanding stomach? (15) | |
| REINCORPORATION | REIN (control) CORPORATION (expanding stomach) | |
| 25 | Nobleman expected to throttle King (4) | |
| DUKE | DUE (expected) round or ‘throttling’ K (king) | |
| 26 | Absolute fanatic chasing a drop of blackcurrant squash (9) | |
| BUTTERNUT | UTTER (absolute) NUT (fanatic) after or ‘chasing’ B (first letter or ‘ drop’ of blackcurrant) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Comedians losing way may get these! (5) | |
| JEERS | Cryptic definition – JE |
|
| 2 | Small animals almost strained equipment at the top (7) | |
| KITTENS | TENS |
|
| 3 | That woman gets brooch repaired around Northern Dutch city (1-13) | |
| S-HERTOGENBOSCH | SHE (that woman) + an anagram of GETS BROOCH (anagrind is ‘repaired’) around N (northern). We’d never heard of this place which we had to search for and its inclusion suggests to us that there must be a theme – but we can’t find ne! | |
| 4 | Regarding quantity of heat required to bottle nitrogen (2,2) | |
| IN RE | IRE (heat) round or ‘bottling’ N (nitrogen) | |
| 5 | Worker unhappy about edition that’s passed on (6,4) | |
| HANDED DOWN | HAND (worker) DOWN (unhappy) round ED (edition) | |
| 7 | Copy? I will get it in China (7) | |
| IMITATE | I + IT in MATE (‘China’ – Cockney rhyming slang) | |
| 8 | Mistress to play false around excited male (5,4) | |
| BELLE AMIE | BELIE (play false) around an anagram of MALE – anagrind is ‘excited’ | |
| 9 | Equipment provided for building on the Strand? (6,3,5) | |
| BUCKET AND SPADE | Cryptic definition – the ‘Strand’ being a beach | |
| 13 | Excitedly rate tucking into hot broth (unusual dish) (5-5) | |
| HEART-THROB | An anagram of RATE (anagrind is ‘excitedly’) ‘tucking into’ H (hot) and an anagram of BROTH (anagrind is ‘unusual’) | |
| 14 | Made inedible with teeth, though one tucks in (9) | |
| DENATURED | DENTURED (with teeth) with A (one) ‘ticked in’ | |
| 17 | Very fed up, is restricting Government in election (3-4) | |
| PIG-SICK | IS round or ‘restricting’ G (government) in PICK (election) | |
| 19 | Adjust position of a Liberal in time in power (7) | |
| REALIGN | A L (Liberal) in REIGN (time in power) | |
| 22 | One maintains this red wine encapsulates ultimate in taste (5) | |
| TENET | TENT (red wine) round or ‘encapsulating’ E (last letter or ‘ultimate’ in ‘taste’) | |
| 23 | Shock line included in note (4) | |
| JOLT | L (line) in JOT (note) | |
Flew through this in the daily digital edition without knowing it was by Phi (which might have slowed my stride: this was untypical lay straightforward for him).
Totally agree the setter’s name she be there. Sometimes – not today – it’s essential to a solve.
Btw, who’s the most unpopular man among ‘S’HERTOGENBOSCH football fans? Answer: he who shouts ‘Give us an ‘S’…
Thanks to Phi, Bert & Joyce
Great grid-fill from Phi and a pleasure to solve. I confess to having looked at a list of works by Hieronymus Bosch as a result of 3d but without any thematic illumination thus far.
I solve the Indy puzzles online these days using a pc, where the setter’s name is always visible; I haven’t tried the Android app yet.
Thanks to Bert and Joyce; happy Easter everyone
It is Good Friday today, and IN RE sounds like INRI, just a coincidence at 4d?
Who could resist an enumeration of (1-13)? There was a nice article about the place and its gallery currently having more seriously valuable paintings than any local art gallery should have in the New Statesman last week. I wouldn’t be surprised if some setter didn’t spot the associated anniversary in due course…
But nothing here – this was one of my puzzles where I used up words from my wordlist and list of clues jettisoned when earlier grids needed reworking. Had I known it was to be my last dead-tree edition, or even noticed it was Good Friday…
I hadn’t noticed the duplication of wordplay (I rarely notice it when solving either) – comes of writing clues in no systematic order (or more a conflation of several orders).
I still have no info re the future of any of the puzzles. I note that Christopher Fowler is taking his IoS series on forgotten authors online, commenting that the paper itself is ceasing to exist, which would seem to settle Beelzebub’s hash. I surmise the IQ tomorrow will convey some information, but that’s all I can do, surmise.
Thanks Phi, nice to know there’s no theme – saves me an inordinate amount of time vainly trying to find one! I thought this was no walk in the park with the long 14 and 15 letter clues, none of which were write-ins for me and a few unusual words such as JOKESMITH. Didn’t know about the parsing of 4 as I’m not familiar with the term IN RE as opposed to just ‘re’. Only a suggestion, but is the definition ‘Regarding’ with ‘quantity of heat’=[f]IRE around N? Favourites were BUTTERNUT and BELLE AMIE.
Thanks again to Phi and to B&J.
Thanks WordPlodder@5 – we think you are correct about IN RE. We only have ipad access for most of today which means that we’ll amend the blog this evening.
What’s this about not seeing the setter’s name on-line? I do. I confess to trying several permutations of the Dutch anagram before the “Congratulations” popped up. Anyway, thanks, Phi for a good outing and Bert and Joyce for the blog, in both cases as always.
IanSW3 @7 – when you use the new Indy app, you only see the number of the crossword. The name comes up in other places but not on this new format which seems a bit odd.
App schmapp.
Thanks, both.
Vanilla, but I like Phi vanilla, so I enjoyed this one. I know the Netherlands reasonably well, so the Dutch city wasn’t too difficult. Is ROWAN TREE particularly Scottish? I think it’s native to the entire UK, and known also as mountain ash. But maybe Phi is right, because I remembered this verse from A North Country Maid, a traditional song:
But the oak, and the ash, and the bonny rowan tree
Do flourish at home in the North country
I do hope that we’ll be able to see the setter’s name in the online Indy puzzles, because one of the pleasures of them is getting to know each compiler’s particular interests.
Joyeuses Pâques to all. Go steady on the chocolate.
Not a lot one can add, really. BELLE AMIE was new to me but clear enough from the wordplay. Not been to ’s-HERTOGENBOSCH, but seen the name on roadsigns etc, so it was a bit of a write-in from the enumeration. In 12ac ‘left following’ and ‘reverse’ made me wonder momentarily if the answer might be ‘Lapidary’ (a sort of jewellery expert) but it was soon obvious that no way could the clue lead to that.
Thanks, Phi and B&J.
Yes, a sad day. I bought the dead tree version as a second paper this morning and enjoyed this one, definitely a bit more accessible than Pasquale in the Guardian. I agree that the Dutch city was a write-in from the enumeration from those of us who had heard of it, as was ENTREPRENEURIAL, but there were plenty that required more thought.
Thanks to Phi, B&J
Thanks Phi and Bertandjoyce,
I do hope everything will go well on the net next week. I also checked out Hieronymus Bosch before Phi’s post @4, and S-Hertogenbosch, Bois le Duc (DUKE) in French, an ongoing argument with baerchen re former French territory in Europe.
Rowan trees also grow in the Welsh mountains.