This is my first blog of a Wiglaf puzzle, which today is occupying the last Wednesday slot of the month when Dac typically takes a well-earned break.
I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle, with a few write-ins – 5, 8, 10, 14, 19, 21, 23 – to get me started but also plenty of tougher clues for me to get my teeth into. Obviously, I am well aware of the fact that what constitutes a more or a less accessible clue is a highly individual affair. In any case, having completed the puzzle – following a search in Chambers for 1A, and some googling to track down the name of the guitar – I am definitely of the opinion that Wiglaf is a welcome addition to the Indy compilers’ fold. That comment applies both from the perspective of RatkojaRiku as solver and RatkojaRiku as blogger, since when wearing the latter hat it is always reassuring to be able to post a blog on a puzzle for which I feel I can be confident of my parsing of the clues and thus need to resort less to cries for help to fellow solvers.
My favourite clues are 2, for making me laugh out loud once the penny dropped; 9, for surface and originality; 16, for its unexpected definition and penny drop moment; and 17 and 26, both for surface. 24 surely deserves a special mention for its original use of “Downing (Street)” in the wordplay, which I had certainly not come across before.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | FENDER BENDER | Minor road accident in 9 as guitar man turned left
FENDER (=guitar, made in US) + BEN (=man, i.e. man’s name) + DER (RED=left, i.e. left-wing; “turned” indicates reversal); a fender bender is a minor collision in the US, hence “in New York (=entry at 9)” |
| 08 | EARLOBE | Nobleman with award finds place to hang decoration
EARL (=nobleman) + OBE (=award, i.e. Order of the British Empire) |
| 09 | NEW YORK | City briefly featuring in Bunyan and Tennyson
The letters NY, the abbreviation (“briefly”) of New York (“city”), appear in both “BuNYan” and “TenNYson” |
| 11 | EQUALITY | Online excellence could become a human right
E- (=online, as in e-mail, e-commerce) + QUALITY (=excellence, as in a quality product) |
| 12 | ADRIAN | Wall builder heading off to become a pope
<h>ADRIAN (=wall builder, i.e. Roman emperor who build Hadrian’s Wall to mark the northern limit of Britannia); “heading off” means first letter dropped; so far there have been 6 Popes named Adrian! |
| 14 | THAW | Decrease in hostilities with a warmonger’s capture
Hidden (“capture”) in “wiTH A Warmonger” |
| 15 | ACETYLENE | Great river polluted by drops of liquid ethyne? Just so
L<iquid> E<thyne> (“drops of” means first letters only) in [ACE (=great) + TYNE (=river, in NE England)]; acetylene is an alternative name for the gas ethyne |
| 17 | ON IMPULSE | Slight setback when missing final beat in impromptu
ONIM (MINO<r>=slight; “when missing final” means last letter dropped; “setback” indicates reversal) + PULSE (=beat) |
| 19 | AGOG | Chicago girls hide in excited eagerness
Hidden (“hide”) in “ChicAGO Girls” |
| 22 | INFLUX | A flood to join right-wing party in Israel (with wife)
[NF (=right-wing party, i.e. National Front) in IL (=Israel, i.e. IVR)] + UX (=wife, from Latin uxor) |
| 23 | SEMESTER | Foreign steersmen failing to complete university term
*(STEERSME<n>); “failing to complete” means last letter dropped from anagram, indicated by “foreign” |
| 25 | TIRADES | Angry outbursts offering nothing to avoid asteroid crashing
*(ASTER<o>ID); “nothing (O) to avoid” means letter “o” dropped from anagram, indicated by “crashing” |
| 26 | AUSTERE | Headless American general buried in a European grave
<c>USTER (=American general, in American Civil War; “headless” means first letter dropped) in [A + E (=European)] |
| 27 | COINCIDENTAL | Unintended interruption of octennial broadcast by detectives
CID (=detectives, i.e. Criminal Investigation Department) in *(OCTENNIAL); “broadcast” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | FORMULA | Pro mounted a chimney in compound
FOR (=pro, in favour of) + MULA (A + LUM =chimney, in Scotland; “mounted” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 02 | NOODLE | Calcium lacking in pet food
<ca>NOODLE (=pet, kiss and cuddle); “Calcium (=Ca) lacking” means letters “ca” are dropped |
| 03 | EVENTUALLY | Regular Tuesday meeting with associate at the end of the day
EVEN (=regular, flat) + TU (=Tuesday) + ALLY (=associate) |
| 04 | BENZ | Car designer, solvent, but short of pennies occasionally
BENZ<ene> (=solvent, i.e.chemical); “short of <p>E<n>N<i>E<s> occasionally” means alternate letters – here “ene” – are dropped; the reference is to German designer and engineer Karl Benz (1844-1929), founder of car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. |
| 05 | NOWADAYS | It’s impossible to protect a daughter and son in these times
{[A + D (=daughter)] in NO WAY (=it’s impossible)} + S (=son) |
| 06 | EMOTIVE | Head of employment has reason to be touchy ….
E<mployment> (“head of” means first letter only) + MOTIVE (=reason) |
| 07 | RECEPTIONIST | … in relation to new nepotistic position in office
RE (=in relation to) + *(NEPOTISTIC); “new” is anagram indicator |
| 10 | KINDERGARTEN | Better information about art school for young kids
KINDER (=better) + [ART in GEN (=information)] |
| 13 | DEGENERATE | Fighting greatened English decline
*(GREATENED) + E (=English); “fighting” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | OPIUM DEN | Mud pie massaged into leg joint
*(MUD PIE) in ON (=leg, i.e. side in cricket); “massaged” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | INFERNO | Hell is divine? Never
INFER (=divine, as verb, make out) + NO (=never, as exclamation) |
| 20 | GET REAL | Wake up girl hugging toppled tree
*(TREE) in GAL (=girl); “toppled” is anagram indicator |
| 21 | JET SET | Spray gel for fashionable travellers
JET (=spray, as noun) + SET (=gel, as verb) |
| 24 | ASTI | Drink starts to arrive in Downing Street
ST (=street) in [A<rrive> I<n> (“starts to” means first letters only]; rather originally, “Downing” is to be read as swallowing, eating |
As you say, what constitutes a more or a less accessible clue is a highly individual affair – I found some of your write-ins to take some figuring out, and vice-versa. And I certainly needed the blog to understand some of the parsing – particularly ASTI.
And Wiglaf has given us a pangram, which actually helped; my last one in was THAW which I only saw when I realised I needed the H to complete the pangram.
Thanks, Wiglaf and RatkojaRiku.
A not too difficult mid-week puzzle, though couldn’t work out the parsing for INFLUX and there were some tricky clues, including those for NOODLE, BENZ, the original wordplay for ASTI and the clever ACETYLENE which my last in and COD.
And a pangram to boot, so all-in-all, v. enjoyable.
Thanks to Wiglaf and RatkojaRiku
missed the pangram as always, but loved the clue for ASTI; plenty of other goodies, too.
Thanks to Wiglaf and RR
I did not see the pangram either but I didn’t need it.
I thought this was a really good crossword.
Harder and also more consistent than Wiglaf’s debut on Feb 8.
Just like allan_c, I had THAW as my last one in.
Must have been very well concealed.
Just like baerchen, I admired the clue for ASTI.
It must have been clued a million times but Wiglaf does something special with it.
Other favourites: 2d (NOODLE) for a lovely surface in which one has to separate pet/food, and 16d (OPIUM DEN) for a similar reason (leg/joint).
It is what I call ‘lift and separate’ (and most others do not) and something I first encountered on a big scale in Alberich’s puzzles.
Many thanks to Wiglaf for a most enjoyable crossword.
And thanks to RatkojaRiku for the comprehensive blog.
Thanks RR for the blog.
We started and finished this late last night. ASTI was excellent – it was an inspired guess with the A and I plus seeing the possibility of ST. It raised a big smile when the penny dropped.
There were lots of other great misdirections – well done Wiglaf.