It’ll be interesting to hear how other solvers found this one. I certainly made very heavy work of it.
The wordplay seemed incredibly difficult to tease out in places, and there was a lot of unfamiliar material in there (or perhaps I’m just not very well-read).
Is there a theme there? It sort of feels like there should be, but if there is, I haven’t spotted it.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FIFTIES | Fellow is holding paper that is in one hundred parts? (7) |
| (FT + IE) in (F + IS). The definition is a little odd though. Is it simply that you can get two 50s into 100? | ||
| 5 | RADICAL | Root around parts from centre (7) |
| C in RADIAL. | ||
| 11/10 | EATING PEOPLE IS WRONG | To page 13 in Bradbury book (6,6,2,5) |
| Reverse anagram of (TO PAGE PEEL IN)*. A book by Malcolm Bradbury, apparently. | ||
| 14 | SOMATALGIA | Mata goal is seen as foul, causing rare pain (10) |
| (MATA GOAL IS)*. It must be rare: neither Chambers nor the Internet Anagram Server could help me out. | ||
| 17 | IDOLATROUS | Pagan words at the altar, possibly our last (10) |
| I DO + (OUR LAST)*. | ||
| 18/13 | JOHN PEEL | DJ spinning record New Hearts penned by US singer (4,4) |
| (EP + N + H) all reversed in Billy JOEL. | ||
| 20 | STRONG FEELINGS | Perhaps love conditions in which Ben Fogle’s heading off again? (6,8) |
| ([b]EN FOGLE)* in STRINGS. | ||
| 23 | IAMBI | I’ll go for both feet (5) |
| I AM BI. | ||
| 25 | DEFLECT | Fault line’s split – head off (7) |
| L in DEFECT. | ||
| 26 | TRAVERS | Playwright, mostly oblique (7) |
| TRAVERS[e]. Ben Travers was new to me. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1/9 | FIBRE-OPTIC BROADBAND | Data supply, rapid, obtained for BBC sports (5-5,9) |
| (RAPID OBTAINED FOR BBC)*. | ||
| 2/24 | FROM THE BOTTOM OF ONE’S HEART | Without hypocrisy, Ben’s mother/father stupidly welcoming German swine (4,3,6,2,4,5) |
| (OTTO + MOFO) in (BENS MOTHER FATHER)*. | ||
| 3 | IODINE | I I had turned into I I (6) |
| I‘D< in (I + ONE). | ||
| 4 | SHAMPOOER | Fake drug injected by struggling salon worker? (9) |
| SHAM + (E in POOR). | ||
| 5/16 | RADIO CAROLINE | One old vehicle in road, broadcasting family AOR station (5,8) |
| ((I + O + CAR) in ROAD*) + LINE. | ||
| 6 | DOWNLOAD | Pop covers have 50% lost in transfer from server (8) |
| (OWN + LO[st]) in DAD. | ||
| 7 | CLOSING-DOWN SALE | Event allowing seconds to be put out? (7-4,4) |
| (ALLOWING SECONDS)* &lit. | ||
| 8 | LEGO | Small bricks on top of one (4) |
| LEG + O[ne]. | ||
| 12 | MAGNESITES | Tyneside location’s chasing glossy minerals (10) |
| MAG + NE SITES. | ||
| 15 | AMUSEMENT | A stomach upset’s come through pleasant activity (9) |
| A + (SEMEN in TUM<). | ||
| 19 | ALTHEA | Influenced by potting the plant (6) |
| THE in A LA. | ||
| 21 | GHOST | Good army film (5) |
| G + HOST. This film, presumably. | ||
| 22 | WIND | Snake‘s breath (4) |
| Two definitions. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition; Hover to expand abbreviations
Well I thought this was pretty damned good Simon, and not too difficult. The LEGO clue was terrific, for instance. It showed me I can only be a solver not a setter, because I couldn’t come up with anything remotely like that.
Eating People is Wrong is taken from a Flanders and Swann song about a vegetarian cannibal. Ben Travers was in his prime before WWII. Straight farces.
The printed version is a mess, with much duplication of clues, and one outright error. It gives 2/18 when it should be 2/24.
Lent an extra dimension to an already enjoyable tussle with the man Dean.
Wasn’t just me noticing the errors then. Actually i found this easier than the avarage anax although i see i failed to see how amusement worked. Thanks Simon and setter
Like the blogger, we thought this was poor. It wasn’t helped by the numbering of the clues being wrong in the online version, but even allowing for this it felt contrived and lacking in wit except for 23 and 15.
The printout was part of the fun- there IS no normal Anax. Some Heineken anagrinds here-ie most scramblers failed.
After the Prize in the Graun (very amusing) this felt like the deep end!
Thanks Anax and Simon
flashling@2 “amusement” is Paul-plus if you unpick it- but I wont spell it out- rather naughty I thought.
The printout was part of the fun, was it? And I suppose the captain of the Titanic was looking for ice cubes for the bar.
Thanks for the parsing. I’m with you that this was hard. I’m sure I am being thick but still don’t get lego. I know about small bricks but why is LEG on top of?
Eric @7: Leg = on (side) in cricket. ‘On’ + first letter in ‘one’.
Another one annoyed by the messed-up clue numbering here, but some great wordplay as usual. The idea for Eating People Is Wrong must have come before John Peel was in the grid!
No Nina that I can spot, but this has the feel of a puzzle composed for someone specifically. Three Bens in there, for example.
I found this very hard, though eventually managed to finish with one error: ‘Fibre split broadband’ anyone? The numbering boo-boo certainly didn’t help. Lots of convoluted clues, but I’ll go with the (not so) simple LEGO as my favourite, followed by SHAMPOOER. Had never heard of MOFO before – ignorance really was bliss.
Thanks to Anax and Simon.
To those who thought this was hard: I agree. To those who thought it was unfair: nonsense. It was a corker, with some absolute classics. LEGO was genius, EATING PEOPLE &c a lovely reverse anagram (my favourite sort of clue) and 2/18, a 24-letter anagram whose solution gave us not a single first letter for the rest of the grid… Anax, you are a bad person and we love you.
Just to witter on: the Daily Edition still doesn’t show the compiler’s name, despite there being space designed for it. I’ve had no reply from the customer complaints website, grr. And don’t tell me to go to Indypuzzles &c: it’s a horrible, garish site with compulsory adverts. Irritatingly, it’s always right: why can’t the on-line be the same? I’ve paid my £150: show me the money: errors in cryptics are unforgivable.
Oh, and IODINE, even though I got it first pass, is a fine example of why we waste our time this way.
Challenging crossword.
But what else can you expect from our beloved setter?
I got there in the end without too many obstacles.
While the idea in 11/10 is nice, I think a reverse anagram clue needs some kind of indication.
Therefore, I expected here at least a question mark.
Thanks, Simon & Anax.
Mostly completed via anagram solver and word finder, and SOMATALGIA by trial and error. The wrong numbering didn’t help, but the absence of a clue for 24ac made it fairly obvious what was meant. 11/10 took longer than it should as I was looking for the wrong Bradbury (Ray rather than Malcolm). I wondered who took the phrase from whom but the Flanders & Swann number was first.
Not the most enjoyable experience, Anax, but you’re forgiven on account of the superb event in Macclesfield last month. And thanks to Simon for the blog.
I should clarify that I never claimed this was poor, just very difficult. Apologies to everyone involved if that was implied.
@Simon Harding 14
no-one who has read david’s contributions to this site and others would take seriously his suggestion that you found the puzzle “poor”. Thanks for the blog; great puzzle Anax – top grid-fill
Er, &lits, education required, tut tut Simon.
&lits are clues that function as both subsidiary indication (SI) AND definition: there are no extraneous words at all in a true &lit. I’m afraid 7D has one, which happens to be the definition.
The anagram bit (the SI here) isn’t specifically relevant to closing-down sales, although it might be, and so you may say that it’s one of those ‘extended definition’ clues, even where ‘event’ is fine on its own.
I read the surface of the clue as something to do with boxing, as it happens, due to the ‘seconds out’ reference. Oops! It didn’t occur to me that seconds being put out for sale could be the thing until I saw your blog.
Fantastic stuff as ever from Deano. Well done matey.