A fairly 2D puzzle from Phi, with multiple cross-references to 5D and 24D in various clues…
…which, respectively, turned out to be ‘SHAKE’ and ‘SPEAR’ – on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death.
My personal opinion was that this would have been a bit light for a Saturday Prize puzzle, but it isn’t that any more, so that is MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING for a LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST. This could be AS YOU LIKE IT, if you enjoy multiple-cross-referenced-clue puzzles like this, which I usually do, so ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL there.
(There was another significant anniversary a couple of days ago, with a certain ‘MERRY WIFE’ OF WINDSOR reaching the grand old age of 90…)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | SEWER RATS | Vermin initially swimming about, turning round in swirling waters (5,4) | vermin / S (initial letter of Swimming) + EW_RATS (anag, i.e. swirling, of WATERS) around ER (re, about, turning round) |
|
| 6A | JULIA | Girl somewhere around middle of year meeting Australian (5) | girl / JUL I (1st of July, somewhere around the midle of the year) + (meeting) A (Australian) |
|
| 9A | TRILL | 5 run into farm (5) | 5 (shake) / T_ILL (farm) around R (run) |
|
| 10A | READVISES | Again suggests to study contests involving Sweden (9) | again suggests / READ (to study) + VI_ES (contests) around (involving) S (Sweden) |
|
| 11A | ASSAULT | Attack fool not beginning to jump (7) | attack / ASS (fool) + (V)AULT (to jump, not beginning) |
|
| 12A | ERL-KING | German folklore character, say, imprisoning gutted royal family (3-4) | German folklore character / E_G (say, for example) around RL (gutter RoyaL) + KIN (family) |
|
| 13A | ROCK | 5 fine to slip out of dress (4) | 5 (shake) / (F)ROCK (dress, losing F – fine) |
|
| 14A | CINCINNATI | US city repeatedly wrong, we hear, not working for state (10) | US city / CINCIN (repeated homophone for SIN, wrong) + NATI(ON) (state, or nation, without ON – i.e. working) |
|
| 17A | POLLUTEDLY | Election quietly ousting leader in a tainted way (10) | in a tainted way / POLL (election) + (M)UTEDLY (quietly, ousting leading letter) |
|
| 19A | DART | 24 days are mentioned in the Bible (4) | 24 (spear) / D (days) + ART (archaic form, i.e. mentioned in the Bible, or are) |
|
| 22A | EXPANDS | Increases sex romps involving tailless endangered species (7) | increases / EX_S (anag, i.e. romps, of SEX) around (involving) PAND(A) (endangered species, losing tailing letter A) |
|
| 25A | DISPOSE | Decide to stop holding concessions back (7) | decide / DI_E (to stop) around (holding) SPOS (sops, or concessions, back) |
|
| 26A | CHEERLESS | Dreary game interrupted by dancing reel (9) | dreary / CHE_SS (game) interrupted by ERLE (anag, i.e dancing, of REEL) |
|
| 27A | CLIMB | Member following Celsius scale (5) | scale / C (Celsius) followed by LIMB (member) |
|
| 28A | SINGE | One drops line, getting slight burn (5) | slight burn / SING(L)E (one, dropping L – line) |
|
| 29A | RECONVENE | Meet again with university abandoning income after stomaching swindle (9) | meet again / RE_VEN(U)E (income, dropping, or abandoned by, U – university), around (stomaching0 CON (swindle) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | SET FAIR | Likely to rig market (3,4) | likely / SET (to rig) + FAIR (market) |
|
| 2D | WHIMSICAL | Fanciful women greeting Sweeney Todd, say, without hint of urgency (9) | fanciful / W (women) + HI (greeting) + M(U)SICAL (Sweeney Todd, for example, without U – first letter, or hint, of Urgency) |
|
| 3D | ROLL UP | Arrive to prepare map for storage (4,2) | double defn. / to ROLL UP could be to arrive; and one might ROLL UP a map in order to store or transport it |
|
| 4D | AIR-STRIKE | Attack tandem riders heading off on different bicycle (3-6) | attack / (P)AIRS (tandem riders, losing heading letter, P) + TRIKE (another kind of bike) |
|
| 5D | SHAKE | Henry tucks into foreign tea, a milky drink (5) | a milky drink / S_AKE (Japanese rice tea) around (tucking in) H (Henry) |
|
| 6D | JAVELIN | 24 January will include live broadcast (7) | 24 (spear) / JA_N (January) around (including) VELI (anag, i.e. broadcast, of LIVE) |
|
| 7D | LASSI | Collie unable to finish cold drink (5) | cold drink / LASSI(E) (Collie, dog, film star) not finishing (losing last letter) |
|
| 8D | ASSEGAI | One gets on with it, picking up 24 (7) | 24 (spear) / I (one) + AGES ( gets on) + SA (it, sex appeal) – all picking up to give ASSEGAI |
|
| 15D | CULS-DE-SAC | Various sad clues about – you can’t get through them (4-2-3) | you can’t get through them! / anag, i.e. various, of SAD CLUES + C (circa, about) |
|
| 16D | ANATOMISE | Analyse change of ‘main’ to ‘sea’ (9) | analyse / anag, i.e. change, of MAIN TO SEA |
|
| 17D | PIERCES | 24s support murders, bumping one off (7) | 24s (spears, verb this time) / PIER (support) + (I)CES (murders, losing I – one) |
|
| 18D | UNNERVE | 5 artillerymen avoiding extremes before end of war? (7) | 5 (shake) / (G)UNNER(S) (artlillerymen, avoiding extreme letters) + VE (Victory in Europe, end of WWII) |
|
| 20D | TREMBLE | Millions invested in bet on 3 or 5 (7) | 5 (shake) / TRE_BLE (bet on 3) around M (millions) |
|
| 21D | ASH-CAN | A quick assessment about hospital waste location (3-3) | waste location / A + S_CAN (quick assessment) around H (hospital) |
|
| 23D | PREEN | Spruce up M’s place? (5) | spruce up / &lit-ish double definition by example?! In the alphabet M (EM) – is PRE – before EN (letter N) |
|
| 24D | SPEAR | Some asparagus, one tip of which is served with fruit (5) | some asparagus / S (one tip of AsparaguS) + PEAR (fruit) |
|
Thanks to MC for a nice-looking blog – loved the animation – and to Phi for pleasant puzzle. (I will say this again, and again, until someone takes notice: why doesn’t the setter’s name appear in the on-line? Grr). CINCINNATI was my CoD if only because Bill Bryson claims that he owes his writing career to it. Interviewed for a job as a sub on The Times, he claimed he’d be the only candidate who could spell it without looking it up.
GB@1 Cincinnati is an easy pne to spell even when you’ve been there a few times!
A nice alternative take on today’s anniversary theme. Thank Phi.
Thanks Phi for an interesting puzzle and mc_rapper67 for a super blog.
Sweeney Todd seems to be receiving quite a lot of attention today, I assume that he brings the play Titus Andronicus to mind?
I wonder if there are other subtle themes tucked away?
PREEN was a great clue!
To be fair, this was a normal Friday puzzle submitted for the eve, because surely someone would have done something for the day itself.
Apparently not…
Thank you again Phi – the puzzle was fine and with mc_rapper67’s highlighting and notes underneath it made a very special anniversary tribute!
Only just got round to doing the puzzle after a weekend away, but when Monk turned up on Friday I guessed Phi was being held over for a Shakespeare-themed puzzle. It took me ages, though, to twig just how the theme came into it. I was expecting something more ‘direct’ such as answers that were names of characters or places in the plays.
Thanks, though, Phi and mc_rapper67
Thanks for the various comments and feedback.
By ‘…fairly 2D…’ in the intro, I was referring to 2 Down (whimsical) and not suggesting the puzzle was two-dimensional!