I think that this is the first time that Screw has featured in the prize slot, so it’s the first time that I have had the pleasure of blogging one of his puzzles.
As usual I solved this with help from my solving partner Timon and my life partner (Mrs B). I’m very grateful to them as unassisted it would have taken me significantly longer than the hour and quarter that it took the three of us. There are some well-concealed definitions here, meaning that at first glance it was hard to work out what was going on. We did have some reservations about some of the clues (e.g. 1 down and 12 across) but overall we were entertained and challenged in appropriate proportions. Many thanks, Screw.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DOMAIN NAMES | Study for degree in stars, getting locations online (6,5) |
| A charade of DO MA IN NAMES. | ||
| 9 | EN MASSE | As one does in last trips with seamen (2,5) |
| *((trip)S SEAMEN). A cleverly concealed definition. | ||
| 10 | BANQUET | Black pipe down to bin I fill with food (7) |
| BAN QU(I)ET. | ||
| 11 | ESSENTIAL | It’s so important to be seen partying with A-list (9) |
| *(SEEN ALIST). | ||
| 12 | LOIRE | Movement between banks‘ current accounts for light in Louvre (5) |
| I (symbol for current) for UV (light) in LOUVRE. The vagueness of the definition, with nothing to specify that it was French (although Louvre may have been a clue) meant that this was the last clue we managed to solve and parse. | ||
| 13 | AMMO | A mark found by doctor that’s fired (4) |
| A M MO(short for medical officer). | ||
| 14 | DEPRESSANT | Editor’s retired — force queen’s devoted follower to booze? (10) |
| ED (rev) PRESS ANT. Alcohol is a depressant, so this is a definition by example, hence the question mark. | ||
| 16 | SEQUENTIAL | Equals 1-10 in order? (10) |
| *(I TEN EQUALS). “In order” is both the definition and the anagrind in this clue. | ||
| 19 | RASH | Spots helter-skelter (4) |
| Double definiton, although the second one is arguably a bit loose. | ||
| 20 | REARS | Cares for more than one behind looms (5) |
| Triple definition! | ||
| 21 | KAMA SUTRA | Illustrated options for Congress (4,5) |
| Cryptic definition, with perhaps a nod to the fact that the Congress Party is a leading political party in India. | ||
| 23 | KEEP OFF | Castle’s abandoned — don’t go near! (4,3) |
| A simple charade of KEEP OFF, although we thought that “off” for “abandoned” was a bit of a stretch. | ||
| 24 | ROE DEER | Animal reportedly loving request to stick oar in (3,4) |
| Sounds like “Row, dear”. The temptation was to assume that “reportedly” applied to “animal” rather than to the words that followed. | ||
| 25 | SELF-RESPECT | Suspect less perfect character among those dignified (4-7) |
| *(LESS PERFECT) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DEMISEMIQUAVERS | I seem dim from this set of notes (15) |
| *(I SEEM DIM) + QUAVERS. We thought at first that “from this” meant “q.v.”, but it doesn’t and “q.v.” doesn’t mean “qua vers”. In addition, there’s no anagram indicator in the clue. I think that the answer is that you have to solve the clue and then apply QUAVERS (“this”) as the anagram indicator. Is this really fair, I wonder? | ||
| 2 | MASON | Being without jolly builder (5) |
| SO in MAN. | ||
| 3 | ITEMISE | Number of upset exes I met ill-advisedly (7) |
| Hidden and reversed (upset) in “exes I met ill”. | ||
| 4 | NEBULAR | Cloudy cider’s back, unable to get drunk (7) |
| *((cide)R UNABLE). | ||
| 5 | MINDLESS | Stop caring so much, stupid (8) |
| A very nice charade of MIND LESS. | ||
| 6 | STUDIO APARTMENT | After relocation, one put dramatist here? (6,9) |
| *(ONE PUT DRAMATIST). I think that this just about qualifies as an & lit clue, given the association of ideas between “studio” and “dramatist”. | ||
| 7 | GENERAL STRIKE | When everything stops, force leaders to take unconventional transport (7,6) |
| GENERALS TRIKE. | ||
| 8 | STREET THEATRE | Play in open event, regularly — start there after training (6,7) |
| *(E(v)E(n)T START THERE). | ||
| 15 | CESSPOOL | Sink’s chrome shatters — poncho optional when taking out central bits (8) |
| First and last letters (omitting central bits) of ChromE ShatterS PonchO OptionaL. | ||
| 17 | TAKE FOR | Consider moving you from filming (after third attempt) (4,3) |
| A homophone of “Take four”, something which might be said during filming. The “u” in “four” has been removed (“moving you”). | ||
| 18 | ADMIRES | Takes one’s hat off to die, arms folded (7) |
| *(ARMS DIE). | ||
| 22 | SUEDE | Auditor’s influenced releasing material (5) |
| Sounds like “swayed”. | ||
*anagram
Thanks bridgesong. The six long ones showed themselves quite readily. Like your team, last in for me was LOIRE – impenetrable until the I/UV shift dawned on Sunday: still didn’t like the clue. Murky for a while too were the black/ban bit of 10A, the Queen’s follower in DEPRESSANT and the jolly element of MASON. Regardless, it got done in the lunch hour.
Thanks Screw (I think) and Bridgesong. This was definitely in the “too hard for me” category, with around half a dozen blanks still left, even after some day’s headscratching.
2D MASON was one I got, or at least filled in, but I still don’t understand even with the blog explanation the relationship with ‘jolly’…
1D DEMISEMIQUAVERS was fun, even with the quibbles over the wordplay. I don’t think it was mentioned in the blog, but with this clue and 16A SEQUENTIAL the setter has achieved the feat of a Q as a crossing letter – don’t see that too often
Thanks bridgesong. I enjoyed this as something a little different from the usual Prize. I had originally had KEEP OUT for 23a which slowed me down a bit and I agonised over 1d for some time. I do think though it is perfectly fair and rather clever.
Thanks Screw and bridgesong
I had so many question marks against my solutions that, unusually, I kept the puzzle to compare with the blog. You have resolved most of them, bridgesong – thanks – but there are still a few that I’m not pleased with. KEEP OFF might just as easily have been KEEP OUT (in fact the latter is rather better); “helter-skelter” for RASH just seems wrong – surely it means, in this context, “rashly”; and I can’t get my head around TAKE FOR to mean “consider”.
I did like KAMA SUTRA and ROE DEER.
Lack of scientific/technical knowledge meant that I stood very little chance of parsing LOIRE – thanks bridgesong.
epee – I think it’s SO as in “Screw is jolly clever/so clever” – and I didn’t get it until now either.
Epee @2: as Gladys has pointed out, both “so” and “jolly” are used as (fairly meaningless) intensifiers. I should have made that clearer in the blog.
I agree with the reservations expressed by muffin and Biggles – KEEP OUT was my first thought as well.
Thanks Screw and bridgesong.
It took me until the Monday to finish this crossword, but I enjoyed the solve. I thought LOIRE was great, it had me fooled for ages.
“so” and “jolly” I TAKE FOR (CONSIDER) fairly meaningless intensifiers – does this work muffin?
Sort of, Cookie – not very convincing, though. I think I would say “take as” or “take to be” rather than “take for”.
Biggles A @ 3 and bridgesong @ 6: I also put KEEP OUT at first, but couldn’t justify OUT for ‘abandoned’. I tried OFF instead, which made sense to me and not so much of a stretch as bridgesong describes it in the blog. Think of a race meeting being abandoned because of the weather: “Ascot’s off” would be another way of saying it.
Unlike bridgesong, and epee @ 2, I didn’t have a problem with the wordplay of DEMISEMIQUAVERS, in fact it was one of my first in. Isn’t it just a reverse clue, with QUAVERS as the anagrind? I read the clue as ‘I seem dim’ [is gettable] from this: (DEMI SEMI)*
Yes, “DEMISEMI quavers” is a clever reverse anagram. I’m another KEEP OUT for 23a.
I don’t often get time to start Saturday crosswords, but I’m glad I made time for this one as it gave me a lot to think about.
In 9A (EN MASSE) the answer could mean ‘as one’ or ‘as one does’, but I assumed in the end that either ‘does’ or ‘does in’ is the anagrind. (I’m not sure why, though.)
10 (BANQUET) needed 3 crossers before I could get it. I saw the idea of ‘pipe down’ early on and thought of putting SH somewhere, but I had to change tack, and I applaud the setter’s inventiveness in this clue and others. I’m not quite sure, though, about banquet meaning ‘fill with food’.
What I most were the inventive definitions/indications for various words and part-words throughout the puzzle:
movement between banks – LOIRE (12A)
queen’s devoted follower – ANT (14A)
jolly – SO (2D)
takes one’s hat off to – ADMIRES (18D)
plus others, notably the whole clue of 21 (KAMA SUTRA).
I agree with other commenters here that clueing could have been clearer in places, such as 23A (KEEP OFF), but I really enjoyed this crossword. I started it on Saturday, solving barely half of the clues, completed it on Monday on a flight to Zürich, and never had to look anything up.
Thanks very much to Screw and bridgesong.
I see that one para in my post @12 started “What I most were” – obviously I meant “What I liked most were”. Sorry.
I was another KEEP OUTer but this was the only one that gave me any trouble. For some reason DEMISEMIQUAVERS leapt off the page for me so I worked backwards with parsing.
I thought this puzzle was rather good and indeed better than some others seem to have thought it. Not the first time I’ve been out of step and I don’t suppose it will be the last.
Thanks Screw.
I enjoyed this puzzle so thanks Screw. It makes a change to have a different prize compiler. I was hoping for a Picaroon today but no joy. It’s Paul again and although I eventually enjoy his puzzles, I get rather bored with his style.
Like others, Loire was my last one in and I missed the wordplay completely. I was another KEEP OUT initially.
Maybe we’ll see hemidemisemiquaver in a 21×21 puzzle one day or maybe it’s been used already.
Thanks also to bridgesong.
Thank you bridgesong and your cabal, nice open blog.
Another KEEP OUT-er here. Jolly irritating as on the first pass over Saturday breakfast this was the only that the lady of the house and I could manage! I think if one uses OFF in the way a rugby match might be ABANDONED then the clue works well enough.
We unmasked the reverse anagram DEMISEMIQUAVERS pretty early, helped no doubt by playing music in the US recently and having to learn their nomenclature of quarter notes & measures etc instead of crotchets and bars.
We both giggled childishly at KAMA SUTRA and enjoyed STUDIO APARTMENT.
The only clue I still can’t really see is SELF RESPECT which jumps out readily enough but character among those dignified seems an odd sort of definition.
This was tough and only got finished because the weather was so rotten!
Many thanks, Screw, nice weekend, all.
Sheffield Hatter @9 Apologies, didn’t spot your race meeting example before offering my rugby match. Like yours better.
As to 9ac (EN MASSE), could it perhaps be that ‘trips’ is the anagram indicator?
And that the S is coming from ‘doeS’? However, that makes the inclusion of ‘in’ a bit odd.
On the other hand, I don’t think Screw would use ‘last trips’ for S, even more since he could have said ‘last of trips’.
Enjoyable crossword.
Thanks to Screw and bridgesong. My first go at this puzzle yielded very little so I put it aside. Later in the week I returned to it and made some progress, but LOIRE defeated me as did DEPRESSANT (because I mistakenly had “strand” rather than STREET THEATRE). I’m another who started with TAKE OUT and needed help parsing MASON and the FOR in TAKE FOUR.
Very tough. I only got 4 answers over the weekend, but I added most of the rest when I went back to it on Tuesday and the remainder over the next couple of days. I couldn’t parse BANQUET or LOIRE, but it seemed likely that both were correct based on the likely definitions.
For 2d, I was side-tracked for a while by “jolly” as a nickname for a Royal Marine, and I too initially fell for KEEP OUT. I was puzzled by the role of “does” in 9a, but I think that probably “does in” (as in ‘murdered’) is the anagrind, even though I see that Sil van den Hoek @18 doesn’t think it likely that Screw would have clued the S as “last trips”.
Favourites included ESSENTIAL, SEQUENTIAL, ROE DEER and GENERAL STRIKE.
Thanks, Screw and bridgesong.
Good to see Screw getting a crack at the prize slot. This for me was everything a prize should be – challenging and entertaining but never too daunting.
Thanks to Screw and bridgesong
When I got 7 down i W
Apologies for above abortion.
When I got 7 down I was hoping it would be a (ninetieth) anniversary theme, but none of the other solutions seem relevant.
Surely 21a (KAMA SUTRA) is a reference to *sexual* congress, not the Congress Party?
Myelbow @24: you’re right, that is the definition, but I was trying to make the point that the capitalisation could be a reference to the Indian political party, rather than to the US political institution that most of us would associate with the term.
Thanks all
Mostly enjoyable. I struggled to justify the obvious Loire.
Favourite was “itemise” beautifully hidden,
Isn’t 9a parsed as:
As one = EN MASSE
does in last = S (i.e. the letter in last place in “does”)
trips = anagrind
with seamen = SEAMEN
Didn’t like the clues, I’m afraid.
Thanks Screw and Bridgesong.
I’m fairly sure that the anagram indicator in 9 is “does in” (as in murders) and then the anagram fodder is the last letter of “trips” (S) + SEAMEN.
I’m another that started 23 as KEEP OUT but when I finally twigged I concluded that this was a very good clue.
I also thought that 1dn was very clever – though it took a while to get it. My only quibble with it is that I think it’s usually hyphenated.
Good fun overall.
Thanks Screw and bridgesong
A tough workout in a worthy Prize puzzle. DEMISEMIQUAVER was my first one in, seeing the reverse anagram straightaway which then opened up the lhs for me quite nicely with EN MASSE and GENERAL STRIKE quickly following.
KEEP OUT was next which led to a lot of pondering as to why TAKE TWO would be after the third attempt – eventually SELF-RESPECT righted things.
A lot of different and interesting devices used throughout – thought the &lits at 16a and 6d were clever as was the triple definition at 20a. Was interesting in the way that he used the context of the clues in 12a and 21a to enhance the definitions – particularly with the former.
Finished in the NE corner with LOIRE, BANQUET and DEPRESSANT which all went in unparsed and required a fair bit of thinking to work out their parsing afterwards.
Had dodged this one for a while but am glad that I finally got to it !!