It’s Radian today with an enjoyable puzzle.
There is a theme which extends further than the direct references in the clues. There is a clear reference to Roald DAHL at 1 down [REVOLTING RHYMES], but other entries and at least one clue contain words in the titles of other books by DAHL.
We have PEACH at 12 across [James and the GIANT PEACH]. TWIT at 13 across is from The TWITs. 14 across links to Tales of the UNEXPECTED [two volumes]. To complete the across references, DAHL is a STORYTELLER [26 across].
In the downs we have GIANT at 2 linking to two works, one mentioned earlier and also The Big Friendly GIANT. At 17 down MYSTERY appears in a DAHL title and finally we have CHARLIE, hero of two books, CHARLIE and the Chocolate Factory plus CHARLIE and the Great Glass Elevator.
Two clues contain references as well – 1 down has GREMLINS and 8 down has MATILDA
However, apart from 1 down, it wasn’t necessary to know any DAHL novels
There was a fair bit of general knowledge required today as there were a number of proper nouns in the grid. That is often the case where there is thematic material elsewhere in the grid as the crossing letters in the thematic words constrain the choices for intersecting entries.
Clues I liked to day were those for RAGAMUFFINS, ERGONOMICS and SINBAD THE SAILOR, mainly for the surfaces.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
School stops ruffians thrashing poor kids (11)
|
GAM (school of whales] contained in {stops] an anagram of (thrashing) RUFFIANS RA (GAM) UFFINS* |
RAGAMUFFINS (ragged disreputable children; poor kids)
|
|
9
|
Try port shortly before (4,1,2)
|
HAVEN (port) excluding the final letter (shortly) N + AGO (before)
|
HAVE A GO (try)
|
|
10
|
Batting line-up attainable (2,5)
|
IN (batting) + RANGE (line-up)
|
IN RANGE (can be reached; attainable)
|
|
11
|
Spots plan during chess game (9)
|
PLOT (plan) contained in (during) an anagram of (game) CHESS S (PLOT) CHES* |
SPLOTCHES (heavy spots)
|
|
12
|
Low-priced fruit?
|
P (penny) + EACH – a penny each (low priced)
|
PEACH (fruit)
|
|
13
|
Viz misses nothing to poke fun at (4)
|
TO WIT (namely, videlicet [viz]) excluding (misses) O (zero; nothing)
|
TWIT (taunt; poke fun at)
|
|
14
|
It’s surprising you have to install Windows etc after crash (10)
|
(U [text speak for you] + NEED [have occasion for; have to]) containing (install) (XP [reference the Windows XP operating system that many businesses still have installed] + an anagram of [after crash] ETC) U NE (XP ECT*) ED |
UNEXPECTED (something surprising)
|
|
16
|
Design study so no microphones appear (10)
|
ERGO (therefore; so) + NO + MICS (microphones)
|
ERGONOMICS (the adaptation of machines and general conditions to fit the individual so that he or she may work at maximum efficiency; design)
|
|
19
|
Went to the front bypassing western offensive (4)
|
LED (went to the front) containing (bypassing) W (western) LE (W) D |
LEWD (obscene; offensive)
|
|
21
|
Statesman in need, hard up now and then (5)
|
NEHRU (letters 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 [now and then] NEED HARD UP)
|
NEHRU (reference Jawaharlal NEHRU [1889 – 1964], first Prime Minister of India; statesman)
|
|
22
|
Scrawny tennis player makes funds available (5,4)
|
SPARE (scrawny) + CASH (reference Pat CASH [born 1965], Australian tennis player who won one Grand Slam tournament)
|
SPARE CASH (readily available funds)
|
|
24
|
One ordered to guard this writer’s candidate (7)
|
Anagram of (ordered) ONE containing (MINE [this writer’s]) NO (MINE) E* |
NOMINEE (candidate)
|
|
25
|
Left two lots of foreign money for rock attraction (7)
|
L (left) + ORE (coins and monetary units used in Norway and Denmark; foreign money) + LEI (standard monetary unit of Romania and Moldova; a second foreign currency)
|
LORELEI (The "LORELEI" statue sits on a narrow arm of land jutting out into the |
|
26
|
Writer and salesman screening blue tales at first (11)
|
SELLER (salesman) containing (screening) (TORY [conservative politician or party, both long associated with the colour blue] + T [first letter of {at first} TALES]) S (TORY T) ELLER |
STORYTELLER (writer)
|
| Down | |||
|
1
|
Work by 20 mainly a version of very hot ‘Gremlins’ (9,6)
|
Anagram of (a version of) VERY HOT GREMLINS REVOLTING RHYMES* |
REVOLTING RHYMES (book of poems written by Roald DAHL [1916 – 1990]. DAHL forms the first four letters of six letters [mainly] of DAHLIA at 20 down)
|
|
2
|
Among Norwegian trolls he’s big and friendly (5)
|
GIANT (hidden word [among] in NORWEGIAN TROLLS)
|
GIANT (he’s big fat and friendly, reference DAHL‘s book the The Big Friendly GIANT that has just been made into a film)
|
|
3
|
Bird needing hormone replacement (7)
|
Anagram of (replacement) HORMONE MOORHEN* |
MOORHEN (bird)
|
|
4
|
Women send documents over Irish Sea almost (4,3)
|
FAX (send documents by facsimile transfer) containing (over) (IR Irish] + SEA excluding the final letter [almost] A) FA (IR SE) X |
FAIR SEX (women)
|
|
5
|
Rider, ordered to keep up tempo, burst in (8)
|
Anagram of (ordered) RIDER containing (to keep (UP + T [tempo]) IRR (UP T) ED* |
IRRUPTED (broke in; burst in)
|
|
6
|
Blair astonished injured hero from Baghdad (6,3,6)
|
Anagram of (injured) BLAIR ASTONISHED SINBAD THE SAILOR* |
SINBAD THE SAILOR (fictional sailor and the hero of a story-cycle of Middle Eastern origin; he is described as living in Baghdad, during the Abbasid Caliphate)
|
|
7
|
Quiet game capturing hearts (6)
|
WHIST (card game) containing (capturing) H (hearts) WHIS (H) T |
WHISHT (interjection calling for silence) A spelling I know better is WHEESHT
|
|
8
|
Order Matilda initially to head off without one (6)
|
M (first letter of [initially] MATILDA) + an anagram of (off) TO HEAD excluding (without) A (one) M ETHOD* |
METHOD (order [of doing things])
|
|
15
|
Cool sister holds drugs party, slurring words? (8)
|
IN (in fashion; cool) + (NUN [sister] containing [holds] E [ecstasy; drug]) + DO (party) IN NU (E) N DO |
INNUENDO (insinuation; slurring words where ‘slurring’ is an adjective)
|
|
16
|
Old river rises about noon, making sea warmer (2,4)
|
(O [old] + NILE [major river in Africa]) reversed (rising; down clue) and containing (about) N (noon) (EL (N) IN O)< |
EL NIÑO (periodic large-scale warming of the surface of the Eastern Pacific Ocean)
|
|
17
|
Puzzle compiler’s pen hides ruler (7)
|
MY (compiler’s) + (STY [pen] containing [hides] ER [Elizabeth Regina; queen; ruler]) MY ST (ER) Y |
MYSTERY (puzzle)
|
|
18
|
Children are being injected with £1 drug (7)
|
CH (children) + (ARE containing [injected with] LI [£1]) CH AR (LI) E |
CHARLIE (cocaine; drug)
|
|
20
|
Trouble did upset occupant of bed (6)
|
(AIL [trouble] + HAD [did, in at least one informal sense]) reversed (upset) (DAH LIA)< |
DAHLIA (plant found in a flower bed)
|
|
23
|
Join new part close to top (5)
|
(N + ROLE [part] with the last letter [close] E moved to the front [top of the entry; down clue) E N ROL |
ENROL (join)
|
Thanks to Duncanshiel and Radian,
I often see few or no comments on the blog for the Indy so really just giving you a big thank you anyway!
I enjoyed this puzzle, I always appreciate a theme now and then.
Perhaps the painful experience I have trying to complete the online version is also putting others off too. It won’t work with ad blocker active and without it one has to suffer lengthy pauses while the ads on the right reload. Really quite frustrating and if others get this too could be putting people off.
As I remarked yesterday my similar experience to Doofs @1 has led me to print my own dead tree version. And as yesterday it helped me to see that there seemed to be a theme – as there was.
Missed one or two of the references but managed to complete the grid. I did wonder if SPLOTCHES was thematic – it sounds the sort of word Dahl might have made up – but it appears in Chambers and reportedly derives from Old English.
Nice misdirection in DAHLIA (I was thinking of the wrong sort of bed) makes it my CoD.
Thanks, Radian and Duncan
Another enjoyable themed crossword thank you Radian. Thanks to Duncan for the explanations too
I read the blogs every day (once my ‘dead tree’ version is done,) but rarely post, as so many solvers seem to be happier with the quickfix online version. I laughed so hard at 7d. As an expat Scot this is usually prefixed by ‘Haudyer’ (and you wont find that in Chambers’ Thanks Duncan, Radian and all who make my day.
16A I think that study is also part of the definition.
25A The “attraction” surely refers to the Lorelei’s notoriety for luring – attracting – sailors to their doom on the rocks.
Very nice puzzle (Dahl also featured in the Guardian). Particularly liked SINBAD THE SAILOR and SPARE CASH.
Thanks to Radian and duncanshiell.
I should have realised earlier, but today is the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl’s birthday.
Gwep @ 5 – yes I can see that attraction / lure is part of the definition at 25a and yes, I think design study is a better definition that just design, expecially as I haven’t made use of the word study in an explanation of the word play. Thanks.
Thanks for the blog, Duncan – especially for the parsing of PEACH, which I’d read as an anagram of CHEAP, with the question mark as the indicator – doh!
This was the first of the trio of anniversary puzzles that I solved – and my favourite, I think, probably because it wasn’t announced as such, but then that isn’t Radian’s way. I was impressed by how each setter had ingeniously handled the theme and it was interesting to see the different clues for the same characters, etc.
Like allan_c, I enjoyed the exploitation of DAHLIA. Other favourites were UNEXPECTED, STORYTELLER, REVOLTING RHYMES [I like them, too], WHISHT [I don’t think I’ve ever seen it written down, Duncan, but with a Scottish husband and having lived for ten years in Northern Ireland, I’m very familiar with it] and the brilliant SINBAD THE SAILOR, my CoD.
Many thanks to Radian for a lovely puzzle – it was great fun.
Thank you Radian and duncanshiell.
A very enjoyable puzzle – I did not know CHARLIE was used for cocaine, but the clue was straightforward, and I was expecting “him”. I liked the “low-priced fruit” and thought 13a a great clue, wondered at first what possible reference there could be to the comic Viz, I should have noted the italics, but the full-stop was missing…
My favourite too of the day’s selection. Thanks Radian & Duncan.
(Cookie @8, your life must have been more sheltered than mine. OTOH as an erstwhile jazzer, charlie was everyday stuff back in the day.)
Could I just add(having endured the torture of reading Dahl’s ghastly books to sprogs over many years), that I am glad he is back in his box for another 100 years, by which time I will be long gone.
Whisht! lads, haad yor gobs
An’ aa’ll tell yes aall an aaful story
Whisht! lads, haad yor gobs
An’ Aa’ll tel yes ‘boot the worm.
Worms, worms, worms. Best not to be born into the Lambton family.
Thanks to S&B.
We preferred this tribute by Radian rather than the offering in Another Place.
PEACH was our COD.
For those of you who want to complete the Indy on line we use a free app by Stand Alone Inc. You have to pay a small one-off extra to access the Indy but it is well worth it. Before you ask – no, we are not on commission!
Thanks to S&B.