Today’s puzzle has been supplied by Hob, a relative newcomer to the Indy fold.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, with its ingenious but not overly demanding treatment of the theme of queens. The gateway clue at 9 was fairly accessible, meaning that solvers busy with their mid-week schedules did not have to do too much head-scratching before arriving at the theme. That said, what the gateway clue lacked in difficulty, the varied treatment of its solution more than made up for in ingenuity. For me, in terms of both stiffness of challenge and level of enjoyment, this was exactly the kind of puzzle that I want to be tackling mid-week, when time of often of the essence.
Blogging the puzzle took quite a lot of time, given the intricate nature of the wordplay of a good few clues. I think that I got there in the end, however, with the possible exception of 13. 27 was a new word for me, as was the ballet at 10, but both were eminently gettable from the wordplay.
I am loth to single out individual clues today, since the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but I particularly liked 2, for making me smirk; 7, for the cruciverbal references and for integrating the name of a real publication into the wordplay; and the duo of clues at 1A and 24, for sheer ingenuity.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | LOUNGED | Glued on transfers showing 24?
*(GLUED ON); “transfers” is anagram indicator; cryptically, lounged could be “did 0 (=entry at 24)”, i.e. did nothing, idled |
| 05 | CHAMBER | One receiving award from 9 in tea room?
MBE (=one receiving award from Queen (=entry at 9)) in CHAR (=tea) |
| 09 | QUEEN | Tom’s partner? // One in a suit
Double (cryptic) definition: a tom is a male cat, while a queen is a female cat; there is a queen in each of the four suits in a pack of cards; this is the gateway clue, in that many other clues make reference to queens in different ways |
| 10 | PETRUSHKA | PR for book Kate Bush’s written about ballet
The letters PR replace letter B (=book) in anagram, indicated by “written about; *(KATE <PR for b>USH); Petrushka is a 1910-11 ballet burlesque by Russian composer Igor Stravinksy |
| 11 | ORCHESTRAS | Groups of players round Royal Box with prince
O (=round, i.e. pictorially) + R (=royal, as in abbreviations such as RSPB) + CHEST (=box) + RAS (=prince, in Ethiopia) |
| 12 | AMOS | Book first with appointments with doctors
A<ppointments> (“first with” means first letter only) + MOs (=doctors); Amos is a book of the Old Testament |
| 14 | SUBSTANDARD | Reserve seating area before Bill gets around 9 below par
SUB (=reserve, i.e. substitute player) + STAND (=seating area, at stadium) + [R (=queen, i.e. regina (=entry at 9)) in AD (=bill, i.e. advertisement)] |
| 18 | SCARAMOUCHE | Bragging buffoon sets alarm, coming round in the morning with pained expression
[AM (=in the morning) + OUCH (=painful expression)] in SCARE (=alarm); a scaramouche is a stock character in an old Italian comedy, characterised as a boastful coward |
| 21 | ENVY | One of 7 vices originally seen in Eastern city
V<ices> (“originally” means first letter only) in [E (=Eastern) + NY (=city, i.e. New York)]; envy is one of the seven deadly sins |
| 22 | BOTTICELLI | Famous Italian bishop with bad back, drinking too much cold water
[OTT (=too much, i.e. over-the-top) + ICE (=cold water)] in [B (=bishop, in chess) + LLI (ILL=bad; “back” indicates reversal)]; the reference is to Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) |
| 25 | MAGNIFICO | Conga? If I’m drunk, that’s a great one
*(CONGA IF I’M); “drunk” is anagram indicator; a magnifico is a Venetian noble, a grandee |
| 26 | FERIA | 9 sitting in Italian car, with no time for free day in Rome
ER (=queen, i.e. Elizabeth Regina (=entry at 9)) in FIA<t> (=Italian car; “with no time (=T)” means letter “t” is dropped) |
| 27 | DISPORT | 9’s daughter-in-law’s left to play
DI’s (=Queen (entry at 9)’s daughter-in-law, i.e. the late Princess Diana) + PORT (=left, on a ship); to disport is a literary verb meaning to play about, frolic |
| 28 | GALILEO | Famous Italian fighter, ahead of the French in game
[ALI (=fighter, i.e. the boxer Muhammad Ali) + LE (=the French, i.e. the French word for the)] in GO (=game, on a board); the reference is to the Italian polymath Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | LIQUOR | Reportedly one that’s beating the demon drink?
Homophone (“reportedly”) of “licker” (=one that’s beating, i.e. defeating) |
| 02 | UNESCO | Body passing motions due to some prunes? Correct!
Hidden (“some”) in “prUNES COrrect” |
| 03 | GINGERSNAP | Biscuit with drink, good before 9’s 40 winks
GIN (=drink) + G (=good) + ER’s (=queen, i.e. entry at 9) + NAP (=40 winks) |
| 04 | DEPOT | Small girl going round record store
EP (=record, i.e. Extended-Play Record) in DOT (=small girl, i.e. abbreviation of Dorothy) |
| 05 | CATHARTIC | Purging of medieval Christian movement not under one’s control
CATHAR (=medieval Christian, i.e. Manichaean sect of S France and N Italy) + TIC (=movement not under one’s control, i.e. involuntary) |
| 06 | AQUA | 9 held by pair that might beat 9s black (or red) and blue
QU (=queen, in card; entry at 9) in A A (=pair that might beat queens black or red, i.e. a pair of aces in cards) |
| 07 | BOHEMIAN | Nonconformist setter twice rejected by The Scotsman
BOHEM (ME + HOB, i.e. setter (of this puzzle) twice; “rejected” indicates reversal) + IAN (=The Scotsman, i.e. a Scottish male forename) |
| 08 | RHAPSODY | Piece of writing added on “love” in Hardy novel
[PS (=writing added on, i.e. postscript) + O (=love)] in *(HARDY); “novel” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | UNMERCIFUL | A French male, surprisingly cruel if provoked
UN (=a French, i.e. a French word for a) + M (=male) + *(CRUEL IF); “provoked” is anagram indicator; semi & lit. |
| 15 | BIOLOGIST | I try retiring just after 10.50 in the summertime in e.g. Darwin
[IO (=10) + L (=50) + OGI (I + GO (=try); “retiring” indicates reversal)] in BST (=summertime, i.e. British Summer Time) |
| 16 | ESTEEMED | Admirable directions given to place for driving by the sea
E S (=direction, on compass) + TEE (place for driving, in golf) + MED (=the sea, i.e. Mediterranean) |
| 17 | LAS VEGAS | City girl eats healthy food? Ace!
[VEG (=healthy food) + A (=ace)] in LASS (=lass) |
| 19 | PLURAL | Showing there’s more than one part of New York where 9’s made this
Cryptically, the plural of “queen” (=entry at 9) gives Queens, one of the 5 NY boroughs |
| 20 | FIGARO | Barber losing one thousand dollars in card game?
[I (=one) + G (=thousand dollars, i.e. grand)] in FARO (=card game); Figaro is the eponymous hero of The Barber of Seville, the opera by Rossini |
| 23 | THONG | Crowd wanting 9 in skimpy underwear
TH<r>ONG (=skimpy underwear); “wanting queen (=R, for regina)” means letter “r” is dropped |
| 24 | DIDO | Princess’s friend, putting the princess first for 9
DODI (=Princess’s friend, i.e. Dodi Foyed, the late partner of the late Princess Diana); “putting the princess (=DI) first” means the letters “di” come first in the solution; the reference is to Dido, queen of Carthage, whose story is told in Virgil’s Aeneid |
Tis was a wonderful crossword!
BOHEMIAN (7d) RHAPSODY (8d) were more or less my first ones in.
Then finding QUEEN (9ac) couldn’t be a coincidence.
But there was still some work to do.
SCARAMOUCHE (will you do the fandango)
GALILEO FIGARO
MAGNIFICO
Indeed, magnifico!
Great fun.
Thanks RR for your blog.
By the way, Hob a relative newcomer?
Don’t think so!
Thought I’d seen Hob before-anyway I thought this was really good.And the blog too-thanks.cant make up my mind on 19 but thats maybe my only niggle.
I really thought that the cluing in this was pretty special.Full marks.
This was a wonderful crossword!
[ah, those terrible wireless keyboards]
Good theme which has also appeared elsewhere in the last few weeks. No ‘fandango’, ‘bismillah’ or ‘beelzebub’ but you can’t have everything and there was plenty to entertain. I thought ‘Princess’s friend putting the princess first’ for DIDO was great, with UNESCO and one of the theme clues BOHEMIAN not far behind.
A big thanks to Hob and RR
Sil van @1- should have seen Bohemian Rhapsody and Queen link-up but I wasnt fan enough to know the other lyrics.never owned an album but thought they rocked at Live Aid.
Magnificent puzzle with delightful clues, particularly liked DIDO, BOHEMIAN, CATHARTIC – I could go on.
Thanks to Hob and also to RatkojaRiku for a spot-on blog.
Thanks for a great blog, RR.
I thought I wasn’t going to finish this and nearly didn’t, having confidently entered BRANDY SNAP at 3dn. I couldn’t, of course, account for my extra S [or see what ‘good’ was doing] but expected everything to become clear once I got 9ac – which, of course, was never going to happen, as long as I had it ending in A!
Finally getting 1dn, which ought to have been much sooner, revealed my error and I managed to complete.
What a super puzzle! Many wondrous clues but my particular favourites were PETRUSHKA, UNESCO, BOHEMIAN, CATHARTIC and DIDO.
Many thanks to Hob for a lot of fun.
Great crossword with plenty of lateral thinking required. My way in was via 23dn which just had to be THONG. So 9 had to be something expressed by ‘R’. Romeo (NATO alphabet)? – can’t parse it or see where ‘suit’ fits in; Roger? – can’t see that, either; Jerry (as in Tom and)? – grasping at straws now. Oh well, leave it and try a few non-themed clues; sure enough the correct answer suggested itself after a while and I was well away.
Too many good clues to nominate a CoD but PETRUSHKA, ENVY and GALILEO were among the possibilities.
Thanks, Hob and RatkojaRiku.
Lots of fun. Got the gateway clue reasonably quickly, and then pottered around the grid to see which others I could fit in. It took a while, I must say, but got there in the end.
And then of course when I went back to look at it, the QUEEN theme became obvious. ‘Beelzebub has a very heavy sideboard’ and all that stuff. Next time MONDEGREEN comes up, remember this one.
Well done to Hob and thank you to RR for the blog.
Thanks to Hob for a really great puzzle and to RR for the blog.
It’s quite extraordinary to think it is fully 25 years since Freddie Mercury died
The Statesman, published from Kolkata and New Delhi, has an editorial arrangement with The Independent whereby it reproduces the British paper’s articles in its daily editions, including the crossword.
Occasionally, a clue in The Statesman is differently worded from the one in the online Independent.
Today’s 1 across is an example. The version it has goes: 24? Barely old enough, perhaps, for this (7)
I filled in the answer as I had the crossers but couldn’t figure out the exact word play. Any suggestions?
h.eckler @11:
* (o)ld enoug(h)
Looks like an anagram of (o)LD ENOUG(h), I.e. stripped of the outside letters, still giving LOUNGED.
As Muffyword said ?
Yes me did.
Thanks, Muffyword@12 and Paul A@13.
I applied barely only to old, so had (o) l (d) and enough for the anagram fodder. and couldn’t get past lounge h.
My ‘?’ was a ? before I posted it. Grrrr!
A smiley face even – I won’t try that again