This is Exit’s third crossword for an S&B event and it can be found here: Exit @ Nottingham 2017
If you still like to have a go at it before looking at the solutions, then click on the link and don’t look any further yet.
Exit’s crossword almost felt like a Pasquale ….
Quite a few unusual words but, hey, it’s all about what you know, isn’t it?
There is a nina around the perimeter that tells us where we were this time.
And it is a 19ac!
The completed grid, highlighting the nina, can be found at the end of the blog.
Many thanks to Exit (who is, just like the other S&B setters, a Fifteensquared regular).
| Across | ||
| 8 | INNER EAR | On Tyneside, set up labyrinth (5,3) |
| IN NE (on Tyneside, in the North East) + REAR (set up) | ||
| 9 | EPIZOA | American on radio easy about irrational number of initially aggressive parasites (6) |
| EZ (American pronunciation [on radio] of ‘easy’: ee-zee) around PI (irrational number), then + O (of, poetic form: ‘O) + A[ggressive] | ||
| 10 | ROOT | Swede or Turnip? – unfinished kitchen sink drama (4) |
| ROOTS (play by Arnold Wesker, one of his so-called ‘kitchen sink dramas’) minus the last letter [unfinished] | ||
| 11 | DECREE NISI | Upset, I cede reins – to spouse after this? (6,4) |
| (I CEDE REINS)* [* = upset] | ||
| 12 | FEDERALLY | France, Spain and Germany: European get-together shows how super-state might work (9) |
| F (France) + E (Spain) + D (Germany) + E (European) + RALLY (get-together) | ||
| 15 | CYCAD | Primitive plant unknown in volume before now (5) |
| Y (unknown) inside CC (volume, cubic centimetre), then + AD (now, Anno Domini, the present age) Click here for information about Cycad . |
||
| 17 | DAYSTAR | Arty ads composed for The Sun (7) |
| (ARTY ADS)* [* = composed] | ||
| 19 | PANGRAM | Vessel, light weight, one found here (7) |
| PAN (vessel) + GRAM (light weight) | ||
| 21 | ORACH | Confused fish and plant (5) |
| (ROACH)* [* = confused] Now, here is our setter very naughty. A clear indirect anagram, isn’t it? Orach is a plant of the goosefoot family (genus Artiplex), also called saltbush. |
||
| 23 | PENINSULA | Writer in Southern University (Louisiana) composes Iberia (9) |
| PEN (writer) + IN + S (southern) + U (university) + LA (Louisiana) There is actually a Southern University in Louisiana. |
||
| 27 | ORDINANCES | Unruly Ron is caned – for disobeying these? (10) |
| (RON IS CANED)* [* = caned] Poor Ron! |
||
| 29 | AVER | Vera’s mad state (4) |
| (VERA)* [* = mad] | ||
| 30 | HALLOA | Encouragement for Scottish town putting hospital first (6) |
| H (hospital) + ALLOA (Scottish town) Both Chambers and Collins have ‘halloa’ as an alternative spelling for ‘halloo’: a cry to urge on chase or to call attention. |
||
| 31 | DAIQUIRI | Lawyer: “I almost left Romeo one cocktail” (8) |
| DA (lawyer, District Attorney) + I + QUI[t] (left, almost) + R (Romeo, Nato alphabet) + I (one) A cocktail of rum and lime juice. |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ANYONE | A city number for Tom, Dick or Harry… (6) |
| A + NY (city, New York) + ONE (number) | ||
| 2 | REST | …Potter. He might use one to take a break (4) |
| Cryptic definition, referring to snooker | ||
| 3 | TEND | Look after sinew (not working) (4) |
| TENDON (sinew) minus ON (working) | ||
| 4 | URACIL | Pointless rising high-flier and student getting biochemical (6) |
| Reversal [rising] of ICARU[s] (high-flier, minus S (point) at the end) + L (student) “A compound found in living tissue as a constituent base of RNA” – well, that’s what Oxford says. 4 parts C, 4 parts H, 2 parts N and 2 parts O. |
||
| 5 | CERES | Dwarf planet features in Space Rescue (5) |
| Hidden solution [features in]: Space Rescue | ||
| 6 | KIDNEY | Offal, sort of… (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 7 | MOUSSAKA | …light dish, not English, alternatively a Greek speciality (8) |
| MOUSSE (light dish) minus E (English), + AKA (alternatively, also known as) | ||
| 13 | EMS | Spaces found in Eastern writing? (3) |
| E (Eastern) + MS (writing, manuscript) | ||
| 14 | AJAR | First of rulings follows: drivers’ case for judge closed? Not entirely (4) |
| R[ulings] coming after {AA (drivers, Automobile Association) around J (judge)} | ||
| 16 | MAXI | Very large film format, top to bottom (4) |
| IMAX (film format) with the I down to the bottom | ||
| 18 | AGRARIAN | Indian city on coastal inlet north of fields (8) |
| AGRA (Indian city) + RIA (coastal inlet) + N (north) | ||
| 20 | GAS | Car’s second, between Golf and Sierra ? Neon? (3) |
| [c]A[r] icoming between G (Golf, Nato alphabet) and S (Sierra, Nato alphabet) | ||
| 22 | CHILLI | Henry unwell in Ivory Coast – something in the curry? (6) |
| {H (Henry) + ILL (unwell)} inside CI (Ivory Coast, internet domain code) He could have been unwell on Guernsey or Jersey, couldn’t he? |
||
| 24 | ESCUDO | Money formerly key to heart of old royal (6) |
| ESC (key) + the middle bit [heart] of [t]UDO[r] (old royal) Former money of Portugal, replaced by the euro 15 years ago. |
||
| 25 | LAETRA | Unusual Latin left in nebulae translation (6) |
| Hidden solution [in]: nebulae translation Here’s one for Eileen. It is the feminine form of laeter, meaning ‘left’, the use of which is rare (e.g. sinister is more common). But it is in the Oxford Latin Dictionary! |
||
| 26 | NAWAB | Graduate, pale, returns as Indian prince (5) |
| Reversal [returns] of: BA (graduate) + WAN (pale) | ||
| 28 | STIR | “Good man! Take iodine back!” creates sensation (4) |
| ST (good man, Saint) + a reversal [back] of {R (take, recipe) + I (iodine)} | ||
| 29 | ARUN | Cricket score in Sussex (4) |
| A RUN (cricket score) Arun is a district of Sussex, after the river of that name. Surely, well-known for Arundel and its magnificent castle. |
||
This is the first Exit I have tried. (Pun not intended, but allowed to happen anyway!)
I started this at the S&B event and attempted to finish it on the journey home, but I didn’t quite manage it.
I needed help from the blog to parse and/or understand EPIZOA, ORACH, URACIL and LAETRA, and I agree with the blogger’s comment on ORACH.
I particularly liked PENINSULA, DAIQUIRI and GAS, the last-named sustaining a car theme in an amazing way. In PENINSULA, by the way, I would have appended a question mark to indicate a definition by example. I also liked the elided clues 1-2 down (ANYONE, REST) and 6-7 down (KIDNEY, MOUSSAKA) – very neat.
I enjoyed this crossword, and the pangram and nina were bonuses.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Thank you to Sil and Alan B for the blog and comments. I hope the few obscurities didn’t spoil things too much. I did wonder if LAETRA might be an obscurity too far, though changing it I would have meant changing AVER and losing the pangram. So with over 50% checking (if that from the nina is included) and clueing it as a hidden I decided it was at least gettable if not readily parsed.
And here I must express my admiration for those setters who regularly manage to produce themed crosswords and/or ninas without having to include obscurities. They set a standard for the rest.
Thanks yet again, Sil.
This is my last of the S and B puzzles and the one I found most difficult and didn’t finish, though it was an enjoyable tussle. I, too, was beaten by EPIZOA and ORACH – ICARUs came to my rescue for URACIL but I hadn’t heard of it.
My biggest failure, though, was LAETRA – misplaced confidence, Sil! I know laevus/a/um as a less common word for left but I have never come across laeter – nor is it in my huge Lewis and Short dictionary. I have phoned-a-friend – a fellow member of my Latin reading group – who has never heard of it, either, which comforted me. I’m now awaiting a reply to my voicemail message to the leader of the group, who once said that she has an even bigger dictionary, which presumably is the Oxford one that Sil mentions. [It must be big!] I’m not complaining – just amazed at the range of Exit’s knowledge. I am amused that it was included for the sake of the pangram, which, as usual, I didn’t spot and, as regular readers know, I’m less impressed by them than most. I didn’t spot the Nina in time for it to be of any help, either, but I did like it.
I thought there were some excellent clues here, with great surfaces: I think my favourites are INNER EAR, FEDERALLY, ANYONE and MOUSSAKA – among others.
Many thanks to Exit. I’m pretty sure I know who you are – you certainly write way-out puzzles. 😉
Eileen@3: My reference for LAETRA was http://latin-dictionary.net/definition/25167/laeter-laetra-laetrum
Hi Exit @4
I’ve now received this information:
“The Oxford Latin Dictionary has a single reference for this word. It is quoted from Paulus Diaconus (Paul the Deacon) who in 8th Century AD made a summary (Epitome) of a writer called Festus, who in late 2nd C AD compiled a work on Roman law.
There is a suggestion that its endings would have been similar to those of dexter and sinister.
LAETRUM is the form which appears in Paulus. There is no way of knowing whether the word originated with Festus or was first used by Paulus.”
Words don’t come much more obscure than that!
I couldn’t find it In Word Wizard or OneLook and googling it produced only the link you gave – so I’m really intrigued as to how you found it in the first place: you can’t google a word without being aware of it!
Tell me at the next S and B – thanks again for a really enjoyable challenge, even though I didn’t complete it. I’ve learned several things today!
Caught up with this one on the way back from the yesterday’s Times do today. Quiet train helped with thought and a found it a nice solve though I was beaten by about a third in the end. Unfortunately, my solved answers didn’t help me spot the nina, which was a shame on my part and, looking back, I was close to having ‘marian’ so should’ve put two and two together there. Fave clues were 22d for the amusing surface and 14d for blending the def cunningly into the rest of the clue. Honours also to pangram and nina so cheers to Exit for the puzzle and to Sil for the blog.
As with Alan’s second puzzle, Bert’s a bit late in the day with this comment, but hasn’t been able to find time either to finish the puzzle – which beat him on the last four entries (shamefully 8ac, 21ac, 4d and 25d) – or to add a comment. A little time spent this evening trying to sort out the above – to no avail, even with a bit of electronic assistance. Can’t believe 8ac escaped him, or that he missed the nina! Don’t feel so bad about the other three, as they are somewhat unusual.
However, many thanks to Exit for your contribution to last Saturday. And again many thanks to Sil for the blog – story I forgot to thank you for blogging Alan’s second puzzle!