An excellent crossword from Serpent today. It was tough — for me, at any rate — but well worth struggling with, for there were some very good clues and the whole thing hung together nicely. I particularly enjoyed 2dn.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
To begin with, the large number of unches around the outside suggested that there would be something there. But there apparently isn’t.
Then it seemed that rather a lot of clues involved subtracting a word you had to find from some other word you had to find (which made it doubly difficult). Perhaps this was a theme, but it didn’t seem to be widespread enough to be one really, even though when I counted, 43% of the clues involved subtraction in some way.
Finally it became clear, and chapeau to Serpent for managing this: all the acrosses are writers (and I’ve put links to them).
| Across | ||
| 7 | FIELDING | Dealing with what those who aren’t in should be doing (8) |
| 2 defs, one of them referring to cricket — Joy, perhaps, but more likely Henry Fielding or Helen Fielding | ||
| 9 | STOKER | Fireman moving right to end of line (6) |
| stroke [= line] with its r moved to the end — Bram Stoker | ||
| 10 | WEST | Most recent releases ultimately ruin One Direction (4) |
| {ne}west — the ne being {rui}n {On}e — releases a verb — lots of them, but probably Paul West or Rebecca West | ||
| 11 | GENET | Twig catching coat of nimble cat-like creature (5) |
| ge(ne)t, the ne in this clue being n{imbl}e — Jean Genet | ||
| 12 | POPE | Religious leader animated man forsaking you in the Bible? (4) |
| Popeye – ye [= you in the Bible] — Alexander Pope | ||
| 13 | GARNER | Gather one working in bed perhaps lacks guts (6) |
| Gar{de}ner — there are several of them but the main one seems to be Alan Garner | ||
| 14 | GARLAND | Guy’s partner overcomes resistance with bunch of flowers (7) |
| ga(R)l and — guys and gals, a phrase I unfortunately associate with Jimmy Savile — Alex Garland — is this one a bit of a struggle, or am I just behind the times? | ||
| 16 | PORTER | Champion wants to drink beer (6) |
| {sup}porter — this seems to be between Katherine Anne Porter and a few others | ||
| 18 | BARNES | London district where one can drink at home when short of time (6) |
| bar [= where one can drink] nes{t} — I wanted to make BARNET work, but that’s just because I’m from North London — Julian Barnes | ||
| 21 | DICKENS | Devil put neck out in hell (7) |
| Di((neck)*)s — the city of Dis, which comes from Dante’s Inferno — who else but Charles Dickens, although perhaps it might be his great-granddaughter Monica | ||
| 23 | COWARD | Fish stuffed with raw minced chicken (6) |
| co((raw)*)d — Noel Coward | ||
| 25 | SAKI | Short film about Anglicanism’s first primate (4) |
| s(A{nglican})ki{n} — H.H. Munro, who wrote under the name Saki | ||
| 27 | TWAIN | I want to change old couple (5) |
| (I want)* — old in the sense of being an archaic usage — Mark Twain | ||
| 28 | RAND | Currency arbitrarily cut by 50% (4) |
| rand{omly} — Ayn Rand | ||
| 29 | DEXTER | Right to put off drinking up times (6) |
| de(x)ter — times = multiplied by — Colin Dexter, himself a fairly major figure in the crossword world (look at his magnificent Azed competition clues on the &lit. site) | ||
| 30 | DISRAELI | Former copper meets national leader once (8) |
| d. Israeli — better known in another field, Benjamin Disraeli was also a significant writer | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WIRETAPPED | Captured transmission of water piped round bend (10) |
| (water piped)* | ||
| 2 | GLUTEN | Gut feeling regularly affected by this (6) |
| (gut {f}e{e}l{i]n{g})*, &littish — a full &lit.? | ||
| 3 | RING TRUE | Add up round figure and constant (4,4) |
| ring [= round figure] true [= constant] | ||
| 4 | ISHTAR | I take leading role describing Hollywood’s first goddess (6) |
| I s(H{ollywood})tar — describing in the sense of surrounding | ||
| 5 | COMPLAIN | Bellyache is condition that’s not terminal (8) |
| complain{t} | ||
| 6 | HELP | Puppy scratches head servant (4) |
| {w}help | ||
| 8 | GINKGO | Trap game under base of oak tree (6) |
| gin {oa}k go | ||
| 15 | DISGRUNTLE | Heartless girls turned up and put one’s nose out of joint (10) |
| (gi{r}ls turned)* — ‘up’ the anagram indicator | ||
| 17 | RECEIPTS | Proceeds to fix set price (8) |
| (set price)* — proceeds a noun | ||
| 19 | ARCHNESS | Knowing quality of knight captured in game by a rook (8) |
| a R ch(N)ess | ||
| 20 | ISLAND | I state “lives must take precedence” (6) |
| land [= state] with is taking precedence | ||
| 22 | ENTIRE | Complete furnishing part of apartment I rented (6) |
| Hidden [furnishing part of] in apartmENT I REnted | ||
| 24 | WARSAW | Fighting witnessed in European capital (6) |
| war saw | ||
| 26 | AVER | State body dismisses dishonourable man (4) |
| {cad}aver | ||
*anagram
I found this tough too, though spotting the theme helped with a few answers such as SAKI. Thanks for your links to the writers, some of whom (eg Alex GARLAND) I hadn’t heard of and even though I knew Jean GENET, his feline-like cousin was new to me. I like the word DISGRUNTLE so that was my favourite, but I agree that GLUTEN, whether a “full” &lit or not, was very good too.
Thanks to Serpent and John from a thoroughly gruntled solver.
I’d just about finished when I spotted the theme.Cole Porter was a writer surely.
A tough but enjoyable challenge from Serpent.
Thanks to all.
Another tour de force by Serpent. Took ages over this and failed to finish. Didn’t get 15d, 18a and 28a. Yet another district of London cropping up in a cryptic that I’ve never heard of. Favourites were 2d and 29a. 30a is also good, but a bit of a chestnut. Thanks to all.
Rock hard, but very good. My first two in ‘genet’ and ‘twain’ alerted me to the theme and that helped greatly in the solve – not that I completed, of course: bested by about 6 in the end. Loads to enjoy here and too many good clues to pick a fave so I’ll just say thanks to The Snake for the fun and the torture and to John for the blog.
Struggled but finished, DISRAELI last author in. I spotted the theme early & wouldn’t have completed without it; some very tough stuff indeed today, I thought, but all fair and enjoyable. Thanks to both.
Thanks to Serpent for another tough puzzle, brilliantly constructed. Can’t pick a favourite; all good.
Thanks too, to John
Superb crossword.
Yes, as other said, very tough but splendid clueing.
Take 16ac (PORTER) for example, great natural surface and in all its simplicity not even that easy to parse.
In Serpent’s crosswords every word in a clue is there for a reason.
For me, that is one of the things that makes a setter a great setter.
Brilliant!
It helps if there’s a reason for words being in clues 🙂
Not much excess in this batch, and it’s put together properly. A very good puzzle.
Didn’t spot the theme, but not sure that it would have helped, although I might have been spared hunting through a list of primates to find one matching -A-I or trying to find a film title with only four letters, the third being I, for 25ac. As it was I needed a wordfinder for a few clues, and I couldn’t parse WEST or ISLAND.
Some nice clues, though; favourites were GINKGO and DISGRUNTLE.
Thanks, Serpent and John
Totally defeated me. Got about a third of it.
Thanks to John for the expert blog and to everyone who has commented. I’m delighted everyone seems to have enjoyed the puzzle.
Cheers
Jason
Didn’t quite finish this but enjoyed what I did – the theme was obvious enough to me and definitely helped. Agree that it was pretty tough but full of wit and ingenuity.
Thanks to Serpent and John
I don’t think I’ve tried tackling a Serpent before and I have to admit I failed rather dismally. I am, however, looking forward to having a go at the next one – once I’ve sourced some anti-venom that is!
Thanks to Serpent and John.