S & B Macclesfield – puzzle by Exit

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S&B events were Exit’s inspiration for setting crosswords.
This is where his recent puzzle can be downloaded:  Exit @ Macclesfield 2017
Curious? Then click on the link and print off the PDF (before looking any further in this post).


Exit’s previous offering (for the Nottingham S&B) had several words in it that some called ‘obscure’.
Not this time, though.
There is actually some quite inventive cluing, for example in 16ac and 19d.
On top of that there is a nina (find out yourself or look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=036OjVP70ng) and a clear reference to Macclesfield (in 15/22).

The completed grid with the nina highlighted in colour, can be found at the end of the blog.
As is standard at Fifteensquared nowadays, definitions are underlined.

Across
6 AMPERE Physicist was a politician here with no aspiration (6)
A + MP (politician) + {HERE minus H (aspiration)}
8 DONATE Give account of college fellow’s action in refectory (6)
DON (college fellow) ATE
A ‘refectory’ is a dining-hall, often in a monastery but also at a university.
10 REGAL Royal knocks back beer (5)
Reversal [knocks back] of LAGER (beer)
11 EDISON Piaf & Son dismiss Town Hall inventor (6)
EDITH (Piaf) + SON, then minus TH (Town Hall, as indicated on OS Maps)
Edith Piaf (1915-1963), French chanteuse.
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), American inventor (telegraph systems, light bulb, phonograph and much more).
12 EXEMPT Release former partner, almost gutted (6)
EX (former partner) + EMPT[y] (gutted, almost)
13 LUBRICATOR Oil supplier can, we’re told, shortly block a right-winger – not unknown (10)
Homophone [we’re told] of LOO (can) + BRIC[k] (block, shortened) + {A TORY (right-winger) minus Y (unknown)
15,22 SILK TOWN Urban location for QC – here in Cheshire? (4,4)
SILK (QC, informal name for the Queen’s Counsel) + TOWN (urban location)
Today’s venue, Macclesfield, is/was known as a Silk Town from the silk weaving industry formerly carried on here.
16 SPELT Type of F-L-O-U-R? (5)
‘Flour’ is SPELT: F-L-O-U-R, and is SPELT is a species of wheat, often turned into ‘flour’.
Difficult clue to classify, let’s go for a Cryptic definition.
18 STUNG Stupefy first of group taken for suckers? (5)
STUN (stupefy) + G[roup]
22   See 15
23 RURALISING Different lunar rig is abandoning 22 perhaps (10)
(LUNAR RIG IS)*    [* = different]
‘Abandoning 22’ = ‘abandoning clue 22d’ = ‘abandoning TOWN’ – et voilà!
25 LAPTOP “Fitting included” in trim portable device (6)
APT (fitting) inside LOP (trim)
27 TOTALS Hottentot also comprehends sums (6)
Hidden answer [comprehends]:    Hottentot also
28 OSCAR Award no mark (5)
O (no, zero) + SCAR (mark)
29 CORRIE Mountain valley soap (6)
Double definition
According to Mrs Chambers, a ‘corrie’ can be a bowl-shaped recess on a mountainside formed by a glacier (also called ‘cirque’ or ‘cwm’).
The other ‘Corrie’ is, of course, a familiar name for Coronation Street which is unmistakably a ‘soap’ – perhaps even the Mother of Soaps.
30 ASPECT Face shock therapy after arsenic and phosphorus (6)
AS (arsenic) + P (phosphorus) + ECT (shock therapy)
Down
1 CENSOR Ban disorderly crones (6)
(CRONES)*    [* = disorderly]
2 VERNACULAR Bad language upset a Clun raver (10)
(A CLUN RAVER)*    [* = upset]
3 INGRATE Crosby perhaps won’t start: reckon he won’t thank you (7)
BING (Crosby, as an example) minus the first letter, + RATE (reckon)
4 IDLE With nothing to do, the Spanish policeman heads north (4)
EL (the, in Spanish) + DI (policeman, Detective Inspector), together reversed [heads north]
5 IN PERSON … popular man, say, actually present (2,6)
IN (popular) + PERSON (man, for example)
7 MADE UP Graduate of French university and professor initially settled their differences (4,2)
MA (graduate) + DE (of, in French) + U (university) + P[rofessor]
9 TOPPLE Uppermost pile I leave to fall (6)
TOP (uppermost) + {PILE minus I}
14 RATTLETRAP Conductor has to catch rickety old bus (10)
RATTLE (conductor) + TRAP ((to) catch)
Sir Simon Rattle (b. 1955), famous British conductor.
17 PUNSTERS Gamblers gathering in last of cards – might be jokers (8)
PUNTERS (gamblers) arouns [card]S
19 POTATO Tuba reported going for French fries? (6)
There are two steps needed here.
‘Tuba’ is a homophone [reported] of ‘tuber’.
And a tuber is an example of a POTATO which might be made into French fries.
20 TREACLE Sentimentality well-known to Dormouse? (7)
The second part of the clue refers to the ‘treacle well’ in the story told by the Dormouse in Alice in Wonderland.
We’ll have to ignore the hyphen!
21 EN BLOC Heard where Henry’s second and fourth stuck their necks out together? (2,4)
Homophone [heard] of ON BLOCK (where Henry VIII’s second wife (Anne Boleyn) and also his fourth wife Catherine Howard met their maker)
24 SIT-UPS ’tis back to film studios finally for exercises (3-3)
Reversal [back] of ‘TIS,  + UP (film) + [studio]S
There is more than one film with the name Up but Exit surely means the very successful Pixar Animation movie from 2009.
26 POET Versifier, model versifier (4)
POE (versifier) + T (model)
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1949), American writer and poet – which is what a ‘versifier’ is.

5 comments on “S & B Macclesfield – puzzle by Exit”

  1. This was a smooth solve for me until I got stuck on the last two clues (20d TREACLE and 28a OSCAR). I eventually forced them out before visiting this page, I’m pleased to say, having failed to finish the puzzle that Exit brought to the previous gathering in Nottingham.
    I enjoyed the variety of clue constructions and cryptic devices in this puzzle and particularly liked the following:
    6a AMPERE
    15/22a SILK TOWN
    16a SPELT
    25a LAPTOP
    3d INGRATE
    14d RATTLETRAP
    17d PUNSTERS
    21d EN BLOC
    29a CORRIE was also neat, and perhaps it could have had a ‘?’ at the end, or a phrase to indicate that this is the familiar name, not the actual name, of the soap opera.
    The nina (on the top and bottom edges) came out very well – how convenient that the two words are of equal length once you have translated the number 108 into Roman numerals! I didn’t know the significance of the 108 steps, but I do now.
    Many thanks to Exit for the puzzle and Sil for the blog.

  2. Thank you to Sil for the blog and Alan B for additional comments.

    Just to add an extra Macclesfield connection, it has also been known as ‘Treacle Town‘ (hence the inclusion of 20dn) although the inspiration for the treacle well in Alice was a a well near Oxford known to Lewis Carroll.

    And apologies to any Clun residents for sugesting they might be ravers – though no doubt they would find bad language (a subsidiary definition of ‘vernacular’ according to Chambers) upsetting.

  3. This was the first one I tackled on the train back last night. Mostly pretty straightforward though I needed to come back to it sober to get TREACLE.
    Thanks to Exit, Sil and everyone else who made it such an entertaining day.

  4. Did this tonight and found it a very enjoyable easier-end solve. Of course, I didn’t complete as is my wont (16a, 29a, 19d and 20d bested me) but the rest fell nicely within 25 mins. Faves were 18a and 12d so thanks to Exit for the puzzle and nice Macca nod, and to Sil for the blog.

  5. Many thanks Exit, just got around to this having now more or less recovered from the Macclesfield meeting.

    I noticed treacle town as well as silk town, and 108 steps and I thought that was a very nice bit of local flavour – well done.

    I missed Tuba and the soap, as well as the Henry 8th reference.

    I liked SPELT, INGRATE (especially reckon), and MADE UP most I think, with others like POET and OSCAR very close behind – plenty to enjoy.

    Thanks also Sil for posting these puzzles, and for explaining Tuba, Corrie and Henry in an excellent review.

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