Alchemi has provided our mid-week entertainment today, in Dac’s absence.
I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle which allowed me to make considerable progress despite not having solved or understood the implications of the gateway clue at 16. It was only when I solved 23 that I realised what 16 was driving at and could look for similar “missing persons/objects” elsewhere in the puzzle. Incidentally, 10/02 seems like a very appropriate entry in a puzzle compiled by Alchemi!
My favourite clues today were 1, 9 and 13, all for surface; and 10, for its clever take on the theme around 16.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | ESTEEM | Regard encounters with Earl as retrograde
MEETS (=encounters) + E (=earl); “as retrograde” indicates reversal |
| 05 | POLYPS | American’s Dad’s featuring extremely leathery growths
L<eather>Y (“extremely” means first and last letters only in POP’s (=American’s Dad, i.e. a US term for father) |
| 08 | OVA | Cells have removable core
The middle part of “remOVAble” |
| 10 | PROVOST | Scottish mayor sees very large junction on deep 16
PRO<found> (=deep; “not found (=entry at 16)” means letters “found” are dropped) + V (=very) + OS (=large, i.e. outsize) + T (=junction, on road) |
| 11 | SEVERAL | Cut one line (or more than one)
SEVER (=cut) + A (=one) + L (=line) |
| 12 | IDEAL HOME | Ragged hole I made in magazine
*(HOLE I MADE); “ragged” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | SEEDY | Scruffy notice on vacated distillery
SEE (=notice, observe) + D<istiller>Y (“vacated” means all central letters are dropped) |
| 14 | OWNING | Having head of nursing due to go out
N<ursing> (“head of” means first letter only) in OWING (=due, outstanding) |
| 16 | NOT FOUND | Lost number fun to do badly
N (=number) + *(FUN TO DO); “badly” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | OVERTOOK | Passed having swallowed too much?
Cryptically, someone who has swallowed too much medicine could be described as having “over-taken”; to pass a vehicle is to overtake |
| 20 | MILLER | Works with Queen musician who was 16
MILL (=works, as in factory) + ER (=Queen); the reference is to Glenn Miller (1904-44), musician who was “not found” (=entry at 16) when his plane disappeared over the English Channel |
| 22 | HAZEL | Light brown vapour ultimately fatal
HAZE (=vapour) + <fata>L (“ultimately” means last letter only) |
| 24 | ANASTASIA | Grand Duchess of a mostly unpleasant region
A + NAST<y> (=unpleasant; “mostly” means last letter dropped) + ASIA (=region); the reference is to Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (1901-18), daughter of Tsar Nicholas II |
| 26 | RECYCLE | In a different way, use secrecy clearing houses
Hidden (“houses”) in “scRECY CLEaring” |
| 27 | EARHART | Hear about pictures of pilot who was 16
*(HEAR) + ART (=pictures); “about” is anagram indicator; the reference is to aviator Amelia Earhart (1897-37), who was “not found” (=entry at 16) when her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean |
| 28 | RIA | Rain oddly needs a drowned valley
R<a>I<n> (“oddly” means odd letters only) + A |
| 29 | BEANOS | Runner possibly circles comics
BEAN (=runner possibly) + Os (=circles, i.e. pictorially) |
| 30 | UPDIKE | Cheerful child backs European novelist
UP (=cheerful) + DIK (KID=child; “backs” indicates reversal) + E (=European); the reference is to American novelist John Updike (1932-2009) |
| Down | ||
| 03 | EXOPLANET | The French clear old procedure before seeing distant object
EX- (=old) + OP (=procedure, i.e. (surgical) operation) + LA (=the French, i.e. a French word for the) + NET (=clear, i.e. of all charges); an exoplanet is a planet outside of our solar system that orbits a star |
| 05 | PASSES ON | Fool comes into money in Mexico then finally dies
[ASS (=fool) in PESO (=money in Mexico)] + <the>N (“finally” means last letter only) |
| 06 | LIVES | Is against interrupting tall tales
V (=against, i.e. versus) in LIES (=tall tales) |
| 07/04 | PERPETUAL MOTION | It suggests true apple was 16 (and can’t be)
Cryptically, the solution “perpetual motion”, with “motion” as anagram indicator, suggests “true apple in the clue; perpetual motion in thermodynamics is non-existent and so “not found” (=entry at 16) |
| 09 | PLAYED TRUANT | Failed to attend turtle and pay for treatment
*(TURTLE AND PAY); “for treatment” is anagram indicator |
| 10/02 | PHILOSOPHER’S STONE | Character performing solo at pub rests uneasily with a magical substance (still 16)
PHI (=character, in Greek alphabet) + *(SOLO) + PH (=pub, i.e. public house) + *(RESTS) + ONE (=a); “performing” and “uneasily” are anagram indicators; the philosopher’s stone is a legendary alchemical substance, still “not found” (=entry at 16) |
| 15 | NIETZSCHE | Surprising zest in revolutionary who came up with Superman
*(ZEST IN) + CHE (=revolutionary, i.e. the Argentine Che Guevara); the reference is to the concept of Übermensch (or Superman), coined by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) in his work Thus Spoke Zarathustra |
| 17 | FRITTERED | Delicacy journalist wasted
FRITTER (=delicacy, e.g. with spam) + ED (=journalist, i.e. editor) |
| 18 | VOYAGERS | Goa’s very disrupted by travellers
*(GOA’S VERY); “disrupted” is anagram indicator |
| 21 | GATEAU | Some pig ate aubergine cake
Hidden (“some”) in “piG ATE AUbergine” |
| 23 | LUCAN | Greek satirist dismissive of one aristocrat who was 16
LUC<i>AN (=Greek satirist, author of A True Story); “dismissive of one (=I)” means letter “i” is dropped; the reference is to Lord Lucan (1934-74), who disappeared without trace and was thus “not found” (=entry at 16) |
| 25 | SNARK | Tin boat which was 16
SN (=tin, i.e. chemical formula) + ARK (=boat); the reference is to the animal is Lewis Carroll’s poem The Hunting of the Snark (1876), which was “not found” (=entry at 16) |
A mix of easy and tricky clues but got them all in the end with ANASTASIA as LOI. Liked the tricky clue for PROVOST. Not sure I would class fritter as a delicacy-I guess it depends on what you are frying? Thanks to all.
Difficult enough for me – think I counted five occasions where I had to resort to reference books!
Still struggling to parse the ‘true apple’ part of the 7/4 combo. If anyone has the time and patience to spell it out for me I’d be grateful.
Like Hovis, I’m not sure that a fritter is a delicacy!
Thanks to Alchemi for the interesting challenge and to RR for the review – sorry to be so thick about the apple!
Thanks Alchemi & RR
jane @ 2: PERPETUAL is an anagram of TRUE APPLE, so ‘PERPETUAL MOTION’ can be seen as anagrist and anagrind respectively. It’s one of those reverse clue types.
hth
Thanks, Simon – I’d registered the anagram but maybe I was looking too far into the rest of the clue.
Not my favourite!
Many Hank’s alchemi – very clever to incorporate all the 16a – I enjoyed the 10a variant. Loads to like, OVA, PROVOST, RECYCLE, PASSES ON, and all the thematic entries. The Apple had me thinking of a disappearing newtons Apple, but doubt that was the intention. Great stuff.
Thanks also RR, I had missed BEANOS.
Thanks, RR.
A quirky little number from Alchemi, which I much enjoyed. Once the gateway clue fell (almost FOI) I found it interesting to search for the NOT FOUNDS. Makes a change from bloody Jane Austen.
I liked the reverse anagram in PERPETUAL MOTION best.
Late to the party after having what I term a ‘productivity day’ – for anyone interested, that means unblocking a sink, reorganizing a PC, and doing my a few of my 6 monthly chores – good times.
Anyhoo, I found this a thoroughly engaging medium level puzzle solve-wise and enjoyed the helpful theme, too. ‘Course, I didn’t complete as is my wont and were beaten by 3d and 19a. Honours today go to the solve and the engagement it provided as I didn’t think about anything other than the crossie once whilst solving.
Thanks to The Base Changer for the puzzle and to Swedish Rick for the blog.
I liked this puzzle as I actually like most if not all of Alchemi’s crosswords.
27ac was a clue that perfectly fits in my kind of musical week.
Last Sunday, I went to the Pink Floyd exhibition at the V&A and the day after tomorrow I’m going to see a musical about The Small Faces (All or Nothing).
Now, I am a notorious musical hating person but I loved last year’s Sunny Afternoon so much that I thought ‘why not’?
As to the clue, it brought back happy memories of that brilliant 1972 album In Search of Amelia Earhart by Plainsong.
A band fronted by my 70s hero Ian Matthews (as he called himself then).
And next weekend, literally almost in my back garden, there’s the Cambridge Folk Festival.
I am so looking forward to see the Indigo Girls (again!) and, of course, Lisa Hannigan (again!).
This is not about the crossword, is it?
Sorry but some setters took me ‘there’, not in the least Puck with last Saturday’s Guardian Prize [hush, hush].
Today, I had everything right but couldn’t fully explain 10ac and 3d.
Not that difficult, though!
And I had no idea who or what SNARK (25d) was.
The only thing I found a bit iffy was the use of ‘having’ in 19ac (OVERTOOK).
Apart from that, a nice and original puzzle.
Another solve with my apprentice, and late to the party having been on grandparent duties followed by a birthday meal.
We found this rather tricky as it took a long time to solve the gateway clue, eventually got when we solved EARHART. Then it was almost plain sailing apart from our LOI, EXOPLANET which is 16 in our rather old Chambers, but we did find it in Collins. We got PROVOST from the definition, but couldn’t parse it till we’d solved 16; it has to be our CoD. PERPETUAL MOTION and PHILOSOPHER’S STONE went in from crossing letters and the definition – we didn’t bother parsing them, so thanks for the explanations here.
Incidentally there was a flurry of interest in Amelia EARHART last week when a photo was published claiming to show her in the Marshall Islands in 1937; the claim has since been debunked here.
Thanks, Alchemi and RatkojaRiku
Thanks to all, particularly for appreciating 10a, which was almost the point of the puzzle. I prefer to use a theme word/gateway at least once as wordplay rather than definition, and I admit I did like this one.