Klingsor provided great fun and enjoyment today.
Well he did for me anyway. This was my kind of cluing with a lot of component parts for some of the entries. I also liked surface of many of the clues and the pictures they painted. The ones I liked especially were the clues for BATHROBE, ERSTWHILE and SABOTAGE. I had to think a bit over the definition for ERSTWHILE as it can mean both former and at first. I think I’ve chosen the right one. It wasn’t until I came to write the blog and checked the dictionary definitions tat I realised that SABOTAGE could be born out of spite.
I also enjoyed the clues for THROW A FIT and AYRSHIRE
I have blogged many Klingsor puzzles in the past, but this one stands out for me.
There was a good deal of general knowledge and I had to think quite a lot before the right information came to mind.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Take off a penny in change (8)
|
A + (P [penny] contained in [in] MUTATE [change]) A M (P) UTATE |
AMPUTATE (cut -off [e.g. a limb])
|
|
5
|
American poet’s in for Academy support (6)
|
PLATH (reference Sylvia PLATH [1932 – 1963], American poet) with IN replacing (for) A (academy) PL IN TH |
PLINTH ( block serving as a pedestal;;support)
|
|
9
|
One article Nick wears after finishing in tub? (8)
|
B (last letter of [finishing in] TUB) + (ROB [steal; nick] contained in [wears] (A [one] + THE [definite article]) B A TH (ROB) E |
BATHROBE (an item of clothing that anyone might wear after soaking in a [bath]tub)
|
|
10
|
Familiar address for Australian miner (6)
|
DIGGER (an informal Australian term of address) DIGGER |
DIGGER (miner) double definition
|
|
12
|
Muscle in on small company, lacking credit (5)
|
S (small) + IN + CREW (company) excluding (lacking) CR (credit) S IN EW |
SINEW (physical strength, muscle)
|
|
13
|
To bring up daughter involves debate, mostly from a losing position (9)
|
(REAR [bring up] + D [daughter]) containing (involves) ARGUE (debate) excluding the final letter (mostly) E RE (ARGU) AR D |
REARGUARD (from a defensive or losing position)
|
|
14
|
Suffer cut extremely severe? Veins possibly gush (12)
|
Anagram of (possibly) SUFFER excluding the final letter (cut) R and SE (first and last letters of [extremely] SEVERE) and VEINS EFFUSIVENESS* |
EFFUSIVENESS (gush)
|
|
18
|
Eating little and abstaining mitigated being fond of puddings? (5-7)
|
SOOTHED (mitigating) containing (eating) (WEE [little] + TT [teetotal; abstaining]) S (WEE T T) OOTHED |
SWEET-TOOTHED (descriptive of someone who is fond of puddings)
|
|
21
|
Former Gaelic clothes woven with loom at first (9)
|
ERSE (formerly, and still occasionally, the name given by Lowland Scots to the language of the people of the West Highlands, as being of Irish origin; sometimes used for Irish Gaelic, as opposed to Scottish Gaelic) containing (clothes) (an anagram of [woven] WITH) + L (first letter of [at first] LOOM) ERS (TWHI* L) E |
ERSTWHILE (formerly)
|
|
23
|
Cloth of precious diamonds (5)
|
TWEE (affectedly or sentimentally pretty or quaint.; precious) + D (daughter) TWEE D |
TWEED (cloth)
|
| 24 | He should stop politician? It’s an idea (6) |
HE contained in (should stop) TORY (Conservative politician) T (HE) ORY |
THEORY (idea) |
|
25
|
Destroy e.g. a boat with spite, principally? (8)
|
Anagram of (destroy) A BOAT EG and S (first letter of [principally] SPITE) SABOTAGE* |
SABOTAGE (malicious or deliberate destruction or damage of machinery, etc, by discontented workers, rebels, etc;)
|
|
26
|
Metal splinter I shifted (6)
|
SLIVER (splinter) with the letter I shifted one place left to form SILVER SILVER |
SILVER (a metal)
|
|
27
|
Your mum’s in a rage, being a cow (8)
|
(YR [your] + SH [be quiet, keep mum]) contained in (in) (A + IRE [rage]) A (YR SH) IRE |
AYRSHIRE (breed of dairy cattle)
|
| Down | |||
|
1
|
Baron meets Queen after acting superior (6)
|
A (acting) + B (baron) + BESS (reference good queen BESS, Elizabeth 1 of England [1533 – 1603]) A B BESS |
ABBESS (mother superior in a abbey)
|
|
2
|
Job description? Not one that’s obvious (6)
|
PATIENT (reference the phrase ‘patience of Job’; descriptive of Job) excluding (not) I (Roman numeral for one) PATENT |
PATENT (obvious)
|
| 3 | It is to be overcome by raging of wrath! (5,1,3) |
Anagram of (raging) OF WRATH + IT As this is a down entry the anagram sits above [over; hence overcome] IT THROW A F* IT |
THROW A FIT (become very angry) |
|
4
|
Could be potato coulis prepared by Bob for consumption (12)
|
TUBER (a potato is an example of a TUBER) + an anagram of [prepared] COULIS + S (shilling; bob is a slang term for old shilling [part of pre-decimal coinage in the UK]) TUBER CULOSI* S |
TUBERCULOSIS (consumption is an earlier name for pulmonary TUBERCULOSIS)
|
|
6
|
Remaining indefinitely in guest house (5)
|
LYING (hidden word in [house] INDEFINITELY IN GUEST) LYING |
LYING (remaining)
|
|
7
|
Row with beau endlessly after drink? You should avoid it (2-2,4)
|
NOG (e.g. eggNOG or similar drink; also a Norwich strong ale) + OAR (as a verb,to row) + BEAU excluding the first and last letters (endlessly) B and U NO G O AR EA |
NO-GO AREA (part of a city, etc to which normal access is prevented by the erection of barricades, especially by local militants, a paramilitary group, etc; somewhere you should avoid)
|
|
8
|
Tried ignoring English kids breaking PC component (4,4)
|
HEARD (tried in court) excluding (ignoring) E (English) + an anagram of (breaking) KIDS HARD DISK* |
HARD DISK (component of a personal computer)
|
|
11
|
A rare typhoid spread – medical treatment needed (12)
|
Anagram of (spread) A RARE TYPHOID RADIOTHERAPY* |
RADIOTHERAPY (an example of medical treatment)
|
|
15
|
Before college, can son go round old buildings? (9)
|
ERE (before) + C (college) + ([TIN {can} + S {son}] containing [go round] O [old]) ERE C TI (O) N S |
ERECTIONS (buildings)
|
|
16
|
A plea for help secures highest grade mineral (8)
|
A + (SOS [Save our Souls; plea for help] containing [secures] BEST ])highest grade) A S (BEST) OS |
ASBESTOS (a fibrous form of certain mineral capable of being woven into incombustible cloth or felted sheets for insulation)
|
|
17
|
Short film of novel’s pronounced genuine (8)
|
NEW’S (novel’s) + REEL (sounds like [pronounced] REAL [genuine]) NEWS REEL |
NEWSREEL (short film)
|
|
19
|
Asian institute supports mate from Sunderland? (6)
|
NE (North East; Sunderland is a city in the North East of England) + PAL (mate) + I (institute) NE PAL I |
NEPALI (native of NEPAL; an Asian)
|
|
20
|
Over present, Bill gets stick (6) |
AD (advert; bill) + HERE (present) AD HERE |
ADHERE (stick)
|
|
22
|
Cursed with sales initially dropping? Not so good (5)
|
SWORE (cursed) with S (first letter of [initially] SALES) moving down the entry (dropping) to form WORSE. As this is a down entry, the letter S has genuinely dropped. WORSE |
WORSE (not so good)
|
Thanks to Klingsor and to duncanshiell (with whom I’m entirely in agreement). Great puzzle
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Managed to finish, fully parsed, although I had to check Plath was an American poet. Started with a bang, getting 1a immediately, then ground to a halt. Slowly but surely the rest followed with much head scratching along the way. So many great clues. The NW quadrant was the last to fall but contained some fantastic clues. TUBERCULOSIS and PATIENT being personal favourites. AYRSHIRE was also brilliant. Many thanks to Klingsor for the workout and to Duncan for the blog.
Thanks Klingsor, Duncan
Very good, tough, with complicated clues – had to work for all of it. Favourites AMPUTATE, PATIENT, AYRSHIRE. Wouldn’t there usually be an s on house in 6d?
Thanks, both.
Fine puzzle, which I thought was on the easy side for a Thursday. Some delightful clueing and clever constructions. Favourites today were PLINTH and AYRSHIRE. Good surfaces throughout.
Not exactly Ximenean, we would say. That’s not an adverse comment, though – everything was fair and all solvable. We had to resort to a wordfinder, though,for ABBESS, our LOI – didn’t think of A as an abbreviation for ‘acting’ so were looking for an anagram of a queen’s name + B with ‘actIng’ as the anagrind.
We did think the clue for DIGGER was hardly cryptic having always thought that the term ‘digger’ for an Australian originated from the 19th century gold rushes in Australia.
Some brilliant clues though; we particularly liked BATHROBE, SABOTAGE, AYRSHIRE and THROW A FIT.
Thanks, Klingsor and Duncan
Great puzzle.. I thought it was technically perfect; I’m not sure what’s not Ximenean about it.
Nice blog too.
Re Sgt Hathaway’s point at #3, my guess as to the thinking here is that INDEFINITELY IN GUEST are three words, so plural, and so would take the verb form house, rather than houses. Either would have been fine for the surface reading.
Thanks for the blog, Duncan, and nice to meet you again at the celebration for Inquisitor 1500 in Manchester in July.
Defeated me, I’m afraid. Got about half of it, but the top left and the bottom right just wouldn’t come.
What’s not to like about this puzzle?
Raich @7 is right about the lack of an ‘s’ in 6d.
I also agree with Tramp @6.
A great puzzle, indeed, but like him I am puzzled by ‘not exactly Ximenean’.
If there’s one setter in the business who is a true Ximenean, then it’s Klingsor.
Thank you duncan for a colourful blog.
An excellent, though tough, puzzle and in my opinion 9ac (BATHROBE) was as good a clue as I can ever remember.
But two little things: Duncan in his splendidly detailed blog seems to me to push the ‘on’ in 12ac under the carpet: so far as I can see the definition is ‘muscle’; and the wordplay is ‘in’ in (s {cr}ew), not ‘in’ on (s {cr}ew}, which would give either sewin or insew. It looks as if I’m missing something here, since nobody has commented on this.
And in 9ac surely the two definitions are ‘Familiar address for Australian’ and ‘miner’?
Wil@10 read this as ‘in on small’ to give SIN then ‘company lacking credit’ to give EW.
Tramp@6 and Sil@9: What struck me as possibly non-Ximenean was ‘destroy’ doing double duty as definition and anagrind in 25ac. It was all quite clear, though, with the question mark at the end. And if the received wisdom is that the question mark means the clue is Ximenean I’m quite happy to go along with that. Objection withdrawn.
allan_c @ 12
I thought that the clue for SABOTAGE was an &Lit type of clue which is why I commented in the preamble about the meaning of SABOTAGE, Consequently I underlined the whole clue as the definition therefore freeing up ‘destroy’ to work as the anagram indicator in the wordplay.
Will Ransome @ 10
I interpreted ‘on’ as meaning ‘close to or beside’ so that the S [small] is beside IN and then I took CR [credit] off CREW [company]
The position of the split in the underline in the clue at 10 across is in the wrong place – just a typo. I agree that the split should be further along the clue.
Re: SINEW
In an across clue, the convention is that “A on B” denotes BA. So, “…in on small…” denotes SIN.
I think in the comments on 25A (SABOTAGE) there might have been a misunderstanding, as this, to me, was a classic &lit clue where the whole clue works as a wordplay for the definition as well as giving the definition. A technique in which I think Klingsor specialises, if memory serves.
All the obscure and cliché cryptic abbreviations make this one of the worst puzzles I’ve tried to solve. A for Academy and so many others: WTH? They’re a crutch and should be avoided at all costs; give me wordplay, not arcane conventions from a boring catalogue of hundreds. Gave up in annoyed disgust.