Radian’s latest offering fills the Tuesday slot this week.
I found this to be a thoroughly entertaining, medium-difficulty puzzle, which I was able to complete to my satisfaction unaided, needing just to check one or two things online or in Chambers for the purposes of this blog: for example, I had not come across the abbreviation for “patient” at 18, nor had I met the term for “mental aberration” in that meaning until today.
There are some lovely surface readings in this puzzle, at 5, 11, 12, 21D, 23A, 24, any one of which could have been my clue-of-the-day. I also rather liked the exquisitely concise and deceptive 22, in which the grammatical form of the two words in the wordplay is different from in the surface reading, something which always impresses me, e.g. “measure” is a verb in the surface reading but should be read as a noun in the wordplay.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 09 | RAINSTORM | Feature of depression: mental aberration, scratching head
<b>RAINSTORM (=mental aberration, as opposed to a sudden inspiration); the “depression” of the definition is meteorological in nature! |
| 10 | HOTEL | Guy nicks books left in temporary accommodation
[OT (=books, i.e. Old Testament) in HE (=guy, i.e. masculine subject pronoun)] + L (=left) |
| 11 | HAY WAIN | Cart horse takes a circuitous way home
H (=horse) + A + *(WAY) + IN (=home); “circuitous” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | INTROIT | Hymn popular trio played with tenor
IN (=popular) + *(TRIO) + T (=tenor); “played” is anagram indicator; an introit is a hymn sung at the beginning of the RC mass |
| 13 | TRACE | Find eastern wagon heading west
E (=eastern) + CART (=wagon); “heading west” indicates (here full) reversal |
| 14 | CORNFIELD | Firm friend worried about large area for cropping
CO (=firm, i.e. company) + [L (=large) in *(FRIEND)] |
| 16 | POLICE CONSTABLE | Bobby cut round symbols covering church altar for one
POL (LOP=cut; “round” indicates reversal) + [CE (=church, i.e. Church of England) in ICONS (=symbols)] + TABLE (=altar for one) |
| 19 | SUPERCARS | Special more costly modified racers?
S (=special) + UP (=more costly, of price) + *(RACERS); “modified” is anagram indicator; & lit. |
| 21 | CAPES | Heads Catholic primates
C (=Catholic, as in RC) + APES (=primates); the “heads” of the definition are headlands |
| 22 | FLEETER | More agile navy leads to embarrassing row
FLEET (=navy) + E<mbarrassing> R<ow> (“leads to” means first letters only) |
| 23 | FOPPISH | Work quietly among cast in camp
[OP (=work, i.e. opus) + P (=quietly, i.e. piano in music)] in FISH (=cast, as verb); “camp” as an adjective means foppish, affected |
| 24 | OCEAN | Old tin containing energy drink
O (=old) + [E (=energy) in CAN (=tin)]; colloquially, the ocean can be referred to as “the drink” |
| 25 | CARPENTER | Saw expert writer stopping president once
PEN (=writer, i.e. writing implement) in CARTER (=president once, i.e. former US President Jimmy Carter); the “saw” of the definition refers to saws used to cut wood! |
| Down | ||
| 01 | ARCHETYPES | Fast cars tail leading models
ARCH (=leading, as in arch-enemy) + E-TYPES (=fast cars, as in E-type Jaguars) |
| 02 | CITY HALL | Mayor’s place at chilly ground
*(AT CHILLY); “ground”, as in crumbled, is anagram indicator |
| 03 | ESTATE | English declare property that’s left
E (=English) + STATE (=declare); a person’s estate is the property left after his death |
| 04 | GOON | Thug hit it off, short of time
GO<t>ON (with) (=hit it off (with)); “short of time (=T)” means letter “t” is dropped; a good is a hired thug in US slang |
| 05 | IMMIGRANTS | Angles for some writer’s tirades about fighter
MiG (=fighter, i.e. Soviet fighter jet) in [I’M (=writer’s, i.e. Radian) + RANTS (=tirades)]; the Angles were a German tribes that settled in e.g. Northumbria in the 5th century |
| 06 | PHOTOFIT | Suspect image of sweaty old fellow in mine
[HOT (=sweaty) + O (=old) + F (=fellow)] in PIT (=mine); a photofit is an image of a suspect in a police investigation |
| 07 | STROKE | Hit right, then right again, in contested set
[R (=right) + OK (=right)] in *(SET); “contested” is anagram indicator |
| 08 | FLAT | You won’t go far with this // sort of note
Double definition: you won’t go far (in a car) with a flat (tyre) AND a flat, a opposed to a sharp, is a musical note |
| 14 | COCKATRICE | Rooster busy with grain, fabulous creature
COCK (=rooster) + AT (=busy with, e.g. to be at work/at play) + RICE (=grain); a cockatrice is a fabulous creature in the form of a serpent with the wings of a bird and the head of a cock |
| 15 | DRESS SHIRT | Dicky replaces this medic and resists change around hospital
DR (=medic) + [H (=hospital) in *(RESISTS)]; “change” is anagram indicator; a dicky is a false shirt, often worn with a bow tie, that is used instead of a dress shirt |
| 17 | CAROTENE | Colouring stick involves tedious repetition
ROTE (=tedious repetition, as in learning by rote) in CANE (=stick); carotene is a reddish-yellow pigment |
| 18 | BAPTISTS | Patient is introduced to barmy sect
[PT (=patient, i.e. medical abbreviation) + IS] in BATS (=barmy) |
| 20 | PEELER | Cutter needed for each catching fish
EEL (=fish) in PER (=for each); a peeler is a utensil for cutting peel off e.g. potatoes |
| 21 | COPPER | Conductor first to condemn Placido’s opening in short opera
C<ondemn> (“first to” means first letter only) + [P<lacido> (“opening” means first letter only) in OPER<a> (“short” means last letter is dropped)] |
| 22 | FOOT | Measure // pay
Double definition: a “foot” is an imperial measure AND to “foot” the bill is to pay it |
| 23 | FORD | Cross France or Germany
F (=France, in IVR) + OR + D (=Germany, i.e. Deutschland, in IVR) |
Enjoyable. Small suggestion – the clue for 15 d could read simply ” Dicky medic resists changes around hospital “. Thanks to both.
Medium difficulty from Radian with some delightfully misleading surfaces; lift and separate required in quite a few – 9ac, 21ac, 17dn. Incidentally, the clue to 9ac should read ‘Cart horse takes …’
We saw 21dn as a definition by example, the metal copper being an example of a conductor (of electricity and heat). Though ‘conductor’ can mean a specific object used to conduct, usually, electricity and one does come across the expression ‘copper conductor’ where ‘copper’ is used as an adjective.
We had a slightly criminal element from Daedalus yesterday; today the law seems to be in hot pursuit – POLICE CONSTABLE (two of them if you count COPPER) and PHOTOFIT.
Thanks, Radian and RatkojaRiku
There are two themes here, one identified by allan_c@2, with some other related clues to that theme as well.
Have a close look at at 16a.
Allan_c @2 Not to mention PEELER, FLAT & FOOT
Thanks to S&B Mirsten Choiple
@allan_c — I think the theme (if there is one) is more about the painter Constable than the police. The Hay Wain is one of his better known works.
Oh yes! good spot Wordplodder!
A lot of cars in clues and answers but that was only to distract from the real double theme.
A theme worked out very well by Radian.
It came late as 16ac wasn’t one my first ones in.
I leave it to others to identify what’s there – I came to at least three in every category.
Lovely puzzle.
I didn’t fully understand 1d but now I do.
So, thanks RR.
(and many thanks to Radian for the fun, of course)
Hard going with a few such as ARCHETYPES and the unknown COCKATRICE taking ages to solve. Spotting the (mini-) themes didn’t help much and the key clue at 16a was also quite tricky. The &lit SUPERCARS was good and the surface of 6d brought to mind all sorts of ‘Suspect image(s)’!
Thanks to Radian and RR
Thanks, RR. As Sil says, a lovely puzzle.
I love puzzles like this, that just go on giving. Not just FLAT & FOOT, doofs @4 but also FLAT & FORD [Mill]. And RAINSTORM [over the sea] and [The / A / cottage in a] CORNFIELD. There are probably more.
As well as RR’s favourites, with which I fully agree, for the same reasons, I really liked ‘Angles for some’.
Many thanks, Radian – I really enjoyed it.
Thank you for pointing out the typo, allan_c – now corrected!
And well done to all those who spotted ghost themes, all of which were lost on me 🙁
For those with long memories, Geoff CAPES (21a) was a policeman.
Kryptickate@1: I’m not so sure, I thought the idea was that a dicky (a false shirt front) could replace the answer. It doesn’t work for me with the bow-tie meaning of dicky.
Thank you very much Radian. Missed any theme, well, I did twig hay wain and constable, and the copper, embarrassingly that wasn’t enough to switch on theme alert in my head.
Thank you RR for the parsing of BAPTISTS.
I made life hard by bunging in PROTOTYPES, then wondered what happened to my Jaguar.
Favourite was SUPERCARS.
I enjoyed this – and even spotted the themes! (Though admittedly not all members thereof.)
Missed the parsing of SUPERCARS – silly me. Great clue. I marked PHOTOFIT and COPPER as favourites.
Thanks to Radian and RatkojaRiku.