In the last couple of years Exit has become a familiar name when it comes to S&B puzzles.
Here’s another themed one from this Fifteensquared regular: Exit @ York 2017
Haven’t done it (yet)? Or just curious? Click on the link and print off the crossword before looking at the rest of the blog.
There is a clear theme built around the S&B’s York venue, The Fox and Roman.
In at least 6 clues the words Fox and Roman are essential for finding the right answers.
Where that is the case they are highlighted in the blog using colour.
An even more colourful completed grid is added at the end.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 9 | HAND CREAM | Taps with bundle of paper – treatment for dry skin? (4,5) |
| H AND C (taps, Hot and Cold) + REAM (bundle of paper) | ||
| 10 | ROMAN | (5) |
| One of two non-clues. Half of the York venue, ‘The Fox and ROMAN‘. |
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| 11 | ADIEU | “Goodbye, Kate”, you said (5) |
| ADIE (Kate) + homophone [said] of YOU More about Kate Adie here . |
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| 12 | TELEPATHY | Henry gutted after upsetting 14 – great minds thinking alike? (9) |
| (PALETTE (14, the answer at 14ac)* + H[enr]Y [* = upsetting] | ||
| 13 | HADRIAN | Area drain faulty (7) |
| HA (area, short for ‘hectare’ which is 10,000 m²) + (DRAIN)* [* = faulty] The first of the four ‘themed’ clues without a definition. Hadrian (AD76 – AD138) was the ROMAN Emperor of eponymous wall ‘fame’. Not sure we should, nowadays, celebrate people building walls. |
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| 14 | PALETTE | Broken tea plate lost a range of colour (7) |
| (TE[a] PLATE)* [* = broken] | ||
| 15 | DISHY | Item 25 on the menu? Rather sexy! (5) |
| ‘Item 25 on the menu’ would be DISH Y, wouldn’t it? | ||
| 17 | FOX | (3) |
| After 10ac, here’s number two. The other half of ‘The FOX and Roman’. |
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| 18 | MARKS | Scores brothers heard in Casablanca after dark (5) |
| Homophone [heard] of MARX, name of the brothers featured in A Night in Casablanca. Here’s more about their 1946 movie: in Casablance after dark . |
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| 20 | QUIZZES | Pointless Mastermind questions … (7) |
| Double/Triple definition Both Pointless and Mastermind are popular TV quizzes. Italicising just Mastermind really does the trick (to make a good surface). |
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| 21 | POTSDAM | … in retrospect. Ahmad’s topic covers German city (7) |
| Hidden in [covers]: [Ah]mad’s top[ic] , then reversed [in retrospect] The relevance of the ellipsis is up to the solver. |
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| 23 | ALPENHORN | Aluminium enclosure to house sailors’ instrument (9) |
| AL (aluminium) + PEN (enclosure) + HO (house) + RN (sailors, Royal Navy) An instruments originally used by shepherds in the Swiss Alps. |
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| 25 | VIXEN | Volume 9: Mid-Kent (5) |
| V (volume) + IX (nine, Roman numeral) + [K]en[t] No definition? Well, a vixen can be a female FOX. And so this is the second one of four. |
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| 26 | ERROR | Rolls with caviar filling sent back? On the contrary – a mistake! (5) |
| Reversal [sent back] of: RR (Rolls, Rolls Royce] inside ROE (caviar), instead of the other way round | ||
| 27 | NINETIETH | A minute fraction – of one and a half hours? (9) |
| Cryptic definition For those who are lost on this one: a minute is one 90th part of 1.5 hours (i.e. 90 minutes). |
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| Down | ||
| 1 | SHEATHED | Covered up – ’e wears hat in outhouse (8) |
| ‘E inside HAT, then inside SHED (outhouse) | ||
| 2 | UNTIED | Peacekeepers bound to be loosened (6) |
| UN (peacekeepers) + TIED (bound) | ||
| 3 | SCRUTINY | Almost abandon microscopic examination (8) |
| SCRU[b] (abandon, almost) + TINY (microscopic) | ||
| 4 | NEWTON | Went mad over nuclear scientist (6) |
| (WENT)* + O (over) + N (nuclear) [* = mad] Who else than Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)? |
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| 5 | SMALLPOX | Little priest has animal disease: … (8) |
| SMALL (little) + P (priest) + OX (animal) It was effectively eradicated by 1979 through vaccination. |
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| 6 | TRAP | … extra precautions needed to cover mouth (4) |
| Hidden answer [needed to cover]: extra precautions | ||
| 7 | IMITATOR | Parrot‘s claim to be the main attraction on a hill (8) |
| I’M IT (claim to be the main attraction) + A TOR (hill) | ||
| 8 | ENZYME | In frenzy, men get a form of protein (6) |
| Hidden answer [in]: frenzy men An enzyme is a protein substance that catalyses a biochemical process. |
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| 16 | SLIPPERY | Unknown salesman with lager gets up, well-oiled (8) |
| Y (unknown) + REP (salesman) + PILS (lager), all reversed [gets up] | ||
| 17 | FESTOONS | Garlands of stones? Absurd! (8) |
| (OF STONES)* [* = absurd] | ||
| 18 | MOTIVATE | Partner embraces returning Italian guy to give encouragement (8) |
| MATE (partner) around reversal [returning] of VITO (Italian guy) Exit told me that Vito is a popular Italian given name. The Godfather, portrayed by Marlon Brando in the famous 1972 film, was named Vito Corleone. |
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| 19 | SAMANTHA | Amah tans unruly girl (8) |
| (AMAH TANS)* [* = unruly] This could have been one of the four undefined clues but it is not. The lovely Samantha FOX had several hits in the mid and late eighties with such brilliant titles like ‘Touch Me (I Want Your Body)’ or ‘Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me)’. Well, she did please some readers of The Sun as a favourite Page Three girl. She retired from that in 1986, only 20 years of age. |
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| 20 | QUAKER | Heartless duck? (6) |
| QUACKER (duck) minus the C in the middle A clue lacking a definition. A connection should be made to the Quakers. One of the founders of the Religious Society Of Friends was George FOX (1624-1691). Read more about him here . |
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| 21 | PENANG | Open Angela’s case for Malaysian State (6) |
| Hidden answer [‘s case]: Open Angela | ||
| 22 | DEXTER | Novelist’s cross note in German article (6) |
| X (cross) + TE (note), together inside DER (German article, ‘the’ (male) in German) The novelist here is Colin Dexter who sadly left us this year at the age of 86. As many will know, he was not just the creator of Inspector Morse but also a cryptic crossword afficionado. Dexter is the Latin word for ‘right’ (as opposed to sinister). In the 2nd century AD there was a ROMAN senator and consul Gaius Domitius Dexter. So, this might have been one of themed answers ….. |
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| 24 | NERO | Hesitation in denial (4) |
| ER (heistation) inside NO (denial) Now this one is undefined and gives us one of the most famous ROMANs there ever was. |
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Of all the puzzles I picked up in York this is the one I had most success with. 20a and d escaped me. I couldn’t get past a pointless mastermind question being some form of pass and was stuck on specific breeds of duck (mallard teal scoter etc) and not seeing the wood for the trees.
Less success with the other puzzles but as a relative newbie solver I realise that time served setters are in a deviousness arms race but I am going to persevere until I improve.
I did not get round to this puzzle in York yesterday, but enjoyed completing it today, so thankyou Exit.
Another York puzzle we have only just had time to tackle – but it was worth the wait!
Good fun and nicely worked around the Fox and Roman – We spotted all the ‘clued but undefined’ entries, but we missed looking for the ‘possibly thematic’ ones – so thanks to Sil for identifying those – and for the blog.
Thanks to Exit for another S & B puzzle.
An entertaining puzzle, slightly trickier than Exit’s previous S&B puzzles.
Thanks to Exit and Sil (I am still intending to comment on some of the others but I am still working on them when I have time)
Did this on the way back from the Times Championships after being well-beaten by Egbert’s super puzzle. Unlike Beery @4, I found this a bit easier than the previous Exit, but no less enjoyable. spotting the theme helped loads and I almost completed (which is pretty good for me even if I wasn’t on a train and recovering from a day of boozing!). Fave clue was 20d for the gigglesome ‘duck=quacker’. Thanks to The Egress for the puzzle and to His royal Silness for all the work on blogging this and the other puzzles.