This was my first experience not of solving a Daedalus crossword but of blogging one. I remember Guardian puzzles by Logodaedalus but he could well be unrelated to our setter today ….
I thoroughly enjoyed solving this puzzle, which I thought was pitched at exactly the right level for a mid-week solve. The twist, rather than a full-blown theme, around 12 served to heighten my enjoyment, and although I realised from the other grid entries that 12 had to be a word that indicated some sort of reversal, it was a long time before I actually identified which word it was!
In a sense, Daedalus has still had the last laugh today, as I am unable to parse 3, which surely has to be the word I have indicated based on the definition and at least part of the wordplay. I can’t help but think that the clue is playing on the shared letters in “London” and “Lisbon”, but I may be barking up the wrong tree. And indeed I was – thanks to fellow solvers for the enlightenment!
My favourites today were 1D, for its deceptive surface; 2, for sheer wackiness; and 5, for ingenuity. Incidentally, I did not know the IT term at 14, which was my last-one-in and had to be tracked down in Chambers, while 25 was also new to me.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | BETHLEHEM | No room here to live with those people over 50, right?
BE (=to live) + {[L (=fifty, in Roman numerals) + EH (=right?)] in THEM (=those people)}; there was no room at the inn for Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem |
| 06 | DEKKO | Gander gave thumbs up over duck’s rear end in 12
<duc>K (“rear end” means last letter only) in OKed (=gave thumbs up); “in retrospect (=entry at 12)” indicates reversal; to have a gander or a dekko is to take a quick look at |
| 09 | DRESS UP | Rap doctor and cat in 12 for disguise
DRE (=rap doctor, from US) + SS UP (PUSS=cat; “in retrospect (=entry at 12)” indicates reversal) |
| 10 | DARLING | Learner’s bold about love
L (=learner) in DARING (=bold) |
| 11 | A BIT OF ALL RIGHT | He’s appealing for one to go down in a twinkling
[I (=one) + TO + FALL (=go down)] in [A + BRIGHT (=twinkling, sparkling)] |
| 13 | REST | The others // don’t work
Double definition |
| 14 | VAPOURWARE | See man, perhaps about the fight between us? I’ll probably never appear
[OUR WAR (=the fight between us)] in [V (=see, i.e. vide) + APE (=man, perhaps)]; vapourware is loudly heralded computer hardware and software that is unlikely ever to be made available |
| 16 | ARM’S LENGTH | Members regularly fleeing got the proper distance
ARMS (=members) + <f>L<e>E<i>N<g> G<o>T <t>H<e> (“regularly” means alternate letters only) |
| 18 | SCAR | Traumatise second drivers’ club in 12
S (=second) + CAR (RAC=drivers’ club, i.e. Royal Automobile Club; “in retrospect (=entry at 12)”) |
| 21 | ONE OF THESE DAYS | Cook seafood then? Yes, some time soon
*(SEAFOOD THEN YES); “cook” is anagram indicator |
| 23 | TORNADO | One end of Taiwan has trouble with bad weather
T<aiwan> or <taiwa>N (“one end of” means first or last letter only) + ADO (=trouble) |
| 24 | OBSCENE | Former student’s painting in blue
OB (=former student, i.e. old boy) + SCENE (=painting) |
| 25 | WILCO | Maybe Shakespeare and Sebastian said I’ll do it
Homophone (“said”) of Will (=maybe Shakespeare) + Coe (=Sebastian, i.e. President of IOC); in telecommunications, wilco means “I will comply”, hence “I’ll do it” |
| 26 | END RESULT | Doctor led unrest and finally this happens!
*(LED UNREST); “doctor” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | BAD HAIR DAY | Had a raid by criminal and dreads getting in trouble now?
*(HAD A RAID BY); “criminal” is anagram indicator; the “dreads” of the definition are not fears but dreadlocks! |
| 02 | THE PITS | Nothing’s worse for starters than hard-boiled eggs plonked in tartare sauce
T<han> H<ard-boiled> E<ggs> P<lonked> I<n> T<artare> S<auce>; “for starters” means first letters only |
| 03 | LISBON | If so, Ely is black capital of Europe!
If L IS BON, i.e. if the letter “l” in “Ely” is replaced by the letters “bon”, the result is “ebony” (=black)!!! |
| 04 | HOPE AGAINST HOPE | Papa’s to phone a geisha shiftily about wish, despite everything
P (=papa, in radio telecommunications) in *(TO PHONE A GEISHA); “shiftily” is anagram indicator |
| 05 | MIDDLE OF THE ROAD | Hero A for Average?
<t>HE ROA<d>; the letters HERO A are, literally, the middle (letters) of “the road”! |
| 06 | DERRIERE | Queen wrapped in towel perhaps, sitting on English bottom
[ER (=Queen) in DRIER (=towel)] + E (=English) |
| 07 | KRISHNA | I shrank in panic from god
*(I SHRANK); “in panic” is anagram indicator |
| 08 | ORGY | Debauchery during junior gymnastics
Hidden (“during”) in “juniOR GYmnastics” |
| 12 | RETROSPECT | In this you can see model mushroom arranger
T (=model) + CEP (=mushroom) + SORTER (=arranger); “in retrospect (=this, i.e. the solution to this clue)” indicates reversal |
| 15 | EL DORADO | Dear old, funny old, fabulous old place
*(DEAR OLD) + O (=old); “funny” is anagram indicator |
| 17 | MONGREL | Smaller gnome, in 12, has got cross
Reversed (“in retrospect (=entry at 12)”) and hidden (“has got”) in “smalLER GNOMe” |
| 19 | CHATEAU | Castle with its native cat and water
CHAT (=its native cat, i.e. the French word for cat) + EAU (=its native water, i.e. the French word for water); |
| 20 | NESSIE | I live underwater. I may be seen in German city in 12
I in ESSEN (=German city): “in retrospect (=entry at 12)” indicates reversal |
| 22 | STEW | Worry spineless people in 12
WETS (=spineless people); “in retrospect” indicates reversal |
I really, really like Daedalus crosswords. I seem to get on his wavelength very quickly for some reason. Got 1a straight away and then 1d, which made me chuckle over the use of ‘dreads’ and then 2d with its lol surface. Pleasingly, I then guessed LISBON and saw L is BON in ELY gives EBONY. Wonderful stuff. Took a while to get 12d, but the penny dropped after getting NESSIE. Loved the tHE ROAd in 5d. More please.
For completeness, I should add that I didn’t know VAPOURWARE and would never have guessed it from the cryptic bit so had to resort to a word fit followed by a parsing.
Of course, as an ex IT bloke i’d never heard of vapourware, nor had my iPhone crossword solver and dictionary apps so I failed on that one, and the last one I did get was 12d. I found the longer words and phrases more difficult than usual, even with crossing letters, so I think I’m not yet on the Daedalus wavelength – a bit like Pierre, who normally seems to get the blogging job. An enjoyable solve though, thanks to S&B.
We took a while to get the actual word for 12dn although we guessed early on (from 9ac) that it had to do with reversal. The multiple word entries eventually solved themselves from crossing letters and we didn’t try too hard to parse them. VAPOURWARE was totally new to us, only got from Chambers Word Wizard but then instantly parsed; not so LISBON which seemed to fit being a European capital but totally mystified us.
Plenty to savour, though, including BAD HAIR DAY, DERRIÈRE, CHATEAU and NESSIE.
Thanks, Daedalus and RatkojaRiku
I failed on WILCO and VAPOURWARE but enjoyed the rest. Made a smooth start but had a much slower finish – well, indeed a dnf. LISBON is my favourite.
I’m still a bit confused by the key clue as to me, the “in this” is not only telling us that the wordplay components are inside the answer but at the same time indicating their reversal. I just can’t convince myself there’s not some double duty going on. Please help!
Thanks to Daedalus and to RatkojaRiku for the blog.
Kitty@4, I guess it could be seen as double duty. I read ‘in retrospect’ to mean ‘in looking backwards’ and in looking backwards you see t cep sorter. ‘In this’ denoting the solution by ‘this’. Works for me even if it took some time to spot.
Thanks Hovis @5. I’m sure it does work (it certainly didn’t cause me any problems), just trying to see it in the right way.
P.S. I meant to mention earlier that it was interesting to see MIDDLE OF THE ROAD clued in a similar yet different way to that in yesterday’s Telegraph Toughie.
Thanks Daedalus, RatkojaRiku
Very original and enjoyable. Sadly failed on WILCO and WETS, but managed to wrangle VAPOURWARE from the wordplay. No trouble with the effect of 12, but it was my last one in. Favourite clues were that, 1, 3 and 5 down, and 25 and 26 across.
DRESS UP DARLING A BIT OF ALL RIGHT OBSCENE ORGY ONE OF THESE DAYS…
probably just me.
Thanks Daedalus and RR, although VAPOURWARE kicked my 6d, as did the parsing of LISBON.
I would have liked 2d more, except that it sounds delicious
I loves a bit of Daedalus: I never tend to finish his puzzles, but they make me want to keep coming back to try, which is a damn good thing to do. Fave here was The Queen sitting on her arse, natch, so thanks to the Greek Wingman for the puzzle and The Swedish Blogman for the write up.
Like Paul A, I am not on this setter’s wavelength and therefore I didn’t enjoy this one. The gateway clue isn’t exactly a giveaway (and the surface, like many others here, is meaningless), so I was always going to struggle. VAPOURWARE? If somebody in IT has never heard of it, what chance is there for the rest of us? And how can software/hardware be described using the first person pronoun? LISBON? Beyond this solver’s ability to parse it. I’ll stop now.
Let’s just say I’m not a fan, which is not a big deal since there are many other Indy setters that I do enjoy; and more importantly, there are folk who clearly do like this setter’s offerings, so fair play to him.
Thanks to S&B.
Thanks RR: a very fine and thorough blog. Sorry to have foxed you with 3d; as Hovis points out, if L is BON, ELY is EBONY! Tricky but I liked it.
Baerchen@8: There is a natural tendency towards mildly suggestive words, because sometimes they lead to amusing clues, but you have found rather more than I think I put in 🙂
James@9: Delicately served with mayonnaise, and sprinkled with paprika, certainly. But plonked in tartare sauce?
Another toughie, and not helped by 12dn literally being my LOI, and then only after a word search.
By the way, I’ve been a retired computer programmer for nearly fifteen years, and I’d heard of VAPOURWARE.
I led a sheltered IT life