It is always a pleasure to find Dac occupying his spiritual home in the Indy Wednesday slot, and indeed many weeks have gone by since it last fell to me to blog one of his puzzles.
As is almost always the case with Dac’s creations, I think that I can claim to have accurately parsed the ever-precise clues in this easy-to-medium difficulty puzzle. Nevertheless, Dac had the last laugh in that I needed to search Chambers to find 27, having wrongly decided that “hotel” would require the entry to contain the letter “h”.
My favourite clues today were 10 and 25, both for surface and despite the unorthodox word order in the latter; and 20, for the clever use of “terminal”.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | CREATE | Make box to store recreational drug
E (=recreational drug, i.e. Ecstasy) in CRATE (=box) |
| 04 | SPILLAGE | Wise person swallowing tablet for upset
PILL (=tablet) in SAGE (=wise person) |
| 10 | STATUE OF LIBERTY | Landmark in west, yet built for east originally
*(YET BUILT FOR EAST); “originally” is anagram indicator |
| 11 | COMEDIC | Funny hospital colleague?
Cryptically, one’s hospital colleague could be described as a “co-medic” |
| 13 | SILENCE | Quiet enclosure in southern French island
ENC. (=enclosure, in envelope) in [S (=southern) + ÎLE (=French island, i.e. French word for island)]; the “quiet” of the definition is a noun, not an adjective |
| 14 | ODOUR | Smell food regularly round ancient city
<f>O<o>D (“regularly” means alternate letters only) + O (=round, i.e. pictorially) + UR (=ancient city) |
| 15 | SCREAMER | Headline: “Millions trapped in hopeless careers”
M (=millions) in *(CAREERS); “hopeless” is anagram indicator; a screamer is a sensational headline, like the example in the clue! |
| 18 | FLORENCE | Gosh! Barrier’s placed all round city
LOR’ (=gosh, from lord) in FENCE (=barrier) |
| 20 | PIECE | Component that is found inside computer terminal in office
I.E. (=that is, id est) in [PC (=computer) + <offic>E (“terminal” rather cleverly indicates last letter only)] |
| 22 | ORGANZA | Newspaper article containing variable material
Z (=variable, in algebra) in [ORGAN (=newspaper) + A (=article, in grammar)] |
| 24 | RIGHT-ON | Socially aware Tories? No, the reverse
RIGHT (=Tories) + ON (NO; “the reverse” indicates reversal) |
| 25 | NOTTINGHAMSHIRE | What might scupper this cricket team? Rain might, honest
*(RAIN MIGHT HONEST); “what might scupper” is anagram indicator |
| 27 | SPRITZER | After retiring, travellers will imbibe hotel drink
RITZ (=hotel, in London or Paris) in SPER (REPS=travellers, i.e. sales reps; “after retiring” indicates reversal); a spritzer is white wine with soda water |
| 28 | ASSESS | Maybe carry out OFSTED inspection among classes superficially
Hidden (“among”) in “clASSES Superficially” |
| Down | ||
| 01 | CASH CROP | Cor! Chaps cultivated wheat, for example
*(COR CHAPS); “cultivated” is anagram indicator |
| 02 | EVA | Woman from East Virginia
E (=east) + VA (=Virginia, i.e. abbreviation) |
| 03 | THUNDER | Loud noise that’s heard principally below
T<hat’s> H<eard> (“principally” means first letters only) + UNDER (=below) |
| 05 | POLLS | Elections with mostly posh Liberals getting in
L L (=Liberals, i.e. 2 x L (=liberal)) in POS<h> (“mostly” means last letter is dropped) |
| 06 | LOBELIA | Trouble arises after world leader’s ousted, making bloomer
<g>LOBE (=world; “leader’s ousted” means first letter is dropped) + LIA (AIL=trouble; “arises” indicates here vertical reversal) |
| 07 | ARRANGEMENT | Organisation‘s skill, recruiting NI protestants (but not their leader)
<o>RANGEMEN (=NI protestants; “but not their leader” means first letter is dropped) in ART (=skill) |
| 08 | ELYSEE | Government palace rarely seen incomplete
Hidden (“incomplete”) in “rarELY SEEn”; the Élysée Palace has been the official resident of the French President since 1848 |
| 09 | MOCCASIN | Heard someone scoffing, confronting evil snake
Homophone (“heard”) of “mocker” (=someone scoffing) + SIN (=evil, as noun); a moccasin is a venomous North American pit-viper |
| 12 | MOONLIGHTER | One with two jobs, second on harbour boat
MO’ (=second, i.e. moment) + ON + LIGHTER (=harbour boat) |
| 16 | RYE-BREAD | Possibly buy dearer, non-U bakery product
*(B<u>Y DEARER); “non-U” means letter “u” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “possibly” |
| 17 | MEANNESS | Amid confusion, old queen shows lack of generosity
ANNE (=old, i.e. former, queen) in MESS (=confusion) |
| 19 | RAN RIOT | Lost self-control, as Luddites’ leader did?
Cryptically, the Luddites’ leader ran (=managed) riot against mechanisation in the workplace |
| 20 | PEGASUS | Training rabbit to appear with American stars
P.E. (=training, i.e. Physical Education) + GAS (=rabbit, chatter) + US (=American); Pegasus is a constellation in the northern sky, hence “stars” |
| 21 | ROUNDS | Games of golf, // and treats for all at nineteenth hole
Double definition: a round of golf is an 18-hole game AND a drink for everyone afterwards in the clubhouse (=nineteenth hole) |
| 23 | ANGLE | Old settler’s // viewpoint
Double definition: an Angle is a settler descended from a north German tribe, while an angle on an issue is a viewpoint, perspective |
| 26 | IKE | So called American president liked getting rid of extremists
<l>IKE<d>; “getting rid of extremists” means first and last letters are dropped; the reference is to US president Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower (1890-1969) |
As always a splendid puzzle from Dac which I failed to finish due to my fixation that H in 27 must be hotel, just like our esteemed blogger.
Many thanks to both
Fantastic anagrams at 10a and 25a. Loved COMEDIC as well. Fortunately, I guessed reps for travellers straight away, having just finished another crossword with the same device, and so managed to get 27a.
Thanks to Dac and RR.
This seems quite an easy week, so far – but then it’s Thursday tomorrow! We solved this fairly quickly although there were a few that we didn’t spot immediately – for instance the clue to 4ac suggested an insertion of ‘pill’ in ‘sage’ but we didn’t think of SPILLAGE until our second pass – doh!
Such a lot to like that we can’t nominate a CoD. On the other hand we didn’t think ‘originally’ to be a very good anagram indicator in 10ac, and until we got COMEDIC we were’t sure of the spelling of 9dn – Chambers has “mocassin or moccasin“.
An enjoyable solve, though, with plenty of nice misdirection. Thanks, Dac and RatkojaRiku.
I really liked this. Did manage SPRITZER eventually, once I dropped the H and started to think about drinks instead.
Thanks to Dac and RatkojaRiku.
SPRITZER was my penultimate entry after I concentrated on drinks rather than H for hotel. I am still struggling to get my head around the anagram indicator for NOTTINGHAMSHIRE although it was obvious which was the anagrist. ROUNDS was my last one, scraping in just under the half hour. An enjoyable puzzle which I found not too difficult until I stalled for a while in the SW. Thanks RR and Dac.
Enjoyed this, missed spritzer (and the crossing ran riot) though should have seen both – thanks RR for explaining.
Loved the long anagrams, especially the east/west thing in 10a.
And of course I enjoyed 24a
I liked 26d and wondered if I would like it more without ‘so-called’ though the reason for inclusion is clear enough
Many thanks Dac, great stuff
I’m with John @5 and can’t see how 25ac works. If it was something like ‘The result of scuppering this cricket team? Rain …’ then it would be understandable, but how does ‘Rain might, honest’ scupper ‘Nottinghamshire’?
But easy enough and there are people (I’m not one of them) who say that if you can solve it then that’s OK.
For 25a, rather than read it as Nottinghamshire being an anagram of rain might honest, can you not equally read it the other way around? So ‘rain might honest’ might scupper (be an anagram) of this cricket team.
Surely 25ac is simply one of those rare occurrences where the definition occurrs in the middle of the clue. OK, the ‘rules’ say that the defintion should be either the start or at the end of the clue, but “rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.” Rather like the indirect anagram this device should only be used once in a blue moon and with extreme caution. And by coincidence (or not?) tonight is a blue moon, defined as ‘a second full moon in a calendar month’.
What a pleasure to solve this excellent crossword puzzle. The Indy has many masters jousting in its lists, and Dac is among the finest IMO.
What might scupper this cricket team? Rain might, honest
One occasionally sees the form ‘an anagram of the answer is the fodder’, and here we have it. A deft execution of thereof, too.