Serpent has provided the last of this latest set of mid-week puzzles, occupying the slot normally occupied by Phi.
Phi’s displacement from his Friday home got me thinking that Serpent may have provided us with some kind of anniversary puzzle relevant to this specific date. 10/18/07 suggested that we could well be in Nina territory, and indeed (half of) the perimeter reveals the name of the scientist responsible for the science at 10/18/07, while today is the hundredth anniversary of his birth (see below).
My last-one-in today was 21, which I only solved when I released that the completed grid probably formed a pangram, and for this to happen, there needed to be a “k” somewhere in 21.
My favourite clues today were 8, for its topicality; 24, for playing on the verb/noun forms of “leaves”; and above all 22A, for its wacky definition. I could only vaguely remember this rarer meaning of “dug” at 19A, which needed to be confirmed in Chambers.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 08 | TINDER | What may help Kindle‘s // method of identifying date
Double definition: tinder can be used to kindle fire from a spark AND Tinder is an online dating site! |
| 09 | AGILELY | How quickly Lily gets confused with age
*(LILY + AGE); “get confused” is anagram indicator |
| 10/18/07 | QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS | Work of scientist at The Perimeter Institute may document lacquer’s unusual structure
*(INST (=institute) + MAY DOCUMENT LACQUER); “has unusual structure” is anagram indicator; the reference is to American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88), known for his work on the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED); his name is spelt out across the top and bottom rows of the grid, hence “at the Perimeter”; he was born on 11 May 1918, so today is the hundredth anniversary of his birth |
| 11 | FRACAS | Violent disagreement disheartened former referee in dispute over pay?
F<orme>R (“dis-heart-ened” means all but first and last letters are dropped) + ACAS (=referee in dispute over pay, i.e. the UK conciliation service) |
| 12 | ZENITH | Spike in frequency measure brought about highest point
[TINE (=spike, e.g. on fork) in HZ (=frequency measure, in physics)]; “brought about” indicates reversal |
| 14 | MAESTRI | Conductors transformed stream’s current
*(STREAM) + I (=current, in physics); “transformed” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | ASSOCIATED PRESS | Advertiser perhaps starts to expand into media organisation
The first letters (“starts to”) of A<dvertiser> P<ress> are AP, which “expand” into Associated Press, a US media organisation |
| 19 | JUDDER | Jack dug bad vibe!
J (=Jack, in cards) + UDDER (=dug, of cow) |
| 21 | UPTAKE | Apprehension reportedly increased pain
Homophone (“reportedly”) of “upped (=increased) + ache (=pain)”; (mental) apprehension is uptake, grasp, realisation |
| 22 | OCTOPUS | What represents a month’s work for expert in jet propulsion?
OCT (=month, i.e. October) + OPUS (=work, i.e. of music); cryptically, an ink-squirting octopus could be described as an expert in (ink-)jet propulsion! |
| 24 | FOLIAGE | Leaves one prisoner about to be surrounded by enemy
[I (=one) + LAG (=prisoner)] in FOE (=enemy) |
| 25 | AVENGE | Pay back for search through rubbish that is discarded
<sc>AVENGE (=search through rubbish); “that is (=sc., for scilicet) discarded” means the letters “sc” are dropped |
| Down | ||
| 01 | RISQUE | Spicy soup recipe replacing starter
<b>ISQUE (=soup); “recipe (=r, from Latin) replacing starter” means that letter “r” replaces letter “b” |
| 02 | IDEA | Thought setter would worry endlessly
I’D (=setter would, i.e. Serpent) + EA<t> (=worry; “endlessly” means last letter dropped) |
| 03 | CRUTCH | Support staff hold hands changing over
C<l>UTCH (=hold, in hands/arms); “hands changing over” means L (=left) is replaced by R (=right); the “support staff” of the definition refers to a wooden crutch to lean on rather than to auxiliary staff! |
| 04 | HARM | Damage caused by shelling that gutted Rotterdam
<t>HA<t> (“shelling” means first and last letters are dropped) + R<otterda>M (“gutted” means all middle letters are dropped) |
| 05 | AIRFIELD | Place one might land in competition following broadcast
AIR (=broadcast, as verb) + FIELD (=competition, i.e. field of competitors) |
| 06 | RECAPTURED | Won over by red carpet treatment you received
U (=you, in SMS language) in *(RED CARPET); “treatment” is anagram indicator; the “over” of the definition suggests “again”, hence “recaptured” |
| 13 | INOPERABLE | Suspect bone idle pair I’d dismissed for being unfit for work
*(BONE <id>LE PAIR); “I’d dismissed” means that the letters “id” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “suspect”; “inoperable” is unworkable, hence “unfit for work” |
| 14 | MOTTO | Saw satellite failing to complete orbits a couple of times
TT (=a couple of times, i.e. 2 x T=time) in MOO<n> (=satellite; “failing to complete” means last letter is dropped); a saw is a pithy statement, adage, hence “motto” |
| 16 | SLEEP OFF | Do the rest of the morning after!
Cryptic definition: the “rest” refers to the rest, recovery time needed when one is hung over after a heavy night! |
| 17 | IN THE WAY | Hindering progress by sort of making article more specific
IN A WAY (=sort of); “making article more specific” means the indefinite article “a” is replaced by the definite article “the” |
| 19 | JETSAM | It may have been shed by lighter fighters, perhaps before midday
JETS (=fighters, perhaps, i.e. warplanes) + A.M. (=before midday); the “lighter” of the definition is a large open boat for (un)loading goods |
| 20 | ENSIGN | Standard space used in typesetting symbol
EN (=space used in typesetting) + SIGN (=symbol) |
| 22 | OXEN | Skin foxes and cattle
<f>OXE<s> <a>N<d>; “skin” means outer, i.e. first and last, letters of each word are dropped |
| 23 | PLEA | Alternative to business has certainly lost appeal
PLEA<sure> (=alternative to business); “certainly (=SURE) lost” means letters “sure” are dropped |
An absolutely superb puzzle which I was delighted to finish unaided. Can’t remember enjoying one of Serpent’s more than this, and they’re always good.
Huge thanks to S&RR
Yes, a most inventive piece of work – and thanks to the blogger too. I took ‘sc’ in 25ac to mean smart card, hence ‘discarded’.
Guessed the theme pretty early which made this easier than Serpent usually is, all very clever
Thanks to Serpent and RR
PS there is a typo in MAESTRI above
I’m cutting down on my solving for the time being but gave in to the temptation to do this. I’m very glad I did – it was so far up my street as to be knocking on my front door and rattling the cat flap.
Cutting down on commenting too, since the blogs no longer feel like the friendly places they used to. But I had to break cover to applaud this and say how much I enjoyed it.
Had to do some real thinking in places, but in the end the only assistance I needed was a post-solve check of the udder in my loi JUDDER. Many thanks Serpent and RatkojaRiku.
I greedily tucked into this Serpent, lapping up the clues. Filled the grid and had to go to the shops with a thought on my mind…Serpent usually has a couple of goodies lying around and on getting home, looked at the grid and there he was. hadnt heard of him so googled-wasnt surprised what with the large clue.
Great change from Phi (whom i also love)
can we have Phi tomorrow?
I didn’t spot the theme (again!) but I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch time battle with the crossword
Thank you to setter and blogger – my particular favourite was 22a
Was hoping for a great crossword and Serpent didn’t disappoint Q.E.D. (see what I did there).
Finished unaided but needed to think a bit for some, particularly AVENGE and PLEA. Also, AGILELY took a LOI while – somehow it just looks weird written down, probably just me.
Thanks to Serpent and RatkojaRiku.
Should say little not LOI. Don’t know how that happened.
We struggled (more than) a bit with this, needing help for 10/18/7, then we saw RICHARD in the top unches, which helped once we gave up trying to fathom a complete perimeter nina andjust looked at the bottom unches. We guessed there was a reason for Phi being bumped from his usual Friday slot but had to google Mr Feynman to discover it.
Plenty to like as well as the theme/nina too. Our favourites were ZENITH, MAESTRI, INOPERABLE, MOTTO and OXEN. But we failed to spot it was a pangram.
Thanks, Serpent and RatkojaRiku.
Did this with pencil and paper without knowing what the grid looked like. Just had a list of the clues. My phone can’t cope with the interactive version. Failed on four. The nina would have help me a little if I’d spotted it.
Didn’t have clue about the dating site in 8a so needed help to parse that plus 15a &17d.
Only managed the long 10/18/7 by virtue of ‘guess and look-up’ so there was no chance of the Nina registering here!
Thanks to Serpent for the challenge and to RR for all the explanations.
I found this very hard to get into, getting only a smattering of clues on the first attempt. Guessed many of the answers without being entirely sure if I was right (and did get 19ac wrong). Got the big one from the crossing letters, but only spotted the Nina after finishing.
Incidentally, Feynman’s autobiographical Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman is a fun read, well recommended.
Many thanks to RatkojaRiku for the excellent blog and to everyone who has taken the time to solve and comment on the puzzle.
Jason
Thanks to beery hiker at 3 for pointing out the misprint, now corrected