I can’t find Wire mentioned as a setter anywhere in the fifteensquared history so I’m guessing this is a debut puzzle
Whenever I see a new setter, I wonder if there is something special going on in the grid. There are many references to characters or locations in Wind In The Willows in the clue and the entries. I noted SPRING CLEANING, Mole, Toad, RATTY, Badger, WEASEL, Pan, Wild Wood and ‘messing about in boats’. There is a daughter in the clues but not referenced as the gaoler’s daughter. Possibly BOATHOUSES is also thematic There could well be more that solvers may wish to identify in their comments
I can’t find an anniversary related to either the author or the publication of the book. Thinking about 11 across, there is reference online to the book being created originally from a series of shorter stories. Perhaps there were seven of these as the clue suggests
I didn’t find anything particularly difficult in the clues. The definitions weren’t always precise dictionary definitions but they clearly indicated the word required. The wordplay made much use of single letters or pairs of letters from the outer edges of words. I was impressed by the nine letter entry formed from the odd letters of a seventeen letter phrase – SALTPETRE.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1/4 | Bounce around with fondness for housework (6,8) |
SPRING (bounce) + C (circa; about; around) + LEANING (preference; fondness) SPRING C LEANING |
SPRING CLEANING (housework)
|
| 9 | Mushroom article featuring in older cookery sheets? (4.5) |
(CEP [type of mushroom] + A [indefinite article]) contained in (in) RIPER (older) RI (CE P A) PER |
RICE PAPER (sliced and flattened edible pith of an Asiatic tree of the Araliaceae; cookery sheets)
|
| 11 | Wind in the Willows included seven tales originally (5) |
TWIST (first letters [in … originally] of each of THE WILLOWS INCLUDED SEVEN TALES) TWIST |
TWIST (wind spirally) |
| 12 | Leading edge of Wild Wood scrub (4) |
W (first letter of [edge of] WILD ) + ASH (type of wood) W ASH |
WASH (scrub)
|
| 13 | Donkey and scruffy eagle stuffed by doctor for collection (10) |
ASS (donkey) + (an anagram of [scruffy] EAGLE containing [stuffed by] MB [Bachelor of Medicine; doctor]) ASS E (MB) LAGE* |
ASSEMBLAGE (collection) |
| 15 | Shouty person circles town centre, becoming more jaundiced (8) |
YELLER (shouty person) containing (circles) OW (middle letters of [centre] TOWN) YELL (OW) ER |
YELLOWER (more jaundiced in colour. Jaundice is a disease in which there is yellowing of the whites of the eyes, skin, etc, by excess of bile pigment)
|
| 17 | Party of snoopers from across The Pond sitting in the sun (6) |
CIA (Central Intelligence Agency [snoopers] in America [across the pond {Atlantic Ocean}]) contained in (sitting in) SOL (sun) SO (CIA) L |
SOCIAL (party)
|
| 19/26 | Mole buys tea after ordering something to brew it in (6,4) |
Anagram of (after ordering) BUYS TEA + POT (something to put tea in) BEAUTY S* POT |
BEAUTY [SPOT] (mole [small SPOT or raised mark on the skin])
|
| 20 | Holy man and clueless daughter brought back those who’d lost their way (8) |
(ST [saint; holy man] + NAIVE [guileless; simplistic; clueless] + D [daughter]) all reversed (brought back) (D EVIAN TS)< |
DEVIANTS (people who stray from the normal path; people who have lost their way) |
| 23 | Foolish Toad wishes to be most mysterious (10) |
Anagram of (foolish) TOAD WISHES SHADOWIEST* |
SHADOWIEST (most mysterious) |
| 24 | Old lizard twisted in exertion (1-3) |
T-REX (hidden word reversed [twisted] in [in] EXERTION) T-REX< |
T-REX (Tyrannosaurus Rex [large bipedal carnivorous lizard-hipped dinosaur of the carnosaur group of theropods, common during the Cretaceous period] |
| 27 | Politicians are following the current figures (5) |
I (electric current) + CONS (Conservatives [politicians]) I CONS |
ICONS (figures) |
| 28 | Small step led three oddly to discover compound (9) |
SALTPETRE (letters 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17 [oddly] of SMALL STEP LED THREE) SALTPETRE |
SALTPETRE (potassium nitrate, a chemical compound)
|
| 29 | 30 across arranged finalities of hare hunt. Nothing so far (3,2,3) |
Anagram of STAY ON [entry at 30 across) + ET (last letters of [finalities] of each of HARE and HUNT) NOT AS Y* E T |
NOT AS YET (nothing so far)
|
| 30 | Boy to traverse river? Don’t go (4,2) |
SON (boy) containing (to traverse) TAY (longest river in Scotland) S (TAY) ON |
STAY ON (remain; don’t go) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Head of State with stomach nearly drained is very thin (7) |
S (first letter of [head of] STATE + CRAW (throat or first stomach of fowls) + NY (letters remaining after the central letters EARL are removed [drained] from NEARLY) S CRAW NY |
SCRAWNY (unhealthily thin) |
| 2 | Stones legendary bird adjacent to outskirts of kennels (5) |
ROC (legendary bird) + KS (first and last letters of [outskirts] KENNELS) ROC KS |
ROCKS (stones)
|
| 3 | Woodland deity retreats south and sleeps (4) |
PAN (Greek god of pastures, flocks, and woods; woodland deity) reversed (retreats) + S (South) NAP< S |
NAPS (sleeps) |
| 5 | Played right in middle of mere and died (6) |
R (right) contained in (in the middle of) LAKE [mere] + D (died) LA (R) KE D |
LARKED (played) |
| 6 | Twitch follows fractured tibia, on medication (10) |
Anagram of (fractured) TIBIA ON + TIC (twitch) ANTIBIO* TIC |
ANTIBIOTIC (medication) |
| 7 | Cod line disentangled from top of cap (9) |
LIMITATION (cap) excluding the first letter (disentangled from top) L IMITATION |
IMITATION (mock; sham; imitation) |
| 8 | Secure 1 Across and improve health (3,4) |
GET (secure) + WELL (SPRING [entry at 1 across]) GET WELL |
GET WELL (improve health) |
| 10 | Badger is safe, protecting entrance to sett (6) |
PETER (safe) containing (protecting) S (first letter of [entrance to] SETT) PESTER |
PESTER (badger) |
| 14 | Peep perhaps at families’ waterside buildings (10) |
BO (reference little BO –PEEP who lost her sheep) + AT + HOUSES (families) BO AT HOUSES |
BOATHOUSES (waterside buildings) |
| 16 | Frolic in meadow quietly with sailor away from home (4,5) |
LEA (meadow) + P (piano; quietly) + AB (Able Seaman) + OUT (away from home) LEA P AB OUT |
LEAP ABOUT (frolic) |
| 18 | Wife perched on stand for devious fellow (6) |
W (wife) + EASEL (stand) This being a down clue, the letter W is placed [perched on] the remaining letters W EASEL |
WEASEL (devious fellow) |
| 19 | Defence of messing about in boats (7) |
Anagram of (messing about) IN BOATS BASTION* |
BASTION (a defence) |
| 21 | Locations coops up ten plucked hens – or half a dozen more? (7) |
(SITE [location] containing [scoops up] X (Roman numeral for ten]) + EN (letters remaining in HENS when the outer letters (H and N) are removed [plucked]) SI (X) TE EN |
SIXTEEN (half a dozen more than ten) |
| 22 | Put upset girl in network of cells (6) |
SIT (put) reversed (upset) + SUE (girl’s name) TIS< SUE |
TISSUE (network of cells) |
| 25 | Irritable spoilt child’s head clipped with sides of tray (5) |
BRAT (spoilt child) excluding the first letter (head’s clipped) B + TY (outer letters of [sides of] TRAY) RAT TY |
RATTY (irritable) |
| 26 | See 19 Across |
See wordplay at 19 across SPOT |
[BEAUTY] SPOT |
Wire is a recent graduate of Big Dave’s Rookie Corner and Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle. Congratulations to him on a fine themed national debut
It didn’t take long to solve but I did smile a lot – I particularly liked ‘Beep perhaps’ in 14d
Thanks to Wire for the fun crossword and Duncan for the explanations
Very nice theme. I enjoyed getting 1/4 after seeing all the characters in the clues, but favourite was 19/26.
Welcome to Wire, thanks Duncan
Well done Wire, congratulations on your Independent debut! Really great to see another Big Dave graduate make it to the dailies.
Enjoyed the puzzle, many thanks. Particularly liked 4a and 11a. Took me a while to parse Peep! My favourite, though, is 19/26 for the smooth surface story with unexpected definition and answer.
Looking forward to the next one
and many thanks as always Duncan for an exceptionally clear blog
Yes, welcome to Wire. Thank you for such an enjoyable crossword with a not too obscure theme.
‘The Peep perhaps’ wordplay and the ‘Mole’ def were my picks of the day.
Thanks to Duncan and look forward to more Wire puzzles in the future.
And welcome to Wire from us, too. An enjoyable saunter along the riverbank and taking in the wild wood. Favourites were BEAUTY SPOT, SALTPETRE, PESTER, BOATHOUSES and SIXTEEN.
Thanks, Wire and Duncan.
PS: If you’re keen to try another Wire puzzle you can find one on big Dave’s site – click here.
A very nice day-boo. Welcome to Wire and thanks to Duncan
I spent far too long thinking 1A must be a nice, neat anagram of BOUNCE + FONDNESS. The actual wordplay is even better. 7D is also a very neat clue
Look forward to seeing some more!
Welcome, Wire, and congratulations. I thought this was a great debut puzzle and really enjoyed it. Am not sure about the “are” in ICONS, but that’s a tiny thing.
The theme always reminds me of this cartoon.
Thanks to Wire and to Duncan.
Well done, Wire, and thank you for the theme from one of my favourite childhood books. I’m actually almost word perfect on the passage about Mole’s spring cleaning my younger daughter used it as one of her prepared pieces for an English Speaking Board exam quite some years ago.
This was a most enjoyable puzzle and perhaps 14d was my favourite.
Hope we see plenty more from you.
Thanks again to Wire and to Duncan for the blog.
Hi Wire, This is the second puzzle of yours I’ve done in two days and this one was as good as, if not better than, the first. Enjoyed the theme and the use of first/last letters from words. I will definitely be stealing ‘Peep’ for BO at some point in the future. It’s a lot more pleasant than the usual ‘bad smell’ references! Thanks to Duncan for the blog.
Hello everyone! And firstly ‘thank you’ to Duncan for the detailed review and helpful feedback.
I’m not sure why I picked TWITW…must have been the hot summer. There were certainly enough characters to play with and the woodland/ river references were nice to find.
I’m glad ‘BO’ went down well. I nearly scrubbed that grid entry as I just couldn’t get a satisfactory BOAT definition…then it just popped into my head as it touched the pillow one night. Which prompted the scrabbling around for the light switch and iPad to see if it was Bo Peep, ,Bo-Peep or BoPeep just to be sure that it conformed to the rigours of cryptic grammar. Which in turn prompted a couple of sharp words from Mrs W about ‘boundaries’ and ‘house rules’: these have been observed to a (lesser) degree.
Thank you all for such a warm welcome on my Indy debut. Hopefully see you all again in due course.
Cheers, W