I may have solved every single crossword that Serpent wrote for The Independent but I’ve never blogged one. Until now, with thanks to Bertandjoyce, who are having a great time probably, at the moment being as close to the South Pole as we are to the North Pole (unless you live Down Under, perhaps). Hence me today.
My opinion on Serpent hasn’t changed. He’s perhaps the best of the relatively new additions to the Indy stable. But I hasten to say that I like Hoskins too, and Vigo, and Eccles, and Dutch, and …. So, once more, a clever piece of crossword setting. With, unfortunately, one clue (21d) that didn’t do the trick for me. However, Dutch convinced me @16.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the nina in the top and bottom rows: good old ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Is it there for a reason (because I didn’t see any other Led Zeppelin references)?
The completed grid is added at the end of the blog, highlighting the nina.
And, spot the
NEVA
E
HOT
Y
AWR
I
ATS
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 9 | EMERGENCE | Church backs drug workers hosting work unit for Advent (9) |
| CE (church) coming after {E (drug) + MEN (workers)}, which goes around ERG (work unit) | ||
| 10 | HIPPO | Statesmanship and politics together encapsulate this big beast (5) |
| Hidden answer [encapsulate]: Statesmanship + politics | ||
| 11 | ALTERNATIVE VOTE | Selective approach briefly used in Scandinavia (11,4) |
| The abbreviation of the answer can be found in: Scandinavia This is a device that I nowadays mainly associate with the FT’s Wanderer, like Serpent an excellent setter. |
||
| 12 | AUDIO | Opening of Abbey Road erased from studio recording (5) |
| A[bbey] + {STUDIO minus ST (road, street)} Very neat clue in which every word has its place (as it should be in a good clue). |
||
| 14 | DETECTIVE | Policeman failing to apprehend leader of Triads for force (9) |
| DEFECTIVE (failing) with T[riads] replacing F (force) | ||
| 16 | INCITES | Fires kill last one in hot urban areas (7) |
| IN (hot) + {CITIES (urban areas) with the last I (one) deleted)} One of three clues of which I thought “It’s a pity that …”. It is somewhat unfortunate that IN (hot) is preceded by another ‘in’. What Serpent does well, is indicating that only one I should be removed. |
||
| 19 | DRAWERS | Life models have no need for these artists (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | TELL TALES | One targeting Apple reportedly ends gossip (4,5) |
| TELL (one targeting apple [lower case], der Wilhelm) + homophone [reportedly] of TAILS (ends) | ||
| 22 | RODEO | Lazy cowboy’s record in this contest? (5) |
| A lazy cowboy may not have tried a single ride. His record would show that ‘he rode zero’: RODE O | ||
| 24 | DANCE ATTENDANCE | People at the ballet perhaps pay particular attention (5,10) |
| The answer could be seen as: ATTENDANCE (people who were there) at the DANCE (ballet) “It’s a pity that” ‘attendance’ and ‘attention’ have five consecutive letters in common. |
||
| 26 | LYRIC | Somehow Cyril Connolly richly embodies poetic form (5) |
| Two constructions for the price of one: (1) anagram [somehow] of CYRIL, (2) hidden answer [embodies]: Conolly richly | ||
| 27 | CARTRIDGE | Credit rag with editing item in magazine (9) |
| Anagram [with editing] of CREDIT RAG | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SEPARATIST | One not wanting Status Quo records featuring stringed instrument is upset (10) |
| SITAR (stringed instrument) inside TAPES (records), then the whole lot reversed [upset] There are always people out there who think that ‘tapes’ aren’t ‘records’ and vice versa. |
||
| 2 | TESTED | Tried in dispute not to cheat (6) |
| I guess this is CONTESTED (in dispute) minus CON (cheat) | ||
| 3 | AGAR | This setter could form anagram with ‘man’ (4) |
| The answer (AGAR) plus MAN could indeed ‘form’ the word ANAGRAM My first one in. |
||
| 4 | INLAND | Abandon north of country for interior (6) |
| FINLAND (country) minus the first letter [the North] F | ||
| 5 | RESISTED | Opposed revolutionary imprisoning nun without foundation (8) |
| RED (revolutionary) going around {SISTER (nun) missing the last letter R, its ‘foundation’} | ||
| 6 | WHEELCHAIR | What could drive legless scoundrel to break toilet locks? (10) |
| HEEL (scoundrel) inside WC (toilet) + HAIR (locks) Just like in 1d the definition is nicely embedded in the surface. |
||
| 7 | APPOSITE | Apt to make an assumption that dons mock (8) |
| POSIT (to make an assumption) with APE (mock) around it “It’s a pity that” ‘apposite’ and ‘apt’ are so close. |
||
| 8 | YOKE | ln the end, ask wife to try kinky bondage (4) |
| Anagram [kinky] of the last letters [in the end] of: ask wife to try Two devices (to combine) for the price of one. |
||
| 13 | OUTSTRETCH | Extend period of imprisonment after youth loses case (10) |
| STRETCH (period of imprisonment) going after [y]OUT[h] | ||
| 15 | EAST OF EDEN | Arrange Dean’s fee to film book (4,2,4) |
| Anagram [arrange] of DEAN’S FEE TO I took this as a clue with two (related) definitions as going for ‘film book’ seems a bit odd (suggesting that the film came before the book). Anyway, here is some info about the film ,which was a high point in James Dean’s short life. The movie was based on John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel of the same name. |
||
| 17 | CILANTRO | Herb caught musical opening outside Los Angeles (8) |
| C (caught) + INTRO (musical opening) around LA (Los Angeles) Never heard of this herb before but I got it from the construction which was nice. Never heard of it?? It’s just coriander!! |
||
| 18 | SOLSTICE | Criticism mainly fuels exclusive star’s most ‘out there’ position (8) |
| STIC[k] (criticism, mainly, almost all of it) going inside SOLE (exclusive) Somewhat complicated definition (for me). Yesterday Monk had the same word clued (in the FT) by simply ‘biannual event’. Monk also used STIC[k] inside SOLE but with a different ‘stick’ and a different ‘sole’! |
||
| 21 | SIERRA | Range Rover? No, an old Ford (6) |
| The Ford SIERRA was named after the Spanish word for mountain ‘range’ We should take ‘Range’ as the definition and see the rest as something that may, in the end, lead to a sort of Double definition. On second thoughts, I think, Dutch @16 hits the nail on the head. Confirmed by Serpent @18. |
||
| 23 | DENUDE | Expose guy devouring contents of menu (6) |
| DUDE (guy) around [m]EN[u] | ||
| 24 | DOLT | ldiot told to get knotted (4) |
| Anagram [to get knotted] of TOLD What happens here is both so easy and deceptive that it had me fooled for a very long time. I was looking for a homophone of an ‘idiot’ to get a word for ‘knotted’. Setter 1 Blogger 0. |
||
| 25 | DERV | Oddly dreary lead character from Vin Diesel (4) |
| The odd letters of: dreary, followed by V[in] The answer is a British word for Diesel oil. |
||
In 21 down do you think ROVER may perhaps be doing double duty, as (1) being part of RANGE ROVER, being the name of a car model, and (2) being used in the normal sense of a rover, ie something that moves, travels etc?
Nice crossword. 19ac raised a laugh. Spotted the NINA early, which helped a great deal with the top half, of a crossword whose grid almost splits it into two.
Super!
Very enjoyable and the nice touch of the Nina helped me at the end.
11a went in unparsed (I would never have worked it out) and I missed the ‘Dean’ reference in 15d.
No problems with 1d, with TAPES/’records’ as a verb, not a noun. I thought ‘Rover’ in 21d was just there for the surface as you suggest.
Count me as another to be fooled by 24d which was my favourite, along with 19a and the ‘What could drive legless’ def.
Thanks to Serpent and Sil
Thanks Serpent, Sil
ditto to @2, with WHEELCHAIR, OUTSTRETCH, SEPARATIST my picks. I felt a little bit hard done by on ALTERNATIVE VOTE – I looked in Scandinavia before getting the solution from crossers, but all I could think of was a large pile of dry grass and a small pointy thing.
Eventually finished this with no cheats. Fortunately, I saw 11a early on which helped a lot. The nina was a help to get SIERRA, INLAND and TESTED (the latter taking me a while to parse). I didn’t particularly mind the clue for SIERRA. Effectively, I parsed as ‘range’ + ‘old Ford’ as definitions with ‘Rover? No’ as a sort of cryptic definition.
Perhaps, not Serpent at his very best but still better than just about any other setter. Absolutely love his work. Thanks also to Sil for his detailed blog.
Lovely crossword thank you Serpent – Lots of lovely clues to make me smile including 19/20 and 22d
Thanks also to Sil for the blog
Thanks to Serpent for the usual enjoyable challenge and how nice to see Sil on blogging duty. The Nina was spotted quite early which speeded things up no end; not sure if this was therefore a good thing or not! Unusually for me, I did a bit of over-thinking with ALTERNATIVE VOTE.
I was very keen on some of Led Zeppelin’s music, being particularly fond of Whole Lotta Love, Black Dog and Heartbreaker, but the Lord of the Rings cobblers in Ramble On and the emetic lyrics to Stairway to Heaven are serious crimes indeed imo
Good stuff Serpent. Good blog Sil. Thanks to both.
My co-solver maintains that there is a Serpent slithering diagonally across the grid.
Stairway to Heaven is fifty years old this week. Spotting it was absolutely no help!
Good Thursday puzzle, with a laugh out loud moment when 19A dropped into mind.
Thanks to Serpent and Sil.
For once I did spot the Nina early enough for it to help. Good stuff as usual from Mr S, who must be under an alias for KK@8’s suggestion as all the Ps are in the top 3 rows. Ever since one of his first puzzles had SERPENT written all over it I’ve been on the lookout for slithery creatures. Thanks to S&B.
Didn’t spot that black serpent slithering along the diagonal. Nice extra touch. Thanks to Kryptickate’s co-solver.
We got this all without cheating but couldn’t parse 11ac or 2dn, and had to check in Chambers that CILANTRO is a word – Spanish, apparently. We spotted the nina about half way through, which certainly helped.
Too many good ‘uns to nominate a CoD.
KK@8: We saw the ‘serpent’ in the grid, but after seeing the nina we thought it must be a stairway.
Thanks, Serpent and Sil.
Super puzzle, and a nina which was I found not only delightful but also helpful.
WHEELCHAIR and DOLT are brilliant, but they’re not the only gems to be found here.
I thought the serpent slithering down the grid was actually that Stairway ascending to Heaven.
Many thanks Ssserpent and Sssil.
P.S. Here’s a stairway to Hogwarts and an escalator to heaven. 🙂
Yes, the Slithering Serpent is indeed a nice extra touch and well spotted by-whoever-spotted-it, making the connection with STH.
GeordyGordy @9 tells us that Stairway To Heaven turned (or turns) 50 years old this week. I am sure Jimmy Page cannot agree less (or disagree more). In 1968 the American band Spirit released their first album featuring an instrumental track (Taurus). Many think that Jimmy Page stole guitar parts from it and used them for the intro of Stairway To Heaven. Spirit started a court case which it lost. The Zeps persisted to tell the world that the song was written in 1970. It appears on their fourth album IV in early 1971.
I also thought the serpent in the middle had to be a stairway, possibly inspiring the Nina.
I was struggling with NW, when I saw the bottom half of the Nina. Filled in STAIRWAY and the rest followed.
Americans don’t say coriander it seems, they say cilantro. They’ve never heard of coriander.
Lots of great clues, AUDIO, DANCE ATTENDANCE, HIPPO, AGAR, SEPARATIST, WHEELCHAIR, DRAWERS, etc. Some very good disguised definitions.
I read 21d with range as def, then “rover? No an old ford” as indication and didn’t think too much. But yes, I guess rover was clearly chosen to fit with range.
All great stuff, thanks serpent, and many thanks Sil
Dance Attendance was a new phrase to me and I’d virtually ruled it out as an option being so similar to attention in the clue.
Some nice stuff here but for me there were too many “think of a word that fits and then try and work back to the clue” entries which seems rather AAF.
Each to his/her own I guess.
Many thanks to Sil for the excellent blog, and to everyone who has been kind enough to solve and comment on the puzzle. allan_c @12 is absolutely right about the stairway through the centre of the grid, although I’m pleased to see that it can also pass muster as a serpent (one to remember for future puzzles!).
SIERRA was intended to be a double definition with the split between ‘Range’ and ‘Rover’. Clearly it didn’t work quite as well as I imagined!
@Sil: there’s a minor glitch in the grid at the intersection of 1d and 20a, which you might want to correct.
Done.
[As the grid was not recognised by Crossword Compiler as standard, I ‘designed’ the completed grid myself (very quickly done, in CC). Unfortunately, I did not save the CC file but only the JPG. So, I had to use a Photo editor to correct the ‘glitch’. It seems that the grid as a picture is now slightly less sharp as it was before (but who cares)]
As to 21d now, completely clear (thanks to Dutch).
Once again, many thanks for another jewel in your crown.
… than it was before ….
Firstly, thanks to Sil for standing in for us today.
When we saw that it was Serpent, we were at first disappointed that we were not blogging it – but actually we didn’t enjoy this one as much as previous puzzles. 24ac didn’t really work that well we thought – although we have to admit we guessed the answer as we had never come across the phrase before.
We spotted the nina which helped unravel the last few missing down entries in the NW corner.
Thanks Serpent – we are still looking forward to your next one!
Serpents and Stairways……. nah, must be a catchier name than that. Thanks all for the elucidation, I now see that great big black thing in the middle.