S & B York 2018 – Egbert

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A fun puzzle from Egbert, though quite an easy one, and over rather quickly…

…with help from the Ninas around the edges, which I caught on to quite early. We have YORK S&B in both the top and bottom rows (using the ampersand in the “two cells [that] contain a character that replaces three letters” – a nice touch, I thought), OCTOBER down the left edge and MMXVIII (i.e. 2018) down the right. It’s also a pangram, though I only noticed that too late for it to be a help. Many thanks to Egbert for his contribution to the S&B entertainment.

The puzzle can be solved online here

 
 
Across
8. OOLITE Sort of stone tool that is shortly to be redesigned (6)
Anagram of TOOL + I.E.
9. AQUARIUM One immersed in pale blue liquor tank (8)
I in AQUA RUM
10. COIFFURE Hairdressing course has a lot of dubious content but requires no skill initially (8)
IFF[y] (dubious) in COURSE less S[kill]
11. LOG JAM Record crowd causes hold-up (3,3)
LOG (record) + JAM (crowd)
12. TWEE Pretty short presidential message (4)
TWEE[t] – reference to Trump’s Twitter habit
14. SHARE INDEX Restraint in dark times – a feature of the Stock Exchange? (5,5)
REIN in SHADE + X (multiplication sign – times)
17. OVID Roman poet in love with 6d (4)
O + VI D – not a reference to 6 down
18. REACT Respond to compound trace elements (5)
TRACE*
19. CHAV Tasteless individual starts to collect hideous Arabian vases (4)
First letters of Collect Hideous Arabian Vases
20. BRENT GEESE Breed of wildfowl that’s been confused with 24ac (5,5)
Anagram of BEEN + EGRETS (answer to 24ac)
23. NISI Legal proviso: if Ulster joins the south, independence will follow (4)
NI (Ulster – not strictly correct, as often discussed) + S + I. Nisi is Latin for “unless”, as in decree nisi for example
24. EGRETS Waders needed when East River gets turbulent (6)
Anagram (barely!) of E R GETS
26. KOHLRABI Former German chancellor meets disheartened Jewish leader for a sort of 4d (8)
[Helmut] KOHL (German chancellor 1982 to 1998) + RA[B]BI
28. REAL BEER Bum goes round Liberal get-together to get a drink at the Fox & Roman perhaps (4,4)
L BEE (get-together) in REAR
29. EMBOLI First two boys to enter mile – silly clots! (6)
First two letters of BOys in MILE*. I’m not keen on the use “first two” meaning “first two of”
Down
1. YOYO Text: ‘Why oh why has nothing been attached to this see-saw?’ (4)
YOY (“why oh why” in textspeak) + O (nothing). Chambers has this hyphenated as YO-YO
2. OILFIELD Painting, an area of expertise that can provide a means of reducing friction. (8)
OIL (painting) + FIELD (area of expertise)
3. REVUES Critical appraisals received for variety shows (6)
Homophone of “reviews”
4. KALE Vegetable ingredient in cock-a-leekie soup (4)
Hidden in cocK-A-LEekie – cock-a-leekie is a soup, so the last word is redundant both in the surface and in the cryptic reading
5. SURLIEST Be prone to wear twisted truss and get extremely bad-tempered (8)
LIE (be prone) in TRUSS*
6. &ROGEN
(ANDROGEN)		 Article has no information about doctor creating synthetic sex hormone (8)
A + DR in NO GEN – androgen occurs naturally, but Chambers has “a synthetic compound with similar effect” as its second definition. This is the first answer using & for AND
7. BUPA Healthcare organisation involved in a local upset (4)
Reverse of A PUB – this is the acronym mentioned in the preamble
13. WAVER Be uncertain about state following leader in Washington (5)
W[ashington] + AVER
15. AMAZE Arachne’s first puzzle will blow your mind (5)
A[rachne] + MAZE
16. EXAMS Vote to conceal name in complex means tests (5)
X (vote) replaces N in MEANS*
18. REGISTER Record the queen pursuing wild tigers (8)
TIGERS* + ER
19. CONTRAB&
(CONTRABAND)		 Goods smuggled by group of Central American rebels (10)
CONTRA BAND – the second AND/& replacement
21. NIELLO Compound used in ornamental engraving can make one ill (6)
(ONE ILL)*
22. ECHOES Responses heard with ease by radio operators (6)
“Ease” is a homophone of “E”s, and echo is E in the NATO phonetic alphabet (as used by radio operators)
25. GREY Dull player gets partial backing (4)
Hidden in reverse of plaYER Gets
26. KIRK Church leader associated with far-reaching Enterprise (4)
Double definition – Scottish church, and Captain Kirk of Star Trek
27. BULB Cry goes up: “Let there be light!” (4)
Reverse of BLUB

4 comments on “S & B York 2018 – Egbert”

  1. Conrad Cork
    #1 - Sun 28th Oct 18, 08:17

    Thanks Andrew

    Another masterclass from Egbert.  Quite an achievement to have such a ‘conventional’ (ie non-forced) grid fill after accommodating the ninas.

    My favourite has to be 10 across.  An exemplary surface, with a (to me at least) satisfying grump about modern educational values built in.

  2. Alan B
    #2 - Sun 28th Oct 18, 10:30

    A very satisfying puzzle, and not quite as easy for me as Andrew evidently found it.  I had the perimeter about half finished when I realised how to complete the nina, and that eased some of the later clues.

    The two 3-in-1 cells, each with ‘AND’ written as A or &, was an interesting novelty that worked very well, it being properly signposted.

    As another amateur setter I appreciated the care taken with the surfaces and construction of the clues. I also liked small details such as ‘that is shortly’ and not just the customary ‘that is’ to indicate IE in OOLITE.

    My favourite clue was 10a COIFFURE, for the reasons stated so well for me by Conrad Cork.  I also liked 14a SHARE INDEX, 17a OVID, 20a BRENT GEESE, 23a NISI and 27d BULB very much.

    The gridfill was impressive considering the limitations set by the nina (and by the pangram, which I didn’t detect). Most of the letters of the nina down the right-hand side are relatively unfriendly for the setter, but the crossword didn’t suffer. The repetition of the top row at the bottom did not matter at all.

    I picked up the same point as Andrew regarding EMBOLI (‘First two boys’).  I began to speculate whether
    “Boys ‘not wise’ (so to speak) to enter mile…”
    would have worked.

    Congratulations to Egbert for a fine puzzle, and thanks to Andrew for a clear blog.

  3. allan_c
    #3 - Sun 28th Oct 18, 14:31

    Another satisfying puzzle on a most enjoyable day, although it took a bit of getting into, mainly through the four-letter entries, although KIRK foxed me for a while and provoked a “Doh!” once I saw it.  And the REAL BEER at the Fox & Roman was nice, in both senses.

    Thanks, Egbert and Andrew.

  4. brucew@aus
    #4 - Thu 1st Nov 18, 11:22

    Thanks Egbert and Andrew

    Got to this one today and thought that it was quite a good crossword (bloody good, in fact).  It was the second of the five puzzles set for the S&B gathering that I’ve done and both have been impressive so far.

    The ninas were really well done, especially accommodating the one down the right hand side so well.  OCTOBER helped me with the three across clues in the bottom left corner.  Nice touch with the REAL BEER clue – smiled when I looked up the Fox and Roman and found that it was indeed a pub in York.  It did seem like cabbage must have been on the menu with a couple of clues for it.  The pangram passed me by though.

    Finished in that SW corner with GREY and NIELLO the last couple in.

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