This is Alan’s fourth crossword, one that can be found here (as a PDF): Alan @ York 2018
For an interactive version (including a few other puzzles), visit: S & B crosswords
Not much to quibble about, all safe and sound. No theme.
Please, find the completed grid ath end of the blog.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CAMEO APPEARANCE | Notorious role for Hitchcock turned up: pensioner introducing arcane PE exercise (5,10) |
| CAME (turned up) + OAP (pensioner) + anagram [exercise] of ARCANE PE The definition is almost a (cryptic definition) clue in itself. |
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| 9 | RAREBIT | Snack bar finally found by a European river flowing westwards … (7) |
| [ba]R + A + reversal [flowing westwards] of TIBER (European river) | ||
| 10 | TRIBUNE | … and swirling around a French official in Rome (7) |
| Anagram [swirling] of TIBER (see previous clue) around UN (a, in French) An ellipsis that is not just there for the surface. But if you don’t see the European river ….. |
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| 11 | ERADICATED | I teed off with a card scrubbed out (10) |
| Anagram [off] of: I TEED + A CARD | ||
| 12 | SHAG | Backchat about hotel bed (4) |
| Reversal [back] of GAS (chat) around H (hotel) The definition is ‘bed’ as a verb! |
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| 14 | BREATH | Some air trapped in a fibre at home (6) |
| Hidden answer [trapped] in: a fibre at home | ||
| 15 | TENNYSON | Poet‘s curious neighbour at first retreats behind No. 10 (8) |
| NOSY (curious) + N[eighbour], together coming after TEN (No. 10) | ||
| 17 | ARQUEBUS | Long gun – square but sawn-off and remodelled (8) |
| Anagram [remodelled] of SQUARE BU[t] New word to me (but then, I don’t know anything about weaponry). |
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| 19 | BOTTOM | Bed behind rear seat (6) |
| Quadruple definition Although, they are not all that different. |
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| 22 | GAOL | Bird starts to glide away on landing (4) |
| First letters of: glide away on landing ‘Bird’ as in ‘prison’. |
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| 23 | WINE TASTER | She tests brilliance of whites, perhaps, and writes neat review (4,6) |
| Anagram [review] of WRITES NEAT There isn’t such a word as ‘wine tastress’, is there? |
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| 25 | ASSEGAI | Top-rated fool, for example, in front throwing weapon (7) |
| AI (top-rated, A1), preceded by {ASS (fool) + EG (for example)} | ||
| 26 | SOIGNEE | Love seeing pants outside – smart! (7) |
| O (love) with an anagram [pants] of SEEING on the outside | ||
| 27 | TITUS ANDRONICUS | Play, play 20 rounds with us (5,10) |
| Anagram [play] of {TITANIC (20, the answer at 20d) + ROUNDS}, followed by US Shakespeare, of course. |
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| Down | ||
| 1 | CERNE ABBAS GIANT | Tourist attraction in Dorset resort Caribbean agents … (5,5,5) |
| Anagram [resort] of CARIBBEAN AGENTS Showing a picture of the Giant in this blog would be a bit obscene. But here he is. |
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| 2 | MARGATE | … deface in front of barrier in Kent resort (7) |
| MAR (deface) + GATE (barrier) | ||
| 3 | OUBLIETTES | Forgotten French test put back to front in basement cells (10) |
| OUBLIE (forgotten, in French: oublié) + TEST with the T at the back moved to the front Dungeons where trapped victims can easily be forgotten, hence the name, I assume. |
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| 4 | PITMAN | Collier‘s pleased at first to confront ‘ired killer (6) |
| P[leased] + [h]ITMAN ([h]ired killer) | ||
| 5 | EXTREMES | Great lengths once measured primarily in line charts (8) |
| EX (once), followed by M[easured) inside TREES (line charts, think: family trees) | ||
| 6 | REIN | Check captured Queen’s rule? (4) |
| Homophone [captured] of REIGN (Queen’s rule) | ||
| 7 | NOUGHTS | You aim to get three in a row and are expected to be embraced by partners (7) |
| OUGHT (are expected) inside N,S (partners, North & South, think: bridge) | ||
| 8 | EMERGING MARKETS | Georgian novel about cooked ginger and winding treks in developing regions (8,7) |
| EMMA (Georgian novel) around anagram [cooked] of GINGER, followed by an anagram [winding] of TREKS | ||
| 13 | ANNOTATION | Absence of old French actor/director, apparently, in unknown writer’s commentary (10) |
| NO TATI (absence of French actor/director, apparently) inside ANON (unknown writer) Jacques Tati . |
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| 16 | MUNITION | Greek character with idiot setter on arm (8) |
| MU (Greek character, ?) + NIT (idiot) + I (setter, Alan himself) + ON | ||
| 18 | QUONSET | Question first appearance of hut (7) |
| QU (question) + ONSET (first appearance) Another new word for me. Collins tells us: A military shelter made of corrugated steel sheet, having a semicircular cross section. It’s an Americanism, the British equivalent is ‘Nissen hut’. |
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| 20 | TITANIC | Small bird perched on a lovely tailless mammoth (7) |
| TIT (small bird) + A NIC[e] (lovely) | ||
| 21 | GEYSER | Sounds like bloke’s hot discharge (6) |
| Homophone [sounds like] of GEEZER (bloke) | ||
| 24 | EGGS | Unevenly engages clutch (4) |
| Odd letters (so, not the ones in even-numbered positions) of: engages | ||
This was the first one I tackled and it proved a bit tricky at times, but everything fell into place once I got the long answers – first of them being TITUS ANDRONICUS, a play I was involved with in a student production back in the 60s. I did wonder if there was going to be a theme, with ARQUEBUS, ASSEGAI and MUNITION, but with nothing else of that sort I guess it was just coincidence.
I liked the quadruple definition for BOTTOM. Others I liked were EXTREMES, ANNOTATION and the linking of RAREBIT with TRIBUNE, but it was all good.
Thanks, Alan and Sil
Despite being on the other side of the planet from the York gathering, I hope to have a go at/comment on each of these. I would really like to be part of an S&B event one day. But I am starting with the one from Alan B, as I was fortunate enough to be a test solver for this puzzle, which was a privilege. I found it tough going at first, but I really enjoyed the challenge. The long answers were interesting, and 1a CAMEO APPEARANCE was a particular favourite. I also liked 27a TITUS ANDRONICUS (the clue, not the study of it at University), the reference to Jane Austen’s “Emma” in 8d EMERGING MARKETS, and learning all about 1d CERNE ABBAS GIANT after googling “Tourist attractions in Dorset” (cheating, I know!). The anagram gave me ARQUEBUS at 17a though I had to use google (again) to confirm it, as well as the unfamiliar QUONSET at 18d, which I only got from the wordplay and the crossers. Luckily I had encountered 25a ASSEGAI in a past puzzle.
12a SHAG raised a smile, ad did 21d GEYSER. The gender balance suggested by the use of the pronoun in 23a WINE TASTER was appreciated.
I did query “pants” as the anagrind in 26a SOIGNEE.
Many thanks to Alan for compiling an intriguing puzzle and to Sil for an informative and detailed blog.
We’ve only just had time to tackle the S&B puzzles from Saturday – this is our first (other than the Egbert and Dalibor).
All fairly straightforward, but we struggled with the unusual words at 17ac and 18d – both new to us.
We liked the four definitions on 19ac, even though they’re not that different.
All good fun – thanks to Alan and Sil
I also solved an “advance copy” of the puzzle (as I might as well be in Aus for all the chance I have of spending a weekend in York), and had a few other niggles I don’t think it’s worth rehearsing here as I was probably being hypercritical in personal feedback. It was fascinating reading up about the giant, which I also had to google “Dorset tourist attractions” to get. Based on the jargon I read on its Wikipedia, I find it can be described as a “petrographic, ithyphallic, clavigerous titan”.
JinA, I’m surprised you weren’t familiar with ‘pants’ as an anagram indicator: it’s often appeared in the Guardian.
I can’t be sure if any more comments are coming and would like to add one of my own.
Thank you to all those who tried this puzzle and commented on it. I know it’s customary for this small group of volunteer setters to have themes for the puzzles we submit, but I happened to have this non-themed puzzle ready several months ago – not for an occasion like this. I’m grateful to Sil van den Hoek for bringing this puzzle to York and for blogging it so expertly.
The grid started with CERNE ABBAS GIANT, for no other reason than that I liked the name. I expected that most Brits would have heard of it, although I started to wonder very recently that that might have been a bit presumptuous.
To Tony I would say that I didn’t regard his previous (private) comments on any clues as ‘hypercritical’, but it’s true that our discussion went more than once each way on two clues in particular: 1a CAMEO APPEARANCE and 6d REIN. On the latter, which in fact replaced a previous clue and answer (RAIN) that was test solved, I acknowledged to Tony personally that the clue he suggested to me, using the same construction but different words, was superior to mine, but by then it was too late to edit.
‘Acceptable anagrinds’ could be a topic on its own! I got ‘pants’ as an anagrind from solving Guardian crosswords, and Julie (a regular Guardian solver) has probably seen it there too but raised a valid query on it that I think I can answer. In Collins, ‘pants’ in this sense is an adjective (British slang) meaning ‘inferior’. Not much there in my defence. In Chambers it is a noun meaning ‘nonsense; rubbish …’, and that’s where I get my justification from.
I would like to have gone to York for the day on Saturday, but it was too far to travel from my home in Kent. From what I have read the event went very well.
I won’t thank the setter, but I will thank Sil again for a splendid blog in which I appreciated most of all the commentary in red added to several of the clues.
Alan, thanks for your generous remarks regarding my feedback.
For some reason “pants” as indicator calls Paul to mind.
Hope to see you (and any other 15×15 regulars who can make it) at the George this weekend.
Thanks Alan and Sil
The third of the puzzles set for the York S&B event that I’ve tried to fit in with the normal puzzles that I do. This was classy – not sure if Alan is a professional setter or not – but it certainly came across as if he were ! Particularly liked the long perimeter clues and the quadruple definitions of BOTTOM. SHAG also produced a grin.
Finished down in the SE corner with ANNOTATION (a neat construction), SOIGNEE (a new term for me that was another neat clue) and GEYSER as the last few in.