Serpent has provided his latest puzzle for our stimulation this Thursday, on a grid that contains a higher-than-average number of lights.
I found that I made steady progress through this puzzle, although at no point did I zip through the clues. In the end, I was stuck with 20 and 34 and needed to cheat to get 34, whereupon I could sort out 20 for myself, despite not knowing the word in this particular sense.
I think that I have parsed everything correctly apart from the wordplay at 30, about which any input from fellow solvers would be gratefully received – thanks for the clarification, blog now updated. I would also appreciate confirmation of my parsing at 12, in particular the use of “do” to indicate a deletion.
My favourite clues today were 8 and 21, both for surface reading; and 2, for the surface reading and for its emptying device.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | LADY | One who does for Spooner’s lady
Spoonerism of “daily (=one who does, i.e. charlady)” |
| 03 | BIG BUCKS | Lots of money made from important game?
BIG (=important, major) + BUCKS (=game, i.e. male deer) |
| 04 | SENNA | Late driver taking this to speed up motion?
Cryptically, the laxative drug senna would “speed up the passing of a) motion”!; the reference is to Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna (1960-94) |
| 11 | ENSLAVING | Doctor Van Helsing taking heroin and getting into bondage?
*(VAN + <h>ELSING); “taking heroin (=H)” means letter “h” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “doctor” |
| 12 | SIR | Teacher doing time in prison
S<t>IR (=prison, colloquially); “doing time (=T)” means letter “t” is dropped |
| 13 | FIGHT | Bundle of cargo about to be unloaded
F<re>IGHT (=cargo); “about (=re-) to be unloaded” means letters “re” are dropped; bundle is a slang word for fight, brawl |
| 14 | BLACK RAT | Need to stop naughty child being a pest
LACK (=need, want) in BRAT (=naughty child) |
| 16 | CHANNEL | Designer adopts new means of communication
N (=new) in CHANEL (=designer, i.e. Coco Chanel) |
| 21 | KETTLE | Check elements causing trouble in demonstration // boiler
Double definition: to kettle is to contain protesters in an enclosed area, hence “check elements causing trouble in demonstrations” AND a kettle is a boiler of water |
| 24 | GREASER | Biker changing gear to steer at regular intervals
*(GEAR) + S<t>E<e>R (“at regular intervals” means alternate letters only); “changing” is anagram indicator; colloquially, a greaser of a member of a gang of long-haired motorcyclists |
| 25 | ABATTOIR | A club rave turned into a shambles
A + BAT (=club, in sport) + TOIR (RIOT=rave, i.e. fun time; “turned” indicates reversal) |
| 28 | CREAM | Master race destroyed elite
*(M (=master) + RACE); “destroyed” is anagram indicator |
| 30 | DUO | They might play back sound’s prime elements
<s>OU<n>D; “prime elements of” means letters in prime number positions in the word “sOUnD“, i.e. letters 2, 3 and 5; “back” indicates reversal |
| 31 | OVERWRITE | Ended audience’s privilege to add new characters to script?
OVER + homophone of “right (=privilege)” |
| 32 | DANCE | Steps taken by desperate fellow in contact with church
DAN (=desperate fellow, from The Dandy comic) + CE (=church, i.e. Church of England) |
| 33 | YODELLER | Really taken aback about poem that was sung without a singer
ODE (=poem that was (originally) sung) in YLLER (RE<a>LLY; “without “a” ” means letter “a” is dropped; “taken aback” indicates reversal) |
| 34 | TREE | Supporter’s run on board plane?
R (=run, on cricket scorecard) in TEE (=supporter, in golf); a plane is a type of tree |
| Down | ||
| 01 | LOSE FACE | Suffer humiliation in encounter by toilets we hear
LOSE (homophone of “loos (=toilets)”) + FACE (=encounter, as verb) |
| 02 | DENIGRATE | On vacation, relative and I get horribly run down
*(R<elativ>E + AND I GET); “on vacation” means that all but first and last letters are emptied from this part of anagram, indicated by “horribly” |
| 04 | INSTALL | This month, everything’s put in place
INST. (=this month, i.e. instant) + ALL (=everything) |
| 05 | BLACK | Unofficial Labour leader splits support
L<abour> (“leader” means first letter only) in BACK (=support) |
| 06 | CHINA | Feature of church in Asian country
Hidden (“feature of”) in “churCH IN Asian” |
| 07 | SAGE | Plant flag on top of Everest
SAG (=flag, droop) + E<verest> (“top of” means first letter only) |
| 08 | CASTANET | Say how one might obtain a bass instrument
Cryptically, if you “cast a net” you may catch “obtain a bass”, i.e. catch a fish! |
| 09 | HERBAL | Right book to find remedy out?
[R (=right) + B (=book)] in HEAL (=remedy); & lit. |
| 15 | REV | Prior defrocking pious cleric
<p>REV<ious> (=prior); “defrocking pious” means letters “pious” are dropped |
| 18 | AREA CODE | Location-specific numbers are based on a system of rules
ARE + A + CODE (=system of rules) |
| 19 | EASTERNER | New Yorker perhaps set to become involved in profitable venture
*(SET) in EARNER (=profitable venture); “to become involved” is anagram indicator; an easterner is a native of one of the eastern states of the US |
| 20 | PREMIÈRE | Leading actress forgetting start of opening line before great dramatist
PRE-M<ol>IÈRE (=before great (French) dramatist); “forgetting start of opening (=O) + L (=line)” means letters “ol” are dropped; a première is a leading lady in a theatrical company |
| 22/17 | TEA LEAVES | Duck where roof sticks out and dips?
TEAL (=duck) + EAVES (=where roof sticks out); colloquially, dips are pickpockets, hence “tea leaves”, i.e. “thieves” in Cockney rhyming slang |
| 23 | EMOTIVE | Book brought up author’s arousing feelings
EMOT (TOME=book; “brought up” indicates vertical reversal) + I’VE (=author’s, i.e. Serpent has) |
| 24 | GARDEN | This plot could spell danger
*(DANGER); “could spell” is anagram indicator |
| 26 | BREAD | Penning article raised money
A (=article, in grammar) in BRED (=raised, reared) |
| 27 | TOWEL | This could dry up before source of water finally disappears
TO (=before, listed in Chambers) + WEL<l> (=source of water; “finally disappears” means last letter is dropped) |
| 29 | COSY | Intimate sex in modest surroundings doesn’t include former partner
S<ex> (“doesn’t include former partner (=EX)” means letters “ex” are dropped) in COY (=modest) |
For 30a, it is the prime elements of SOUND, I.e. elements 2,3 & 5 (O U D) reversed (back).
Always enjoy a mental struggle with a Serpent puzzle. Lots to enjoy. I particularly liked DUO & TREE.
I didn’t care so much for the crossing BLACK & BLACK RAT but that’s just personal taste. Also wasn’t convinced by “doing time” to denote removal of T in 12a but others may be able to explain it to me.
Was ok with TO = BEFORE in 27d as in “a quarter to/before five” say.
Thanks to Serpent and RatkojaRiku.
The trickiest of all today’s cryptics – well I thought so anyway. Like Hovis I didn’t care for the crossing ‘blacks’ but I did really like 15d
Thanks to Serpent and RR
Many thanks to RatkojaRiku for the excellent blog. There’s a ghost theme… (the accommodation of which dictated the less-than-ideal combination of BLACK and BLACK RAT or some nasty obscurities).
Oh .. of course – another theme I didn’t spot until I was told to look for a theme!! It isn’t that ghostly either so I really should have spotted it
Thanks for the hint, Serpent – I think we’ve got the theme. Now for a nice cuppa!
Looked for something extra but missed it until Serpent @4 provided the hint. Now, like crypticsue and allan, it becomes glaringly obvious.
I missed the cuppa as well. Good crossword with some deceptive definitions. I forgot the TEA LEAVES/thieves thingy.
I ticked the simple FIGHT and CASTANET.
Thanks Serpent and RR
Struggled with 13a (didn’t know bundle = fight), 21a (didn’t know that meaning of kettle), and 30a (assumed they were from the letters in sound, but don’t know my elements). Spotted the TEA theme, and the T symbols in the grid after a few minutes staring at the competed grid for ninas.
With all due respect to our blogger, 23ac has little if anything to do with chemical elements. It’s true that all the letters in ‘sound’ can represent elements – Sulphur (I stll spell it the old-fashioned way), Oxygen, Uranium, Nitrogen and Deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen), but ‘elements’ can just as easily refer to the elements (=letters) of the word. And as Hovis@1 points out the answer is just the letters whose position in ‘sound’ is represented by prime numbers in reverse order.
Not a setter whose work I’m particularly familiar with and I did struggle quite a bit with some of it.
Certainly didn’t know the slang terminology in 13a (I had fagot for the bundle & couldn’t make it parse) and am still not sure about the workings of 30a.
I did have ticks alongside 10&14a plus 1d.
Thanks to Serpent and to RR for the blog.
Found this quite a struggle and in the end I couldn’t get 20dn and 34ac. Not aware of that meaning of PREMIERE so even after doing a word search, I dismissed it as a possible answer.
Thanks to RatkojaRiku and Serpent
I bunged PREMIERE in without proper parsing – I thought it probably had something to do with Otto Preminger but I couldn’t be bothered to work out the necessary convolutions. My bad as they say – actually quite an elegant clue.
@12a I’ve opined before about the meanings ascribable to DO – it can mean almost anything as long as you are prepared to infer the missing words.
In this case it could reference the phrase “DO ONE” = disappear, as in “If the Old Bill turn up I’m going to do one”, or perhaps “If he carries on like that I’ll do for him”, where DO FOR = KILL. Maybe it appears in American crime fiction as synonymous with ICE.
In this case the answer couldn’t be anything else so it didn’t really matter, and didn’t spoil a very good crossword.
Finally finished! It was a struggle. Couldn’t parse 27 or 30. As for the theme – how could I have missed it? Wonderful. Thanks Serpent.
Thanks Serpent and RR
Another good toughie from JC. Made a mental note to look for a theme, after seeing the Ts in the grid. Then forgot to do it when I’d finished…
I especially liked 11 having watched Herzog’s Nosferatu The Vampyre in my home cinema a couple of days ago.
This took me longer than Serpents tend to these days, and I had to seek help for the parsing of PREMIÈRE. If I sound a little teed off it’s because I didn’t find the theme.
The CREAM for me were ENSLAVING, KETTLE, SAGE, CASTANET, REV and BREAD.
Thanks Serpent and RatkojaRiku.
While waiting for the Guardian to come on line, I happened to notice the blogger’s name RatkojaRiku and just wanted to say how nice it is to see a Finnish person on the site. And, Riku, your English is most impressive.
Anna-in-Helsinki