A puzzle with a local theme for the Leicester Sloggers and Betters meeting, compiled by Egbert (half of Bert and Joyce).
I was pleasantly surprised by how well-constructed this puzzle was; among other things it’s a pangram and it packs in a number of local references. It seemed to me for the most part to be well up to the standard of a broadsheet daily cryptic. I don’t know why I should be surprised that an accomplished blogger should also be capable of setting such a puzzle, except that I know from experience that it’s a lot harder than it looks! In the grid below, the coloured entries are the themed ones.
Here is a link to the puzzle, for those that were unable to come to the gathering today; it’s also available online in an interactive version at www.crossword.info/S_and_B
| Across | ||
| 1 | LAST | Survive when surrounded by forwards of 1d/9 (4) |
| AS inside LT (Leicester Tigers). | ||
| 3 | THIRD | Primarily, training hard increases runner’s determination to get a podium position (5) |
| Initial letters. | ||
| 6 | SOAR | 33 – sounds painful running locally! (4) |
| Sounds like “sore”; a reference to Leicester’s principal river. It was easy to guess this without having solved 33 (RISE). | ||
| 11 | ITALIAN | National appeal to arrest a revolutionary (7) |
| IT (appeal – as in sex appeal) NAIL A (rev). | ||
| 12 | ZOOLOGY | Science backs Australian grandchild keeping a diary (7) |
| OZ (Australian, rev) with LOG in OY (a Scottish word for a grandchild). I thought that this was hard to parse, although easy enough to guess once the initial Z was in place, because OY is a pretty unfamiliar term. | ||
| 13 | EMI | Record company once released a single from an Indy setter (3) |
| E(I)MI is the pseudonym of the crossword editor of the Independent (during the week) but he is also an occasional setter. | ||
| 14 | EMERALD ISLE | Where stout’s the favoured tipple, military engineers return supermarket’s beer unopened (7,4) |
| REME (rev) ALDI’S (a)LE. | ||
| 15 | UBR | Taxi company avoids English business tax (3) |
| UB(e)R, although I suspect that the company would describe itself in slightly more grandiose terms, such as “network transportation company”. UBR stands for Uniform Business Rate. The second of the three sets of abbreviations in the grid. | ||
| 17 | TIMES | Newspaper setter’s involved in determined comeback (5) |
| ME in SET (rev). Unfortunate to have “set” in the answer and also as part of a word in the clue. | ||
| 18 | RENAMED | Centre of arena made elaborate – as 31/2 was to become 35/28d/2 (7) |
| (a)REN(a) (centre of “arena”) + *MADE. Leicester City’s Walkers Stadium was renamed the King Power Stadium. | ||
| 21 | EVE | Woman‘s final evidence leads to verdict (3) |
| (evidenc)E VE(rdict). “leads to” cleverly indicates the first two letters of “verdict”. | ||
| 22 | RICHARD | This diminutive chap might be spotted at the dessert counter (7) |
| A diminutive of Richard is Dick, and spotted dick is a dessert… | ||
| 25 | CURVE | A bit of Valium taken during therapy for locals of a theatrical bent? (5) |
| V in CURE. Curve is a state of the art theatre in Leicester, opened in 2008. | ||
| 27 | AAA | US drivers’ club gets top credit rating (3) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 28 | PLANTAGENET | Factory representative seen round back of terrace house (11) |
| PLANT with (terrac)E in AGENT. | ||
| 30 | VIA | By way of 6a (3) |
| VI (six) A. | ||
| 31 | WALKERS | Following repeal of legislation by 35, hospital departments procure mobility aids (7) |
| LAW (rev), K(ing), ERS (US for Emergency RoomS). | ||
| 32 | NAIROBI | Rain generated by witchcraft in African city (7) |
| *RAIN, OBI (witchcraft). | ||
| 33 | RISE | About to restrict one’s increase in pay (4) |
| I’S (one’s) in RE (about). | ||
| 34 | FOXES | Opposing sides overcome by local team (5) |
| X (by) in FOES. Nickname for Leicester City FC. | ||
| 35 | KING | Buried in car park – inglorious location for one such as 22 the 3, the 1a/28a (4) |
| Hidden in “park inglorious”. Purists would say that it is wrong to have two hidden indicators (“buried” and “location”) but it does make for a good surface. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | LEICESTER | Square dance coming up – content most agreeable, but not new (9) |
| (n)ICEST in REEL (rev). A definition by example, I fear. | ||
| 2 | STADIUM | A tidy sum, no end of money, spent for 34 ground perhaps (7) |
| *(A TID(y) SUM). | ||
| 4 | HENPECKED | Browbeaten husband kissed by nurse (9) |
| H EN (enrolled nurse) PECKED. | ||
| 5 | RIZLA | Joint paper originally researched in Zurich by the French (5) |
| Initial letters, LA. Lovely definition leading to a misleading surface. | ||
| 7 | OPOSSUM | Work with a large amount of money to find a new world omnivore (7) |
| OP OS SUM. | ||
| 8 | RHYME | Frost reciting his poem? (5) |
| Sounds like “rime” (frost); the reference to the poet Robert Frost is a bonus. | ||
| 9 | TIGERS | Binder contains a bit of gen on first of several formidable competitors (6) |
| G(en) in TIER, S(everal). Not entirely sure that Leicester Tigers are quite so formidable this season (currently in 11th place in the Premiership – out of 12!). | ||
| 10 | GOLDEN | Local mile record upheld by study (6) |
| LOG (rev) on DEN. Apparently a stretch of Belgrave Road in Leicester is known as the Golden Mile. | ||
| 16 | BETH | Shortly perhaps, the queen is to live over the Northern Hotel? (4) |
| BE T’H. | ||
| 18 | RESONANCE | Ringing endorsement initially gets offspring into timeless ecstatic state (9) |
| E(ndorsement) SON in (t)RANCE. | ||
| 19 | AQUA | Clear blue water (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 20 | DEEJAYING | Compering a music programme, introducing Duane Eddy, Elton John and Abba and the start of a song by the Goons (9) |
| Initial letters plus YING (from the Ying-Tong song by the Goons) | ||
| 23 | CHARLES | 1d leader participating in intricate search for the next 35 (7) |
| L(eicester) in *SEARCH. | ||
| 24 | ANTHEM | Song provoking a powerful response from a social worker on the edge (6) |
| ANT (“social worker”), HEM. | ||
| 25 | CATKIN | Relative of 9 possibly found in a willow tree (6) |
| CAT KIN. | ||
| 26 | RAVIOLI | Pasta recipe needs a touch of vinegar in garlic mayonnaise (7) |
| R (ecipe),V in AIOLI (garlic mayonnaise). | ||
| 28 | POWER | Authority‘s a problem with society being overrun by women? (5) |
| POSER with W for S. I haven’t seen “overrun” used to indicate a substitution in this way before. | ||
| 29 | GUSTO | Delight when storm comes to nothing (5) |
| GUST O. | ||
*anagram
A pleasant solve on the train home. It was helped by my knowing something about Leicester, having lived in Leicestershire and studied at what is now De Montfort University briefly in the 60s. An impressive puzzle nevertheless. Thanks, Egbert and bridgesong – and thanks to both Bert and Joyce for helping to arrange the day, sorry you had to leave so early.
Thanks for a super blog, Bridgesong, especially for the care you have taken in researching all the references. [I’ll even forgive you for the dig about Tigers. 😉 ] I’m glad you enjoyed the puzzle and very sorry you weren’t able to be with us on Saturday.
We in the ‘East Midlands Consortium’ have been aware of Egbert’s talent for quite a while now. He usually brings a [themed] puzzle to our regular lunch meetings [preceded by a drink in THE LAST PLANTAGENET!] and we certainly think they deserve a much larger audience.
Huge thanks, Chris, for another super puzzle. They just keep getting better. I enjoyed every minute of it, with chuckles and sighs of appreciation all the way through. I’m just amazed at how many [cross] references you got in – and I’ll even forgive you for the Ying tong ear worm. 😉 To name just a handful of favourites, I loved the browbeaten husband, the diminutive chap spotted, the factory representative, the joint paper, Frost reciting and the pasta recipe and I could go on…
Eileen, thanks very much. Chris provided detailed notes, so no great research effort was required. I see now that I failed to highlight Richard in the grid: clearly a local,reference!
I enjoyed this, and I agree with what you say, Bridgesong, about its quality. As an occasional amateur setter, I have to say that this is much how I aspire to set a crossword, themed or not.
Eileen has listed many of my ‘moments’ also in the solving of this puzzle. The Spotted RICHARD wasn’t hard to get, but can a whimsical definition like this be offered to an editor like Eimi? I didn’t know Leicester’s river (I had to get RISE before SOAR) – nor did I know Curve or ERS. I guessed there was a GOLDEN mile.
The only answer I didn’t get was FOXES. I’d forgotten the name of the ‘local team’, and I couldn’t get it from the rest of the clue.
Many thanks to both setter and blogger.