The puzzle can be found here.
Hello and happy weekend! I was thrilled to get the opportunity to blog a Serpent puzzle, but found this one a real toughie. One of those times when I’m staring at a not-very-full grid, wondering what I’m doing blogging when I clearly can’t solve crosswords at all. However, having mentally drafted a letter of resignation apologising and explaining that I am in fact an imposter, on taking a fresh look I managed a few more answers. I’d found the northeast corner most accessible, and early on wondered if there might be a GEORGE in the top row, but now I could guess the bottom row, and 16a was suddenly obvious. This helped with some more answers, and thereafter things went steadily and satisfyingly.
Serpent seems to like to make us work at times to find anagram fodder. I’ve noticed before he’s given us anagrams of acrostics, and today we have an anagram of alternate letters (TOADY) and as for NINETEEN, well this is very tricksy stuff!
Among many goodies, I loved the themed clues, as well as “creep about” in the aforementioned TOADY, the two meanings of fleece employed in CHEAT and the playful OUNCE (of course). And I couldn’t fail to smile at the surface of GEAR.
Thanks Serpent. Doubleplusgood!
Bonus link: George Orwell’s 1984: Why it still matters (BBC)
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.
Across
7a Never about to stop working, though not against wanting more (7)
NEEDIER
NE[v]ER around (about) DIE (to stop working) without (though not) V (versus, against)
8a Delegate’s cycling changed over time (7)
EVOLVED
DEVOLVE (delegate) with the letters cycling around
10a Direction of new articles written in alternative way (9)
NORTHEAST
N (new), followed by the insertion of THE and A (grammatical articles) in OR (alternative) + ST (street, way)
11a Stuck together once law enforcement agent’s arrested us (5)
FUSED
FED (law enforcement agent) containing (once …‘s arrested) US (from the clue)
12a Creep about idly, unevenly and erratically (5)
TOADY
AbOuT iDlY, the odd letters taken and anagrammed (unevenly and erratically)
14a Registered being on board submarine? (8)
ENROLLED
Two definitions, the second whimsical, with the submarine being a roll. I was, er, not quick to twig the second bit
16a European bishop’s retreat showcasing paintings collected by wealthy writer originally (4,6,5)
ERIC ARTHUR BLAIR
EUR (European) and B (bishop) plus LAIR (retreat) containing (showcasing) ART (paintings) inside (collected by) RICH (wealthy). The birth name of George Orwell
19a Honour-bound men went outside and disbanded union (8)
DIVORCED
OR (men) in VC (honour), so honour-bound men, with DIED (went) outside
21a Fleece is beginning to conserve warmth (5)
CHEAT
The first letter of (beginning to) Conserve followed by HEAT (warmth)
23a Cat scratching sleeve of jumper (5)
OUNCE
[b]OUNCE[r], or perhaps [p]OUNCE[r], (jumper) without (scratching) the outer letters (sleeve)
24a Part One providing artist with inspiration for example (4,5)
ROLE MODEL
ROLE (part) + MODEL (one providing artist with inspiration)
26a One jailed by court after gunmen spread out (7)
RADIATE
I (one) inside (jailed by) DATE (court), all after RA (Royal Artillery, gunmen)
27a These people must take blame for ill treatment (7)
THERAPY
THEY (these people) containing (must take) RAP (blame for ill)
Down
1d Stands naked holding up end of wedding tackle (4)
GEAR
[b]EAR[s] (stands) without the outer letters (naked) following (holding up, in a down answer) the final letter of (end of) weddinG
2d 22 scores having great influence but not well-liked to begin with (6)
EIGHTY
22 here first needs to be translated into the answer to 22d. The wordplay is [w]EIGHTY (having great influence) without (but not) the first letter of (… to begin with) Well-liked
3d Embellish contents of more books about celebrity (8)
ORNAMENT
The inner letters of (contents of) mORe and NT (New Testament books) around (about) NAME (celebrity)
4d Minister upset church before interrupting bishop (6)
RECTOR
The reversal of (upset) CE (Church of England) and TO (before) all inside (interrupting) RR (Right Reverend, bishop)
5d Beat up apprentice overtaking learner driver? (4,4)
GOLF CLUB
FLOG (beat) reversed (up, in a down answer) followed by CUB (apprentice) around (overtaking) L (learner)
6d Draw tea service from a different perspective (10)
EVISCERATE
TEA SERVICE anagrammed (from a different perspective)
7d Number 10 tripled it in error (8)
NINETEEN
10a is northeast, so we have three copies of (tripled) NE — NE NE NE — plus IT (from the clue) anagrammed (in error). I got this from the theme but took a long time to figure it out (pun intended)
9d Man‘s expected to embrace daughter (4)
DUDE
DUE (expected) containing (to embrace) D (daughter)
13d Fuss about timeless novel beginning to alienate fan (10)
AFICIONADO
ADO (fuss) around (about) FIC[t]ION (novel) without T (timeless …) with the first letter of (beginning to) Alienate
15d British rugby supporter follows opening of tournament without any feeling (8)
BRUTALLY
B (British) and RU (Rugby (Union)), then ALLY (supporter) follows the initial letter of (opening of) Tournament
17d Prove a Bachelor of Arts may be at a premium (5,3)
ABOVE PAR
PROVE A BA (Bachelor of Arts) can be anagrammed to give (may be) the answer
18d Rise and fall of Latin garnering excessive coverage (8)
UNDULATE
LAT (Latin) inside (garnering … coverage) UNDUE (excessive)
20d Rogue has hardly any support when it’s time to go home (6)
CURFEW
CUR (rogue) with FEW (hardly any) at the end (has … support, in a down answer)
21d Force railway to provide platform for school (6)
COMPEL
EL (elevated railway) following (to provide platform for) COMP (school)
22d Cardinal heeded warning (4)
FOUR
Sounds like (heeded) FORE (warning). This completes the themed entries NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR
25d Board of Trade (4)
DEAL
A very nifty double definition. I knew deal as wood from crosswords, but it’s also specifically defined in Chambers as “a fir or pine board of a standard size”
No surprise that I found this to be a brilliant crossword. Serpent always makes me work hard but I invariably seem to get there in the end.
Ooh, there’ll be comments about 1d. Loved it!
Beautifully constructed theme.
I went with “pouncer” for 23a. Felt “pounce” equated to “jump” better than “bounce”. Parsed 27a slightly differently taking “I’ll treatment”, as in “treatment of the ill” as definition, with rap = blame”. Think both work.
My only minor gripe is that the clue for 22d could just as well clue FORE.
Thanks to Serpent and Kitty.
As usual, didn’t spot the ‘auto-incorrect” changed “ill” to “I’ll” until after posting.
Struggled like Kitty until I got the ‘writer originally’ def, with plain(-ish) sailing thereafter.
I actually had ‘rears’ not ‘bears’ for ‘stands’ in 1d, which still seemed to work.
Great puzzle. And ingenious setting without the plethora of foreign words and proper nouns which a theme so often seems to bring with it.
Many thanks to both.
Would have helped immeasurably if I’d spotted the theme. As it was, I got the alternative answer in for 22d which made 26a impossible – ENDGAME simply wouldn’t parse! Needed Kitty’s help to show me the error of my ways and also to parse 10&14a plus 7d.
Not my finest hour, I think Serpent is out of my league. Thanks to him nevertheless for the challenge and much gratitude to Kitty for her assistance.
Great puzzle, thank you serpent. And thank you kitty for EUR ( I was wondering where the ur came from) and the NE in nineteen, which eluded me completely.
Stupidly got 16a before seeing the Nina like oh, that might have helped.
“I’d found the northeast corner most accessible, and early on wondered if there might be a GEORGE in the top row, but now I could guess the bottom row, and 16a was suddenly obvious. This helped with some more answers, and thereafter things went steadily and satisfyingly” – that was our experience exactly. We were also helped by having seen in the paper this morning that today is the 70th anniversary of the publication of ‘1984’.
LOI was ENROLLED – it took us ages to see the parsing; obviously we don’t go to a certain sandwich shop often enough.
We liked the ‘Russian doll’ clue for DIVORCED. Other favourites were RADIATE and CURFEW.
Thanks, Serpent and Kitty.
What a fabulous puzzle and blog . Very pleased to see the full time job is not going to interfere completely with your blogs Kitty!
Many thanks to Kitty for the really excellent blog, and to everyone who has taken the time to comment.