Imogen goes heavy on the general knowledge today.
I love general knowledge in my puzzles as I am as much a quiz lover as a cruciverbalist, so it suits me, however, this much GK in a puzzle is not to everyone’s liking.
As is usual with Imogen, most of the clues are excellent, however the homophone at 3dn does not work at all for me, and 25dn is poorly defined.
My favourite clues were 19ac and 24dn.
Thanks, Imogen.
PS This was almost a pangram, but Imogen may have been clever in including TEN as an answer, because that would give us the X that is missing from the grid.
| Across | ||
| 1, 9 | TATTENHAM CORNER | A bend in the track and son abandons foolish Matterhorn ascent (9,6) |
| *(matterhorn acent) ( to get anagram fodder, S (son) abandons A(s)CENT)
Tattenham Corner is the famous sharp bend of Epsom racecourse, home of the Derby. |
||
| 9 | See 1 | |
| 10 | DISREPAIR | Rapid rise can turn into collapse (9) |
| *(rapid rise) | ||
| 11 | RUBRIC | Instruction to serviceman: polish grain endlessly (6) |
| RUB (“polish”) + RIC(e) (“grain” endlessly) | ||
| 12 | MATUTINAL | Pharaoh dips into sea and a lake in the morning (9) |
| TUT (“Pharaoh”) dips into MAIN (“sea”) and A L (lake) | ||
| 13 | STONED | Put to death perhaps, with uneatable part removed (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 17, 18 | BATTEN | Strut, as tail-ender may (6) |
| A BATTEN is a strut, and in cricket, a tail-ender may BAT at number TEN | ||
| 19 | ANGELOU | US poet starts to open up, led by divine spirit (7) |
| [starts to] O(pen) U(p), led by ANGEL (“divine spirit”)
Refers to Maya Angelou, the US poet whose authobiographies, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, are more well-known than her poetry. |
||
| 20 | EZEKIEL | Visionary camp inmate I fed to fish (7) |
| ZEK (Russian prisoner, especially in a labour camp, os “camp inmate”) + I fed to EEL (“fish”), so E(ZEK-I)EL | ||
| 21 | See 17 down | |
| 23 | NEOCON | Hawk using gas to quell pacifist (6) |
| NEON (“gas”) to quell CO (conscientious objector, so “pacifist”) | ||
| 27 | GINORMOUS | Using room that’s turned out huge (9) |
| *(using room) | ||
| 28 | TRAJAN | From emperor, nationalist about to seize government (6) |
| <=NAT (nationalist, about) to seize RAJ (“government”in British-occupied India) | ||
| 29 | FOOLHARDY | Laurel disguise may, being irresponsible (9) |
| If Stan Laurel had worn a disguise, he may have fooled his partner Oliver Hardy. | ||
| 30, 31 | SELECT COMMITTEE | Group of MPs choose to pledge support (6,9) |
| SELECT (“choose”) + COMMIT (“to pledge”) + TEE (“support” for a golf ball) | ||
| 31 | See 30 | |
| Down | ||
| 2, 14 | ANIMAL MAGNETISM | Life drawing? (6,9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 3 | TORQUE | Force to speak aloud (6) |
| A homophone [aloud] of TALK (“to speak”)
Sorry to keep beating this drum, but up here in Scotland, “talk and “torque” sound nothing alike. |
||
| 4 | NAPKIN | What baby may need is to be out briefly with family (6) |
| NAP (“to be out (ie asleep) briefly”) with KIN (“family”) | ||
| 5 | ALI BABA | His thieving enemies met a jarring death (3,4) |
| Cryptic definition, referring to the Arabian Nights tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. In the story, the thieves hide in oil jars, and Ali Baba kills them by pouring boiling oil into the jars. | ||
| 6 | VOLUNTEER | Offer true love, not at first to be trifled with (9) |
| *(true love n) where N is N(ot) [at first] | ||
| 7 | IN TRANSIT | Having no object, I’ve left off travelling (2,7) |
| INTRANSIT(ive) (in grammar, “having no object”) with IVE [left off] | ||
| 8, 26 | CROCODILE DUNDEE | Film kids walking by brown river (9,6) |
| CROCODILE (“kids walking” in crocodile file) by DUN (“brown”) + (River) DEE | ||
| 14 | See 2 | |
| 15 | IGNORABLE | Gunners in base not needing to be called to attention (9) |
| RA (Royal Artillery, os “gunners”) in IGNOBLE (“base”) | ||
| 16 | ALLOWANCE | A cut introduces mean ration (9) |
| A LANCE (“cut”) introduces LOW (“mean”) | ||
| 17, 21 | BUT TON | Feature of trousers: worn under seat (6) |
| ON (“worn”) + BUTT (“seat”) | ||
| 18 | See 17 across | |
| 22 | ORINOCO | Regularly using coercion, force on border flower (7) |
| [regularly using] (c)O(e)R(c)I(o)N(f)O(r)C(e)O(n)
The Orinoco is a river (“flower” (that which flows), some of which forms part of the border between Venezuela and Colombia. |
||
| 24 | GOLLUM | Would-be ringmaster‘s energy upsetting Scottish island (6) |
| GO (“energy”) upsetting <=MULL (“Scottish island”)
In The Lord of the Rings, Gollum is a Stoor Hobbit, corrupted by the One Ring (“his precious”) |
||
| 25 | UMLAUT | A dotty mutual exchange (6) |
| *(mutual)
An umlaut is an accent in some languages, particularly German, that looks like two dots placed on top of a vowel, for example in München, the German for Munich. |
||
| 26 | See 8 | |
*anagram
Don’t know if it’s just me but this bloke numbs my right hemisphere, whose job is to keep all possible meanings a-simmer so the left can do the cranking. I mean, as well as tree, and prize or honour, Laurel also activates Stan, right? And select commit tee for choose pledge support is pretty standard. Stared at those and a couple of others numbly for ages. Finally got them, with only 12ac and 20ac to go; cracked matutinal, which rang a vague bell, but cheated on trajan. A mental alphabet trawl and patience might have jagged it, reverse nat round raj isn’t that hard, but I’d run out.
No complaints though, enjoyed the chew, though lack of gk made it tougher. Never heard of the Epsom corner (or the station where ER gets out), nor zek the gulag inmate, nor the churchy meaning of rubric, and the author rang only a faint bell. The movie, otoh, no worries mate! And as for 3d, no worries there either, identical phonemes over here. Fun tussle but was glad when it was over, thanks P and I.
Some clever stuff in here – I didn’t know the word MATUTINAL but was able to get it from the wordplay, likewise the Gulag inhabitant in EZEKIEL. “Government” meaning “Raj” is neat.
But.
I happen to be a Tolkein fan. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have a hope with 24dn. And apropos 3dn it’s useful for those of us who live dahn sahf to be reminded that not everyone pronounces “talk” a la RP.
I intensely dislike this particular grid because it effectively creates four small crosswords independent of one another; Imogen mitigates this to some extent by the long solutions running from one mini-grid to another, though 2, 14 was my LOI. The three-letter words in the centre are often a difficulty for the compiler (and, thank goodness, are enough to put most compilers off using this grid pattern) but I thought were clued remarkably neatly.
I know I will get objections, but a torque is not a force: it is the product of a force and a length.
Am I the only one not understanding the definition for IGNORABLE?
A bit of looking up to complete this; FOOLHARDY was one of them, but a nice clue I am sad to not have found for myself.
Thanks loonapick and Imogen
Yep, roger that re torque, Dave@3, tho Physics 101 was more than half a century ago; it’s all about usage it seems (like loofah/sponge yesterday).
What’s the prob with ‘ignorable’ meaning ‘not needing to be called to attention’?
I found this fun in parts but some bits did not light my fire. Obscure GK of “zek” in random Bible prophets (probably my most hated bit of crossword GK, even more than modern popular music ensembles) did not do much for me, though Maya Angelou was fair game. The corner rang a faint bell and the anagram dropped out once “corner” was obvious and taken out. I thought “matutinal” an excellent way to clue an obscure word, which I enjoyed putting together with a couple of crossers. Also “baten” and “buton” made me struggle for the wordplay until learned to unsee what was in front of me! This meaning of “rubric” was new to me, being familiar only with the instructions on exam papers. Perhaps we should still print them in red, though I doubt it would help students to follow them any better.
“raj” was good for govt, but couple with a very mediocre “nat” alas. And 2dn I thought a very weak cd – even once I guessed it I had no idea it was right, which is not really how a CD should work. Anyhow, thanks Imogen for the workout and some deft ideas, and loonapick for the explanations.
A couple of other thoughts: Not sure “ali baba” is a particularly cryptic definition, but a write-in if you know the story and impossible otherwise? And on the “torque” debate, I’m with Dave Ellison @3 – it is not a force and in science it is not about usage but definition.
I enjoyed that and found the grid dascinting, especially appreciating the long connections on each edge. My favourite was rubric (though in my case instructions for a servicewoman). I needed to come here for some of the parsing though: I had never heard of Zek, though Ezekiel is (obviously for a ‘servicewoman’) familiar. Thank you both!
*fascinating* (sorry: writing on phone…)
Not my cup of tea at all. Failed on ‘Ezekiel’ as I had never heard of ‘zek’ and had a clumsy ‘bat ton’ for 17a/18d.
I think I’m with ginf@1 – I find Imogen’s puzzles very dry. FOOLHARDY and GOLLUM did bring a smile to my face. Zek was new to me and I didn’t get MATUTINAL and was looking for a pharaoh.
Thanks to Imogen and loonapick for the blog.
Pete: Thanks for the umlaut explanation.
Loonapick: Don’t München it!
Heavy on the GK, I thought, but lots of learning because of that. I had to google “zek” to check that it was a legitimate element of 20ac, and I wondered what soldiers and sailors and airmen did with a “rubric” as I was unfamiliar with an ecclesiastical use – thanks ginf @ 1 (more familiar to me is its use as a heading or descriptive title in a table).
Enjoyed the central 3-letter clues, and thought it was clever to use the last letter of the first syllable (or is it a phoneme? I let someone more knwoledgeable sort me out) as the first letter of the second element – also very economical!
As for torque my recollection is that it is a measure of angular momentum, and momentum is force x acceleration, so not just “force”. But ho-hum.
“Umlaut”, though, is NOT the name of two dots – that is “diaresis”. “Umlaut” refers to the vowel change. English has umlauts (compare “far” and “fare”) – we just don’t mark them with a diaresis. Harrumph – rant over.
Thanks Imogen for a good brain workout and loonapick for a helpful blog.
Splendid rant Trismegistus – thanks for the umlaut and diaresis explanation – I’m about to wow MrsW with it. 🙂
I’m always pleased to finish an Imogen and found this enjoyable. Agree with comments on GK, but, once I got corner, tattenham was the obvious anagram (I did have a couple of crossers) and it was interesting to learn of Zek. Took me a bit of googling (in lieu of getting out the dictionary) to get matutinal as I had remembered it as matitudinal. No trouble with the other bits of GK for me. I’m sure I’ve seen torque equated to both force and talk (no probs with the homophone in NZ) before.
Fav was GOLLUM, but I also liked FOOLHARDY. I parsed BAT TEN as what the tail-ender might score, forgetting re the numbering of batswomen/men.
Thanks to Imogen and to Loonapick.
Much to enjoy here – including three new words for me which were well-clued and thus solvable – TATTENHAM CORNER + MATUTINAL as well as ZEK. My favourites were GOLLUM, FOOLHARDY, IGNORABLE.
I failed to solve the two centre ones 17/21 and 17/18 – my mind went blank on both of them, but I probably would have been more likely to get BAT TEN than the other one.
Thanks B+S.
Note: surely Imogen is a female?
PS yes, thanks Trismegistus re the umlaut and diaresis explanation – I didn’t know that.
And thanks also to those who remember enough of physics to remind the rest of us what torque is.
@12, @13 If we’re going to be pedantic, it’s “diaeresis” (or US “dieresis”), not “diaresis”; and better examples of umlaut in English might be “goose – geese” and “mouse – mice”, wouldn’t they?
Trismigestus@12 – Chambers has (and this is backed up by several other dictionaries online) umlaut defined as “a mark consisting of two dots placed above a vowel (eg ö or ä) that undergoes or has undergone this change”.
If you knew zero Tolkein, Neil H@2, there’s still the faintest ghost of a chance you might try reversing Mull after go, then search it for confirmation; but for Ali Baba, TheZed@2, you’re right, there’s no chance at all without knowing the story (even so, it took a bit of deep memory-dredging).
You usually expect a good work out for the cryptic grey matter when the name Imogen appears above the crossword and this was a particularly fine example of the art.
Some splendid d’oh moments – as for Gollum – I’ve never read any Tolkien or seen the films but I have heard of him and the wordplay was helpful
Thanks to Imogen and loonapick – Oh and Michelle@15 – Imogen is definitely a gentleman in more ways than one
I found this a real grind until I was well over half way through. Re: 1,9ac “Tattenham Corner is the famous sharp bend of Epsom racecourse” – your mileage may vary about how famous you regard this. I had certainly never heard of it. This combined with the half clue (no constructional half) and long solution of 2,14 dn, I found rather annoying, Also, yeah, torque and force aren’t the same thing.
Trismigestus@12. Wearing my ex-Physics teacher hat, I have to correct this nonsense about torque.
Torque is defined as force x perpendicular distance from a pivot. It is not a measure of anything, and certainly not a measure of angular momentum. Instead it can cause a change of angular momentum.
And the idea that momentum is force x acceleration is simply unbelievable nonsense. Momentum is mass x velocity.
Lesson over.
As has been pointed out (and to state the obvious) this might as well have been 4 separate crosswords packed into the same grid. I managed to solve three of them, and enjoyed them, but I couldn’t solve the crossword at the bottom left. 14d would have got me started on that, but all it said was ‘See 2’, and I couldn’t get the phrase despite having bunged in the answer to 2d.
I have never heard of Angelou, zek, nat (or Nat), neocon (obviously a short form) or ignorable, but I could have worked out the last one of those if I had more than its last crosser (I even guessed the ‘-ble’).
Thanks to Imogen for the puzzle (I did complete the words in the centre as well as the three quarters) and to loonapick for the blog.
Trismegistus @12
I think I can answer your question about phonemes. A phoneme is a single sound and represented as a letter like /t/, which is the ‘t’ sound as in many words but not as in words like ‘motion’, of course. Just as the /v/ phoneme (with the sound as you know it in English) which is the last sound in the word ‘of’ as well as the first sound in ‘veil’, etc. Both vowels and consonants have phonemes.
Very classy puzzle by Imo who torqued that torque. No problems with any clues, only my brain cells.
Aye thangu everyone
Jim @22 thanks (as another ex physics teacher)…and ironically the “force x acceleration” mentioned is indeed force!
Thank you Imogen for a challenging puzzle and loonapick for a helpful blog.
Like ngaiolaurenson @14, “matitudinal” first came to my mind at 12a – I could not find it in my dictionaries so googled – most references came up with its use in “Lolita”, but then I found this in “Reading Abbey Chancel“, page 18,
“The high altar was reserved for solemn Masses whereas lower down in the chancel there was often a simpler altar, the matutinal, for the early morning matitudinal, or ’morrow’ Mass.”
The matitudinal Mass is also referred to on page 82 here.
It seems that the adjective matitudinal has survived in NZ whereas MATUTINAL is a noun.
I also found “matitudinal bells” referred to in this article about the past.
Thanks Imogen and loonapick
On the pangram side of things, not only does TEN (X) appear, but the diagonals form an X across the grid.
Generally I found this very tough with a lot of unfamiliar terms. In the end a DNF here, but pleased to have only failed on Trajan. Unsurprisingly given the above comments, the last ones were Ezekiel, Matutinal and neocon. The latter two and the middle bit of the other were unfamiliar. Overall pleased to have got as far as I did and I did like animal magnetism, foolhardy and Gollum. Thanks to Imogen for the challenge (and vocabulary enhancement) and loonapick for the blog,
But “A dotty” is an umlaut?
Simon S @27, X marks the spot…
Vague definitions are all part of the game, but I felt that batten=strut and torque=force were both wrong. Likewise rare words, but matutinal seems excessively so. (I won’t quibble at Tattenham Corner, as I admit to almost total ignorance about racing). The only meaning of rubric I knew was the instructions preceding an exam paper, but it does appear to be fair general knowledge in its clerical sense. Some clues I liked: I really should have seen Crocodile Dundee and ignorable, and Gollum was good.
Thanks Imogen and loonapick
Quite a few unparsed, and I agree that it was GK heavy, though I did like CROCODILE DUNDEE. IN TRANSIT was another favourite.
The middle was odd but inventive – they apparently read BATEN and BUTON, but BAT TEN and BUT TON if you put the answers together. I’m not sure that I’ve every seen this trick before.
I was stalled for some time with a partly parsed THOREAU at 19a.
Why is TRAJAN defined as “From emperor”? He was called “Trajan” – “from Trajan” would be “Trajanic” or something similar?
Simon S @27, one could interpret that as +X
Took me almost forever but managed to finish. I don’t remember Imogen’s puzzles being so hard, but it seems others think they usually are. Like others, had to check ZEK; favourites were FOOLHARDY and NEOCON. Many thanks to Imogen and loonapick.
michelle @ 15
Imogen is Richard Browne, crossword editor of the times 2002-2014.
Enjoyed this one, pretty tough in places but all fair.
Thanks to Imogen and loonapick
An excellent workout, with the provisos noted, most especially – for me – the Trajan clue. I think the umlaut clue is fine if taken as an all-in-one. The clue actually covers the vowel change as well as the indication thereof.
Loved this puzzle. New word for me in MATUTINAL but the cluing was sound – I followed the clues then Googled the resulting word to confirm it was correct. On the TALK / TORQUE homophone question, isn’t that an issue with many homophones, that they don’t work in all accents? But it’s still surely fair game, as most/all Scots must know how the words are pronounced further South, no? If there was a homophone which depended on, for example, pronouncing BATH as if it rhymed with MATH (i.e. Northern English usage), surely it’s reasonable to assume I could get it, even though I pronounce it BARTH?
Agree with muffin@32 that the “From” in 28a seems wrong.
Regarding homophones – here we have torque/talk but the issue comes up with other pairs all the time – there is maybe a way to look at them that will reduce complaints. In other clues, where we have A clued as B, we do not require that A and B are identical in all respects, rather that one of the meanings of A is B. So for homophones, surely if a large number of people will pronounce the pair very similarly, that is all that is required. There may have to be some unavoidable asymmetry, where if the region of homophonicity is not SE England the clue will need to be qualified somehow – not fair, but that’s life.
Thanks both,
Being a pedantic mathematician by nature, I was initially inclined to quibble over torque being a force, but OED defies it as ‘rotational force’ and if one was to define a force equivalent to angular velocity, angular momentum etc, one would probably come up with something dimensionally equivalent to torque.
Tough going this, but it would have been quicker if I’d remembered ‘see u think q’.
On the homophone question, I grudgingly accept that it TALK and TORQUE sound the same to the majority, it is probably fair game, although I think the indicator should be qualified to say somethng like “to some” or “some might say”, as without crossers, I would never have come to TORQUE. To my mind, TORQUE has a clear R sound in it, whereas TALK does not. When working out the homophone, I have to add an R to TALK which is less obvious than the other way round (i.e. removing the R from TORQUE to get TALK). Of course, if the Sassenachs pronounced their Rs this would not be an issue!! Yes, I know some Scots don’t pronounce their Ts, (wa’er, bu’er) but I do!
Speaking as a scouser, TORQUE worked for me and we have seen this used as a homophone before have we not? Never heard of TATTENHAM CORNER- or MATUTINAL come to that – and couldn’t work it out despite having the CORNER part. I had to cheat on EZEKIEL as well but I did manage the rest of the GK. I thought the STRUT/TROUSERS bit was somewhat iffy but I did get it so I suppose—.
Bit of a brain scrambler all round.
Thanks Imogen.
Wow! You guys are smart. I thought general knowledge meant generally known! I guess that puts me in the ungeneral ignorant camp. Anyway there’s always tomorrow.
Re the umlaut discussion: a case of verbal dieresis?
I made a crossword recently and included EZEKIEL for grid-filling purposes. One of the most difficult words I’ve ever tried to clue. Dors it show?!
Character finally echoes around limitless skies, source of lightning reveals prophet (7)
I know it’s verbose and the surface is a bit of a stretch but would genuinely be interested in feedback. I really struggled with it. I tried to make the definition obvious to counter the clunk.
Perhaps there is a better forum for people wanting feedback on clueing, test solves etc?
Any recommendations? Couldn’t find much when I employed my preferred search engine.
It works, 10FC, but I don’t think I would have solved it!
Try here for general crossword discussion.
Thank you. I’ll try that.
My wife worked it out but hasn’t fully parsed the EZE at time of going to press!
Character finally – Z
Echoes (plural) around – E E
limitless skies – KIE
source of lightning – L
Thanks to loonapick and Imogen
Not really my favourite sort of crossword but all fair enough except “on” ( a tenuous synonym for “worn” ) is not below “butt”.
Richard Browne contributed to a very fine obituary for a Times setter in Monday’s edition.
Very nice, I thought – most of the complaints above strike me as nitpicking. I thought Emily Davison taught everyone where Tattenham Corner was, but obviously not.
It’s a wavelength thing.
I thought this crossword was elegant and I loved the symmetry of both grid and cluing.
As a scientist, I’m used to inaccurate definitions in this field, just as I accept approximate homophones. My LOI was TORQUE precisely because of the slack homophony.
My thanks to Imogen and loonapick.
Thanks Imogen and loonapick. Favourites today were 8d CROCODILE DUNDEE and 24d GOLLUM.
Has anyone managed to explain the “From” in 28a TRAJAN? (See muffin @32.) It certainly puzzled me. The best I could come up with was:
From [this] emperor [or rather his name], [we can get] nationalist about [TAN] to seize government [RAJ]. Does that work?
(By the way, I would be really interested to know why Richard Browne chose the name Imogen, which does lead people to assume the setter is female – eg michelle @15.)
I enjoyed this as usual with Imogen. I am not an expert on grids but was this one unusual? There seemed possibly to be fewer black squares than the norm (all singles) and consequently more letters to find? Also symmetrical in four directions rather than two.
I liked the linked clues in each corner plus those in the centre.
No objections to the GK this time as I seemed to know all of it. No problem with 3d as I talk the TORQUE.
FOOLHARDY probably my favourite as I’m a fan. Also IN TRANSIT.
Thanks to Imogen and Loonapick.
Tattenham Corner came to me almost immediately, probably because I’d just finished reading my racing paper when I started the crossword. After guessing Ezekiel, I half-heartedly googled “zek”. but it turned out to be a word.
jim@22 yes, I guessed my physics teacher would come back to haunt me.
Momentum is what? mass x velocity? Certainly not force x acceleration…. Or is force mass x acceleration? Help.
As l’esprit de l’escalier informed me.
loonapick @18 : now we get into the “usage” debate. In some languages a diaeresis indicates a vowel shift (e.g. German) . In other languages (eg French and English) it indicates a separation of vowels ( e.g, naïf, Boötes)
Of course since English speakers are often only familiar with the German usage.
Chambers is not necessarliy wrong – just incomplete…
10FC @ 46: There’s also http://crypticcrosswords.net/puzzles/rookie-corner/
Thanks to Imogen for a tough workout and loonapick for the blog. I had GUTTED for 13 for a while.
I also baulked at ‘From emperor…’ but can only think it is meant to be ‘from definition, wordplay’ in which case I disapprove.
Do all trousers have buttons?
On the TORQUE debate, I was once told by a Scot about his holiday in Torquay where the temperature had pushed 40 degrees. It took me some time to twig that he had in fact been to Turkey …
I’m sure others have had their say about the GK element of this. As an Australian, I just hate those puzzles where the GK is so UK-centric as to be unfathomable to people in other countries. So, while I admired the cleverness of the central part of the grid, overall this puzzle was just annoying.
G’day Greg@59 – I am coming round to your point of view. I’ve always taken the view that these puzzles are a British institution and while it’s nice for English speaking people from elsewhere have a go, but fundamentally, why should we compromise? If you didn’t grow up understanding British references then tough!
Reading your post, I’ve had a Damascene moment (curses, I hate Biblical references!). Apart from making me sound like some obnoxious Little Englander, this attitude doesn’t reflect the global nature of the readership in the digitally connected world. Visiting this site has taught me a lot, not least the fact that my decades-long cryptics obsession is shared these days with solvers the world over, in Australia and the States, and even with people for whom English isn’t the first language, which is humbling. Maybe the puzzles should reflect that.
I still think a bit of UK-centric setting is OK if the reference is well known, or else witty or clever, and I suppose that thanks to this site, each occasion gives others a chance to learn a bit more about us British, should you wish to.
But it should not get to the extent that others feel excluded. We Brits are going to need all the friends we can get soon.
PS. Sorry about the rugby. I was just relieved you didn’t bring Steve Smith on!
All very fair 1961Blanchflower @60 and I endorse your sentiments, but I wonder whether Australian and US crosswords are equally global in their GK requirements. I live in Spain half the year and the El Pais crossword is not generally cryptic and last lime I looked muy Espanol!!
Greg@59 and 1961Blanchflower@60
We poor Brits are expected to have more and more US GK in our crossword. Hoosier is what natives of Indiana are called and Pierre is the stae capital of South Dakota, for example, and I suspect that 1a in Vlad’s current prize is an unclued Americanism.
Well I enjoyed that. Zek was new to me but guessed it. I spotted MIA as a Nina above Angelou but sadly not the right spelling.