A good medium-difficulty crossword from Alchemi today. There was a bit too much cross-referencing for my tastes (it always irritates me because one is slow to get started, several clues being effectively closed books) but it was nicely done and all came together in the end.
Definitions in dark magenta, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Oh dear, I’ve only just started to look for a Nina. Apart from a slight connection with things in the air (birds, astronomy, …) I can see nothing.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BLOODY MARY | Old army boy could become queen (6,4) |
| (old army boy)* — a name given to Mary I (1553-58) | ||
| 6 | KNOT | 24 cryptically not a measure of speed (4) |
| 24dn being COCKTAIL, this is {coc}k not | ||
| 10 | WADER | One of 19 for one of French in-fighting (5) |
| 19ac being GODWITS, one of them (for example) is a wader — and it’s de [of French] in war [fighting] — we have to read (and some will object to this) ‘in-fighting’ as ‘in fighting’ | ||
| 11 | FIVE TO ONE | Time for lunch if I veto onerous contracts? (4,2,3) |
| Hidden in iF I VETO ONErous — but if it contracts it gets smaller: everything is still there and the ends aren’t cut, so I don’t think ‘contracts’ is the right word although it helps the surface | ||
| 12 | CHETNIKS | Kitchens blown up by Serb fighters (8) |
| (Kitchens)* — I had to look this up — ‘by’? It isn’t the Serb fighters who are doing the blowing up (except in the surface), so is it just a link-word? If so I can’t justify it. | ||
| 13 | ATE UP | Absorbed winning by 8, some say (3,2) |
| “eight” up [winning] — nothing to do with 8dn | ||
| 15 | IMPENDS | Priest wearing crumpled denims is coming (7) |
| P in *(denims) | ||
| 17 | DODGEMS | 2 Beryls possibly fair attraction (7) |
| 2dn being ODD-SHAPED, this is (odd)* gems [of which Beryls are a possible example] — a fair attraction is an attraction at a fair | ||
| 19 | GODWITS | 9 comedians are birds (7) |
| 9 being STRAY DOG, this is *(dog) wits | ||
| 21 | TAG LINE | Genitals mostly involved as point of joke (3,4) |
| (Genital{s})* | ||
| 22 | DUSKS | Policeman crosses river in the early evenings (5) |
| D(Usk)S — Detective Sergeant | ||
| 24 | COCKTAIL | Drink prepared for an audience to get sick (8) |
| “cocked” ail | ||
| 27 | ANIMOSITY | May is not 1 stirring up bitterness (9) |
| (May is not 1)* | ||
| 28 | PLATE | Old photograph showing president dead (5) |
| P late | ||
| 29 | DILL | Herb makes duke sick (4) |
| D ill | ||
| 30 | PERNICKETY | Over-particular for every prison, yet disorganised (10) |
| per [for every] nick (yet)* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BOWL | Deliver British bird (4) |
| b owl — deliver as in cricket: a bowler delivers the ball | ||
| 2 | ODD-SHAPED | Strange-looking 11, say, happened to dismiss writer (3-6) |
| odds hap{pen}ed — 11ac is FIVE TO ONE, and one can read this not as time (as in 11ac) but as betting odds — a nice idea that may have been done before since it’s so obvious, but it’s new to me | ||
| 3 | DURST | Once dared to put up poet’s rudest lines (5) |
| Hidden reversed in poeT’S RUDest 15 — ‘lines’ is a veb indicating inclusion — an old fashioned version of ‘dared’ | ||
| 4 | MUFFINS | Cakes with smell I don’t know rising (7) |
| (sniff um …)rev. | ||
| 5 | REVISED | Vicar runs newspaper made different (7) |
| Rev. is ed. — the vicar is the editor | ||
| 7 | NO ONE | Who’s in empty room? 12 on drugs (2,3) |
| noon [12 o’clock, nothing to do with 12ac] E — my knowledge of drug terminology is a bit vague, but surely E is a drug rather than drugs, which Es are? | ||
| 8 | TRESPASSER | 26 French spears dealt with intruder (10) |
| 26dn is VERY, so this in French is tres; then (spears)* | ||
| 9 | STRAY DOG | Lost pet got dry as 5 (5,3) |
| (got dry as)* — 5dn being REVISED, it’s the anagram indicator ‘revised’ | ||
| 14 | KING EDWARD | Potato of which there have been 8 specimens (4,6) |
| There have been eight specimens of King Edwards, the last of whom reigned in 1936 | ||
| 16 | NAINSOOK | North American wearing 26 fine muslin (8) |
| NA in so [26dn, VERY] OK [fine] | ||
| 18 | ELIMINATE | Get rid of main problem in the top level (9) |
| elite round (main)* — some people complain about nounal anagram indicators, as here, but I think they’re fine. So does Brian Greer (Virgilius, Brendan, …) | ||
| 20 | SECTILE | Dry roof component can be cut (7) |
| sec [dry] tile — sectile isn’t a word I really knew | ||
| 21 | TACHYON | No yacht could be something travelling faster than light (7) |
| (No yacht)* — and certainly here I had to look up the word — but Alchemi has been kind and given us fairly simple wordplay, which unfortunately also leads to ‘Tychoan’, a word in Chambers connected with Tycho Brahe the astronomer, so I had that for a while, thinking that in some vague way astronomy and moving faster than light were connected | ||
| 23 | SWILL | Piglet’s grandfather – 8 this – probably ate this (5) |
| Some reference to Winnie the Pooh that I don’t understand I’m afraid, although aficionados of this will know and be able to tell us — I only filled it in because of pig swill [See Rabbit Dave @ 3 below for an explanation, which is apparently improved by James’ @ 7] | ||
| 25 | TOPIC | Issue 3rd sunhat? (5) |
| The 3rd sunhat isn’t topi A, or topi B, but … | ||
| 26 | VERY | Extremely valuable tracks a great deal (4) |
| v{aluabl}e ry [railway tracks] | ||
Didn’t really have any of your objections. KITCHENS is blown up “by” (using) CHETNIKS. I think if something loses its ends, it contracts but understand your point. I would guess that somebody selling E is selling drugs?
Couldn’t get NAINSOOK without a word fit. Got SECTILE but didn’t know it. TACHYONS are well-used in SF with tachyon drives providing faster than light travel.
Thanks to Alchemi and John.
It took me a little while to get into this quirky puzzle, but after I had done so I really enjoyed it. I learnt three new words: NAINSOOK, SECTILE and TOPI.
Regarding 23d but Piglet lived in a tree house called TRESPASSERS W which is short for TRESSPASSERS WILL (which in turn is short for TRESSPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED) and Piglet’s grandfather was called WILLIAM. “8 this” = TRESSPASSER SWILL
Many thanks to Alchemi and to John.
Sorry for a number of typos in @2. What I was trying to write was:
Regarding 23d, Piglet lived in a tree house called TRESPASSERS W which is short for TRESPASSERS WILL (which in turn is short for TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED) and Piglet’s grandfather was called WILLIAM. “8 this” = TRESPASSER SWILL.
Thanks Dave. Your explanation signposted in the blog.
see page 93
Straight in at 1ac after which it proved a bit tricky, particularly sorting out which number references were to clues and which weren’t. But enjoyable nevertheless. SECTILE was new to us though easily got from the clue, But we needed an anagram solver for CHETNIKS – we thought of ‘Chindits’ at first but knew they weren’t Serbs (nor an anagram of ‘kitchens’).
Favourite was MUFFINS.
Thanks, Alchemi and John.
I didn’t remember about Piglet’s grandfather. According to wiki, Piglet said his grandfather’s name was ‘Trespassers William”, from which Trespassers Will (8 this) and Trespassers W.
Unusual and fun puzzle. Thanks Alchemi, John
Thanks all.
This was Alchemi 521, whence the FIVE TO ONE solution. Having realised it was both a time and ODDS, I looked to see what words began with ODDS, and there aren’t that many. ODD-SHAPED suggested an anagram of ODD, so I thought of words that could be used for and came up with DODGEMS. By now it was obvious this was going to turn into a cross-reference puzzle, so off I went.
Unlike Don Manley, I don’t think pointlessly obscure words improve a puzzle, but when a load of entries are dictated by a theme, one is quite likely to have the odd light which is difficult to fill. There are two kinds of obscurity, one being words which aren’t used at all often but which have obvious etymology and would make sense to any half-awake reader when seen in context, such as SECTILE, and ones which you either know or don’t know (usually the latter) such as NAINSOOK. I only allow myself one of the second type in a daily-intended puzzle, and I try and make it as simple as possible to decipher without actually saying “The solution is …..”
And James @7 has got the reference as I intended it, because Dave @ 3 got it very slightly wrong.
Have to admit to sighing when I saw all the potential cross-referencing and I’m one of those who didn’t know SECTILE, NAINSOOK, TOPI or TACHYON.
Many thanks to RD for the explanation of 23d – like John, I looked no further than ‘pig swill’. One of my favourite books so I’ve got no excuse!
Did I enjoy this one? Not sure, but it was certainly different so thanks to Alchemi for the experience and to John for the review.
Well, I enjoyed it despite the not knowing nainsook (had to wordsearch for it) and tachyon, so good to learn them and impress friends! Like others not keen on so many cross-references, but thanks Alchemi and John.
My first in was 26d followed by 30across at which point I thought this is very standard fare.
Then I got into it and absolutely loved the headache inducing cross references.
I give the odd shaped dodgems, the cocktail knot and the stray dog godwits as the 3 top favourites