Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 17, 2020
An entertaining puzzle from Chalmie with the theme of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. This author appears frequently in crosswords but I believe this is the first blogged here on fifteensquared.net that has Poe as a theme. I must note that I am not particularly a fan of Poe although I certainly respect him and have visited the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia.
I made a good start by getting 1dn (EDGAR ALLAN POE) almost instantly as my first-in and then the other 13-letter clue, 10dn (GOSPEL SINGERS), as my third-in. My favourites are 25ac (RUE MORGUE) and the two dog clues: 14dn (EXTROVERT) and 18dn (BAR CODE).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ENTERER | I’m not sure about conservationists before one comes in (7) |
| NT (conservationists — as in the National Trust) in (about) ER (I’m not sure) + ERE (before) | ||
| 5 | MONISM | Philosophical stance that 24 hours is a month (6) |
| MON (24 hours) + IS (is) + M (a month). Monism is the doctrine that reality consists of a single basic substance or element. | ||
| 8 | GLISSADES | Missing Ireland, young female has the blues, missing parts even of easy ballet moves (9) |
| G[ir]L (missing Ireland, young female) + IS SAD (has the blues) + E[a]S[y] | ||
| 9 | VYING | Imposing taxes without the French competing (5) |
| [le]VYING (imposing taxes without the French) | ||
| 11 | RAVEN | New party starts to hunt aggressively (5) |
| RAVE (party) + N[ew] | ||
| 12 | EQUERRIES | Earl has doubts about king’s attendants (9) |
| E (Earl) + R (king) in QUERIES (doubts) | ||
| 13 | LISTEN TO | Hear “hotel” is tent outside walls (6,2) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 15 | COHERE | Deadly gas in our vicinity – stick together! (6) |
| CO (deadly gas, i.e. carbon monoxide) + HERE (in our vicinity) | ||
| 17 | AMBITS | Areas of responsibility when restricting amount transmitted (6) |
| MBIT (amount transmitted, i.e. megabit) in (restricting) AS (when) | ||
| 19 | TAKEOFFS | Launches imitations (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | PURLOINED | Took finely mashed cut of meat for energy (9) |
| PUREED (finely mashed) with LOIN (cut of meat) replacing (for) ‘E’ (energy) | ||
| 23 | FIT IN | To get on with colleagues, meet at home (3,2) |
| FIT (meet) + IN (at home) | ||
| 24 | EMOTE | Express feelings as far right leaves (5) |
| [r]EMOTE (far, right leaves) | ||
| 25 | RUE MORGUE | Regret finding gourmet mostly mutilated in scene of 1 down’s 27 (3,6) |
| RUE (regret) + anagram (mutilated) of GOURME[t] The definition refers to Poe’s work “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. |
||
| 26 | LETTER | Landlord, 22 from 1 down (6) |
| LETTER (purloined [22] from Edgar Allan Poe [1 down]) The clue refers to Poe’s work “The Purloined Letter” |
||
| 27 | MURDERS | Kills returning sister with electronic instrument (7) |
| SR (sister) + E (electronic) + DRUM (instrument) all backwards (returning) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | EDGAR ALLAN POE | Writer glad aeroplane crashed (5,5,3) |
| Anagram (crashed) of GLAD AEROPLANE | ||
| 2 | THIEVES | Criminals which I am holding, including the First Lady (7) |
| EVE (first lady) in (including) THIS (which I am holding) | ||
| 3 | RISEN | No-good singer messed up (5) |
| Anagram (messed) of SIN[g]ER | ||
| 4 | RED DEATH | 1 down’s 5 down Ted heard is horrible (3,5) |
| Anagram (is horrible) of TED HEARD The definition refers to Poe’s work “The Masque of the Red Death”. |
||
| 5 | MASQUE | What’s central to surrealism as questionable court entertainment in Tudor times (6) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 6 | NEVERMORE | Navy constantly increasing, as 1 down’s 11 said (9) |
| N (navy) + EVER (constantly) + MORE (increasing) The definition refers to Poe’s work “The Raven”. |
||
| 7 | SUICIDE | America turned over apparently frozen papers in self-destructive act (7) |
| US (America) backwards (turned over) + ID (papers) in ICE (apparently frozen) | ||
| 10 | GOSPEL SINGERS | Girls’ nose-pegs revolt people like Mahalia Jackson and Al Green (6,7) |
| Anagram (revolt) of GIRLS NOSE PEGS | ||
| 14 | EXTROVERT | Outgoing message to dog with start at the bottom (9) |
| TEXT (message) + ROVER (dog) with the initial ‘T’ moved to the end (with start at the bottom) | ||
| 16 | BAD DREAM | Swallowed by fish – total nightmare (3,5) |
| ADD (total) in (swallowed by) BREAM (fish) | ||
| 18 | BAR CODE | Identifying lines when hearing dog recite poetry? (3,4) |
| Homophone (when hearing) of “bark” + ODE (poetry) | ||
| 20 | FATIGUE | Weary lot devours half a reptile (7) |
| IGU[ana] (half a reptile) in (devours) FATE (lot) | ||
| 21 | SNORER | A number more angry about someone noisy in bed (6) |
| N (a number) in (about) SORER (more angry) | ||
| 23 | FLOUR | White grains, usually 50 in number (5) |
| L (50) in (in) FOUR (number) | ||
A worthy, spine-tingler from Chalmie this weekend. Since 1d was also my FOI, I gamely tackled the Poe-related clues first.
Luckily, I was familiar with the stories referenced so they fell quickly and was inspired to re-read a few.
Starting in the SE, I went widdershins around the grid with my LOI being the amusing but unparsed 21d.
Besides loving the main theme, I enjoyed a number of other clues like 20d and 23d.
1a was among a handful I couldn’t parse so I was interested to see your explanations here in the blog. Thanks, Chalmie and Pete.
I know nothing of the works of Edgar Allan Poe ( even managing to spell his name incorrectly) so got nowhere with this.
My sister-in-law is a Poe scholar, so I got and enjoyed the Poe references. Messed up on 3d; didn’t see “up” as the meaning, and foolishly wrote in “resin” instead of “risen”. Duh!
EdK@USA, Thank you for commenting. There are people like Malcolm and myself who know little about Poe but it seems clear that there are also plenty of folk like yourself, especially Americans not surprisingly, who know Poe’s works well.
Thanks Pete. One reason why Poe-themed puzzles aren’t common, I suspect, is that his titles are rather long and difficult to clue as a whole. So there are two grid entries for each work, only one of which is defined by reference, the other being an ordinary word clued entirely conventionally, an approach which also means one doesn’t have to do anything about the “of the” and “in the” bits of the titles.
I’m not much of a Poe fan, though I do like the Raven poem: on the occasions I see a picture of Poe, I’m always surprised he looks nothing like Vincent Price, who starred in Roger Corman’s film adaptations, which, to be honest, are really all I know about.
Having read most of Poe’s works in high school English class I found the Poe-related clues to be helpful in solving this crossword. (To an adolescent Poe was fun compared to some of the other required reading.) Anyhow, I ticked RISEN, BAD DREAM, and BAR CODE as favourites. Thanks Chalmie and Pete.
Thanks Chalmie and Pete
Almost like the blog, the two 13-letter down clues were in the first three entries – the other way around for me though – without knowing either of the singers. This should have opened up the puzzle but it still took several shortish sessions to get it out. Only knew of “The Raven” and it’s “Never more, never more!” for the works of Poe, but it was interesting to read the synopsis of all of the other short stories that the crossword mentioned – so another thank you to the setter for that.
Enjoyed the variety of devices used throughout the rest of the grid, finishing as I do many times in the SW corner with BAR CODE and AMBITS the last couple in.
Well, since Poe isn’t getting much enthusiasm here – I think he’s got some great plotlines, for what it is! My favourite would be The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, which alas didn’t feature today. The Red Death was pretty much the first English story I read in the original, so it took me & my mum about a month at the kitchen table…