I haven’t blogged a Klingsor puzzle for a while, so it’s good to get one today
Klingsor often includes classical music references in his puzzles. Today the focus is on Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS with a couple of his works getting a mention in the grid or the clues. I can’t see any obvious reason for including VAUGHAN WILLIAMS as there is no anniversary at this time. Perhaps the puzzle was compiled around the time when the composer claimed two of the three top spots in this year’s Classic FM Hall of Fame.
I found this puzzle to be one of Klingsor’s gentler challenges. The clues were precise and clear for parsing. The only slight query I had was in 1 across where mar as a synonym for poison didn’t seem quite right, but Bradford’s makes the link even if Chambers and Collins don’t.
I liked the reference to the Greek Prime Minister in the clue leading to the name of two Canadian Prime Ministers at 9 across.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Noblemen poison wine (9) MARGRAVES (German noblemen of rank equivalent to an English marquess) MAR (poison) + GRAVES (table wine from the GRAVES district in the Gironde department of France) MAR GRAVES |
| 6 |
Credit card finally found in marketplace on return (5) KUDOS (credit, fame, renown) D (last letter of [finally] CARD) contained in (found in) SOUK (marketplace in Muslim countries) reversed (on return) KU (D) OS< |
| 9 |
Canadian politician impolite in letter to Mitsotakis? (7) TRUDEAU (reference Pierre TRUDEAU [1919 – 2000], Prime Minister of Canada for a substantial period between 1968 and 1984, or Justin TRUDEAU [born 1971], current Prime Minister of Canada since 2015) RUDE (impolite) contained in (in) TAU (a letter of the Greek alphabet. Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the current Prime Minister of Greece) T (RUDE) AU |
| 10 |
Clergyman pockets a pile (7) REACTOR (reference a nuclear REACTOR [pile]) RECTOR (clergyman) containing (pockets) A RE (A) CTOR |
| 11 |
Place in Surrey for one needing meat (5) EGHAM (town in Surrey, England) EG (for example; for one) + HAM (type of meat) EG HAM |
| 12 |
First off, replace outside toilets and relax (4,5) HANG LOOSE (relax) CHANGE excluding (off) the initial letter (first) C containing (outside) LOOS (toilets) HANG (LOOS) E |
| 13 |
At home adult takes exercise, being unfit (5) INAPT (unfit) IN (at home) + A (adult) + PT (physical training; exercise) IN A PT |
| 14 |
Lumpy old bed aunt moved out of bedroom initially (9) NODULATED (having lumps) Anagram of (moved) OLD BED AUNT excluding (out of) B (first letter of [initially] BEDROOM) NODULATED* |
| 17 |
Religious teacher from Chartres regularly ignored Jesus? Not right (9) CATECHIST (religious teacher) CATE (excluding [ignored] letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 [regularly] from CHARTRES) + CHRIST (Jesus) excluding (not) R (right) CATE CHIST |
| 18 |
Singers from church knocked back port (5) CHOIR (group of singers) CH (church) + RIO (reference RIO de Janiero, a port city in Brazil) reversed (knocked back) CH OIR< |
| 19 |
Expert breaks into stately mansion at first? That’s easy (2,7) NO PROBLEM (that’s easy) (PRO [PROfessional; expert] contained in [breaks into] NOBLE [stately]) + M (initial letter of [at first] MANSION) NO (PRO) BLE M |
| 22 |
One’s driven up river on island (5) SKYER (a ball hit high into the air) SKYE (island in Scotland) + R (river) SKYE R |
| 24 |
State aid put back into local area (7) INDIANA (one of the fifty States of the United States of America) (AID reversed [put back] and contained in [into] INN [public house; bar; local]) + A (area) IN (DIA<) N A |
| 25 |
Smart outfits inlaid with gold will get admirers (7) SUITORS (admirers) SUITS (smart outfits) containing (inlaid with) OR (the tincture gold or yellow) SUIT (OR) S |
| 26 |
Build playground in vacated establishment (5) ERECT (build) REC (RECreation ground; playground) contained in (in) ET (letters remaining in ESTABLISHMENT when the central letters STABLISHMEN are removed [vacated]) E (REC) T |
| 27 |
Bag with tea in, and sweetener (9) SACCHARIN (intensely sweet, white crystalline semi-soluble compound used as an artificial sweetener) SAC (pouch or bag-like structure) + CHAR (tea) + IN SAC CHAR IN |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Joint account’s closing in difficult situation (5) MITRE (a woodworking joint in which each piece is cut at an angle of 45 degrees to its side, giving a right angle between the pieces; sometimes applied to any joint where the plane of junction bisects the angle; an angle of 45 degrees) T (last letter of [closing] ACCOUNT) contained in MIRE (difficult situation) MI (T) RE |
| 2 |
Run out with disgusted expression over players getting plastered (9) ROUGHCAST (plaster mixed with small stones or shells, used to coat the outside walls of buildings) RO (run out in cricket) + UGH (expression of disgust) + CAST (company of actors [players] in the theatre) RO UGH CAST |
| 3 |
Having painful joints, he tucked into drink with a spasm (9) RHEUMATIC (having painful joints) (HE contained in [tucked into] RUM [drink]) + A + TIC (twitch; spasm) R (HE) UM A TIC |
| 4 |
English composer Sullivan worked with him, a wag (7,8) VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (reference Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS [1872 – 1958], English composer) Anagram of (worked with) SULLIVAN and HIM A WAG VAUGHAN WILLIAMS* |
| 5 |
Extremely subtle documentaries broadcast 4’s work (8,2,5) SERENADE TO MUSIC (a composition by VAUGHAN WILLIAMS [entry at 4 down]) SE (outer letters of [extremely] SUBTLE)+ an anagram of (broadcast) DOCUMENTARIES SE RENADE TO MUSIC* |
| 6 |
Lark Ascending enthrals a South African village (5) KRAAL (South African village of huts surrounded by a fence) LARK reversed (ascending; down entry) containing (enthrals) A KR (A) AL< |
| 7 |
As before, not all recommend it totally (5) DITTO (as before) DITTO (hidden word in [not all] RECOMMEND IT TOTALLY) DITTO |
| 8 |
Resignation is more certain to involve split (9) SURRENDER (resignation) SURER (more certain) containing (to involve) REND (split) SUR (REND) ER |
| 13 |
Dish in Venice, starter of toasted carrot (9) INCENTIVE (stimulus; enticement; carrot) Anagram of (dish) IN VENICE and T (first letter of [starter of] TOASTED) INCENTIVE* |
| 15 |
One may replace Yale lecturer with hick, most foolishly (9) LOCKSMITH (a Yale is a type of LOCK that could be replaced by a LOCKSMITH) L (lecturer) + an anagram (foolishly) HICK MOST L OCKSMITH* |
| 16 |
Piece of wood that will make 8? (3-2-4) TWO BY FOUR (piece of timber measuring four inches by two inches in cross-section) TWO BY FOUR (TWO times [by] FOUR equals eight) double definition TWO BY FOUR |
| 20 |
Father and daughter kept in trim (5) PADRE (priest; father) D (daughter) contained in (kept in) PARE (trim) PA (D) RE |
| 21 |
Love role displaying creative style (2,3) OP ART (ART using geometrical forms precisely executed and so arranged that movement of the observer’s eye, or inability to focus, produces an illusion of movement in the painting; creative style) O (zero) + PART (role [in a play]) O P ART |
| 23 |
Once more offend Amber? (5) RESIN (amber is a type of yellowish fossil RESIN) RE– (again; once more) + SIN (offend) RE SIN |
I think Duncan sums this up perfectly: one of Klingsor’s gentler challenges. The clueing was smooth with some great surfaces – MITRE, TRUDEAU, KUDOS, HANG LOOSE, CATECHIST – I could go on. A splendid achievement in that respect. And VAUGHAN WILLIAMS was beautifully clued and, as I’m sure Klingsor intended, had me barking up the Gilbert tree for a while. Nice to see a Surrey town that isn’t Epsom though, when it began with an E, I nearly bunged it in on autopilot! I learned yesterday that I’m in the clear having more than one favourite, which is a good thing given the choice available today: neither are the most difficult but CHOIR has a lovely surface as does INCENTIVE with a subtle definition.
I have never encountered MAR as ‘poison’ and share Duncan’s surprise. But then it often appears clued as ‘ruin’ which I find similarly odd. For me, the word indicates a state of spoiled perfection but doesn’t go as far as ruin. Blemish, flaw, impair all seem about the right level of strength.
Thanks Klingsor and Duncan (whose attention to detail I can only admire. I wonder how many other bloggers would have listed all the letters to be removed from ‘ESTABLISHMENT’ to arrive at the outer two letters? 😀 )
I agree quite gentle for Klingsor. Loved the anagrams at 4D (the fact that Sullivan was Irish pointed to a very clever anagram) and 5D. I went looking for more Vaughan Williams references but couldn’t find any. Thanks Klingsor and Duncan.
Would a Spaniard buy pieces of two-by-four with pieces of eight?
New word for today was SOUK.
Was doing well but the NW corner I couldn’t get into at all (despite MARGRAVES and ROUGHCAST being perfectly solvable via the wordplay)
Got lucky that the composer was one of a few I’ve just about heard of (apart from I thought his surname was Vaughan! ) the ‘v’ was key to this and once I’d remembered it was his first name all was good, I did however google his works for the next clue
TWOBYFOUR my favourite, although I enjoyed the simplicity of the last 3 down clues
Thanks to Klingsor and duncanshiell
MAR does appear as a definition under the heading POISON, but not vice versa. Go figure.
Thanks to setter and blogger. I agree with PM about Duncan’s superb attention to detail!
Hovis @3: 😀
Lovely puzzle, as always from Klingsor.
I particularly liked KUDOS, SERENADE TO MUSIC, KRAAL and INCENTIVE and thought VAUGHAN WILLIAMS was just brilliant. As a member of a church CHOIR, I had a chortle at the surface of 18ac. 😉
Many thanks, Klingsor and Duncan.
Thanks Klingsor and Duncan
Re 1A, I think mar works as in a sentence such as “The party atmosphere was marred/poisoned by his boorish behaviour”.
Including Vaughan Williams in a puzzle is always justified,
PM@1 says it all – although we went even further down the “it must be Epsom” road having got E___M in before ROUGHCAST came to the rescue. I’d also give a mention to RESIN. Another coincidence with LOCKSMITH in two of today’s puzzles – clued differently. Thanks to Klingsor and Duncan
If I can comment with my favourite LOCKSMITH reference…
Gentle perhaps in places … but enough misdirection to keep it interesting .. kept 1ac till very last as never heard of a MARGRAVE(S) before.. liked a lot.. especially RESIN n KRAAL..
Thanks Klingsor n duncansheill (the detail is much appreciated when on the learning curve)
Certainly an easy ride from Klingsor today, helped by VAUGHAN WILLIAMS being fairly obvious and hence SERENADE TO MUSIC immediately obvious. A bonus reference to The Lark Ascending for good measure, too! And a slight classical music allusion in MARGRAVES; it was Christian Ludwig (1677-1734), Margrave of Brandenburg to whom Bach presented his six Brandenburg Concertos – not that there’s any evidence that Christian Ludwig ever heard them performed.
Referring to 1ac, we weren’t too sure about ‘mar’ for ‘poison’ either, and also in 13ac we weren’t sure that INAPT is equivalent to ‘unfit’ – ‘unfitting’ would be a better equivalent. And maybe it’s just us but we would refer to the wood size in 16dn as ‘four by two’ as we think the larger dimension is usually quoted first.
But it was all very enjoyable and we liked MITRE and LOCKSMITH among others.
Thanks, Klingsor and Duncan
Elegant, I’d call this. Smooth surfaces, lovely clueing, clever anagrams. Last one in was locksmith, because I fixated on Hoy as the island in 22a, which gave me some very odd crossers! Thanks to Klingsor and Duncanshiell
Yes, went in very quickly. I’m a bit of a VW fan, but it wasn’t really needed, although seeing Lark Ascending in the clue to 6dn helped get 4dn.