A slightly tricky challenge from Alchemi today.
Slightly tricky because of some obscure references, loose definitions and suspect grammar (see further details below), which won’t please everyone. I enjoyed it, though.
A theme too: we have two of the 20th century’s greatest ballet dancers at 11a and 21a, each clued by a delightfully appropriate anagram for an extended definition, along with three ballets in which they danced together in the 1960s. Even non-aficionados will probably have heard of both dancers and at least one of the ballets. Thanks Alchemi for leading us on today’s merry dance.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | LOSES |
Finishes without century and is defeated (5)
|
| [c]LOSES (finishes), without the C (abbreviation for century). | ||
| 4 | ALBAN BERG |
Scottish party take note of some work by composer (5,4)
|
| ALBA (a Scottish political party, formed earlier this year after a split from the SNP) + NB (instruction to “take note”, from the Latin nota bene = note well) + ERG (a scientific unit of work or energy).
Early 20th-century Austrian composer. I don’t think he wrote any ballet music. |
||
| 9 | KNOWN AS |
Also called some bipartisan wonks back (5,2)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . .), reversed (back), in [biparti]SAN WONK[s]. | ||
| 10 | GISELLE |
Ballet one to promote in Georgia (7)
|
| I (one in Roman numerals) + SELL (slang for promote, in the sense of “advertise”) in GE (ISO 3166 code for Georgia the country, not the US state which is abbreviated to GA).
Ballet to music by Adolphe Adam. |
||
| 11 | MARGOT FONTEYN |
Ballerina not many forget dancing (6,7)
|
| Anagram (dancing) of NOT MANY FORGET.
Extended definition, I suppose: you’d have to say she was pretty good at what she did. |
||
| 14 |
See 5 Down
|
|
| 15 | DROPSICAL |
Parachutes, I see, regularly fail, having excess fluid (9)
|
| DROPS (parachutes, as a verb = descends using a parachute) + I + C (the letter sometimes called “see”, or possibly text-speak for “see”) + alternate letters (regularly) of [f]A[i]L.
Suffering from dropsy (now generally called oedema or edema) = a build-up of fluid in body tissue. |
||
| 18 |
See 25 Down
|
|
| 19 | EPEE |
Set pieces oddly missing fencing kit (4)
|
| Even-numbered letters only (oddly-missing) in [s]E[t] P[i]E[c]E[s].
A weapon used in the sport of fencing. |
||
| 21 | RUDOLF NUREYEV |
Dancer found rule very silly (6,7)
|
| Anagram (silly) of FOUND RULE VERY.
Another extended definition: ballet dancer originally from the Soviet Union, who got frustrated with the regime there and defected to the West. |
||
| 24 | LOLLARD |
Very funny fat early protestant (7)
|
| LOL (abbreviation for “laughing out loud”, meaning “that’s very funny”, used in text messages, social media etc) + LARD (cooking fat derived from pigs).
Member of an early English Protestant religious group. |
||
| 26 | CASE LAW |
About to reverse country’s precedent (4,3)
|
| CA (abbreviation for Latin circa = “about” in the sense of “approximately”), then the country of WALES reversed.
Interpretation of the law based on the precedent set by judgements in previous cases. |
||
| 27 | SASH CORDS |
Parts of Windows allow Spooner to store weapons (4,5)
|
| Spoonerism for CACHE SWORDS = store weapons.
Cords used to support a movable pane of glass in a sash window. |
||
| 28 | PAEAN |
Father near missing the start of hymn of praise (5)
|
| PA (father), then [m]EAN (near = archaic word for ungenerous or tight-fisted) missing its starting letter. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 |
See 23
|
|
| 2 | SNOW-MANTLED |
Cocaine dealer possibly a lecturer in online talk describing some mountain-tops (4-7)
|
| Snow is slang for cocaine, so a dealer in it could possibly be called a SNOW MAN; then L (abbreviation for lecturer) in TED (a talk from the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference, available free online). | ||
| 3 | SUNDRY |
Various students turn up not serving alcohol (6)
|
| NUS (National Union of Students) reversed (turn up, in a down clue) + DRY (not serving alcohol). | ||
| 4 | ABSCONDED |
Sailor backed proposal to cut energy and ran off (9)
|
| AB (short for able-bodied seaman = sailor) + S[e]CONDED (backed a proposal) without the first E (energy). | ||
| 5/14 | BAG OF WIND |
Turn strong women’s organisation into group which bloviates (3,2,4)
|
| GO (as a noun = turn, as in taking turns to attempt something) + F (f = Italian forte = musical term for strong / loud) + WI (Women’s Institute), all inserted into BAND (group, especially of musicians or soldiers).
Bag of wind, or perhaps more commonly “windbag” = someone who talks pompously or at length = someone who “bloviates”. The “which” is a little odd because grammatically it doesn’t apply to a person, but I suppose it could apply to a group of people. |
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| 6 | NOSINESS |
Lacking function, bodyguard is possible cat-killer (8)
|
| NO SINE (lacking the mathematical function “sine”, the relationship between two sides in a right-angled triangle) + SS (abbreviation for German Schutzstaffel, originally Adolf Hitler’s bodyguard but later a much larger and nastier organisation).
A somewhat cryptic definition, from the proverb “Curiosity killed the cat”. |
||
| 7 | EEL |
Fish the Spanish stock online (3)
|
| EL (“the” in Spanish), containing (stock, as a verb = hold in store, though the singular/plural grammar doesn’t quite seem right here) E (prefix used to mean “online”, as in e-commerce). | ||
| 8 | GREENFLIES |
Pests with 7 fingers – horrible! (10)
|
| Anagram (horrible) of EEL (7d) with FINGERS. | ||
| 12 | ESCAPE VALVE |
Key primate’s farewell protects against potential release of pressure (6,5)
|
| ESC (the Escape key on a keyboard) + APE (primate), then VALE (farewell, from the Latin) containing (protects) V (from the Latin versus = against). | ||
| 13 | SWISS ROLLS |
Southwestern research station lists cakes (5,5)
|
| SW (south-western) + ISS (International Space Station = research station) + ROLLS (as a noun = lists of names). | ||
| 16 | OBSTRUCTS |
Blocks podcast Curt’s boss uploaded (9)
|
| We need to separate “up” and “loaded” to make sense of this. It’s a hidden answer (loaded = held within), reversed (up, in a down clue) in [podca]ST CURTS BO[ss]. | ||
| 17 | CHALDAIC |
M*A*S*H actor featured in fashionable Ur (as it was) (8)
|
| ALDA (the actor Alan Alda, best known for playing Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H) inserted into (featured in) CHIC (fashionable).
The Old Testament Patriarch Abraham was from an ancient city known as “Ur of the Chaldaeans”, hence CHALDAIC. It’s thought to be in what is now southern Iraq, although there are other possible sites. |
||
| 20 | HYSSOP |
Mint with pretty flowers seems to develop last of all (6)
|
| Last letter from each word (last of all) in [wit]H [prett]Y [flower]S [seem]S [t]O [develo]P.
Flowering medicinal herb in the mint family. |
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| 22 | NUDER |
Starting now, understanding the German has less on (5)
|
| Starting letters of N[ow] U[nderstanding], then DER (a form of “the” in German).
The definition seems grammatically suspect: “nuder” is an adjective, so it corresponds to “having less on” rather than “has less on”. In any case, “nude” means “having nothing on”, so it’s hard to see how a comparative form “nuder” could mean anything. |
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| 23/1 | SWAN LAKE |
Ballet to satisfy one’s appetite with disappointingly feeble content (4,4)
|
| SLAKE (to satisfy one’s appetite), with WAN (pale or disappointingly feeble) inserted (content).
Ballet to music by Tchaikovsky. |
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| 25/18 | LES SYLPHIDES |
Ballet smaller, certainly, keeping record concealed (3,9)
|
| LESS (smaller) + YES (certainly), containing (keeping) LP (short for long-playing gramophone record) + HID (concealed).
Ballet to music by Chopin, orchestrated by Glazunov. |
Fully agree with you Quirister. I wondered whether Alban Berg had scored any ballets, but seems not. Doing these puzzles, I regularly learn slang for recreational drugs, and snow for cocaine is one, so thanks Alchemi and Quirister.
Given that words often have different meanings in the wordplay and the definition, I feel that having “fish” in the plural for the surface and in the singular for the definition is ok. Interested to hear what others think.
I had to cheat to get CHALDAIC but should have thought of ALDA and had already considered CHIC. Does it equate to “Ur” or “from Ur”?
Didn’t know LES SYLPHIDES and had to check GISELLE, but knew the dancers. Guessed the former may contain LPHID and LES was the clear first bit so, together with crossers, wasn’t hard to discover.
Hovis @2: my quibble in 7d isn’t with the fish. “The Spanish” is implicitly plural as it appears in the surface (meaning the people of Spain), and the verb “stock” agrees with the plural form; but “El” is a singular form of “the” in Spanish and doesn’t agree with the verb “stock”, so the grammar of “A contains B” doesn’t quite work. Maybe I’m being picky.
Ur was called “Ur of the Chaldaeans”, which could possibly be re-stated as “Chaldaic Ur” or “Ur that was Chaldaic”. So “Ur as it was” = Chaldaic. I agree it’s a bit contrived, though!
Quirister @3. Apologies for the misunderstanding but I feel a similar argument holds, i.e. “the Spanish” singular in wordplay but plural in the surface reading. Slightly different to what I said @2 but, again, ok in my book. I’m sure others will differ.
Although not a ballet fan I was pleased that I had heard of all the themed answers. The two anagrams for the dancers were lovely.
I had to look up CHALDAIC and LOLLARD to check, and I didn’t have a scooby how to parse nosiness but I did like the definition.
With scag, snow and the ubiquitous E all making an appearance this week I’m expecting speed or meth tomorrow now.
Thanks Alchemi and Quirister.
Whilst I do agree there are two quibbles in EEL and NUDER, the rest of this was very enjoyable. In the case of NUDER, it’s the concept of a comparative I don’t appreciate. I’m less concerned by Quirister’s comment on the grammar: he is nuder than me/he has less on than me seem to equate OK.
Of the remainder, I had ticks against many with highlights including BAG OF WIND, SNOW-MANTLED, LOLLARD, CHALDAIC and, my three favourites, both of the long anagrammed dancers and the beautiful HYSSOP.
Thanks Alchemi and Quirister
This was about as far from my area of interest as it’s possible to get but due to Alchemi’s customary clear clueing it went in smoothly enough. Many thanks to S&B
There were a few answers which I biffed from the crossers, then couldn’t be bothered to work out the half dozen or so separate elements of the parsing; life’s too short. And if NUDER is a word, it shouldn’t be. There can no more be degrees of nudity than degrees of pregnancy; either you are or you aren’t! Despite all this, I enjoyed the puzzle. The beautifully neat clue at 11Ac alone made it worthwhile.
Several things I needed to check up on including the 4a composer, the definition of 15a, the early protestant, the 2d online talk and the location of 17d. Just as well I was OK with the themed entries!
Top spots going to the clues for the principal dancers and those wretched pests with 7 fingers.
Thanks to Alchemi and to Quirister for the review.
I think you can have a comparative for words like “nude”. “I’m already naked I can’t get any nuder” It may be logically impossible but not emotionally. Peter Handke’s “Nothing is emptier than an empty swimming-pool” comes to mind. I think I agree with Hovis on the slippery question of singulars and plurals as well. So an all-round thumbs-up from me and thanks to PostMark for the recommendation, Quirister for the blog and Alchemi for the puzzle.
Baerchen @ 7
It’s about as far from my personal interest as dog food, but having played around with 11a over a coffee and realised the &littish nature of the anagram I thought I’d give it a go anyway.
Thanks everyone else.
@Alchemi
and a very fine &littish anagram it is too dear sir (I’ve no idea where the dog food thing came from tbh)
baerchen@12 I think the dog food reference is to Knut’s puzzle of 14th September.
Petert @ 13
baerchen is Knut. I’m guessing he was referring to where the inspiration for the puzzle came from.
NUDER -stuck out like…..
But I loved the rest and i am awaiting the follow up with Nijinski and Petrushka etc
Simon S@14 I should have guessed. I feel a little foolish now.
Copmus @15
It was either that or the 478,327th clue for NADIR.
And that would have been the absolute bottom?
If you can have a nuder nude, surely you can have a lower nadir and a rocker bottom
Perhaps the appointment of the new Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport might give us a chance to breathe new life into word-play for NADIR?
I really loved this one. The clue for SWAN LAKE was easy but made me laugh. The two anagrams for the dancers were brilliant. People can be half-naked — if they took off the rest perhaps they’d be nuder.
A theme that appealed to us and a fairly quick solve, so we’ll forgive the loose definitions and suspect grammar. No single CoD but the themed entries topped our list.
Thanks, Alchemi and Quirister.
How about this?
From Big Brother to Secretary of State. She has no desire to hit rock bottom (5)
I’m not much of a balletomane but I did know all the ballets here. Also, ALBAN BERG is one of my favourite composers – I have the opening of his violin concerto as a ring-tone on my phone – and, no, he wrote no ballets.
Blah@23 Great stuff, but I fear she will.
Alchemi@17
There is a NIDOR
Sculptor’s back has a smell of kitchen disaster
Good one copmus!
Oof! That was hard. I don’t mind admitting that I needed some Google searches to help me out. But it’s good to be stretched! ?