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A middle difficulty puzzle (for Monk). Not easy, but certainly solvable by “mere mortals”. Thank you Monk.
I can see WORDLE written down the middle of the grid. I understand that this is a word game that is currently all the rage on the Internet, but that is about as far as my social awareness goes. So hopefully there will many of you out there who can explain what this means for the rest of the grid entries.
UPDATE: Monk just emailed this grid to me. It shows a Wordle game (see here…) guessing the word REBUS:
| ACROSS | ||
| 4 | EFFIGY |
Unknown Joe following English about personal representation (6)
|
| Y (an unknown) GI (GI Joe perhaps) FF (following, in text reference) E (English) all reversed (about) | ||
| 7 | DEATH ROW |
Airport reopened legally designated departure area? (5,3)
|
| HEATHROW (airport) with a different opening letter (re-opened) | ||
| 9 | ARISE |
Get up from seat roughly around lunchtime? (5)
|
| ARSE (seat, roughly indicates vulgar speech) containing (around) I (1, lunchtime, 1pm as viewed on a clock with Roman numerals) | ||
| 10 | TOILET ROLL |
Means to wipe material linked to online problem (6,4)
|
| TOILE (material) with TROLL (a problematic person online) | ||
| 11 | TRAGIC |
Sad start for The Smoke following recession (6)
|
| first letter (start for) of The then CIGAR (a smoke) reversed (following recession) | ||
| 12 | ROUTE |
Grub up! At last, middle course (5)
|
| rout (grub up) then last letter of middlE | ||
| 15 | TARADIDDLE |
Lie – see you cheat (10)
|
| TA RA (see you, cf ta ta) and DIDDLE (cheat) | ||
| 17 | COTTONED ON |
Got caught tendon? Too bad (8,2)
|
| anagram (bad) of C (caught) TENDON TOO | ||
| 18 | RULES |
Decides game’s mostly inferior (5)
|
| RU (Rugby Union, a game) with LESs (inferior, mostly) | ||
| 21 | POSTIE |
Upon retirement, gift bond for delivery worker (6)
|
| SOP (gift) reversed (upon retirement) then TIE (bond) | ||
| 23 | SILHOUETTE |
Outline of hotel suite rejigged (10)
|
| anagram (rejigged) of HOTEL SUITE | ||
| 24 | REBUS |
Enigma Variation concerning a number of conductors? (5)
|
| RE (concerning) BUS (a number of conductors, electrical) – can someone explain variation for me? UPDATE: a REBUS is an example (variation, variety) of an enigma. Well done to EdK@USA for spotting this. | ||
| 25 | ERITREAN |
African flag sent back by cause so abandoned (8)
|
| TIRE (flag) reversed (sent back) on REAsoN (cause) missing SO | ||
| 26 | SAFETY |
This may follow first film shot with sound technology on vacation (6)
|
| SAFE (sound) then TechnologY (on vacation, emptied) – you can have safety first, safety film and safety shot. But it seems to me that safety (this, the solution) precedes those words rather than follows them. Any ideas? UPDATE: This was an error by the setter follow should have been precede | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | EDITOR |
One aiming to make final tried running round circuit? (6)
|
| anagram (running) of TRIED contains (round) O (a circuit, a circle) – someone trying to make the final edition of a paper | ||
| 2 | PHOEBE |
Before live broadcast, hope the moon will appear (6)
|
| BE (live) following (before…is…) anagram (broadcast) of HOPE – one of Saturn’s moons | ||
| 3 | CORRUGATED |
Wrinkled my wig on riotous date (10)
|
| COR (my, exclamation) RUG (wig) then anagram (riotous) of DATE | ||
| 4 | EXALT |
Late example of key praise (5)
|
| EX (late, former) then ALT (example of key, on a computer keyboard) | ||
| 5 | FRICANDEAU |
Rum due with African veal dish (10)
|
| anagram (rum, strange) of DUE with AFRICAN | ||
| 6 | GUERILLA |
To a limited extent, beleaguer ill- advised band member? (8)
|
| found inside (to a limited extent) beleaGUER ILL Advised | ||
| 8 | ADIEU |
Said wise guy regularly shunned – ciao! (5)
|
| every other letter (regularly) of sAiD wIsE gUy | ||
| 13 | TRUTH TABLE |
Badly hurt in symmetrically divided battleground? It’s entirely logical (5,5)
|
| anagram (badly) of HURT inside anagram (ground) of BATTLE – the clue instructs us to symmetrically divide battleground into battle + ground | ||
| 14 | MAJOR THIRD |
Note interval in rank above bronze- medal position (5,5)
|
| MAJOR (rank) then (above, in a down light) THIRD (bronze medal position) | ||
| 16 | NO-GO- AREA |
Keep out of this Indian state following denial? Not quite true (2- 2,4)
|
| GOA (Indian state) follows NO (denial) then REAL (true) missing last letter (not quite all of) | ||
| 18 | ROUSTS |
Stirs up Republican fires (6)
|
| R (republican) then OUSTS (fires, gets rid of) | ||
| 19 | LATKE |
Dash of ketchup in most recent pancake (5)
|
| first letter (a dash of) Ketchup inside LATE (most recent) | ||
| 20 | SEEING |
Calling on mobile phone provider in shop (6)
|
| EE (UK mobile phone provider) inside SING (shop, inform on) | ||
| 22 | ESSAY |
Attempt bets, just evens for example (5)
|
| the even letters from bEtS the SAY (for example) |
Yes, not easy but not as tough as Monk can be. Thanks to Wikipedia (which I looked up after seeing WORDLE) for this, but the 9a, 12a, 18a and 24a 5-letters entries ARISE, ROUTE, RULES and REBUS are the examples given there to successfully guess the last word REBUS in four steps playing WORDLE. There may well be more to it than this. I can see that the game could become very addictive!
A few new words in FRICANDEAU and LATKE and ROUTE, REBUS and SAFETY (glad to see I’m in good company with the latter two) unparsed.
Thanks to Monk and Pee Dee
Thanks Monk and PeeDee. I have the same answers with the same uncertainties as both PeeDee and WordPlodder@1 for 24ac and 26ac.
13dn: Lovely to see a signalled requirement to split a clue word.
Some small points on the parsing:
7ac: I think “legally designated” is part of the definition.
9ac: This should be I for lunchtime (presumably 1pm – possibly as shown on a clock using Roman numerals?)
10ac: Tiny typo here. The material is TOILE
Perhaps the Elgar Variations is a collection of rebuses. I had a look in Chambers and the OED and both of these strongly suggest that a rebus is a pictorial, or at least a visual representation. But perhaps perhaps musical themes can count as a rebus too.
Thanks Pelham, all fixed now. I have typed “N for noon, lunchtime” so often that I think it just came out on autopilot.
I didn’t parse SAFETY either and spent some time trying to justify GAIETY to no avail. I think you have got it correct in the blog, PeeDee, and I guess we have to read it as ‘this’ = ‘safety’ then a list of what may follow it. Needed to cheat on the veal dish. Would have spent to long trying to guess an unknown word from the anagram fodder. Saw WORDLE but needed Word(P)l(odd)e(r) to explain the significance.
Very good, Hovis @5. With a mind like that, I’m sure you’d be a genius at the theme of today’s puzzle!
I wonder if variation is the sequence of words that lead to REBUS in the Wordle game hidden in the grid. A very rare example of a not completely hidden Monk theme. You have to spot the Nina to fully parse the clue.
But if so why not choose Enigma Variations?
Perhaps a REBUS is just a variety (“variation”) of enigma.
Anyway, this one was way beyond my skill level, with several new words and British slang. Thanks to Monk for the challenge and Wordle explanation and to PeeDee and the other posters for explaining the (several) answers that had me stuck. I hope I have more success on Wordle today than I did on this puzzle!
very clever but totally missed the wordle!
Thanks for the blog, I did wonder why there were so many five letter words.
PHOEBE is my second favourite moon of all, so much is unique, I will just mention it was the first moon discovered using photographic plates.
Thank you PeeDee, I needed your help to understand EFFIGY, had the same queries on the two in the lower right (my best guess is that SAFETY is just a clue word order oversight, and as you suggest @3, that the subtitles of the Enigma Variations, being individually designated by initials or codewords eg Nimrod for Jaeger, can be thought of as a Rebus), and completely missed the Wordle elements – very neat. I didn’t know “Rout” meant to dig so that one took a while and failed because I had TATADIDDLE having never heard of the word – of course spotting the Nina would have helped me there! Enjoyed a challenge full of wit, thanks Monk.
Quite a tricky crossword – I haven’t engaged with the Wordle phenomenon, so although I could see it in the grid, I didn’t bother to look for anything else
Taradiddle was one of my late mother-in-law’s favourite and much-used words so I did smile when solving that one
Thanks to Monk and PeeDee
PS@11 left not right!
PPS thanks for that nugget on PHOEBE Roz, my LOI but completely fair and gettable from wordplay, always a good sign (even though I don’t like broadcast as anagrind).
PPPS Pelham Barton@2 re 13d: as a relatively recent cryptic convert I seem to come across these word separation/concatenation requirements fairly often, so I was surprised that Monk (in what for me was a generally tricksy puzzle) felt that this one needed some signposting – maybe it is “house rules”? Anyway it was my first in and possibly still my favourite today (I think the surface improves without the assistance).
Too hard for me. The Enigma Variations held clues to the identity of the person depicted in each musical portrait e.g Nimrod (the hunter) was Elgar’s friend Jagger , hunter in German .Not exactly a Rebus.
Congrats to the setter and to Mr Monk for a very clever puzzle. Just wished I could have finished it.
Gazzah, @13 – “house rules” or maybe just personal preference of the setter is exactly right. There isn’t an official rulebook for what is acceptable in a cryptic crossword puzzle (unlike other games such as chess, cricket or football etc). Crossword rules are more akin to traditions, and like most traditions they vary from time to time and place to place.
A Wordle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma! Great fun from Monk today.
Like SM, I wish I could have finished unaided.
Not sure what delighted me most: the cleverly clued TARADIDDLE (in common with Cryptic Sue) or the Wordle producing REBUS (which sadly was missing from yesterday’s grid).
Hope you score today’s Wordle, EdK. I’ve fallen prey to it’s charms and I’m on a good winning streak since an earlier failure when I forgot about American spellings. (Payback, I hear you say, for all that rhyming slang!)
Thanks, anyway, to Monk for a grid full of fun, even potty humour (9, 10) and to PeeDee for his painstaking efforts.
Thanks to blogger & setter.
I, too, struggled to justify SAFETY until I thought that maybe it was a technical term for a back-up shot taken in filming – which Google confirmed was the case – so just a straight definition.
Hi shikasta – I wondered about “safety” being the same as “safety shot” too, but I didn’t find any dictionary support for that. I found “safety” meaning a defensive manoeuvre in sport, short for “safety play” or “safety shot”, but nothing for film. I think you may well have the right explanation though.
Generally I skip Monk crosswords but I thought I’d give this one a try. Despite oddball words like TARADIDDLE and FRICANDEAU I was fairly satisfied with my effort. Favourites included ERITREAN, PHOEBE, and TRUTH TABLE . I didn’t spot WORDLE and if I had it would have been of no use since I don’t know the game nor do I intend to learn it. With the FT, the G, the INDY, and the NY Times daily Spelling Bee I already spend an inordinate amount of time on games. Thanks Monk and thanks PeeDee for parsing so many answers I guessed but didn’t quite understand.
In addition to the Wordle sequence, as clarified by Monk (REBUS caused something of an issue because a number of Wordle participants did not know the word) ADIEU is much touted on the net as an opening word in the guessing game – falsely, in my view, but I have my own opening -guess strategy.
PeeDee
I found this by googling “safety shot in film-making“
I think 8d 22d 4d and 19d might also be a Wordle sequence. Super puzzle even without this. Thanks both
Thanks PeeDee for the usual great blog and to all for comments. Just popping in to answer the two residual queries.
24ac — “Enigma” by itself would not have defined tightly enough the answer REBUS because both are specific examples of general puzzles. So I used “Enigma Variation” to flag this specificity in a way that IMHO gave a thematically intact surface: “say, perhaps, maybe”
26ac — Mea !#*£$?@ culpa ?. This slipped past yours truly, two very experienced testers and an editor and, of course, “follow” should have said “precede“. Gnash.
Only 3h45m to go until the next Wordle ?. In the meantime, why not have a go at the 7-letter Wordle !#*£$?@ above?
Thanks to PeeDee for the blog and Monk for the puzzle and for dropping in.
Despite the pre-post glitch @ 26A, an excellent tussle (though I don’t do wordle).
Pretty tough but we got there in the end, although we never 17ac to the theme (so that was the reason for the unusual grid!). Lots to savour, but no real favourite.
Thanks, Monk and PeeDee.
Thanks Monk and PeeDee
Enjoyable puzzle that I didn’t get to until late on Wednesday and spilt over to a number of sittings throughout Thursday.
Managed to finish with the aid of a wordfinder for the unknown ‘veal dish’. Although SAFETY FIRST popped into my mind, could make little sense of the rest of the word play at 26 and came here with fingers crossed.
Knowing there would most likely be a nina, found WORDLE post solve but missed the example set of words – very clever.
Great crossword that had set me back for the rest of the week – weekend catch up again !
A late arrival. I tackled this on Sunday morning and got there in the end, despite two new words. I completely missed the wordle connection (I need to become more alert to this type of trickery), but have heard of Rebus. The two dishes, however, we are completely new to me.
Very satisfying to complete