Raider makes his third appearance in the Indy today.
Raider’s two previous puzzles have featured themes, so, having completed the puzzle, we have been looking for a theme – but nothing leaps out at us!
We really enjoyed the puzzle, and liked the surfaces and crafty definitions. But we were disappointed by 9 down – the central feature of the grid, and a phrase that is not in any dictionaries, or apparently used for either of the ‘definitions’ in the clue. Could it be the key to a theme? Can anyone out there spot anything?
DUe (expected) without the last letter or ‘endless’ CHESS (‘battle with Queen and her allies?’)
U N K N (first letters or ‘fronts’ of Uncle Neil keep nothing) round or ‘concealing’ NOW (these days)
ACE (‘point of no return’ – in tennis) round or ‘lodging’ N (new)
An anagram (‘working’) of ON SAD MOTIF
A homophone (‘some might say’) of BIZARRE (strange)
Double definition
A pair of glasses might be balanced ON THE NOSE
CUE (potter – as in snooker) round R (right) + D (last letter of weed)
P (piano) in SORT (class)
An anagram (‘arranged’) of A FREE LIFT
A cryptic definition – CELLMATES in prison would be doing time together
A reversal (‘after recession’) of SIR (teacher) BED (sack)
MAINS (Power point) T (first letter of template) REAM (500 pages)
BURY (put underground) with the odd letters or ‘bits’ swapped or ‘shifted around’
An anagram (‘tube upset’) of REASON after P (penny – ‘small change’)
An anagram (‘broadcast’) of RACES round or ‘interrupted by’ TT (races)
Central or ‘essential’ letters of lUNCH AIN’t
YEN (desire) ‘breaking into’ HA (laugh)
An anagram (‘dancing’) of FOR FANS
NOD (a way to bid at auction) ICE (reserve)
NUMB (senseless) + a homophone (‘on the phone’) of SCULL (row)
An anagram (‘pants’) of WOMEN’S round or ‘worn by’ I (Raider – the setter)
A sort of double definition, but in neither sense is it a phrase we have come across before – rather disappointing as the central feature of the puzzle
An anagram (‘clumsy’) of HANDLER IS
REF (referee – ‘official’) with PACE (march) outside
An anagram (‘crawling’) of DEN and MICE
FRI’S (Friday’s – ‘day’s’) BEE (social gathering)
HEN (chicken) round or ‘crossing’ A ST (street – ‘road’)
R (right) in BUST (front of woman)
I have to say that I was rather put off this crossword as a whole when I solved 9d
Thanks anyway Raider and also to B&J
Well, I loved this. It was full of humour, e.g. UNKNOWN, WINSOME, HASTEN …, and several tricky ones, e.g. DUCHESS, CURED, MAINSTREAM … and lovely surfaces – I particularly liked the one for DEBRIS. Didn’t have any issue with 9d. The question mark illustrates that the second definition is whimsical and the first definition seems fine to me, whether or not it appears in dictionaries.
I’m with Hovis on this one. So many penny drop moments. [Yet another day of crossword coincidence, with a point of no return appearing in another place.]
I’m another giving this the thumbs up though I did not find it easy. 9d is a Thing – a Google search throws up plenty of mentions as a product/treatment and it didn’t upset me unduly. I’d be surprised if it was the first solution laid down when the grid was being filled and suspect our setter was having to work around constraints of existing lights. Plenty I could tick but the last little clutch of Downs were particularly enjoyable with PREFACE, FRISBEE, HASTEN and BUST. I have to admit, I was also rather tickled at the odd risque surface – WINSOME, UNKNOWN and CURED in particular.
Thanks Raider and B&J
Defeated by the crossing MAINSTREAM and HASTEN and as with Raider’s two previous offerings, I found this quite difficult, with some original clues, eg UNKNOWN. Many other good ones, CELLMATE being my pick. Not too fussed about 9d.
Thanks to Raider and B&J
I thought this was good fun with, as noted elsewhere, quite an element of wit. Lovely surfaces for NUMBSKULL and HASTEN among others. Thanks Raider and Bertandjoyce.
PeterT@: I spotted that too – how strange.
crypticsue@1 What a load of……
Lovely puzzle, quite easy but sharp too. 9d was last in, quite a surprising answer. The clue for SAFFRON is delightful.
One little gripe, not unique to this puzzle: the comma in 16 coming between the verb/preposition and the object. Those always spoil the clue for me.
But “potter about” is the verb and the comma is fine.
I had no issue at all with 9d. It made me laugh when I got it and matched the clue perfectly. Most definitely a ‘thing!
But right is the object. My gripe is ‘A containing B’ being written as ‘A containing, B’. I know there’s far more misleading punctuation, but this type gets me. Sometimes the surface wouldn’t work without the comma, but not here.
James @12. Sorry, but how is “right” the object. To potter about is an intransitive verb so doesn’t take an object (and “about” is not a preposition in this context). The clue is essentially saying “Busy oneself, immediately before last of weed is smoked”.
I think we’re at cross-purposes. You’re talking about the apparent meaning of the clue, whereas I’m talking about the cryptic meaning. Cryptically, the clue reads ‘CUE about R before D’. Cryptically, about is a preposition, and R is its object. Putting a comma between about and R interrupts the cryptic sentence.
James @ 14
It’s called misdirection.
James @14. I understand now. Personally, I think punctuation should only go with the surface reading and pretty much ignored (in the same manner as capitalisation often is) in the cryptic reading. It certainly can be argued that if the punctuation isn’t necessary for the surface and shouldn’t be there for the cryptic reading then, perhaps, it could be left out but I’m with Simon on that point.
Yes, this went in fairly smoothly, and 9dn made me smile.
Mostly fun and I can see no-one else had issues with winsome being the wrong way round (I is worn by wnsome), or with my personal bugbear, the setter expecting you to know who they are.
Enjoyed this one. No issues with 9d which got a grin.
Ericw@18 the mind boggles at how you wear your pants; mine generally go around the outside of me.
Some great clues here – we liked DUCHESS, MAINSTREAM and NUMBSKULL among others – although we weren’t too impressed with 9dn, simply because the expression isn’t in the dictionaries (we thought it might be an Americanism).
Thanks, Raider and B&J
Thanks Raider for the fun. SAFFRON, ACNE, DEBRIS, FRISBEE, and BURST were among the clues I particularly liked. Smooth surfaces and a sense of humour always please me. Thank B&J for parsing — I was mystified by CURED.
James @9 etc and others: make R the subject in the cryptic reading to make the comma kosher: CUE [being] around, R before D is the answer. Otherwise, I’m with you: misdirection is creating ambiguity; using punctuation that’s obtrusively wrong in the cryptic reading is lying. Neither meaning what you say nor saying what you mean.
Nice puzzle, thanks Raider (and blogger)
I think 9d STOOL SOFTENER hits rock bottom.
(Sorry.)
My true opinion of this clue is that it is ok because it is definitely ‘a thing’, as pointed out already. It is not in any dictionary because its meaning is self-evident without any variation (e.g. a figurative one).
Alan @23. I would add that HEADACHE TABLETS are not in a dictionary either. If you went to a chemists and asked for STOOL SOFTENER, of course they’d know what you mean.
Hovis @24 I agree that the fact that the absence of an explicit dictionary reference should not necessarily prevent words from appearing in crossword grids, but only where the answer in question is something that is in common usage. In the case of “stool softener”, I suspect, like allan_c @ 20, that the expression is an Americanism for what in the UK would generally be called a laxative. It is a pity that this crossword appears to have been constructed around something that is neither in common usage nor to be found in any of the standard dictionaries.
Rudolf @25
You have caused me to rethink my opinion of 9d. The clue to it is in itself OK, but the chosen phrase (STOOL SOFTENER) feels out of place in a British crossword, and I’m even unsure in my own mind whether I would include non-dictionary phrases like HEADACHE TABLET or (say) MUSCLE RELAXANT (a further example I have just made up) in a crossword. The argument that it is ‘a thing’ (and therefore valid) may not be enough. I now think that if I was the compiler I would avoid including something other than a proper noun that is not in the dictionary, but I would not call foul if a setter chose to use one – preferably one that is familiar to its main audience.