The blogging calendar works its wonders.
The stars are aligned!
The gods have given me a Serpent to blog same as last time I was on Saturday Indy duty.
This is great because I can refer to and compare with puzzle 11,079 from April 16 to declare – he’s done it again – another stonker.
Some beautiful clues here and pretty hard – some of the wordplay I will need help with – and this time I was more prepared and went looking for a Nina with a fine-toothed comb and found it! Not till after I’d finished the puzzle though. I wonder if it would have helped if I’d seen it earlier?
It certainly helped firm up some of my more doubtful answers (I was wavering over WAVE[r]).
The Nina is in the same positions as last April’s puzzle, in the unches nearest the perimeter. This time clockwise from “noon” we can read
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (&) NICO
I thought there might be an anniversary to commemorate but if it is for the 55th it is a bit late – the LP was released in March ’67
Solving took a long time but seemed to start well. Unlike last month I got the first one I read, 1A, on first reading – I later found what I wrote in was wrong.
I put in SUMS UP instead of ADDS UP – I reckon the clue works for both but of course it must also fit the other answers. So it meant for a very long time I thought 2d started with UN…
Never mind, 3D and 4D soon followed and I though I was on a roll.
That didn’t last long. There was a period where it was getting harder and harder to find an answer to put in. With it feeling like each answer was taking twice as long as the previous I thought I could never finish. Thankfully there were a few relatively easy clues down the backend that gave me a boost: 14D Giant Panda and 30A [b]Assist for example.
So hats off again to Serpent for a great treat and look forward to next month.
Help needed understanding wordplay for only 12A and probably 29A. I thought there were more but on reviewing the blog I’m happier than when I first wrote it.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ADDS UP | Including what accounts for 50% of assets in total makes sense (4,2) S (letter S makes up 50% of ASSETS) inside ADD UP (total). First one in – wrong – I put in SUMS UP – wordplay still works the same for that |
| 5 | ENCORE | Request for more ends in sale to sadistic bloke in Oliver Twist (6) ([sal]E [t]O [sadisti]C [blok]E [i]N [olive]R)* AInd: Twist !! Spectacular clue |
| 10 | ENSUE | Soldiers certain to suppress mass resistance and succeed (5) MEN (Soldiers) and SURE (certain) removing M[ass] and R[esistance] thus: [m]EN SU[r]E |
| 11 | LUCRATIVE | Vital cure could be financially rewarding (9) (VITAL CURE)* AInd: could be. |
| 12 | IDENTITY | I’d spelt out fully who I am (8) I’D “N T T” ? I certainly need help with this wordplay. Is it a homophone? Edit: Commenters point out it is simply that ID is an abbreviation for Identity |
| 13 | PLANET | Tree trunk almost entirely hidden in earth? (6) PLANE (tree) T[runk] |
| 15 | SNAP | I’ve got the same picture! (4) Double Def. |
| 16 | VERIFIABLE | Authentic revolutionary zeal’s capable of surviving imprisoning (10) FIRE< (zeal, revolutionary) inside (imprisoning, imprisoned by) VIABLE (capable of surviving) |
| 19 | PURCHASING | This kind of power you are reportedly in pursuit of? (10) P[ower] “U R” CHASING. A kind of semi-&Lit, or is it a full &Lit? |
| 20 | WAVE | Vacillate endlessly and move from side to side (4) WAVE[r] |
| 23 | ROSARY | What guides prayers of Catholic woman who’s lost heart? (6) ROS[em]ARY |
| 25 | OPERATED | Newspaper article about judge had an effect (8) OP-ED (newspaper article) around RATE (judge) |
| 27 | TRADESMAN | Shopkeeper deals with staff (9) TRADES (deals) MAN (staff, verb) |
| 28 | EMOTE | Express strong feelings about e-book (5) E- (TOME)* AInd: about. TOME from book Edit: It’s simpler than that really – Sheepish at #8 points out “about” is being used as a reversal indicator here for E-TOME< |
| 29 | LESSON | Smaller amount supported by class action (6) LESS (smaller amount) ON (supported by) – something not quite right about that explanation |
| 30 | ASSIST | Musician wanting leader of band’s help (6) [b]ASSIST |
| Down | ||
| 2 | DISREPAIR | Neglected state of son adopted by dreadful couple (9) S[on] inside (adopted by) DIRE PAIR (dreadful couple) |
| 3 | SCENTS | Traces dictator’s money to America (6) Homophone “Cents”. The dictator here is the speaker, not Putin, unless it is he speaking |
| 4 | POLYTHEISM | College is spreading these people’s belief system (10) POLY (college) IS inside (spreading) THEM (these people) |
| 5 | ETCH | Eat out and so forth with husband (4) ETC (and so forth) H[usband] |
| 6 | CHAPLAIN | Talk briefly with outspoken clergyman (8) CHA[t] (talk, briefly) PLAIN (outspoken) |
| 7 | REIGN | Control assumed by princeling ultimately? (5) [princelin]G inside (assumed by) REIN (control). Fully &Lit def. the “?” guarding against the possibility of the princeling pegging it before his mother |
| 8 | REMISS | Thoughtless young woman weighed down by remorse on vacation (6) MISS (young woman) underneath (weighed down by) R[emors]E |
| 9 | SETTLE | Come to an agreement to lower pay (6) Double Def. I think “lower” is in there to give the implication of “settling down” but I venture it is not strictly needed |
| 14 | GIANT PANDA | Animal adapting to change around North America (5,5) (ADAPTING)* AInd: to change, around N[orth] A[merica]. A relatively easy anagram, especially given the enumeration |
| 17 | BEAUTEOUS | Striking university dons see about working (9) U[niversity] inside (dons) (SEE ABOUT)* AInd: working. By contrast I found this a horrendously difficult anagram, difficult to spot the anagram fodder |
| 18 | CHARGERS | King engulfed by allegations as fighting mounts (8) R[ex] (king) inside (engulfed by) CHARGES (allegations). Last one in, haven’t understood quite why |
| 19 | PIRATE | Confusion surrounds informer operating illegally (6) PIE (confusion) around RAT (informer) I am not sure how Confusion equates to Pie and surely “operating illegally” would be Pirating rather than Pirate. I expect I have missed something. Edit: KVa at #4 shows that Pie can be “a confused mass” etc. and crypticsue at #7 points out Pirate can be used as an adjective, so this definition makes more sense |
| 21 | EDDIED | Maintained circulation as newspaper boss stopped working (6) ED (newspaper boss) DIED (stopped working) |
| 22 | GREENS | What links provide following drive for party members (6) Double Def. Golf course greens and Green party members – and never the twain shall meet |
| 24 | STAGE | Say when northbound train’s beginning to enter platform (5) T[rain] inside E.G. (say) AS (when) all reversed (northbound) |
| 26 | OMEN | What predicts recurring feature of momentary phenomena? (4) Hidden Twice! OMEN appears in both mOMENtary and phenOMENa. Wonderful clue to end with |
ID spelt out fully is identity
Just an abbreviation! 🙂
Your parsing of 29A seems fine. A lesson is an action taken in a class! Or am I missing something?
SETTLE: I share your view about ‘lower’.
PIRATE: Parsed it the same way. PIE: ‘a collection of things made up into a heap; a confused mass; a collection of rules'(didn’t know this. Found it online). Still, the part of speech mismatch remains to be addressed. Maybe the setter just set it that way. I don’t think there is more to it.
CHARGERS: Should the definition be ‘fighting mounts’ (war horses)?
I also took “chargers” to be “fighting mounts”. I parse SETTLE as a triple definition. Seen that meaning of PIE before but not sure about the pirate/pirating issue. Had no problem with the parsing given for 29a. Parsed 12a as KVa.
Found this harder than normal but really enjoyed it. The Nina was only looked for after completion this time. I do like The Velvet Underground so this was easy to see. Took me ages to get VERIFIABLE. Others like ENCORE, PLANET, ROSARY were tough. For a while I was taking “adapting” as the anagrind in 14d with “to change” as part of the fodder. I was a bit lucky with 17d as BEAUTEOUS was the first word I thought of for ‘striking’ and lo and behold, it parsed.
Another splendid crossword from Serpent. Remembering where he was going to hide his Nina helped too with my last couple of stragglers. The BRB has 19d as an adjective meaning ‘operating illegally’
Thanks to Serpent for the crossword and beermagnet for the blog
This was one of those days when I was glad to hear it wasn’t just me, it was a hard puzzle! I did enjoy several clues when they finally clicked (5A especially) , but after that the reveal key got quite a lot of work.
Re parsing of 28A, which I eventually got without parsing, presumably it’s a reversal of E-TOME rather than what would be an indirect anagram?
Thanks to beermagnet and Serpent.
That was hard. We admired it without enjoying it.
I’d always assumed ID was identity document rather than just identity.
Thanks for the corrections and clarifications. I have fixed the definition at 18D which was a mistake and added in-line edits to the others.
Thanks both. A fog has only lifted when I came here. For me, saying I’d fully spelt out becomes IDENTITY is inaccurate owing to the apostrophe, or is this what conveniently gets referred to as a mis-direction?
TFO @ 11
I’d [!] say it’s helpful misdirection. Id per se suggests the Freudian concept, whereas I’d can be seen as I ‘ d (which is the way I saw it).
I also read the nina as ‘The Velvet Underground’ and ‘Nico’.
Meant to add add that VU&N has been a favourite album of mine since I first heard it over 50 years ago.
So I’m chuffed that I’m going to be seeing John Cale twice more this summer.
I took 9d as a triple def: Come to an agreement, lower, pay
Thanks Serpent for another excellent crossword. I didn’t find this unusually difficult but I did guess a few and later worked out the parsing. I particularly liked ENCORE, PURCHASING, EMOTE, SCENTS, and the triple definition SETTLE. I found the nina and I loved the shout-out for a group far ahead of its time. Thanks beermagnet for the blog.
Respect.
To Serpent, Beermagnet and all who solved and parsed it.
I didn’t quite, but I loved the Velvet Underground
Many thanks to beermagnet for the great blog, and to everyone who has taken the time to solve and comment on the puzzle.
A truly wonderful puzzle. I’d like to draw attention to a little gem (my LOI): 22D. The surface and cryptic meanings both work perfectly. Bravo!
Phew. I would have had little hope in solving this without the Nina. Very difficult but ultimately satisfying. I parsed SETTLE as a triple def and for what it’s worth thought that PURCHASING was a semi-&lit, with ‘This kind’ not contributing to wordplay as far as I can see.
Looking forward to a couple of gentler ones (here and The Times) on Sunday!
Thanks to beermagnet and Serpent
Many thanks to Serpent, who’s been in outstanding form of late.
Venus in Furs sounds as cool as ever today
Big thanks to Serpent-and beermagnet