Our midweek challenge comes from Italicus, who’s been appearing more frequently in 2022 than in previous years.
Just to get this out of the way: several clues in this puzzle seem to have a formatting problem where the space between two words has been lost. (I hope I’ve managed to correct them all below.) Looking at other recent blogs, it appears that this has happened before with Italicus puzzles, but I don’t remember seeing it with other setters. Perhaps Italicus and the Indy’s crossword editor should get together to work out what’s going wrong and how to fix it.
Back to the actual puzzle. I thought this was a good level of difficulty for a midweek puzzle, with nothing too obscure; there’s a questionable abbreviation in 14d but it’s obvious enough. I liked the surface of 16a/20a, especially when followed by 19a which looks like a failed attempt to deal with it; also the misleading use of “stern” in 28a and the slightly sneaky definition in 3d. Thanks Italicus for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SECEDE |
Leave church key in bishop’s office (6)
|
| CE (Church of England) + D (a musical key) in SEE (the area for which a bishop is responsible). | ||
| 4 | ARCHIVES |
Chronicles of colonies written by a Catholic (8)
|
| HIVES (colonies of bees) after A + RC (Roman Catholic). | ||
| 9 | ROBUST |
Hardy is protected by direct subordinate in retreat (6)
|
| Hidden answer (is protected by . . .), reversed (in retreat), in [direc]T SUBOR[dinate].
Hardy = robust = not easily damaged. |
||
| 10 | LINCHPIN |
Album featuring Creep has trendy, critical component (8)
|
| LP (long-playing record = album), containing (featuring) INCH (as a verb = creep = move slowly), then IN (trendy = fashionable). For the surface, Creep is a song on the Radiohead album Pablo Honey. | ||
| 12 | WALLOPED |
Hit barrier with scooter having left motorway (8)
|
| WALL (barrier) + [m]OPED (scooter = small motorcycle) without the M (abbreviation for motorway, as in M1).
Hit, as a verb in the past tense = walloped. |
||
| 13 | STODGE |
Extremely short poem containing good, hearty fare (6)
|
| End letters (extremes) of S[hor]T + ODE (poem), containing G (good). | ||
| 15 | YOBS |
Byron regularly berates discontented ruffians (4)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly) from [b]Y[r]O[n], then B[erate]S without the contents (middle letters) = dis-contented. | ||
| 16/20 | HOUSEMAIDS KNEE |
Nude Eskimo has developed European complaint (10,4)
|
| Anagram (developed) of NUDE ESKIMO HAS, then E (European).
A painful swelling at the front of the knee, which can be caused by kneeling for long periods of time, and hence is historically associated with domestic workers scrubbing floors. |
||
| 19 | PRECAUTION |
Preventive measure failed to cure pain (10)
|
| Anagram (failed) of TO CURE PAIN. | ||
| 20 |
See 16
|
|
| 23 | NETTLE |
Plant bug (6)
|
| Double definition. The well-known stinging plant; or (as a verb) bug = nettle = slang for annoy. | ||
| 25 | ESOTERIC |
Alcoholic Earl in Clapton only understood by a few people (8)
|
| SOT (a drunkard = an alcoholic) + E (Earl), inserted into ERIC (the guitarist Eric Clapton). | ||
| 27 | INSANITY |
Stupidity about son’s mental disorder (8)
|
| INANITY (stupidity) around S (son). | ||
| 28 | GRAMME |
Austen heroine reflected on German dowager’s stern measure (6)
|
| EMMA (title character of a Jane Austen novel) reversed (reflected), after G (German) + last letter (stern, as in a boat = the rear) of [dowage]R. | ||
| 29 | CLANSMEN |
Tribal folk lost camels besieging Nationalist quarter (8)
|
| Anagram (lost) of CAMELS around (besieging) N (Nationalist), then another N (north = a “quarter” = one of the four cardinal directions of the compass). | ||
| 30 | DOUSES |
Drenches detective crossing river (6)
|
| DS (Detective Sergeant) around (crossing) OUSE (one of a few British rivers with that name). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCRAWNY |
Emaciated cardinal goes on about cold city (7)
|
| S (south = one of the four cardinal directions of the compass) + C (short for Latin circa = about = roughly) + RAW (cold, especially describing winter weather) + NY (New York City). | ||
| 2 | CUBA LIBRE |
Young journalist abridged cover story about drink (4,5)
|
| CUB (slang for a junior news reporter) + ALIB[i] (cover story) without its last letter (abridged) + RE (about = on the subject of).
Rum and cola, with or without additions such as lime juice. |
||
| 3 | DESPOT |
One who dictates direction maintained by magazine (6)
|
| S (south = a direction) contained in (maintained by) DEPOT (magazine = ammunition store).
Despot = dictator = tyrannical ruler. |
||
| 5 | RAID |
Prompt heartless attack (4)
|
| RA[p]ID (quick = prompt) without its middle letter (heartless). | ||
| 6 | HECATOMB |
Teach mob about enormous sacrifice (8)
|
| Anagram (about) of TEACH MOB.
In Ancient Greece, a ritual sacrifice of 100 cattle. |
||
| 7 | VAPID |
Virginia mounted diploma in flat (5)
|
| VA (abbreviation for the US state of Virginia), then DIP (abbreviation for diploma) reversed (mounted = upwards in a down clue).
Vapid = flat = dull and uninteresting. |
||
| 8 | SINNERS |
Paramilitaries seizing hotel discovered very bad people (7)
|
| SS (paramilitaries in Nazi Germany), containing (seizing) INN (hotel) + [v]ER[y] with the outer letters removed (dis-covered). | ||
| 11 | RESORTS |
Holiday destinations of primarily rich English types (7)
|
| First letter (primarily) of R[ich] + E (English) + SORTS (types). | ||
| 14 | ESPOUSE |
Adopt stance, admitting university supports El Salvador (7)
|
| POSE (stance) containing (admitting) U (university), after (below, in a down clue = supporting) ES (which is sometimes used as an abbreviation for El Salvador – although in ISO 3166 country codes ES represents Spain, España, and El Salvador is SV). UPDATE: ES is used as the International Vehicle Registration code for El Salvador – thanks to Rabbit Dave @1 for pointing that out. It’s only confusing if you’re more familiar with Internet addresses than with driving overseas.
Espouse = adopt (an opinion or a cause). |
||
| 17 | IGNORAMUS |
Hapless or amusing dimwit (9)
|
| Anagram (hapless) of OR AMUSING. | ||
| 18 | GALLANTS |
Courteous chaps irk workers (8)
|
| GALL (as a verb = irk = annoy) + ANTS (which may be worker ants). | ||
| 19 | PONTIAC |
Car abandoned on tip has air conditioning (7)
|
| Anagram (abandoned) of ON TIP, then AC (air conditioning).
Former US car brand owned by General Motors. |
||
| 21 | ESCHEWS |
Renounces key cuts (7)
|
| ESC (the Escape key on a computer keyboard) + HEWS (cuts, as a verb). | ||
| 22 | STEREO |
Sound from street before opening of offices (6)
|
| ST (abbreviation for street) + ERE (archaic / poetic word for “before”) + opening letter of O[ffices]. | ||
| 24 | TESLA |
Inventor having drink outside deserted still (5)
|
| TEA (a drink) outside S[til]L (deserted = emptied = middle letters removed).
Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American inventor in the late 19th and early 20th century. |
||
| 26 | STYE |
Animal shelter reported infection (4)
|
| Homophone of STY = a shelter for pigs.
An infection of an oil gland at the edge of the eyelid. |
This was nicely challenging and good fun as always from this setter, with brief accurate clueing and smooth surfaces.
Quirster, ES is the IVR code for El Salvador.
Many thanks to Italicus and to Q.
Hi Quirister – I believe ES is the International Vehicle Registration Code for El Salvador. I was going to say ‘where we use GB’ but see that we changed that to UK last year. Presumably another great benefit of Brexit.
I found this chewy in parts and took a long time to get started but then got onto a roll. WALLOPED, HOUSEMAID’S KNEE, CLANSMEN, IGNORAMUS and PONTIAC were my favourites today.
Thanks Italicus and Q
RD @1 and PostMark @2: thanks for the correction. I’m more familiar with Internet address domains (which follow ISO 3166) than with vehicle registration codes (which pre-date that and have developed somewhat haphazardly); but I must remember to check IVR codes before complaining next time.
Thanks Quirister. This was smack in the Goldilocks zone for me – a nice steady and satisfying solve. Only the parsing for 1d eluded me – but it seems obvious now, thanks for the explanation.
I assumed ES was probably an IVR thing, so thanks for confirming my suspicions, RD & PM.
And thanks Italicus, of course. Very enjoyable puzzle.
By the way, I have friends (scooter enthusiasts) who will get VERY upset about a moped being equated with a scooter! It’s not something that bothers me personally – there are technical differences, but they’re certainly close enough for the purposes of a crossword clue, as far as I’m concerned.
[widders @5: I’m not sure which is worse- that there are people who are scooter enthusiasts who might get so worked up – or that you count said people amongst your friends! 😀
Only kidding: truth be told, I happen to believe entirely the opposite – we need enthusiasts of every kind in my book. I have no personal interest whatsoever in collecting thimbles, for example, but feel the world would be the poorer if there were not some people who find them fascinating. It’s not as if cruciverbalism is exactly a mainstream activity …]
I needed a word list to get HECATOMB, otherwise all went in smoothly, though needed Quirister’s help with some of the parsing. Surely cruciverbalism could be considered mainstream, since most newspapers and many magazines include one or more? By comparison, how many include regular items on thimble-collecting? Thanks Italicus and Quirister.
Tatrasman @7: I don’t dispute for one moment that crosswords are widely available but the anecdotal feedback when I step outside of my own little crossword bubble is that the vast majority of folk either never touch crosswords or dabble in the lighter fare. Impossible to get an accurate view – and blogs like these don’t represent the average solving public; just those who choose to go online and discuss. The Follower numbers for top setters on apps like Twitter are very modest in comparison with stars in many other fields. I wish it were not so but I think it’s a reasonably specialised following.
Though not as specialised as thimbles, I’ll grant you. Sadly, since the demise of The Thimble Society Magazine in 2009, we have no regular publication covering that worthy field. It’s all gone online. Presumably they now follow threads … But here’s a link to the final issue! 😀
Thanks both. I rarely pick a favourite but today will nominate LINCHPIN as I am a big fan of the referenced song, which at least enabled me to know the album it appears on was not part of the solution
Another enjoyable puzzle from this setter and I admit to seeking advice about HECATOMB – what a horrible ritual.
I was rather partial to the hapless dimwit so that goes to the top of my pile.
Thanks to Italicus and to Quirister for the review.
HOUSEMAIDS KNEE was my favourite as it reminded me of the passage in Three Men in a Boat where he consults a medical dictionary and works out that he has every complaint in it apart from Housemaid’s Knee.
Enjoyable puzzle. Loi was DOUSES, not sure why that gave me trouble. Favourite was HOUSEMAID’S KNEE – poor Eskimo, even with global warming. Didn’t quite parse SCRAWNY (thanks Quirister) – briefly toyed with scraggy.
[PostMark@8 I wonder if the Thimble Society magazine ever made it onto HIGNFY? It appears the website and shop in Portabello Rd are still functioning. It looks brilliant 😀 ]
Thanks Italicus and Quirister.
Enough of a challenge to make this enjoyable. I don’t recall having seen ‘stern’ as a last letter indicator before and so couldn’t parse GRAMME. Both the literal and figurative meanings (looking it up later) of HECATOMB were unknown, but the anagram made it a pretty safe bet.
I’ll go for the surface of the (now discontinued) PONTIAC as my favourite; maybe a comment on the US automotive industry in general.
Thanks to Italicus and Quirister
Excuse all the abbreviations and it’s a great bit of work. Liked the dowager’s stern!
Sorry for any duplication. My browser appears not to be registering comments.
Crossbar @12: well done for pinning them down. Needleless to say, I’ll get my coat …
Oh, PostMark, you are a sew and sew.
Very enjoyable but quite tough for me. The 25a nature of cryptic crosswords is what first drew me to them so I’ll go with that as favourite though I liked 10a too …..no I didn’t go looking up Radiohead albums!
Thanks to Italicus and Quinster.
Thanks Italicus for pleasant crossword that slowly unfolded for me. I did the “guess then check” thing to get the last couple (DESPOT and PRECAUTION) but mostly I was on my own. Favourites included LINCHPIN, GRAMME, and CUBA LIBRE. Thanks Quirister for the blog.