Amoeba S&B 2022 Puzzle

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I bumped into Amoeba at the York S&B event last weekend…

…well, we actually bumped into each other on the train up from London, as we were sat next to each other, but neither of us twigged that the other was on their way to the event, and I had my headphones on, to try and drown out the incessant Friday afternoon chatter up-and-down the carriage.

Anyway, Amoeba is a ‘rookie-ish’ setter, self-publishing on ‘My Crossword'(?), but yet to break into the big time with any of the papers, or other puzzle magazines/websites.

On the Saturday afternoon, he brought along copies of this sample puzzle, and left them around for people to try – with a request for any feedback.

I finally got round to trying it yesterday, and I feel from the time it took me and the perceived level of difficulty, it would probably stand up against a daily (or even Saturday prize) Indy or Guardian puzzle. There are maybe a few rough edges, which would probably be smoothed out by any test solving/editing that would happen before wider publication, but on the whole, and as a non-setter myself, I was pretty impressed.

There are a wide range of clue types – anagrams; hidden words (forward and backward); initial letters; outer letters; a lift-and-separate; some clever touches in 9A and the two long Down entries; and the use of bra/supporter as a classic cruciverbal chestnut! And some nice surface reads scattered throughout, including the almost Cyclops-ean 6D…

 

 

My thanks to Amoeba for a pleasant diversion and challenge. I hope I’ve got it all as you intended below.

I also hope that that some of the new connections Amoeba made over the weekend will lead to new opportunities opening up to him in the future… I am sure he will be keen to see any comments below, or you can e-mail feedback to the address at the top of the puzzle sheet. (I won’t print it here, as there is a convention of not publishing e-mail addresses on 15×15).

 

Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1A TOUCAN Briefly stroke an exotic bird (6)

TOUC(H) (stroke, briefly, i.e. losing last letter) + AN
5A TWITCHES Starts Road Dahl novel in Yorkshire? (8)

T (t’, stereotypical Yorkshire contraction for The) + WITCHES

[There seems to be a typo in the clue – should be Roald Dahl, the novel being THE WITCHES]
9A EGGSHELL Layer that protects a future layer (8)

CD? An EGGSHELL is a layer that protects the unborn chicken (future layer!) inside
10A SONATA Occasionally swoon at a piece of music (6)

SON (occasional letters of SwOoN) + AT + A
11A ANNA Once India’s change starts to accelerate, ‘new normal’ arrives (4)

initial letters, or starts, of ‘Accelerate New Normal Arrives’

[change as in money – anna being a subdivision of a rupee]
12A INDENTURES Deals in false teeth (10)

IN + DENTURES (false teeth)

[deals being a noun, rather than a verb, with an indenture being a contract, or deal]
13A WRASSE Swimmer in water adjusts stroke, completely disheartened (6)

outer letters, i.e. completely removing the centres, or hearts, of ‘WateR AdjustS StrokE’

[the swimmer in question being a fish!]
14A SNOWY OWL Bird’s anguished cry after scattered seed finally taken back (5,3)

SNOW (sown, or scattered seed, with final letter, N, taken back two spaces) + Y_OWL (cry of distress)
16A UNBIASED Fairground ban is due! (8)

anag, i.e. ground, of BAN IS DUE

[fair and ground have to be ‘lifted and separated’ here!]
19A ENAMEL Coat some gentleman eventually returned (6)

reversed hidden word, i.e. ‘some’ and returned’, in ‘gentLEMAN Eventually’
21A SPELLBOUND Hypnotised by drifting pollen buds (10)

anag, i.e. drifting, of POLLEN BUDS
23A HOME See 18 Down (4)

see 18D
24A NAUSEA A bit of marijuana use alleviates sickness (6)

hidden word in, i.e. a bit of, ‘marijuaNA USE Alleviates’
25A LOADSTAR Guide puts a bullet in traitor’s back (8)

LOADS (puts a bullet in, i.e. in a gun) + TAR (rat, or traitor, back)

[LOADSTAR being an alternative spelling of LODESTAR, both equally acceptable in Chambers]
26A STUDENTS Learners of French enthralled by gimmicks (8)

STU_NTS (gimmicks) around (enthralling) DE (of, French)
27A NICEST New way to cover up murder most foul? Quite the opposite! (6)

N (new) + ST (street, way), around ICE (murder, bump off, US criminal slang)
Down
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
2D ORGAN TRANSPLANT Procedure that might make cruciverbalists groan (5,10)

A cryptic crossword clue setter might use TRANSPLANT as an anagram indicator to make GROAN from ORGAN!
3D CO-STARS They lead East German into traffic (2-5)

C_ARS (traffic) around O-ST (ost, East, in German)
4D NEEDINESS Was born and died in East Sussex, essentially in poverty (9)

NEE (was born, indicating maiden name) + D (died) + IN + E (East) + SS (middle, or essence, of suSSex)
5D TOLEDOS Blades accidentally sold to the last in line (7)

anag, i.e. accidentally, of SOLD + TO + E (last letter in linE)
6D IBSEN Playwright’s nurse getting to the bottom of painful condition (5)

IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome, painful condition) + EN (Enrolled Nurse)

[Wonderful, if eye-watering, surface read!]
7D CENTURY Horseman scratching a filly’s back for a long time (7)

CENT(A)UR (half man, half horse, removing, or scratching, A) + Y (back, or last letter, of FILLY)
8D EAT BETWEEN MEALS Dinner, lunch, tea or snack? (3,7,5)

‘Dinner’ and ‘tea’ can be two meals, and to ‘lunch’ can be to eat, so ‘dinner, lunch, tea’ could be interpreted as ‘EAT’ BETWEEN ‘MEALS’!
15D OVERDRAWN In debt, unwanted, and tired (9)

OVER (surplus, unwanted) + DRAWN (tired)
17D ILL-USED Wretched, sullied, and treated badly (3-4)

anag, i.e. wretched, of SULLIED
18D DOUGLAS(-HOME) & 23 PM should go with mea culpa! (7-4)

anag, i.e. culpa, Latin for mistake, or error, of SHOULD GO + MEA

[A topical reference, with a non-topical PM!]
20D APHASIC Struggling to communicate with retired spies about detailed point (7)

A_IC (CIA, spies, retired) around PHAS(E) (phase, or stage of development?, de-tailed, i.e. losing last letter)

[My LOI – wasn’t completely sure that phase = point?]
22D BRAIN Supportive article on popular thinker (5)

BRA (supportive article – of clothing) + IN (popular)

[That old cruciverbal chestnut – bra/supporter!]

13 comments on “Amoeba S&B 2022 Puzzle”

  1. Thanks very much mc_rapper & to Ken for hosting the puzzle – as well as anyone else who had a go, either on the day or subsequently. At least the typo wasn’t anagram fodder, I suppose…

    ‘Phase’ as ‘point’ appears in Chambers Thesaurus, although I’d agree it generally has a longer duration than a point.

  2. Thanks MCR and Amoeba – my feelings exactly, I’d be surprised if Amoeba doesn’t appear in at least the Indy before long.

  3. (I should add I have previously been known as Jim on here, but have decided a single moniker is a bit easier)

  4. Thought I’d pop in before the day is up having just done this over on MyC. Very accomplished cluing and I enjoyed the surfaces. Favourites include ANNA for the surface, UNBIASED for a nice L&S, NAUSEA which is plausibly disguised, NICEST for the misdirect which did have me looking for reversible containers, ORGAN TRANSPLANT for the pleasurable groan (steady!), NEEDINESS for a cracking surface, CENTURY for the horseman and EAT BETWEEN MEALS for an imaginative interpretation.

    Both APHASIC and TOLEDOS were nho but I chanced upon ‘phase’ for the first and the anagram helper threw up something close to the second once I’d identified the fodder. Two slight quibbles: two birds both defined as bird and ‘scattered seed’ = SOWN seems odd to me. I think you could have found a slightly easier way of indicating SNOW?

    Thanks Amoeba and MC for giving it the treatment. (You put a QM after My Crossword in your preamble. mycrossword.co.uk has been acknowledged on several occasions here on 225 and there is a degree of crossover between the two sites. If anyone sees this note and is unaware of the site, I’d wholeheartedly commend it as a showcase for a range of self-publishers that include some very accomplished setters)

  5. I agree that solving this felt very much like working on a Wednesday or Thursday puzzle in the Guardian. Nice job.

  6. A very pleasant outing Amoeba. Hope you’re encouraged with the feedback.
    PostMark @4 has pretty much said it all. My own particular favourites were EGGSHELL (a nice deceptive surface), ORGAN TRANSPLANT (I’ve come to like those reverse type clues), IBSEN (for the great surface as mc_rapper says) and CENTURY (for the horseman as PM says).

  7. Thanks for the comments so far – and I hope Amoeba wasn’t offended by me calling him a ‘rookie’ (;+>)

    PostMark at #4 – I am aware of mycrossword.com, although I haven’t visited it much yet – the question mark was was because I met several people at the weekend, some of whom publish on their own sites, and some who use mycrossword – I couldn’t remember which camp Amoeba fell into.

  8. mc @7: no worries. It was a valid interpretation of your QM? And I do occasionally take the opportunity to raise awareness of MyC on 225 in case the post happens to reach a different segment of the community. Like I said, it’s great that Amoeba has had the opportunity of a professional solve and blog.

  9. Good to meet you in York, Amoeba (and you, mc_rapper67). (What a quiz team!) I enjoyed your puzzle, putting ticks against several clues: UNBIASED, NAUSEA, ORGAN TRANSPLANT, CENTURY and EAT BETWEEN MEALS. On the other hand, I struggled with the parsing for SNOWY OWL and APHASIC.

    All the best with your setting!

  10. Enjoyed solving this in York, whilst sitting next to setter and across from blogger – a pleasure to meet you both! Agree this wouldn’t be out of place on the back pages. Favourites (amongst many contenders) 5a, 24a, 27a, 7d & 8d. Thanks again!

  11. Ha, yes, the experience of having my own puzzle solved next to me was an unusual one…

    Thanks to everyone who’s commented so supportively and constructively, whether here, on MyC, or via email. I am certainly still a rookie, but really appreciate the kind and constructive comments.

  12. PostMark at #8 – agreed – the more the merrier in terms of encouraging people to solve (and set) more puzzles.

    Median and CranberryBoat – nice to meet both of you as well. I have just solved the Median puzzle that was put out as well…very enjoyable, thank-you.

  13. Nice one Amoeba,

    I’m rather late to this but had it on my list as I usually enjoy your puzzles and this was no exception. Lovely to see it blogged on 225 too.

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