All aboard the Skylark as Cap’n Pugwash used to say – three types of clue this week; normal, remove a letter and remove a word. Two messages to discover, an author to highlight and a perimeter to complete. My first experience of blogging a Skylark puzzle too.
The clues yielded in a easy to medium difficulty sort of way – was convinced for a while that it was a mathematical theme as ‘Cosines’ appeared to be the first word, but eventually all became clear that the removed letters spelled out COSINESS AND IRRITATION. Nothing immeditely sprang to mind on this one.
So what of the extra words THOROUGHLY NICE PEOPLE WITH WHOM ONE HAS NOTHING IN COMMON. An apt description of a large percentage of the population in my opinion and a lot of the rest are not so nice!
Still nothing dropping in the penny department. Then I spotted a Barbara in the NW to SE diagonal and googled the name BARBARA PYM who it turns out was an author of 20th century fiction with apparent sympathies to nazi Germany in the 1930s (I suspect a more common view in this country than we might think)
Google also helped with the perimeter filling from her bibliography the works
SOME TAME GAZELLE; A GLASS OF BLESSINGS; THE SWEET DOVE DIED.
And that was that – Merry Christmas all and if you don’t celebrate it then have a pleasant break from the mundanity of the everyday. Few trains, no post, few need to work, hard to get an ambulance, nursing or care on the 25th – actually scrub that it has been like that most of this month. Let’s raise the low paid to a decent wage so they too can live – but for for those on a decent wage, try living within your means before doing your Oliver impression.
Thanks Skylark though I won’t be rushing to read any of the author’s output – the less I read about middle class people the lower my blood pressure will remain – adding a little fascist tendency and that’s a red flag to me.
Key * anagram; DD Double definition; Rev. reversed; underline definition
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 Charming Frost, cue sweetener (8) | ||
| C | 9 Harming Frost, cue sweetener (8) | |
| (frost cue)* = FRUCTOSE | ||
| THOROUGHLY | 10 Rotating before exit, thoroughly French display stand (7) | |
| 10 Rotating before exit, French display stand (7) | ||
| Rev. ere (before) gate (exit) = ETAGERE | ||
| 11 Once cut sulphur and boron (4) | ||
| O | 11 Once cut sulphur and born (4) | |
| s (Sulphur) + nee (born) = SNEE | ||
| 12 Once more unseal sore wound with pointed object (6) | ||
| S | 12 Once more unseal ore wound with pointed object (6) | |
| (ore)* + pen (sharp object) = REOPEN | ||
| 13 Almost perfect plain (4) | ||
| I | 13 Almost perfect plan (4) | |
| ideal(perfect) – l = IDEA | ||
| 14 Terrible time for eastern snoot (4) | ||
| N | 14 Terrible time for eastern soot (4) | |
| dire (terrible) swapping t for the e = DIRT | ||
| 15 Labelling, accepting last of pale young salmon (9) | ||
| E | 15 Labelling, accepting last of pal young salmon (9) | |
| branding (Labelling) including l (last of pal) = BRANDLING | ||
| 18 Some serene swallows dive into water (4) | ||
| S | 18 Some serene wallows dive into water (4) | |
| Hidden serENE Wallows = ENEW | ||
| 20 Bringing back Nordic bread, start to score fish (4) | ||
| S | 20 Bringing back Nordic bread, start to core fish (4) | |
| Rev. ore (Nordic bread) + c (start) to core = CERO | ||
| 22 Formerly good quality green, useable on nice vacation (6) | ||
| NICE | 22 Formerly good quality green, useable on vacation (6) | |
| vert (green) + ue (usable on vacation) = VERTUE | ||
| 23 Energy parts atom perhaps and sodium chain (6) | ||
| A | 23 Energy parts tom perhaps and sodium chain (6) | |
| cat (tom perhaps) + e (energy) + na (sodium) = CATENA | ||
| 26 See people following around line of soldiers in Elizabethan times (4) | ||
| PEOPLE | 26 See following around line of soldiers in Elizabethan times (4) | |
| Rev. ely (see) + f (following) = FYLE | ||
| 28 Drinks pints leaving street (4) | ||
| N | 28 Drinks pits leaving street (4) | |
| stones(pits) – st (street) = ONES | ||
| 29 Doctor being superior wears elaborate clothing (9, two words) | ||
| dr(octor) + esse (being) + sup(superior) = DRESSES UP | ||
| 30 Images from heroic poems bard originally evoked (4) | ||
| D | 30 Images from heroic poems bar originally evoked (4) | |
| epics(heroic poems) – e (bar originally) = PICS | ||
| 31 Broadcast with shot bird (4) | ||
| WITH | 31 Broadcast shot bird (4) | |
| Homonym of turn (shot) = TERN | ||
| 33 Will’s maid, declare, shunning area like Sequoia National Forest? (6) | ||
| I | 33 Will’s mad, declare, shunning area like Sequoia National Forest? (6) | |
| wood (Will’s mad) + say (declare) – a (area) = WOODSY | ||
| 35 Recalled rage issue (4) | ||
| R | 35 Recalled age issue (4) | |
| Rev. time (age) = EMIT | ||
| 36 Imagine for whom dame dances (7, two words) | ||
| WHOM | 36 Imagine for dame dances (7, two words) | |
| (for dame)* = DREAM OF | ||
| 37 Buddhist’s trope about the French Staff Officer is dismal (8) | ||
| R | 37 Buddhist’s tope about the French Staff Officer is dismal (8) | |
| dome (Buddhist’s top) around le(the French) + SO (Staff officer) = DOLESOME | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 One received objection, shamed going topless (8) | ||
| ONE | 1 Received objection, shamed going topless (8) | |
| ob (objection) + stained (shamed) – s (topless) = OBTAINED | ||
| 2 Bore interrupting masculine rector is weaker (7) | ||
| m(masculine) + r (rector) around eagre (bore) = MEAGRER | ||
| 3 Timber support protects ruins (4) | ||
| I | 3 Timber support protects runs (4) | |
| tee (support) around r (runs) = TREE | ||
| 4 Rising, notice yellow following gold dawns (7) | ||
| Rev. ear (notice) + or (gold) after au (gold) = AURORAE | ||
| 5 Gas confused Heseltine, dropping rough list (6) | ||
| T | 5 Gas confused Heseltine, dropping rough lis(6) | |
| (Heseltine – lis)* = ETHENE | ||
| 6 Abash tipsy idiot (4) | ||
| A | 6 Bash tipsy idiot (4) | |
| Go on = GOON | ||
| 7 Has Middle Eastern heretic’s religion upset child? (6) | ||
| HAS | 7 Middle Eastern heretic’s religion upset child? (6) | |
| zen(religion) + Rev. kid (child) = ZENDIK | ||
| 8 Record missing base of Celt’s sword (4) | ||
| T | 8 Record missing base of Cel’s sword (4) | |
| elpee (record) – l (base of cel’s) = EPEE | ||
| 16 Recipe filling experts, a large amount (5) | ||
| aces(experts) around r(recipe) = ACRES | ||
| 17 Briefly show Asian cash (4) | ||
| drama (show) – a (briefly) = DRAM | ||
| 19 Occupied with son getting lower, believes nothing (4) | ||
| NOTHING | 19 Occupied with son getting lower, believes (4) | |
| busy(occupied) moving s (son) = BUYS | ||
| 21 Curie surrenders note for East Caribbean tale (8) | ||
| I | 21 Cure surrenders note for East Caribbean tale (8) | |
| antidote (cure) swapping ec (east Caribbean) for ti(note) = ANECDOTE | ||
| 23 Ed’s big kettle is tin, containing awful odour (7) | ||
| O | 23 Ed’s big kettle is tin, containing awful dour (7) | |
| can(tin) around (dour)* = CAUDRON | ||
| 24 Elevated in spirit cracking twin’s riddles (7) | ||
| IN | 24 Elevated spirit cracking twin’s riddles (7) | |
| Rev. same (twin) around gin (spirit) = ENIGMAS | ||
| 25 Mock upset censor endlessly blushing (6) | ||
| rev. edit (censor) – t + red(blushing) = DERIDE | ||
| 27 African money taxes acceptable for six (6) | ||
| levies(taxes) swapping vi(six) for on (acceptable) = LEONES | ||
| 32 Standing, tally English birds (4) | ||
| Rev. e (english) + sum(tally) = EMUS | ||
| 33 Banter collecting linen, lose energy (4) | ||
| N | 33 Banter collecting line, lose energy (4) | |
| wit(banter) around l(line) = WILT | ||
| 34 Major rejects common northern aluminium type of house (4) | ||
| COMMON | 34 Major rejects northern aluminium type of house (4) | |
| seminal (major) – n(northern) + al (aluminium) = SEMI |
Thanks so much for the highly entertaining blog.
I didn’t detect any Nazi sympathies in her books, and neither did Lord David Cecil and Philip Larkin, I suspect, when they revived her career, describing Miss Pym as the most underrated author of the 20th century. If I missed them, shame on me!
Merry Christmas to you too.
Thanks Skylark – I read the article at as I really had never heard of her which is where my comments came from.
Where to start in defending Barbara Pym and her subtle and endlessly re-readable novels against the unapologetically ignorant?! It was pleasant to find a way into this EV with unaccustomed speed, initially through the detection of a first title (A GLASS OF BLESSINGS) in the perimeter. Many thanks to Skylark, and to twencelas for the careful blog.