A welcome return visit today from Cranberry following last year’s debut, together with a preamble that confused me for rather longer than was strictly necessary, I suspect:
Ten thematic solutions each consist of two parts. One part is clued without definition; the other is the grid entry, appropriately placed. Enumerations refer to grid entries. In a further 18 clues, corrections to single-letter misprints in definitions spell out another thematic example, to be entered below the grid as the last solution.
Were you baffled too by grid entries that appeared to bear no relation to the accompanying clues?
The wordplay throughout being suitably Inquisitorial, I suspect that I was generally lost in a sea of baffling, and perhaps on a better day would have figured out earlier that the thematic entries were other names for things the wordplay was pointing to. After all, it’s not the first time this device has been used.
And so it would be that I would gradually work my way through the grid, wondering at first where RAVENS came from, and latterly KANSAS CITY, with the first letters of something that began PHILA… from the misprints.
Now, I’ve followed the NFL for a number of years, and I wonder how soon other solvers twigged, but at this point it became clear, what with it being Super Bowl weekend, that we were looking at American Football teams, in this case being BALTIMORE and the CHIEFS. For added cleverness value, each was positioned with a clue number matching the Super Bowl won, from the Packers’ victory way back in 1967 onward. And, for added entertainment value, with the team’s name as it was at the time, NFL franchises being in the habit, especially these days, of upping sticks quite rudely to a different locale.
At which point I filled in the names of all the Super Bowl winners I could find, and completed the rest of the grid, without having to trouble myself with the wordplay for the thematic entries until it came to writing up this blog. I wonder how many actually did solve them? They would have been missing out on a treat if they didn’t, as each was rather good.
Cranberry presumably fancies the winner of Super Bowl LII, the PHILADELPHIA EAGLES, to win this year’s game, as do I having watched them totally outclass the Giants, who I’ve doggedly supported for a number of years, for better, and often worse. Edited to note: just goes to show what I know…
Oh yes, that title. Great Parliamentarians. SUPERB OWLS, which raised one smile among many this weekend. So thanks to Cranberry for an enjoyable, and suitably challenging solve.
Team names are highlighted in the grid below for information purposes only.
| Clue | Answer | Grid Entry (Where Different) | Misprint | Wordplay | |
| ACROSS | |||||
| 1 | Leafy tree (7) | GREEN BAY | PACKERS | GREEN + BAY | |
| 7 | Wrinkled old hands, say (5) | DOLPHINS | MIAMI | An anagram of “old” + fins (hands) sounds like PHINS | |
| 12 | I run after naked men (3) | EGO | The E from “men” + GO (“run”) | ||
| 13 | Kicks up a row – one’s so angry over repeatedly being excluded (7) | ANSWERS | P | An anagram of “a row – one‘s so” without the O‘s (“over”) – picks up, answers | |
| 15 | Are topsides of venison available at all in the Highlands? (3) | AVA | A (“Are”) + first letters from “venison” and “available” to give a term Chambers has as being Scottish in origin | ||
| 17 | Counter to some reports, initially caught by trap (4) | GIRN | H | The R from “reports” inside GIN (“trap”) – to chunter is to grumble, as is to GIRN, apparently (peevishly). How long before to Harry (mentioned further along in the puzzle) comes to mean the same thing? | |
| 18 | Began to emerge from far side of swamp – that’s scary! (4) | PEEK | I | P + EEK, the definition being in the present rather than past tense | |
| 19 | Game players at card table for a long, long time (4) | EONS | EO is our game, the card players being two of the usual suspects | ||
| 20 | China’s current source of clean atomic energy (5) | CHICAGO | BEARS | CH (“China”) I (“current”) C A (“atomic”) GO | |
| 22 | Local’s hint is what leads expat to pursue bargain (6) | STEALE | L | E leads “expat” following a STEAL, “bargain”, STEALE and hilt both being handles | |
| 24 | Sugary secretion from lopped tree not entirely suitable for some to eat (7) | TREHALA | TRE + HALAl – a charming concoction obtained from the cocoon of a type of beetle. Because, obviously, you’d give one a lick to see what it tasted like, wouldn’t you? | ||
| 26 | Fancy rimless glasses in which you can barely see frames (6) | EASELS | An anagram (“fancy”) of gLASSEs in which you might find a naked sEe | ||
| 27 | I discovered God (4) | ODIN | iODINe | ||
| 30 | She makes king put away gold (7) | CREATOR | CR ( |
||
| 32 | One previously inhibiting satellite is thus redirected (4) | OSSI | A | IS + SO reversed to give the name for a former inhabitant of a certain Soviet satellite | |
| 34 | Various Biblical loons? (6) | DIVERS | A double definition | ||
| 37 | Go to bed without drinking at last – perhaps at least try? (7) | WETTEST | D | The definition is least dry – WEE (go) about (“to bed”) TT (“without drinking”) + the final letters from “perhapS aT“ | |
| 39 | Smooth ice-cream, half churned? (6) | LEGATO | GELATO semi-churned. | ||
| 40 | Republican backs vote against American Indians (5) | NAYAR | NAY A R | ||
| 42 | Bit of dye, ultraviolet, added to provincial river (4) | UVEA | E | UV + the crossword setter’s favourite river to give part of the eye | |
| 44 | Olive oil and vinegar (not virgin, unfortunately) (4) | OLEA | |||
| 46 | Press chose fool’s errand, to some degree (4) | SERR | L | SERR – press close – hidden in “fool’S ERRand“ | |
| 47 | Yell as foot’s twisted (3) | YAP | P | PAY (“foot” the bill) reversed to give YAP, to yelp, which you might well do if your foot was rudely twisted | |
| 48 | Water hot, uncomfortable for kids? (7) | SEAHAWKS | SEATTLE | SEA + H + AWKS, as yoofs presumably abbreviate awkward | |
| 49 | Regularly dropped in bird’s abandoned nest (3) | NID | Even letters from iN bIrD‘s – it’s an old term for a pheasant’s nest | ||
| 50 | The extremely hard skin of ruminants and ungulates (5) | TEHRS | ThE (“extremely”) H + “skin” of RuminantS to give a group of beardless Himalayan goats | ||
| 51 | Wandering for days, so occasionally disoriented, right? (7) | ODYSSEY | fOr DaYs So + a reversal of YES | ||
| DOWN | |||||
| 2 | Cost of exchanging silver coins essentially next to nothing (4) | AGIO | AG + the I from “coins” + O. “The sum payable for the convenience of exchanging one kind of money for another, eg. silver for gold” | ||
| 3 | What protects pupil, other than the supply teacher, on breaks? (6) | CORNEA | An anagram of “tEACheR ON” without “the“ | ||
| 4 | These fascist states collapsed, not appearing to be flexible (10, 2 words) | CHIEFS | KANSAS CITY | An anagram (“flexible”) of “tHESe FasCIst” without the letters from “states“. A lovely bit of wordplay that most solvers won’t have troubled themselves with solving, I suspect. | |
| 5 | I won’t tamper with the core components of inalienable rights (7) | ENABLER | H | Hidden in “inaliENABLE Rights” for somebody who presumably won’t hamper | |
| 6 | Waste recycling tool (5) | SWEAT | I | Toil, being an anagram of “waste“ | |
| 7 | Commander of corrupt empire no good at heart (4) | MEER | An anagram of “EMpiRE” without pi, “good” | ||
| 8 | I hope briefly to return as spectre (6) | IRISED | A | I + DESIRe reversed. IRISED meaning spectra, something a little more colourful than a spectre. | |
| 9 | Seeing sun set over lake during mountain trek some time ago (3) | ASP | E | Replace S for the L in AlP to give an old term for the Aspen. | |
| 10 | Orgiasts in a frenzy after one second’s absolute madness (7) | MAENADS | Replace one of the S‘s in “madness” with an A (“absolute” temperature”) and anagram the lot. | ||
| 11 | Needs afternoon breaks (7) | RAIDERS | OAKLAND | RIDERS (think the often absurd list of demands bands supply to venues) broken by A (“afternoon”) | |
| 12 | Originally endorsed by government, Labour set to pass motion? (5) | EGEST | E G + an anagram of “set“. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. | ||
| 14 | Suppressing surface tension, Harry brightens up when Kate and Meghan finally leave (8) | PITTSBURGH | STEELERS | There’s no escaping them. An anagram “Harry” of “BRIGHTenS UP” + the T |
|
| 16 | Partially live a lie – strange, most immature (8) | VEALIEST | Hidden in “liVE A LIE STrange” to give a term for “immature” derived from a morally dubious farming practice | ||
| 21 | More than one music festival held in Switzerland sure goes wrong (10) | CHOREGUSES | A | A music festival head derived from an anagram of “sure goes” |
|
| 23 | Tile from Roman’s picture, ultimately quite small? Indeed! (8) | TESSELLA | TESS (a 1979 film by notorious paedophile Roman Polanski), the final letters from quite and small + LA (indeed!) | ||
| 25 | Allow rarely seen island sand eel to follow fixed course (8) | RUTILANT | G | RUT + I + LANT (a “sand eel”). It means aglow, one of many enjoyable trips into the depths of the BRB this solve. | |
| 28 | Patchwork clothing left back to front (7) | DALLAS | COWBOYS | SALAD about L, all reversed. | |
| 29 | Destroy trees on purpose, laying waste to everything within borders? (7) | ESTREPE | An anagram of TREES + PurposE, “laying waste to everything within borders”. An &Lit, and a pretty neat one too. | ||
| 31 | Evidently very lost, sailor’s beginning to go crazy (7) | OVERTLY | An anagram of “VERY LOsT” minus the S from Sailor | ||
| 33 | 80s band snorting cocaine, in denial (6) | BRONCOS | DENVER | BROS about N(C)O | |
| 35 | Curry again? (6) | BALTIMORE | RAVENS | BALTI MORE. Ho ho. | |
| 36 | Stab pig with tip of dagger (5) | BOARD | L | A slab made up of a BOAR with the tip from Dagger | |
| 38 | Cut class to work at Greek grammar (5) | TYPTO | TYPe TO – “to work at Greek grammar”, but of course you knew that. | ||
| 41 | Won in the end, having lost a couple of times (4) | ALAS | E | Oh woe, At LASt | |
| 43 | I’m not sure that is a Pennsylvanian city (4) | ERIE | ER IE – geography was never my strong point, but I suspect this will be new to many. | ||
| 45 | A quiet duet (3) | ASH | S | A SH, or dust. |
I got a long way with this, with only ten or so clues still to solve, before I twigged what the first instruction meant. Up to that time I had bunged in the names of four cities, leaving the parsing of those clues until later, but now that I knew how to solve the thematic clues properly I successfully filled the grid, ending up with just four letters missing from the message. The team name PHILADELPHIA EAGLES was clear enough, and for completeness I went back to find where the four missing letters came from. Considering the theme was a subject I have scant knowledge of, and even less interest in, I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle.
The clues were excellent, with some gems that showed the ingenuity and care that went into them, such as CREATOR, EASELS, ESTREPE and ALAS.
Thanks to Cranberry and Jon_S.
I left ODIN and TESSELLA unparsed, so thanks to Jon for explaining those. (I should have got ODIN but would probably never have got the other.) In CREATOR I had CR standing for Charles Rex rather than ‘Crown’.
Ravens were the first thematic item to appear, and alongside the title, I was sure we were in for a murder/murmuration theme…. except, next was ‘Seattle’. A couple of cities later, the penny slowly dropped (despite my having zero interest in NFL). An enjoyable tease, though I must confess I didn’t solve a single ‘complementary’ clue: they might as well have been unclued, I just worked them out in retrospect. The only real question was when I would fold and just look up the NSL teams. Thanks to Cranberry and Jon_S for several unparsed clues.
Alan B@2 You could well be right about CR, I suspect it’s a device I’ll take until the next king to cotton onto. 😉
“One part is clued without definition, the other is the grid entry”. Hmm, that didn’t really mean much except that some clues would not make sense and were best left to one side.
I then had the exact same experience as Neil @3, Ravens first and with ‘parliamentarians’ in the title I was convinced it would be a bird-themed puzzle until Seattle appeared.
A bit of Googling later all was well, and I knew that Super Bowls were numbered, which made the rest easy enough except for a slight Oakland / Las Vegas confusion.
Thank you for a fun but hard puzzle and jon_s for clearing up Odin!
Thanks Jon – glad you enjoyed the puzzle … and that you were forced to solve the thematic ones! You’re quite right, I hoped the Eagles would win – I’ve followed them since the days of Ron “Jaws” Jaworski, who led them to SB XV (lost to Oakland); they also lost SB XXXIX to the Patriots but got revenge in LII – so they won in the end, after a couple of losses 🙂 Disappointed to lose at the weekend – a victory would have really put the icing on the puzzle – but it was a fantastic game & no shame losing to Patrick Mahomes! Thanks to all solvers – Alan B, my intention was indeed the regnal cypher (and thanks for your kind words) Hope to be back before too long! @CranberryFez
Another DNF for me. I got RAVENS and saw the connection with parliamentarians, but uncertainty as to which other clues were supposed to be solved and which were thematic hampered the grid completion. But reading all this through I can once again appreciate the amazing artistry involved in creating something like this.
Thanks, Cranberry; even DNFs (of which I have many!) give hours of pleasure and go towards making the ones I do finish all the more pleasurable. Thanks too to Jon for taking the trouble to explain it all; I do appreciate it. But being utterly and needlessly pedantic, I think in your parsing of 4 down, one of your red lower-case s’s should be a capital blue S. Yes, I know that to point that out is impossibly annoying of me!
RAVENS was my first spot but I made it into RAVENSCROFT who was a parliamentarian.
Back to the drawing board.
never been a fan of football with armour -especially after the Barbarians puzzle
OAKLAND last in after much help-arent they LAS VEGAS now?
hi copmus @8, yes the Raiders are Las Vegas now, and had a spell as Los Angeles, but they were Oakland for the thematic event (ie no.11)
All present and correct here, all clues answered and parsed – a fun puzzle .. the title was very clever! I also liked the way that the teams were located at the appropriate SuperBowl winning numbers, it reminded me of the ‘American Presidents’ Inquisitor (of 2022 if I remember correctly). Slightly different parsing here for 14D : T is the symbol for surface tension (in Chambers). Other than that … TOUCHDOWN !!!
All thanks to Cranberry and Jon_S. Lots of clever stuff there. Alas, I was very slow to get started on the thematics — RAVENS and KANSAS CITY were the way in for me — and still had a few uncompleted items at top right when time ran out. (Defined here as the arrival of the next i!)
Perhaps I’ll add my twopenn’orth to the analysis of 14D. Like Me_Sat… @10, I had T = surface tension (as that is the symbol for it), but I had that letter contained (suppressed) in the anagram rather than being part of it. OK, it doesn’t make much difference!
StephenB @ 7 – Now amended. I’ll be seeing red by the time I get this blog right. 😉
Me_sat_here_at_home @ 10 – Thanks, now also amended. I evidently didn’t dive far enough into the definitions in Chambers.
Alan B @10, yes that’s the intended parse 🙂 Whilst we’re being picky … in 44a, it’s only the VIRGIN that’s anagrammed; in 3d THE is anagrammed (“supply” … despite letters possibly being in correct order, as they’re split they require indication of such, or – in this case – an alternative selection of the same letters as an anagram); 8d definition includes AS (i.e. “as spectra”); and, 21d’s CH is of course just a juxtaposition rather than container. But I can imagine writing it all up is very tough indeed – many thanks again Jon!
My very first experience of a barred thematic puzzle! I was persuaded by the fact that I happen to know the compiler 🙂 and he assured me it would be fine…
And it was, eventually! It took me several visits over three days, and I’d completed almost all the ‘straight’ clues before the penny dropped on the theme. Like copmus @8 I initially took the puzzle title too literally and briefly went down a RAVENSCROFT cul-de-sac. But oh, when the penny finally dropped, you’d have heard it from space…
It was tough but I completed the grid, albeit with a single (uncrossed) letter wrong. Which I thought was good for my first attempt.
Big thanks Cranberry for writing the beast and to Jon _S for helping me with the unparsed ones.
CranberryBoat @14 Duly noted. 😉
Did I enjoy this puzzle? I’m afraid I did not – though it seems I could be in a minority of one. The rubric appears to have been less than clear to most solvers, me included. Having eventually tumbled to the theme, the only way I could make progress was to identify which of the remaining entries were thematic, look up who won Super Bowl N (N = the entry number), write one part of the team’s name in the grid and use the other part to reverse engineer the clue. There was no way I would have cold-solved 33d with the 80s band emerging as Bros; I didn’t like AWKS at 48a, but I suppose not all elements of the wordplay have to be substantiated by Chambers; and, for me, “Roman’s picture” at 23d was a nose-wrinkler. As for RIDERS = “needs” at 11d, come on – really?
Occasionally, once I’ve finished a puzzle, I’ll take a look at ‘that other site’, particularly if there are one or two wordplays that I just can’t see. It didn’t clear anything up but I did notice two contributions by someone going by the name cranberryboat. Hmm …
Anyway, thanks Jon_S for elucidating those one or two wordplays I’d given up on, and to Cranberry for locating the thematic entries at the corresponding numbers – without that, I may well have conceded defeat.
Thanks for the feedback HolyGhost @17 and sorry this one wasn’t for you Quite what “riders” (Chambers def. 6) are if not “needs” I’m not sure, but hey ho. And not sure why engaging with interested solvers online should seem problematic? Anyway, hopefully will be able to produce something more up your street next time, thanks again!
@18: Having checked the Chambers app I withdraw my comment on RIDERS = “needs” at 11d; the CD-ROM and papers versions don’t have the defn you referred to, and I didn’t check the app – apols.
Regarding “engaging with interested solvers online”, it feels a bit like a teacher commenting on the efforts of students while the latter are in the process of completing an assignment that the former has set. (Which of course might be OK, depending on one’s point of view.)
Thoroughly enjoyed this.
But it would have been worth it just for 35d: Curry again?
And the title 🙂