I know what day it is now.
It’s April Fool’s Day. It is also the day I fail to fully solve a puzzle I’m scheduled to blog. This has not happened for a very long time. It’s only one final clue but I daren’t look at it any more – it has driven me even more insane than I already am. I’m sure the assembled commenters will put me right, and then I’ll say “Doh!”
Solving went so well. At first I ignored the clues 6A and 1D. They contained extraneous gumph that I wasn’t sure about. Was it part of some missing preamble? I have put it in a different colour from the main part of the clue in the analysis below.
So I started with 24D Beam, solved that and 28A March Hare with no difficulty – both good clues and no fooling me with some American Politics reference. The trio of other crossing downs also fell easily enough meaning 25A could only be one thing ENDLESS and the apparently self-referential clueless clues were explained. Very nice joke.
But this April Fool puzzle wasn’t going let the fun end there. Before long I was looking at 20D which referred to 1 Across, and yet another teaser – there is no clue for 1 Across!
Then I encountered my favourite clue of the puzzle: 19A Ammonia – I suppose it’s because I studied chemistry. I hope you don’t need to know that much chemistry to get it.
So with most of the bottom half in place I worked my way into the top half by solving 12A from having the leading P. Nearly wrote in ERECT at 9D but stopped to re-read the clue – easy to assume which end is the definition and mistake which way round the J/R replacement goes. And more teasing at 10D with references to an answer being used as wordplay.
But I ground to a halt with 7 lights unsolved, mostly in the top left.
A few I eventually got and I have no complaints about – for instance I somehow had tremendous trouble with the long anagram at 13A. I think the way “See” is used in multiple different ways throughout the puzzle is an intended feature. Most simply being used for intra-clue references, but there is also its clerical sense and here as simple (but misleading) anagram fodder.
Then I finally got 1 Down – What a brilliant, misleading jokey definition: “Where are you?”
More misleading because of the extraneous gubbins about 1 Across and alternate letters of course. I don’t really understand why it is here in this clue. I had long since seen A P R I L in the top row and was more than half expecting something similar in the unches in the bottom row (then my excuse for not getting 27D at that time).
So I come the last two that I cannot get or explain.
6A must now be TEASE. Whatever is happening there I do not know what thorax has got to do with it.
In fact I wrote in 6A before getting 27D – as it referenced 6A I’d reserved thinking about it too much till having 6A’s answer.
If my wordplay explanation is correct I think this reference might be a step too far – I cannot see a justification for “Across” appearing in the clue. A bit of a niggle. Am I miffed? Not much by this – nowhere near as much as my inability to get 17A.
Someone please tell me what is going on and let me in on the joke.
OK. So I’ve put in WANGLER on the grid picture. It’s the commonest word that fits W?N?L?R and there’s an outside chance it is a calculator in the sense of someone calculatingly devising a dastardly deed – Atrica I’m looking at you.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 6 | TEASE | Rib principally toughens the thorax, reportedly? Enter as per fill at 1 Across, with alternate letters filling white squares (5) T[oughens] EASE? I do not know how “the thorax” is some kind of homophone for “ease” Edit: Thanks to KVA at comment #2: Principally applies to Toughens, The and Thorax, all begin with T making “Ts” which (HInd: reportedly) sounds like “Tease” |
| 7 | BOOKSHELF | Support in the library to reserve hotel in person (9) BOOK (to reserve) H[otel] inside SELF (person) |
| 11 | NETTLED | Annoyed as new water heater, failing to start, died (7) N[ew] [k]ETTLE (water heater, failing to start) D[ied] Lovely surface reading: We’ve all had kettles like that at some time – very annoying |
| 12 | PLACEBO | Dummy swallowed plant with bad smell (7) PLACE (plant, as in put) B.O. (bad smell) |
| 13 | DREGS OF SOCIETY | See God’s city for, unfortunately, the lowest of the low (5,2,7) (SEE GOD’S CITY FOR)* AInd: unfortunately. |
| 17 | W?N?L?R | Top Cambridge mathematician abandoning arithmetic, perhaps at the first opportunity, for calculator? (7) Wordplay? Definition? I’m fooled Edit: It is WANGLER. Please see first few comments for the explanation |
| 19 | AMMONIA | Starts to notice habitual halitosis, having, in elemental form, gas (7) N[otice] H[abitual] H[alitosis] H[aving] gives NHHH = NH3 which is the “elemental” form of Ammonia! Wonderful clue |
| 21 | HOT-WATER BOTTLE | Container prone to leaking – ridiculously wet, total bother (3-5,6) (WET TOTAL BOTHER)* AInd: ridiculously. Another great surface reading. We’ve all had leaking H-W bottles haven’t we? |
| 25/5 | ENDLESS LOOP | See 5 Down (7,4) Self referential clue in the manner of the card that says “How to keep a fool amused for ages – see over” on both sides |
| 27 | VATICAN | See e.g. gents pursuing sex and the Bible in retreat (7) CAN (e.g. gents, a loo) after (IT AV)< (Sex, and Bible (Authorised Version), in retreat) |
| 28 | MARCH HARE | Walk briskly, then run from Tea Party participant (5,4) MARCH (Walk briskly) HARE (run) Associate of Mad Hatter; Alice; Dormouse |
| 29 | NAURU | Island occasionally banned nature study in central location (5) NA[t]UR[e] [st]U[dy] NATURE has been “occasionally banned”, and we’re only concerned with the central location of STUDY |
| Down | ||
| 1 | AT ONE DOWN | Now, on date to be taken for a ride, where are you? If you have not done so already, enter as per fill at 1 Across, with alternate letters filling white squares (2,3,4) (NOW ON DATE)* AInd: to be taken for a ride. One of the few times when the question mark is certainly part of the definition Q. Where are you? A. At 1 Down. |
| 2 | PANTHEON | In Japan, the only circular temple (8) Hidden in jaPAN THE ONly |
| 3 | REALMS | Earldoms? Do not present incorrectly as provinces (6) (EARLDOMS – DO)* AInd: incorrectly. |
| 4 | IBID | I make an offer in the same place (4) I BID (I make an offer) (Wish I’d looked at this clue earlier) |
| 5 | LOOP | See 25 Across That endless loop looping |
| 8 | STADIUM | One revered before the first year of Our Lord, I’m thinking, in the Colosseum? (7) ST (one revered, Saint) ADI (AD 1, the first year of Our Lord) UM (I’m thinking) This time “?” is there because it’s a definition by example |
| 9 | ERECT | Upright judge replaced by king in purge (5) EJECT (purge) with J[udge] replaced by R[ex] King |
| 10 | FOOL | 25 Across, 5 Down turned up after following string along (4) F[ollowing] LOO[p]< (That loop, endless again) |
| 14 | FIRST | Original day of 1 Across to 6 Across others (5) The whole clue defines which day of April you might tease others. Atrica certainly does. Edit: Likely better explained as a double definition – one definition is “Original”, the other is the rest of the clue. |
| 15 | ON-AIR | Broadcasting acceptable song (2-3) ON (acceptable) AIR (song) |
| 16 | CAVERNOUS | Catholic state supported by us in Paris, like Notre Dame (9) C[atholic] AVER (state) NOUS (us, in Paris, i.e. in French) Not sure it’s so cavernous with no roof – it’ll soon be back to rights |
| 18 | LOW-TECH | Cloth we fabricated using traditional methods (3-4) (CLOTH WE)* AInd: fabricated. |
| 20 | NOT A CLUE | 1 Across? I don’t know … (3,1,4) Cryptically referencing the fact there is no clue for 1 Across |
| 22 | ORDER | Command and control (5) Double Def |
| 23 | OUTING | Making a face, head away for trip (6) [p]OUTING (trip, headless) |
| 24 | BEAM | Smile awkwardly, maybe losing heart (4) (MA[y]BE)* AInd: awkwardly. |
| 26 | SHAM | Mock debut of Stallone, a terrible actor (4) S[tallone] HAM (terrible actor) |
| 27 | VIEW | See 6 Across directions (4) VI (6, in roman numerals) EW (directions, East/West) One of the most fooling clues in the whole puzzle. Maybe “Across” in the clue is over-misleading Edit: No, Across specifies “lateral” directions East/West as opposed to e.g. Down “vertical” directions North/South. (Thanks KVA and others in the comments for this explanation.) |
Beermagnet I do not do this but I was intrigued by your introduction.
The senior WRANGLER is the top candidate in the Cambridge maths Tripos , remove R = arithmetic ,( the three Rs ) , the FIRST R .
Thanks, Atrica and Beermagnet!
TEASE
Principally Toughens, The & Thorax=Ts
Tease =ts reportedly
As per fill -alternately =APRIL
WRANGLER (top Cambridge mathematician) minus (abandoning) R (arithmetic, as in “the three Rs”)
FIRST
Can original be taken one separate definition?
Then the rest.
VIEW
I took ‘across’ as indicating two directions opposite each other.
On the interactive version there is no clue at 5 down.
KVA @5. I took Across directions to mean East West contrasted with North South being up and down.
I really enjoyed this crossword. Many thanks Attica and Beermagnet.
That makes more sense
WANGLER:
Agree with Roz & Cineraria.
Out of the two Rs, the first R is indicated by ‘at the first opportunity’, I think.
Didn’t know WRANGLER so thanks Roz. Also missed the As PeR fIlL, so thanks KVA. Got the rest. Agree with KVA on VIEW (great clue).
Like, like, like. I couldn’t parse AMMONIA or NAURU but somehow I got everything else. ENDLESS LOOP my COTD along with NOT A CLUE and all the thematic references really. Clever. More, more!
Whoops! It was Desmond not KVA that had VIEW as I did.
Picking up on the point made @6, did all other commenters here do a hard copy version? What was already a somewhat challenging puzzle was made trickier still by there being no 5d clue in the online version. So we didn’t have an ENDLESS LOOP; just an ENDLESS … Which was even more surreal. I see 5d IS given in the blog so assume there actually WAS a clue? I think an extra prize should be awarded to those of us who WrANGLED with that one!
Puzzle completed and mainly parsed but a few tricks eluded me along the way. Phew!
Thanks Atrica and beermagnet
Thanks Atrica and beermagnet
The unusual grid led me to expect cunning things going on, and so it turned out. But getting the anagrams at 13 & 21 as no-crosser entries gave me a good framework to work away from.
Like beermagnet I was expecting something in the bottom row unches. I wonder if that absence is Atrica’s way of saying *top row* 10D to us?
PM I think the absent 5d was part of the joke, or the loop. It was in 25/5.
On my phone the clue for 5 down is “see five down”. Is that not what others are seeing? The (minor) problem I had by doing this online was the that the clue for one down is so long that the enumeration disappeared below the window on my screen. I could just see the tops of the numbers so knew it was three words, either 2,3,4 or 3,2,4.
Anyway, this was great fun. Many thanks to Atrica and beer magnet
I think I understand the difference now. On the phone screen I only see one clue at a time. When I’m on 5d it shows the clue for 25a. This fits perfectly with the solution. Presumably on a larger screen you can see a list of clues, with no 5d.
Thanks both. Impressively different. I was relieved to solve all, albeit with some gaps in parsing, notably that my chemistry skills peaked at even recognising AMMONIA as a gas. My only remaining point of confusion is why the ‘as per fill’ instruction is repeated at 1 down, unless that is another element of mocking the afflicted
Collins Dictionary, available free on-line, has that meaning of WRANGLER.
Doh!
Thanks to everyone who has put me straight on the points I missed and those I misjudged.
Looks like everything is fully explained now – and what a truly great puzzzle this is!
Now it’s been mentioned I have heard of this “Wrangler” role but didn’t connect it with the clue – I was stuck thinking of some particular Cambridge mathematician such as Andrew Wiles, Hardy, Ramanujan etc. who might fit
It is a shame the clue to 5D does not show up on the online version when you click on the clue. The mechanism that links answers spread between lights has over-ridden and shows 25/5’s clue instead. Even the print version of the puzzle doesn’t show a clue for 5D. However if you use the “Clues” drop-down button below the puzzle you see all the clues and the version of 5D as I had it is seen there.
It is a poorly kept secret that we bloggers of Independent crosswords are sent a PDF version of the puzzle by the ever helpful crossword editors a few days before the puzzle appears. Thank goodness. I needed a run-up at this one. I prefer to solve puzzles on paper and I find it natural to work from a print from those PDFs. The print from the online system I find less clear.
Thanks to everyone who commented and especially to beermagnet for what must have been a pretty tricky blog. Much appreciated. I am really sorry that the clue for 5d was superseded in the online version. I tried to ensure that this would not happen by explicitly writing in the cross-reference. Perhaps I should have unlinked the 25/5 clues, but then the software would not have indicated the enumeration as a phrase. Oh well, perhaps April 1 is a booby trap for setters too!
This was great fun. I eventually figured it all out apart from missing the “as per fill” gag. Favourite: Ammonia. Cracking puzzle, Atrica, and thx beermagnet for the w(r)angling the blog!
This looked very daunting at first, but once we got a few of the ‘straight’ clues and realised the top unches read APRIL it all fell into place and we finished without too much difficulty. Favourite was AMMONIA.
Thanks, Atrica and beermagnet.
Great puzzle, had me laughing out loud when the various pennies dropped. Tough but fair! Thanks for comprehensive and amusing blog, beermagnet, and three cheers for Atrica!
This was loads of fun, many thanks to Atrica! One of the very best puzzles in recent memory.
As a math nerd, 25/5 was delightful (don’t think I’ve seen that sort of construction before) and 17 was straightforward.
Mindful of the date, I spotted the Nina fairly quickly but it didn’t really help filling in the rest of the grid.
Managed to fill the grid reasonably quickly, but some of the ingenious parsings were less straightforward.
A W[r]ANGLER (17d) is someone who gets a FIRST (aka Geoff/Damien) (14d) in Maths at Cambridge.
I had the erroneous idea that Senior Wrangler, Junior Wrangler, Senior Optime, Junior Optime corresponded to 1st, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd class honours.
But wikipedia, as usual, put me right – It’s Wranglers(1sts), Senior Optimes Division 1(2:1s), Senior Optimes Division 2(2:2s), Junior Optimes(3rds):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrangler_(University_of_Cambridge)
So you can get a 2:2 (aka Desmond) or a 3rd (aka Thora), and still wind up with the impressive epithet “Optime”. (Pronounced OP-TEE-MAY).
My dictionary knows nothing about this, because it’s the Concise OED, from that other place, where Etonians go, to do PPE, and come out knowing nothing of philosophy, and less than nothing of economics, and then run the country (into the ground), and make billions out of the other kind of PPE.
Other meanings of W[r]ANGLER: a COWBOY, his OUTFIT (jeans) – a definition ot the Tory Party.
A very playful TEASE of a puzzle. Great fun!
Thanks Atrica & beermagnet
Just to complete the rhyming slang. A 2:1 is Attila (the Hun), Don (Juan) or a Bren Gun.
It is not a Currant Bun which is an unmentionable tabloid rag
Rather than the brutal Attila or the womanising Don, I think we should pick a genuine national treasure to stand for a 2:1.
Someone more in keeping with the likes of Sir Geoff Hurst MBE, Archbishop Desmond Tutu OMSG CH GCStJ and Dame Thora Hird DBE.
I suggest either Clive Dunn OBE or Sir Trevor Nunn CBE.
Bit late to this but what a great puzzle – bravo, Atrica! And well done on a grand job with the blog, beermagnet. Wouldn’t have fancied blogging this one myself.