Hippogryph is a regular but not particularly frequent setter of Indy puzzles. This is the first time one of his offerings has come up on my watch, and I enjoyed solving and blogging it.
The wordplay is often multi-part, but all the elements are clearly signposted, which is all a solver can ask for. Hippogryph strikes me as a setter who cares about surface readings: there are many well-constructed ones here today. Apparently, this compiler has been known to hide a theme in his puzzles, but I personally can’t see one here. If there is one, someone else will no doubt spot it.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Geologist ran site screening course
TRANSIT
Hidden in geologisT RAN SITe.
5 Left luggage outside, requiring extra special forms
CLASSES
The setter is inviting you to add a second S for ‘special’ to CASES, and then insert L into it. The insertion indicator is ‘outside’.
9 This produces measure of sight
OPTIC
A dd. The first one refers to the dispenser for spirits behind the bar.
10 Inconsistent directions for one in flight – hopefully?
UP AND DOWN
A dd, with the second one whimsical, wishing the traveller happy landings.
11 Tendency for youngest being vacuous is reversed after 2 perhaps
PROPENSITY
A charade of PRO for ‘for’, PEN for ‘author’ in 2dn, and YT for Y[OUNGES]T and IS reversed.
12 Tire of Italian river on self-reflection
POOP
The river is the PO: reflect it on itself and you get POOP.
14 Barney ties gendarme up
DISAGREEMENT
(TIES GENDARME)* with ‘up’ as the anagrind.
18 Having a laugh about toiletry item
SHAVING CREAM
An insertion of HAVING in SCREAM. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
21 Picked up drugs by end of jetty for midshipman?
EASY
A charade of aural wordplay (‘picked up’) for Es (the drugs) and Y for the final letter of ‘jetty’.
22 Prior to lunchtime I’m returning home with recipe for soup
MINESTRONE
ONE for ‘lunchtime’ is at the end. Before that you need to place MI for I’M reversed, NEST for home and R for ‘recipe’. The final element is, or was, seen on prescriptions and means ‘take’.
25 Suffered long after second cat died
STOMACHED
A charade of S, TOM and ACHED.
26 Explorer cycled and searched
RAKED
‘Cycled’ usually is an instruction to take the final letter and move it to the end: here you need to do that with [Sir Francis] DRAKE.
27 About time! Right price finally on bill for reconditioned tyre
RETREAD
A long charade of RE, T, R, E for the final letter of ‘price’ and AD for ‘bill’.
28 Perhaps “Ashes Live” is entertaining for all the family
RESIDUE
An insertion of U for the film classification in RESIDE. The insertion indicator is ‘entertaining’.
Down
1 Company Romeo sports trimmed hairpiece
TROUPE
An insertion of R for the phonetic alphabet ‘Romeo’ in TOUPÉ[E]. The insertion indicator is ‘sports’.
2 Two types of gold pen, the short one produces writing
AUTHOR
An insertion of TH[E] in AU and OR, two ‘golds’. The insertion indicator is ‘pen’.
3 African resident resolved a bed crisis
SACRED IBIS
(A BED CRISIS)* with ‘resolved’ as the anagrind, and a chance for the obligatory Pierre bird link. As the surface suggests, more often called the African Sacred Ibis, it is native to much of the continent as well as parts of Iraq and Iran. It played a role in the religion of the Ancient Egyptians, whence ‘sacred’.
4 Support Stokes after hope is finally lost
TRUSS
A charade of TRUS[T] and S. The surface could refer to the English cricket captain, Ben Stokes; but the S is the abbreviation for the unit of kinematic viscosity, the Stokes, named after the British Physicist Sir George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903).
5 One might let aircraft cleaner regularly clear out their gear
CHARTERER
A charade of CHAR and the odd letters of ThEiR gEaR.
6 Indeed I agonised over housing adviser
AIDE
Hidden reversed in indeED I Agonised.
7 Break crossword setter’s pots?
STOP OVER
A setter might clue POTS as ‘stop over’, because they are devious types prone to misdirection.
8 Light drinkers welcoming quiet holiday destinations
SUNSPOTS
A charade of SUN and P for the musically ‘quiet’ inserted into SOTS. The insertion indicator is ‘welcoming’.
13 Deviations of French Impressionism – possibly hidden away by chaste society
DEPARTURES
Another multi-part charade: of DE for ‘of’ in French, followed by ART inserted into PURE, then S. The insertion indicator is ‘hidden away by’.
15 In agony, I shelter after a gun goes off
ANGUISHED
A charade of (A GUN)* and I SHED.
16 Ms Klebb holding out-of-date tax returns for judge
ASSESSOR
Rosa Klebb is the baddie in the Bond novel and movie From Russia with Love (as well as being an FT setter, aka Arachne in Another Place). It’s an insertion of SESS in ROSA, all reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘holding’. SESS is an alternative spelling of CESS (given in my Chambers), which is the ‘out-of-date tax’. CESS is itself a shortened form of ‘assess’, and the C spelling is apparently due to a mistaken connection with ‘census’.
17 Important document provides after-dinner instruction?
PASSPORT
Posh folk at posh dinners pass the port (to the left, natch).
19 One hundred thousand embarked on vacation to get hammered
TONKED
A charade of TON, K and E[MBARKE]D gives you a word for being beaten heavily in a sporting contest.
20 Tamper with sound of gong
MEDDLE
Aural wordplay (‘with sound of’) for MEDAL.
23 Type of setter that is 10 across provider?
EIDER
This took me as long to parse as the rest of the crossword put together. 10ac is UP AND DOWN. The ‘setter’ is of the RED variety; ‘that is’ is IE. Reverse all that (since it’s a down clue, ‘up’, which comes from 10ac) and you have a ‘down provider’ in the shape of the duck. After all that, I’m going to treat myself to another obligatory Pierre bird link. Three factoids about the bird: it’s the UK’s heaviest duck; it’s the UK’s fastest-flying duck; and it’s known in Northumberland as Cuddy’s Duck, after its association with St Cuthbert and the Farne Islands.
24 Get together with a staggering number of people at the FA Cup Final?
GATE
(GET A)* with ‘staggering’ as the anagrind.
Many thanks to Hippogryph for the Monday challenge.
Well done in parsing EIDER. Wish I’d seen it. Nice in hindsight.
Pierre, in 26a you can hardly move the final letter to the end since it is already there 🙂
I was very pleased to disentangle EIDER which makes very clever use of the cross-reference. This was only one of many very neat constructions and I enjoyed the way definitions often merged seamlessly with WP – CHARTERER, DEPARTURES and the superb AUTHOR and GATE all being god examples.
Thanks Hippogryph and Pierre
10a I had inconsistant as the def – ‘up and down’ without directions. Excellent puzzle. Like GATE, DEPARTURES and STOPOVER. Beaten by 19d. Had CONKED. C on K? Thanks both.
Thanks, Hippogryph and Pierre!
Couldn’t parse EIDER and I now realise TRUSS, never having seen (or more likely forgotten) S for ‘Stokes’ before. Otherwise not too difficult with the multi-component wordplay for several of the clues being enjoyable to work out. The not so EASY to spot def for CHARTERER was my favourite today.
Thanks to Hippogryph and Pierre
Sofamore@3
UP AND DOWN
I think your reading is correct.
Hovis @1. That is true …
Thanks, Hippogryph and Pierre. I agree with our esteemed blogger’s assessment in every respect. EIDER is a super clue.
5d CHARTERER – “One might let aircraft cleaner regularly clear out their gear”
Long ago I’d have thought this was bad grammar and changed the “their” to “his/her“. But it seems generally accepted now, when people can choose their…
https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-p
‘pronouns
Some people use they/them/their rather than he/she etc. This should be respected at the same time as avoiding creating confusion for the reader.
One option is to mention that the person uses the singular they. For example: ‘Jones, who uses they, said …’.
Alternatively, although they and their are sometimes used in the singular in speech, it may be clearer to rewrite or repeat the person’s name if the use of they/them/their is not explained.
For example, “They said the show was brilliant” can simply become “Jones said the show was brilliant”’
Thanks both. ASSESSOR evaded me in the parsing, with its combination of obscure elements. Thought EIDER and GATE were really impressive. I was another to have forgotten S for Stokes in TRUSS, and we’ll surely see it again with the cricket misdirection, though the former PM reference was resisted in this case
UP AND DOWN – the clue mentions “flight” and Pierre’s parse mentions “landings”. That had me thinking of landings between flights of stairs.
FrankieG @11 – yes, the clue made me think of stairs rather than planes.
There’s lots of air travel words:
TRANSIT GATE PASSPORT STOPOVER SUNSPOTS DEPARTURES
Plus sea travel:
Mishipman EASY and Sir Frankie DRAKE on the POOP deck going UP AND DOWN on the waves.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/toupee
‘Alternative forms TOUPE, toupée, toupet’ – suggests the “hairpiece” doesn’t need to be “trimmed” for TROUPE
The Usual Suspects disagree, although a few allow toupet
19 “One hundred thousand embarked on vacation to get hammered” – there’s the theme
Clever but tricky sums this one up for me. No contest where my winner is concerned – SHAVING CREAM
really made me laugh.
Thanks to Hippogryph for the challenge and to Pierre for the review – very helpful on the parsing side, particularly where Stokes and ‘cess’ were concerned. Delighted that you had the opportunity to use TWO bird links!
At 5d – A friend once had a temporary cleaning job at Gatwick Airport. One task involved extracting the contents of the “lavatories” with a suction device.
He called his job “taking the piss out of aeroplanes”. I’m sure he was extracting the POOP along with the urine.
At 5a there’s also “Left luggage” and CASES and “the extra special forms” you have to fill in when they go missing.
And finally TRUSS – a PM with a shelf life shorter than that of a head of lettuce. “Who is this TRUSS, Liz, ex-PM? – Did I miss something?”
Thanks H&P
The clue for EIDER is splendid.
FrankieG@9. I remember many, many years ago reading a superhero comic where the writer wrote something like “neither of them remembered to bring his costume”. The ‘them’ in question being one man and one woman. Readers complained but the author cited the (American) grammar text which said that this was correct usage. The problem, of course, is that ‘neither’ is singular and the author didn’t want to use a singular ‘their’, at least way back then. Why he didn’t write ‘Both of them forgot their costumes’ is another question.
“neither of them remembered to bring his costume” – but they didn’forget hers.
Well done Frankie G@13 for spotting the mini-theme in this one. I was definitely thinking airplane rather than stairs for UP AND DOWN and really pleased when it dawned on me that it could fit into the EIDER clue so neatly.
Thanks to Pierre for the excellent blog and, being a bit of a birdwatcher, I appreciated the additional bird link etc.
I’m glad you all enjoyed it and I hope the mini-theme subliminally made you think of fun summer holidays
The singular they is something that fascinates me, as I was taught it was correct at primary school back in the early sixties, and other people of my generation say they were also taught it. And the earliest example in the OED is from the fifteenth century.
Dormouse@23
The singular they is something that fascinates me, too. I don’t remember being explicitly taught it was incorrect at primary school back in the early sixties. There spelling, grammar and pronunciation were things you were expected to absorb by osmosis. At secondary school one only learnt grammar in language lessons – French, German, Latin, Greek. People who learn English as a foreign language often have a better grasp of English grammar than native-speakers – lie,lay,lain versus lay,lay,laid – different from not different than – practice is a noun, practise is a verb – If I were, not If I was…
Here’s what I read yesterday in wiktionary on they. You may find it interesting. It includes a favourite author of mine – Roth – and a song – Downtown.
The Middle English examples are from the fourteenth century.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Citations:they
On grammar, I admit I used to cringe a little when supermarket checkouts had an ‘8 items or less’ instead of ‘8 items or fewer’, even though it’s a ridiculous distinction.
FrankieG@24
Curious. My memory of 60 years ago is the we were taught much more about the rules of grammar at primary school than at secondary school (which, ironically, was still called a grammar school back then). The only foreign language I was taught was French and I was abysmal at that, failed the O-level.
Hovis@25 – Waitrose – of course – gets it right….
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/sep/19/waitrose-twitter-hashtag
‘Supermarket was asking for trouble when it challenged tweeters to finish the sentence ‘I shop at Waitrose because…
With an eye on the quality of its grammar, one remarked: ‘… because you say “Ten items or fewer” not “Ten items or less”, which is important’
The other responses are funny – ‘…because I was once in the Holloway Road branch and heard a dad say “Put the papaya down, Orlando!'”‘
FrankieG Enjoyed reading that link. Thought all supermarkets used ‘less’, so it’s nice to see one that didn’t.
Not Waitrose – and that’s why I shop there.