It’s Serpent, so there’s a theme to be spotted. But I haven’t been able to fathom it.
There always seems to be theme in a Saturday Serpent, though I haven’t looked back to check. Of course I didn’t remember that there might be a theme, or stumble over it, till after I finished, indeed when I was looking at the completed grid thinking about writing this blog.
[Hopefully that’s enough words to avoid the next bit appearing on the home page.]
In the top and bottom rows and left- and right-most columns we have: CONSIDERING, HANDWRITTEN, PRIMROSE PATH, GOAT ANTELOPE.
These mean nothing to me. I’ve done a fair bit of googling and they still mean nothing to me.
If there is a common theme here someone will be along to tell us what it is, I hope.
As I said I didn’t notice the surround till I had finished the puzzle. It might have helped if I had, as I had some trouble with 3A, and 5A was the last clue solved.
Solving mainly worked from the bottom up. After getting 1A immediately (and slapping a wrong answer in 3A), and even with 8d, providing a clutch of first letters, I couldn’t get very far from the top. But 24d and the rest of the quartet in the bottom-left corner let me work my way along and up to fill in the void and finishing at the top-right with Goat and Ring.
All very enjoyable so thanks to SSSerpent.
There are a few clues where I am unsure how to describe the wordplay, though typically the answer is clear.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CON | Cheat one out of some money (3) I (one) out of COIN (some money) First one in. |
| 3 | SIDE | Team expressed satisfaction to audience (4) Homophone: “Sighed” I wrote in CREW satisfied that it was a Double Def. until very near the end when I realised what 3D must be and reassessed |
| 5 | RING | Group trying to manipulate market competition here? (4) I’m not sure how to define this. Is the whole clue a Cryptic Def., or is “Group” the definition and the rest somehow a separate definition? Or is all but the last word a definition, and “here” refers to something I haven’t spotted about the puzzle, or the theme? In short I need help Edit: Consensus in the comments is that this is at least Double Def., possible Triple (if you squint hard) |
| 10 | REACTOR | Religious figure inspires America’s first responder (7) A[merica] in RECTOR (Religious figure) |
| 11 | RICOTTA | Dairy ingredient of apricot tart (7) hidden in apRICOT TArt. Ingredient doing double-duty? Edit: Consensus is that “of” can be a Hidden Answer indicator |
| 12 | MAGNIFICENT | Cuckoo mainly infecting bats in August (11) MA[d] (cuckoo, mainly) (INFECTING)* AInd: bats. Def. is something awe-inducing rather than the month |
| 15 | RIOTS | Striking displays cause excitement holding nothing back (5) STIR< (excitement) around O (nothing), reversed (back) Strikes don’t often give rise to riots y’know, or is it referring to the violence involved in a riot? I suppose a lot of fisticuffs goes on in a riot Edit: I was on the wrong track, “Striking displays” refers to displays of colour and the phrase “a riot of colour”. |
| 16 | TRUNCHEON | What may be used to subdue suspect caught on the run? (9) (C[aught] ON THE RUN)* AInd: suspect. Well hidden anagram due to misleading double meaning of the anagrind. Favourite clue |
| 18 | SPEARHEAD | Be in the vanguard of progress, first adopted by brand leader (9) P[rogress] (progress, first) in SEAR (brand), HEAD (leader) |
| 20 | TOILE | Worked hard, without finishing material (5) TOILE[d] (worked hard, unfinished) |
| 21 | DEFERENTIAL | Delay in late broadcast showing respect (11) DEFER (delay) (IN LATE)* AInd: broadcast. |
| 26 | ARCHERY | Targeted activity like a best-selling author? (7) Wordplay references Jeffery Archer as a best-seller, who some call an author. I like the definition though |
| 27 | OVERLAP | Drink too much in meeting place? (7) I have classed this as a Double Def. but I suppose the first can be taken as a charade for OVER LAP. I do like that sideways definition as a meeting place |
| 28 | HAND | Transfer deal will produce this (4) Cryptic Def. referencing agreement of a deal by shaking hands Edit: I added underline to “Transfer” as a definition, as I now accept that the wordplay refers to the hand that is produced when cards are dealt. |
| 29 | WRIT | Women’s rights primarily linked to sex in legal document (4) W[omen’s] R[ights], IT (sex) |
| 30 | TEN | Number incarcerated in frightening penitentiary unintentionally (3) The number TEN appears inside all those three big words |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHANGEOVER | Transfer small amount of surplus cash? (10) CHANGE (small amount of … cash) OVER (surplus) |
| 2 | NITWITS | Idiots can upset comedians (7) TIN< (can, upset) WITS (comedians) |
| 3 | SERVIETTE | Paper covering consumer struggle in High Street (9) VIE (struggle) in (STREET)* AInd: high. |
| 4 | DIRGE | Electronic network revolutionised miserable work (5) E-GRID (electronic network) reversed |
| 6 | IOTA | First nine letters raised very small amount (4) A TO I (The first 9 letters expressed as “A” to “I”) reversed (raised) |
| 7 | GOAT | Butter obtained outside entrance to Asda (4) GOT (obtained) around A[sda] |
| 8 | PRIM | Formal post mortem checks girl’s heart over (4) PM (post mortem) around [g]IR[l]< Gruesome surface |
| 9 | ACETIC | Quote Consumers’ Association about producing vinegar (6) CITE (quote) C[onumers] A[ssociation] all reversed |
| 13 | PENICILLIN | Writer left home having injected first dose of intravenous drug (10) PENCIL (writer) L[eft] IN (home), around I[ntravenous] |
| 14 | ANTE | Social worker ultimately forbade speculative investment (4) ANT (Social worker) [forbad]E |
| 15 | ROSE | Flower came back to life (4) Double Def. Not river – a vegetative flower |
| 17 | UNDERFOOT | Short of pay like the downtrodden masses? (9) UNDER (short of) FOOT (pay) |
| 19 | RUDDER | Course director is insulting about dead queen (6) RUDE (insulting) around D[ead] R (queen, Regina) |
| 20 | TANGENT | Touching line by man depressed by result of The Sun’s exposure (7) GENT (man) after TAN (result of The Sun’s exposure) |
| 22 | FLYER | Promotional material could be more shrewd (5) Double Def? or is FLY-ER as more shrewd better described as wordplay? |
| 23 | LOPE | Run, run away after losing head (4) [e]LOPE |
| 24 | PATH | I’m disgusted about government’s last course of action (4) PAH (I’m disgusted) around [governmen]T |
| 25 | SCAN | Hospital nurses start off consultant’s examination? (4) SAN (hospital) around (nurses) C[consultant] |
Thanks, Serpent and Beermagnet!
RING (my understanding):
Def 1: Group trying to manipulate
2: Market (either an enclosure to keep cattle and livestock for auction
Or a trading ring (stock market)).
3: Competition here (e.g. a boxing ring).
HAND
Does the clue refer to ‘dealing of cards’? This deal will produce a hand (of cards). Right?
RICOTTA
I have seen that some setters just use ‘of’ as an inclusion indicator. This clue could be one such case.
RIOTS
riot
a dazzling or arresting display (Collins)
as in ‘a riot of colour’.
So, ‘striking displays’ as the def seems good.
HAND
Def: transfer (as a verb)
Thanks Serpent and beermagnet
I don’t think there’s a unifying theme. It’s not the first time, whether here or elsewhere, that Serpent has used a grid where the perimeter lights give three short solutions, and he makes a single word or phrase out of them.
I had the opposite experience to our blogger in that I found the North a little friendlier than the South.
All excellent but really liked MAGNIFICENT, FLYER and OVERLAP.
Thanks Serpent and Beer Magnet. I think the “striking displays” are in the context of “riots” of colour etc.
For RING, I had “Group trying to manipulate market” and “competition here” (as in a boxing ring).
HAND as “transfer” and “deal will produce this” (as in cards).
3d VI -> VIE
Same as Hovis wrt RING: a double def in my book. And HAND as a double def though I also like beermagnet’s CD. And, yes, as the same commenter observes, VI needs the extra E in the parse for SERVIETTE. And, yes, as KVa points out, ‘of’ on its own is a perfectly acceptable hidden indicator as far as I’m concerned.
This was the most approachable Serpent I have done in some time and I have been enjoying his alter ego in the G so maybe I am becoming more familiar with the style. TRUNCHEON is, indeed, a splendid clue with an extended definition. MAGNIFICENT and the aforementioned SERVIETTE were my other two podium places. Slightly surprised to see Transfer used to define both HAND and CHANGEOVER. Maybe HAND is meant to be a CD after all …
Thanks Serpent and beermagnet
Thanks beermagnet
I agree with KVa and Postmark on 5a: double definition.
Another enjoyable crossword from Serpent, helped by seeing what was going on round the perimeter of the grid. My favourites were 26a and 30a
Many thanks to Serpent and Beermagnet
I am being very fanciful here, but the words around the perimeter seem to encapsulate solving crosswords; a lot of considering, a thorough knowledge of obscure animals, especially antelopes, pencilling things in, all making a very pleasant journey.
All done and dusted over morning coffee, helped by realising that something was going on around the perimeter even though we can’t see any unifying theme. We liked REACTOR, MAGNIFICENT and SERVIETTE.
Thanks, Serpent and beermagnet.
Reading the surfaces, it’s a DIRGE about modern life:
DIRGE – “Electronic network revolutionised miserable work” – Post-internet: zero-hours, gig economy, other synonyms for slave wages.
CHANGEOVER – “Transfer small amount of surplus cash?” – £115m for a player is small change if you’re a billionaire.
TANGENT – “Touching line by man depressed by result of The Sun’s exposure” – Huw Edwards
PRIM – “Formal post mortem checks girl’s heart over” – Sinead O’Connor
ROSE – “Flower came back to life” – not when water companies are pumping raw sewage into it.
PATH – “I’m disgusted about government’s last course of action” – Me too, for the last 13 years.
TEN – “Number incarcerated in frightening penitentiary…” – Bibby Stockholm, and the door to lay the blame at:
CON SIDE RING = “Cheat” “Team” “Group” – The Tory Party and its supporters.
Thanks to everyone who has pointed out corrections in the blog.
I accept all wordplay suggestions I have seen above, and I have made various “Edits” in the clue analysis section.
I’m surprised that the perimeter words do not have some kind of unifying theme
[ Petert: your suggestion seem like a bit of a stretch to me. ]
I was expecting someone to pop up and point out these were the first tracks on “Underfoot Tangent”‘s seminal 1974 Prog Rock album “Magnificent Truncheon”, or something like that.
FrankieG: I fully support your analysis
( I missed your comment before sending #14)
beermagnet @14: you appear to have forgotten the golden rule. As FrankieG will confirm, all seminal albums have to be 50 years old so Magnificent Truncheon has not quite stood the test of time.
I’m with Frankie@13 and would add the RIOTing UNDERFOOT striking workers, and the TRUNCHEON. All a bit revolutionary.
Aside from that, I got hung up trying to believe CORP (homophone for Cor!) would be the team at 3a. But no, really needs to be corps
Thanks both. Enterta8ning and almost doable for me.
Thanks Serpent for a top shelf crossword. I managed to solve all of this without assistance so I gather it must be on the easier end of the Serpent spectrum. Spotting the peripheral nina helped me to get RING and HAND. Favourites included NITWITS, SERVIETTE, PENICILLIN, and RUDDER. Thanks beermagnet for the blog and making sure spoilers did not appear too early in your write-up.
I enjoyed this very much and was pleased to solve and parse it after coming up short with Phi’s puzzle yesterday. Really liked TRUNCHEON, DEFERENTIAL, PRIM, RUDDER, SERVIETTE and LOPE.
I found this quite a struggle. After an hour or so, I had about a third done and put it aside to watch some television and have a meal. When I came back, I didn’t think I was getting anywhere and then suddenly found I’d finished (although I wasn’t convinced by RING).
Well done, FrankieG.
Thanks to Serpent.
22d – FLYER – “Promotional material could be more shrewd” – ‘Double Def? or is FLY-ER as more shrewd better described as wordplay?’
Wiktionary says the comparative of FLY is FLIER and that FLYER can only be a noun.
so not a Double Def – FLYER could be more shrewd, if you were mispelling it. Or whimsically thinking of an alternative FLY-ER, ISH.
Late to comment but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I spotted the perimeter shenanigans about halfway through solving, which helped me fill in a few blanks. Like Simon S @5, I assumed there was no further theming. MAGNIFICENT was my favourite. Thanks, Serpent and beermagnet.
FrankieG @22 – Wiktionary schmiktionary. Collins and OED both prefer flyer and flyest as the comparative and superlative forms, which is what I would opt for instinctively.
Widdersbel@23 – “OEDipus, SchmOEDipus! What does it matter, so long as he loves his mother?”