Methuselah is a setter who first appeared in 2021. Puzzles from Methuselah have appeared every month or 6 weeks approximately since then
Clearly we have a biblical theme today with probably more thematic material in the clues than in the grid. There are references to both the Old and New Testaments. There is quite a bit of material relating to the family line of Enoch – METHUSELAH – Lamech [father of Noah] as well as indications of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount SINAI. Other mentions of the Old Testament are Job, Eliphaz [both mentioned in the Book of Job] and the Book of Numbers. In the New Testament we have several allusions to Jesus in the manger, Jesus the carpenter and Jesus being betrayed by a KISS from Judas at the LAST SUPPER. Paul / Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus is described in Acts.
Other religious references are NON-KOSHER, church, saint, nuns, heavens, Amish, Revised Authorised Version, plus specific mention of Bible and heaven. YEMEN is in the grid, but I doubt if Moses parted the Red Sea that far south.
I’ve probably missed something, but I think it was possible to solve all the clues without a full understanding of the biblical allusions.
Completely different from the Bible we had ISAAC ASIMOV who formulated three laws of robotics.
This was an entertaining puzzle – thanks to Methuselah,
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Singer knocking back cans beside church (6) SNITCH (informer; singer) TINS (cans) reversed (knocking back) + CH (church) SNIT< CH |
| 5/17 |
Getting gospel, we lay off the Book of Numbers (6,5) YELLOW [PAGES] (book of telephone numbers of businesses) Anagram of (off) GOSPEL WE LAY YELLOW PAGES* |
| 10 |
Contrary utilitarianists taking moral high ground? (5) SINAI (Moses received the Ten Commandments [a list of moral requirements] on Mount SINAI) SINAI (reversed [contrary] hidden word [taking] in UTILITARIANISTS SINAI< |
| 11 |
Romeo abandons theatre stage, having such an epiphany? (9) DAMASCENE (reference Paul’s epiphany [sudden revelation or insight into the nature, essence or meaning of something] on the road to DAMASCUS) DRAMA SCENE (theatre stage) ) excluding (abandons) R (Romeo is the international radio code word for the letter R) DAMA SCENE |
| 12 |
Spirit‘s death reversed (4) MOOD (state of mind; spirit) DOOM (death) reversed (reversed) MOOD< |
| 13 |
Follower ultimately impressed by disappearing act by carpenter? (10) VARNISHING (what a carpenter may do to finish off a piece of his work) R (last letter of [ultimately] FOLLOWER) contained in (impressed by) VANISHING (disappearing) VA (R) NISHING |
| 15 |
Church skinned alive bastard using motor? (9) VEHICULAR (motor) Anagram of (bastard) HURC (letters remaining in CHURCH when the outer letters C and H are removed [skinned]) and ALIVE VEHICULAR* |
| 17 |
See 5 Across [YELLOW] PAGES |
| 19 |
Saint goes behind tree for number one (5) FIRST (number one) FIR (type of tree) + ST (saint) FIR ST |
| 20 |
Fickle type arranging meal with Enoch or one with Lamech (9) CHAMELEON (inconstant, changeable, or readily adaptable person; fickle type) Anagram of (arranging) MEAL and [with] ENOCH Also, an anagram of (arranging) ONE and [with] LAMECH – double word play CHAMELEON* or CHAMELEON* |
| 22 |
Old man alias occasionally included by writer so what?! (10) METHUSELAH (an old man who features in the Book of Genesis in the bible. METHUSELAH was the son of Enoch and the father of Lamech, who were both mentioned in the previous clue) LA (letters 2 and 4 [occasionally] of ALIAS) contained in (included) (ME [the writer] + THUS [so] + EH! [what?]) ME THUS E (LA) H |
| 25 |
Lady‘s heavenly meal not coming with starter (4) ANNA (lady’s name) MANNA (delicious food – reference MANNA from heaven) excluding the first letter (not coming with starter) M ANNA |
| 27 |
Your opponent traps his own rook before struggle for white square (9) SERVIETTE (paper table napkin,often made as a white square which is then folded for putting on the table) SETTER (the solver’s opponent) containing (traps) (the R [rook], last letter of SETTER + VIE [struggle]) ) within the remaining letters SETTE) SE (R VIE) TTE |
| 28/8 |
Revised AV is a Mosaic source of laws (5,6) ISAAC ASIMOV (reference ISAAC ASIMOV [1898 – 1992], Russian born American writer and professor of biochemistry who formulated three laws of robotics) Anagram of (revised) AV IS A MOSAIC ISAAC ASIMOV |
| 29 |
European chap moved by Jesus’ original resting place (6) GERMAN (European) MANGER (Jesus’ original resting place) with MAN (chap) moved within the word to form GERMAN GERMAN |
| 30 |
Devout lady‘s fella swapping masochism for sadism (6) SISTER (nun; devout lady) MISTER (male; fella) with S (sadism) replacing (swapping for]) M (masochism) – the clue is obviously referring to the abbreviation S and M, or S&M, but the definition for that is given as sadomasochism in most dictionaries. I can’t find S as an abbreviation for sadism. SISTER |
| Down | |
| 2 |
Primarily, not killed or swallowed by someone eating a certain way? (3-6) NON-KOSHER (something that doesn’t conform to Jewish religious law) NKO (first letters of each of NOT, KILLED and OR) contained in (swallowed by) NOSHER (someone eating) NO (N KO) SHER |
| 3 |
End of story read to audience (4) TAIL (end of) TAIL (sounds like [read to audience] TALE [story]) TAIL |
| 4 |
Driven by water, hot and cold air duly circulating inside (9) HYDRAULIC (driven by water) Anagram of (circulating) AIR DULY contained in (inside) (H [hot] + C [cold]) H YDRAULI* C |
| 5 |
Old address for blokes in Middle Eastern nation (5) YEMEN (Middle Eastern nation) YE MEN (old fashioned form of address for males) YE MEN |
| 6 |
Momentous feast continues to be the opposite of a downer (4,6) LAST SUPPER (momentous feast) LASTS (continues) + UPPER (opposite of downer) LAST S UPPER |
| 7 |
Crosses which Job and Eliphaz would bear together (5) OBELI (dagger shapes; crosses) OBELI (hidden word [would bear] in JOB ELIPHAZ if the two names were written together) OBELI |
| 8 |
See 28 Across [ISAAC] ASIMOV |
| 9 |
Rules which come from the heavens, we’re told (6) REIGNS (rules) REIGNS (sounds like [were told] RAINS [water that comes from the heavens]) REIGNS |
| 14 |
Naturist trips, making more coitus tricky (10) ECOTOURISM (trips to carefully managed developments of the natural environment [naturist, not the nudism meaning] for the holiday market) Anagram of (tricky) MORE COITUS ECOTOURISM* |
| 16 |
Comes back to life near askew rocks (9) REAWAKENS (comes back to life) Anagram of (rocks) NEAR ASKEW REAWAKENS* |
| 18 |
Innocent then mature after gobbling garden’s top fruit (9) GREENGAGE (fruit) (GREEN [naive; innocent] + AGE [mature]) containing (gobbling) G (first letter of [top] GARDEN) GREEN (G) AGE |
| 19 |
Make hungry religious people go after fellow (6) FAMISH (starve; make hungry) F (fellow) + AMISH (of or belonging to a strict US Mennonite sect; religious people) F AMISH |
| 21 |
Distinction made by holy woman when describing American church (6) NUANCE (delicate or subtle degree or shade of difference; distinction) (NUN [holy woman] containing [describing] A [American]) + CE (Church [of England]) NU (A) N CE |
| 23 |
Short bit of Bible given new introduction (5) TERSE (short) VERSE (bit of the Bible) replacing (given new) the first letter V with T – there is no indication of which letter the new starter should be. I suppose the definition forces it to T TERSE |
| 24 |
Tablet with a number of commandments taken down (5) EATEN (swallowed; taken down) E (ecstasy tablet) + A + TEN (reference the Ten Commandments) E A TEN |
| 26 |
Act of Judas that’s symbolised by a cross (4) KISS (the Bible tells us that Judas identified Jesus with by KISSing him and calling him Rabbi!) KISS (a word often symbolised by an X [cross]) double definition KISS |
Very enjoyable. Perhaps not as knotty as Methuselah can be. Tops among many are SERVIETTE (thanks for the clarification Duncan), METHUSELAH (thanks again Duncan), and YELLOW PAGES. I read that Asimov later added a fourth or zeroth law which stated that “a robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.” Easier said than done. With praise and thanksgiving, Methuselah is good,
Thanks, Methuselah and duncanshiell!
Great puzzle and an equally great blog!
Biblical references contd…
ANNA (the prophetess), ISAAC, MOSAIC, REAWAKENS, ELI
NON-KOSHER
an &lit?
As Kosher involves killing and swallowing (certain food items aren’t eaten together-this part is a bit of a stretch?) in a certain way, the whole clue could define NON-KOSHER, I feel.
VEHICULAR
Def: using motor?
KVa @ 3
I had ‘using’ underlined a couple of times when writing the blog but in the end I took it out becuse I reckoned that VEHICULAR transport and MOTOR transport were the same. You could put ‘using’ in front of both I know but I wasn’t convinced that just VEHICULAR and ‘using MOTOR‘ were the same.
Thanks, Duncan for your response. Makes sense.
I recently referenced an old Methuselah crossword in one of Bluth’s puzzles and thought it seemed quite a while since his last appearance and here he is. Would love to see him more often. I know little about the bible but managed to complete this with a quick check to see the relevance of DAMASCENE.
I also had ‘using motor?’ as the definition (with the ‘?’ since not all vehicles have motors). I take Duncan’s point @4 though but I don’t care for ‘using’ as a link word.
Very enjoyable, thanks Methuselah, Duncan
‘using motor?’ as in using a car seemed OK for VEHICULAR and preferable to not using the using, though agree that motor alone would work.
KVa @2: I certainly read NON-KOSHER as @littish.
Unlike Sofamore @1, I felt I was battling a reasonably knotty Methuselah and there were plenty of clues where, whilst I was able to parse with hindsight, in no way was I directed to the solution by the wordplay. Very cunning stuff.
My only slight quibble is the enumeration for ECO-TOURISM which I would expect to see hyphenated, as would Chambers. I was searching for 10 letter words beginning -C-T- so the option of beginning with an E never entered my mind. But that is probably me crying sour grapes.
Thanks Methuselah and duncan
Parsed VEHICULAR as ‘using motor’ as in VEHICULAR manslaughter/homicide.
Agree NON-KOSHER is @littish. The surfaces are brilliant:
19a – FIRST – “Saint goes behind tree for number one” – Even saints have to pee.
14d – ECOTOURISM – “Naturist trips, making more coitus tricky” – What must he have landed on?
16d – REAWAKENS – “Comes back to life near askew rocks” – The resurrection – Roll Away The Stone(1973) by Mott the Hoople. [50 years]
18d – GREENGAGE – “Innocent then mature after gobbling garden’s top fruit” – Adam & Eve in Eden.
Hovis@6 – all vehicles are motors – Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?(reissued 1983) by Alexei Sayle. [40 years]
But duncan – could you make the grid a little bit smaller? I’ve had to reduce the zoom to 75%, but now I can’t read what I’m typing.
Thanks M&d
Like Sofamore @1 I thought this was quite gentle for a Methuselah. No trouble spotting the theme though given my ignorance of all things religious, I wondered if there might be something more specific going on linking the biblical references. Still, gentle or not, I didn’t know what ISAAC ASIMOV had to do with ‘source of laws’; very interesting.
Favourite was the self-referential METHUSELAH and the clever chess surface for SERVIETTE.
Thanks to Methuselah and Duncan
Thanks both. An enjoyable challenge, wherein the parsing of NON-KOSHER and SERVIETTE escaped me, the latter perhaps as I have never viewed the setter as an opponent, yet it makes sense. A piece of learning from ECOTOURISM is I can safely ask someone who has been on a naturist holiday to share their photographs
FrankieG @ 10
Sorry! – the width and height tags in the html got screwed up and the grid defaulted to a larger size than planned. It should be OK now.
FrankieG @10 “all vehicles are motors”. I doubt it. It would make motor vehicles a bit redundant. I would class a rickshaw, for example, as a vehicle without a motor.
duncanshiell@13 – Thanks for that.
Hovis@14 – I only meant that “motor” is slang for car. I’ve just noticed that you’ve also mentioned Alexei Sayle elsewhere today. Quite a coincidence! 🙂
The Biblical theme soon became pretty obvious, but we wonder if there’s a subsidiary theme related to food? For example, NON-KOSHER, LAST SUPPER, FAMISH, EATEN, and even SERVIETTE.
As for 15ac, surely a vehicle doesn’t have to have a motor? There are horse-drawn vehicles, for instance – hence, we think, the question mark in the clue.
A not-too-taxing solve; favourite was SERVIETTE – a great penny-drop moment.
Thanks, Methuselah and Duncan.
Thanks duncanshiell and Methuselah.
Excellent puzzle! Great surfaces!
METHUSELAH, SERVIETTE, EATEN, ECO-TOURISM make my list.
Very enjoyable though quite tough. I had to admire the ingenuity of the wordplay in places.
I gave up on the parsing of METHUSELAH (maybe it’s the heat or the fourth puzzle of the day) and struggled with EATEN where E for tablet wouldn’t be allowed by some editors.
I can’t recall coming across a clue like 20a before where the setter effectively gives you two bites of the cherry. I definitely felt NON-KOSHER to be an &lit, saw the extended definition before the wordplay. I’ll list that as one of my likes plus SNITCH (simple but amusing surface) DAMASCENE, VARNISHING, SERVIETTE and LAST SUPPER.
Many thanks to Methuselah and DS.
Thanks Methuselah for the best crossword of the day. Great clues throughout with YELLOW PAGES, FIRST, CHAMELEON, GERMAN, and EATEN being my top picks. I solved and parsed everything without assistance so this must have been “gentle” but that doesn’t diminish this gem in any way. Thanks duncanshiell for the blog.
Just out of interest, Asimov wrote books about the Old and New Testaments, subsequently combined into his 1300-page Guide to the Bible.
Twmbarlwm@20: I was just going to say that!
^ 😀 I wonder if Methuselah had it in mind.