Friday in the Independent crossword series usually brings a puzzle from Phi and that’s the case today.
The grid is one that can yield a message round the perimeter. We don’t have a message today, but we do have four names with something in common. Going clockwise from the top row of unchecked letters we have WALKER, DELANO, HOWARD and BAINES if you read from left to right in the rows and top to bottom in the columns.
These are all middle names of American Presidents, with one name relevant to two related Presidents:
George Herbert WALKER Bush {1924 – 2018], 41st President [Republican] and his son
George WALKER Bush [born 1946], 43rd President [Republican]
Franklin DELANO Roosevelt [1882 – 1945], 32nd President [Democrat]
William HOWARD Taft [1857 – 1930], 27th President [Republican] and
Lyndon BAINES Johnson [1908 – 1973], 38th President [Democrat].
I’m not aware of anything that links these five Presidents other than the fact they held the highest office in the United States of America.
The names in the grid don’t seem to have anything in common either, other than each being six letters long. If solvers can see a connection I have missed, please feel free to highlight it.
The puzzle itself was a good test for a Friday with an eclectic mix of entries. I liked the links between INKPOT, WRITINGS and ESCRITOIRE.
BRACTEAL and ENGENDERER are words I don’t use very often but the clues were clear for both.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 7 | One avoiding heat rests – these may act as sunshades (8)
BROLLIES (umbrellas; parasols; sunshades) BROIL (cook by direct heat; heat) excluding (avoiding) I (Roman numeral for one) + LIES (rests) BROL LIES |
| 9 | Followed English and American backing, in conclusion (6)
ENSUED (followed) (E [English] + US [United States; American]) all reversed (backing) and contained in (in) END (conclusion) EN (SU E)< D |
| 10 | Nothing in money supply? A very small amount (4)
ATOM (anything very small) O (character representing zero) contained in (in) ATM (automatic teller machine; device for supplying money) AT (O) M |
| 11 | Works appear rash, to put things another way (10)
PARAPHRASE (express in other words; put things another way) Anagram of (works) APPEAR RASH PARAPHRASE* |
| 12 | Contribution to 1, say, left out connection with drug (6)
INKPOT (pot for dipping an old-fashioned pen or quill in to help you create WRITINGS [entry at 1 down]; contribution to 1) LINK (connection) excluding (out) L (left) + POT (cannabis; drug) INK POT |
| 14 | Describing leaves: couple mostly greenish-blue (8)
BRACTEAL (descriptive of leaves that bear flowers) BRACE (pair; couple) excluding the final letter (mostly) E + TEAL (a dark greenish-blue colour) BRAC TEAL |
| 15 | Urban conditions perhaps not experienced in small place (6)
SPRAWL (a term applied to urban developments that spread and increase the size of the built-up area) RAW (inexperienced) contained in (in) (S [small] + PL [place]) S P (RAW) L |
| 17 | Stamp involving small US state in a row (6)
SERIAL (in a row) SEAL (a piece of wax, lead or other material, stamped with a device and attached as a means of authentication or attestation) containing (involving) RI (Rhode Island, the smallest US State in area) SE (RI) AL |
| 20 | Gas in any way curtailed about newborns (8)
NEONATAL (relating to [about] the newly born) NEON (a gas) + AT ALL (in any way) excluding the final letter (curtailed) L NEON ATAL |
| 22 | I go astray in South American mountain range (6)
SIERRA (a mountain range, especially in Spanish-speaking countries and the US) (I + ERR [go astray]) contained in (in) SA (South America) S (I ERR) A |
| 23 | Breeder, Frenchman perhaps, taken aback about sex (10)
ENGENDERER (one who breeds; breeder) RENÉ (name of a French male; Frenchman) reversed (taken aback) containing (about) GENDER (sex) EN (GENDER) ER< |
| 24 | Novice reflected? That’s a good thing (4)
BOON (something to be thankful for; a good thing) NOOB (newbie; novice) reversed (reflected) BOON< |
| 25 | Italian monster, namely, reverse of friend (6)
SCYLLA (six-headed monster who sat over a dangerous rock on the Italian side of the Straits of Messina, opposite Charybdis, and seized or drowned sailors from passing ships) SC (scilicet, a Latin word meaning ‘namely’) + ALLY (friend) reversed (reverse of) SC YLLA< |
| 26 | Broadcasting on air with the dubious leading figure (4-4)
ANTIHERO (a principal character [in a novel, play, etc] who lacks noble qualities and whose experiences are without tragic dignity; dubious leading figure) Anagram of (broadcasting) ON AIR and [with] THE ANTIHERO* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Is harrowing about it in literary work (8)
WRITINGS (literary works) WRINGS (is harrowing) containing (about) IT WR (IT) INGS |
| 2 | Sources of any largely uncommon metal provide metallic salt (4)
ALUM (double sulphate of aluminium and potassium; metallic salt) ALUM (first letters of [sources of] each of ANY, LARGELY, UNCOMMON and METAL) ALUM |
| 3 | Persistent hanger-on exhausted visitor from far away? (6)
LIMPET (a gastropod with a conical shell, that clings very tightly and persistently to rocks) LIMP (weary; exhausted) + ET (reference the film ET [extra-terrestrial; visitor from far away]) LIMP ET |
| 4 | Reminder to look up when taking drink in Japan (8)
KEEPSAKE (reminder) PEEK (look) reversed (up; down entry) + SAKE (Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice) KEEP< SAKE |
| 5 | Rectories, I fancy, may be location of 12 (10)
ESCRITOIRE (a writing desk, a piece of furniture on which you may find an INKPOT [entry at 12 across]) Anagram of (fancy) RECTORIES and I ESCRITOIRE* |
| 6 | Stretch of water’s about devoid of life, mostly after introduction of sulphur (3,3)
RED SEA (inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia; stretch of water) RE (with reference to; about) + (DEAD [devoid of life) excluding the final letter [mostly] containing [after introduction of] S [chemical symbol for sulphur]) RE D (S) EA |
| 8 | Stone on dress flashing in light (6)
STROBE ([of a stroboscopic light] to flash on and off; flashing in light) ST (stone) + ROBE (dress) STROBE |
| 13 | Player in old plays missing climax from tricksy Italian playwright (10)
PIRANDELLO (reference the Italian playwright Luigi PIRANDELLO [1867 – 1936]. author of Six Characters in search of an Author) Anagram of (plays) PLAYER IN OLD excluding (missing) Y (last letter of [climax from] TRICKSY) PIRANDELLO* |
| 16 | Take away sense over hospital? Part of it goes into reverse (8)
WITHDRAW (take away) WIT (sense) + H (hospital) + WARD (part of a hospital) reversed (goes into reverse) As this is a down entry the letter W is placed over all the other letters in the entry WIT H DRAW< |
| 18 | Left pig covered in pig fat (8)
LARBOARD (obsolete nautical term for port or left) BOAR (pig) contained in (covered in) LARD (clarified fat of the pig) LAR (BOAR) D |
| 19 | Latin praise? Attempt to keep Latin manner up (6)
GLORIA (Latin word for glory or praise) (GO [attempt] containing [to keep] L [Latin]) + AIR (manner) reversed (up; down entry) G (L) O RIA |
| 21 | Picked up hot hint about a Parisian castrato? (6)
EUNUCH (a castrato [singer castrated at a young age to preserve a soprano or alto voice] is a EUNUCH [castrated male]) (H [hot] + [CUE {hint} containing {about} UN {French for ‘a’}]) all reversed (picked up; down entry) (EU (NU) C H)< |
| 22 | A dessert’s served up in layers (6)
STRATA (layers of sedimentary rock for example) (A + TART’S [dessert’s]) reversed (served up; down entry) (STRAT A)< |
| 24 | Scientist, foremost among best of historical researchers (4)
BOHR (reference Niels BOHR [1885 – 1962], Danish physicist who made significant contributions to quantum theory and the understanding of atomic structure) BOHR (first letters of [foremost among] each of BEST, OF, HISTORICAL and RESEARCHERS) BOHR |
From memory, I think these were the only Presidents with six-letter middle names (Bush Senior, having two middle names, doesn’t count). Well, that was why I chose them, but I’m prepared to stand corrected.
I genuinely hate to correct – but there are at least four more (Coolidge, Cleveland, Adams, Reagan).
What’s more astonishing is the coincidence – I don’t know if you do The Listener, but you wait ages for *one* cryptic crossword themed on US Presidents’ second names…
I found this to be rather a tricky Phi with a couple of unknown/less familiar solutions as well as some synonyms along the way that took a long time to tease into place. I did not spot BRO(I)L in BROLLIES which left the first part of the word unparsed and it took a long time to tease out the pigs in LARBOARD, the harrowing in WRITINGS, the anagram/def in ANTI HERO and the sense/wit in WITHDRAW. And, once again, I failed to spot the nina – or I forgot to look for the nina! I might have spotted DELANO but the other middle names are not known to me. Somehow, I doubt I would have made the connection.
Thanks Phi and duncan
John CALVIN Coolidge, Stephen GROVER Cleveland – known by their middle names, like ex-PM James GORDON Brown.
John QUINCY Adams – known by both names to distinguish him from his father, (like DUBYA),
Ronald WILSON Reagan – easy to forget, like ex-PM James HAROLD Wilson.
““Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”
Ah, I knew there was at least one I had rejected because he was known by his middle name. I may have had Reagan as a back-up; what he really needs is another 6-letter monicker and he could have the whole puzzle to himself.
It was the connection of INKPOT, WRITINGS and ESCRITOIRE that had me on the verge of giving up. Trying to crowbar bylaws into urban conditions didn’t help. Only when I spotted the backward WARD did it start to fall into place. Loi, a guess the order of the vowels in the Italian playwright.
Thanks to Phi and to duncan for the splash of colour and reminding me what sc stands for.
Thanks both. For me, this was at times forbiddingly difficult, perhaps wrongly perceived as I was short of time, so in desperation I used an anagram finder to deliver ESCRITOIRE whereupon knowing it was linked to two other answers, I almost gave up. As a further ‘cheat’ I looked up Italian composers, and PIRANDELLO fitted, otherwise back to holding no hope. I saw the Nina early, but could make no sense of it; sadly research suggested Anthony Walker, victim of a racist murder – his middle name was Delano. A painful memory, but something which should never be forgotten.