Pub Quiz by Harribobs
Left and right superscripts indicate the category for across and down entries respectively. Within each category, clues are given in the usual grid order. In four cells answers clash. Solvers must resolve each clash to form a theme word and enter just its first letter, spelling the name of the pub. Winners get a round of drinks.
You pick up The Inquisitor never knowing what to expect but I never expected a pub quiz.
I found it quite difficult to get started and hit on the idea of marking each clue as “across” or “down”, which really helped. I then decided to give them their grid reference as well. This made hunting for clues a lot easier than it might have been. Then there was the realisation that eight answers were too big for their spaces.
Knowing that there were clashes helped at this stage with the realisation that they weren’t single-letter clashes.
Three clashes succumbed fairly quickly but the last one (b2 in the grid) proved much more stubborn.
The clashes are:
| Grid ref | Across | Down | Unjumbled | First letter |
| b2 | AQUITAINE | HALEWOOD | TEQUILA | T |
| e5 | STRANGERS | MACARTHUR | ARMAGNAC | A |
| h8 | HORNPOUT | LYSANDER | PERNOD | P |
| k11 | CLIJSTERS | CALCANEUS | SAUTERNE | S |
Giving us four alcoholic drinks that you might buy in a pub. The first letters seem to spell TAPS, which I didn’t quite understand. I’ve been in several pubs called The (something) Tap and even simply The Tap but I don’t think I’ve ever encountered The Taps, though a quick Google search tells me that there are some: https://www.google.com/search?q=the+taps+pub
I made steady progress with SW quadrant crumbling first then SE followed by most of NE then NW. I say most of NE because the last two I managed to justify were l1 O’MEARA and g6 TARAWA.
In the clue explanations I’ve added additional information where I feel that the answer might not be obvious. Most links are to Wikipedia with a couple to IMDb.
All-in-all I found this a bit of a challenge but no less enjoyable for it. Many thanks to Harribobs.
Now – where/when/how do I get my round of drinks?
| Art and Books | ||
| • Gallery subject to 50% cut (6, 2 words) | THE MET | THEME (subject)+T[o] (half cut) The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City |
| • Classic work in Italian, inspired by one from The Kinks (6) | LOLITA | LOLA (Kinks song) around ITalian |
| • Fictional dandy that has a drink with anybody (6) | ONEGIN | ONE (anybody)+GIN (drink) A dandy from Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin |
| • European sculptor of US president (6) | FRENCH | FRENCH (European) Daniel Chester French who sculpted Abraham Lincoln |
| • Alias unveiled by English essayist (4) | ELIA | English+[a]LIA[s] (unveiled) Elia was a pen name of Charles Lamb |
| Music | ||
| • German composer being regiment’s second in command (5) | WEILL | WILL (command) around [r]E[giment] (second letter) Kurt Weill German (American) composer |
| • Soul singer to consider taking up golf in retirement (6) | KNIGHT | THINK (consider) around Golf Gladys Knight soul singer |
| • Line from Cabaret’s final number (6) | TETHER | [Cabare]T (final)+ETHER (number: anaesthetic) |
| • Principal in Liceu packed houses in Barcelona (6) | CASALS | &lit. clue L[iceu] inside CASAS (Spanish/Catalonian houses) Liceu opera house in Barcelona Pablo Casals Spanish/Puerto Rican musician |
| • Composer of Mourning giving up French wine (5) | GRIEG | GRIE[vin]G (mourning) minus VIN (wine in French) Edvard Grieg Norwegian composer who, incidentally, composed Morning Mood |
| Film | ||
| • Revolutionary portrayed by various actors (6) | CASTRO | ACTORS anag: various Fidel Castro revolutionary |
| • The first of Michael Caine’s diverse films (6) | CINEMA | M[ichael] (first letter)+CAINE anag: diverse Michael Caine English actor |
| • This man’s dropped from The Drunkard picture (6) | TALKIE | T[he] minus HE (that man)+ALKIE (drunkard) The Drunkard on IMDb |
| • Who finished off The Third Man? (4) | CAIN | &lit. According to a famous reference book, Adam was the first man. His first son was Cain who slew his younger brother Abel. So the second man (Cain) finished off the third man (Abel) The Third Man on IMDb |
| • Movie theatre’s feature (4) | HEAT | tHEATre hidden: feature Heat movie starring two stalwarts of the big screen. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. I’ve still never seen the film though it’s been on my “must watch” list for years. |
| Nature | ||
| • Australian seen in tree (5) | KOALA | &lit. Australian inside KOLA (tree) |
| • Top predator round Central African Republic (4) | ORCA | O (round)+CAR (Central African Republic) |
| • River out of Port Huron, seething with catfish (8) | HOR[npo]UT | PO[r]T HURON (minus River; anag: seething) |
| • Cereal plant with black seed spike (4) | BEAR | Black+EAR (seed spike) |
| • Bird found by sea, mostly around Thailand (6) | MARTIN | MARIN[e] (mostly) around Thailand (IVR) |
| Geography | ||
| • Quiet area in a wild part of France (9) | A[quit]AINE | QUIET+Area+IN+A anag: wild Acquitaine former region in France |
| • Capital of country in Asia, having priest as head of state (4) | APIA | A[s]IA (state) with Priest instead of S[tate] (head of) Apia is the capital of Samoa |
| • America at war, ravaged here (6) | TARAWA | Semi &lit. America+AT WAR anag: ravaged Tarawa capital of Kiribati (pronunced kir-ib-ass) scene of The Battle of Tarawa |
| • Merseyside town with flourishing golf club (8) | H[ale]WOOD | HALE (flourishing)+WOOD (golf club) Halewood |
| • German city jazz pianist has left for Brazil (6) | LÜBECK | [br]UBECK (jazz pianist) with Left replacing BRazil Dave Brubeck jazz pianist Lübeck |
| Sport | ||
| • World Cup winning player with haircuts talked about (6) | STILES | Sounds like STYLES (haircuts) Nobby Stiles English football player who was part of a team that won some obscure competition in 1966 |
| • Second time against Scottish club for these visitors (9) | ST[rang]ERS | Second+Time+RANGERS (Scottish football team Rangers FC a football team from Glasgow Scottish city |
| • Winner of Open in Japan impressing minor celebrities (9) | CLIJ[ster]S | C-LISTERS (minor celebrities) around Japan Kim Clijsters Belgian tennis player. Winner of Australian Open (2011) and US Open (2005, 2009, 2010) |
| • Golfer regularly turning up in endurance contests (5) | SNEAD | enDurAncE coNteSts (regularly; rev: turning up) Sam Snead American golfer |
| • England manager who’s first to criticise (6) | REVIEW | REVIE (England manager)+W[ho] (first Don Revie England football manager |
| History | ||
| • City with a fighting force on the border (6) | ARNHEM | A+RN (Royal Navy: fighting force)+HEM (border) Arnhem city in The Netherlands |
| • Peacemaker in Ireland, one having nothing to lose (6) | EIRENE | EIRE (Ireland)+[o]NE minus O (nothing) Eirene goddess of peace in Greek mythology |
| • Military leader, Darnley’s undoing (8) | LYSAN[der] | DARNLEYS (anag: undoing) Lysander Spartan military leader |
| • General badly hurt after American overturned jeep? (9) | [maca]RTHUR | AMerican (rev: overturned)+CAR (jeep)+HURT (anag: badly) Douglas MacArthur American general |
| • Greek god presiding over Troy in the end (6, 2 words) | AT LAST | ATLAS (Greek god)+Troy Atlas god in Greek mythology |
| Pot Luck | ||
| • Dairy product created on the counter (4) | EDAM | What’s the only cheese that’s MADE backwards? |
| • Bank robber is informed of term of imprisonment (6) | HEARST | HEARS (is informed)+[imprisonmen]T (term) Patty Hearst kidnap victim turned bank robber |
| • Utilitarian factory building (4) | MILL | (double def) John Stuart Mill utilitarian |
| • 1992 Masters contender from South America sadly missing his cut shot (6) | O’MEARA | [s]O[uth] AMER[ic]A (missing HIS CUT) Mark O’Meara Masters winner in 1998 |
| • Copper-plated aluminium rod fitted to square bone (9) | CALC[aneu]S | CU (copper) around ALuminium+CANE (rod) followed by Square Calcaneus |
At first this one seemed hideously confusing, and more so when it emerged that some answers wouldn’t fit, but memory of multi-letter clashes in past Inquisitors finally led me to the anagrammed PERNOD. The way through was then clear if not easy, with TEQUILA the last to fall just as above. In retrospect I wish I’d started by numbering the grid and clues “normally” for quick reference (I kept miscounting), but by the time I thought of that I had enough entries pencilled in for seat-of-pants navigation.
Lots of thanks to Harribobs for a fine boozy challenge and to Kenmac for explication.
Maybe at the next IQ of the Year presentation the official cocktail will be the Harribobs, comprising one measure each of tequila, Armagnac, Pernod and Sauterne. As Kingsley Amis put it in one of his books on drinking, “A drink to dream of, not to drink.”
I have clear memories of two puzzles by Harribobs, both from about 5 years ago. Whereas those two had complex (and brilliant) endgames, this one was smaller in scope but just as original and just as satisfying to solve, with some clever, deceptively simple clues and a well-executed device of multiple-letter clashes to supply the key to the endgame. The idea of the ‘pub quiz’ with eight rounds added to the enjoyment of the solving process, there being many references, both straight and devious, to the respective subjects.
I had great fun with the clue to CLIJSTERS. I assumed the minor celebs would be B-LISTERS, which (fortunately) gave me STER to make SAUTERNE, my last drink. I then only had to make a minor change and solve one more clue to fill the grid.
According to what I looked up, the capital APIA (of Samoa) is not in Asia but in Oceania.
Thanks to Harribobs and kenmac.
Harribobs always entertains with something different, ingenious and entertaining.
I loved this quirky take on a pub quiz crossword. Some delightful clues, with Clijsters and Lübeck stand outs for me.
Drinks in order of preference: Sauternes, Armagnac, Pernod. Tequila is the one drink I cannot touch following a terrible experience approximately 30 years ago.
Big thanks to Harribobs and kenmac.
@3 Pernod did it for me about 50 years ago
Much as I enjoy pub quizzes and thematic crosswords, I didn’t particularly enjoy the combination…something to do with the need to chase up general knowledge trivia on top of the usual job of parsing wordplay made it a bit of a chore.
So while it was well executed by the setter (although “TAPS” was an underwhelming pay-off) I won’t be crying out for a repeat.
An enjoyable mix of genuinely pub quiz-type knowledge (Sam Snead, Mark O’Meara, Kim Clijsters) and misleading variations – I thought CAIN was a very clever exploitation of the film theme. For ORCA, I think the CAR has to become the Republique Centrafricaine, or Republique Centrale d’Afrique, which is probably how it would refer to itself, being francophone rather than anglophone. Thanks to kenmac for parsing KOALA properly for me, and to Harribobs for the puzzle.
Enjoyable puzzle – a novel idea.
It was difficult to get started but when we had some of the letters that wouldn’t fit, we guessed we were looking for drinks which helped us at the end.
Joyce’s memory of Sauterne were her parents drinking it with Sunday lunch. Ghastly!
Thanks Harribobs and kenmac.
I am with Phil K @5 on this one. I got most of it, including the theme but then hit a brick wall with some of the SE corner and got fed up. I even got as far as CLISTERS for 35A but had never heard of required champion – I thought of using a J but could not see where to sensibly put it (no rude suggestions please!). I am no “Only Connect” candidate so this was too much for me.
Thanks to Harribobs for a nice idea – I just wish it’s execution had been a bit kinder. Thanks to Kenmac for his perseverence.
I hope Harribob’s prices are more affordable than Harry’s Bar
If so, same again please!
I was quick to identify where the clashes would be, simply by finding the intersections of overlong answers. Too quick for my own good unfortunately as I had selected S2&H3 and N3&H4 (wrong!) instead of S2&H4 and N3&H3 (right) – which delayed me for ages. Ah well.
I agree with Sagittarius @6 that the abbreviation RCA provides the correct parsing for ORCA in the Nature category.
Thanks to H’bobs for the quiz (good fun but once is probably enough for me) and kenmac for blogging it – BTW Sauternes has an S at the end.
@10
According to Chambers, either is acceptable
@11: somehow my clashing letters from CLIJSTERS and
CALCANEUS generated an extra S, which I tagged onto the end. Oops!
Thanks for the blog, kenmac. The puzzle was inspired by my a local pub in Lytham which, if you’re ever in the area, I recommend for its excellent real ale and its long-standing Monday night quiz. It’s called ‘The Taps’.
Yet another Inquisitor I failed to finish, even though I had most of the answers. Just couldn’t work out how to disentangle the surplus letters. Incidentally, I always thought that clues had to produce unambiguous answers, but ‘Australian seen in tree’ could just as easily have been MYALL; and as two letters matched the ‘proper’ answer, I stuck with it for too long. More fool me.
A delight to see Harribobs back – I hope that it won’t be quite so long until the next appearance!