This seems to be Bard’s third appearance as an Independent setter.
This is Tuesday, so not surprisingly, there is a clear theme in this Independent puzzle involving the Shakespeare play MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. The theme is manifested in two ways. The name of the play and four of the characters (CLAUDIO, BENEDICK, HERO and BEATRICE) feature as entries in the grid. The cryptic nature of the play’s name also features in wordplay in three of the clues where MUCH ADO is used as an anagram indicator (in all three) and in two of them ABOUT serves as a containment indicator around a form of NOTHING (BUS FARE, TOLERATED and SLOVENLIER)
I thought there were some splendid clues with my favourite being the one for BUS FARE where three people or places associated with Edinburgh were included in the clue.
I also like the clue for FORSWEARS where F-Word was manipulated to generate both F and OR before the curses came along.
Another excellent clue, to my mind, was the one for LIEDER where Irving and Berlin served different purposes. I expect solvers will have their own favourites as there a few more very good surfaces that I could mention.
The play is set in Messina, so the use of Antioch in the anagram for the play’s name is not thematic. I do realise three of the letters in MESSINA could not have been used in the anagram, but before I refreshed my memory on the play I couldn’t remember where it was set.
Bard seems very keen on using first or last letter devices where I counted seven uses of the technique to generate FUL, BOM, D, MAN, I, R and T
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 6/24/27 | Letter from Greece (old Antioch) bought and adapted for a play (4,3,5,7)
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Shakespearean play) MU (letter of the Greek alphabet) + an anagram of (adapted) O [old] and ANTIOCH BOUGHT AND MU CH ADO ABOUT NOTHING* |
| 7 | Wary that man Miliband fleeces unsuspecting Labour leaders (7)
HEEDFUL (cautious; wary) HE (that man) + ED (reference ED Milliband [born 1969], current UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero) + FUL (first letters of [leaders] each of FLEECES, UNSUSPECTING and LABOUR) HE ED FUL |
| 9 | Bard is one press- ganged by Lieutenant for frontier (5)
LIMIT (boundary; frontier) (I’M [I am; Bard {the setter} is] + I [Roman numeral for one]) contained in (press-ganged by] LT (Lieutenant) L (IM I) T |
| 10 | Er Steve, I’m confused – finish your sentence! (5,4)
SERVE TIME (finish a prison sentence) Anagram of (confused) ER STEVE I’M< SERVE TIME* |
| 11 | Rebus (with 6A 24 27) reveals price from Waverley Station to the Royal Mile, perhaps (3,4)
BUS FARE (price of a ride from Waverley Station to the Royal Mile) – DI Rebus is an fictional detective in the books by Ian Rankin that are set in Edinburgh. Waverley Station and the Royal Mile are fairly close together in Edinburgh, but given the traffic congestion in Edinburgh in that part of town it would be quicker to walk! Anagram of (with MUCH ADO) REBUS containing (ABOUT) FA (abbreviation used for either of a couple of phrases that mean NOTHING) – using the whole of the entry from 6a/24/27 as the anagram and containment indicators. BUS (FA) RE* |
| 13 | Wonderful Radio 2 host stalks police officer (6)
DIVINE (excellent in the highest degree, wonderful) DI (Detective Inspector; police officer) + VINE (reference Jeremy VINE [born 1965], Radio 2 presenter) DI VINE |
| 15 | Starts to bolster old material, putting card into flat caps and coats (6,7)
BOMBER JACKETS (coats with zipped front and elasticated waists) BOM (first letters of [starts to] each of BOLSTER, OLD and MATERIAL) + (JACK [playing card] contained in [put into] BERETS [flat caps]) BOM BER (JACK) ETS |
| 19 | Big music venues in America less crazy on reflection (6)
ARENAS (big music venues) A (American) + SANER (less crazy) reversed (on reflection) A RENAS< |
| 20 | Italian fellow about to honour one with love (7)
CLAUDIO (Italian man’s name) C (circa; about) + LAUD (honour) + I (Roman numeral for one) + O (character representing zero [love score at tennis]) C LAUD I O |
| 23 | Was able to stomach eel tart (with 6A 24 27) – doubtful at first! (9)
TOLERATED (was able to stomach) (Anagram of [with MUCH ADO] EEL TART containing [ABOUT] O [character representing NOTHING]) + D (initial letter of [at first] DOUBTFUL) – once again using MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (6a/24/27) as the anagram and containment indicators T (O) LERATE* D |
| 24 | See 6 [MUCH ADO] ABOUT [NOTHING] |
| 26 |
Syrup, maple perhaps, around a hundred litres (7) TREACLE (dark, viscous uncrystallizable syrup obtained in refining sugar) TREE [a maple is a type of TREE] containing (around) (A + C [Roman numeral for one hundred] + L [litres]) TRE (A C L) E |
| 27 |
See 6 [MUCH ADO ABOUT] NOTHING |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Racket’s special type of shaft (4) 2 SCAM (swindle; racket) S (special) + CAM (reference CAMshaft in a car) S CAM |
| 2 |
Incantation starts to make auntie nauseous – half in trance (6) MANTRA (a sacred text used as an incantation) MAN (initial letters of [starts to] each of MAKE, AUNTIE and NAUSEOUS) + TRA (three of the 6 [half] letters in TRANCE) MAN TRA |
| 3 |
Gives up F-word with no limits on curses? (9) FORSWEARS (renounces upon oath; gives up) F + OR (letters remaining in WORD when the outer letters [limits] W and D are removed [no]) + SWEARS (curses) F OR SWEARS |
| 4 |
D Icke transfigured beneath mountain, he’s in love with 16 (8) BENEDICK (character in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING who is in love with BEATRICE [entry at 16 down]) BEN (Scottish mountain) + an anagram of (transfigured) – D ICKE – note that D ICKE is not just a random collection of letters, David Icke [born 1952] is a British conspiracy theorist. BEN EDICK* |
| 5 |
Assuming FA backtracking on deal it arranged in league (10) AFFILIATED (member of, a league for example) (IF [assuming] + FA ) reversed (backtracking) + an anagram of (arranged) DEAL IT – the clue refers to FA which could be the Football Association as it is the governing body of a sport which has many Leagues. (AF FI)< LIATED* |
| 6 |
Drink up in pub, I lamented (6) MALIBU (coconut flavored liqueur, made with white rum; drink) MALIBU (reversed [up; down entry] hidden word in [in] PUB I LAMENTED) MALIBU |
| 7 |
That woman’s nothing? Au contraire! (4) HERO (illustrious person, usually brave; someone who is the opposite of ‘nothing’) Note that HERO is also a character in the theme play MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. HER (that woman) + O (character representing nothing) HER O |
| 8 |
Conductor (not American) taking on introduction to Irving Berlin’s songs (6) LIEDER (German [Berlin] lyrics or songs) LEADER (conductor, probably not of an orchestra, as the leader of the orchestra tends to be an instrumentalist rather than the conductor) excluding (not) A and containing (taking on) I (first letter of [introduction to] IRVING) L (I) EDER |
| 12 | More filthy lines with 6A 24 27 at end of pier (10)
SLOVENLIER (more negligent in appearance, hygiene or work; more filthy) (Anagram of [MUCH ADO] LINES containing [ABOUT} LOVE (zero score in tennis; nothing]) + R (last letter of [end of] PIER) S (LOVE) NLIE* R |
| 14 | California very hot – lake evaporating and going down fast (9)
CASCADING (flowing fast downwards [like waterfalls, for example]) CA (California) + SCALDING (very hot) excluding (evaporating) L (lake) CA SCADING |
| 16 | She defeated Anneka? (8)
BEATRICE (lady’s name; she – also a character in the thematic play) BEAT (defeated) + RICE (reference Anneka RICE [born 1958], Welsh-born television and radio personality) BEAT RICE |
| 17 | Old dad’s a singer (4,2)
PAST IT (having decreased strength, ability, etc due to advancing age) PA’S (dad’s) + TIT (bird; singer) PAS T IT |
| 18 | Follow old reserves with German military ID (3,3)
DOG TAG (metal identity disc for a soldier; military ID) DOG (follow) + TA (old name for the British army reserves) + G (Germany) DOG TA G |
| 21 | Anticipates power, we’re told, in a second (6)
AWAITS (hopes for; anticipates) WAIT (sounds like [we’re told] WEIGHT [power]) contained in (in) A + S [second] A (WAIT) S |
| 22 | Inflammation found in crusty eyes (4)
STYE (small inflamed swelling at the edge of the eyelid) STYE (hidden word in [found in] CRUSTY EYES) STYE |
| 25 | Disregard 2D? I can’t, ultimately (4)
OMIT (disregard – Chambers tells me this is a Shakespearean meaning, which fits with the theme) OM (a sacred syllable intoned as part of Hindu devotion and contemplation, a MANTRA [entry at 2 down]) + I + T (last letter of [ultimately] CAN’T) OM I T |
Thanks Bard and duncan!
HERO (a minor point)
Does it work better if we take that woman’s as HER (instead of that woman=HER and ‘s=has)
Also, should we take the whole clue as the def?
Very clever use of the theme. SLOVENLIER was LOI and needed to look here to parse. Fun.
Berets are popular today, there was one in the G xwd as well. But yes, fun solve, thanks both.
It’s déjà vu all over again, with 6a,24a,27a – yesterday’s Keanu Reeves movie (1993) – that featured SKATER Beckinsale as 7d HERO.
And no less than four solutions from Sunday’s FT appearing in the parse for 11a BUSFARE
That has to be COTD. It even contains the “F-word” (Fanny) from 3d FORSWEARS. “Excellent!”
Thanks B&DS
The wordy nature of many of the clues seemed rather frightening at first, especially as I’m not familiar with the theme, but all slotted quite quickly into place, so thanks Bard and Duncan.
Wonderful. Witty and sharp like the play.
Nicely done by Bard with a neat not to his theme and some solid constructions though, as Tatrasman observes, with a few wordy clues. Some of the surfaces were a little clunky for me – I do admire the way the setter has used the play device (and BUS FARE is a very very clever clue) but it is hard to get a smooth surface when having to insert three clue numbers. SERVE TIME, FORSWEARS, LIEDER my podium.
Thanks Bard and duncan
I think that was a brilliant use of a theme to make a puzzle unique. I really enjoyed solving. No quibbles at all and lots of plusses.
Thanks Bard and Duncan
Nice. My last ones in were in the top right quadrant of the grid. For some reason I struggled for quite some time to think of a word which meant “wonderful” and had I as its second and fourth letters (and as I guessed at the time, E as the last letter). As a newbie, it was my first time learning about DI and Jeremy Vine (among other things). I had also conveniently learned about “lied” recently but had forgotten how to pluralize German words.
Thanks Bard and duncan
… and another dramatic theme!! Read 6ac and it seemed to shout the answer, which was fortunate, and goes against my normal run of play… as everyone else, I admired the use of said theme, to give 3 alternatives for “nothing”, although The Bard himself might have been using it’s alternative meaning of gossip, which is the theme of the play… methinks Will might have enjoyed a dip into cryptics, if they’d been invented… liked a lot especially LOI SLOVENLIER, which I’d left to macerate, while netting the grapes, until the LOVE penny dropped…
Thanks Bard n duncansheill
Very nicely done although I hadn’t appreciated quite how clever it was until reading the review. Missed out on SLOVENLIER but that doesn’t surprise me in the least.
Particular favourites here were BOMBER JACKETS & CASCADING.
Thanks to Bard for a well themed puzzle and to Duncan for the review.
That was great! Like others I really enjoyed the way that different clues used the key phrase differently.