An unusual grid for the prize puzzle this week which made me look for a nina, but it wasn’t exactly what I expected.
Jack, who also sets as Basilisk and Serpent, is the production manager of Magpie magazine. His puzzles are renowned for their use of ordinary words, and this one is no exception (apart, perhaps, from TRIFECTA). But that doesn’t mean that they are necessarily easy. Indeed I found myself in difficulty in parsing more than one of the answers, even though I am reasonably confident that they are correct.
When THE appeared at the top of the grid, I fully expected END to appear at the bottom, but instead it was AND. I think the message (as shown by the shading) is TAKE UP THE GAUNTLET: QUESTION AND ANSWER.
Timon was away when this puzzle was published, so I solved it solo and didn’t find it that straightforward. Thanks to Jack.
| ACROSS | ||
| 4 | TAKE UP |
Accept view in court (4,2)
|
| I think that this parses as TAKE (view – as in a “take” being an opinion or view) and UP (in court – as in “he’s in court, up before the beak”). | ||
| 6 | GAUNTLET |
Spare server output that’s not used for protection of digital assets? (8)
|
| GAUNT (lean or spare) LET (in tennis, a serve that is disallowed). | ||
| 9 | PUNISH |
Correct wordplay is what’s essential to authors (6)
|
| PUN (wordplay) IS (aut)H(ors). | ||
| 10 | ADDITION |
Increase dependency on drugs after taking cocaine (8)
|
| ADDI(c)TION. | ||
| 11 | ROLLER BLIND |
This may obscure view of comic cycling around Berlin drunk (6,5)
|
| DROLL (cycled, i.e. with the first letter moved to the end) around *BERLIN. | ||
| 15 | SANCTUS |
Part of service broadcast can’t work out clips (7)
|
| *CANT inside SUS (work out, discover). “Clips” is the inclusion indicator. | ||
| 17 | THEOREM |
New interpretation of Mother Earth Hypothesis (7)
|
| *(MOTHER + E(arth)). | ||
| 18 | INTENTIONAL |
Calculated information about state delaying start of attack (11)
|
| INTEL (information) around NATION (state), with the A being moved along to near the end. | ||
| 22 | ROULETTE |
What provides opportunity for better way to collect rent? (8)
|
| LET (rent) inside ROUTE (way). | ||
| 23 | FLUNKY |
Servant left in fearful state by closure of company (6)
|
| L inside FUNK (fearful state), (compan)Y. | ||
| 24 | QUESTION |
Express doubts about quotes in novel (8)
|
| *(QUOTES IN). | ||
| 25 | ANSWER |
Explanation for each set of points raised originally (6)
|
| NSWE (set of compass points) inside AR – which I think parses as A (for each) R(aised). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TUSSLE |
Doctor lets us struggle (6)
|
| *(LETS US). | ||
| 2 | HARD-BITTEN |
Ruthless factory worker resentful having swapped starts of next rota (4-6)
|
| HAND BITTER with N(ext) and R(ota) swapped. | ||
| 3 | ENGIRDLE |
Lingered around ring (8)
|
| *LINGERED. | ||
| 4 | TOP BRASS |
People who have the authority to sanction British boards (3,5)
|
| BR(itish) inside (“boards”) TO PASS (to sanction). Sanction is one of those odd words which can mean two things which are almost exact opposites: to allow or to punish. | ||
| 5 | KINDLING |
Family lazing around initially avoided being roused (8)
|
| KIN (i)DLING (lazing around). | ||
| 7 | LAIC |
Secular socialists taking part in revolution (4)
|
| Hidden and reversed inside “socialists”. | ||
| 8 | TINE |
Can opener used for extracting sharp object (4)
|
| TIN (can) + E (“opener for Extracting”). | ||
| 12 | BUS STATION |
Transport hub close to Paris isn’t about to be demolished (3,7)
|
| *((pari)S ISNT ABOUT). | ||
| 13 | BRAND-NEW |
Unused husks end up yellow eventually (5-3)
|
| BRAN (husks) END (rev) (yello)W. | ||
| 14 | EMPLOYER |
Who might use manoeuvre to stop army division retreating? (8)
|
| PLOY (manoeuvre) jnside REME (army division, rev). | ||
| 16 | TRIFECTA |
Unusual tactic ignoring final third hedges widespread betting system (8)
|
| *TACT(ic) around (“hedges”) RIFE (widespread). It’s an Australian term for what here is known as a triple. | ||
| 19 | INLAND |
European country just east of France is far from sea (6)
|
| (F)INLAND. “just east of France” indicates that the initial F is to be omitted. | ||
| 20 | IRAQ |
State is instrumental in connecting reservoir to aqueduct (4)
|
| reservoIR AQueduct. | ||
| 21 | MULE |
Cross and upset baby may do this audibly (4)
|
| Sounds like “mewl” which an upset baby might do. |
I enjoyed this puzzle. I spotted the nina(s) and wondered whether there was more to them but apparently not. Lots of ticks, especially for HARD-BITTEN and ROLLER BLIND. I’m familiar with RE for an army division but REME was new for me. I would have said TRIFECTA was a type of bet rather than a betting system – probably splitting hairs. Maybe the “just east of” trick in 19D would have worked better in an across clue? Overall, great fun and thank you bridgesong and Jack.
Liked ADDITION, ENGIRDLE, INLAND (innovative and I think it works) BUS STATION (great anagram and surface), and COUP
As you say, bridgesong, Jack uses ordinary words, but so many of them! Lots of very wordy clues. I could not parse ANSWER and I am not still not sure about the A.
I agree it was not straightforward but I still enjoyed it
Many thanks Jack and bridgesong
Thanks bridgesong. Completely missed the nina again but can admire it now. I found it a bit difficult to get on to the right wavelength here and thought a few of the clues were rather tortuous. Still not sure about the A in 25a. Questions may be raised about hypothesis= theorem. LOI was 9a, only because I had carelessly assumed that a three letter word beginning with T had to be THE.
In 4d.
25A “buy a raffle ticket – £1 a go” = “buy a raffle ticket – £1 for each go”
Took a couple of sittings, but that’s what I like about the Prize puzzle – gives you time to solve it before comment time arrives. Would have finished sooner if I wasn’t fixated about trying to shoehorn Iceland into INLAND.
I agree with BigglesA@3’s questioning: I think by definition a THEOREM has been proven, just as much as a hypothesis starts out unproven.
The term TRIFECTA is in common use in the US.
Thanks
I spent far too long expecting that E in THE END that TRIFECTA took me far longer than it should have. Looking for a Nina hurt me, in other words.
Minor quibble with the blog: a let is “server output that’s not used”–an otherwise legal serve that hits the net on the way over, so it’s a do-over rather than a fault, thus “not used”–making the definition just “for protection of digital assets”.
I have heard of a TRIFECTA in its gambling sense–here it’s a bet on three horses to win, place, and show, respectively; not sure of the definition elsewhere–but is that a “system”? Hmm. (The word means other things in other contexts.)
[For the record, I have never once in my life laid money on a horse race. I’m not utterly opposed to the concept; it’s just not my thing.]
I enjoyed this, and also held myself up spotting TAKE UP (the) GAUNTLET and then expecting END across the bottom, but eventually worked out TRIFECTA. I have never heard of it as a betting system, but had heard it from a very sarky comment by one of the other actors in a radio recording. Julian Rhind-Tutt was fluffing most takes, and finally getting it on the third try. Another fluff – irritated member of the cast – “Do you think you could get it this time, not go for the full trifecta again!” – fully miked up to the live audience. It got one of the biggest laughs of the night.
Thank you to Tramp and bridgesong.
Liked TAKE UP (the blogger’s TAKE seems fine), SANCTUS (for the clips), INTENTIONAL and TOP BRASS.
GAUNTLET
Agree with mrpenny@7 on the LET bit. The def may work all right without the ‘for’ (a link word?)?
INLAND
I think Judge@1 has a point on the ‘the east of’.
Thanks bridgesong and Jack.
correcting myself @8 – Jack (not Tramp)
I agree that the grid is “unusual” — or, in my opinion, “downright ugly” — but it is a standard Guardian pattern. I often wonder why it was ever drawn up in the first place. Twelve black squares on the top and bottom is just not good practice.
Found this one very difficult. Filled in about half of it, then gave up and found the rest in the cheaty parts of the internet. After filling the grid in, I still couldn’t parse half of them! So I was especially glad to come here today and see the explanations …
Thought 16d TRIFECTA might need a US indicator, but it doesn’t. Oed.com has it as ‘North American, Australian, and New Zealand.’ (so allowable on Countdown) ‘ 1974–‘ (a 50th (Golden) anniversary) ‘ (See quot. 1977.) Also figurative. …
1977 To win the trifecta, a bettor must select the first, second and third place horses in order. Daily Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia) 26 November 32/1′.
It derives from the …
… ‘perfecta Gambling (chiefly U.S.). 1961– A bet in which the punter predicts the first and second finishers in a race in the correct order.’ …
… And there’s also the ‘quinella‘ – as above. but ‘not necessarily in the correct order.’ (shades of Eric Morecambe).
After a slow first pass through this, I had: 1) four solved anagrams, including QUESTION, 2) IRAQ – a four letter country ending in the Q from QUESTION, but I wasn’t entirely happy with the wordplay, and 3) a distinct feeling I’d not really got to grips with Jack’s cluing style. I never quite got rid of that feeling, which made it rather satisfying to finally enter GAUNTLET (another with slightly convoluted wordplay, I thought) and complete it., even with a couple unparsed. I’d assumed the ‘top’ in TOP BRASS was ‘sanction’ – as in The Eiger Sanction – so never saw how that worked, and never came close to spotting the ‘east of France’ device. Thanks for the explanations, bridgesong. Still, clever cluing, and I look forward to trying another from Jack.
Thanks for the blog ,did not like the grid but a very enjoyable puzzle , clever wordplay throughout. SANCTUS and TRIFECTA good examples of unusual words that are put together perfectly .
For ANSWER I agree with the blog for A and a good example from Judge @ 5 . In crosswords we often have A=PER or the opposite , we justify this by both meaning for each .
THEOREM , countless theorems in maths rely on the Reimann Hypothesis being true and it has never been proven , so each of these new theorems is a hypothesis .
Judge@1 and KVa@9 it is “east of ” in the clue before it becomes the answer.
FrankieG @13, TRIFECTA (and Quinella) I think would be familiar to a fair many people in Australia from my experience. As you say a trifecta is 1,2,3 in the correct order. The first 3 (usually horses, but I suppose it could also apply to the dish lickers (dogs)) in any order is called a boxed trifecta and given that it’s a permutation of 6, it’s a sixth of the odds or six times the stake.
A trifecta is classified as an “exotic bet” here in Aus and is a betting type rather than a betting system. They include quinellas (straight, boxed and standout), exacta (boxed and standout), trifectas (straight, boxed and standout), first 4 (straight, boxed, standout, multiple and roving banker), duet (boxed & standout), running double, daily double, treble, quadrella and big 6. Just loads of ways to throw away your money.
Tim C @19: thanks for the comprehensive glossary of Aussie betting terms! As it happens, the word crops up in the current series of the excellent Colin from Accounts, currently showing on BBC and available on the iPlayer. I was able to impress my wife by using my research for this blog to explain the term to her!
I’ve never come across Jack before so embarked on this one somewhat nervously. It proved to be slow going, but there was nothing that left me wondering exasperatedly how on earth the clue worked – so about the right level of challenge for a weekend.
It took me a while to twig how ‘state’ was being used in 18ac. – very neat.
MULE escaped me – I spent a lot of time thinking about baby behaviours and different meanings of ‘cross’ and actually dismissed the mewl/mule option on the grounds that mule only worked as part of a simile. Hmmph.
I didn’t spot the nina, but then I never do.
Sorbus @21: a mule is defined in Chambers as the offspring of a donkey and a horse, so definitely a cross (-breed). There are 25 separate definitions of the noun “cross” in Chambers, of which “a hybrid” is the 18th! A very useful word for crossword setters.
Bridgesong@22. Of course! Silly me. I really should have got that… Perhaps it’s that as a biologist I think of ‘cross’ as the process rather than the product.
Thanks Jack, this was great and I always like a Nina. Too many favourites to mention. I didn’t see the grid as an issue. Thanks bridgesong for the blog.
Great puzzle, thanks to both. Only defeated by MULE.
Likewise defeated by MULE, which is annoying because I’d remembered the infant, mewling and puking – but was too busy deciding 21d wasn’t PUKE to pay attention to the other word. Also (of course) missed the ninas.
I liked the not-quite-a-Spooner in HARD BITTEN, and GAUNTLET (I had the def beginning at “protection”). Don’t know where I remembered TRIFECTA from, but I knew it had something to do with betting, though I wasn’t sure what…
Like the Russian Army I didn’t manage to grasp Finland, but I enjoyed the puzzle.
🙂
I’m going to split hairs too!
The use of SUS here, in SANCTUS (which I didn’t manage to solve) is suspect.
To work something out is to SUSS it, and even that seems a bit of a stretch without the usual OUT to complete the phrase.
I agree with mrpenney@7 about the server output. Lovely clue – devilishly misleading!
Thanks to Jack and bridgesong, especially for the explanations of the ones I didn’t get.
Not sure I’ve tried a Jack before. Much enjoyed. I didn’t need aids apart from checking a couple of definitions: LAIC and TRIFECTA were new to me.
ROULETTE was a favourite but GAUNTLET and TINE also seemed very neat. Thought I just about understood (F)INLAND but after Roz @18 am no longer sure. Many thanks all.
DNF, but I like challenging prizes, more please. I learnt a new word (trifecta, had no ideas for this and didn’t see the “and” which could have been end anyway). Sanctus and mule (duh) defeated me too, as did gauntlet though I had thought of digital meaning fingers early on then discarded the idea. As usual, all became clear with the blog, and thank you to Jack .
Drumdin @29, to Suss is also to Sus it.
Chambers (2016)…
suss or sus (sl) vt(often with out) to investigate; to find out, discover; to suspect.
The grid looks ugly but is not an impediment to solving, IMHO.
I liked the wandering A in INTENTIONAL, the better’s ROULETTE, and ‘the European country just east of France’. An interesting device also for HARD-BITTEN.
Thanks Jack and bridgesong.
I enjoyed this tricky puzzle, in which I probably followed every misdirection before finding the real cryptic reading! I missed the nina, as I often do. A nice extra touch anyway.
I had Roz’s (@18) explanation for FINLAND.
Thanks to Jack and bridgesong.
Like Gladys @26 we considered PUKE as a thing that babies do. MULE as a cross finally fell as our LOI.
Kept us entertained until Wednesday lunchtime – thanks Jack, and thank you also bridgesong for one or two clarifications.
Strongly disliked hypothesis=THEOREM, but it’s supported by Chambers, wrongly in my view. An hypothesis is speculative, a theorem is proved.
I still don’t understand the parsing of 19d (INLAND).
MULE reminded me of the character in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy, self-named because he was infertile.
Am still … like some others … puzzling over the (F)INLAND clue. “Just east of France” to be read as “just the bit of the country (FINLAND) that is east of the F (France). But it’s a down solution. Wouldn’t “Just south of France” be clearer?
Enjoyable puzzle, thanks Jack and Bridgesong! And thanks for the explanation of the Nina. I wound up using help for a couple I think, though the one I remember was MULE–I had written in BALL from bawl and surely a cross in football (or soccer, as I’d say) can also be described as a ball, one way or another.
I did not realize that TRIFECTA was regional. It comes up a lot for certain politics watchers in the United States, to describe a situation where one political party controls the executive and both chambers of the legislature, nationally or in a certain state.* [Yes, this governmental system is overly complicated.]
Favorites were HARD-BITTEN, TOP BRASS, and ROULETTE which I think was LOI and which I bunged in and then slapped my forehead when I realized how the parsing worked. I agree with the quibbles about SUS(S) and THEOREM though for the latter I saw what was meant. Was surprised just now to check Merriam-Webster and find that they have LAIC as “secular,” since I think of laity as religious but not clerical.
I much prefer this grid to the ones where every other square on the edge is black. Here every clue is at least half-crossed, and there are many more clues with the first letter crossed, which is much more solver friendly IMO.
*[I am going to quibble with that page’s description of Nebraska as having a Republican trifecta; Nebraska is famously the only state with a unicameral legislature so it is a perfecta surely?]
Choldunk2 @38
Good point re INLAND. I just imagined that when building the answer from the wordplay I write (on paper or in my mind) FINLAND from left to right, and then take only what is to the right (or east) of the F. I agree ‘south’ also works for the reason you give and might have been a better indicator.
Re19d INLAND, I join Roz@18 in objecting to the objections to the use of “east” in a down clue. In English we write words from left to right, which in crossword land translates to west to east. The clue is written from west to east. It is only the placing of the solution in the grid that is north to south, and by the time you are entering it, you have already solved it so the direction in the grid is irrelevant.
Cellomaniac @41
Thanks. That’s exactly how I saw it while solving it, and you have explained it fully.
Cellomaniac @41. Thanks for explaining 19d. I found Roz’s explanation a little too brief. Rereading it @18 now makes sense.
Late to comment on this, but I noticed roller blind had ‘run’ starting from the second ‘r’ heading south and addition has ‘too’ starting from the t heading south.
They seem too connected to their clues to be a coincidence.
I thought that the definition for KINDLING was the wrong way around: to me it should be “rousing”, not “being roused”. But Chambers backs Jack up on this.
THEOREM, on the other hand …