We have a puzzle from Grecian today
I liked the clues mentioning real people or fictional characters such Dr Hook, Mitch Marsh, Marvin the paranoid android, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Nick Knowles. The surfaces in these clues all seemed relevant to the group or person named. I have explained the relevance in the detailed parsing table.
Sometimes, on Thursdays, the Independent cryptic crossword has a theme. The best I can suggest is that SOTHEBYS is an auction HOUSE that sells SOLITAIREs, but I doubt if three entries really constitute a theme.
I haven’t seen the word DANDER for a while. There seem to be stronger words for anger these days.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Compelling chap to eat rice crackers (8)
COERCIVE (compelling) COVE (chap) containing (to eat) an anagram of (crackers) RICE CO (ERCI*) VE |
| 6 | Young father’s letter to Grecian (6)
LAMBDA (A letter of the Greek alphabet; letter to a Grecian) LAMB (young [sheep]) + DA‘ (dad) LAMB DA |
| 9 | Bird disease restricts rook (6)
CORVID (a member of the crow genus Corvus; bird) COVID (disease) containing (restricts) R (rook) CO (R) VID |
| 10 | Publican lying about payment to host organised rave (8)
TAVERNER (publican) RENT (payment) reversed (lying about) containing (to host) an anagram of (organised) RAVE T (AVER*) NER< |
| 11 | Journalist ringing alien is cut off (9)
ESTRANGED (cut off or remove) ED (editor; journalist) containing (ringing) STRANGE (alien) E (STRANGE) D |
| 13 | Family doctor on TV (5)
HOUSE (family, e.g. the HOUSE of Tudor who produced many Monarchs) HOUSE (reference Dr Gregory HOUSE in the American medical drama television series HOUSE) double definition HOUSE |
| 15 | Build up A-Team in speech (6)
ACCRUE (increase; build up) Sounds like (in speech) A-CREW (team) ACCRUE |
| 17 | Tea inspiring memory for quality of colour (6)
CHROMA (quality of colour) CHA (tea) containing (inspiring) ROM ([Read Only] Memory) CH (ROM) A |
| 18 | Both sides in dispute right to show anger (6)
DANDER (anger) D AND E (letters at each side of the word DisputE) + R (right) D AND E R |
| 19 | Band from way back – nemesis of Pan’s People? (2,4)
DR HOOK (DR. HOOK [& the Medicine Show] is an American rock band formed in Union City, New Jersey. The band had commercial success in the 1970s; band from way back) DR HOOK (Captain HOOK is the nemesis of Peter Pan and his friends [people] in the book of the same name by J M Barrie [1860 -1937]. In an episode from the 1991 TV series Peter Pan and the Pirates, HOOK suffers a blow to the head and wakes up thinking he is DR Livingstone) I am not sure about the parsing of the DR bit, but it’s the only allusion I can find. DR HOOK |
| 21 | Chasing some secret fantasies in retirement (5)
AFTER (chasing) AFTER (reversed [in retirement] hidden word in (some] SECRET FANTASIES AFTER< |
| 22 | Tailors struggling with the belly of Neil Diamond (9)
SOLITAIRE (a diamond, set by itself) Anagram of (struggling) TAILORS and EI (central letters of [belly of] NEIL) SOLITAIRE* |
| 25 | Weapons fail to hit Martinique and Guadeloupe? (8)
MISSILES (weapons) MISS (faill to hit) + ILES (both Martinique and Guadelope are Francophone islands [ILES] that are Departments of France ) MISS ILES |
| 26 | Over in Big Bash final for Mitch Marsh (6)
SLOUGH (marsh) (O [over] contained in [in] SLUG [a big bash]) + H (last letter of [final] MITCH) – Mitch Marsh is an Australian cricketer who frequently plays in the Australian Big Bash T-20 cricket tournament. The 2024 / 2025 tournament begins very soon, on Sunday 15th December) SL (O) UG H |
| 28 | Marvin was one disheartened android in programme (6)
SHADOW (reference Hank Marvin [born 1941], lead guitarist of the band The SHADOWs) AD (letters remaining in ANDROID when the central letters NDROI are removed) contained in (in) SHOW (programme) – Marvin the paranoid android was a character in the novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. SH (AD) OW |
| 29 | Boy, she’s playing with the heart of Peter Sellers (8)
SOTHEBYS (business centred on the sales, of ten by auction, of generally high quality items; sellers) Anagram of (paying ) BOY SHE’S and (with) T (central letter of [heart of] PETER) SOTHEBYS* |
| Down | |
| 2 | Social media company invested in O2 stock (3)
OXO (reference an OXO [brand name] stock cube) X (social media platform formerly known as Twitter) contained in (invested in) OO (two Os, O2) – O2 is a mobile phone company. O (X) O |
| 3 | Maybe Trent Alexander-Arnold finally leaving club (5)
RIVER (the Trent is a major RIVER in England) DRIVER (golf club) excluding (leaving) D (last letter of [finally] Alexander-ArnolD) – Trent Alexander-Arnold is currently a player with Liverpool Football Club RIVER |
| 4 | Nick Knowles ultimately accepting 3 contracts (10)
INDENTURES (contracts) (INDENT [to notch; to nick] + S [last letter of {ultimately} KNOWLES]) containing (accepting) URE (the URE is a RIVER [entry at 3 down] that flows through Wensleydale in Yorkshire) – Nick Knowles is an English television presenter. INDENT (URE) S |
| 5 | English supporter infiltrating empty stadium gets respect (6)
ESTEEM (respect) E (English) + (TEE [supporter {of a golf ball}] contained in [infiltrating] SM [letters remaining in STADIUM when the central letters TADIU are removed {empty}]) E S (TEE) M |
| 6 | Last golf tour on Earth (4)
LIVE (continue to exist; last) LIV (reference the men’s professional golf tour known as LIV) + E (earth) LIV E |
| 7 | Fill up tyre on VW traveller (5,4)
MARCO POLO (MARCO POLO [1254 – 1324] was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295) CRAM (stuff; fill) reversed (up; down entry) + O (tyre-shaped letter) + POLO (example of a Volkswagen [VW] car) MARC< O POLO |
| 8 | Animal could be Cat in the Hat? (11)
DEERSTALKER (hat with peaks at the front and back and flaps at the side that can cover the ears) DEER (example of an animal) + STALKER (a cat STALKS mice) DEER STALKER |
| 12 | No.10 is hot and cold (11)
STANDOFFISH (aloof; cold) STAND-OFF (in Rugby Union, the player in the STAND-OFF position wears the No 10 shirt) + IS + H (hot) STANDOFF IS H |
| 14 | Perhaps the mat for the cat is the place to be? (5,3,2)
WHERE IT’S AT (the scene of whatever is considered to be the most important, exciting, trendy, etc; the place to be) WHERE IT’S AT (reference the early learning phrase ‘THE CAT SAT ON THE MAT‘ indicating the place where the CAT is) WHERE IT’S AT |
| 16 | Talked about poetry in digital format (9)
CONVERSED (talked) (ON [about] + VERSE [poetry]) contained in (in) CD (compact disc; a digital format) C (ON VERSE) D |
| 20 | She’s mad about men and animals (6)
HORSES (animals) Anagram of (mad) SHE’S containing (about) OR (other ranks; men) H (OR) SES* |
| 23 | Love for Charlie in series of letters home (5)
ABODE (dwelling-place or home) ABCDE (series of letters at the beginning of the alphabet) with O (character representing zero [love score at tennis]) replacing (for) C (Cocaine; Charlie) to form ABODE ABODE |
| 24 | Late fruit picked up (4)
SLOW (late) SLOW (sounds like [picked up] SLOE [the blackthorn fruit) SLOW |
| 27 | Make fun of bloke (3)
GUY (make fun of) GUY (a bloke) double definition GUY |
This was great fun.
Just a couple of quick comments on the blog.
In 19a, the definition is just Band, and the DR is RD (road, way) backwards.
IN 14d, the mat is “Where it sat”
Thanks to setter for the fun, and to duncanshiell for the blog!
DavidO @ 1
Yes, your parsing of 19a makes a lot more sense. I was fixated on Dr Hook being a band from way back in time, so I ignored the obvious ‘way back’ being ‘DR’ and went off on some wild goose chase with Peter Pan cartoons.
For the MAT, I think I have just used many more words than necessary to express what you have written far more succinctly.
Nice to have alien clueing strange rather than ET for a change in ESTRANGED.
Where would we have been clueing CORVID pre-pandemic?
I couldn’t make sense of No. 10 in STANDOFFISH as Fly Half is much more familiar, so thanks for the parsing duncanshiell which I didn’t manage.
Favourite was ABODE for the unique and inventive wordplay.
Slow Horses (tv/books) theme –
Slow, Horses, (Slough) House, plus the characters Taverner, Lamb(da), River, Stand(off)ish, Guy, Dander…
any more?
I think @4 is bang on and Grecian has noted on BlueSky that he hopes not to ‘spook us out’ with this puzzle. Excellent series of books/TV and an excellent puzzle to go with it. I agree with our blogger, it is nice to see meaningful surfaces associated with the real people mentioned in some of the clues – (nho) Mitch Marsh in the (nho) Big Bash being one of the cleverest. Personal favourite was SHADOW for the HHGTHG reference to Marvin the paranoid android, though the excellent STANDOFFISH comes close.
Super pre-Christmas fare. Thanks to Grecian and duncan.
I’ll have to see if I can find Slow Horses somewhere. Looks good. Great puzzle. Standoffish my tops although agree fly half is more common. I think they used both to say stand-off fly half. Now it’s first five-eighth. Only one unparsed was where it’s at and that’s been covered comprehensively here. I can’t recall a cat on a mat from my early learning days in the 50’s. We had Janet and John here. Lovely, inventive clueing and smooth surfaces. Thanks Duncan for a great blog and Grecian for the entertainment.
This was fun. Nho the theme or some of the personalities mentioned in the surfaces, but that didn’t matter.
I parsed WHERE IT’S AT as per DavidO@1; the wordplay is “where it sat”. This was my favourite clue, along with MARCO POLO and ABODE.
Just for completeness I’ll mention that O2 (usually with the 2 written as a subscript) – sometimes presented as O-O, and hence naturally OO in cryptic crosswords! – is the chemical symbol for the Oxygen molecule consisting of two Oxygen atoms, the usual form in which Oxygen exists in our air. From which the telecom takes its name.
Thanks both
Well, this is a fine example of a puzzle which can be appreciated without having even heard of, let alone watched / read the theme. I love Grecian’s puzzles and know that he likes themes but, since this is not Tuesday, I didn’t think of looking for one – it’s a good job I didn’t waste the time!
I enjoyed the puzzle every bit as much as I expected to. My favourites were DANDER (as in ‘to get (some)one’s dander up, which, like Duncan, I haven’t heard for ages – I also like the word meaning to wander around – the shops, for instance) 25ac MISSILES, 28ac SHADOW, 29ac SOTHEBYS, 2dn OXO, 3dn RIVER, 4dn INDENTURES, both of these for the ‘lift and separate’ and 14dn WHERE IT’S AT.
Technically a dnf, as I knew 6dn must be LIVE but I didn’t know the golf tour.
Many thanks to Grecian and Duncan.
[15a ACCRUE: The “A” of A-Team is pronounced differently from the schwa in uh-CRUE, so shouldn’t be included in the homophone.]
Great spot slyzspyz@4! …19a: drHOok.
…1a (J.K.) COErcive
[earworm 11a: Mick Jagger’s – [e]Strange[d] Game]
TimC@3 My short film of a bird (6)? INDENTURES my favourite today.
TimC @13 – nice!
Sorry – I meant Petert @12, of course!! (I was on a bus. 😉 )
Fab puzzle, much to enjoy. Slow Horses is on my list of things to get round to one day but as I’m not there yet, the theme sailed right over my head.
Eileen – you might not be familiar with the LIV tour, but a crossword buff and Latin scholar such as you can probably deduce how it gets its name…
Thanks, Widdersbel!
Many thanks to duncanshiell, for the typically detailed and thorough blog. Dr Hook were indeed from way back, so that’s an easy mistake to make 😉. Also, thank you solvers for the lovely comments. I’m so glad that you found the puzzle enjoyable. The Slough House books by Mick Herron are a great read and the TV adaptation is excellent. Jackson LAMB(da) is a brilliant character and Gary Oldman was made to play him. Just a shame that it’s on Apple TV and doesn’t get a wider audience. Happy Xmas and New Year to you all. G
Thanks Grecian for a great set of clues with MISSILES, SOTHEBYS, MARCO POLO, DANDER, and the very clever ABODE topping my list. I failed with OXO and CORVID, I’m ignorant of the theme, and couldn’t parse STANDOFFISH but none of that spoiled my satisfaction. Thanks duncanshiell for the blog.
I like it Petert @12.
Late to this but wanted to record my appreciation. Adding SOLITAIRE to the list of fun clues for its surface. Slow Horses is well worth watching, Gary Oldman and the whole cast brilliant. Have not read the books but must do so. Thanks to Grecian and duncanshiell.
Tim C @3: better late than never (maybe):
Ugly divorce … but not ending in murder? (6)