We have a crossword from Twin, a setter who has been appearing monthly recently. Twin’s first Independent crossword was set at the end of 2022.
You will see from the detailed parsing in the table below that I have a couple of queries. I don’t fully understand the parsing of PLAYFUL at 8 down. I think INKS at 9 down is an informal term meaning ‘signs’ in the context of signing a document, but I can’t find a dictionary entry to support that meaning.
I liked the image of Abraham Lincoln using eBay in the clue for 22 down and I expect I wasn’t the only solver who thought about Prime Ministers on first glance at the clue for May’s predecessor at 24 down.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | European organ eclipsing a Beyoncé record (8)
LEMONADE (title of 2016 album released by the singer Beyoncé) LE MONDE (French daily newspaper; European organ) containing (eclipsing) A LE MON (A) DE |
| 5 | One mushroom without more or less white top? (6)
ICECAP (a permanent covering of ice over the polar regions of a planet, a mountain-top, etc; white top) I (Roman numeral for one) + (CEP [type of edible mushroom] containing [without; outside] CA [circa; about; more or less]) I CE (CA) P |
| 10 | Only playing new material (5)
NYLON (a material) Anagram of (playing) ONLY + N (new) NYLO* N |
| 11 | My French/Arabian/Australian fixation (9)
MONOMANIA (obsession; fixation) MON (French for ‘my’) + OMANI (descriptive of a citizen of OMAN; Arabic) + A (Australian) MON OMANI A |
| 12 | Fury of king amid loss of power (7)
OUTRAGE (fury) R (Rex; king) contained in (amid) OUTAGE (loss of power) OUT (R) AGE |
| 13 | Isolated second outbuilding of five, originally (4,3)
SHUT OFF (isolated) S (second) + HUT (outbuilding) + OF + F (first letter of [originally] FIVE) S HUT OF F |
| 14 | Lay on sponsor with finale getting rearranged (15)
NONPROFESSIONAL (descriptive of lay people, Collins lists it without a hyphen. Chambers lists it with a hyphen) Anagram of (getting rearranged) ON SPONSOR and (with) FINALE NONPROFESSIONAL* |
| 18 | Supporter fatally injured with boots in game of soccer (7,8)
FANTASY FOOTBALL (a game or competition in which participants select an imaginary sports team composed of real-life players from different clubs, countries etc, and score points according to the actual performance of those players for their respective clubs; game of soccer [for instance]) FAN (supporter) + an anagram of (injured) FATALLY and (with) BOOTS FAN TASY FOOTBALL* |
| 20 | P Mescal stripped to be lead in The Count of Monte Cristo? (7)
ESCAPEE (character in “The Count of Monte Cristo,” Edmond Dantès, is an ESCAPEE from prison) ESCA (MESCAL stripped) going in front of (leading) PEE (the letter P) with the definition just being ‘character in The Count of Monte Cristo’) – Paul Mescal (born 1996) is an Irish actor. ESCAPEE* |
| 23 | Less interesting compliment (7)
FLATTER (more dull; less interesting) FLATTER (treat with insincere praise and servile attention; compliment) double definition FLATTER |
| 25 | Tibetan backing a country like Germany (5,4)
DALAI LAMA (The DALAI LAMA is the head of the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy) (A + MALI [African country] + À LA [in the manner of; like] + D [International Vehicle Registration for Germany]) all reversed (backing) (D AL A I LAM A)< |
| 26 | Rear end of doctor is trapped in A&E (5)
RAISE (rear) R (last letter of [end of] DOCTOR + (IS contained in [trapped in] [A + E]) R A (IS) E |
| 27 | Money back for abandoning villain (6)
REBATE (refund; money back) REPROBATE (villain or rogue) excluding (abandoning) PRO (in favour of; for) REBATE |
| 28 | Sign to stop Conservative welcoming Islamophobic organisation (3,5)
RED LIGHT (a sign indicating ‘stop’) RIGHT (Conservatives are to the right in politics) containing (welcoming) EDL (English Defence League, was a far-right Islamophobic organisation active in England from 2009 until the mid-late 2010s) R (ED L) IGHT |
| Down | |
| 1 | See nothing up with Mark dropping round (7)
LINCOLN (a diocese or see in England) NIL (nothing) reversed (up; down entry) + COLON (punctuation mark excluding [dropping] the second O [a round character]) LIN< COLN |
| 2 | Hormone you get from fruit, staying at home (9)
MELATONIN (a hormone secreted by the pineal gland during the hours of darkness) (MELON [fruit] containing [staying {detaining}] AT) + IN (home); MEL (AT) ON IN |
| 3 | Older relative from northern Scottish town (5)
NANNA (grandmother; older relative) ANNAN (town in Dumfries and Galloway, South West Scotland) reversed (northern, reading upwards; down entry) NANNA< |
| 4 | Mother nature undermined by extremely lowly insect (9)
DAMSELFLY (insect) DAM (mother) + SELF (personality; nature) + LY (outer letters of [extremely] LOWLY) DAM SELF LY |
| 6 | Red partly rolled-up tights in, um, moccasins? (9)
COMMUNIST (red) COMMUNIST (reversed [rolled-up; down entry] hidden word in [partly] TIGHTS IN UM MOCCASINS) COMMUNIST< |
| 7 | Country dance shortly over (5)
CONGO (there are two countries in Africa with CONGO in the title. These are the Republic of the CONGO and the Democratic Republic of the CONGO) CONGA (dance) excluding the final letter (shortly) A + O (over) CONG O |
| 8 | Fun quantity of acts? (7)
PLAYFUL ([full of] fun) PLAY FUL – does this describe a PLAY as being FULL of acts. Shouldn’t FUL be spelled with two Ls in this case. Are we being asked to consider PLAYFUL as just sounding like PLAY FULL? PLAYFUL |
| 9 | Golf course ignoring opening signs (4)
INKS (marks with INK; signs a document?) LINKS (stretch of flat or gently undulating ground along a seashore; hence a golf course, especially one by the sea) excluding (ignoring) the first letter (opening) INKS |
| 15 | Bring back harvest location (9)
REAPPOINT (bring a person back to a job they previously held) REAP (harvest) + POINT (a location) REAP POINT |
| 16 | Gen Z member allegedly mixing up wolf and snake (9)
SNOWFLAKE (A person, especially a young person, viewed as lacking resilience and being excessively prone to taking offence. Generation Z refers to people born between the mid-1990s and the mid-2010s; GenZ member allegedly) Anagram of (mixing up) WOLF and SNAKE SNOWFLAKE* |
| 17 | Navy making safe getaway, barely (4,5)
NEAR THING (an event or action whose outcome is nearly a failure, success, disaster, etc; barely making a safe getaway) N (navy) + EARTHING (making an electrical appliance safe) N EAR THING |
| 18 | Perhaps slip if climbing tree (7)
FIELDER (a slip is a FIELDER in a cricket match) IF reversed (climbing; down entry) + ELDER (tree) FI< ELDER |
| 19 | City break covering ground at first like Tokyo? (7)
LARGEST (Tokyo is the largest city in the world in terms of population) LA (Los Angeles; city) + (REST [break] containing [covering] G [initial letter of {at first} GROUND]) LA R (G) EST |
| 21 | Star couple finally leaving Sulawesi (5)
CELEB (CELEBrity; star) CELEBES (Sulawesi is an Indonesian island also known as CELEBES) excluding (leaving) the final two letters (couple) ES CELEB |
| 22 | President set up yard sale site (4)
EBAY (online sale site) ABE (reference Abraham [ABE] Lincoln [1809 -1865], 16th President of the United States) reversed (set up; down entry) + Y (yard) EBA Y |
| 24 | May’s predecessor having trouble about image management (5)
APRIL (month preceding May) AIL (trouble) containing (about) PR (public relations; image management) A (PR) IL |
Didn’t have an issue with PLAYFUL. Words like ‘armful’ for example refer to the quantity that an arm can hold so, cryptically, ‘playful’ would be the quantity of acts a play can hold. Had the same feeling about ‘inks’.
I took the QM in PLAYFUL as signifying a whimsical interpretation. Not sure it would need the second L: isn’t the comparison with such things as a hatful or a bagful?
Twin always produces some thoughtful creations requiring equally thoughtful parsing. But very elegantly done. Faves inc ICECAP, NONPROFESSIONAL (although I would have expected it to be hyphenated), FANTASY FOOTBALL, REBATE, DAMSELFLY, NEAR THING, APRIL and, COTD, FIELDER.
Thanks Twin and duncan
After Twin’s recent “Genius” which was a masterpiece, I’ve looked out for other stuff by him. I wasn’t disappointed with this. Particular favourite was MONOMANIA (very clever juxtaposition of French/Arabian/Australian). EDL was new for me.
As others, I have no quibble with the “FUL” suffix, which almost always involves a novelty definition.
I didn’t like, CELEB. 21(d). Too obscure and contrived, with a damp squib as a pay-off; and ANNAN similarly, 3(d).
Those apart, a nice variety of interesting wordplays and definitions; some clever surfaces too ( but a couple of very clunky ones ).
A thoughtful puzzle, rather than a joyful one, but solid stuff.
Thank you, Twin & duncan
duncanshiell, the SOED has ink as a transitive verb meaning “Sign, put one’s signature to, (a contract etc.)….”
oed.com has “ink, v. … Additional sense (1993) 1940– To conclude (a business deal) by signing a contract; hence, to sign (a contract).
Also, to obtain the services of (someone) under contract. slang (chiefly Cinematography and Sport). Originally U.S.” — First cited:
“1940 William A. Seiter inked a deal to produce and direct two features for Universal. Variety 18 December 5/5″
Liked 22d for the Divide & Conquer of “yard sale”. (1976– U.S.).
Some really good surfaces – 12a and 18d to pick out just two. Faves MONOMANIA, OUTRAGE, PLAYFUL. Didn’t think of a colon mark for 1d, so thanks to duncanshiell for that and the rest of a very neat blog, and thanks to Twin for the fun. I think I’m latching on to Twin’s wavelength (now there’s a hostage to fortune)
FrankieG @6: so then INK as “to sign a contract” is another Variety-ism. Huh. (For those who missed the last time I brought it up. Variety is a US trade magazine for the theatre and film industries. It’s famous for using its own lingo, which has seeped into general usage due to Hollywood’s outsized cultural influence.)
Anyway, “inked a contract” doesn’t sound strange to me at all.
Thanks Duncan and Twins
Quite enjoyed with some tricky parsing in parts. No problems from me with either PLAYFUL or INKS for reasons stated above.
Had to use the blog to understand CELEB. It’s a bit on the tough side but the literal and crossers were kind.
Fooled again for a long time by the alternate meaning of ‘see’ which meant I spent a long time on LINCOLN
Liked quite a lot in that: My picks though FANTASY FOOTBALL, DAMSELFLY, FIELDER
[mrpenney@8: “Sticks Nix Hick Pix” (1935 … )]…
…”See also Varietyese“
Like others I thought this was mostly slick, and I made steady progress through it. I was another who felt that CELEB was the weakest clue, though it was the only feasible answer.
I particularly enjoyed APRIL, PLAYFUL, and LINCOLN, and I thought COMMUNIST a great hide. FLATTER was yet another of those double meanings which you realise you’ve spent a lifetime using without consciously identifying that both are actually the same word! I love that cryptic puzzles tease out the idiosyncrasies of the language.
Thanks both
One of the best puzzles of late, with MONOMANIA being the kind of clue that keeps me coming back every day. Thanks so much to Twin for a delightful romp, and to Duncan for the excellent blog as always.
Thanks Twin, I thought that was excellent. My top picks were NYLON, MONOMANIA, OUTRAGE, FLATTER (great DD), DALAI LAMA, and EBAY. I couldn’t fully parse LINCOLN or CELEB. Thanks duncanshiell for the blog.
Thanks both. Entertaining on the whole, with similar thoughts to others regarding particularly CELEB as my alternative-Indonesian is quite poor, and LINCOLN wherein I remain unsure if a punctuation mark is validly ever just a ‘mark’. NANNA as a word had always puzzled me, in that in my family it is spelt ‘nana’ which logically belongs in the fruit bowl.