Mev provides the Saturday challenge this week.
We found this to be a bit of a curate’s egg of a puzzle. Some clues were moreorless write-ins, while others (usually with unusual words) were rather tricky.
When we had filled the grid we looked for a theme, but nothing leapt out at us. We noticed HELP I in the top row and A GRID in the bottom row, which seemed to suggest that there might be something going on, but we can’t find it – just a coincidence?
Any thoughts out there?
First letters or ‘leaders’ of Active Russian Movement In Extreme Secrecy
SPA (spring) RING (call)
Hidden (‘about’) in mumbLING Objection
F (fellow) LOW (depressed) CH (Companion of Honour) ART (talent)
OTT (‘too much’) with the last letter moved to the front or ‘cycling’
An anagram (‘go swimming’) of PIXIE NEEDN’T
R is the first letter or HEAD of RED (‘for cruciverbalists’) – Elizabeth 1 was renowned for her red hair
Alternate letters (‘regular instalments’) in sCrIpT dIaZ mEaNt
Cryptic definition – a play on the fact that the SOVIET UNION (=wedding) was an ‘historic’ communist (red) country
Double definition – the second being the Common Agricultural Policy
An anagram (‘manipulated’) of ARE DIGITS – the taxonomic name for owls – the collective noun for a group of owls is a Parliament
An anagram (‘manufactured’) of THERE
E (east) + D (Germany) in NORSE (Norwegian)
LEO (sign of the zodiac) round or ‘broken by’ ANT (worker)
H (Hungary) AMuLET (charm) missing the ‘u’ (universal)
E (electronic) MANDATE (order) with the D (duke) moved to the end or ‘sent down’
LE (French for ‘the’) PO (Teletubby) R (runs) IN E (ecstasy)
PR (Proportional Representation – ‘voting system’) ICE (cool) D (democrat)
A homophone (‘it’s said’) of IN SEINE (where Parisians might take a dip)
An anagram (‘exercised’) of PERISCOPE.TV
FIELD (deal with) GUIS (graphical user interfaces – ‘computer interfaces’) round DE (Delaware)
TAN (brown) round or ‘carrying’ I (one) T (ton)
R (rex – king) ASPS (snakes)
TIN (can) K (last or ‘final’ letter of speak) ERE (before) R (first letter or ‘start’ of recital)
A homophone (‘reportedly’) of ZOO (menagerie) + CHIN (feature) in CI (Channel Islands)
Hidden (‘piece from’) and reversed (‘around’) in piANO REVerberates
EG (say) GNOmes (half only) + Go missing or ‘without’ ‘o’ (ordinary)
A reversal (‘lifted’) of DON (Spanish gent) REP (salesman)
HELP I’M A PRISONER IN A GRID
Thanks Hovis. We knew we were missing something.
Thanks both, I was against the clock today, as off to Chester Races to make my annual donations to local businesses, so was grateful that most were very approachable, and as the blog says, others more taxing but decipherable, albeit with a few vowel permutations before I got to STRIGIDAE. Saw the Nina forming, but didn’t need its guidance. SOVIET UNION is different, I guess, but I tend to be unsure where a clue lacks a clear definition.
Needed a bit of help with the like-a-hare adjective (thinking leveret-ish), so a dnf. And needed all crossers for field guide (not up to speed with IT jargon, like guis). The probable -ae for taxonomic family ending helped with strigidae, which rang only the faintest bell. So, mostly smooth with bits to chew on, cheers BandJ and Mev (Milli-electron-volt?).
Didn’t know STRIGIDAE (nothing like vampiric strigae) nor LEPORINE and also initially headed along a ‘leveret’ related word.
Just happened that I knew all the less familiar terms here so it all went in quite quickly. Very enjoyable, and I loved the nina.
(5d reminded me of the jokes an old French teacher used to tell us…
“Why do the French only have one egg at breakfast? Because after that they’ve had an oeuf.”)
Many thanks to Mev and Bertandjoyce
Not awful for a Saturday… I put 12ac as OTT with TOT being cycled, as it felt OK… but that didn’t identify the Prince very well.. apart from the weird birds, n the hare, the rest went in slowly but reasonably surely… was never looking for a Nina or theme, so not terribly disappointed..
Thanks Mev n Bertandjoyce
TFO@3
Best of luck, at Chester today.
It is a graveyard for punters. In fact, I think the Roodee was actually a graveyard in Roman times? Under the bridge which you cross.
Exactly 60 years since I first went to Chester races.
I will give you mine, so that you can avoid them like the plague! Angel of Anfield / Circlos/ Flaming Rib/ Arcturus Flame/ Gallant/ Show No Fear/ Patagonia Girl.
Best of luck.
Small bets, big drinks.
Send A File
Thanks Bert and Joyce, Hovis@1 and everyone who took the time to solve/comment.
No theme this time, just the silly nina based on an old joke variant. (Another) I used periscope.tv, and did think it was quite handy. I didn’t know until now that the other parliamentary taxonomic family is the tytonidae. 5D was more topical when I was finishing this puzzle off, a year ago.
The capitalisation in the surface of 18 alludes to The Black Dinner being the historical inspiration for an event in a Game Of Thrones episode. I’ve never watched or read GOT, but I think this cultural reference came to me via Twitter (RIP, see you in the fediverse.)
Ciao for now,
Mev The Curator
I thought it was an odd grid shape as soon as I started so I did look for a Nina and for a rare occasion I actually spotted it.
I quite enjoyed that even if I didn’t pick the right letter order for the not heard of owl.
Liked the mental image of LEPORINE although my wife was wondering why I was singing the teletubby theme tune as I was trying to remember their names.
Cheers MeV and B&J
Apart from not knowing the owl family, quite easy.
Staticman1@10: I don’t think I’ve ever heard the teletubby theme tune.
I’m always surprised how far ahead crosswords are submitted to the editor, and then what? It seems so clever to me I can’t imagine there’s a queue to be published – more a “has anyone got one ready” kind of panic.
Just another thing I’m wrong about. Enjoyed this. thanks to MEV and B&J
Dormouse@11 I can strongly recommend keeping it that way!
ENB@8 thank you, belatedly, as I was already en route. Pleased to report three winners, though the place absolutely normally is a graveyard. Small/big combo successfully achieved too.