A proper headscratcher from GAFF this Friday.
FF: 9 DD: 10
Parsing needs help in a couple of places. As for the literary anniversary, the closest I got to, was Animal Farm, which was published on 17 Aug 1945.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DACHAS |
Russian lodges sorry return about tea (6)
|
| reverse of SAD ( sorry ) around CHA ( tea ) | ||
| 4 | THEISTIC |
Like a priest to admit he is ticklish somewhat (8)
|
| hidden in “..admiT HE IS TICklish..” | ||
| 9 | VERMIN |
Rats are against trimmed fur (6)
|
| V ( against ) ERMINe ( fur, trimmed i.e. without last letter ) | ||
| 10 | ANTIHERO |
Villain messes up on the air (8)
|
| [ ON THE AIR ]* | ||
| 12 | SQUEALER |
Piglet damages edges of little square (8)
|
| [ LE ( LittlE, end characters of ) SQUARE ]* | ||
| 13 | BATTLE |
Cows new leader in fight (6)
|
| cATTLE ( cows, with change of starting letter to B ) | ||
| 15 | VOTE |
Cross with one’s choice (4)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 16 | ALCOHOL |
Ruined Lindt’s top chocolate etc — removed addictive substance (7)
|
| [ L ( Lindt, first letter ) CHOcOLAte ( without letters of ETC ) ]* | ||
| 20 | ENGLISH |
Stew of shin, leg and tongue (7)
|
| [ SHIN LEG ]* | ||
| 21 | FARM |
Produce loud weapon (4)
|
| F ( loud ) ARM ( weapon ) | ||
| 25 | ARROWS |
Slings partner out of work with weapons (6)
|
| cryptic def? second half of the phrase “slings and arrows” but i cant decode the “out of work” part. | ||
| 26 | PENELOPE |
Faithful wife and writer run away together (8)
|
| PEN ( writer ) ELOPE ( run away together ) | ||
| 28 | OLD MAJOR |
Stick around, improvise and look back for retired off icer (3,5)
|
| [ ROD ( stick ) around JAM ( improvise ) ] LO ( look ) , all reversed | ||
| 30 | SEEDLESS |
Non-productive Head of Design overwhelmed by what she can do without her glasses (8)
|
| D ( Design, first letter ) in [ SEE LESS ( what she can do without her glasses ) ] | ||
| 31 | KEENER |
One who cries at more biting (6)
|
| double def | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DIVISIVE |
Small payouts Gaff has planned to split (8)
|
| DIVIS ( small payouts ) I’VE ( gaff has ) ; i am iffy about ‘planned’ being part of the def | ||
| 2 | CORRUPTS |
Perverts get sign of pleasure back in bed with skinhead (8)
|
| [ RRUP ( reverse of PURR, sign of pleasure ) in COT ( bed ) ] S ( Skin, first letter ) | ||
| 3 | ANIMAL |
Take lead from mailman’s wild dog, maybe (6)
|
| [ mAILMAN ( without top ) ]* | ||
| 5 | HENS |
First humans excavated Neolithic sandstone layers (4)
|
| starting letters of “..Humans Excavated Neolithic Sandstone..” | ||
| 6 | IMITATOR |
Almost scared climbing a hill with parrot, perhaps (8)
|
| [ reverse of TIMId ( scared, almost i.e. without last letter ) ] A TOR ( hill ) | ||
| 7 | TREATY |
Agreement to go outside to dine (6)
|
| TRY ( go ) containing EAT ( dine ) | ||
| 8 | CLOVER |
Plant nothing in circular borders (6)
|
| LOVE ( nothing ) in CR ( CirculaR, end letters of ) | ||
| 11 | TELL ALL |
Confess everything elevated fifties topless dancing (4,3)
|
| TE ( ?? ) LLA ( reverse of ALL, elevated ) LL ( fifties ) ; i dont have this right for the parse as i cant figure out the ‘topless dancing’ bit | ||
| 14 | COWSHED |
Threatened to restrict quiet shelter for Hereford, perhaps (7)
|
| COWED ( threatened ) containing SH ( quiet ) | ||
| 17 | SNOWBALL |
Cold War missile? (8)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 18 | NAPOLEON |
A Frenchman, a German, a Pole; one content (8)
|
| hidden in “..germaN A POLE ONe..” | ||
| 19 | IMPELLER |
Rogue magazine editor finally means to increase pressure (8)
|
| IMP ( rogue ) ELLE ( magazine ) R ( editoR, last letter ) | ||
| 22 | MANORS |
Reported behaviour on estates (6)
|
| sounds like MANNERS ( behaviors ) | ||
| 23 | DRUDGE |
Beef with last of mustard for good worker (6)
|
| gRUDGE ( beef, with D – mustarD, last letter, replacing G – good ) | ||
| 24/29 | GEORGE ORWELL |
Writer completes psycho thriller competently on autopilot (6,6)
|
| GEORGE ( autopilot, nickname of ) OR ( end letters of “..psychO thrilleR..” ) WELL ( competently ) | ||
| 27 | DOGS |
Pack for declining country’s destination (4)
|
| cryptic def; from the phrase “go to the dogs” |
11D is LL and (B) allet reversed.
I last read Animal Farm in about 1969, but luckily a few of the characters in it have stuck in the mind, Old Major, Clover, Squealer and the hens, so for once I found the link and it helped slightly. However, I forgot the Stalin stand-in NAPOLEON and was stumped by that one. I seem to remember Bonaparte was a Corsican. Does that make him a Frenchman? I suppose so.
I felt 13 ac was ambiguous, and the clue could have required either battle to be turned into cattle or vice versa. I opted for BATTLE and I see Turbolegs agrees.
A fun puzzle. Thanks to Gaff and Turbolegs.
Parsed 11d as JS. Also wondered about CATTLE/BATTLE (I put in BATTLE as well but now I’m not so sure). Lots of theme words but my knowledge only stems from once seeing the cartoon.
In 25a, ‘out of work’ presumably refers to it being from a literary work, although not the themed one.
Presumably this tribute to ANIMAL FARM by GEORGE ORWELL was published today because the Sunday slot isn’t available. The other references I can see are:
NAPOLEON and SNOWBALL, the two rivals for the leadership (based on Stalin and Trotsky)
SQUEALER the propagndist
OLD MAJOR, the founder of the “animalism” movement (Lenin/Marx)
The BATTLE of the COWSHED
ALCOHOL (originally banned for the animals, but later drunk by the pigs)
CLOVER, one of the horses (I was sorry not to see Boxer, though maybe he’s there as the DRUDGE)
The original name of the farm (reinstated at the end of the book) was MANOR[s] FARM
DOGS, Napoleon’s security force
And HENS
13ac: I do not know if anyone has checked the official answer, but to me the wordplay only works if the answer is CATTLE, with “new leader in” applying to what follows it, not what precedes it. My view on that was strengthened by the fact it seemed to fit the theme better. Added in edit: I had not read comment 4 when I posted my comment.
The theme was Animal Farm with many references to characters in the book apart from GEORGE ORWEL :SQUEALER,OLD MAJOR,HENS, CLOVER, SNOWBALL,NAPOLEON,and BATTLE of the COWSHED.
Thanks to Gaff and Turbolegs.
As soon as I saw SQUEALER, I was on the lookout for SNOWBALL and NAPOLEON, do the theme definitely helped. Once I had seen one leg in ENGLISH, I wondered if there would be another to make two legs, but I suppose that would be bad.
The check button on the FT app says battle, which then goes with cowshed. I put cattle.
PS. I meant to add that in 25 ac I too struggled to parse it. Does “out of work” perhaps mean that the phrase “slings and arrows” comes from a famous work viz Hamlet? If so then “in work” rather than “out of work” might have been better wording except that you can sling someone out of work but you can’t really sling them in it.
With DACHAS and BATTLE among my first in, I was led at first (intentionally, no doubt) to think of Tolstoy, but then along came NAPOLEON, CLOVER and FARM so it was clear where we were headed. Wow! 80 years already and and still so relevant.
The theme seemed skilfully woven through the grid but as I had a couple unparsed, I thought I’d reserve judgement until coming here. Thanks JS @1.
It was a very enjoyable puzzle with ANTIHERO, ENGLISH and CLOVER as favourites.
Thanks to Gaff and Turbolegs.
I also had a ??? by ARROWS, but Babbler@9 has a plausible explanation, with “out of work” indicating that the reference is part of a quotation. If I had not been looking for ANIMAL FARM theme words, I am not sure I could have finished this.
I’m another who had CATTLE instead of BATTLE until the app told me I had a mistake. The clue is ambiguous at best. Harrumph. Otherwise, a fun puzzle; the theme helped me with Old Major and Napoleon.
Liked the puzzle. Top faves: SQUEALER, ARROWS, SEEDLESS, TREATY, SNOWBALL and G ORWELL.
A minor point about TELL ALL
I think the def is ‘confess everything’
DIVISIVE
I feel the def is fine (planned to split—>with an intention to split)
ARROWS
Thought ‘out of work’ worked all right to mean ‘taken from the literary work…’
BATTLE
Filled in BATTLE and I didn’t feel anything odd about it while solving the puzzle. Now I know
the clue was ambiguous.
Thanks Gaff and Turbolegs.
I have not read Animal House since I was quite young, so it took me a most of the puzzle to see the theme. I almost smiled at one clue, but honestly found the whole thing a bit of a cattle.
And, after all that, it was not even the day of the anniversary.
Thanks Gaff and Turbolegs
We wondered what the Anniversary was but as soon as we got ANIMAL, having tentatively got FARM we were well away, although it did take a little while for the pennies to drop for NAPOLEON and DOGS. Favourite was OLD MAJOR.
Thanks, Gaff and Turbolegs.
PS This is my new pseudonym (formerly allan_c)
Oh dear, I@14 really meant to write Animal Farm, not Animal House.
living here in the United States, we suffer the reality of this story is unfolding live.
fun puzzle. without recalling all the characters from high school reading it was also challenging!
thank you all
Since yoda-speak is acceptable grammar in crosswordland, 23d G/DRUDGE is also ambiguous. Too bad that the ambiguous letters in 23d and 13a (B/CATTLE) are unchecked. The choice in both cases is dependent on the theme.
Thanks G&T for the refreshing puzzle and blog.
Cellomanic@18: I must take issue with your starting premiss. First I think you need to clarify what you mean by yoda-speak. Second, do you mean “at least one form of yoda-speak has been used by one setter on at least one occasion and regarded as acceptable by the one editor responsible”, or “anything that can be called yoda-speak is now regarded as acceptable by all setters and editors”. The latter meaning does not follow from the first, and the truth is clearly somewhere between these two extremes.
I am sure there are still some setters who would sympathise with my view (comment 5) about 13ac having CATTLE as the only acceptable answer and would regard the contortion of language needed to get to BATTLE as unacceptable. They do this because they have given the matter of fairness to the solver a great deal of thought and agree with a large number of their predecessors that precision in language is the fair way to treat solvers.
At least in the case of 13ac, the indicator “new leader” can work either way round, so the stretch of language to apply that indicator to “cows” and make “fight” the definition for the intended solution is not too great. In 23dn, the indicator “with last of mustard for good” is not symmetrical. I am quite sure that many setters and editors who would accept BATTLE as a valid answer for 13ac would still say that the indicator in 23dn requires the word with D to be the right answer and the word with G the wrong answer. In my view, it would require a far greater stretch of language to allow GRUDGE for 23dn than it does to allow BATTLE for 13ac.
The world of crosswords is big enough to allow different setters and editors to apply their own standards of how much precision of language they require, and I cannot accept the idea that, once a particular stretch of language has been used in one place, all other editors and setters should be required to agree that it is acceptable.
Enough from me for now.
PB@19, I stand suitably rebuked.
I do wonder occasionally why deception in punctuation is acceptable, deception in capitalization is acceptable one way but not the other, puns and other aural wordplay are acceptable if not too outrageous, but deceptive word order is not.
The primary test, I would suggest, is whether the clue is fair. Since that test is purely subjective, it doesn’t readily lend itself to hard and fast rules.
Having said (all) that, I do find your comments engaging and informative, and I always read them with great interest.
living here in the United States, we suffer the reality of this story unfolding live.
fun puzzle. without recalling all the characters from high school reading it was also challenging!
thank you all