My second Neo in a row.
I blogged a Neo last week and mentioned that there was some general knowledge in it. This one had even more, some of which was not too difficult – DAEDALUS, MARLENE DIETRICH, BRIDESHEAD REVISITED eg, but there were also some more obscure entries such as STROBILI and PUT OUT MORE FLAGS, a topical answer, but not one of Evelyn Waugh’s more famous works. Everything was fairly clued, however, and could be worked out from the wordplay. My only (very) minor quiblle was the repeated use of I for one, which appeared in at least three clues. My LOI was FLARES, because it took me a while to think of the Very light.
Apologies for the formatting which is not my normal one, but the Fifteensquared default. I wrote this early in the morning, and was obviously not fully awake.
Thanks, Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | MARLENE DIETRICH |
Anti-fascist actress in red came to wrestle with Hitler (7,8)
|
| *(in red came hitler) [anag:to wrestle] | ||
| 9 | DENARII |
Gods protecting revolutionary republic for pennies (7)
|
| DEI (“gods”, in Latin) protecting [revolutionary] <=IRAN (“republic”) | ||
| 10 | ORGAN |
Heart perhaps that may be stopped in church? (5)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to a set of organ pipes. | ||
| 11 | SCRUB |
We backed away from crew in U-boat — cancel plans? (5)
|
| <=WE [backed] from CR(ew) in SUB(marine) (“U-boat”) | ||
| 12 | MAESTRI |
Artemis dances for eminent musicians (7)
|
| *(artemis) [anag:dances] | ||
| 13 | IMBUE |
One spy boss sad without learner to inspire (5)
|
| I (one, in Roman numerals) + M (“spy boss”, in the James Bond universe) + B(l)UE (“sad” without L (learner)) | ||
| 16 | KINDRED SPIRIT |
Close friend generous with cherry brandy? (7,6)
|
| KIND (“generous”) with RED (“cherry”) + SPIRIT (“brandy?”) | ||
| 20 | ROGUE |
Disruptive journey westward into Parisian street (5)
|
| <=GO (“journey”, westward) into RUE (“Parisian street”) | ||
| 21 | ROSWELL |
Run round balloon where aliens arrived? (7)
|
| R (run) + O (round) + SWELL (“balloon”) | ||
| 23 | DISCO |
Dance tunes in Verdi score (5)
|
| Hidden [in] “verDI SCOre” | ||
| 25 | UMBRA |
Classy business graduate keeping rook in dark place (5)
|
| U (“classy”) + MBA (Master of Business Administration, so “business graduate”) keeping R (rook, in chess notation) | ||
| 27 | TEACHER |
Drink dear to French instructor (7)
|
| TEA (“drink”) + CHER (“dear” to the “French”) | ||
| 28 | PUT OUT MORE FLAGS |
Waugh story issued again following delays (3,3,4,5)
|
| PUT OUT MORE (“issued again”) + F (following) + LAGS | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PRINCELING |
Minor royal pair in church with Heather (10)
|
| Pr. (pair) + IN + CE (“Church” of England) with LING (“heather”) | ||
| 3 | MIXER |
Something that goes with short sociable type? (5)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to a soft drink added to a spirit (“short”) | ||
| 4 | STROBILI |
Cones in street: steal one large one (8)
|
| St. (street) + ROB (“steal”) + I (one) + L (large) + I (one)
Please see the first comment for further info on strobili. |
||
| 5 | MING |
Russian fighter inhaling nitrogen: unpleasant smell (4)
|
| MIG (“Russian fighter”) inhaling N (chemical symbol for “nitrogen”) | ||
| 6 | CHANCER |
Opportunist in court shortly (7)
|
| CHANCER(y) (“court”, shortly) | ||
| 7 | MADAME |
Recklessly foolish Neo entertains a woman in Paris (6)
|
| MAD ME (“recklessly foolish Neo”) entertains A | ||
| 8 | EGRET |
White heron in water gets surging (5)
|
| Hidden upwards [in…surging] in “waTER GEts” | ||
| 14/2 | BRIDESHEAD REVISITED |
Waugh story places English in Barsetshire, divided, troubled (10,9)
|
| E (English) in *(barsetshire divided) [anag:troubled] | ||
| 15 | ASTROTURF |
Surface to play on a run among white horses (9)
|
| A TROT (“run”) among SURF (“white horses”) | ||
| 17 | DAEDALUS |
Ancient craftsman lauded as fantastic (8)
|
| *(lauded as) [anag:fantastic] | ||
| 18 | TRIUMPH |
One used in most valued suit — hearts win! (7)
|
| I (one) used in TRUMP (“most valued suit”) + H (hearts) | ||
| 19 | FLARES |
Very light stains at the foot in trousers (6)
|
| FLARE (“Very light”) + (stain)S [at the foot] | ||
| 22 | STAFF |
Stick man (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | STUMP |
What feller may leave is puzzle (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | BUTE |
Island monster does away with king (4)
|
| B(r)UTE (“monster”) does away with R (Rex, so “king”) |
An odd mix of not being able write them in quickly enough followed by some stubborn ones in the SE corner. I’d prefer a more even mix.
I thought the Waugh titles were pretty obvious from the letter numbers alone. Marlene D also required little thought.
Liked organ, roswell.
4d I think pine cones are strobili.
Top picks: P O M FLAGS, ASTROTURF and FLARES.
Thanks Neo and loonapick.
Only Waugh I actually read was Scoop — school curriculum — but of course loved the tv Brideshead. Recognised POMF, but only post-solve. Other bits of vague arcana were the conical strobili, the fact that Daedalus was a master builder, that ming goes along with pong, and that Roswell was that UFO place. All good fun though, ta Neo and loona.
I was always a big Waugh fan so those clues didn’t trouble me and, as James P says, Put…Flags was easily spotted from the enumeration alone. Ms Dietrich was also the clear answer but required a little more thought. The latter was among my favourites along with ASTROTURF and MING (though I prefer to conjure a blue and white vase, here, than a bad smell).
STROBOLI was a lucky guess with a fun surface and one to commit to the memory.
Thanks, Neo, for a lovely puzzle and Loonapick for a sound blog.
I’d be impressed if anyone solved “put out more flags” without knowing the Waugh. I didn’t and I had the first three words from the clue and crossers. Not convinced I could swap “lags” and “delays” in a sentence and I suspect those who solved it had it lurking at the back of their mind.
Clues like “Brideshead” and “Marlene” (it’s “German actress” in the online version interestingly) are fun to set but disappointing to solve. Two words and the enumeration and I did not even see the rest of the clue. A pity because doubtless a lot of work went into them.
I’m still not clear why “flare” is “very light”. “Bright light” I can see – am I missing something?
I don’t wish to end on complaints though – there were many lovely clues, no less fun for being straightforward “do what it says on the tin” and many fine surfaces, so all in all a good solve. Thanks Neo and loonapick.
Jack, a Very light (note the upper case V) is a flare (from a pistol). I did solve PUT OUT MORE FLAGS without knowing it, but needed all the crossers.
I had a similar experience to our blogger with 19d FLARES over Very Light, which is a flare sent up in the air to indicate distress by ships at sea.
I tried to squeeze Stromboli into 4d before I saw the light.
Excellent puzzle and blog . Thank you both.
I’m afraid I’m with ginf @3 in having only read Scoop but I did recognise POMF and, of course, BRIDESHEAD. Everything fell smoothly into place today with the titles being last ones in. I was only confused by STROBILI which looked like it was leading to the Italian volcano – which is a cone of sorts … ORGAN, KINDRED SPIRIT and DAEDALUS were my faves today.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Thanks Hovis and SM. That rings a bell so I did know that once. Good use of misleading capitalisation without cheating too.
Interesting the familiarity with PUT OUT MORE FLAGS – I’ve read a fair bit of Waugh, not just Scoop and BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, but not found that one (probably library books, sometime ago).
Very pistols are not used so much now, but used to be emergency kit for boats. In the UK gun licensing limits their use. They make an arc of red flare indicating the position of the boat in distress.
Thank you to Neo and loonapick
I managed to get all but DENARII. The definition PENNIES seems a stretch, and would seem to imply the setter could have selected any currency. On top of that, IRAN would be a long way down in my list of republics. Still, an enjoyable puzzle that suited my standard of solving very well.
Thanks to Neo and loonapick.
DerekB @11: not sure why ‘pennies’ is a stretchy def for DENARII. It’s the D in LSD as pounds, shillings and pence – libra, solidi and denarii.
PM@12: Aah, thanks for that PM. I looked up DENARII and found it was an ancient Roman coin, with no mention of LSD.
Thanks Neo. This was tough in spots & I eventually revealed the clever KINDRED SPIRITS as well as MIXER. (I should be able to solve every clue with an alcohol reference but I missed these for some reason.) My top picks were MARLENE DIETRICH, ORGAN, ROGUE, ROSWELL, and MADAME. Thanks loonapick for helping me parse.
One of our quickest solves of late – the two Waugh titles were write-ins from enumeration alone which put us well on the way. A little thought needed to unscramble the anagram for 7ac and a quick check in Chambers for STROBOLI but apart from that it was all plain sailing. Favourites were ORGAN and FLARES.
Thanks, Neo and loonapick.
Two straightforward days in a row! For those who haven’t read the Waugh books, do give them a try, though IMHO those two aren’t his best.
STROBOLI was quite new to me.
I got FLARES without seeing the Very reference so was puzzled by it. I should have known it because when I was at school, over fifty years ago, the school sergeant demonstrated a Very pistol and explained how extreme care was necessary. The flare came down on the roof of a master’s car.
Hello again loona. Many thanks, and many thanks to the contributors.
Cheers
(a Covid-battered) Neo
Very late. For those who have only read Scoop, the first other Waugh novel you need to read is Brideshead Revisited, but the second is A Handful of Dust. It’s the last of his early satires, but being the last, it has a depth and bite that makes it really resonate. And of course, it has the most ironic ending maybe ever devised. Those two (and not Scoop) will be the ones people will still read a hundred years from now. But A Handful of Dust was probably inconvenient for this crossword, being 14 letters.
Put Out More Flags is fine–part of his WWII trilogy–but farther down the list.
(I was going to read his entire oeuvre, but I stopped about halfway through.)
Decline and fall is right up there in my list.
BTW I liked chancer very much. What a difference one letter makes.