A fun puzzle for a chilly Monday from Philistine, with a couple of his trademark lift-and-separate clues, two nice &lits (aka clue-as-definition or all-in one), and one whose definition may prove controversial. (Or maybe not – it’s been changed.) Thanks to Philistine.
| Across | ||||||||
| 8 | HEADBUTT | Strike top and bottom (8) HEAD (top) + BUTT (bottom) |
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| 9 | AROMA | Bouquet in Rome, as they say there (5) “In Rome” is “a Roma” in Italian |
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| 10 | BEVY | Gathering for a drink by the sound of it (4) Homophone of “bevvy” |
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| 11 | DOLLAR SIGN | $500 loan girl’s arranged (6,4) D (500) + (LOAN GIRL’S)* |
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| 12 | STUPOR | New edition of Proust causing bewilderment (6) PROUST* |
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| 14 | CLERIHEW | So-called Philistine (another name of mine) likes a little smut? Cut minister, cut! (8) CLERI[c] (a “cut minister”) + HEW (to cut). Edmund Clerihew Bentley, inventor of the eponymous humorous verse style, was (I learn) described by his son as “cultivated . . . widely read, but in most matters of taste . . . a Philistine.” The whole clue could (just about) be read as a Clerihew |
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| 15 | DRASTIC | Radical start of divisive racist movement (7) D[ivisive] + RACIST* |
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| 17 | THE ARMY | Weapon kept by those people (3,4) ARM (weapon) in THEY (those people), &lit |
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| 20 | INTIMATE | Personal hint (8) Double definition |
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| 22 | COYEST | In bed, agreed to be most reserved (6) YES (agreed!) in COT |
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| 23 | PARLIAMENT | Standard message returned to nearest vacant house (10) PAR (standard) + reverse of EMAIL + N[eares]T |
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| 24 | SOHO | Ask cop why not get naked in this part of London (4) We need to strip, or remove the outer letters of, aSk cOp wHy nOt |
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| 25 | BROOD | Mope having prepared tea, say? (5) Homophone of “brewed” |
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| 26 | VANISHED | I got rid of vehicle first and disappeared (8) VAN + I SHED |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | DEFECTOR | Traitor getting fed up with East End bully (8) Reverse of FED + [h]ECTOR (bully, as pronounced in a Cockney accent) |
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| 2 | IDLY | Going through vapid lyrics without enthusiasm (4) Hidden in vapID LYrics |
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| 3 | MURDER | Rising repercussion of crime (6) Reverse of RE + DRUM |
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| 4 | ITALICS | It’s about a leaning in characters, primarily (7) A + first letters of Leaning In Characters in IT’S, and another &lit |
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| 5 | NAZARETH | Tarzan? He abandoned noted childhood home (8) (TARZAN HE)*. This clue was edited while I was writing the blog: “childhood home” originally read “birthplace”. In fact it’s widely accepted among scholars that Jesus was actually born in Nazareth, with the Bethlehem stories made up by the writers of Matthew and Luke for theological reasons |
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| 6 | CONSPIRACY | Disadvantages seen with crime plot (10) CONS + PIRACY |
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| 7 | GAGGLE | Group of flyers finding something funny with broken leg (6) GAG (joke, something funny) + LEG*, with the “flyers” being a gaggle of geese |
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| 13 | POSTILLION | Horse rider and bike rider’s location: touring the East of Germany (10) OST (German “east”) in PILLION (back seat of a motorbike) |
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| 16 | IN A PADDY | Upset as an agricultural worker may be (2,1,5) Double definition |
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| 18 | MISCHIEF | Trouble for spy boss? (8) MI’S CHIEF: where MI = Military Intelligence, usually followed by 5 or 6 |
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| 19 | RESERVE | Booklet and what follows (7) A let in tennis is followed by a RE-SERVE |
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| 21 | NEARBY | Mounting desire to steal underwear in this neighbourhood (6) BRA in YEN, reversed |
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| 22 | CITING | Alluding to glimpse when caught (6) Homophone of “sighting” |
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| 24 | SO-SO | Therefore very mediocre (2-2) SO (therefore) + SO (very) |
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Pretty straightforward apart from CLERIHEW, which it had to be because of the crossers and HEW at the end. Like DOLLAR SIGN and NEARBY. Many thanks to P & A.
I thought the theme would be incorrect clues when my first few included Nazareth as Jesus’ birthplace and a gaggle of flying geese.
Did like Headbutt, Soho and So So, though.
I wondered in 18d if “MI5 CHIEF” was the intention, but it doesn’t really matter.
Good fun, thanks to Philistine and Andrew.
The original def of 5d is still in the online puzzle I solved this morning and raised barely an eyebrow during the solve. I assumed the def that might have been changed was that for IN A PADDY, mention of which generally seems to prompt some solvers to hit the keyboard. I had no idea how the def of CLERIHEW was working and cannot pretend to understand it even with Andrew’s parse.
Thanks both
Great stuff from Philistine as always. CLERIHEW was last one in when the checking letters made it one of few options. No wonder I wasn’t getting anywhere with the wordplay when it only consisted of 3 words.
Liked DOLLAR SIGN, HEADBUTT and POSTILLION.
I see 5d has now been amended to ‘noted childhood home’ although I believe there is a growing number of religious scholars who believe the original clue is correct (as the blogger notes). But then cryptic crosswords aren’t the place for discussing controversies in religion.
Disappointed not to see a Nina given the grid shape and Philistine’s reputation. Unless it’s gone over my head.
Thanks Andrew and Philistine.
So-called Philistine won’t do for definition of Clerihew, since he wasn’t called that. Surely everything up to ‘…Cut’ can’t just be surplus verbiage?
PostMark @4 The whole of the clue for 14ac is a Clerihew: I had to look it up to understand.
No doubt the reference to “another name of mine” means something (perhaps Philistine writes other crosswords as Clerihew?) but you don’t need to know that to solve the clue.
So now I know what a clerihew is. And a postillion. Life keeps getting better. Never heard of that abbreviation for beverage, if that’s what it is.
COTD: CLERIHEW
Thanks Philistine and Andrew!
I think that Philistine gets away with “gaggle” as, although pedantically flying geese are a “skein” this is not universally applied by any means and dictionaries support “gaggle” as the collective noun for geese regardless of height above ground. Also geese on the ground are still “flyers”, just as a river is a “flower” even if frozen solid.
The “lift and separate” trick nearly caught me out twice – “reserve” was especially clever/fiendish. However, I still don’t get “clerihew” other than the wordplay. The reference to him being a Philistine is so obscure as to be useless and the parts about “another name of mine” and “likes a little smut” seem to be unexplained as yet. Perhaps someone can shed some light?
Many thanks Philistine – glad I was up early this morning! And thanks to Andrew for the clear blog.
KVa @9, Why do you like it? I think’s it’s junk. It would be impressive if a cryptic clue for clerihew were written in the form of a clerihew. But we don’t have that here (at least, not that anyone has so far explained). Let’s accept that this clue is in the form of a clerihew. But the small bit of it that forms the wordplay doesn’t seem to relate to the subject of the clerihew, and the rest of it is apparently just random, contributing nothing cryptically. It’s a botch.
Clerihew. Surprised this word was new to so many. Didnt like the clue though
The smut/cut gives the necessary rhyming complete
Given the error about Nazareth, is this another mistake- describing the apostle Paul as a Philistine , when in fact he was a Pharisee? And Paul is the setter known for his ‘smutty’ clues
I think there’s a collective noun theme, but I’m a bit of a duffer when it comes to some of the obscure versions of these.
Thinking of 14a.
Philistine’s other setter’s name is Goliath.
But can’t work out the little smut reference.
I think the theme is birds, GAGGLE, MURDER, PARLIAMENT, BROOD, BEVY and probably more obscure ones. Really enjoyed this, especially MISCHIEF and won’t even comment on IN A PADDY.
Ta Philistine & Andrew.
Thanks Niltac #13, I can see the theme now.
Murder of crows, parliament of owls, bevy of beauties, brood of (something I’ve momentarily forgotten, gaggle of course. I feel like army and conspiracy could also be in there. Possibly more?
The wikipedia entry for Clerihew makes it clear that the whole clue is a Clerihew. You might say it’s not a very good one, but good enough to get the answer.
Comment #18
Thanks Philistine and Andrew
I had the most enjoyment from this puzzle that I’ve had for ages. So much to like, with stand-outs DOLLAR SIGN, PARLIAMENT (so clever I wonder why I haven’t seen it before), MISCHIEF, and NEARBY.
I didn’t get the Philistine reference in CLERIHEW, and I agree that, despite it being a Clerihew, the clue is a bit of a mess.
Naturally as a pedant I was going to make the point about geese that JOFT did @10. I agree, though, that they are “flyers” even if not actually flying.
MISCHIEF of Magpies as well. Julia C @16: I thought about and checked CONSPIRACY and ARMY as well but it seems not.
James@11
Surely the clue is written in the form of a clerihew
“Two rhyming couplets with uneven lines refering to a famous person”
I believe Philistine is famous enough in this context
I ,kind the clue
AlanC @15. Good spot.
Also a Conspiracy of Crows, I think.
“Conspiracy” is ravens, apparently. A theme that appropriately flew over my head, given how many are birds.
(and I only learned today about the precise distinction between skeins and gaggles)
I’ve found “a conspiracy of ravens”.
Crossed with gladys
Can we take the argument about “paddy” as read, since we already had it quite recently here in the comments for Maskarade’s puzzle of 31st December?
Looking for (and not finding) “beauty” as a collective noun for birds, I came across one I didn’t know for geese – if they are swimming, they are a “plump”.
A bit tricky in parts and enjoyable too.
Favourites: AROMA, MISCHIEF, RESERVE – so glad to have picked up that this was a lift and separate clue!
New for me: CLERIHEW and also Edmund Clerihew Bentley.
I guessed but could not parse 3d (murder – crime) and did not parse 24ac.
Gladys @25: agreed, that’s why I didn’t comment on it. There is also a Bouquet of hummingbirds from 8ac and perhaps RESERVE could be included at a stretch.
Parts of it were quite impenetrable for me; had no idea of CLERIHEW, IN A PADDY or POSTILLION (nor PILLION). Many of the clues are very smart, like RESERVE, DOLLAR SIGN, MURDER, AROMA. Thanks Philistine and Andrew
The whole clue for 14a is indeed a clerihew:
So-called Philistine
(another name of mine)
likes a little smut?
Cut, minister, cut!
I agree with Jeremy @17 that, as a clerihew, it’s not a particularly good one; and to make complete sense of the clue you need to know (which I didn’t) that Bentley’s son described him as a Philistine. But the clue is clever, and sound.
With some clues, and this is certainly one of them, the question is whether the setter is being clever or too-clever-by-half; and I can see arguments both ways. In particular, it’s not really a “Monday puzzle” clue, and neither is the extremely neat RESERVE.
As Gladys @25 reminds us, the consensus the last time PADDY appeared in a crossword was that, used to mean a display of bad temper, it was better avoided. That apart, I found this challenging and enjoyable. And the game of “hunt the collective” is a pleasant diversion.
Thanks to Philistine for the start to the day and to Andrew for the informative blog.
According to my trusty list of collective nouns the clue for 9 across also contains a themester: a BOUQUET of pheasants (when flushed).