Mog provides the Tuesday challenge this week
Tuesday is theme day in the Independent cryptic puzzle series. Today’s theme is quite clear. I counted nine SWORDS in the grid as highlighted in the graphic below. Some of them I knew, but FALCHION and CURTANA were new to me.
I am not sure what the definition is for CROSS SWORDS at 18 across. Is it just ‘What solvers will do here’ with CROSS meaning ‘come across’ or is it the whole clue given that eight of the SWORDS form intersecting pairs?. The ninth in my list is the SWORD of CROSS SWORDS.
I thought Mog did well to get a few theme words into both the across and down entries. Often thematic grids have the majority of the thematic material in one direction.
There was some good misdirection in the clues for the SWORDS, with a variety of words used as definitions for the thematic items.
At 1 down, I reckon ‘commonly’ goes with FOIL as a material used in wrapping rather than with the fencing weapon, but others may disagree.
I have usually associated REGINAL with monarchs in general because of the term REGNAL number, which can apply to both Kings and Queens, but I realise now that the words are different and REGINA is clearly Queen. There’s always something to learn from crosswords.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Call with a wave when bird grabs arm (8)
FALCHION (a short, broad sword, bent rather like a sickle; arm) FALCON (bird) containing (grabs) HI (a call to someone, often accompanied by a wave at the same time) FALC (HI) ON |
| 5 | Fermented stuff some neck I’m chicken (6)
KIMCHI (a very spicy Korean dish made with a variety of raw vegetables, especially fermented cabbage, radish, cucumber, garlic, ginger, etc.; fermented stuff) KIMCHI (hidden word in [some] necK I’M CHIcken) KIMCHI |
| 9 | Deduce better with the head tucked in (5)
INFER (deduce) FINER (better) with the F (first letter [head]) moved and tucked in later in the word to form INFER INFER |
| 10 | Sweet MP frolicking with one lord (5,4)
LEMON DROP (a sweet) Anagram of (frolocking) MP and (with) ONE LORD LEMON DROP |
| 12 | Duck to be part of meze platter (5)
OLIVE (an item likely to be found on a meze platter [Eastern Mediterranean hors d’oeuvre]) O (character representing zero [a score known as a duck in cricket]) + LIVE (be) O LIVE |
| 13 | Largely appealing young lady one’s drawn (7)
CUTLASS (short broad sword with one cutting edge; a weapon that’s drawn before use) CUTe (appealing) excluding the final letter (largely) E + LASS (young lady) CUT LASS |
| 15 | Official stealing note from bank (3)
REF (REFeree; official) ReEF (shoal or bank) excluding (stealing from) E (a musical note) REF |
| 16 | Wasteful additional drifting eliminates racer in the end (11)
EXTRAVAGANT (wasteful) EXTRA (additional) + VAGrANT (wandering; drifting) excluding (eliminates) R (last letter of [in the end] raceR) EXTRA VAGANT |
| 18 | What solvers will do here (involving intersections, ultimately) (5,6)
CROSS SWORDS (solvers will cross [meet and pass] SWORDS in this grid, as there are a number of them there) CROSSWORDS (what solvers will do here) containing (involving) S (last letter of [ultimately] instersectionS) CROSS (S) WORDS – I think that any of the three Ss in the middle of the entry could be the one contained |
| 22 | Saw, perhaps, not entirely as well (3)
TOO (as well) TOOl (a saw is a tool) excluding the last letter (not entirely) L TOO |
| 23 | US thinker, being uninitiated, bored by setter (7)
EMERSON (reference Ralph Waldo EMERSON [1803 – 1882], American poet, essayist and philosopher [thinker]) pERSON (a being) excluding the initial letter (being unitiated) P containing (bored by) ME (the setter) E (ME) RSON |
| 25 | Overeat, or pass? (5)
GORGE (stuff with food; overeat) GORGE (narrow ravine [pass]) double definition GORGE |
| 27 | Nothing cool about base, corrupt place by river (4,5)
NILE BASIN (area by the river NILE) (NIL [nothing] + IN [popular; cool]) containing (about) an anagram of (corrupt) BASE NIL (E BAS*) IN |
| 28 | Unfortunate Democrat faced wrong flag (5)
DROOP (tire; flag) (POOR [unfortunate] + D (Democrat]) all reversed (faced wrong) (D ROOP)< |
| 29 | Hardly a cutter where soldiers board ship? (6)
RAPIER (long slender sword, suitable for thrusting, usually made from steel, a hard material, [hardly]) RA (Royal Artillery; soldiers) + PIER (where people, such as members of the RA, board a ship) RA PIER |
| 30 | Brand added alongside potter’s material (8)
CLAYMORE (large sword formerly used by the Scottish Highlanders; a brand is a poetic term for a sword named from its glitter) CLAY (material used by a potter) + MORE (added) CLAY MORE |
| Down | |
| 1 | Wrap commonly thrust item (4)
FOIL (a blunt fencing sword with a button on the point; an item used in a thrusting motion) FOIL (a material used to wrap food before or after cooking. I think ‘commonly’ applies to this definition of FOIL) double definition FOIL |
| 2 | Lidl’s opening provided swell launch (4-3)
LIFT-OFF (launch, of a rocket) L (first letter of [opening] Lidl) + IF (provided) + TOFF (a person of the upper classes; a swell) L IF T OFF |
| 3 | Courage left and right from Dani mid-tackle (9)
HARDINESS (bravery; courage) (D and I [outer letters of [left and right from] DanI) contained in (mid) HARNESS (tackle) HAR (D I) NESS |
| 4 | Most flattering untruths in love/intimacy (7)
OILIEST (most ingratiating; most flattering) LIES (untruths) contained in (in) (O [character representing zero {love score in tennis}] + IT [sexual intercourse; intimacy]) O I (LIES) T |
| 6 | Regularly considered fit? Find out otherwise (2,3)
IF NOT (otherwise) IF NOT (letters 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 [regularly] of fIt FiNd OuT) I F N O T |
| 7 | Short articles a must at coronation (7)
CURTANA (a sword without a point, symbolic of mercy, carried at coronations; a must at coronations) CURT (short) + (AN [indefinite article] + A [another indefinite article] giving articles) CURT AN A |
| 8 | Mog’s put forth current concerning task as punishment (10)
IMPOSITION (a punishment task) I’M (the setter’s; Mog’s) + POSIT (postulate; put forth) + I (in physics, the symbol for electric current) + ON (concerning) IM POSIT I ON |
| 11 | Drink second drink (5)
MOCHA (coffee; drink) MO (moment; second) + CHA (tea; drink) MO CHA |
| 14 | Local business flogging celery and radishes, primarily (3- 7)
DRY-CLEANER (small, typically local, business) Anagram of (flogging) CELERY AND + R [first letter of [primarily] Radishes) DRY-CLEANE* R |
| 17 | Certainly as grumpy about media figure (9)
ASSUREDLY (certainly) AS + (SURLY [grumpy] containing [about] ED [editor, an important figure in a media company]) AS SUR (ED) LY |
| 19 | Topless beau and stood-up friend touch a bit (7)
OVERLAP (touch a bit as one item extends over another) lOVER (beau) excluding the first letter L (topless) + PAL (friend) reversed (stood up; down entry) OVER LAP< |
| 20 | Assemblage of McCartney music for cycling (5)
WINGS (band formed by Paul McCartney [born 1942], active between 1971 and 1981) SWING (genre of music) with the letters cycled one place to the left and round to the back to form WINGS WINGS |
| 21 | Queen’s country rises over limits on alcohol (7)
REGINAL (of a Queen; Queen’s) NIGER (country in Africa) reversed (raised; down entry) + (over) AL (outer letters of [limits on] AlcohoL) REGIN< A L |
| 22 | Shaking quality Merlot to redistribute oxygen (7)
TREMOLO (quivering or shaking quality represented by a rapid succession of the same notes or two musical notes at least a third apart) Anagram of (to restribute) MERLOT + O (chemical symbol for Oxygen) TREMOL* O |
| 24 | Rower basically keeps inverting blade (5)
SABRE (a curved single-edged cavalry sword or a light sword used in fencing) SABRE (reversed [inverting] hidden word in [keeps] rowER BASically) SABRE< |
| 26 | Stallone’s back training with Eastern weapon (4)
ÉPÉE (sharp-pointed, narrow-bladed sword without a cutting edge, used for duelling and, with a button on the point, for fencing; weapon E (last letter of [back] stallonE) + PE (physical education; training) + E (Eastern) E PE E |
I think CROSS SWORDS only really works as a cad as Duncan suggests in the introduction.
I took a stab at CROSS SWORDS alluding to the 8 “sword” answers intersecting, in 4 pairs.
A sharply-constructed puzzle, though the thematic clues were just a tad workmanlike.
Really entertaining, not a quibble in sight.
Touche, Mog + duncan
Thanks both. I got along with most, but not all of this, perhaps as I fell victim to some of the many misdirections, including ‘hardly a cutter’ for RAPIER, ‘brand’ for CLAYMORE; and why the need for ‘with a wave’ in the unknown FALCHION when we begin most emails wavelessly with the word ‘hi’? At least the theme was helpfully clear, although at first I thought we were solely looking at fencing, having quickly seen EPEE and FOIL; good news it was not, as it was never to my liking, perhaps as I don’t like the smell of creosote.
Thoroughly enjoyed this.
A fascinating theme beautifully constructed both in clues and grid formation.
Only knew some of the swords but loved digging out the rest and in the process found an interesting website http://www.swordis.com if anyone is curious to find just how many types there are (I think they list around 700).
I assumed that the ‘hardly a cutter’ def for RAPIER would refer to a rapier having a sharp point but no cutting edges. Wiki says rapiers actually have two cutting edges, but the dictionaries only refer to the sharp point and it being used for thrusting – not sure where that leaves my theory.
Anyway, very enjoyable clues as usual, and the helpful CROSS SWORDS was some use in getting the last two, falchion and curtana.
Like others, I’d never heard of a CURTANA before. Thought it interesting how similar it sounds to KATANA, an altogether sharper sword.
Two days late; I’m catching up. Wanted to mention (in case anyone sees this) how nice it is that the setter seems to have global taste in food, with both meze and KIMCHI appearing. (Note that kimchi needn’t be “very spicy” as the blog states; it’s always at least a little spicy, but there are as many different recipes as there are cooks, and I’ve certainly had very mild kimchi. Notably, if you buy it premade in a jar, that stuff will never knock your socks off.)