After a number of Quick Cryptics in between, Ludwig returns to the Cryptic slot.
Yesterday morning, I was thanking my lucky stars that I had missed blogging an Enigmatist puzzle by one day. This morning, I’m not sure that my escape was as clean as I thought: The clue for 7dn is a reverse clue for Enigmatist’s 8dn yesterday, which suggests that he had at least a hand in this one.
The first couple of Ludwig puzzles, coinciding with a TV series of the same name, both of which I blogged, were acknowledged to be a collaboration between Crossword Editor Alan Connor (Everyman) and Enigmatist and there have been several different team efforts since then. These puzzles proved controversial for several reasons, not least because the second contained identical solutions, with different clues, to the first. I was expecting a challenge today, when I saw the name and I’m afraid I did not fare well. There are a number of gaps in my solutions / parsings, for which I am going to need help, as there is obviously something going on that I have missed.
Today is the Vernal Equinox for which several clues (12ac, 14ac, 21ac, 23ac, 24ac) seem to have some significance – and we have NOON BST in the bottom row. I’m just not sufficiently astute / awake to tease it all out.
I had ticks for 14ac DUE NORTH, 24ac HEMISPHERE, 26ac ALMS, 28ac EMOTIONS, 6dn PSEUDOCODE, 13dn DIDGERIDOO and 26dn ALMS and would doubtless have had more if the clues had made sense to me.
My apologies for my woeful inadequacy and my thanks to Ludwig and to commenters here who, I know, will soon set me right.
More apologies: I don’t know what has happened to my spacing throughout the blog!
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8 Originally, baker oversupplied lightly – 13 – he often leaves éclair in safe place (4-4)
BOLT-HOLE
Initial letters of Baker Oversupplied Lightly Thirteen He Often Leaves Éclair
9 Zero tolerance finally adopted during time off (5)
RESET
[toleranc]E in REST (time off)
10 Slightly rotten greeting yelled (4)
HIGH
Sounds like (yelled) ‘Hi’ (greeting)
11 Intrude, all agitated and surly (3-7)
ILL-NATURED
An anagram (agitated) of INTRUDE ALL
12 The reverse of ‘dark’ and ‘night’? (6)
MIDDAY
Cryptic definition?
14 And also not included in song: Hamilton’s lead wanting direction (3,5)
DUE NORTH
NOR (and also not) in DUET (song) + H[amilton] – thanks, MattS @6 for pointing out my omitted ‘not‘
16 Gunman’s order delivered with difficulty, it’s implied (5,2)
HANDS UP
Double definition
18 Excellent: room’s confining, at last, Bruno Mars (7)
DEFORMS
???
21 Zoned out: this is ignoring the writer’s parts (8)
DOZENTHS
TH[i]S (minus i (the writer) in an anagram (out) of ZONED
23 Figure set around mostly satisfactory constant (6)
TWELVE
TV (set) round WEL[l] (mostly satisfactory) + E (constant)
24 Border has shown up throttling power in world? Not half (10)
HEMISPHERE
HEM (border) + IS HERE (has shown up) round P (power)
26 Relief: American sizes successively decreasing (4)
ALMS
A (American) + L[arge] M[edium] S[mall]
27 I’m surprised by cellists’ kit that’s heard in woodwinds (5)
OBOES
O (sounds like – that’s heard – ‘Oh’ – I see) + bows (cellists’ kits)
28 Rebutted curt prig with one book, The Agony and the Ecstasy? (8)
EMOTIONS
A reversal (rebutted) of (curt) SNO[b] (prig) + I TOME (one book)
Down
1 Amino acid tipped for synthesis in volcanic island (8)
DOMINICA
An anagram (for synthesis) of AMINO [a]CID
2 Playing autoharp; regrettably a pro’s left it in a state (4)
UTAH
An anagram (playing) of AUT[o]H[arp] minus an anagram (regrettably) of a pro
3 Using cunning, zip about No 4 in Second Eleven (6)
FOXILY
FLY (zip) round secOnd XI (eleven)
4 Dance, as Marillion song on the radio (7)
CEILIDH
Sounds like (on the radio) Kayleigh (Marillion song)
5 A drowned valley that’s conveyed by piping (4)
ARIA
A RIA (a drowned valley)
6 Deduce spoof largely concocted with AI instructions? (10)
PSEUDOCODE
An anagram (concocted) of DEDUCE SPOO[f] (largely)
7 Hopefully, with finale from tenor to replace bass, producing calm (2,4)
AT REST
AT [b]EST (hopefully), with [teno]R replacing b (bass)
(cf Enigmatist 8dn yesterday: Still preferring bishop to rook, extremely optimistically (2,4))
13 Was Spice Girl impersonating duck that’s low-pitched and resonant? (10)
DIDGERIDOO
DID GERI DO (was Spice Girl impersonating) O (duck)
15 Middle of Feb, day in early May, or one late in Dec? (3)
EVE
[f]E[b] + VE (day) – May 8th)
17 Sunhats: oddly ignored means of preserving life (3)
UHT
[s]U[n]H[a]T[s]
19 Composition part #2 (8)
MOVEMENT
I have no idea of this one – over to you
20 Sicilians possibly expelling a Milanese, awkwardly (7)
ISLEMEN
An anagram (awkwardly) of MIL[a]NESE
22 Character in Globe – Roneo? – Not quite (6)
OBERON
Hidden in glOBE RONeo
23 Former student crowned by those people – wise guys (3,3)
THE MOB
OB (old boy – former student) after (crowned by, in a down clue) THEM (those people)
25 Peep Show regularly lost money in Philippines (4)
PESO
P[e]E[p] S[h]O[w]
26 Miles – perhaps not 500 – in cars offered here (4)
AVIS
[d]AVIS (Miles, perhaps) minus d (500)
MOVEMENT – Part of a composition such as a symphony; #2 – Bowel movement (number two)
DEFORMS
excellent=DEF
Room’s=RM S
O in RMS
MOVEMENT
Def: #2
It seems ‘movement’ is a part of a music composition.
MIDDAY
dark/DIM reversed=MID and reverse of night=DAY
DOZENTHS
ZONED*+THS
I thought that this was a fascinating puzzle and enjoyed it immensely. Worth it just for the hilarious DIDGERIDOO. There seems to be a bit of a theme, as mentioned by Eileen with MIDDAY, DOZENTHS, TWELVE and HIGH completed by the Nina, NOON BST. AT REST was interesting, again highlighted by Eileen, after yesterday’s ENIGMATIST and Paddymelon’s first comment on the G site, implied that he might be one of today’s setters. DOMINICA was nice and I also liked the juxtaposition of the Sicilians and THE MOB.
Some strange surfaces like in DEFORMS but it made it very interesting.
Agree with Crispy and KVa @1 & 2.
Ta Ludwig, whoever you may be & Eileen.
I see some are quicker to type!
MIDDAY
DIM << and DAY opposite of ‘night’
DEFORMS
DEF(O)RMS = excellent (brunO) rooms
MOVEMENT
‘Number two’ poo
me@2
DEFORMS
Sorry
I meant O in DEF RMS
My top faves: HEMISPHERE and DIDGERIDOO.
Thanks Eileen for the detailed blog.
Thanks Eileen and Ludwig. For MIDDAY I took it as a reversal of dim (MID) followed by reversal of night (DAY). In DUE NORTH I think “and also not” gives us NOR. I take MOVEMENT as a double definition, with musical movement (part of a composition) and bowel movement (number two, poo). DIDGERIDOO comes in for a lot of praise from the Aussies in the G site and I can see the attraction though it’s a ‘close but no cigar’ for me.
[Apologies to others who I can see made most of these points while I was typing mine.]
KVa@ 2 and @5 – I had a slightly different take on DEFORMS. I read “confining” the O (last letter of Bruno) meaning the opposite of what we would normally expect – that is you take away (and lock up?) one of the Os in ROOMS. I found this crossword a real challenge and did not suss out TWELVE – so thank you very much for your excellent parsing of that, Eileen.
A quibble from a (retired) IT person. AI instructions doesn’t, to the extent of my knowledge, define PSEUDOCODE. When I programmed we created pseudo code as a preliminary step to creating the full code. Happy to be corrected by anyone who is more up to date.
That apart this was a tough but fair puzzle. I had to reveal a few after my self-imposed time limit expired.
Well, I’m delighted that AlanC @3 (and doubtless others) really enjoyed this.
After clunking my way to ISLEMEN (is this a word?) and DOZENTHS, I gave up while I still had some will to live.
DIDGERIDOO raised a smile; THE MOB was neat.
But just not my cup of tea, I’m afraid.
Thanks nonetheless to Ludwig for putting in the hard yards and to the indefatigable Eileen.
Thanks Ludwig and Eileen
Rather an odd one. Several smiles (AVIS, ALMS, DIDGERIDOO for instance), but also several where the definition was loose or the surface didn’t make much sense. In particular, why does HANDS UP mean “with difficulty, it’s implied”? What does “volcanic” contribute to 1d? Why is THE MOB “wise guys”?
“One late in December” is a ridiculous definition for EVE. Every day has an eve; the December one is specifically Christmas Eve.
Why is UHT “means of preserving life”? It is used to kill any life present.
TerriBlislow@7
DEFORMS
I took ROOM as RM and ROOM’s as RMS
DEF RMS confining O (Bruno’s last letter)
Is that what you say too?
KVA@11. No, I had a different take. I perfectly get your – and Rich@4’s – parsing and it is probably right. I clearly did not express myself well. I mean I took away or “confined” the last letter of Bruno from “room’s”. This would be an unusual use of “confine: but I think it works. Anyway, not worth more deliberation as the abbreviation of “rooms” works well, also . Thanks for the debate though!
I thought this was a big improvement on some of Ludwig’s previous offerings. In some ways I found it tougher than yesterday’s Enigmatist although that could be due to excess consumption in the Barrel House last night
Ticks for AVIS, ALMS and MIDDAY
Muffin@10 a wise guy is just another term for gangster in the US
Cheers E&L
Thanks bodycheetah @13. New to me.
Muffin@10 I shared some of your disgruntlement with UHT and HANDS UP but took the eve to be New Year’s Eve which is after all as late as you can get in December so makes more sense. I got Dominica from the anagram and thought “that’ll do” though it’s only half a volcanic island. Wise guys for THE MOB seemed fine to me, given the clear wordplay and coming to it with hands up and the Sicilians fresh in the mind.
As my old Mum used to say, “Too clever by half”. Maybe because of my DNF, I didn’t enjoy this even as the solutions were dragged out like a nasty weed in the lawn. What are DOZENTHS and ISLEMEN anyway?!! Some of the surfaces are very odd – what does 8a mean?
I realise that the solvers have to be beaten occasionally, but would the editor have presented this if it hadn’t been partly his creation?
Anyway, enough whingeing, congrats Eillenn on battling through it, and thanks Ludwig.
I’m not sure if I’m missing something obvious, but why is ‘with difficulty it’s implied’ a clue for HANDS UP. Deliver, is a definition for ‘hand up’ in the dictionary, but that would require ‘delivers’ in the wordplay. Thanks to. all.
I’m not sure anyone has yet explained the “with difficulty, it’s implied” definition of “hands up” in 16a (mentioned @10 above). It’s a play on “hands down”, meaning easily.
If this really is Enigmatist and Alan Connor collaborating, I think it worked really well today. Not only some really unusual, challenging clues but also some wrongfooting me by turning out to be much simpler than they looked. Perhaps that was me expecting a Henderson when I was getting a Connor?
Interesting crossword. What function does “wanting” have in 14a? If you’re “wanting direction” are you facing due north? I loved Digeridoo, but quite a lot of Huh?s from me.
Thanks Ludwig and Eileen
muffin @ 10
“ why does HANDS UP mean “with difficulty, it’s implied”? “
Because HANDS UP is the opposite of HANDS DOOWN, ie with ease, not difficulty.
December also includes New Year’s Eve as a famous one, and it’s later than the one on Dec 24 – you can’t get much later than it.
Way beyond my pay grade, a bit of a shock really, after feeling fairly upbeat after not doing too badly with yesterday’s Enigmatist.
Did spot the lurking OBERON, and that cryptic crossword chestnut OBOES, but not much else. Plaudits to those that did rather better than me today, however…
I did find this odd, with some baffling surfaces as others have already said..It was less navigable for me than Enigmatist yesterday, but I really was not up for it during my customary solving hour between 3.00 and 4.00 and probably should have left it until the daylight hours. To pursue the theme, I would just point out that at TWELVE MIDDAY both clock HANDS are pointing straight UP in the direction of DUE NORTH.
Definitely one to avoid as far as I’m concerned. Thanks Eileen for sticking with it!