CheeseCracker sets The Spectator challenge this week.
We had a fairly short preamble this week that told us “Eight unclued entries (three of two words) possess a property implied by the title’s other title”
A quick search for an alternative or subtitle for The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien revealed the phrase THERE AND BACK AGAIN. Initially, this didn’t give much away, to this solver, at least, but the meaning became clear before the puzzle was completed.
THhre were a few clues that made me think before I cracked the parsing. These were the clues for PRESIDIUM, PRIDES, SODA POP and BOHEA.
For PRESIDIUM, it took me a while to understand how the words ‘failing India’ applied. In the end, I realised that ‘failing’ was an anagram indicator for forms of the two previous words in the clue and the letter I had to appear twice in the entry.
PRIDES required us to form an anagram of the first 6 of the 9 letters [two-thirds] from an unclued entry RED SPIDER, which I thought was a little bit devious. I wonder why CheeseCracker didn’t refer to the first six letters of the clued entry PRESIDIUM, which would have served the same purpose?
I was thinking SOAP was enough for Coronation Street, before it dawned on me that we actually needed SOAP OPERA so that we could exclude (take) away ERA (an age)
BOHEA gave me the most trouble before I finally saw what was going on as I wrote the blog and found that BOHEMIAN could mean ‘unconventional’.
Turning to the unclued lights, about halfway through solving I could see a pattern emerging. All the unclued lights are of the form 123xxx321 where the first three letters are repeated in reverse order at the end of the entry. I note that there aren’t many 9-letter words of this form and CheeseCracker did well to get eight of them into the grid. The price to pay was the requirement for a few obscure words to intersect with the unclued entries.
The eight unclued entries, in clue order, are LACONICAL, STOCK POTS, CINCHONIC, DETONATED, RED SPIDER, TIME LIMIT, POOP SCOOP and DETRACTED. All words conform to the thematic title THERE and BACK AGAIN when considering the three letters at the at the beginning and end of each. Three of these entries are formed from two words, as required.
I can’t see how the letters HE are referenced in the wordplay for CHOOSIEST. I wonder if there should be an additional HE in the clue between stoics and is, using slightly different punctuation?
It’s interesting to see words that I only seem to see in crosswords. There were three today, ESILE, IDO and NIELLI.
The completed grid is shown below, followed by the detailed parsing.
Thanks to CheeseCracker for an entertaining puzzle.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | LACONICAL |
| 8 | King stops silly plan (5)
DRAFT (plan) R (Rex; king) contained in (stops) DAFT (silly) D (R) AFT |
| 13 | Hindu retreat remains half-packed (6)
ASHRAM (secluded residence of one or more Hindu ascetics; Hindu retreat) ASH (remains) + RAMmed (packed) excluding the last 3 of 6 (half) letters MED (half-packed) ASH RAM |
| 15 | In favour of 60% spirit strength? (3)
PRO (in favour of) PROof (standard strength of alcoholic spirit) excluding 2 of the 5 (40%) letters, OF, leaving 60% of the letters as PRO PRO |
| 16 | Old committee in power demurs, failing India twice (9)
PRESIDIUM (a standing committee in the former Soviet system; old committee) (I [India is the international radio communication code for the letter I] + I again, giving India twice) contained in (in) an anagram of (failing) (P [power] and DEMURS ) PRES (I) D (I) UM* – the Is are contained separately |
| 17 | STOCKPOTS |
| 18 | Elise rejected old vinegar (5)
ESILE (alternative spelling of the word EISEL [obsolete {old} word for ‘vinegar’}]) ELISE reversed (rejected) ESILE< |
| 19 | Mostly annoyed by introduction of tacky casual wear (1-5)
T-SHIRT (an item of casual wear) T (first letter of [introduction of] Tacky) + SHIRTy (annoyed) excluding the final letter Y (mostly) T–SHIRT |
| 20 | Kind people from Ukraine first in discomfort (7)
HELPFUL (kind) PFU (initial letters of [first] of each of People, From and Ukraine) contained in (in) HELL (a state of supreme misery or discomfort) HEL (P F U) L |
| 21 | Packs of big cats injured two thirds of 9D (6)
PRIDES (PRIDE is the collective noun for a group of lions [large cats]) Anagram of (injured) REDSPI, the first 6 letters of 9 (two thirds) of the unclued entry at 9 down [RED SPIder]) PRIDES* |
| 25 | Regularly roughened curve (4)
OGEE (an S-shaped curve) OGEE (letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 [reularly] of rOuGhEnEd) O G E E |
| 26 | Society promised new germinating cells (9)
SPORIDESM (a unicellular asexual reproductive body; germinating cells) S (society) + an anagram of (new) PROMISED S PORIDESM* |
| 27 | Blockage in turbo sent for repair? (9)
OBSTRUENT (anything that obstructs; blockage) Anagram of (for repair) TURBO SENT OBSTRUENT* |
| 30 | Outcry initially enrages union officer intensely (4)
EUOI (a word expressing Bacchic frenzy; outcry) EUOI (first letters [initially] of each of Enrages, Union, Officer and Intensely) E U O I |
| 33 | My baby, a legendary pianist (6)
CORTOT (reference Alfred CORTOT [1877 – 1962], French pianist, described by Wikipedia as one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century.) COR (gosh!; my!) + TOT (young child; baby) COR TOT |
| 34 | Drink driver’s first in Corrie, taking an age (4,3)
SODA POP (a drink) (SOAP OP [Coronation Street is a SOAP OPera] excluding [taking] ERA [an age]) containing [taking] D [initial letter of {first} Driver]) SO (D) A P OP |
| 35 | Formerly cooler, sent back honour in 91 (6)
ICEBOX (old American term for a refrigerator [cooler]) (OBE [Order of the British Empire {honour}] contained in [in] XCI [Roman numerals for 91]) all reversed (sent back) (IC (EBO) X)< |
| 38 | Smart old Marxist?! (5)
CHICO (reference Leonard ‘CHICO‘ Marx [1887 – 1961], American comedian, artist and pianist. He was a member of the Marx Brothers troupe) CHIC (smart) + O (old) CHIC O |
| 39 | CINCHONIC |
| 41 | Strong stimuli rouse Tess when dizzy? (9)
OESTRUSES (vehement stimuli) Anagram of (when dizzy) ROUSE TESS OESTRUSES* |
| 43 | Independent Party’s widereaching language (3)
IDO (an auxiliary international [widespread] language developed [since 1907] from Esperanto, an earlier universal language) I (Independent) + DO (party) I DO |
| 44 | No-hoper caught going round compound (6)
CRESOL (any of three isomeric compounds with the formula C6H4(CH3)OH found in tar and creosote) (LOSER [no-hoper] + C [caught]) all reversed (going round) (C RESOL)< |
| 45 | Part of Upper Dunsforth lost to view (5)
PERDU (lost to view) PERDU (hidden word in [part of] upPER DUnsforth) PERDU |
| 49 | DETONATED |
| Down | |
| 1 | Starts off leg and arm exercises involving second slip (5)
LAPSE (slip) LA (initial letters of [starts off] each of Leg and Arm) + (PE [physical education; exercise] containing [involving] S [second]) L A P (S) E |
| 2 | Oscar amid eccentric stoics is hardest to please (9)
CHOOSIEST (hardest to please) O (Oscar is the international radio communication code for the letter O) contained in (amid) an anagram of (eccentric) STOICS IS Note this seems to leave us with an unreferenced HE which I’m guessing should be part of the anagram. Perhaps the clue should read …amid eccentric stoics; HE is the hardest …? C H (O) OSI E ST* |
| 3 | Essentially top former sniffer dog finds edible plant (5)
ORACH (an edible plant belonging to a genus Atriplex of the goosefoot family) O (middle letter of [essentially] tOp) + RACH (archaic [former] term for a dog that hunts by scent; sniffer dog) O RACH |
| 4 | Runs after spy that is more irritable (7)
NARKIER (more irritable) NARK (police spy) + I.E. (id est; that is) + R (runs) NARK IE R |
| 5 | Engraved plates of wild osprey etc (9)
CEROTYPES (engraving on a copper plate coated with wax used as a mould for preparing an electrotype printing plate; engraved plates) Anagram of (wild) OSPREY ETC CEROTYPES* |
| 6 | Help from half of A-Z (4)
ABET (incite by encouragement or aid; help) alphABET (the letters A to Z form the alphabet) excluding the first 4 of 8 [half] letters ALPH, leaving the remaining half of the word as ABET ABET |
| 7 | Lower class is heard (6)
LESSEN (lower) LESSEN (sounds like [is heard] LESSON [class]) LESSEN |
| 8 | RED SPIDER |
| 10 | Boxer from Malibu (3)
ALI (reference the American heavyweight boxer Muhammad ALI [1942 – 2016]) ALI (hidden word in [from] mALIbu) ALI |
| 11 | Spoil delivered poultry completely (4,2)
FOUL UP (informal term for ‘spoil’) FOUL (sounds like [delivered] FOWL [poultry]) + UP (completely) FOUL UP |
| 12 | TIME LIMIT |
| 14 | Dean perhaps mainly stocks current decorated objects (6)
NIELLI (metal objects decorated by engraving and filling the lines with a black compound) (NELLIe(r[ference NELLIe Dean, a sentimental ballad published in 1905] excluding the final letter E [mainly]) containing (stocks) I (symbol for electric current) N (I) ELLI |
| 21 | POOP SCOOP |
| 22 | DETRACTED |
| 23 | Temperate capacity to accommodate both sides in injunction (9)
CONTINENT (temperate) CONTENT (capacity) containing (to accommodate) IN (outer letters of [both sides in] InjunctioN) CONT (I N) ENT |
| 24 | Adherent of German culture sent out IT broadcast (9)
TEUTONIST (adherent of German culture) Anagram of (broadcast) SENT OUT IT TEUTONIST* |
| 28 | Statement overturning figure of speech, right (6)
REPORT (statement of facts) (TROPE [a figure of speech] + R [right]) all reversed (overturning) (R EPORT)< |
| 29 | Little mortar from English house in Cornwall (7)
COEHORN (a small mortar for throwing grenades.) (E [English] + HO [house]) contained in (in) CORN (Cornwall) CO (E HO) RN |
| 31 | Stick together company at this time (6)
COHERE (stick together) CO (company) + HERE (at this time) CO HERE |
| 32 | Cheerful short Scotsman, German and … that’s it! (6)
JOCUND (cheerful) JOCk (informal term for a Scotsman) excluding the final letter (short) K + UND (German for ‘and’) JOC UND |
| 36 | Note to avoid almost all of unconventional black tea (5)
BOHEA (the lowest quality of black tea) BOHEmiAn (unconventional) excluding the final letter (almost all of) N and also excluding (to avoid) MI (third note of the scale in sol-fa niotation) BOHEA |
| 37 | Small chilly shrew (5)
SCOLD (a brawling troublesome person; a shrew) S (small) + COLD (chilly) S COLD |
| 40 | Key left in uncovered riser (4)
ISLE (island; key) L (left) contained in (in) rISEr excluding the outer letters R and R (uncovered) IS (L) E |
| 42 | Gentleman skier, oddly (3)
SIR (gentleman) SIR (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of SkIeR) SIR |