Good to meet Bluejacket again: he’s become a fairly regular Independent setter since his debut last year.
An enjoyable puzzle with nothing too contrived; the definition at 2d doesn’t seem quite right but it was obvious what our setter intended. I liked the heroes on the wing, the ranting actors and the fashionable loo, and especially the conceited king. Thanks Bluejacket for the fun.
UPDATE: I’ll stick with “nothing too contrived”, but this becomes even more of an achievement when we see the concept that our setter has pointed out in comment #1. The top line reads SONNET SURFACES: try reading out all the across clues in order, with his corrected version of 17a (and if necessary see my note on the definition of 1a). Then do the same with the down clues. It’s very impressive – well done Bluejacket!
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SONNET |
Iambic verse of song that’s short and clear (6)
|
| SON[g] without the last letter (short) + NET (clear = after deduction of expenses, tax etc).
A poem of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter. |
||
| 5 | SURFACES |
Comes up to ride with heroes on the wing (8)
|
| SURF (to ride on a board over waves) + ACES (successful wartime pilots = heroes on the wing). | ||
| 9 | BARD |
Eisteddfod winner cried like lamb, we hear (4)
|
| Sound-alike of BAAED = made a “baa” sound like a sheep or a lamb.
A poet, especially a title given to prizewinners at a Welsh Eisteddfod (arts festival). |
||
| 10 | OZYMANDIAS |
May Nazi sod corrupt conceited king? (10)
|
| Anagram (corrupt) of MAY NAZI SOD.
From the poem by Shelley, describing an ancient ruined statue of a king with an inscription boasting about his status: “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”. It’s a SONNET (1a), as it happens. |
||
| 11 | SINE WAVE |
Vibration from the East is current hail (4,4)
|
| IS reversed (from the East = reading right to left) + NEW (current, as opposed to old or previous) + AVE (Latin greeting of acclamation = hail as in “Hail Caesar!”). | ||
| 12 | YACKER |
Eccentric, creaky person prone to gas (6)
|
| Anagram (eccentric) of CREAKY.
Gas = yack = excessive talking, so yacker = someone prone to gas. |
||
| 13 | RED RIDING HOOD |
Like chestnut-mounted thug in fairy tale (3,6,4)
|
| RED (of hair colour = reddish-brown like chestnut) + RIDING (mounted = on a horse) + HOOD (short for hoodlum = thug = violent criminal). | ||
| 17 | SPORTSMANSHIP |
Fair play when Spanish drunk drinks fortified wines at Mass (13)
|
| Anagram (drunk) of SPANISH, containing (drinking) PORTS (fortified wines) + M (scientific abbreviation for mass).
UPDATE: Our setter has pointed out in comment #1 that the clue text should read “Fair play when Spanish drunk drinks ports at Mass“. It’s obviously a little less cryptic, which is presumably why the editor changed it, but it’s necessary for the whole concept of the puzzle to work (see update above and the first few comments). |
||
| 20 | HONEST |
Discovered phoney saint is lacking guile (6)
|
| [p]HONE[y] (dis-covered = with the outer letters removed) + ST (abbreviation for saint). | ||
| 22 | RETAINER |
Trainee misplaced the last of finder’s fee (8)
|
| Anagram (misplaced) of TRAINEE + last letter of [finde]R.
A fee to secure the services of a contract worker. |
||
| 24 | PASSIONATE |
Enthused to stick around, she’s first on isle (10)
|
| PASTE (to stick = to fasten using adhesive), around the first letter of S[he] + IONA (Scottish isle). | ||
| 25 | CHAI |
Say rocker’s dropping recipe for tea (4)
|
| CHAI[r] (for example a rocker = rocking chair), dropping the R (abbreviation for Latin recipe = take, in an old-fashioned prescription or medicine formula).
Asian word for tea, now often used for a sweetened spiced tea drink. |
||
| 26 | NEEDLESS |
Uncalled-for heckles ending in distress (8)
|
| NEEDLES (heckles = annoys someone by interrupting and taunting) + end letter of [distres]S. | ||
| 27 | TANGLE |
Initial slice of tuna fish in mess (6)
|
| First letter (initial slice) of T[una] + ANGLE (fish, as a verb = attempt to catch fish with a rod and line). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | OPALISED |
Bejewelled ring is pale when lit by day (8)
|
| O (a ring) + anagram (lit = slang for drunk) of IS PALE + D (abbreviation for day).
I’m not convinced by the definition here. Bejewelled = decorated with jewels. According to all the dictionaries I can find, “opalised” means “made into opal” or perhaps “made to look like opal”, rather than “decorated with opals”. |
||
| 3 | NUDGE |
Jog naked, skirting centre of Tangier (5)
|
| NUDE (naked), around (skirting) the centre letter of [tan]G[ier]. | ||
| 4 | TWO-HANDER |
Who ranted when performing type of play? (3-6)
|
| Anagram (when performing) of WHO RANTED.
A play performed by only two actors, or one with two equally important leading characters. |
||
| 5 | SOYBEAN |
Legume on base adapted over year (7)
|
| Anagram (adapted) of ON BASE, containing (over) Y (abbreviation for year). | ||
| 6 | READY |
Prepare component in urea dye (5)
|
| Hidden answer (component) in [u]REA DY[e].
Ready, as a verb = to get something ready. |
||
| 7 | AUDACIOUS |
Bold rogue returned with debts and after gold (9)
|
| CAD (rogue) reversed (returned), with IOUS (IOU = a promise to pay a debt), all after AU (Au = chemical symbol for gold, from Latin aurum). | ||
| 8 | ELATED |
Illegal drug at night gets daughter high (6)
|
| E (abbreviation for the illegal drug ecstasy) + LATE (at night) + D (abbreviation for daughter). | ||
| 14 | REPRESSED |
Concerning papers editor controlled (9)
|
| RE (concerning = on the subject of) + PRESS (newspapers or journalism generally) + ED (abbreviation for editor). | ||
| 15 | HEARTFELT |
Sincere to try and quit, regressing tons (9)
|
| HEAR (to try a case in court), then LEFT (quit) reversed (regressing), then T (abbreviation for tons). | ||
| 16 | FIREWALL |
Defeat inspiring anger with defence (8)
|
| FALL (defeat), containing (inspiring) IRE (anger) + W (abbreviation for with).
A fireproof wall, or (now more usually) a computer system’s defence against unauthorised access. |
||
| 18 | STREAMS |
Vacated street with loads of paper runs (7)
|
| S[tree]T (vacated = inner letters removed) + REAMS (ream = a pack of sheets of paper, or a generic term for a large quantity of paper). | ||
| 19 | DONATE |
As charity, give fellow crown, not pence (6)
|
| DON (fellow = member of university academic staff) + [p]ATE (crown = top of the head) without P (abbreviation for pence).
To give as an act of charity. |
||
| 21 | T-BONE |
Variety of steak is black in hue (1-4)
|
| B (abbreviation for black) in TONE (hue). The words “tone” and “hue” have different meanings in the science of colour theory, but in common usage they can both mean a specific colour. | ||
| 23 | INCAN |
Peruvian with fashion-forward loo (5)
|
| IN (currentl popular = fashion-forward) + CAN (loo = slang for toilet).
Pertaining to the historic Inca Empire, originating in what is now Peru. |
ERRATUM: I failed to insist with sufficient vociferousness that the clue for 17 Across should not change “…ports…” to “…fortified wines…”, so that the concept signposted by 1 and 5 Across would remain true. 🙂
I would sincerely appreciate everyone acting as though 17 Across had appeared the way I intended.
“Fair play when Spanish drunk drinks ports at Mass (13)”
===
Thank you to Quirister for the excellent blog, analysis and commentary.
I noticed the setter post a similar erratum note on BlueSky but only on coming here, for some reason, did the splendid construction become clear. I think it’s because the online format a) doesn’t show many clues at once and b) breaks many of the lines up to fit in the space. A fine achievement. I’ve occasionally considered something like this but never had the guts to have a go at it. Chapeau.
And whilst Quipster’s observation about ‘Bejewelled’ is fair, now I can see why it is there, I’m inclined to cut the compiler some slack.
Thanks both
Bluejacket @1: I’ve never considered reading the clues out loud, but perhaps I should. Now that you point it out – wow, this is really clever. (And there probably isn’t a huge choice of grids that have exactly 14 across and 14 down clues.) I agree with PostMark @1: if the slightly wayward definition in 2d is the price of this, it’s worth paying.
Congratulations to Bluejacket on a tremendous achievement. I have an inkling of how difficult it would have been to pull this off while maintaining a high standard of clue-writing.
I am afraid I am still looking at this work and despairing of the device. Can someone enlighten me?
Petert @5: the surface of each clue, including 17a if we take Bluejacket’s corrected version, is a line in iambic pentameter (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, five times). If you take all the across clue surfaces in order, they become 14 lines of iambic pentameter with rhymes in all the right places: in other words, a sonnet. The same applies to all the down clue surfaces.