Traditionally straightforward Tuesday puzzle from Dante, though I have a few gripes this morning…
Some nice clues – LIBRETTO was a favourite – but also one or two curiously unsatifying monents, which we’ll come to,,,| Across | ||
| 1 | BROLLY | One provides cover by bringing in bread (6) |
| ROLL (‘bread’) included in BY. | ||
| 4 | DR JEKYLL | The good side of a split personality (2,6) |
| Cryptic defnition. Dr. Jekyll – pronounced ‘Jeekle’, btw – was the alter ego of the evil Mr. Hyde in the famous Robert Louis Stevenson story of 1886. | ||
| 9 | STEP UP | Accelerate promotion (4,2) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 10 | DISTRAIT | Absent-minded girl’s distinguishing feature (8) |
| DI’S TRAIT. | ||
| 11 | BIPODS | They have two members in support (6) |
| WShole clue cryptic. | ||
| 12 | LIBRETTO | Party animal backing words to music (8) |
| LIB (the Liberal ‘party’) and OTTER, reversed, | ||
| 13 | BUN | Chelsea hair-style? (3) |
| Double def, or nearly. A ‘Chelsea bun’ is but one kind of bun, hence the question mark. | ||
| 14 | DEIDRE | Nastily deride a girl’s name (6) |
| Anagram (‘nastily’) of DERIDE. | ||
| 17 | SKI RUNS | Potential risks includes one in France for winter sportsmen (3,4) |
|
I find this a bit iffy. The construct seems clear: an anagram (‘potential’) of RISKS iuncludes UN, Fr. for ‘one’. But: |
||
| 21 | DICTUM | Some contradict umpire’s ruling (6) |
| Inclusion in contraDICT UMpire. | ||
| 25 | ACE | The only one in a suit (3) |
| E.g. the ace of spades, Nie enough cryptic whole clue. | ||
| 26 | PENZANCE | Feeling sorry about the last character in Cornish town (8) |
| PENANCE around ‘Z’, last character of the alphabet. Though again, ‘feeling sorry about’ doesn’t quite make ‘penance’ in my word-world. | ||
| 27 | SENIOR | Superior Spanish gentlemen I accommodated (6) |
| ‘I’ in SENOR. | ||
| 28 | RAIMENTS | There’s purpose in regular payments for clothes (8) |
| AIM in RENTS. Gosh, I’m being picky this morning but I have never seen ‘raiments’ in the plural before. It feels as awkward as ‘clothings’. | ||
| 29 | AUGURS | Anticipates a guru’s breakdown (6) |
| Anagram (‘breakdown’) of A GURUS. | ||
| 30 | SENTENCE | Condemn in just a few words (8) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 31 | GENEVA | The spirit of Holland – or Switzerland? (6) |
| Double definition. Here I go again. In what sense is Geneva ‘the spirit of Switzerland’? | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BUSYBODY | An energetic group, one out to make mischief (8) |
| An energetic group could be a ‘busy body’. | ||
| 2 | OVERPAID | More than father I had, though not worth it apparently (8) |
| OVER (‘more than’) PA (‘father’) and I’D (I HAD). | ||
| 3 | LAUNDERS | Illegally transfers in Arundel’s Exchange (8) |
| Anagram (‘exchange’) of ARUNDEL’S. | ||
| 5 | RAISIN | Endlessly producing fruit (6) |
| RAISINg without that final ‘G’. | ||
| 6 | EXTORT | Exact, though once wrong? (6) |
| EX (‘once’) + TORT , a legal ‘wrong’. To ‘exact’ is a verb here, obvs. | ||
| 7 | YEASTY | Giving rise to food and drink (6) |
| Whole clue cryptic, though skinny again, imho. How does yeast give a ‘rise’ to, say, beer? | ||
| 8 | LETS ON | Reveals impediment to one’s offspring (4,2) |
| LET, a hindrance, + SON (‘offspring’). | ||
| 12 | LUCRECE | Rape victim gives money to church (7) |
| LUCRE (usually ‘filthy’ for some reason, = ‘money’) + CE for ‘church’. Lucretia (‘LUCRECE’ in the Shakespeare poem) was a Roman noblewoman who commited suicide after her notorious rape. | ||
| 15 | EKE | Part of a “Weekend Supplement” (3) |
| Inclusion in weEKEnd. | ||
| 16 | AND | With an initial dividend (3) |
| AN + D for Dividend. | ||
| 18 | SINECURE | Soft spot your boss has for you? (8) |
| Whole clue cryptic. | ||
| 19 | ATTITUDE | Outlook from carriage (8) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 20 | AMBROSIA | First-class fare for the Olympics (8) |
| Whole clue cryptic. Ambrosia was the food of the Greek gods, who lived on Mount Olympus. | ||
| 22 | SPARKS | Inspires wireless operators (6) |
| Doub le definition. ‘Sparks’ (same singular & plural) is the nickname for military comms guys, and also theatre & film lighting technicians. | ||
| 23 | ENSIGN | Flag Officer? (6) |
| Double definition. And the question-mark is probably unnecessary because an ensign isn’t entitled to carry a flag denoting his rank and is therefore NOT a flag-officer. Just so’s you know. | ||
| 24 | SAPELE | Please order wood like mahogany (6) |
| Anagram (‘order’) of PLEASE. | ||
| 25 | ACETIC | One getting over show of nerves can be really sour (6) |
| ACE (‘one’) over (this being a Down clue) TIC (‘show of nerves’). | ||
*anagram
‘Raiment’ may mean “clothing in general” in which case it might be uncountable.
I believe ‘raiment’ could also mean “an article of dress” in which case it is countable.
I think the plural form need not be sneezed at.
11ac could alternatively be BIPEDS.
On checking, I find “The spirit of Switzerland” often comes up in crossword clues, and the answer is always GENEVA – DANTE has put a question mark.
Rishi @1, the Macmillan Dictionary gives “raiment” as uncountable, but the Oxford Dictionary gives the plural RAIMENTS.
In Spanish Geneva is Ginebra and ginebra is gin. I don’t know whether it has anything to do with this but that’s how I got the answer. I don’t know about the Holland part though.
Capita @5, I used to think the city of GENEVA was named after the juniper bush (genévrier in French), the berries of which are used to flavour gin, but this is not so – the name of the city comes from the same root as the French for knee, genou, or bend in the sense of a bending river, here the Rhône.
Thanks Dante and Grant
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Dante and it took a little while to get on to his wavelength again. Some comments on some of the clues that the blog had issues with:
SKI RUNS: I took this as a semi &lit – with the whole clue giving the definition (read with a comma or dash after ‘risks’ and therefore keeping the grammar legal, I think) and the word play as you’ve described.
PENANCE: I found a definition in the FreeDictionary (closely aligned to Collins) that gives – “a feeling of regret for one’s wrongdoings” – it seemed close enough for me.
RAIMENTS: in the Oxford dictionary, it gives a verbal definition of RAIMENT “to provide clothes or put clothes on” which would then make sense.
GENEVA is a little more difficult to defend – I’m sure that the intent was in the sense of Cookie@1’s clue, but the calling out that GENEVA is specifically a Dutch gin would imply that ‘or Switzerland’ implies a spirit of Switzerland rather than GENEVA as just a place in Switzerland.
The official answer to 11a was BIPEDS.
Found that I enjoyed the puzzle and his idiosyncratic way with the English language to generate his cryptic and double definition clues. His style was appreciated even more after having not done one of his puzzles for a long time.
Finished in the NE corner with BUSYBODY, OVERPAID and STEP UP.
I remember the puzzle well & was surprised it was that old. Still, better late than never, although 2 years must be some sort of record. Well played.
In retrospect I was perhaps a bit hard on poor old Dante, and certainly presumptuous, though I still think some of the clues were a bit woolly round the edges. But, water under the bridge & all that, and it’s always good to have some talk-about-ability in the blog, no matter how late in the day. Cheers, Bruce!