We found this Radian a bit of a challenge for a Tuesday, but one we really enjoyed tackling.
The level of difficulty of the clues varied widely, which at least enabled a quick start, but then we hit a bit of a brick wall. We finally managed to get through the puzzle and were surprised to find one clue (6d) with two sets of wordplay and the definition in the middle – something we don’t remember having come across before, and one clue (27ac) with two definitions and wordplay – another rarity.
There is a theme based around ‘Utopia’ (22d) written in 1516 – the clue makes reference to 27ac, 9d and 20d – other expressions for an ‘ideal place’.
10ac refers to Sir Thomas More, the author of 22d. 29ac by 13ac features a young man living in a type of 22d and the entries at 11, 12, 14, 17, 19 and 28ac and 7 and 8d could all to a greater or lesser extent be associated with Utopian concepts.
It’s a pity that the human race doesn’t seem to be able to put Utopian principles into practice 500 years after the book was first written!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | Quarrel with one call centre about room (7) | |
| SPATIAL | SPAT (quarrel) I (one) |
|
| 5 | Ignoring the odds, finches followed calf (3,4) | |
| ICE FLOE | Even letters only (‘ignoring the odds’) of fInChEs FoLlOwEd – an ice floe or iceberg is the result of a glacier ‘calving’ – when a large piece of ice breaks off the glacier and floats into the sea | |
| 10 | Extra mushroom, last to be eaten (4) | |
| MORE | MORE |
|
| 11 | Each sunflower head in pot is more delightful (10) | |
| PLEASANTER | EA (each) S (first letter or ‘head’ of ‘sunflower’) in PLANTER (pot) | |
| 12 | Workers gather this case of claret in, just about (6) | |
| NECTAR | C and T (first and last letters or ‘case’ of ‘claret’) in NEAR (just about) | |
| 13 | Satirist’s rendition of chamber music? (8) | |
| VOLTAIRE | A homophone or ‘rendition’ of VAULT (chamber) AIR (music) | |
| 14 | Duke meets crooked alderman in castle in Spain? (9) | |
| DREAMLAND | D (duke) + an anagram of ALDERMAN – anagrind is ‘crooked’ – to ‘build castles in Spain’ is to create impossible dreams | |
| 16 | Tweak soft part of foot (5) | |
| PINCH | P (soft) INCH (part of foot) | |
| 17 | Little miner very quiet in bed (5) | |
| HAPPY | PP (very quiet) in HAY (bed) – a reference to one of the Seven Dwarfs (‘little miners’) in ‘Snow White’ | |
| 19 | EU partner ruined entrance (9) | |
| ENRAPTURE | An anagram of EU PARTNER – anagrind is ‘ruined’ | |
| 23 | Leaves end and start of hole, say (5,3) | |
| GREEN TEA | GREEN (the ‘end’ of a hole in golf) + a homophone (‘say’) of TEE (the ‘start’ of a hole on golf) | |
| 24 | Damn Anglicans coming round for cash (6) | |
| CHANGE | HANG (a euphemism for ‘damn’) with CE (Church of England – Anglicans) ‘coming round’ | |
| 26 | Definitive and neat, using Spanish not Latin (10) | |
| UNDISPUTED | UNDI |
|
| 27 | English study project in Cornwall garden (4) | |
| EDEN | A double definition, with wordplay E (English) DEN (study) | |
| 28 | See Welsh girl that’s divine (7) | |
| ELYSIAN | ELY (See, as in bishopric) SIAN (Welsh girl) | |
| 29 | Work by 13 John performed with energy (7) | |
| CANDIDE | CAN (John – toilet) DID (performed) E (energy) – a satire by Voltaire (13 across) | |
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | Unit stops landing spacecraft (7) | |
| PIONEER | ONE (unit) in or ‘stopping’ PIER (landing) | |
| 3 | Doctor runs into milk supplier (5) | |
| TREAT | R (runs) in TEAT (milk supplier) | |
| 4 | Clothes soldiers wear are shocking (7) | |
| APPAREL | RE (Royal engineers – soldiers) in or ‘wearing’ APPAL (are shocking) | |
| 6 | Actors like empty citadel, not one in Spanish region (6) | |
| CASTLE | This is very unusual – two alternative wordplays with the definition in the middle 1): CAST (actors) L |
|
| 7 | He imagines deviant saint breaking abstinence (9) | |
| FANTASIST | An anagram of SAINT (anagrind is ‘deviant’) in or ‘breaking’ FAST (abstinence) | |
| 8 | It could be nightmarish acting in Morecambe, I gathered (7) | |
| ONEIRIC | ON (acting in) ERIC (of Morecambe and Wise) round or ‘gathering’ I (one) – a new word for us | |
| 9 | Perfect spot to welcome new one in home (6,2,5) | |
| HEAVEN ON EARTH | AVE (welcome) N (new) ONE in HEARTH (home) | |
| 15 | Each pupil initially put in requests for sweets (5,4) | |
| APPLE PIES | E |
|
| 18 | Left behind Andrea after surgery on kidney (7) | |
| ADRENAL | L (left) behind an anagram of ANDREA – anagrind is ‘after surgery’ | |
| 20 | A Republican poster blocks spies in ideal place (7) | |
| ARCADIA | A R (Republican) +AD (poster) in or ‘blocking’ CIA (spies) | |
| 21 | Newspaper went for growth in US (7) | |
| RAGWEED | RAG (newspaper) WEED (urinated or ‘went’) | |
| 22 | Impromptu, to pianists, offers 27, 9 or 20 (6) | |
| UTOPIA | Hidden or ‘offered’ in imprompU TO PIAnists – references to other ideal places at 27ac, 9d and 20d | |
| 25 | 24 hands stuck in plug (5) | |
| AMEND | MEN (hands) ‘stuck’ in AD (plug) – a synonym of 24ac | |
I’ve come over all mellow after doing this. Almost, but not quite so relaxed as to even think of trying some GREEN TEA to prolong the inner peace.
Yes, 6 was interesting wasn’t it – a rare clue with the def in the middle and 2 bits of wordplay. Didn’t know about the Eden Project so the cleverness of 27 passed me by.
Good fun trying to identify all the theme related clues before returning to the far from Utopian world of Work tomorrow.
Thanks to Radian and B&J
Thanks, B and J. I fully agree with the first sentence of your preamble.
I thought this was a very interesting and very clever puzzle, most intricately constructed. I really enjoyed working out all the connections.
I started putting ticks beside clues but find I have too many to list and, in any case, this puzzle is more than the sum of its parts – something of a classic itself.
Many thanks to Radian – I thought it was heavenly. 😉
I liked this as I like this setter-my only beef is SP for Spanish-bit passé-good otherwise and thanks for blog.