The blogging cycle brings me Serpent again which is no bad thing.
Serpent has brought some innovation to the puzzles done so far both in terms of themes and clueing, and the same is true for this puzzle.
This has a intriguing “numerical” theme with various mathematical terms accurately used, and some wordplay using references not only to the key answer at 11 Across ONE, but also with references to the previous clue or answers. Very sneaky.
I was lucky enough to have the time it required to solve it and so I enjoyed this a lot.
Thanks Serpent
[ There may be some wordplay explanations that are not quite right. ]
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | RECITAL | Reading article in the wrong way (7) ARTICLE* AInd: in the wrong way |
| 5 | FANZINE | Niche publication‘s excellent coverage of Australia and New Zealand (7) FINE (excellent) around A[ustralia] and N[ew] Z[ealand] |
| 9 | PORTMANTEAU WORD | Promise that case will introduce precedent? (11,4) WORD (promise) introduced by PORTMANTEAU (case – a kind of suitcase). The Def. is a reference to the previous answer FANZINE which is an example of a P W |
| 10 | SAINT HELENA | Island popular with the British and French lying within South Africa and Namibia’s borders (5,6) IN (popular) THE (“The” in British) LE (“The” in French) all between (lying within) S[outh Afric]A and N[amibi]A. First one in. |
| 11 | ONE | Number between 0 and 2.718 … (3) &Lit definition which is a charade of O (0) N (Number) E (2.718 – properly lowercase e, the base of natural logarithms <Wiki Link> ) |
| 12 | ELLIPSIS | … lies at regular intervals on endless curve (8) IS (from [l]I[e]S – lies at regular intervals) after (on) ELLIPS[e] (Curve, endless). Another sneaky definition – the clue begins with “…” which I’ve underlined above though it is difficult to see. The matching … at the end of the previous clue is there to make the two clues run together as a sensible sentence |
| 14 | UNITED | 11–a-side? (6) Double Def. 11 = ONE the first of several references to that answer |
| 17 | SINGLE | 11 or 7-inch? (6) Another Double Def. Another reference to 11 = ONE |
| 19 | FACTOTUM | Non-fiction books let me think he’s useful in many ways (8) FACT (Non-fiction) OT (books – Old Testament) UM (let me think) |
| 22 | SUM | Cumulative effect of wrestling without entering ring (3) SUM[o] |
| 23 | ACQUIESCENT | Stress about question that is the first stage in someone consenting (11) ACCENT (stress) around QU[estion] IE (that is) S[omeone] |
| 25 | CARDINAL NUMBERS | Cannibals murder unfortunate figures, the smallest being 11 (8,7) (CANNIBALS MURDER)* AInd: unfortunate. 11 = ONE. Actually, the smallest Cardinal Number <Wiki Link> is Zero |
| 26 | SILENCE | Muted reaction after being invaded by the French (7) SINCE (after) around (invaded by) LE (the French, again). Coincidentally I went to see the new Martin Scorsese film “Silence” a couple of days ago, which I enjoyed and have been thinking about a lot since which must be some kind of recommendation, but I would not suggest going if squeamish <YouTube Trailer>. |
| 27 | LICENSE | Allow predecessor to get out of order (7) SILENCE* AInd: get out of order. The anagram fodder here is supplied by “predecessor” referring to the answer of the previous clue. This was the Last One In and very much the last bit of wordplay I understood, only when writing this blog and giving it a final bout of Deep Thought ™ |
| Down | ||
| 1 | REPOSSESS | What bailiff may do rests on entering rear of properties repeatedly (9) REPOSES (rests) with S from [propertie]S repeatedly entered. Hang on – is that wordplay the right way around … … I’m not explaining this right. This is one of those where I thought I understood the wordplay when solving only to find there is more to it than at first sight |
| 2 | CORDIAL | My face is friendly (7) COR (My – exclamation) DIAL (face – either of a timepiece, or by extension Cockney Rhyming Slang) |
| 3 | TEMPT | Appeal to dictator’s worked on a short-term basis (5) Homophone: “Temped” HInd: dictator’s |
| 4 | LINGERIE | Girlie magazine’s “ultimate pair” shot in underwear (8) (GIRLIE [magazi]NE)* AInd: shot. The second clue I got an the one that gave me the biggest laugh. Also my favourite clue. Yes, I am that childish |
| 5 | FLEXED | Crooked former partner left before getting arrested by US agent (6) EX (former partner) L[eft] inside (getting arrested by) FED (US agent) |
| 6 | NEURAL NET | Learn tune having developed artificial intelligence (6,3) (LEARN TUNE)* AInd: having developed |
| 7 | IRON OUT | Say how female becomes male to resolve issues (4,3) [fe]MALE: You must take Iron FE from FEMALE to get MALE. One of the last solved – only from crossing letters and then reverse engineering the reverse engineered wordplay |
| 8 | ENDUE | Provide with support to eliminate resistance (5) ENDURE (support) – R[esistance] |
| 13 | PULSATION | Beating of one’s heart is up a lot following training (9) [o]N[e] (one’s heart) after (IS UP A LOT)* AInd: Training. I wonder if Serpent considered another reference to 11 for ONE in this clue? |
| 15 | DEMITASSE | Small vessel‘s incomplete attempt measured after capsizing (9) ESSA[y] (attempt, incomplete) TIMED (measured) all reversed (capsizing). Yet another bit of wordplay ground out after getting the only possible answer from the crossing letters |
| 16 | RATIONAL | Reasonable description of 11 and 25, in particular, and in general (8) Crypic Def. referring to 11 = ONE (in particular – i.e. a single instance) and 25 = CARDINAL NUMBERS (in general, i.e. a whole class of rational numbers) |
| 18 | NUMERAL | I represented 11 in this capacity … (7) I in Roman numerals is 1 (11 = ONE), so does this cound as a Cryptic Def. or is it simply a complex Single Def. |
| 20 | THEREIN | … consequently admitting about 11 into it (7) THEN (consequently) around (admitting) RE (about) and I (11 = ONE) |
| 21 | SQUARE | Fair description of 11 and 25, in particular, but not in general (6) Another mathematical Cryptic Def. referring to 11 = ONE which is 1^2 and 25 as 5^2 in particular, but not 25 = CARDINAL NUMBERS because many of that set of numbers are not SQUAREs |
| 22 | SOCKS | Clothing has to be removed from cushions in church (5) [has]SOCKS from HASSOCKS (cushions in church) – HAS |
| 24 | SUMAC | Educational facilities set up without power plant (5) CAMPUS (educational facilities) – P[ower] all reversed (set up ) |
Very clever stuff. Nice.
Isn’t part of the wordplay in ( that PORTMANTEAU is itself a PORTMANTEAU WORD? Lewis Carroll was a fan (or possibly not) of them and also of numbers, perhaps I’m over thinking this.
The schoolboy in me could add rather too many links to 4d in other answers…
Thanks Serpent and Beermagnet.
A small typo in 19ac: the books are of course OT not TO.
Thanks PB now corrected along with a couple of other typos.
And Sidey, I didn’t know or realize PORTMANTEAU is itself a P W but it surely is from the French, but the clue for 9A definitely references FANZINE.
I think Lewis Caroll actually invented the expression “portmanteau word” – it comes from Humpty Dumpty’s explanation of the word “slithy” (= slimy + lithe) in Jabberwocky to Alice: “You see it’s like a portmanteau — there are two meanings packed up into one word.” Sadly the PW in most common current use is the horrible (in every sense) “Brexit”.
Thanks Beermagnet for explaining 11 ac. I know very little about Mathematics (have to think about the “submit comment” tester sometimes) so had to rely upon correct parsing to solve but that’s the way I like it. For me it was quite a challenge. Thanks Serpent, a very clever puzzle.
This took a bit of getting into, with only SUM and FLEXED on my first pass, but it all fell into place. I thought we might be heading for a pangram when K,Q,X and Z turned up, but not this time. Held up briefly on 10ac till I realised ‘South Africa’ was simply SA and not the international code ZA.
Andrew @4: Yes, Chambers implies and Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable asserts that Lewis Carroll did indeed invent the term ‘Portmanteau Word’. Interestingly, a portmanteau word has to combine both the sound and the sense of its two components.
ONE has to be my CoD for its conciseness.
Thanks, Serpent and beermagnet.
Liked the way that when the going got tough the clues still fell pretty regularly. Of course, I didn’t quite finish (I’m a drunkard, not a mathematician, Jim), but I enjoyed the solve and especially 17a, which was a good fit for both me and my sense of humour. Cheers to the snake and the ale-covered blogger.
A lovely set of numbers.
A fun challenge. Initially frustrating until 11ac clicked and then the rest made much more sense. I liked the combination of word and number play, and the less obvious references to other clues, i.e. ‘precedent’ and ‘predecessor’.
Sorry I didn’t manage to pop in on over the weekend to say many thanks to beermagnet for the excellent blog and for everyone’s kind comments.
Jason