For the second week running, a single (unfair?) clue detained me as long as the rest of the puzzle…
Some good stuff today from Crux this morning – a great start with 1 across a favourite – but the fun rather sucked out of it by 21 down. Or was it only me?
| Across | ||
| 1 | Y-CHROMOSOMES | One of them to a cell is the norm among monks (1-11) |
| Cryptic: Y-chromosomes are exclusively male and so are monks. | ||
| 10 | OBLONGS | Old British pines assume specific shapes (7) |
| O (‘old’) + B (‘British’) + LONGS (‘pines’). | ||
| 11 | ODDBALL | A nonconformist’s unusual dance (7) |
| ODD (‘unusual’) + BALL (‘dance’) | ||
| 12 | THING | Object to wealth in Greece? Not entirely (5) |
| Inclusion (‘not entirely’) in ‘wealTH IN Greece’. | ||
| 13 | RED MAPLE | Canada’s standard leaf? (3,5) |
| Cryp for the tree shown on the Canadian flag (or ‘standard’). | ||
| 15 | TREADMILLS | Model factories incorporate study and gym equipment (10) |
| T (old Ford ‘model’) + MILLS (‘factories’) to include READ (‘study’ at university). | ||
| 16 | ORAL | Language test ends in fiasco for drama school (4) |
| Last letters (‘ends’) of last 4 words. | ||
| 18 | AIRS | Songs written in couplets? Not initially (4) |
| pAIRS without its initial letter. | ||
| 20 | TERRA FIRMA | Sound of a monster more securely fixed in solid ground (5,5) |
| Homophones of ‘terror’ + ‘firmer’. | ||
| 22 | NOVEMBER | Associate (not me!) starts with short book of the month (8) |
| MEMBER (‘associate’) without ME after NOVEL, shortened. | ||
| 24 | PECAN | Prance, not run, around a nut tree (5) |
| Anagram (around’) of PRANCE without its R. | ||
| 26 | NOT A LOT | A few in total disarray following negative vote (3,1,3) |
| NO is a ‘negative vote’, then anagram of TOTAL. | ||
| 27 | INSULIN | Hormone giving 50% protection from cold at home (7) |
| Half of INSULation (‘protection from cold’) + IN (‘at home’). | ||
| 28 | DRAGONS TEETH | They are sown to cause trouble, specifically to tanks (7-5) |
| Double cryptic: mythologically, Jason sowed dragons’ teeth from which sprang a bolshy bunch of warriors who fought among themselves. Dragons’ teeth are also pyramidal concrete tank-traps. Educational stuff today. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | COLLIDE | Pass with top poor mark causes conflict (7) |
| COL (a mountain ‘pass’) + LID (‘top’) + E (the mark I got in my physics ‘O’-level). | ||
| 3 | RENEGADE | English grandee turns out a traitor (8) |
| Anagram of E (‘English) & GRANDEE. | ||
| 4 | MUSH | Cornmeal said to get dogs moving (4) |
| Double def: grits & husky-instructions. | ||
| 5 | SMOKE ALARM | Cigarette scare provides vital wake-up call (5,5) |
| SMOKE (‘cigarette’) + SCARE (‘alarm’). | ||
| 6 | MODEM | Poem written in 2000 with outdated IT device (5) |
| ODE (‘poem’) + MM (Roman 2000), plus a def from the days when I still understood computers. | ||
| 7 | SCARPER | Escape in this car, perhaps (7) |
| Inclusion in ‘thiS CAR PERhaps’. | ||
| 8 | POTTY TRAINING | Crazy instruction the young must sit through (5,8) |
| POTTY (‘crazy’) + TRAINING (‘instruction’) & half lit (“instruction…) | ||
| 9 | SLEEP-LEARNING | All engineers, working with pressure, study overnight (5-8) |
| Anagram (‘working’) of ALL ENGINEERS & P (‘pressure’). | ||
| 14 | GIVE VENT TO | Bizarrely, I’ve got a hole inside to let off steam (4,4,2) |
| VENT (‘a hole’) in anagram (bizzarely’) of I’VE GOT. Not sure the def’s grammatically perfect, but heigh-ho. | ||
| 17 | OFF-PISTE | Where skiers venture in spite of fine, stupidly (3-5) |
| Anagram of IN SPITE OF + F (‘fine’) & sort of jocular whole clue definition. | ||
| 19 | RIVETED | Enthralled with Bolt taking triple record ultimately (7) |
| BOLT + last letters of trplE recorD. | ||
| 21 | ROCKLET | Capital of the Bear State you might say (7) |
| Cryptic, and then some. H’mm. Did any non-American get this without help? Arkansas is nicknamed, among other things, the ‘Bear State’ and its capital is Little Rock, hence, I presume, ‘rocklet’, not a word I’ve ever heard of and, tellingly, not in Chambers. Hard, bordering on completely unfair, imho. | ||
| 23 | MALTA | Island whisky, last from Jura (5) |
| MALT + jurA. That’s more like it. | ||
| 25 | PINS | Secret numbers of use to dressmakers (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
*anagram
No Grant, you weren’t alone in having problems with 21d; I wouldn’t have got it without your help, so thank you very much.
Apart from that, an easily accessible, enjoyable puzzle, liked 1ac particularly. Thank you Crux.
I agree with you about 21d. I considered ROCKLET as the only word that seemed to fit with the crossers, but didn’t put it in as I had no idea about the parsing. Well done anyway for working it out – I wouldn’t have had a hope.
Otherwise I enjoyed this. Didn’t know the ‘They are sown’ bit of 28a, but guessed correctly from the ‘tanks’ def. I thought the ‘to let off steam’ for GIVE VENT TO was grammatically OK. I liked 8d (there was a similar clue, or answer, elsewhere a week or so ago) and 1a.
Thanks to Crux and Grant.
Yet another thumbs down for 21d. Tried findtheword as a last resort and it came up blank. Held up slightly thinking the first part of 8d was going to be ‘youth’, but eventually the penny dropped. Bit of a mixed bag all-in-all but enjoyable nonetheless.
21d got me. Even for this neighbor of Arkansas. Seems far fetched! Enjoyed 8d.
ROCKLET is in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
PS, the Encylopaedia Britannica is the parent company of Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.
To Cookie @5/6:
I don’t doubt the provenance of Merriam-Webster and wouldn’t want to enter into a Dictionary War but (you knew there was a ‘but’):
1) Chambers is, I’m told, the first resort of British crossworders. I have the electric version and only otherwise occasionally resort to
2) The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary (4th Ed., 2 vols, 3801pp, 1993), at £70 in those days still the most expensive new book I’ve ever bought, a thing of beauty and it don’t got ‘rocklet’ neither and
3) Did you solve 21d without help from Merriam-Webster? In which case, hats off to you, mate, it was a stinker!
Well I put in ROCKLET but only after much googling…
I still don’t get the clue – sure it’s a possible diminutive (“you might say”) of the capital of Arkansas – but where is the definition? All the clue is wordplay and it can’t be &lit because the clue does not describe a small rock/stone which is what a ROCKLET is (presumably!).
Anyway quite fun otherwise.
(btw wordplays.com has this clue in its database and gives the answer ROCKLIT ! Suspect their clue/solution harvesting of the major papers struggled with that one!)
Grant Baynham @7, unfortunately I am a slow solver and only manage to do the Guardian Cryptic (I am a supporter and subscribe to the Weekly), however, it was clear that the clue at 21d could be an American English word and you managed to solve it…
Is a small pebble a peblet, then? Harrumph!
21d. Rocklet is in the OED and defined as “a small rock”. It is first noted in 1845 in a poem by one Hirst. There are two other quotations in 1868 and 1880.
I thought 28a was a tad obscure, while 21d is so unfair as to warrant a place in the Enigmatist-Nimrod playbook – in which case it would no doubt be hailed by some commenters here as inspired clue-writing.
That apart, I’d say this was a pretty sound puzzle.
Thanks to Crux and Grant Baynham.
I had Islay instead of the correct MALTA. So ROCKLET was way beyond my ability. I was very proud of myself getting Y-CHROMASOME correct. Tough but enjoyable crossword. Thanks!
Just a thought about rocket – there’s no way I can see a definition: if it were money (capital) or city then it would be an and lit, but it is a small rock….
And thanks to Crux and GB….
Thanks Crux and Grant
I can remember when I could breeze through a Crux puzzle quite comfortably – but not the last couple and certainly not this one. I also played with YOUTH TRAINING at first with 8d before seeing the light, got ZIPS (thought a play on zip code might equate to ‘secret number’- but obviously overplayed it) and like many here stumbled my way to the finish line eventually with ROCKLET.
Agree that in the daily FT puzzle, and by any other setter other than perhaps Io, that this was probably a step too far – almost a triple layered wordplay with only a cryptic definition to work with. Was very pleased to eventually nut it out, albeit at a great cost of time in what was otherwise a busy day !!!
Apparently there is a phrase ‘sow DRAGON’S TEETH’ which basically means ‘to take an action to prevent strife but that action actually causes the strife’. This brings the first part of the clue into play and makes it a very good one.
Tough for a Tuesday, but an enjoyable solve overall for me.