After a day with very little in the grid but the bottom right hand corner, I was beginning to fear that this was the one I couldn’t finish (blogger’s nightmare!). I had a similar experience with the last Dysart puzzle I blogged, back in 2014. However HICCATEE and OTELLO got me started at the top left and solving took place slowly over the next two days. I was delayed by having entered BUD instead of DUB at 18D and therefore having no possible word for 17A, and only CONDOR as a sensible entry for the unclued at 25A. Even when I had corrected 18D, the clue and answer to 17A were quite surprising – and an excellent clue it was! I also spent an unreasonable time trying to sort out the wordplay for LATHE (q.v.) which, for a sailor, is shameful.
I spent time searching for a novel called “Crimes at . . .” until the correction of 18D led me to COWBOY (not condor) for 25A. MIDNIGHT COWBOY was a late 60s film starring Dustin Hoffman and John Voight (who I had to look up). So were we looking for other MIDNIGHTs? Yes – because not crimes, but CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT, IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, MIDNIGHT FLYER, AFTER MIDNIGHT, TOM’S MIDNIGHT GARDEN and, most unexpectedly MIDNIGHT‘S CHILDREN all fitted the bill. I spent a lot of time puzzling over words to fit SC?IL . . . before getting the last one.
So who were the names associated with the titles? In alphabetical order of grid entries, “After Midnight” is by Eric CLAPTON, “Chimes at Midnight” is a film by Orson WELLES, “Midnight Cowboy” stared John VOIGHT, “Midnight Flyer” is a song by the EAGLES, “In the Midnight Hour” is a song by Wilson PICKETT, “Midnight’s Children” is by Salman RUSHDIE and “Tom’s Midnight Garden” is by Philippa PEARCE. All these were easily located in the supplementary clues.
So we had to locate MIDNIGHT in the grid in a “cryptically apt” shape. While preparing the grid for this blog in Excel, I spotted midnight in the shape of a 6? starting with the M of CHIMES. No! Not a 6 but a G – mid niGht – cryptically apt indeed. (I’m afraid that the G I have drawn in the grid below is made up of straight lines – my computer drawing skills in Excel didn’t stretch to doing a decent freehand curve.)
A good mantra for Inquisitor solvers is “when in doubt look on the diagonal”, so I looked and duly found the appropriate WITCHING HOUR on the bottom left to top right diagonal.
I really enjoyed this one, Dysart, so our thanks to you for an entertaining solve.
Supplementary Clues |
||
|---|---|---|
| Clue (anagram of name) | Corresponding Grid Entry | Name |
| A plug was not placed properly in its socket | AFTER | Eric CLAPTON |
| Arundel, Lewes and Rye are all towns in Sussex | CHIMES AT | Orson WELLES |
| It’s rather hot, given the time of year | COWBOY | John VOIGHT |
| Forecast includes gale alert for the south | FLYER | The EAGLES |
| Time was short and the clock kept ticking | IN THE HOUR | Wilson PICKETT |
| Stephen Fry is admired for his erudition | S CHILDREN | Salman RUSHDIE |
| My brother caught three carp and one roach | TOM’S GARDEN | Philippa PEARCE |
Across |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue (definition) | Answer | Wordplay |
| 1 | Husband retires from ethical work providing a range of services (7) | ONE-STOP | HONEST OP (ethical work) minus H(usband) |
| 10 | Tortoise almost catches hare at the end, I recollected (8) | HICCATEE | [CATCHE(s) (har)E I]* |
| 11 | Japanese swimmers display used robes (4) | AYUS | Hidden (robes) in displAY USed |
| 12 | If you upset this brute you get mostly swagger (3) | ORC | reversed it is almost CROW (swagger) |
| 13 | Nothing new for the leader of art movement (4) | NADA | DADA ( leader of art movement) with N(ew) replacing first letter |
| 14 | Temporary place to preach, ardently spurning books as last commandment ordered? (7) | TENTHLY | TENT (temporary place to preach) + HOTLY (ardently) minus OT (Old Testament books) |
| 15 | Sit-in regularly banned by low-down people with influence (5) | GENII | (S)I(t)-I(n) (regularly deleted) after GEN (low-down) |
| 17 | Thirteen coming off and on to adjust line of balls? (8) | GONADIAL | [NADAOIGL]* – thirteen across is NADA, (c)O(m)I(n)G off and on is OIG + L(ine) |
| 19 | Put into practice bill checked by medical department (5) | ENACT | AC (bill) in ENT (medical department) |
| 20 | Mishandled dues might be so described (7) | ILL-USED | [USED]* = DUES with ILL as anagram indicator |
| 22 | Rough hands grasping a sister in retreat (4) | HARSH | HH (hh = hands – height of a horse) round A + SR (sister) reversed |
| 27 | Kept ready at some time to be charged by electric current (5, 2 words) | ON ICE | ONCE (at some time) round I (electric current) |
| 28 | Weight of numbers on earth (5) | TONNE | TO (of) + NN (numbers) + E(arth) |
| 31 | These catch wild animals periodically – primarily twirling ropes (6) | RIATAS | Excellent &lit clue: Anagram of A(n)I(m)A(l)S + T(wirling) + R(opes) i.e. [AIASTR]* |
| 32(l) | One finds these insects grow, developing large forewings (6) | ELFINS | [ELFINS GROW]* = L(arge) + FOREWINGS |
| 33 | Cardinal overturning vote for socially depressed (6) | WOLSEY | YES (vote) + LOW (socially depressed) all reversed |
Down |
|||
| 2 | Accurate article covering area of ancient city (7) | NICAEAN | NICE (accurate) round A(rea) + AN (article) |
| 3 | Continental leaving academy inspires college hippy? (7) | SCIATIC | Sciatic is “of the hip”: ASIATIC (continental) minus A(cademy) + C(ollege) |
| 4 | Uninspiring players – number 2 needs relegating (4) | TAME | Second letter of TEAM (players) moved to end |
| 5 | Count in love, lead character in Offenbach’s opera (6) | OTELLO | TELL (count) in O (love) + O(ffenbach) |
| 6 | Troublesome parts of communication app switched (5) | PESKY | SKYPE (communication app) with parts switched |
| 7 | Irishman’s wild with athletic German grabbing the centre (7) | FEARGAL | FERAL (wild) with A(thletic) G(erman) round middle letter R |
| 8 | This turns heads, man! (5) | LATHE | LAT (latrine = heads) + HE (man) |
| 9 | Fraud intermittently rampant in game of gambling for money (4) | EURO | EO (gambling game) round (f)R(a)U(d) (rampant = reversed) |
| 12 | Avifauna on island circling river (5) | ORNIS | ON + IS(land) round R(iver) |
| 16 | Husband’s warlike – I must move (7) | MARITAL | MARTIAL (warlike) with the I moved |
| 18 | Call Virginia’s mate up (3) | DUB | BUD is American (Virginia’s) mate |
| 21 | One dwelling in old rickety tent (6) | LODGER | [OLD]* + GER (tent) |
| 23 | Venetian merchant losing weight tours zone in Italian City (5) | ANZIO | ANTONIO (The Merchant of Venice) minus TON (weight) round Z(one) |
| 24 | Late payment ending in fines for Blair and Cameron, perhaps (5) | SCOTS | SCOT (historical payment) + (fine)S |
| 25 | Boy that’s timid and nervous about little girl, heading off (5) | CISSY | C (about) + (m)ISSY (little girl, heading off) |
| 26 | Britain leaving union? It’s a rumour (5) | ON-DIT | BOND (union) minus B(ritain) + IT |
| 28 | Indian drums, lacking bass providing rhythm for Ravi Shankar (4) | TALA | TABLA (Indian drums) minus B(ass) |
| 29 | Composer working for France (4) | ORFF | Carl Orff: [FOR]* + F(rance) |
| 30 | Line nearly snares a rare bird (4) | NENE | Hidden in LiNE NEarly |
Thanks HHB and Dysart.
Enjoyed this one, but never quite figured out the implications of the title. Am I being thick?
Thanks from me too, to both Dysart and Hihoba.
@1 When I spotted my first MIDNIGHT (from CHIMES AT), another look at the title brought to mind an early T.S. Eliot poem:
Thanks to DL @2. I did Google “Memory Shaker” but got nothing. I’m afraid early T.S.Eliot is way outside my comfort zone! That adds the final piece to the jigsaw.
A thoroughly enjoyable Halloween treat. I spotted the titles we were looking for pretty quickly, which left an easyish grid fill. I had a slight concern that we should have been doing more with the extra clues than unscrambling letters, but it appears not…
I too was foxed by the title into thinking that the theme word related to something a bit further in the PAST than a few hours ago … and thus got very excited when I found YESTERDAY’S CHILDREN, YESTERDAY COWBOY and AFTER YESTERDAY. At that time the only anagram I was fairly sure about was WELLES. Only after a lot of fruitless further searching, did “Midnight’s Children” and Rushdie unlock the rest. I then took particular care to draw a LINE through the “mid ni G ht” G, rather than highlighting the cells, as I had wrongly done in another recent IQ. But now I realise that I drew it like Hihoba’s, without realising, like he did, that a single curving line was what the preamble required … “for the want of a nail, the chocolates were lost” ?
Thanks, Dysart for GONADIAL … I shall certainly find an opportunity to use it in a future letter, e.g “Thank you for your, frankly, gonadial comments.”
Enjoyable puzzle – I spotted the diagonal fairly early which led me to MIDNIGHT
I’m stunned that you had to lok up Jon Voight!
Thanks to setter and blogger
Chimes at Midnight is one of my all-time favourites, and I saw it coming pretty quickly. But the rest of the grid-fill was by no means straightforward (Midnight Flyer is new to me). The one answer I never got was ‘tenthly’ – so I had a pretty frustrating time looking for midnight in the grid. It seems obvious now.
Thanks to Dysart and Hihoba
Like Hi, I had a very slow start and wondered if this one was going to escape me. Some of the clues were a bit intimidating at first but, once solved, it became clear that the wordplay was very tight and often quite ingenious. I also had trouble with SC?E? on the RHS and had SCOUNDREL pencilled in as the only possibility, which then held me up with the intersecting entries. When I eventually sorted these, S CHILDREN jumped out at me and the penny dropped.
A very enjoyable and satisfying solve!
Thanks to D & H
I got off at a flying start with a lucky guess of AFTER MIDNIGHT in the bottom right corner, though I knew this as a film not a song. I hunted around for a few other likely midnights and started finding them all over the place, the diagonal soon followed. The TS Eliot reference was also familiar though I couldn’t have quoted it verbatim. On film, books and poetry I’m on safe ground. After a long run of DNFs I’m back on a winning streak again! Very pleasing. Thanks to Dysart and Hihoba.
Many digressions en route as usual, though, looking hopefully for such random mental flotsam as David Anthony (The Midnight Lady and the Mourning Man), Gerald Kersh (Prelude to a Certain Midnight), Terry Pratchett (I Shall Wear Midnight), J.B. Priestley (Midnight on the Desert), and more from the world of books, plus various iterations of Midnight Lady.
Many thanks for your comments, which are much appreciated. The puzzle wasn’t intended to be as hard as it turned out to be. One of my regular test solvers, who usually finds my puzzles hard, said it was the easiest Dysart he’d tackled and thought I should make it touch stiffer. He’s a drama expert and got CHIMES AT (MIDNIGHT) very early on, which made it easy for him to get the rest of the thematic entries. As a result of his test solve I did make things tougher in that area, but in retrospect I think I should have left it as it was.
Some may have wondered about the point of the supplementary clues. I was concerned about 7a and the possibility of someone finding a ‘Midnight Flier’ on the internet. The supplementary clues seemed to me a good way of removing any potential ambiguity.
Dysart