Hob has provided this puzzle, aptly published on the first day of this new month.
I thoroughly enjoyed this crossword, which has a lot going on it, with the main theme explained below alongside 16 and a subsidiary theme at 1A 4A. I am not sure that I have done justice to the puzzle in my parsings, so fellow solvers should feel free to chip in and correct me where my attempts need to be improved upon.
What I do know is that I thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle, especially when I realised what the main theme was and understood that the puzzle had no doubt been deliberately scheduled for today. That said, a solver could successfully have completed the puzzle without ever realising anything was going on. Something for everyone, in other words!
No particular favourites today, perhaps with the exception of 10, for its use of “screens”. For me, this is one of those puzzles where the whole is significantly greater than the sum of its individual parts.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | ROUGH | Part of golf course where below par?
Double definition: the “rough” is the area of uncut grass beside a green or a fairway AND to feel “rough” is to feel below par, under the weather |
| 04 | WINDS | Current movements of cricket team – shortly after losing, that is
WIND<i.e.>S (=cricket team; “shortly” means abbreviation, i.e. of West Indies); “after losing that is (=i.e.)” means letters “ie” are dropped; cryptically, winds are “(air) current movements” |
| 08 | BUDS | Bloomers, potentially, as friends die away
BUD<die>S (=friends); “die” away means the letters “die” are dropped |
| 09 | BURNING OUT | Consume gin, perhaps, if getting exhausted through overwork
BURN (=consume, e.g. calories) + ING OUT (=”gin, perhaps”, i.e. a clue – here, an anagram – for “ing”) |
| 10 | SONNET | One of the Bard’s works TV screens, showing before noon
[ON (=showing, e.g. at cinema) + N (=noon)] in SET (=TV); “screens” as a verb suggest that one word holds, contains others |
| 11 | EIGHTEEN | A number tee-heeing inanely after dropping ecstasy
*(T<e>E-HEEING); “dropping ecstasy (=E)” means letter “e” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “inanely” |
| 12 | USURESSES | Rip-off female moneylenders exploit your sorry state initially, we hear
Homophone (“we hear”) of “use (=exploit) + your + esses (“S<orry> S<tate>”; “initially” means first letters only)” |
| 15 | DRAB | Former prostitute poet recalled
BARD (=poet); “recalled” indicates reversal; a drab is a sluttish woman, a whore; I suspect that “former” indicates that the word is obsolete |
| 16/14 | THE MATING GAME | Having met Meg, a night out taking in a film
A in *(MET MEG A NIGHT); “out” is anagram indicator; The Mating Game is a 1959 film, based on the novel The Darling Buds of May by H.E. Bates, around which this puzzle, published on 1 May, is themed |
| 20 | ORATORIO | Work as public speaker at Number Ten
ORATOR (=public speaker) + 10 (=number ten) |
| 21 | LARKIN | Winger – with one name for “linesman”
LARK (=winger, i.e. bird) + I (=one) + N (=name); the reference is to British poet (“linesman”) Philip Larkin (1922-85); the Larkins are the family in The Darling Buds of May |
| 23 | MINI-BUDGET | Special measure in fiscal emergency, suggesting money to be spent on small car?
Cryptically, the money to be spent on a small car (=a mini) could be described as a “mini budget” |
| 24 | MOOT | Low temperature? That’s debatable
MOO (=(to) low, of cattle) + T (=temperature) |
| 25 | GUSTS | Some 1A 4A found in bend in intestines
U (=bend, as in toilet) in GUTS (=intestines); gusts are some “rough winds” (=entries at 1A 4A) |
| 26 | SHAKE | Wave // upset // small swimmer
S (=small, in sizes) + HAKE (=swimmer); “wave” and “upset” are both synonyms for “shake” |
| Down | ||
| 01 | RAUCOUS | Crude, annoyingly stubborn person sounded harsh and loud
Homophone (“sounded”) of “raw (=crude) + cus (=stubborn person)” |
| 02 | ULSAN | Essentially, Seoul’s a “nice” city in S Korea
Hidden (“essentially”) in “seoUL’S A Nice” |
| 03 | H. E. BATES | Writer from the East, mostly shot holding book
B (=book) in *(THE EAS<t>); “shortly” means last letter is dropped; “shot” is anagram indicator; the reference is to British author H. E. Bates (1905-74) |
| 04 | WHINGE | Grouse // or carp, // with joint that’s // beef
W (=with) + HINGE (=joint); the clue contains three synonyms for “whinge”: “grouse”, “carp” and “beef”! |
| 05 | NEGOTIANT | One looking to reach settlement saw Scotsman in the Seine?
[GOT IAN (=saw Scotsman)] in NET (=seine, i.e. a fishing net); I suspect the wordplay should be read as a single sentence, rather than broken up strictly into separate parts |
| 06 | SHUT-EYE | Sleep with novelist? Yes, briefly
SHUTE (=novelist, i.e. Nevil) + YE<s> (“briefly” means last letter dropped) |
| 07 | BREEZE THROUGH | Easily deal with 80% of 4A – initially they’re hardly 1A
BREEZE (=wind<s>; “80% – i.e. 4 of 5 letters – of “winds” (=entry at 4A)) + T<hey’re> H<ardly> (“initially” means first letters only) + ROUGH (=entry at 1A) |
| 13 | REATTAINS | Gets back from playing with a train set
*(A TRAIN SET); “playing with” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | DARLING | Bottle crossing large river
L (=large, in sizes) in DARING (=nerve, bottle); the Darling River is the third longest in Australia |
| 17 | MULETAS | Stubborn beast regularly tears matadors’ capes
MULE (=stubborn beast) + T<e>A<r>S (“regularly” means alternate letters only) |
| 18 | NOISOME | Very unpleasant love lives in Alaskan city
[O (=love) + IS (=lives)] in NOME (=Alaskan city) |
| 19 | FRY-UPS | Sort of syrup that’s high-fructose, primarily in unhealthy meals?
*(SYRUP + F<ructose> (“primarily” means first letter only)); both “sort of” and “high” appear to be anagram indicators |
| 22 | RUMBA | Some drum and bass dance (//) music
Hidden (“some”) in “dRUM + BAss”; the definition part can be read as either one two-word definition or two one-word definitions, I think |
Enjoyed that thanks Hob and RatkojaRiku. As per, the theme totally passed me by.
Looking back of course it is SONNET 18 that contains the expression ‘darling buds of May’
“A solver could successfully have completed the puzzle without ever realising anything was going on.” Exactly. Even when we got H E BATES the penny didn’t drop till we saw the intro to the blog and looked again. We knew the film title but didn’t know the film was based on the book so wondered why Hob had included such an oldie.
Plenty to enjoy nevertheless, particularly the references to 1ac and 4ac elsewhere in the puzzle. Neatly done, but not to excess; none of that sinking feeling you sometimes get on first seeing that the clues are peppered with cross-references. Other ones we liked were SONNET and SHAKE. We hadn’t come across the feminine form of ‘usurer’ before, but it’s in Chambers. And we agree that ‘former’ in 15ac no doubt refers to the word being obsolete, in that meaning, anyway.
Thanks, Hob and RatkojaRiku.
Got off to a bad start putting green for sick instead of rough. Lovely idea to tie all the bits together, and it helped towards the end.
I didn’t (try very hard to) understand USURESSES, and I didn’t even get FRY-UPS, but I think rather than high being a superfluous anagram indicator, it means F goes at the top.
Thanks Hob, RR
Another case of me missing a theme. Even forgot Tuesday is theme day in the Independent. Wasn’t convinced by clue for FRY-UPS, but James’s explanation makes sense. There is a minor error in blog: the ‘bend’ in 25a is an S-bend, not a U-bend.
Not easy but a good Tuesday challenge with the (almost) obligatory theme. I was looking for ‘May’ somewhere in the puzzle before I realised it was in the date instead. I remember the TV series with Pam Ferris and David Jason but didn’t know about the link to the film ‘The Mating Game’.
I missed NEGOTIANT which I never would have solved. Interesting to hear that the Darling River is now regarded as the third longest river in Aust. When I was a lad it was in top spot, but apparently the length has since been re-calculated and flows have also been affected by climate change and drought.
Thanks to Hob and RR
Very interesting and stimulating puzzle. Some false starts for me, like @3James I entered green at 1A immediately; when I finally sorted it out I decided on the enumeration and the first letter of 3D that it had to be H G WELLS. Cracked it in the end. Like RatkojaRiku also confused at first by GUSTS, as U is often clued as a bend, and agree with @4Hovis about the S(-Bend) in GUTS.
1D the homophone is of “cuss” (eg he’s an awkward cuss).
The Mating Game was a ghastly American film (1958) which, like all transatlantic adaptations, messed it up completely.
@5WordPlodder the calculation of the length of the Darling may in former days have included the upper reaches of the Murray. There is much controversy about the Murray-Darling system currently here, as those up-river are pinching mega loads of water and restricting the flow in the Murray in SA, much to our detriment.
Thanks to Hob and RatkojaRiku.
Thanks for the blog, RR.
Late to the party – I’ve been out to lunch – but had to join in the praise for this wonderful puzzle.
I was pootling along quite happily, feeling pleased at cracking unfamiliar elements [in 2, 17 and 18 dn] by simply following the instructions in the excellent clues and having a smile at USURESSES – lovely word and brilliant homophone.
And then, after trying to make something of XI for the cricket team, I saw 4ac and the theme hit me between the eyes – and the rest was sheer delight.
Just to fill out doof’s comment @1: the whole quotation from SONNET EIGHTEEN is ‘ROUGH WINDS do SHAKE the DARLING BUDS of May’. Huge thanks to Hob for getting May Day off to such a delightful start – I loved it.
Pleased to note that I wasn’t alone with ‘green’ for 1a and ‘HG Wells’ as a first guess at 3d.
Think this may have been my first solve of a Hobs puzzle and I obviously need more training in his style as I wasn’t very enthusiastic about the puzzle, unlike other commenters. Must try harder……..
Thanks to Hobs and to RR for the blog.
Tough, but I got it all, almost without help. I looked up THE MATING GAME on the IMDb to check it existed, and saw the connection with The Darling Buds of May. I’d already spotted the SONNET EIGHTEEN connection, but I resisted the temptation to look up the complete text and relied on my memory. Never heard of MULETAS or ULSAN but I guessed them and entered them without checking they existed.
Hi jane @8 @
Please persevere with Hob, one of my favourite setters [this one was a real gem] and, from your previous comments. I think he could be one of yours, too.
And Dormouse @8 – as I said earlier, I didn’t know MULETAS or ULSAN, either, but it was all there in the impeccable cluing, wasn’t it?
Yes, as Eileen said, do persevere with Hob. He is a really good setter.
That said, today I almost gave up. I found this crossword incredibly hard and as a kind of ‘non-reader’ the theme was not only wasted on me while solving but also after solving. True, the construction of this crossword is very clever but if it doesn’t give you any penny-dropping moments, then it more or less stops. To each their own. We can’t have it all, day-in day-out.
No complaints as such, more luck next time.
Thanks to blogger & setter.
I had to sleep on this, and was left an answer (NEGOTIANT) and two parses (ends of USURESSES and of RAUCOUS) short. Pretty pleased with that, to be honest!
Could see there was a theme but didn’t grasp it, and not wanting to research during the solve, wasn’t aided by it.
Same new words as others. I also started with GREEN in 1a and spent a while convinced that 4a had to be WAVES. Green waves do shake a kitty …
So for me a puzzle more enjoyed in retrospect than during the solve. I did like the clever connections, where I agree with allan_c @2, and also BURNING OUT and SHUT-EYE.
Thanks to Hob and RR.
This crossword seems to have divided opinion. Some people here are enthusiastic about it. I’m afraid that, like Jane@8, I wasn’t. It didn’t help that I found it incredibly difficult and my usual Indy solve on the Tube was very unsuccessful. It wasn’t until I got home and sat down and concentrated that I made progress.
But honestly, how does 19dn work? It looks a mess to me. What is the anagram indicator? What was wrong with something like ‘high-fructose (primarily) syrup in unhealthy meals’? And 1ac also seems a bit dodgy. ‘where’? Since when has that been an acceptable link-word? And usuresses had to be found with only four checkers.
Now someone will tell me that I got out of bed the wrong way this morning.