I find Wiglaf one of the more difficult setters in the Independent stable
Today’s puzzle was another that fell into the tricky character for me. Wiglaf’s cryptic definitions are quite challenging, e.g. ‘Arkwright’ in 7 across and ‘a way to reduce excess baggage’ in 20 across. There was also some excellent misdirection with the two letters definitions of ‘it’ in 5 down and ‘do’ in 24 down.
My last pair in were the NOAH and BOZO crossers at 7 across and 1 down.
It took me a long time to parse BY JOVE until I saw BYE as the run.
It’s good to do a crossword where a lot lateral thinking is required and diplomats aren’t just HE
Amongst a set of clues with good surfaces, I liked particularly the clues for HALF-INCH and HOKEY-COKEY
I look forward to another battle with Wiglaf in the future.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
7
|
Arkwright‘s evident lack of surprise (4)
|
NO (lack of) + AH (a word expressing surprise) NO AH |
NOAH (think of ARKwright as a special kind of SHIPwright, any you may then think of NOAH)
|
|
8
|
Mixed metaphors back in the air (10)
|
Anagram of (mixed) METAPHORS + E (last letter of [back in] THE) ATMOSPHER* E
|
ATMOSPHERE (air)
|
|
10
|
Company device needs two fellows to sign out (3,3)
|
LOGO ( small design used as the symbol of an organization, etc, sometimes referred to as a device – e.g. the bat device is a logo for Bacardi) + (F [fellow] + F [fellow] to give fellows) LOG O FF |
LOG OFF (sign out)
|
|
11
|
Line of force (8)
|
RAILROAD (American term for a railway; line) RAILROAD |
RAILROAD (force or push forward unduly) double definition
|
|
12
|
Greek characters in a university city in Europe (8) |
CHIS (more than one occurrences of Greek characters) + IN + A + U (university) CHIS IN A U |
CHISINAU (capital and largest city of Moldova; European city)
|
|
14
|
Some system users about to restart (6)
|
RESUME (hidden word [some] reversed [about] in SYSTEM USERS) RESUME< |
RESUME (restart)
|
| 15 | Adventurers of yore and lore? Think G&S literally |
KNIGHTS ERRANT (this is one those reverse anagrams where the entry is descriptive of the clue – THINK G S is an anagram of (ERRANT) KNIGHTS) KNIGHTS* ERRANT |
KNIGHTS ERRANT (KNIGHTS who travelled in search of adventure; adventurers of yore and lore) |
|
18
|
Miss March and Victor participated in run? I don’t believe it! (2,4)
|
(JO [reference JO March, second eldest March sister in the novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott] + V [Victor is the international radio communications codeword for the letter V]) contained in (participated in) BYE (a run in cricket) BY (JO V) E |
BY JOVE (exclamation of surprise; I don’t believe it)
|
|
20
|
A way to reduce excess baggage duty I’m not sure will be accepted (8)
|
ER (expression of hesitation indicating some lack of certainty; I’m not sure) contained in (will be accepted) EXCISE (tax; duty) EX (ER) CISE |
EXERCISE (a means of reducing body weight, or more colloquially, excess baggage)
|
| 22 | Unenthusiastic about Charlie and Bill having a drink (4-4) |
(COOL [unenthusiastic] containing [about] (C [cocaine; charlie] + AC [account]) + A CO (C A C) OL A |
COCA-COLA (drink) |
|
23
|
Insecure US nurse dropping son off (6)
|
Anagram of (off) US and NURSE excluding (dropping) S (son) UNSURE* |
UNSURE (insecure)
|
| 25 | Film director gets to know English philosopher (3,7) |
KEN (to know) + RUSSELL (reference Bertrand RUSSELL [1872 – 1970], British philosopher) KEN RUSSELL |
KEN RUSSELL (reference KEN RUSSELL [1927 – 2011] English film director]) |
| 26 | Diplomat without the least trace of original sin (4) |
ENVOY (diplomatic minister of the second class) excluding (without) O (first letter of [least trace of] ORIGINAL) ENVY |
ENVY (one of the seven deadly sins) |
|
Down |
|||
|
1
|
Charles Dickens’s old man (rather dim-witted) (4)
|
BOZ (pseudonym used by Charles Dickens in the early days of his writing) + O (old) BOZ O |
BOZO ( man, fellow, now especially a rather dim-witted one)
|
|
2
|
Pyramid builder‘s revolutionary works (6)
|
CHE (reference CHE Guevara [1928 – 1967], Argentinian Marxist revolutionary) + OPS (opuses; works) CHE OPS |
CHEOPS (another name for Khnum Khufu, who is generally considered to have commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza)
|
|
3
|
Nick‘s apparently in (4-4)
|
HALF-INCH (the letters IN form HALF of the word INCH, so IN can be defined as HALF INCH) HALF-INCH |
HALF-INCH (rhyming slang for pinch; steal; nick)
|
| 4 | After removing cap, clerk appears comparatively grey (6) |
CASHIER (clerk) excluding (removing) the first letter (cap) C ASHIER |
ASHIER (comparatively grey)
|
|
5
|
It could be a statement about the domestic arrangements when there’s no home help? (8)
|
CHAR (CHARwoman; domestic help) IS MA (mother) – a statement indicating the domestic arrangements do not involve outside help CHAR IS MA |
CHARISMA (personal quality or gift that enables an individual to impress and influence others; ‘it’ can be similarly defined as an indefinable crowning quality or personal magnetism)
|
|
6
|
A pope’s exclamation of surprise at these baseless untrue stories? (5,5)
|
URBAN (reference Popes URBAN of whom there were eight up to 1644) + MY (exclamation of surprise) + THS (THESE excluding both occurrences of E [base of natural logarithms] thereby rendering THESE baseless) URBAN MY THS |
URBAN MYTHS (stories or anecdote of modern life, often untrue or apocryphal)
|
|
9
|
French writer, male is dead square? Wrong! (7,2,4)
|
M (male) + an anagram of (wrong) IS DEAD SQUARE M ARQUIS DE SADE* |
MARQUIS DE SADE (reference the French writer [1740-1814] , politician, and philosopher, famous for his libertine sexuality)
|
|
13
|
Barge secreting pitch and fuel creates a song and dance (5,5)
|
HOY (freight barge) containing (secreting) (KEY [pitch, in music] + COKE [a fuel] HO (KEY COKE) Y |
HOKEY COKEY (dance)
|
|
16
|
Diana upset royalty, ultimately lacking unbridled adoration (8)
|
DI (Diana) reversed (upset; down clue) + an anagram of (unbridled) ROYALTY excluding (lacking) the final letter (ultimately) Y ID< OLATRY* |
IDOLATRY (adoration)
|
|
17
|
Orderly hoards liquid fuel, sadly (8)
|
RULY (orderly in behaviour) containing (hoards) an anagram of (liquid) FUEL RU (EFUL*) LY |
RUEFULLY (sadly)
|
|
18
|
Woman from 70s band is on ecstasy (6) |
ELO (Electric Light Orchestra; 70s band) + IS + E (ecstasy) ELO IS E |
ELOISE (lady’s name; woman)
|
|
21
|
Nut, for example, punching champ (6)
|
AS (for example) contained in (punching) CHEW (champ) C (AS) HEW |
CASHEW (type of nut)
|
| 24 |
Do bridge partners have to be kicked out of unkindness? (4) |
RAVENS (UNKINDNESS is the collective noun for a flock of RAVENS) excluding NS (North and South, partners in a game of bridge) RAVE |
RAVE (party; do) |
Failed to get 1d and 12a. Should have got 1d since I knew about BOZ. Guessed how 12a needed to be constructed but couldn’t be bothered to check which out of Chisinau, Phisinau and Rhosinau was a city. Didn’t know Urban was the name of a pope (or indeed, several) but guessed that must be the case.
Generally enjoyed the challenge but the GK required was not entirely to my liking. Thanks to Wiglaf and Duncan.
A bit laboured after the excellent Picaroon but some good bits. I did like NO AH and BOZ O And ELO is e
Just about scraped through, with the last two holding out also being NOAH and BOZO, both of which I liked once I realized how I’d been diddled. Is it possible to say ‘Arkwright’, even in your head, without a Yorkshire accent?
I also liked CHARISMA, HALF-INCH and RAILROAD which needed a lot of staring with all the crossers.
I’m a bit embarrassed to have never heard of CHISINAU.
Thanks Duncan and Wiglaf for an excellent challenge
Not quite as hard as the last Wiglaf, but still pretty tough. Missed some of the parsing such as ‘Arkwright’ in 7a, ‘baseless’ in 6d and ‘unkindness’ in 24d, but managed to complete this with a bit of guesswork along the way, including plumping for the correct of the three alternatives mentioned by Hovis @1 for the unknown city at 12a.
CHARISMA was a cracker and the EXERCISE def. wasn’t far behind
Thanks to Wiglaf for such an entertaining puzzle and to Duncan.
Too difficult for me to be able to say truthfully that I enjoyed it – failed on 18a plus 1&6d and couldn’t parse either 3 or 24d. However, I do appreciate Wiglaf’s talent so thanks to him and to Duncan for shedding light in my darkness.
I needed to cheat a little to finish this. Very enjoyable and very educational too. I like puzzles that expand my GK. Whilst there is a satisfaction to finishing a puzzle entirely unaided it does mean that I dodn’t learn anything new. All in all I prefer the ones that I can’t finish. Thanks to all.
A bit of a mixture. NOAH went in straight away as our first one in but there were others we struggled with. We got BY JOVE easily enough but wouldn’t say it was an expression of disbelief – one of surprise, certainly and maybe of realising something one hadn’t thought of; I might have said “You’re right, by Jove!” when the Apprentice suggested 8ac could be ATMOSPHERE. And we had to google to check which Greek character was needed in 12ac. We also failed to spot ‘it’ as the definition for 5dn.
Plenty to like, though, including the aforesaid NOAH along with KNIGHTS ERRANT and URBAN MYTHS.
Thanks, Wiglaf and Duncan.
And it’s a pangram.
Many thanks Duncan for my missing parsings et RAVE.
Liked MARQUS DE SADE and CHARISMA
Many thanks wiglaf