I’ve not blogged a Crosophile for a while now, so I was interested to see what he had produced for us for the Bank Holiday Monday puzzle.
I found it a bit of a mixture in terms of ease of access: certainly there were plenty of clues to get the less experienced solver going; but there were some that put up quite a fight. I have one or two queries, but that could well just be me not understanding what’s going on.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 In favour of words revealing actions in an old book
PROVERBS
A charade of PRO and VERBS gives you the book of the Bible.
5 Brought forth small article out of granary, say
BRED
The setter is asking you to take the A for a ‘small article’ out of BREAD for ‘granary, say’.
9 How is domesticity a cover for erudition?
WISDOM
Hidden in hoW IS DOMesticity.
10 Raider (not half) coming after spoil and gold
MARAUDER
A charade of MAR, AU and [RAI]DER. ‘Raider’ is both the definition and part of the wordplay.
11 Originally Caribbeans play loosely like this?
CALYPSO
A charade of C for the first letter of ‘Caribbeans’, (PLAY)* and SO, with an extended definition.
12 I’ll shun solitude when dancing for the most vulgar
LOUDEST
(SOL[I]TUDE)* with ‘when dancing’ as the anagrind.
14 Vacuous mag about nouvelle cuisine – it’s fluff on the table
MISCUEING
Not the greatest surface, but I liked the misdirection and the use of ‘nouvelle’ as the anagrind. An insertion of (CUISINE)* in MG for the outside letters of ‘mag’. The definition is referring to an error (‘fluff’) on the snooker or billiards table, not a culinary one.
16 Learner and expert making intricate fabric
LACE
A charade of L and ACE.
19 Pulse started after heart’s cleared
BEAN
BE[G]AN.
20 Forking over in the borders and small area in the middle
OUTLAYING
An insertion of A for ‘small area’ in OUTLYING.
22 Difficult couple in a hurry mostly
ARDUOUS
An insertion of DUO in A RUS[H].
24 Family film about one story said to be trad Chinese feature
PIGTAIL
A charade of I inserted into PG (Parental Guidance, the film classification) and TAIL, a homophone of TALE.
27 Grub – tiny amount for daughter, maybe just a dash
FOOTRACE
Again, not the greatest surface imho, but it’s FOOD for ‘grub’ with the D replaced by TRACE for ‘tiny amount’.
28 Bit of a head obtainable in bar area of London
TEMPLE
A cd cum dd, with the cryptic bit referring to the legal area of London where the legal profession (‘the bar’) operate.
29 Uncluttered yet 2 twiddly
TIDY
The odd letters of TwIdDdLy. The instruction comes from 2dn.
30 This game is the pits
QUARRIES
A dd, with the ‘game’ bit as ‘prey’ or QUARRY, but I don’t understand how we get from singular to plural.
Down
1 Take out of state control one form of taxation in jackpot?
PRIVATIZE
An insertion of VAT in PRIZE. My only niggle with this is that most careful writers in British English would write PRIVATISE. PRIVATIZE is American English.
2 Doggedly chucking egg back that’s scrambled in a curious way
ODDLY
(DO[GGE]DLY)* The removal indicator is ‘chucking egg back’ and the anagrind is ‘scrambled’.
3 Crosophile caught in small space with this woman – leader of dogs snarled
ENMESHED
An insertion of ME for ‘Crosophile’ in EN for the printer’s ‘space’, SHE and D for the first letter of ‘dogs’.
4 Prang in rear end upon parking
BUMP
A charade of BUM and P.
6 Refrain from singing this? It might be loud near end of melody
ROUNDELAY
A charade of (LOUD NEAR)* and Y for the last letter of ‘melody’. The anagrind is ‘it might be’ and it’s another extended definition.
7 They colour red say, losing heart when embarrassed
DYERS
(RED S[A]Y)* The removal indicator is ‘losing heart’ and the anagrind is ‘when embarrassed’.
8 He ran 18 earlier
PRIOR
A dd.
13 Often nuisances will disguise boredom
ENNUI
Hidden in oftEN NUIsances.
15 Asked for advice, initially ambassador quits offshoot of embassy department
CONSULTED
A charade of CONSUL[A]TE plus D.
17 100 pranks involving the French in old book of songs
CANTICLES
A charade of C and LE in ANTICS.
18 Potentially costlier place of retirement
CLOISTER
(COSTLIER)*
21 Elevated lords and ladies left an artwork
MURAL
A reversal of ARUM and L. ‘Lords and Ladies’ is the common term for ARUM.
23 Little bounders beginning to tire needing place to sleep
ROOST
A charade of ROOS and T.
25 Mostly not too hot around 1000 metres
TEMPI
An insertion of M for ‘1000’ in TEPI[D].
26 Soldiers with uniform – it shows what’s available
MENU
A charade of MEN and U for the phonetic alphabet ‘uniform’.
Many thanks to Crosophile for the start to the Indy week.
Very tough. I only managed to finish after spotting a cunning nina. It is in the diagonal starting at the bottom left.
I took 10a and 11a as &lits and, I think, in 30a, you can take ‘game’ as a plural. MURAL was my LOI and needed to look up on google to check the plant.
Thanks to Crosophile and Pierre.
The alternate letters in 29a have gone a bit awry. I got to a stage of top half done, bottom half blank, so a game of 2 halves, Saint. Also not keen on the Z in Privatize and the Quarries mystery, and didn’t spot the Nina. Doing it on the phone I’ll probably have to fill it in again to find out. Thanks to S&B.
The Nina still escapes me.
LOsI were 24A/25D. Both good clues, along with 14A. Have to say some of the surfaces were wince making.
I wondered if def for 5A were “brought forth small”. There is only one “article” in bread and though it is the smallest, as in shortest, version of such a thing, “small” is quite unnecessary for the surface. Just a thought.
Thanks to Crosophile and Pierre.
You win the sticker for nina spotting today, Hovis – well done. I would never have seen that in a million years, even though it is Monday …
gwep, if you read the diagonal from bottom left to top right, you get SOLOMON GRUNDY, featured in an old English nursery rhyme:
Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Grew worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday,
That was the end,
Of Solomon Grundy.
To be honest, the only reason I spotted the nina was that I got stuck in the bottom left and went looking for one in the hope it would help. Never would have got FOOTRACE and then MURAL otherwise.
We got there in the end without spotting the nina, but needed a wordfinder for PIGTAIL – and the parsing was so obvious one we got it – doh!
One or two quibbles. We weren’t too happy with ‘raider’ as definition and wordplay in 10ac. And in 25dn ‘tempo’ is not really equivalent to ‘metre’; Chambers defines ‘tempo’ as ‘(music) time, speed, rate’ – although Chambers Compact Thesaurus does give ‘metre’ but one should not use a thesaurus as a dictionary.
In 20ac the definition is ‘forking over’ – we’re more familiar with ‘fork out’ for ‘spend’, but Chambers gives ‘fork out, over or up (sl) to hand or pay over, esp unwillingly’. And there’s a possible further layer to 14ac in that a miscue might be caused by a bit of fluff on the table or (more likely) on the cue or the ball.
Plenty to like, though; favourites included FOOTRACE and the linked PRIOR and CLOISTER.
Thanks, Crosophile and Pierre.
Of course, -ize endings to verbs is not so much American English as a perfectly acceptable British English spelling that somehow got labelled as American within my lifetime. I was taught both were acceptable at school in the sixties, and many years ago, I saw the baptism certificate for one of my great aunts, born in the 1880s, which said “baptized”.
But aside from that rant, I wasn’t able to finish this, and I didn’t spot the Nina. Harder than the average Monday.
I’ve been offline for ages and guess nobody will see this, but thanks, pierre, for the blog and thanks for the comments.
The nina of SOLOMON Grundy explains both the Monday placement and also the apperance of Proverbs, Wisdom, Temple, and Canticles.
GAME [quarries] is indeed plural as in “Wild animalS hunted for sport” [Chambers].
Despite it not being to everyone’s taste, I was rather pleased with the surface of my ‘miscueing’ clue, perhaps because my experience of nouvelle ciusine is that it is insubstantial fluff that looks better than it tastes. And indeed a miscueing is a ‘fluff’ [mistake] on the snooker table.
allan_c The ‘raider’ clue is an &lit so the whole thing is both wordplay and defn. And Chambers defines Metre as ‘musical time’ so I think I’m on safe ground defining tempi as ‘metres’.
As for ‘privatize’ I would certainly usually go for the S over the Z but in this case to prise something open is also spelt priZe and I had to avoid an ambiguity in an unchecked letter. priZe as in jackpot was my best option, I felt. And in any case, I think it is good to not always plump for the obvious spelling when two are current.