I said last month that I hadn’t blogged a Silvanus very often, so it’s a bit like buses coming in twos or threes that I get another one fairly soon.
This seems to be a straightforward crossword with no gimmicks, themes or messages. There was a need for some general knowledge but that’s not unusual in a crossword.
I like Silvanus’s surfaces which always seem to read very smoothly.
I’ve seen ‘Cruise perhaps’ or something similar used as a definition for SCIENTOLOGIST before but it still took a long time for the penny to drop in this puzzle. It was my last one in.
I liked to Scrabble clue at 1 across.
In my blogs at the moment, there always seems to be one clue where I can’t see the wordplay to my own satisfaction . Today’s clue in this category is the one at 20 down for MONITOR where I can’t see the relevance of the words ‘is inadequate.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Score in Scrabble for "POET" (10) |
WORD’S WORTH (the score [WORTH] of a WORD played in the game Scrabble) WORDS WORTH |
WORDSWORTH (reference William WORDSWORTH [1770 – 1850], English Romantic poet) |
| 6 | It’s frequently hailed a classic US sitcom (4) |
TAXI (a vehicle that is often summoned or hailed to carry a passenger) TAXI |
TAXI (classic US sitcom, originally broadcast between 1978 and 1983) double definition |
| 9 | Trains regularly caught by solicitor, one who’s sightseeing (7) |
RIS (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of TRAINS) contained in (caught by) TOUT (solicitor) TOU (RIS) T |
TOURIST (sightseer) |
| 10 | Teacher varied changes to keep close to syllabus (7) |
Anagram of (changes) VARIED containing (keep) S (last letter of [close to] SYLLABUS) ADVI (S) ER* |
ADVISER (teacher) |
| 12 | Beers conceived originally in monasteries – they’re gradually gaining in strength (13) |
(ALES [beers] + C [first letter of {originally} CONCEIVED) contained in (in) CONVENTS (closed communities of people, usually women, devoted to a religious life; the houses in which they live, a monasteries or (now usually) nunneries) CONV (ALES C) ENTS |
CONVALESCENTS (people gradually regaining health and consequently, strength) |
| 14 | Suffer the consequences of having no school ultimately to represent (3,3) |
PLAY FOR (represent) excluding (having no) L (last letter of [ultimately] SCHOOL) PAY FOR |
PAY FOR (suffer the consequences of) |
| 15 | City pal possibly pursues American’s tip? That’s unusual (8) |
A (first letter of [tip] AMERICA) + an anagram of (possibly) CITY PAL A TYPICAL* |
ATYPICAL (not usual) |
| 17 | Content to stare as One Direction argued (8) |
REASONED (hidden word in [content to] STARE AS ONE DIRECTION) REASONED |
REASONED (argued) |
| 19 | Allow hotel to open for quiet, solitary individual (6) |
PERMIT (allow) with H (hotel) replacing (for) P (piano; quiet) H ERMIT |
HERMIT (solitary person) |
| 22 | Quota opposed to abortion initially shows increase (13) |
PRO LIFE (anti-abortion) + RATION (quota) PRO LIFE RATION |
PROLIFERATION (great and rapid increase in numbers) |
| 24 | Given the latest news, excited romantic partner anticipates diamonds (7) |
UP (excited) + DATE (romantic partner) + D (diamonds) I think ‘anticipates’ is being used to convey the fact that DATE comes before D and to make the surface sensible. UP DATE D |
UPDATED (given the latest news) |
| 25 | Inspire brother to face weather unprotected (7) |
BR (brother) + EATHE (letters remaining after the outer letters W and R are removed [unprotected] from WEATHER) ‘Face’ is doing similar duty to ‘anticipates’ in the previous clue, this time indicating that the two components are beside each other, and making the surface sensible. BR EATHE |
BREATHE (breathe) |
| 26 | Fusses about something to add to drink (4) |
ADOS (fusses) reversed (about) SODA< |
SODA (a drinks mixer) |
| 27 | Risks advocate coming out in favour of Indian contracts (10) |
ADVENTURES (risks) excluding (coming out) ADV (advocate) and being replaced by (in favour of) IND (India) INDENTURES |
INDENTURES (contracts) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Expects a couple to be lacking sound judgement 4) |
AWAITS (expects) excluding (to be lacking) both (a couple) As WITS |
WITS (judgement) |
| 2 | Openly sexual and flash to eat meal topless (7) |
RAY (flash) containing (to eat) LUNCH (meal) excluding (less) the initial letter (top) L RA (UNCH) Y |
RAUNCHY (openly sexual) |
| 3 | Cruise perhaps to Italian capital with single cost being flexible (13) |
Anagram of (being flexible) TO and I (first letter of [capital] ITALIAN) and SINGLE COST SCIENTOLOGIST* |
SCIENTOLOGIST (the actor Tom Cruse is a well known member of the Church of Scientology) |
| 4 | Expense of transposing each half of design (6) |
LAY OUT (design) with the two component parts transposed to put OUT before LAY OUT LAY |
OUTLAY (expense) |
| 5 | Disguise attempt to pinch an undergarment (8) |
TRY (attempt) containing (to pinch) (A + VEST) TR (A VEST) Y |
TRAVESTY (disguise) |
| 7 | Element extracted from heart of Alaska (7) |
If we take (extracted from) AS (central letters [heart] of ALASKA) we have the chemical symbol for ARSENIC ARSENIC |
ARSENIC (chemical element) |
| 8 | Weak willed Tories’ rule in tatters (10) |
Anagram of (in tatters) TORIES RULE* IRRESOLUTE* |
IRRESOLUTE (not firm in purpose; weak-willed) |
| 11 | Papers consumed by immorality existing in position Humphrey once occupied (4,9) |
ID (identity papers) contained in (consumed by) (VICE [immorality] + PRESENT [existing]) VICE PRES (ID) ENT |
VICE PRESIDENT (reference Hubert Humphrey [1911 – 1978], VICE PRESIDENT of the United States under Lyndon Johnson from 1965 to 1969) |
| 13 | South Korean typically advertises engine parts (5,5) |
S (South) + PARK (common name in Korea, possibly equivalent to Smith in Britain) + PLUGS (advertises)) S PARK PLUGS |
SPARK PLUGS (engine parts) |
| 16 | Count upon actor briefly to stop working (6,2) |
DEPP (reference Johnny DEPP [born 1963], American actor) excluding the final letter (briefly) P + END (stop) + ON (working) DEP END ON |
DEPEND ON (count upon)
|
| 18 | Shied away from poster describing video nasty (7) |
AD (advertisement; poster) containing (describing) an anagram of (nasty) VIDEO A (VOIDE*) D |
AVOIDED (shirked; shied away from) |
| 20 | Screen giving warning is inadequate (7) |
I can’t see the wordplay here particularly the link to the words ‘is inadequate) I understand that a MONITOR can give a warning so there are two definition here but if there is a third definition, I’m struggling. MONITOR |
MONITOR (screen in audio visual equipment)) |
| 21 | Misinterpret clothing left loose at the back (6) |
GARB (clothing) + L (left) + E (final letter of [at the back] LOOSE) GARB L E |
GARBLE (misrepresent or falsify by suppression and selection)
|
| 23 | Predicament whether one chooses jam or pickle (4) |
MESS is a synonym of both JAM and PICKLE so if you are in one or the other you are in a MESS MESS |
MESS (predicament) This clue seems to be a sort of triple definition |
Re 20d. MONITORY is warning (as an adjective) and inadequate denotes loss of final letter.
Another nice crossword from Silvanus – I did have to check whether monasteries and convents were the same thing – it turns out that it is only in recent-ish times that convents have been solely for nuns
Thanks to Silvanus for the crossword and Duncan for the explanaitons
Another excellent puzzle from the master of the surface read, extremely important to me in a puzzle.
I did have to look up the Korean and the adjective in 20d – also wanted Yes Minister to be relevant to 11d!
I particularly liked the Scrabble score and the use of ‘a couple’ in 1d.
Many thanks to Silvanus and to Duncan for the blog.
Many thanks Silvanus,
I liked the scrabble clue and the topical 8d, as well as the 21d surface. PARK was lost on me, i was trying to use SK (south korea) + PAR(typically). Like Duncan (many thanks as well), I didn’t get to monitory either.
A very pleasant and quite quick solve for us. We particularly liked 12 ac with its surface allusion to those enticing but deceptively strong Trappist beers encountered in our trips to Belgium. But we puzzled for a long time over 3dn: we realised at once what was going on but just couldn’t think of the name for that bunch of wierdos – eventually got it by googling. Others we liked were PROLIFERATION and the topical IRRESOLUTE. Only one little niggle – we thought the clue to14ac was rather clumsy, seeming to imply that one had to remove the L from someting meaning “suffer …” to get an answer meaning “represent” rather than the other way round. We weren’t sure at first about 19ac either, but careful reading of the clue made the answer perfectly clear.
Thanks, Silvanus and Duncan
Many thanks to Duncan, and to everyone who tackled the puzzle, especially to those who took the trouble to post comments. Much appreciated.
Took a bit of work (read googling) but got there in the end. I did like 1a 11d and 22a I too like Dutch parsed 13d SK around PAR. I don’t normally stray to far from the Telegraph but newsagent let me down today and now I have worked out how to print I will visit some of the other cryptics when I can. Thanks to Silvanus and Duncan
I also had a slight MER at 14ac, allan_c. The clue, to be properly fair, needs an ‘in’ after ‘ultimately’, something the surface obviously doesn’t allow. It needs to be something like ‘Represent school, ultimately absent, and pay the consequences’. Or something rather neater than that.
Is the term MER widespread here? I see it on the Times site and can’t remember if it’s used here. Very good: mild eyebrow raise.
I can’t disagree about 14a but still very much enjoyed this.
Needed the brains on here to explain the parsing of MONITOR and SPARK PLUGS.
Another vote for the Scrabble clue as pick of the day.
Thanks Silvanus and Duncan.