Thanks to Silvanus for keeping us entertained right up to Christmas Eve, with a few unusual words and tricky constructions – but some lovely surfaces and ingenious anagrams.
A few seasonal references too, along with a fair amount of food and drink in both clues and solutions – but not enough to induce 22D I hope. I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of 28A and 29A.
Before I go out to 14A some 5Ds (probably including 29A 24D), let me wish a Happy Christmas to everyone at 152.
Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| Across | ||
| 1 | EXARCH | Bishop outside another empty church (6) |
| EX (outside, as in ex-directory) + A[nothe]R (empty) + CH. Exarch: a bishop in the Orthodox Church, according to Chambers. | ||
| 4 | SCHNAPPS | Fellows mingling with Nationalist politicians for a drink (8) |
| CHAPS mingling with SNP (Scottish National Party). Probably my favourite clue of the day. | ||
| 10 | FRONT DOOR | Windsor, say, bears Royal crest and cross over main entrance (5,4) |
| I found this one rather hard to parse, but I think it’s as follows: FONT (meaning typeface, of which Windsor is an example, though not a familiar one) containing (bearing) R[oyal] (crest = top / first letter), and ROOD (cross) reversed (over). | ||
| 11 | CASTE | Husband escaping from modest social class (5) |
| CHASTE (modest) with H removed (escaping). | ||
| 12 | CAMPARI | Scotsman rejected standard island apéritif (7) |
| MAC reversed (rejected) + PAR (standard as in golf scoring) + I. | ||
| 13 | SNOWMAN | Frosty for example in Leeds, now Manchester (7) |
| Hidden in leedS NOW MANchester. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frosty_the_Snowman | ||
| 14 | CHANT | Song starts off copying hymn, adapting normal tune (5) |
| Initial letters (starts off) Copying Hymn Adapting Normal Tune. | ||
| 15 | TEMPTING | Inviting time to pour out mostly gin cocktail (8) |
| T (time) + EMPT[y] (pour out, mostly) + anagram (cocktail) of GIN. | ||
| 18 | CRACKERS | Nutty biscuits (8) |
| Double definition: nutty = crazy. | ||
| 20 | SLASH | Cut down tree, prioritising shape initially before length (5) |
| ASH (tree), preceded by (prioritising) S[hape] and L[ength]. | ||
| 23 | ADDENDA | Occasionally candid journalist describes new adult supplements (7) |
| Another tricky one to parse: [c]A[n]D[i]D (occasionally) + ED (journalist) around N (new), followed by A (adult). I’m not sure I like “describes” meaning “surrounds”, but I think that’s the intention. | ||
| 25 | ARAMAIC | Spies old woman adopting extremes of altogether revolting language … (7) |
| CIA (spies) + MA (old woman) including (adopting) A[ltogethe]R, the whole thing reversed (revolting). | ||
| 26 | SLANG | … to scold son, given delay receiving money essentially (5) |
| S (son) + LAG (delay) containing (receiving) [mo]N[ey]. Essentially as in the heart of the word (after you remove all the outer letters), and slang as in slanging match. | ||
| 27 | GLORIFIES | Praises endlessly tenor that is visiting Gloucestershire (9) |
| [d]RIF[t] (tenor, without the ends: tenor = drift = “general flow or course”, according to Chambers) + IE (id est = that is), inserted into (visiting) GLOS. | ||
| 28 | AUDITORY | Examination, hourly with odd intervals, relating to hearing (8) |
| AUDIT (examination) + [h]O[u]R[l]Y (with the odd letters dropped). | ||
| 29 / 24D | SILENT NIGHT | Unusual tinsel thing, regular feature of carol service (6,5) |
| Anagram (unusual) of TINSEL THING. Anagram of the day I think! | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | EFFICACY | Force Jeff, not Jack, to overcome cold collecting Bill (8) |
| [j]EFF (with J for Jack removed) over (preceding in a down clue) ICY containing (collecting) AC (account = bill). | ||
| 2 | ANOSMIA | Loss of smell from influenza I’m so narked about (7) |
| Hidden in influenzA IM SO NArked, reversed (about). Anosmia = loss of sense of smell. | ||
| 3 | CATHARTIC | Craic that somehow is providing a release (9) |
| Anagram (somehow) of CRAIC THAT. | ||
| 5 | CHRISTMAS CAROL | Catch sailors with rum heartlessly changing seasonal hymn (9,5) |
| Anagram (changing) of CATCH SAILORS + R[u]M. | ||
| 6 | NACHO | Discovered snack shop supplies a single hot chip (5) |
| [s]NAC[k] [s]HO[p] (with the covers removed). Tortilla chips, usually found in the plural as NACHOS: well, you can’t eat just one, can you? | ||
| 7 | POSTMAN | One overworked approaching Christmas, but sack is never far away (7) |
| Double definition. The second is apparently from an old riddle: who gets the sack as soon as he starts work? | ||
| 8 | SEEING | Vision of what tennis pro hopes to achieve having day off (6) |
| SEEDING (what tennis pro hopes to achieve) without D (day). | ||
| 9 | DOG IN THE MANGER | Spoilsport that could disrupt nativity play (3,2,3,6) |
| Double definition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dog_in_the_Manger | ||
| 16 | TOSCANINI | Virtuoso conductor in action, excited about finale to Proms (9) |
| Anagram (excited) of IN ACTION + [prom]S. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Toscanini | ||
| 17 | THICKSET | Academically challenged group of pupils positioned close together (8) |
| THICK (stupid, or “academically challenged” if you want to be more polite) + SET (group of pupils divided according to ability). | ||
| 19 | RED CARD | Reportedly understood Xmas message – maybe footballers would dispute it? (3,4) |
| Homophone (reportedly) of READ CARD (with the verb in the past tense). | ||
| 21 | AVARICE | Extravagant caviare brings excessive desire for wealth (7) |
| Anagram (extravagant) of CAVIARE. | ||
| 22 | NAUSEA | Disgust from article on practice pervading North America (6) |
| A (the indefinite article) + USE (practice), inserted into (pervading) N[orth] A[merica]. | ||
| 24 | See 29 Across |
What a pleasure to find a themed Christmas puzzle which was both a lot of fun and nicely challenging. Silvanus has definitely mastered the art of delivering smooth surfaces without detracting from the accuracy of the cluing.
I learned two new words today in 1a & 2d but both were clearly derivable from the wordplay.
9d was my favourite.
Thanks to Silvanus and to Quirister, and Merry Christmas to all.
A very nice themed crossword – thanks and Happy Christmas to Silvanus and Quirister (and everyone else too)
Cambridge Dictionary: “If you describe a shape, you draw it or move in a direction that follows the line of it”.
Geoff – yes, agreed, but I still think it’s a bit of a leap from “ED describes N” to “END”. It seems to be accepted usage in crosswords, though.
As is often the way, it’s a ‘ditto’ from me to everything written by RD@1 – that 9d simply has to be the best Christmas cracker of the year!
Many thanks to Silvanus for a most enjoyable solve and very best wishes for the festive season to both him and to Quirister.
Many thanks to Quirister for interpreting everything correctly and to everyone who solved the puzzle, especially those who took the trouble to leave comments.
As this is my final appearance of 2018 in the Independent, could I also take this opportunity to thank Eimi for his sterling editorship, Gaufrid for all his hard work. all my fellow setters and the dedicated band of bloggers on Fifteensquared who do such a splendid job. Merry Christmas to all of you, and best wishes also for 2019.
As a quick postscript, I had no idea when setting the puzzle, but today is actually the 200th anniversary of when 29a/24d was sung for the first time, or so my calendar tells me!
Nice one, which didn’t need us to take too much time out from our Christmas preparations – thanks, Silvanus and Quirister.
And a Merry Christmas to all bloggers and commenters!