Hmmm…the ssslippery Sssserpent on a Ssssaturday…there is usually a twisssst in the tail ssssomewhere…and that puzzle number looks suspiciously binary…
I have been caught out many a time by Serpent and his various themes and Ninas, so I was on the lookout…and didn’t have to look too far – the clue for 13/16D specifically suggested that there will be some sort of Nina to tease out.
Some enjoyable solving first – all very tightly and efficiently clued.
- I’m sure I have seen the TRANSEPTS/PATTERNS anagram used many a time – a bit of an old crossword standard, like ORCHESTRA/CARTHORSE?
- I enjoyed 4D once I had it – very clever
- As was the ‘typical’ accident causing the MISPRINT
- Also the date asking to be stoned before eating – very considerate of it!
- And the multi-rhymed 22D
- Lots of other gems – I’m sure readers will have their own favourites
After 20-odd minutes I was down to three left, and had HID-DEN at 13/16D, suggesting there was something hidden, plus a few likely looking themed items like CIPHER, MASK and SECRET.
LOI – on about 30 mins – was TEXT, having worked out what kind of ‘States-man’ was being referred to. And then I saw STEGANOGRAPHY down the leading diagonal.
Not a word I am familiar with – I would have guessed at ‘the art of drawing dinosaurs’? – but it turns out to refer to the ‘hiding of digital data within the pixels of an image’.
And, unless I have missed something more clever, the pixels here are the cells of the grid, and the HID-DEN data consists of SECRET, TRAPDOOR, MASK, CIPHER, MISPRINT(?) and TEXT…any more for any more? DECEIVING?
Thanks due to Serpent – perhaps he will stop by to enlighten as to whether the ‘binary’ puzzle number has any more relevance, or maybe it was the inspiration for the theme/Nina in the first place?
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | ACCREDIT | Certify switch varying direct and alternating current (8) | certify / AC (Alternating Current) ‘switched’ to come before CREDIT (anag, i.e. varying, of DIRECT) |
|
| 6A | MASK | Screen opening of movie on demand (4) | screen / M (openin letter of Movie) + ASK (demand) |
|
| 9A | METHOD | System satisfied Head of Department at first (6) | system / MET (satisfied) + HOD (first letters of Head Of Department) |
|
| 10A | TRAPDOOR | Entrance having rounded cross-section (8) | entrance (more usually an exit?) / ROOD (cross) + PART (section), all ’rounded’ |
|
| 11A | STURGEON | Way to encourage swimmer (8) | swimmer (fish) / ST (street, way) + URGE ON (encourage) |
|
| 12A | SECRET | Unknown Southern Greek island’s last to come to the fore (6) | unknown (except by those in the know) / S (southern) + ECRET (CRETE, Greek island, with last letter coming to the front) |
|
| 13A | HENNA | Pigment Cezanne habitually makes use of in a revolutionary way (5) | pigment / reversed hidden word, i.e. ‘makes use of’, and ‘in a revolutionary way’, in ‘cezANNE Habitually’ |
|
| 14A | NITPICKED | Quibbled with Chosen One lacking sense earlier (9) | quibbled / NIT (fool, one lacking sense) before (earlier than) PICKED (chosen) |
|
| 18A | DECEIVING | Cheating in sport stopped by English and European clubs first (9) | cheating / D_IVING (sport) stopped by ECE (European + Clubs + English) |
|
| 20A | ORGAN | Circular letter government’s leaked about newspaper? (5) | newspaper / O (circular letter) + R_AN (leaked) around G (government) |
|
| 23A | CIPHER | Image returned by idol out of love for nobody (6) | nobody / CIP (pic, or image, returned) + HER( |
|
| 25A | EXHAUSTS | Tyres said to be essential items for cars? (8) | essential items for cars / homophone, i.e. said to be – TYRES sounds like TIRES, or EXHAUSTS! |
|
| 26A | MISPRINT | Typical accident caused by race on motorway (8) | typical (typing!) accident / MI (M1, motorway) + SPRINT (race) |
|
| 27A | MOTHER | Be overprotective and conceal everything but the face (6) | be overprotective) / ( |
|
| 28A | TEXT | Time “suppressing article” in US statesman’s words (4) | words / TEX( |
|
| 29A | WEEKDAYS | Reported vulnerable, confused state when one goes to school (8) | when one goes to school / double homophone, i.e. reported – WEEK sounds like WEAK (vulerable). DAYS sounds like DAZE (confused state) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | COHERENCE | College formerly imbued with this place’s sense of unity (9) | sense of unity / C (college) + O_NCE (formerly) around (imbued with) HERE (this place) |
|
| 3D | RED SEA | See doctor about a large volume of saline solution (3,3) | large volume of saline solution / RED SE (anag, i.e. about, of SEE + DR – doctor) + A |
|
| 4D | DETENTION CENTRE | What may be seen as close to prison? (9,6) | ‘what’? Or &lit-ish/CD?… / N – the closing letter of ‘prisoN’ could also be seen as the central letter of deteNtion, hence DETENTION(‘s) CENTRE |
|
| 5D | TRANSEPT | Byzantine patterns in part of church (8) | part of church / anag, i.e. byzantine, of PATTERNS |
|
| 6D | MEDIC | Taking care of funny doctor (5) | doctor / ( |
|
| 7D | STONE ME | I’m surprised date might suggest this before eating (5,2) | I’m surprised / or even a humorous/anthropomorphic double defn? A date (of the fruity kind) might say ‘(de-)stone me’ before being eaten |
|
| 8D | SEETHE | Surge of rising river when escaping its banks (6) | surge / SEET (Tees, river, rising) + ( |
|
| 13D | HID | & 16 12 like any nina (and this one especially) (6) | secret (answer to 12A) / Ninas are secret, or HIDDEN, themes/patterns in crossword grids – so this clue is hinting that there might be one in this puzzle… |
|
| 15D | CORRUPTLY | My point is appropriated by orderly in a shameless manner (9) | in a shameless manner / COR (my, interjection) + RU_LY (orderly) around (appropriating) PT (point) |
|
| 16D | DEN | See 13 (3) | see 13D / see 13D |
|
| 17D | OVERVIEW | Struggle with replacing conclusion of public survey (8) | survey / OVER( |
|
| 19D | EDIFICE | On-line gambling game incorporating Formula One’s structure (7) | structure / E (general prefix denoting ‘online’) + DI_CE (gambling game) around FI (Formula One) |
|
| 21D | ALT KEY | Talk about limits of every component of PC’s interface (3,3) | component of PC’s interface (keyboard) / ALT K (anag, i.e. about, of TALK) + EY (liniting, or outer, letters of EverY) |
|
| 22D | RHYMED | Heard word my herd blurred! (6) | &lit-ish/CD? / anag, i.e. blurred, of MY HERD |
|
| 24D | HOP IT | Leave work during strike (3,2) | leave / H_IT (strike) around OP (opus, work) |
|
Cooking fruit in a microwave is the best way to get a hot date.
7d reminded me of that joke.
Managed to finish without any cheats. Liked DETENTION CENTRE, TEXT, RHYMED, OVERVIEW and so many others.
Great nina. Had to look up STEGANOGRAPHY to check it was a word.
Thanks to S&B.
Meant to add that I didn’t notice the ‘binary’ crossword number. Nice spot, mc – I feel sure you are right that this was Serpent’s inspiration.
Well that was a cryptic crossword!
Like our reviewer, I wasn’t sure how one would go about classifying RHYMED; I won’t go through all my thinking here because I don’t want to have NITPICKED – a clue I rated for the neat use of the Chosen One.
Also marked MEDIC and MOTHER, TEXT, and loved HOP IT. And I’m another fan of the DETENTION CENTRE.
Like Hovis (to whom thanks for the date joke) I didn’t notice the puzzle number, but did see the thematic entries and after some hunting found the STEGANOGRAPHY. That is a word whose meaning I knew vaguely (enough to know it wasn’t anything to do with the study of dinosaurs) but looked up again to refresh my memory.
Many thanks Serpent and mc_rapper.
This was a proper battle of a crossword experience – I did notice several linked clues but I never sorted out the hidden Nina
Thanks to Serpent for the brain mangling and to mc_rapper for the explanations
No idea whether the Serpent is being this devious, but 10110 is 22 decimally and – weird but true – ‘22’ (‘Vingt-deux’ in French) was a coded warning among Parisian print-setters to warn of the approach of ‘Le chef’, the alphabetic values of the letters of CHEF adding up numerically to 22. Still widely used to mean ‘Look out!’: I first saw it in the Asterix books. (And, oddly, it’s American too: ‘22 skidoo!’. Just means ‘Here come the police’).
Probably nothing in it but, hey, you’re welcome.
Grant@5. In Astérix chez les Belges. One of the Belgians was called Vandeulesflix. Another one was Vanetfiveestsix (can’t remember the exact spelling).
Now thats what I call a cryptc. It was a bit earlie in the morning to go fishing for diagonals but I gave it foive anyhow
Thanks Serpent and mc
Difficult to get into but enjoyable to finish.
I’m afraid that I missed the NINA, no diagonal vision!
I enjoyed many clues – I ticked especially the date’s request, NITPICKED, DETENTION CENTRE, MEDIC, OVERVIEW
Thanks Serpent and mc.
Thanks for all the comments and feedback – seems like a well-appreciated puzzle…
Interesting stuff on 10110 / 22 / Asterix from Grant Baynham and NormanLinFrance.
To all those who missed ‘STEGANOGRAHY’, write out a hundred times…
‘It is a Serpent – I must check the main diagonals, perimeter and unchecked rows/columns for possible Ninas…‘
Thanks to mc_rapper67 and Serpent
A superb piece of work, and clearly a lot of work went into it.
I hope there is another layer as Grant@5 has suggested.
I’m not entirely sure why, but when I miss something, (and if Grant is right I certainly missed that), it is somehow even more satisfying to have it pointed out later.
@1a I saw SWITCH as instructing us to switch the order of AC and *(DIRECT)
Thanks, Dansar – that sounds like a better parsing of 1A – will update accordingly…
Many thanks to Mc_rapper67 for the excellent blog, and to everyone who has been kind enough to comment. The thematic entries and nina certainly suggest hidden messages, but any connections with binary 10110 and decimal 22 are purely coincidental, although I very much enjoyed the speculation and inventiveness displayed in the comments.
Belated thanks to both Serpent for a terrific puzzle and mc_rapper for the blog which put me out of misery over the parsing of MEDIC.
I am someone who sees ninas etc purely as a bonus (which can be very nice, true). For me it’s all about the clueing itself.
And what Serpent offered us today (i.e. yesterday) was sheer quality.
Our beloved setter on top of his game.
In his preamble, mc_rapper67 mentioned a handful of clues and I couldn’t agree more.
Wonderful.
Ssssserpent – thanks for dropping by – glad you are enjoying the blog, and the speculation in the comments!
MichelinGaul – I am disappointed – I thought you might help with the Asterix theorem.
Sil – if you are satisfied, then it must be a good puzzle (;+>)
That’s a bit too much, really, mc_rapper67.
I often have to think of that 70s hit by Genesis: I like what I know and I know what I like ….
Which doesn’t say anything about the opinions of others, opinions that should be just as well-appreciated as perhaps mine (and certainly by me!).
Got back from a weekend away to tackle this late on Sunday evening. We solved it all without help but by then were far too tired to go nina-hunting. An enjoyable crossword, though, and reading the blog and comments was just as enjoyable. Thanks, Serpent, mc_rapper67 and all.
Sil at #16 – I thought I was paying you a back-handed compliment, but if that isn’t how you took it then I apologise…