For those who weren’t there and still like to have a go, here’s the PDF: Exit @ Leicester 2019
Alternatively, there is the possibility to solve this crossword (and other S&B ones) interactively here .
I found this crossword pretty easy. That said, I made a mess of the NW, initially entering ‘heater’ at 12ac.
Last one in was 32ac (ASCOT), one of many entries with double unches.
Also, one with less than 50% checked.
Exit is an experienced cruciverbalist and therefore I think there must be a reason for it.
I cannot see it, though.
Happy to hear from him!
Enjoyable crossword with a mini theme of (London) 11dns.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
The completed grid can be found at the end of this blog.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MAINE | State principal direction (5) |
| MAIN (principal) + E (direction, East) | ||
| 3 | VITRIOLIC | Civil trio could be scathing (9) |
| Anagram [could be] of CIVIL TRIO | ||
| 8 | NARK | Upset Noah’s original boat (4) |
| N[oah] + ARK (boat) | ||
| 9 | PADDINGTON | Points initially totalling 100 for Peruvian immigrant, 11 (10) |
| P[oints] + ADDING (totalling) + TON (100) Two definitions for the price of one. |
||
| 10 | PAL | Complete circuit of stadium – the wrong way – in China (3) |
| Reversal [the wrong way] of LAP (complete circuit of stadium) China, lower case. |
||
| 12 | REHEAT | Theatre in chaos – one tenor missing – for warm-up (6) |
| Anagram [in chaos] of THEATRE minus one of the Ts As I said in the preamble I entered ‘heater’, messing up the NW of this crossword. |
||
| 15 | TAILSPIN | Frenzy follows Greek character with first sign of nephritis (8) |
| TAILS (follows) + PI (Greek character) + N[ephritis] | ||
| 17 | SILO | Grain store, Italian? Yes, see! (4) |
| SI (yes, in the Italian language) + LO (see) | ||
| 18 | DITTO | “Simple song, not unknown, nothing added” – it’s what’s been said (5) |
| DITTY (simple song) minus the Y (unknown) at the end, + O (nothing) What’s been said doesn’t have to be the same as what I just said – just about OK, though. |
||
| 20 | FILE | Lief sorted archived papers (4) |
| Anagram [sorted] of LIEF | ||
| 22 | WATERLOO | Wore a lot, prepared for 11 (8) |
| Anagram [prepared] of WORE A LOT The first of four London stations in this crossword; 11 is 11 down. |
||
| 24 | GIZMOS | Gadgets, seen in most of pyramid site and, at first, many other sites (6) |
| GIZ[a] (pyramid site (in Egypt), most of it) + M[any] O[ther] S[ites] | ||
| 28 | INK | Cycling family used to write home? (3) |
| KIN (family) with the letters moved around in a cycle The last word in this clue (‘home’) is probably only there for the surface. |
||
| 29 | KINGS CROSS | Monarch’s annoyed in 11 (10) |
| KING’S (monarch’s) + CROSS (annoyed) | ||
| 30 | FARE | 100 leave play to get food (4) |
| FARCE (play) minus C (100) | ||
| 31 | ELECTRODE | Conductor’s poem on demented Lecter (9) |
| Anagram [demented] of LECTER, followed by ODE (poem) | ||
| 32 | ASCOT | Glaswegian course in Berkshire? (5) |
| A SCOT (Glaswegian) My last one in. While it is eventually obvious enough, the double unches weren’t really helpful. |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MANNER | Bread of Heaven broadcast in style (6) |
| Homophone [broadcast] of MANNA (bread of heaven) Or as Collins says: ‘The miraculous food which sustained the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 16:14–36)’. Whether it’s a proper homophone depends on whether you pronounce the R at the end or not. |
||
| 2 | INRUSH | Quick entry for fashionable plant (6) |
| IN (fashionable) + RUSH (plant) | ||
| 3 | VIAL | Bottle – six litres, containing ale initially (4) |
| VI (six) + L (litres), together around A[le] | ||
| 4 | TIDE | Ebb and flow sound restricted (4) |
| Homophone [sound] of TIED (restricted) Another homophone. Initially, I thought it was a homophone of ‘tight’ but my solving partner ruled that out as one is voiced and the other is not. As I say somewhere below, I am one of those who do not like the indicator being in the middle. Many others are OK with it, though. |
||
| 5 | IGNOBLE | Base doctor in “Globe” (7) |
| Anagram [doctor] of IN GLOBE | ||
| 6 | LET RIP | Launch tirade: “Left rotten tripe!” (3,3) |
| L (left) + anagram [rotten] of TRIPE | ||
| 7/26 | CANNON STREET | We hear it’s cleric’s round of drinks for 11 (6,6) |
| Homophone [we hear (it’s)] of CANON’S TREAT (cleric’s round of drinks) | ||
| 9 | PASTED | Stuck-up secretary’s boy? (6) |
| PA’S (secretary’s) + TED (boy) | ||
| 11 | STATION | Ollie’s partner embraces Spanish uncle arriving by train here? (7) |
| STAN (Ollie’s partner) around TIO (uncle, in the Spanish language) | ||
| 13 | ELIZA | Girl entrapped by lounge lizard (5) |
| Hidden answer [entrapped by]: lounge lizard | ||
| 14 | EGO | Self-confidence seen in Shrek’s comeback without resistance? (3) |
| Reversal [comeback] of OGRE (Shrek) minus the R (resistance) | ||
| 16 | IGLOO | Joe, say, backed card game in White House? (5) |
| Reversal [backed] of GI (Joe, American soldier) + LOO (card game) | ||
| 19 | ORGANS | Newspapers (or “rags”) Agnes, oddly, found in churches (6) |
| The odd letters of: or rags Agnes Once more, two definitions for the price of one. |
||
| 20 | FEZ | Iron unknown Cooper’s hat (3) |
| FE (iron, chemical symbol, ferrum) + Z (unknown) | ||
| 21 | TRANSIT | Note: artist scrambled into van (7) |
| Anagram [scrambled] of {N (note) + ARTIST} Ford Transit. |
||
| 22 | WINKLE | Turn a blind eye, possibly, to the French shellfish (6) |
| WINK (turn a blind eye, possibly) + LE (the, in the French language) | ||
| 23 | TWINGE | Twisted cord around middle of fingers. Result: sharp pain (6) |
| TWINE (twisted cord) around [fin]G[ers] | ||
| 25 | MOSAIC | Tile pattern created by Aaron’s brother? (6) |
| Double definition Aaron’s brother was, of course, Moses and ‘mosaic’ can be the adjective that goes with him. |
||
| 26 | See 7 | |
| 27 | ARGO | Slang pronunciation of “Ship” … (4) |
| Homophone [pronunciation] of ARGOT (slang) I am not a great fan of having the indicator in the middle when it comes to homophone or reversal clues. But, yes, ‘argot’ has five letters, ‘Argo’ only four. So, it’s OK. Still, that little word ‘of’ suggests that it is ‘slang’ that is the definition, with ‘Ship’ being the fodder – it is not. |
||
| 28 | ISLE | … is the French for “Man”, perhaps (4) |
| IS + LE (the, in the French language) Again! See 22d. |
||
Time to come clean. The reason for the proliferation of double unches and, in a few cases, less than 50% checking is that this was a reworking of a crossword compiled for my own amusement several years ago before I had fully learnt the conventions of setting or found Crossword Compiler software. Originally it had two more stations, St Pancras and (reached from there) Gare du Nord, but I’d used two-letter lights for ‘St’ and ‘du’. However, I recently revisited it and thought some of the original clues were worth sharing if I changed a few things to avoid the two-letter lights.
So really it was a bit of self-indulgence on my part. Thank you for bearing with me, and thanks to Sil for the blog.
PS: Sorry for the repetition of ‘the French’. The clue to 22dn was originally ‘Turn a blind eye, possibly, to the Spanish returning shellfish’ and I changed it to avoid repetition of ‘Spanish’, forgetting i’d already got ‘the French’ further on. Out of the frying pan …
Thanks Exit for an enjoyable (and quick!) solve on our return home after the Leicester S&B. Although the grid is very unconventional and doesn’t comply with the norms of published puzzles, it didn’t spoil the enjoyment. We might have felt differently if the clues had been more difficult, but as it was, the double unches didn’t cause us any concern.
We didn’t have any qualms about the location of homophone indicators. Our last one in was FARE – Bert couldn’t get CAKE out of his head!!
Thanks to Sil for the blog, and for organising the publication of the S&B puzzles.
Many thanks Sil and Exit – especially for ‘coming clean. It’s a pity that you had to jettison St Pancras, the gateway for our Southern friends travelling to Leicester yesterday.
I’ve never felt any urge – or had the opportunity – to attempt S and B puzzles at the actual event – there are so many people to talk to [so much so that I’ve lost my voice today!] – and I’m really grateful for a straightforward puzzle to come home to [but didn’t get round to it until today].
I never learned Spanish but managed to get tio = uncle from knowing that tia maria means Aunt Maria.
I didn’t manage to get TAILSPIN, being fixated on ‘Greek character’ being ‘tau’.
I wondered about 32ac: why not ‘a Glaswegian’?
My favourite was 1dn, pace all ‘rhoticians’ – I gave up commenting on this years ago. 😉
Now for the other two puzzles …
A nice entry level puzzle well suited to a train journey after a few beers.
Thanks to Exit and Sil
I enjoyed doing this as some light relief immediately after tackling Dalibor’s more challenging puzzle. I’m sure I recognised a certain style in the clues having solved Exit’s puzzles at past events. In this puzzle I particularly liked the clues to STATION and WINKLE.
As this had a Station theme I was so disappointed not to see St Pancras – a station I used twice on the day and whose architecture I like to admire from both inside and outside. But i understand Exit’s reason for taking that station out and he is forgiven.
As Sil indicated (or at least implied), PAL and TIDE could each have given way to the alternatives LAP and TIED respectively, depending on how you interpret the clues. I was happy, though, to let the crossing words confirm my correctly guessed answer in each case.
Many thanks to Exit and Sil.
Eileen
As you say, Tia Maria means Aunt Maria. Well, Tio Pepe means Uncle Pepe.
Thanks Exit and Sil
Funny what you find lurking around in the Christmas period … a puzzle from quite a while ago. Found it pretty straightforward being able to finish it in well below average time even though was only able to grab snippets at a time – not sure whether that helps or hinders normally. Certainly didn’t have negative impacts with this one.
Liked the mini-theme of London stations and being reminded of Tommy Cooper’s fez.
No real issues anywhere, finishing with CANNON STREET (which I didn’t know of), ASCOT (which I did) and FARE.