Dill’s third crossword for the Independent on Sunday, and my first encounter with her as a blogger.
I enjoyed the puzzle, and even managed to spot the ghost theme, which is the cartoon series SpongeBob SquarePants. He appears at 22ac, and there are various references to the series throughout the solutions. Some are definites; others are general, marine-related words that reflect the underwater location. All good clean fun.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Plane that sounds like a submarine perhaps?
SANDWICH
It had to be this, but I spent a long time looking for makes of aircraft before I realised what was going on; I’m still not conviced it fully works as far as the cryptic grammar is concerned. It’s a charade of SAND for ‘plane’ in its woodworking rather than aviation sense and a homophone of WHICH, which can be a synonym of ‘that’.
5 Digs sunglasses Henry traded in for Penny
SPADES
SHADES with the H replaced by a P. Chambers gives SPADE as a verb in this sense, so Dill is on firm ground.
10 Expensive bar serving otherworldly bottles
INGOT
Hidden in servING OTherwordly.
11 Alarmingly, boxer hit international expo participant
EXHIBITOR
(BOXER HIT I)*
12 Couple from China
MATE
A dd: the first is a verb, the second a noun referencing Cockney rhyming slang (china plate/mate).
13 Suspect mailman is into carnality
ANIMALISM
(MAILMAN IS)*
16 Priest caught in trap by a French heavenly body
NEPTUNE
A charade of P inserted into NET and UNE for one of the French words for ‘a’. King NEPTUNE makes guest appearances in SpongeBob SquarePants.
17 They avoid barking red dogs
DODGERS
(RED DOGS)* Simple clue with a nice surface.
19 Lo-cal treacle taken regularly, as stated on the tin
LITERAL
A charade of LITE (a typical trade name suffix for low calorie products) and the even letters of tReAcLe.
21 Enterprise, reorganising, must face Eastern outfit
COSTUME
A charade of CO for company or ‘enterprise’, (MUST)* and E. The anagrind is ‘reorganising’.
22 Bum shilling for animated character who’s lost his trousers
SPONGEBOB
A charade of SPONGE and BOB for the slang word for an old ‘shilling’, which anyone under the age of 50 will not have experienced in the flesh. Younger solvers will, however, be more au fait with SPONGEBOB. Or more strictly, SpongeBob SquarePants (hence ‘who’s lost his trousers’). According to his profile, he is ‘an energetic and optimistic sea sponge who physically resembles a rectangular kitchen sponge.’ Because customer satisfaction is my top aim when writing these blogs, here‘s a picture of him.
24 Gesture with a heartless vote
WAVE
My last one in, mainly because it’s the dreaded ?A?E (upwards of 200 options, depending on which wordsearch you use to cheat). It’s a charade of W, A and V[OT]E and another solution vaguely related to the theme.
27 Barrier caused by unusually drab old rugby player
ROADBLOCK
A charade of (DRAB O)* and LOCK.
28 Tendancy of medic providing end to treatment
DRIFT
A charade of DR, IF and T for the last letter of ‘treatment’. Another marine-related clue, if you will. The first word of the clue here is misspelt: it should be ‘tendency’.
29 Atoll where one pursues lovingly flexible relations
BIKINI
This was funny. You need to read ‘pursues’ as ‘comes after’ to get the word order of the charade right. It’s BI (‘lovingly flexible’), KIN and I. Bikini Atoll is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands best known as the location of the US nuclear detonation tests during the 1940s and 1950s. More importantly for us today, SpongeBob SquarePants and his acquatic buddies live in Bikini Bottom, an underwater city (allegedly) located beneath Bikini Atoll.
30 Scraps rum before crew starts to turn seditious
ODDMENTS
A charade of ODD, MEN and the first letters of ‘turn’ and ‘seditious’.
Down
1 How pool winners do it?
SWIMMINGLY
A cd, and I suppose another nod to the theme.
2 Catch gentleman’s shot in snooker club
NIGHTSPOT
A charade of a homophone (‘catch’) of KNIGHT’S and POT.
3 Moderate politicians coming from troublesome situation up North
WETS
A reversal (‘up north’) of STEW. Used within the Tory party back in the days when That Woman led it to describe those that didn’t agree with her. If you really want to max out on themed clues, have this one as well.
4 Has an inclination to enter church free from sin
CLEANSE
An insertion of LEANS in CE.
6 Hurry beyond Little Rock for outside covering
PEBBLEDASH
A charade of PEBBLE and DASH.
7 Prosecutor on TV standing up for courts
DATES
A charade of DA for District Attorney or ‘prosecutor’ and SET for ‘TV’ reversed (‘standing up’, since it’s a down clue). I have only just met Dill, so I don’t want to get into a debate about sexual mores with her, but ‘courting’ and ‘dating’ are, I would suggest, not the same. ‘Courting’ is the wooing bit with no touchy-touchy stuff; if you’re ‘dating’, then you’ve reached at least first base.
8 Breakers from Soviet Union’s Russian Federation leaders
SURF
More themed words: it’s the first letters of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth words of the clue.
9 Some loathe media having a recurring motif
THEMED
Hidden in loaTHE MEDia, and what this puzzle is.
14 Fruitcake talks of trendy hair-style
CURRANT BUN
A charade of CURRANT for a homophone of CURRENT or ‘trendy’ and BUN. Is a currant bun a fruitcake? Discuss.
15 American man on street upset Girl Guides
USHERETTES
A charade of US, HE and (STREET)* Well, they are by definition girls and they certainly guide, although the last time I saw one was in a cinema in about 1971. Or perhaps they’re making a comeback.
18 European motorbike company supported by viable training
EDUCATION
A charade of E, DUCATI and ON.
20 After economy with the truth mean to keep quiet
LIE LOW
A charade of LIE and LOW.
21 What chef did outside recipe is not kosher
CROOKED
An insertion of R in COOKED.
23 Board‘s main political principle
PLANK
A dd. The first one another marine reference and the second is referring to things that were in Labour’s manifesto but which spectacularly failed to attract voters.
25 Sourpuss runs in Hackney
CRAB
The ‘in Hackney’ bit sent me looking to drop an aitch somewhere, but in fact it’s referring to the vehicle. It’s an insertion of R in CAB. There is a KRUSTY KRAB in SpongeBob SquarePants, but he is so spelled.
26 First husband exposed by topless minx
ADAM
[M]ADAM. Were Adam and Eve in fact married? Cue long theological discussion. The setter is on firm ground, though:
She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:6)
Here endeth the blog.
May have said this before but I much preferred this setter’s style when she was compiling for the BD site – perhaps knowing next to nothing about the theme in this one didn’t help?
I did like 1d and the rather different way of clueing EDUCATION.
Thanks to Dill and to Pierre for the blog and insight into the world of 22a!
Thank you for the blog, Pierre! My intention wasn’t to theme around SpongeBob-he is just an entry that fitted with the more general maritime idea. That said your approach is a lot funnier! However taking that angle does mean that many theme words are only vaguely relevant to said Bob, whereas they arguably work better if you think sea(side)
it’s of no matter if you enjoyed it nontheless!
thanks again
We enjoyed this solve without noticing anything in the way of a theme – specific or general.
We’ve no problem with the cryptic grammar of 1ac but we do doubt the equivalence of ‘sand’ and ‘plane’. To plane is to smoothe by taking off shavings with a plane (a tool with a metal blade) but to sand is to rub down with sandpaper (or, as my woodwork teacher in the 50s insisted, glasspaper). In fact a piece of wood may need sanding even after planing. We offer no opinion, though, as to ‘court’ and ‘date’, nor to ‘fruitcake’ and ‘currant bun’ – but it was nice to see CURRANT BUN clued without invoking rhyming slang.
Favourites were NIGHTSPOT and PEBBLEDASH.
Thanks, Dill and Pierre.
DNF for me, as I had 12A=MING, which means to couple, among other things, so never got nearer NIGHTSPOT than N-G-G-POT
I had heard of Spongebob Squarepants, but he didn’t come to mind when I was trying to solve 22ac, so a DNF fro me.