Kairos is a setter that I don’t think I have blogged before
Kairos seems to favour ‘double definition’ clues. I counted five of these in this puzzle.
The wordplay constructions were not particularly complex and I have used three colours to represent the wordplay in only three of the thirty-four clues. However the wordplay was still an interesting challenge determining the constituent parts from the meanings of words used in the clues.
I learnt some new meanings. For example, I hadn’t come across priest as a word meaning club before. In the entries, CABRIOLE was also new to me, but was fairly obvious it was derived from an anagram where the crossing letters were very helpful. PUGH too was a new word but the clue was clear. I had to dredge up TRUMPTON from the depths of my mind as it appeared after I watched children’s television myself and well before I had children of my own. I haven’t seen FLAK spelled as FLACK before, but it is in at least two dictionaries, so it is fair game for setters.
MINTON is a brand of pottery that I haven’t heard in use for a while.
The gird is a slightly strange layout and it’s a Tuesday so there is probably something else going on that I have been unable to spot.
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 1 | Reportedly remained sober (5) |
STAID (sounds like [reportedly] STAYED [remained]) STAID |
STAID (sober) |
| 4 | Copper’s covering evidence (5) |
P (penny; copper [coin]) + ROOF (covering) P ROOF |
PROOF (evidence) |
| 9 | Time to greet prince going with crusader (9) |
WEE WEE KNIGHT |
WEEKNIGHT (time of the day, occurring five times during the week) |
| 10 | Trouble with one consuming old mayonnaise (5) |
(AIL [trouble] + I [Roman numeral for one]) containing (consuming) O (old) AI (O) L I |
AIOLI (garlic-flavoured mayonnaise) |
| 11 | Slow-witted Hobbits regularly ignored exercise (6) |
OBT (letters remaining in HOBBITS after letters 1, 3 5 and 7 [regularly] are excluded [ignored]) + USE (exercise) OBT USE |
OBTUSE (dull- or slow-witted) |
| 13 | Society priest maybe pursuing Esther (4,4) |
BOOK (Esther is a BOOK in the Old Testament of the Bible; also a BOOK in the Hebrew Bible) + CLUB (a PRIEST is a CLUB or mallet used for killing fish) BOOK CLUB |
BOOK CLUB (society) |
| 14 | Old chess player dumps Charlie for Rod (6) |
FIS FISHER |
FISHER (angler. A fisherman or an angler can also be termed a ROD) |
| 16 | Aerobic exercises incorporating Latin dance movement (8) |
Anagram of (exercises) AEROBIC containing (incorporating) L (Latin) CABRIO (L) E* |
CABRIOLE (in ballet, a leap with one leg outstretched and the other struck against it) |
| 19 | Old children’s programme‘s in top 100 (8) |
TRUMP (top) + TON (one hundred; 100) TRUMP TON |
TRUMPTON (stop-motion children’s television series from the producers of Camberwick Green. First shown on the BBC from January to March 1967) |
| 20 | Plant working for china maker (6) |
MINT (herb; plant) + ON (working) MINT ON |
MINTON (an independent pottery and china manufacturing company from 1793 – 1968, since when it has been subsumed into Royal Doulton and latterly into Waterford Wedgwood) |
| 22 | A police department charges colonists getting drugs (8) |
(A + CID [Criminal Investigation Department, police department]) contained in (charges; fills) ANTS (insects who live in a colony; colonists) ANT (A CID) S |
ANTACIDS (medicines [drugs] that counteract acidity) |
| 24 | Graphical device left out for craftsperson (6) |
P POTTER |
POTTER (example of a craftsperson) |
| 27 | In a frenzy over including recipe for curry (5) |
AMOK [in a frenzy] reversed (over) containing (including) R (recipe) KO (R) MA< |
KORMA ( mild-flavoured Indian curry dish consisting of meat or vegetables braised in water, stock, yoghurt or cream) |
| 28 | Fussy individuals endlessly admitting faults is healthy (9) |
WOME W (HOLES) OME |
WHOLESOME (healthy in body, taste or morals) |
| 30 | State is firmly put in place (5) |
POSIT (put forward as fact; state) POSIT |
POSIT (put in position) double definition The word ‘firmly could possibly go with either definition [state or put in place] |
| 31 | Rough earth found in section of crop yield (5) |
E (earth) contained in (found in) ROPY (hidden word in [section of] CROP YIELD ROP (E) Y |
ROPEY (bad of its kind; slightly unwell; rough) |
| Down | |||
| 1 |
Cut leave dropping week (4-3) |
SWAN OFF (wander off; depart; leave) with the W (week) moving from position 2 to position 3 (dropping) to form SAWN OFF. The W drops as the entry is one of the downs. SAWN OFF |
SAWN OFF (cut) |
| 2 | Advanced group for skilful person, … (5) |
A (advanced) + DEPT (department; group of people focusing on the same or similar activities) A DEPT |
ADEPT (an expert; a skilful person) |
| 3 | … one repeatedly coming back from Canadian adventures (3) |
DAN (word hidden [from] twice [repeatedly] reversed [coming back]in CANADIAN ADVENTURES) DAN< |
DAN (a person attaining one of the ten proficiency levels in martial arts) |
| 4 | Dog handler’s first old expression of disgust (4) |
PUG (breed of dog) + H (opening letter of [first] HANDLER) PUG H |
PUGH (old spelling of POOH [exclamation of disgust]) |
| 5 | Voluntary work supported by revolutionary Latino (8) |
OP (opus; work) + an anagram of (revolutionary) LATINO As this is a down entry, the letters in the anagram of LATINO are supporting the letters in OP OP TIONAL* |
OPTIONAL (left to choice; not compulsory; voluntary) |
| 6 | After change of heart congregation gets criticism (5) |
FL FLACK |
FLACK (variant spelling of FLAK [adverse criticism]. This alternative spelling is given in Collins and the Oxford Dictionary of English. |
| 7 | Pat’s logo designed for sports fixture (8) |
Anagram of (designed) PAT’S LOGO GOALPOST* |
GOALPOST (a fixture on football or rugby or hockey pitches for example) |
| 8 | The Spanish and British propose to return gardening tool (6) |
(EL [Spanish form of the word ‘the’] + B [British] + BID [propose]) all reversed (to return) (DIB B LE)< |
DIBBLE (pointed tool used for making holes for seeds or plants; gardening tool) |
| 12 | Saturate too much (5) |
STEEP (wet thoroughly; saturate) STEEP |
STEEP (expensive; exorbitant; too much) double definition |
| 15 | Railway workers put horse in empty sidings (8) |
HUNTER (horse used in HUNTing) contained in (put … in’) SS (letters remaining in SIDINGS when the central letters IDING are removed [empty]) S (HUNTER) S |
SHUNTERS (railway workers) |
| 17 | One that may charge money (5) |
RHINO (an animal that can charge at an enemy very fast) RHINO |
RHINO (slang term for money) double definition |
| 18 | Who nosed about in US social events (8) |
Anagram of (about) WHO NOSED HOEDOWNS* |
HOEDOWNS (American term for parties at which country dances are performed) |
| 19 | Follows lines in recordings (6) |
TRACKS (follows) TRACKS |
TRACKS (grooves cut in a gramophone record by the recording instrument; lines in recordings) double definition |
| 21 | Where to find tender borders of rosemary (7) |
NURSE (one who tends; tender) + RY (outer letters of [borders of] ROSEMARY) NURSE RY |
NURSERY (a location where plants such as rosemary are grown for sale of private planting) |
| 23 | Press graduate probing company making a comeback (5) |
(MA [Master of Arts; graduate] contained in [probing] PLC [{Private Limited} Company]) all reversed (making a comeback) (CL (AM) P)< |
CLAMP (grasp or press firmly) |
| 25 | Men in Romania taking part in summit (5) |
RO (international Vehicle Registration for Romania) contained in (taking part in) TOP (summit) T (RO) OP |
TROOP (a group of soldiers [men]) |
| 26 | Escape with roll of cloth (4) |
BOLT (run away; escape) BOLT |
BOLT (roll of a definite measure of cloth) double definition |
| 27 | Spike‘s a penniless western gunfighter (4) |
EAR EAR |
EAR (a spike can be defined as an EAR of corn) |
Bit too hard for me. Didn’t get BOLT not knowing the roll of cloth meaning. Didn’t know priest as a club either. Fortunately, I remembered the rAvIOLI trick for spelling the setters’ favourite mayonnaise correctly. PUGH was also unknown (and somewhat obscure) but easy to guess.
Tuesday is theme day but it is yet again lost on me. Thanks both.
Duncan and Hovis were obviously not watchers of children’s’ television in the late 60s. An investigoogle of the solution to 19a should prove enlightening
Thanks Duncan
It’s the Independent, it’s Tuesday, there will be a theme. There is, eleven entries in all unless I have missed something.
I needed to work very hard to complete this puzzle which required recourse to Chambers on several occasions to check on some relatively obscure meanings but I did enjoy the challenge.
I’ll be interested in what the female members of the commentariat have to say about 28a!
It was nice to see ellipses used correctly which helped to get 2d/3d onto my list of top clues which also includes 11a & 13a.
Many thanks to Kairos and to Duncan.
Characters in Trumpton is the theme, Duncan. There’s Captain Flack, Pugh (the twin firemen), Chippy Minton, Dibble (another fireman), Mr Bolt, PC Potter, Mr Clamp, Mr Fisher, Dan (the rag ‘n’ bone man). There could be more! Thank to you & setter
Eek, too slow!
RD – I always thought the derogatory term in 28a referred to male fussy individuals!
crypticsue: The fact that “women” is a derogatory word for fussy men does seem to make it a bit iffy in these more enlightened days – at least it does to me. Trumpton was a bit after my time (and I don’t have kids) but I do remember its existence and vaguely remember watching Camberwick Green. If any characters were common to both, I certainly wouldn’t know.
Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb … Did I spot the theme? No.
We’re more used to Kairos in the Independent on Sunday slot, and I’ve always enjoyed his contributions there. This was a sound puzzle with some delightful and carefully constructed surface readings. And a bit of nostalgia.
One of those ‘no special favourites today’ cryptics, for me at least.
Thanks to S&B.
Several new words and plenty of thinking to be done to finish this. I hadn’t heard of TRUMPTON before, so couldn’t identify the theme, even though some of the names (and it being a Tuesday) suggested there was one. Yes, I was surprised to see the wordplay for 28a but didn’t connect it with the saying, which at least associates it with both genders, even if it still is “a bit iffy” as Hovis @8 points out.
I think I’ll go for SAWN-OFF, which took me a long time to work out, as my favourite – a reminder of all those baddies in programs like “The Sweeney”.
Thanks to Kairos and Duncan
I grew up in the 70s so I recognised the theme though the characters TonyW mentioned after Dibble weren’t ones I remembered. Half Man Half Biscuit in the 80s name-checked a number of these characters, in their song Trumpton Riots.
We guessed the theme but had to google the characters.
We are both very unhappy about 28a. We are surprised that it made it through the checking process and test solvers. The clue just says ‘fussy individuals’ and had no mention about the possibility of it referring to ‘old women’ or being derogatory. Even if it had, there are so many other ways of clueing ‘women’. It’s more than a ‘bit iffy’ in our opinion.
Sorry Kairos but this took the edge off the puzzle.
Thanks Duncan for the blog.
Very late popping in today and have to say that it was only when I started to read through the review that the penny dropped over the theme. I was well out of children’s TV by the time it appeared on our screens but I think my girls may have watched repeats of it at some point.
Quite enjoyed this one and the ‘old women’ reference didn’t bother me in the least – as CS said, it was invariably directed towards men anyway!
Thanks to Kairos and also to Duncan for the review.
Way late to the game, but re 28A I completely agree with Bertandjoyce @12. With no context, it just comes across as sexist to me. And applying the “old woman” context (a Britishism, so lost on me in the US) doesn’t help much… still perpetuates sexist/derogatory tropes that seem unnecessary in something supposed to be merely for entertainment. I stopped solving the puzzle right there and ignored the rest.
Alas, not the first time I’ve seen this sort of thing in the Independent; a few weeks back a puzzle (I don’t recall which) had at least 2 or 3 clues/answers that flirted with arguably prejudiced tropes (on race or nationality). Regardless of intent, perpetuation of such tropes is problematic to me; I expect better from setters/editors.