It’s always a treat to solve a Serpent puzzle.
No unusual words to hold us up but there was a bit of head scratching when it came to parsing. Serpent often has something else going on in his puzzles. We checked the unches and unchecked letters but couldn’t see anything. Our next step was to check the diagonals and there it was a HIDDEN MESSAGE! Mind you we couldn’t find anything else to go with it.
Thanks Serpent – some good fun to be had today.
The clue relies on the fact that Vince Cable (politician) may have asked himself AM I CABLE?
AS (when) around or ‘drinking’ DO (party) reversed or ‘returning’
Sounds like or ‘reported’ VAIN (egotistical)
A play on the fact that if a DASH (style) was BALDER it may have fewer frills
An anagram of UNITED and I R (first letters or ‘leaders’ of Irish Republic) – anagrind is ‘reforms’
CANDIDe (French satire written by Voltaire) missing E
MADAM (someone who runs a brothel) is a palindrome (‘either way’) – a prostitute might be described as a ‘solicitor’ and her client might be a solicitor
IS E (first letter or ‘head’ of Eton) inside an anagram of LESSON – anagrind is ‘being broadcast’
CERTITUDE (conviction) with the initial letters or ‘leads’ of Criminal Record being swapped or ‘overturned’
USUallY with ‘all’ (everything) changing to R (right)
An anagram of INTO – anagrind is ‘travelling’ – with OP (work) at the start or ‘introducing’
N E W S (four people playing bridge perhaps with a hand of cards) CAST (actors)
DI (senior policeman) inside or ‘blocking’ CONTRACT (agreement)
Hidden or ‘trousered’ by snUG LYcra
A reversal (about) of wRITS (legal documents) without or ‘axing’ W (women)
An anagram of GORED LEG – anagrind is ‘badly’
MEDIC (doctor) around or ‘obtaining’ N (new) followed by ANT (social worker)
An anagram of BBC and the alternate or ‘regular’ letters in mAtInE – anagrind is ‘broadcast’
ROOM (opportunity) inside or ‘grasped by’ LaD – missing middle letter or ‘heartless’ – in BALANCING (evening up)
EXCISE (tax) around or ‘cut by’ ER (head of state)
Hidden in or ‘borne by’ witnesSED ANimal
A homophone or ‘statement’ of a DISS (place in Norfolk) MISS (woman)
An anagram of HEARINg missing last letter or ‘mostly’ – anagrind is ‘affected’
A Spoonerism of COST (penalty) LAWS (regulations)
Triple definition – the third one relates to a flag or standard
EX PLOT (plan no longer) around or ‘including’ I (current)
RULE (regulation) around last letters or ‘terms’ of onerouS contracT
HE (man) underneath or ‘supporting’ SWAT (strike action)
Double definition
It is always a treat to solve a Serpent crossword too – he certainly gives the cryptic grey matter a good stretching. I am delighted to say that I spotted the hidden message.
Thanks to Serpent and B&J
Thanks Serpent and BnJ
I thought that was a belter. For once remembered to look for the signature, and found it as well!
I’m delighted to say – well, not really – that I kept my record of never spotting a diagonal Nina intact by missing the HIDDEN MESSAGE today. Still, I live in hope.
The usual very enjoyable Serpent, with the triple def STANDARD and the ‘social whirl’ def being my picks today. I needed the blog to understand the CABLE bit of 1a and the SHY in MARSHY.
Thanks to Serpent and to B&J
For me it’s always a surprise (and so also a treat) to solve a Serpent. Couldn’t parse ballroom dancing, so very glad of the blog again. Liked balderdash – a nice pictorial image. Thanks.
what WordPlodder said… thanks all
A lot of smiles doing this one, particularly liked AMICABLE, NEWSCAST, MARSHY among others.
Thanks to Serpent and Bertandjoyce.
Managed to finish a Saturday Indie puzzle for the first time in three weeks, although I couldn’t parse a few. Thanks for the explanations. 18ac I got the answer but I just couldn’t see the wordplay. The Spoonerism in 15dn doesn’t work for me in my accent. Also it didn’t help that a glitch in my printer meant that 14ac seemed to start “Is I lead” which didn’t make sense.
I completed most of this in one sitting, except 12ac. I went to do something else and when I came back and picked up the puzzle, the answer was obvious. Odd how the mind works.
Late to the plate today but didn’t want to miss the opportunity to add my voice to the general praise for Serpent’s offering today. I needed two bites at this and only cracked the second session as a result of participating in a Guardian discussion in which MENDICANT arose and here it was at 2d.
Several of my favourites have been mentioned – STANDARD, AMICABLE, MARSHY – and I also thought MADAM to be very neat, I enjoyed the clever definition of RUSTLE, I conquered what can often be a tricky device – think of another word and then change it – in both the aforementioned MARSHY and again in USURY, and the two hidden clues were nicely camouflaged. My only slight ‘meh’ moment was with CANDID. I recall there was a novel – two in fact – written without the letter ‘e’. Gadsby by an Englishman and then A Void by French author Georges Perec. I don’t think either was a satire, though Candide was. There’s an article here (which, for some reason, seems to come up with a tricky blue background) that explores the lipograms. Not sure if that was the reference Serpent had in mind. Otherwise the clue is rather weak.
Thanks Serpent and Bertandjoyce
Many thanks to Bertandjoyce for the excellent blog, and to everyone who has taken the time to comment.
PostMark @8: A Void was indeed the book I had in mind when I wrote the clue for CANDID, although I accept it is not a satire, unlike CANDIDE.