A treat for fans of poetry
I’m afraid I don’t really like poetry very much – it brings back too many memories of being forced to learn lines of verse in school, and I remember thinking “why complicate things – just write in prose”. Reading La Chevelure by Baudelaire in my French class was the final straw – a fifteen-year old boy just can’t appreciate line after line about a woman’s hair. As a much more mature person, I can now appreciate the art of poetry, but will always read prose first.
Anyway, to the puzzle – Brendan has managed to refer to poetry or poets or other writing forms in over half of the clues/solutions, so that is an achievement in itself. To do so without having to be too contrived and using clever clues such as the one for SEVER is an additional feather in his cap.
Not being an aficionado, I may have missed some references, for which I apologise in advance. I am thinking in particular of the clue for LIMERICK, which refers to another clue, and also to ADAM (not sure if there’s a famous poet with that name).
Thanks Brendan
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | PROSE POEM |
Writing that could make me propose — a contradiction in terms? (5,4)
|
| *(me propose) [anag:that could make] | ||
| 10 | DYLAN |
Thomas, poet and Nobel Prize winner (5)
|
| Not terribly cryptic – refers to DYLAN Thomas (“poet”) and Bob DYLAN (“Nobel Prize” for Literature “winner”) | ||
| 11 | CANTS |
Is inclined to delete nothing from pieces of poetry (5)
|
| Delete O (nothing) from CANT(o)S (“pieces of poetry”) | ||
| 12 | DECAMERON |
Wildly romanced, clutching English or Italian love stories (9)
|
| *(romanced) [anag:wildly] clutching E (English) | ||
| 13 | HATEFUL |
Nasty European immersed in ten gallons, perhaps (7)
|
| E (European) immersed in HATFUL (“ten gallons, perhaps”) referring to a TEN GALLON HAT, made popular by cowboys, although ten gallon hats could not actually hold ten gallons of course. | ||
| 14 | BATCHED |
Washed over front of crowd gathered together (7)
|
| BATHED (“washed”) over [front of] C(rowd) | ||
| 17 | IDLER |
Indulge, oddly, poetaster’s ending — his work’s limited (5)
|
| I(n)D(u)L(g)E [oddly] + (poetaste)R [‘s ending] | ||
| 19 | ODE |
Dedicated lyric to listeners that’s outstanding (3)
|
| Homophone [to listeners] of OWED (“outstanding”) | ||
| 20 | AT WAR |
Untrained old volunteers retreating in conflict (2,3)
|
| <=(RAW (“untrained”) + T.A. (Territorial Army, so “old volunteers”)) [retreating] | ||
| 21 | UNMASKS |
Reveals our country’s introducing new degrees (7)
|
| UK’s (“our country’s”) introducing N (new) + MAs (Masters of Arts, so “degrees”) | ||
| 22 | AUSTERE |
Harsh about replacing author’s final piece (7)
|
| RE (“about”) replacing final piece of AUSTE(n) (“author”) | ||
| 24 | FIRE ALARM |
Genuine article installed by company that signals danger (4,5)
|
| REAL (“genuine”) + A (article) installed by FIRM (“company”) | ||
| 26 | SEVER |
Cut that 3, when split and reassembled (5)
|
| SE-VER (ver-se split and reassembled, i.e the SE is put before the VER)
Read the clue as “cut that verse forms (3dn), when split and reassembled” |
||
| 28 | JACOB |
Patriarch named in a chapter in part of OT (5)
|
| A + C (chapter) in JOB (“part of the Old Testament”) | ||
| 29 | LONDONISM |
Rhyming slang, say, is included by US author, male (9)
|
| IS included by (Jack) LONDON (“US author”) + M (male) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | EPIC |
Starts off every poem in collection in style of Homer (4)
|
| [starts off] E(very) P(oem) I(n) C(ollection) | ||
| 2 | SONNET |
Boy with fishing gear, eg lines set on Westminster Bridge (6)
|
| SON (“boy”) with NET (“fishing gear”)
The clue refers to a Wordsworth sonnet called Composed on Westminster Bridge |
||
| 3 | VERSE FORMS |
Poetic structures in novel serve in support of text (5,5)
|
| *(serve) [anag:novel] + FOR (“in support of”) + MS (manuscript, so “text”) | ||
| 4 | RONDEL |
French composition from Byron — delightful (6)
|
| Hidden in [from] “byRON DELightful” | ||
| 5 | AMICABLE |
Is the speaker on type of TV friendly? (8)
|
| AM I (“is the speaker”) on CABLE (“type of TV”) | ||
| 6 | ADAM |
Source of first introduction that rhymes? (4)
|
| Double definition – Adam was the first person introduced to the world, according to certain beliefs, and there are at least two poets with the surname Adam, although neither is particularly well known (Abdul Hameed Adam, a Pakistani, and Helen Adam, a Scot) | ||
| 7 | CLERIHEW |
Humorous bio priest cut and cut (8)
|
| CLERI(c) (“priest” cut) and HEW (“cut”) | ||
| 8 | ANON |
Ascribed source of many rhymes before long (4)
|
| Double definition, the first being an abbreviation of ANONymous | ||
| 13 | HAIKU |
It’s found among 3, with fixed syllabic structure, similar to this (5)
|
| There are 17 syllables in the clue, as in any HAIKU
As there are in my explanation above and in this sentence too. |
||
| 15 | TRANSISTOR |
Radio station’s broadcast about reading — and writing? (10)
|
| *(stations) [anag:broadcast] about R (reading) + R (writing, in the three R’s – reading, writing and ‘rithmetic) | ||
| 16 | DIRGE |
Elegy, say, cleared up (5)
|
| <=(E.G. (“say”) + RID (“cleared”), up) | ||
| 18 | LIMERICK |
Fruit put on heap — one concerned next clue but one (8)
|
| LIME (“fruit”) put on RICK (“heap”)
I’m not sure about the reference to “next clue but one”?, which appears to be ALMOND |
||
| 19 | OBSTACLE |
Nameless constable demolished barrier (8)
|
| *(costable) [anag:demolished] where CO(n)STABLE is without an N (nameless) | ||
| 22 | ALMOND |
Old man disturbed in tree (6)
|
| *(old man) [anag:disturbed] | ||
| 23 | ENVOIS |
One upset about verse is completing stanzas (6)
|
| <=(ONE, upset) about V (verse) + IS
An envoi is a concluding part of a book or poem, so “stanzas that complete” |
||
| 24 | FIJI |
Lots of islands having female dotty characters? (4)
|
| F (female) + IJI (“dotty characters”, at least when in lower case) | ||
| 25 | ABBA |
Quartet‘s initial scheme for 2, perhaps (4)
|
| ABBA were a pop “quartet” and ABBA is a rhyming scheme where the first and fourth line and the second and third lines rhyme. | ||
| 27 | RIME |
Frost‘s old-fashioned poem (4)
|
| Double definition, the second being an old spelling of RHYME | ||
I really enjoyed this – especially after failing spectacularly with yesterday’s.
Couldn’t get CANTS. Never heard of CLERIHEW (lovely word though) and didn’t know LONDONISM was a word.
Loved HAIKU – so clever to have the clue in the 5/7/5 format.
Other favourites INCLUDED: FIFI, AUSTERE, RIME, ABBA
Thanks to Brendan and loonapick
Ooops meant FIJI
I think the LIMERICK might be the Lear classic
There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a bee;
?When they said, “Does it buzz?”
?He replied, “Yes, it does!
It’s a regular brute of a bee!”
Some splendid clueing here today; I remember learning – and employing – rhyming schemes in sonnets at school so ABBA was a delight. FIJI was lol and HAIKU was simply sublime. SONNET, itself, is another beautiful construction and I’m pleased DECAMERON was clued without reference to previous PM.
I keep returning to ADAM, convinced I’m missing something. I’m sure somebody here will have spotted something over and above our blogger’s interpretation – and he came up with more than I did!
Thanks Brendan and loonapick
I wondered if 6d was a reference to the rhyming palindrome “Madam, I’m Adam”?
18d refers to the Edward Lear limerick “There was an old man in a tree”
thanks Brendan and thanks Boatman….another gem in an excellent week. I think the Adam answer refers to one of the longest palindromes in English at 11 letters
And just pipped by Postmark @3
passerby: yes, that’s how I read 6d. (Eve replied palindromically by just saying her name.)
Brendan in splendid form once again – lots to enjoy but the thing that made me smile the most was the dotty characters in 24d
Thanks very much to Brendan and loonapick
loonapick and PM@3. Adam allegedly uttered the first ever palindrome and a very short poem, “Madam, I’m Adam” as an introduction.
Bit like you loonapick but in reverse, often find myself wishing I’d learnt more poetry [did an old Araucaria jumbo about Browning the other day and could remember My Last Duchess, title only, and eff all else]. But enjoyed today’s, not too erudite… envoi unknown but clerihew has done the rounds. Agree about limerick….? Someone will know. And yes, liked the severed verse. Thanks both.
Yes, lots of fun. HAIKU was very clever, and I also enjoyed AUSTERE, SEVER and RIME in particular. Many thanks to Brendan and loonapick.
6d. No, the FIRST poem in any anthologogy is “On the antiquity of fleas”:
Adam
Had ’em
Super start to my day. Not too difficult for me, but enough of a challenge to be really enjoyable, and with clues to admire. I’m sure that some science orientated solvers will be grumpy, but, as an Eng. Lit. bod, it was right up my street.
Passerby@4 : yes, I assumed the “original introduction” was “Madam, I’m ADAM.”
Yep PM @3, that’ll be the tree concerned, well done.
Opps, too slow for passerby@4. While I’m here, I can’t let HAIKU pass without reference to John Cooper Clarke’s Haiku Number One.
Clerihew: four lines in irregular metre with an AABB rhyme scheme, giving a humorous biographical sketch of the person whose name usually forms the first line.
Sir Christopher Wren
Said “I’m going to dine with some men.
But if anyone calls,
Tell them I’m designing St.Paul’s.”
Invented by and named for Edmund Clerihew Bentley.
I read 26a as VERSE FORMS is split to give VERSE and then an anagram of that.
Thanks Brendan and loonapick
Just a delight from start to finish. Faves were CLERIHEW, DECAMERON, HATEFUL and the lovely FIJI. Well done PM and FIERY JACK for identifying the LIMERICK and passerby @4 for the palindrome. Both went right over my head. Brendan never, ever disappoints.
Ta both
Thanks – and congratulations – to all those who’ve explained ADAM (including the alternative offered @13)
[Bruceeee @6: you mention one of the longest palindromes in English at 11 letters. I recall some interesting discussion of palindromes – including reference to what sounds like a terrifying puzzle – following a Quiptic in November. There are a few that are longer than 11.]
Thanks Wiggers, for reminding us of the brilliant John Cooper Clark haiku. Superb
Really enjoyed that this morning – fabulous cluing so that even those I didn’t know I could write it.
[Wigger @17: Thanks for the JCC reference! I’m just reading his new bio and re-visitng his poetry – I had tickets to see him in June which have now, of course, been moved to next year but I’m more excited than I care to think about.]
loonapick – as a fifteen-year-old boy, I was introduced to the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward FitzGerald and fell in-love with poety instantly. When “Poems on the Underground” was a thing, I used to wander up-and-down trains trying to make sure I read them all!
Not having solved the crossword yet
I was getting quite upset.
I stopped for a brew
For help with a clue,
But reverted to fifteteensquared.net.
Thanks Brendan and loonapick
[E C Bentley’s son Nicolas Bentley was a well known illustrator and cartoonist, who drew the pictures for (among others) the original TS Eliot Book of Practical Cats, but he also wrote clerihews:
“Cecil B de Mille
Rather against his will
Was persuaded to leave Moses
Out of the Wars of the Roses.”]
[Wiggers, loved the link. I saw him perform in Belfast at the height of the ‘troubles’, when very few artists were prepared to come, and which was very much appreciated by the culturally starved]
That was good fun although I’m not into poetry with the except of the brilliant Bard of Salford (JCC) who was brilliant supporting Squeeze a few years ago. Thanks Brendan and loonapick.
( longest palindrome I know is ascribed to Napoleon, ‘Able was I, ere I saw Elba’ 19 letters.)
Some fine clerihews in the wikipedia article. I think my favourite is:
Did Descartes
Depart
With the thought
“Therefore I’m not”?
[John Stuart Mill,
By a mighty effort of will,
Overcame his natural bonhomie
And wrote Principles of Political Economy.]
Just lovely.
Many thanks to Brendan, as ever, for so much clever and witty fun and to loonapick for the blog.
This was right up my street, so most enjoyable.
I wonder whether the ADAM puzzle might be the first human in Paradise and “a dam” = “a mother” who would also be the source of first introduction to the world: and they rhyme (sort of).
Thank you, Brendan and loonapick.
Gladys
Said “What really makes me sad is,
That I’ve yet to be the muse
For anyone’s clerihews.”
Alternatively the reference at 18d and 22d could be to this one:
There was an Old Man of Dundee
Who frequented the top of a tree;
When disturbed by the crows, he abruptly arose,
And exclaimed, “I’ll return to Dundee.”
Many thanks Brendan and loonapick. (loonapick, you have thanked Boatman.)
Gave up and did not finish. Failed CANTOS, ABBA, AUSTERE, ENVOIS
New for me: CLERIHEW
Did not parse: ADAM, HAIKU, HATFUL = 10 gallons; LIMERICK – next clue but one?
Thanks, Brendan and blogger
Thoroughly enjoyed this.
I really enjoyed
The fine clue at thirteen down
(It made me chuckle)
It didn’t see the “madam, I’m Adam” connection nor the Limerick reference.
[If Shane Warne
Had not been born
Mike Gatting
Might still be batting]
ThanksBrendan and loonapick
Great fun.
George Clements @14: This scientist raced through the puzzle and enjoyed it vastly! Lots of cleverness – I particularly liked SEVER and ABBA.
I parsed ADAM by reference to the famous palindromic introduction. Years ago I came across a dialogue between Adam and Eve written entirely in palindromes. It had lines like: ‘Mad! A gift. I fit fig, Adam’. ‘On hostess? Ugh, gussets! Oh no!’ I can’t remember who wrote it (probably an Oulipian) and I can’t find it again. Anyone else able to locate it?
There is an old setter of clues
Whose puzzles confuse and amuse.
Today’s about poets –
Delightful! – although it’s
A shame there’s no sign of Ted Hughes.
Gervase @25 [Try:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pVFD9fffTh8C&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=Mad!+A+gift.+I+fit+fig,+Adam%E2%80%99.&source=bl&ots=61KVvfCYdB&sig=ACfU3U2r-02r5UE2GdQ58bZEJ3F7inZ8qw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiGsIHDktrvAhV9UhUIHZRrBeAQ6AEwAnoECBQQAw#v=onepage&q=Mad!%20A%20gift.%20I%20fit%20fig%2C%20Adam%E2%80%99.&f=false ]
I’m always feel like I’m missing something with Brendan. Clearly the puzzles are really popular but I just fine them humourless and austere. Throw in yet another heavy-handed theme and it was grimaces all the way down for me. I found this a lot tougher than yesterday’s Paul but maybe that was just theme irritation (some scope for a neologism here) getting in the way. Bah humbug
That JCC looks like Keefie, poet of the Telecaster
[Wish I still had one quirky school anthology, which had fun stuff like..
Whenever I shake the ketchup bottle
First none’ll come
And then the lot’ll
And the Chesterton vegetarian one, with..
So I stuff away for life
Shoving peas in with a knife
Because I am so very
Vegetarian (apols to vegos and vegans)
And my fave limerick..
There was a young man from Japan
Who wrote verse that no-one could scan
When told that was so
He said Yes I know
But I always try to fit as many words in the last line as I possibly can]
Best palindrome:
A man, a plan, a canal, Panama !
I hate palindromes.
Re 40 Grantinfreo
There was a young poet from China
Who wrote lines that were very much finer
You could always depend
That his verses would end
Suddenly
Thanks Flatcap @37!
[The palindromes that we have been sharing are chicken feed. See this:
“In English, two palindromic novels have been published: Satire: Veritas by David Stephens (1980, 58,795 letters), and Dr Awkward & Olson in Oslo by Lawrence Levine (1986, 31,954 words).[49] Another palindromic English work is a 224-word long poem, “Dammit I’m Mad”, written by Demetri Martin”]
That JCC bloke, I meant
[Nila @42: 🙂 ! ]
Excellent, Tony @43
A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs, a coloratura, maps, snipe, percale, macaroni, a gag, a banana bag, a tan, a tag, a banana bag again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, Spam, a rut, a Rolo, cash, a jar, sore hats, a peon, a canal — Panama!
Quite entertaining, though LONDONISM was a bit of a stretch (though, despite my suspicions, it appears to exist), and I couldn’t parse AUSTERE because I was fixated on it being Laurence STER[N]E who was being cut. SEVER was clever. I twigged the ADAM palindrome, but not the LIMERICK reference. I think you have to be of a certain age to remember TRANSISTOR as a synonym of ‘radio’. Thanks, Brendan and loonapick.
[Penfold@31
Well, that was fun!
Thank you for indulging my ambition
To be a part of this splendid tradition.]
Lord Jim@32: my favourite Dundee limerick is:
There was a young girl from Dundee
Who was stung on the leg by a wasp.
When asked if it hurt
She said not very much
It can do it again if it likes.
Thanks to Brenda for the fun puzzle and Loonapick for the blog and for all the entertaining comments.
A clever compiler named Brendan
Had twenty words and means to bend ‘em
His cleverness was such
I scribbled too much
And sprained a left flexor tendon
Very enjoyable, with a good mix of devices. I don’t think it required any deep knowledge of, or enthusiasm for, poetry, but maybe those of us who like the stuff will have got a bit more out of it.
Is the Decameron a book of love stories? My recollection, based on a short stay in hospital many years ago with nothing else to read, is chiefly of grimly unfunny tales about lecherous monks falling into middens.
TassieTim @49 – yes, “transistor” for “radio” is pretty vintage. I remember being given a transistor circa 1973. The big bakelite thing in the living room, which boomed out the BBC news in the mornings, was never called a radio either: it was The Wireless.
Great crossword, loved it, and all the chat above. Not clever enough to add any verses or palindromes myself but I admired all those posted, so thank you Brendan, loonapick and all the contributors to the 15 squared discussion. Happy holidays!
To be technical,
haiku is about nature.
This is senryu.
similartothis @55 – a very good point. But, to be fair to the setter, he doesn’t claim that the clue *is* a haiku, only that it has a similar “fixed syllabic structure.”
Poetry (try studying stuff by Gérard Manley Hopkins) as with Shakespeare was lost on me at school (having had to study Coriolanus for English Language ‘O’ level), so many of the definitions passed me by and as this tends to be how I solve the Guardian Crosswords.
I do like Brendan’s puzzles though, I miss him in the Telegraph.
Thanks for the hints.
An epicure dining in Crewe
Found a large, fat mouse in his stew.
Said the waiter: “don’t shout,
or wave it about
or the rest will be wanting one too.”
Wow! Utter brilliance from start to finish. Crosswords don’t come any better than this on so many levels.
Respect and many thanks to Brendan. Thanks too to loonapick and everyone else who has commented, all of which has added to the enjoyment.
LordJim @32 – thanks for spotting my misplaced appreciation (now corrected).
graninfreo@40 – similar to your Chesterton contribution.
I eat my peas with honey
I’ve done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny
But keeps them on my knife.
Miche@56: Agreed, but I was trying to point out just how cleverly Brendan had fashioned the clue to 13d by including the phrase “similar to this”.
PS I can’t claim credit for my comment @55 – I have to admit to finding it on the internet.
This was fine, and entertaining, as others have remarked, but I got a bit bogged down in the SE corner with the gnarly clue for TRANSISTOR and LONDONIN, which I hadn’t come across before. Reading the DECAMERON as a young fairly innocent teenager from my grandmother’s bookshelf was a rather furtively remembered recollection. Off down the apples and pears now to get going with the rest of the day….
LONDONISM even….
I was brought up to believe that my late father (as Uncle Ron) used to write limericks for an early BBC children’s programme. My favourite, although probably not for children nor by him:
There was a young chap on the Clyde
Who fell in a sewer and died.
Now he had a brother who fell in another,
So now they’re interred side by side.
Sorry. Got it wrong as usual!
There was a young chap on the Clyde
Who fell in a sewer and died.
Now he had a brother,
Who fell in another,
So now they’re interred side by side.
Thanks loonapick, I couldn’t see how VERSE FORMS worked in that order but you have fixed that, and had the wrong author in AUSTERE (and wondered why Brendan went to such length to replace an R with RE). Nor did I realise that the TA was no longer called that.
The top half went in fairly easily but the SE held out, not helped by my overcomplication of ALMOND, couldn’t see the tree for the wordplay! I did wonder if the double and overlapping use of “IS” down there was just an unfortunate coincidence.
Enjoyed the cross-links and theme used in sufficiently lowbrow way for me to get with very little outside assistance, favourite HAIKU (someone else clued a haiku literally, can’t remember when, also vg) , thanks Brendan.
All of yous
Trumpeting each others Clerihews
Might – if you try it –
Quite enjoy being quiet.
(More than a bit mean, but in my defense it is my first ever.)
The crossword was enjoyable but the blog is also most entertaining. I mean, ccmack@58: – wow! I suppose the thing now is to come up with a 17-syllable limerick which is both a clerihew and a palindrome. (Please don’t anyone try as it’s bound to lead to brain sprain.)
I am most impressed by the restraint shown by those offering “favourite” limericks – these would not colour the cheeks of, well, a person inclined to blush in embarrassment. Most of the limericks in my repertoire would cause squirming even among the Rabelais Appreciation Society.
Thanks to Brendan and loonapick.
Thanks Brendan and loonapick
Pretty much my favourite palindrome is
Sex at noon taxes
[Thanks also everyone for lots of excellent clerihewic and limerickal amusement. Tony@41 and ccmack@48 have covered my top palindrome and my favourite limericks are not repeatable here, but for those missing the science content today there is:
There was a young lady called Bright
Who travelled much faster than light
She set out one day
in a relative way
And returned on the preceding night.]
[Gazzh @66: Starts to harness an idealistic karma understandably (5) appeared in Financial Times 15,629 by Gaff]
Gervase @44 & Alphalpha @67: back in my post @21 I mentioned a Quiptic blog in which palindromes were discussed. As well as the two novels mentioned and the Dammit I’m Mad poem, one poster commented: Just for fun I once set a palindromic crossword on an entirely blank 15×15 grid. It spiraled from the outside into the center. There were 26 forward clues and 30 reverse clues – the latter started at the center and wound outwards along the same spiral. I constructed it for a friend who was a crossword enthusiast who had fun solving it. Setting it was quite a challenge. I did it purely because of my own love of palindromes.
PM@70: Indeed I had spotted those, but for some reason unbeknownst only to myself I was impressed by the extended Panama working. We are very weird entities (Shakespeare’s first draft?).
[…and where is Julie
in Australia these days?
Anyone? (Senryu?)]
You should always be careful about what you wish for.
I once asked people to send me their favourite palindromes and somebody sent me gnu dung in the post.
Wot no palendromic limericks?
Here is an article about the 2020 Symmys Awards, the best palindromes of the year in various categories. In the poetry category, the runner-up is a Petrarchean sonnet–so, quite long indeed for a palindrome–but it’s kind of word salad. Here’s the winner, entitled “Facemask.”
Put it on.
Knot it up.
Walks a man
In a mask…
Law:
Put it on.
Knot it up.
As for the puzzle, it was a delight. Of course I’m biased, having spent several years of my life trying to get reluctant students to like poetry.
10FC@72: Look pal: clap – KOOL!
I had a bunch of things to say and everybody else said them first.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, thanks Brendan and loonapick. It was fun to find words for verse forms I hadn’t thought about for ages. (As well as limericks, clerihews and haiku). Never heard of senryu, how interesting that it exists.
I’m glad to see that everyone (except bodycheetah @38) enjoyed this too. I skated through about three-quarters of the grid, but ground to a halt in the SE through treating 22d with too much respect (like Gazzh @66) instead of just biffing the obvious anagram.
I think Loonapick’s lacunae have been filled in by others, but I don’t think anyone else has spotted that ‘author’s final piece’ requires not just a letter but a chess piece to be removed at the end of the author’s name, thus limiting our search for the correct author to those ending with an N.
Thanks to Brendan and Looknapick (I had much the same experience of poetry at school as yourself; then my mother started writing poetry in her 70s and we had several discussions about how poems and crossword clues are very similar, in that they beat about the bush to say something that you could say in prose in a fraction of the time).
Dyu know, Alphalpha @71, I’ve been wondering that too
Forgot to say thanks to everyone for the limericks, clerihews, palindromes, etc. Especially grantinfreo @40 and Tony @43 for the two examples that deliberately don’t scan – it is the one requirement of the limerick verse form that usually trips most casual creators up.
Disappointed that no one has tried a sonnet yet.
Thank you for the blog, well done Brendan. I thought some of the smaller words were very well clued today – HAIKU, ABBA, FIJI, SEVER … not often the case, perhaps the lack of letters for wordplay.
Lovely comments and creations today but I must say everyone has been very restrained with the limericks.
Thanks Brendan and loonapick.
Lovely from start to finish. Nothing to add except:
Sourdough @51:
There was an old man of St Bee’s
Who was stung on the arm by a wasp
When asked “does it hurt”?
He replied “No it doesn’t
I’m so glad it wasn’t a hornet”
W S Gilbert, I think
Miche @53
I thought the same as you about The Decameron, so looked it up: all the stories feature love (or, perhaps more accurately, sex).
bodycheetah @38 – solidarity. I can see why people appreciate the frontloading of effort in theme compilation and grid construction, but it contributes to the solve being a bit of a slog, especially if the theme does not inspire.
Can anyone explain what is happening in 8d – isn’t a poem with ANON written against it by definition unascribed?
And as the last time this was discussed, nobody confessed to using little letters to fill in the crossword, how is 24d FIJI supposed to work?
Thanks Brendan, that was very satisfying. Favourites included FIRE ALARM, TRANSISTOR, and DIRGE. Unable to get DECAMERON and CLERIHEW, both new words for me. Thanks loonapick for parsing and your thoughts on poetry. [For those who like palindromes there’s a funny little book called Senile Felines.]
Ta for the blog. I like Brendan very much.
Found the SE a bit chewy for no very good reason.
Avoiding the less salubrious ones, a favourite is
The wife of the King of Antigua
Said to her spouse, “What a pig you are!”
He said, “O my queen,
Is it manners you mean?
Or do you refer to my figu(a)re?”
My favourite haiku:
Hippopotamus.
Anti-hippopotamus.
Annihilation!
Yes, nice puzzle, and the limericks are quite restrained. My favourite amongst the extensive genre is:
There was a young man from Australia
Who painted his arse like a dahlia
At thruppence a smell
It did very well
But sixpence a kiss was a failure!
The first haiku I read was in a book entitled, I think, Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis:
Basho sees the nazuna flower, nazuna flower sees Basho.
Birthday, long lunch, mates, shirazes, definitely long past my bedtime
I’ll just record my appreciation of the puzzle, the blog and the comments. [grantinfreo@12 Browning gets in everywhere. Even when we were studying revenge tragedy, and the work of John Webster, the lecturer noted the shortage of books and commented, “That’s my last Duchess”
Van Winkle @82. ‘Ascribed’ means assigned or imputed to an author; anonymous means lacking a name, or author without a name. I can’t see a difficulty with a work being ascribed to an author whose name is unknown. If the work was not ascribed to ANON, it would leave the reader speculating as to whether it was by Browning, Lear or Senryu.
[ginf @87:
A day of such note
Cannot, among puzzling pals,
Pass by untoasted.]
SH @79:
A poorly-trained gas man named Peter,
While hunting around for the meter,
Touched a leak with his light,
He blew out of sight,
And as everyone who knows anything about poetry can tell you, he also ruined the meter.
The problem with sonnets is that they’re a bit more involved. It typically takes me about an hour to write a decent one. (Actually, let’s time this. It is currently 10:11 CDT (US).)
This puzzle has a fun poetic theme,
With nearly every answer taking part.
Referring to a poet’s rhyming scheme,
Her meter, structure, or her sense of art.
The comments took this theme to its extremes,
Contributors, inspired by some muse
Unknown to ancient Greece, or so it seems,
Subjected verse to all kinds of abuse.
Our limericks are tortured and don’t rhyme,
Our haiku fail to sing of nature’s ways,
Our sonnets suck, perhaps for lack of time,
Our clerihews are very hard to praise.
But one thing’s clear, at least from where I sit,
The fifteensquared folks do not lack for wit.
(It is now 10:25. Hmm. That was less than fifteen minutes. But to be fair, this sonnet kinda sucks.)
mrpenney@91 To paraphrase Dr. Johnson “A sonnet in fifteen minutes is like a dog walking on its hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all” In fact it’s better than that.
Thanks everyone as always for the creativity around the theme, and particularly the previous from mrpenney, that I would rate as excellent for almost a line a minute. I considered, but soon wisely rejected, the idea of using a grid with 14 across works forming a sonnet. A young barman at our watering-hole, appropriately called Adam, made “The Palindromists”, a great documentary about the world palindrome championship.
“words” not “works”
mrpenney @91: splendid creation. Chapeau!
In time for Easter
The cherry blossom is here
As in Tokyo
Brian Greer@93 – the world palindrome championship can’t be very exciting – you know how it’s going to end from the start.
(Does everybody say that?)
Thanks for the crossword, and thanks to all for the the blog.
Thanks both – great fun
The “catsup bottle” is often misattributed to Ogden Nash, but it was in fact Richard Armour. I had (also) misremembered it as:
Ketchup bottle, first a little, then a lot’ll
My favourite anti-limerick
There is a young poet of Wick
Whose verse is unpleasant and sick
He distorts and deforms
All conventional norms
Gervase@44 et al. – here’s a link to Dmitri’s palindromic poem To be honest, I’m not sold on it making too much sense though. George Perec wrote (in French) a 500 word palindrome to add to his novel not using the letter ‘e’ – which I believe was translated.
[… and of course wasn’t it Brendan who gave us a wonderful crossword where neither the clues nor the solutions used the letter ‘e’.]
Brave effort, mrpenney. Well done!
she is a small bird
but my robin sings loudly
a beautiful sound
Auriga@73: No, but any marks for a limeriku?
There was a young man
From Nantucket… How can I
Say: I just don’t care?
Brendan, arch cruciverablist,
Gave us a puzzle, one not to be missed.
Clues there were thirty-three,
Some not at-all easy;
Best not to try and solve whilst under the influence.
I’m afraid my favourite Limerick-a-like was from a great Kenny Everett on Russell Harty’s show:
“The boy stood in the chip-shop
Eating red-hot scallops
One fell down his trouser leg
And scalded his ankles.”
[PostMark, very belated thanks for digging out that Haiku clue earlier. And thanks for putting me onto rodshaw’s incredible effort. from now on i will try to refer to him as themightyrodshaw. As for mrpenney – there is no accolade high enough! Honourable mentions to everyone else.]
sheffield hatter@77: very good spot re the “piece” and I could have saved myself a lot of headscratching if I had reminded myself of Brendan’s usual meticulous cluing with no wasted words!
SimonS@68
It’s far too late to expect you to see this but your favourite palindrome (sex at noon taxes) reminded me of this from long ago:
Uncle Fred and Auntie Mabel
Fainted at the breakfast table.
Children, heed this awful warning
Never do it in the morning.
But Phyllosan has put them right
Now they’re at it morn and night
And they’re hoping very soon
To try it in the afternoon.
A bit late to the party – an enjoyable solve after a lazy day in the sun.
There was a young man from Japan
Whose limericks never would scan
When told this was so,
He said “yes, I know,
But I always like to squeeze as many words into the last line as I possibly can”
Grantinfreo @40 – sorry, I must try harder..
[I didn’t follow Mark’s link @21 (and further reference @70) to Rodshaw’s palindromic crossword when first reading the comments here, but I have now done so and I agree wholeheartedly that it is a phenomenal achievement.
There are “26 forward clues and 30 reverse clues” according to Rodshaw. In a post on the Quiptic thread that has been linked to @21, the order of the answers in the 225-square grid is set out in a continuous sequence outwards from the centre, and the reverse can be deduced. For ease of reconstruction I have split it up and reversed the inward answers (look away now if you want to try this for yourselves):
DECIDES SERPICO LATIN ARENAS NIAGARA LUGER MARTYR GNAWED LIMPET STRAW SWEPT OVID KNOW-ALL IVORY RORE (Shakespeare: obsolete spelling of roar) ROTTEN NOBEL OPERA WASTE BARELY TROOPS SUMAC SLEET SOOTY LLAMAS TENON / NOTES SAM ALLY TOO STEELS CAMUS SPOOR TYLER (alt.sp. of tiler) ABETS AWARE POLE BONNET TORE RORY ROVILLA (obscure given name?) WONK DIVOT PEWS WART STEP MILDEW ANGRY TRAM REGULAR AGAIN SANER ANITA LOCI PRESSED ICED.]
A wonderful bird is the pelican —
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can stash in that beak
Enough food for a week,
But I’m damned if I know how the helican.
That’s by Richard Armour.
Wonderful crossword (checked a couple of answers but at least no reveals) and equally wonderful comments. mrpenny @91 that is quite remarkable.
I don’t know who wrote this, but I like it:
There was a young man
From Cork who got limericks
And haiku confused
But I’m responsible for this one, from a couple of weeks ago:
I always write limericks that rhyme –
Well, often, or most of the time;
And also I can
Compose limericks that scan,
But not with a last line that scans and that rhymes and if I could would that not be most sublime.
Fiona Anne, thanks for leavening the jollity with those two absolutely beautiful haiku 296 and 102.
And thanks Brendan for detonating all this fun.
Fiona Anne’s beautiful haiku are @96 and 102.
This was a little slow for me and I had to do some research and guessing/checking, but I really enjoyed the theme. Favorites were OBSTACLE and RIME. Thanks, Brendan and loonapick!
Sorry my contribution is so late but I like to chew over things properly before giving in. I assumed the reason Adam rhymes (6d) is because it is rhyming slang for believe. Would you Adam (& Eve) it?
I’m running late this week so only just read the blog and over 100 excellent contributions. My pathetic contribution (which I don’t think anyone has quoted) ‘ascribed’ to Napoleon
ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA
Thanks to everyone for giving me an enjoyable morning.
Like Julia above, I was very late to this crossword and blog. The crossword was a gem, and I enjoyed reading the many contributions above, so thanks to Brendan, loonapick, mrpenney for his amazing limerick and 15-minute sonnet, and everyone else.
Bentley devised the Clerihew as a way of encouraging his students to concision in biography.
E. Clerihew,
Ee, what ‘e knew!
E’s the one that taught
The art of keeping it short
(Emzi Zimiziyu)
Re 18d ALMOND LIMERICK Tumbler is a type of pigeon
John Plant@121, … and?