A super puzzle today with some intriguing instructions. Thank you Gozo.
The nine themed answers are items from the game of Cluedo (known as Clue in the US). The themed answers are grouped into suspects, murder weapons and scenes of the crime:
REV GREEN
MRS WHITE
MISS SCARLETT
DAGGER
LEADPIPE
SPANNER
HALL
KITCHEN
LOUNGE
There are 27 ways to solve the crime from these possibilities.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | AMERICANO |
Oceanarium, not posh, serving coffee (9)
|
| anagram (serving, from this you will get…) of OCEANARIuM missing U (posh) | ||
| 10 | TRONC |
To which some patron contributes (5)
|
| found inside (to which, some of…) paTRON Contributes – definition is &lit, a collection of tips | ||
| 11 | GADWALL |
Duck at first looks like any Walt Disney animated goose, on reflection (7)
|
| first letters of Looks Like Any Walt Disney Animated Goose reversed (on reflection) | ||
| 12 | SPANNER |
Box with nine in – one missing (7)
|
| SPAR (box) contains NiNE missing I (one) – US solves may know this murder weapon as the WRENCH | ||
| 13 | ROI |
Eire’s European monarch (3)
|
| double definition – Republic of Ireland and French king | ||
| 14 | CONSIGLIERE |
Mafia adviser distributed sloe gin and rice (11)
|
| anagram (disturbed) of SLOE GIN and RICE | ||
| 17 | REEVE |
Bird will change course back by far end of lake (5)
|
| VEER (change course) then lakE (last letter, far end of) – the female ruff or sandpiper | ||
| 18 | BAN |
Airline’s new embargo (3)
|
| BA (airline) has N (new) | ||
| 19 | TEMPT |
Attract agency typist with training at first (5)
|
| TEMP (agency typist) and Training (first letter of) | ||
| 21 | VANESSA BELL |
Bans A-levels about Bloomsbury Virginia’s sister (7,4)
|
| anagram (about) of BANS ALEVELS – designer and sister of Virginia Woolf, of the Bloomsbury Group | ||
| 23 | SOT |
Scout regularly drunk (3)
|
| every other letter (regularly) of ScOuT | ||
| 25 | REGIMEN |
Army group having no time for slimming course (7)
|
| REGIMENt (army group) missing T (time) | ||
| 27 | KITCHEN |
Young boy harbours desire (7)
|
| KEN (a boy’s name) contains (harbours) ITCH (desire) | ||
| 28 | EVILS |
Charged over small transgressions (5)
|
| LIVE (charged) reversed (over) then S (small) | ||
| 29 | ROCHESTER |
See guerrilla in list (9)
|
| CHE (Che Guevara, guerrilla) inside ROSTER (list) – a see is a bishopric, Rochester for example | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DAGGER |
Worn edges switched (6)
|
| RAGGED (worn) with first and last letters (edges) switched – KNIFE in some US editions of the game | ||
| 2 | LEAD PIPE |
Go first, taking constant exercise (4,4)
|
| LEAD (go first) with PI (a constant, in maths) and PE (physical exercise) | ||
| 3 | FINANCIERS |
More than one money manager is in France, troubled (10)
|
| anagram (troubled) of IS IN FRANCE | ||
| 4 | HALL |
Orchestra drops Elgar’s Introduction (4)
|
| HALLe (The Halle Orchestra, based in Manchester) missing Elgar (first letter of, the introduction) | ||
| 5 | CONSCIENCE |
Argument against technique making moral sense (10)
|
| CON (argument against) and SCIENCE (technique) | ||
| 6 | ETNA |
It may blow up turning up in Canterbury (4)
|
| found reversed (turning up) inside cANTEbury – an active volcano in Italy | ||
| 7 | LOUNGE |
Surge forward grasping love (6)
|
| LUNGE (surge forward) containing O (love, zero score) | ||
| 8 |
See 26
|
|
| 15 | NO-BRAINERS |
Easy jobs smashing 18 Renoirs (2-8)
|
| anagram (smashing) of BAN (18 across) and RENOIRS | ||
| 16 | LITTLE TOES |
Smallest piggies allowed into refurbished toilets (6,4)
|
| LET (allows) inside anagram (refurbished) of TOILETS – definition alludes to the rhyme played on children’s toes: This little piggy went to market / This little piggy stayed at home… | ||
| 17 | REV GREEN |
New verger has his points (3,5)
|
| anagram (new) of VERGER with EN (East and a North, his points , the points of the compass found in GREEN) | ||
| 20 | MRS WHITE |
Mothers-in-law sadly lose loan (3,5)
|
| anagram (sadly) of MoTHERS In laW missing LOAN | ||
| 22 | NOGGIN |
Drink and drink and drink! (6)
|
| NOG (a drink) and GIN (a drink) | ||
| 24 | TUNDRA |
Doctor cutting fish in cold zone (6)
|
| DR (doctor) inside (cutting) TUNA (fish) | ||
| 26, 8 | MISS SCARLETT |
Fail to spot blemish on half the vegetables (4,8)
|
| MISS (fail to spot) with SCAR (blemish) on LETTuces (vegetables, half of) | ||
| 27 | KICK |
Kinnock’s heartless thrill (4)
|
| KInnOCK missing middle letters (heartless) |
A great puzzle as always from Gozo. Loved this game as a child but it took me a while to find my way in with Miss Scarlett. It fell quickly thereafter.
Besides the much appreciated theme, I really liked 21a and the sneakily misleading 29a.
This was done on the good with quite a bit of guesswork and head-scratching but the effort was richly rewarded.
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee for some eagerly anticipated explanations.
Done on the hoof, I meant!
I think this is the third Cluedo themed puzzle we’ve had in the last four or five years. My knowledge of the game therefore comes almost exclusively from crosswords, never having played it when I was younger. This was an original variation though, with the initially impenetrable sounding instructions, which only came together at the end. I learnt a couple of new words in TRONC – excellent hidden – and CONSIGLIERE to add to the enjoyment of a satisfying solve.
Thanks to Gozo for such an entertaining puzzle, which was certainly not a NO-BRAINER and to PeeDee for the clever sleuthing.
Very good fun and many thanks to Gozo. I had done a lot of the defined solutions before I finally got Mrs White and dredged up distant memories of Cluedo (from the 1950’s, I suspect), after which it all fell into place. I liked 22d – not entirely original, I think, but very neat.
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee.
A fun and first-class crossword.
Did the paper (or on-line) puzzle have an explanatory rubric?
I solved this only after guessing the theme about half-way in. Was that the idea?
Good fun anyway.
Thanks to all.
Dagger and Rev Green set me on the track, but having never properly played the game I wasn’t sure of all the possible rooms, suspects and weapons – even though I knew the general theme. Required a bit of Google to check them all but otherwise successfully solved. Liked Evils. Never heard of Tronc or Vanessa Bell.
There are times I really appreciate having access to Google and this was one of those times.
For all that I did enjoy the exercise but only finished it this morning.
Many thanks to Gozo and PeeDee.
Grant @8, rubric was, “The nine clues which lack definitions form three thematic trios which may provide a solution to the problem in 27 different ways”.
Also the MISS to accompany Scarlett should be highlighted as it was clued (26, 8)
Lead pipe did it for me. These days surely lead pipe exists only in Cluedo!
Great puzzle, great blog, thanks both.
Thanks for spotting the missing MISS George, fixed now. It seems so obvious now that you point it out that I can’t understand how I managed to miss the mistake while writing up the blog. Nevertheless I managed it!
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee
Really clever theme-based puzzle where I discovered LOUNGE and SPANNER quite early on, but requiring MRS WHITE mid-solve for the theme to hit home. Unlike others this didn’t unlock the rest of the grid with the other components coming along in dribs and drabs with, in fact, HALL being my last entry.
Some new learning which required referential help with terms like GADWALL, CONSIGLIERE and VANESSA BELL. TRONC, although an early get, was a word only on the periphery of knowledge and doubt that I would have been able to define it if asked. AMERICANO stubbornly held out to near the end.
One of the best crosswords by this setter for a while and brought back early memories of playing the game.
(PeeDee, there is a small error in the highlighting of KICK in 27d)