Serpent on Thursday – an interesting puzzle from which I learnt something I never knew before.
Serpent takes us back millions of years with the entry at 8 down – MEDITERRANEAN and the phrase spelled out clockwise in the perimeter of the grid starting with the last letter of 23 across – THE MESSINIAN SALINITY CRISIS. The crisis refers to the time when the MEDITERRANEAN Sea was sealed off from the Atlantic Ocean some five and a half million years ago.. In geological time scales it is said to be likely that the Straits of Gibraltar will close again in ‘the near future’ i.e in millions of years time.
More details about the crisis can be found here
I was fairly sure when solving the puzzle that MEDITERRANEAN was the entry at 8 down, but the clue made no sense to me until I completed the rest of the puzzle and looked to see if there was something going on in the perimeter.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 7 |
Gondola, out of its depth, capsized in lake (6) LAGOON (shallow lake) Anagram of (capsized) GONDOLA excluding (out of [its]) D (depth) LAGOON* |
| 8 |
Way of working on part of test in addition (8) MOREOVER (also; in addition) MO (modus operandi; way of working) + RE (about; on) + OVER (an OVER is bowled in a cricket test match; part of test) MO RE OVER |
| 9 |
In possession of intelligence American leaked about men I’d compromised (4-6) ABLE-MINDED (having full or superior mental capacity; in possession of intelligence) A + (BLED [oozed; leaked] containing [about] an anagram of [compromised] MEN I’D) A BLE (MINDE*) D |
| 10 |
Controversial artist scandalised crowds (4) DALI (reference Salvador DALI [1904 – 1989], Spanish surreal artist whose work generated controversy) DALI (hidden word in [crowds] SCANDALISED) DALI |
| 11 |
Train group of swimmers (6) SCHOOL (train) SCHOOL (shoal of fish; group of swimmers) double definition SCHOOL |
| 12 |
Runners enlist doctor after training (8) TENDRILS (coiling threadlike climbing organs of a plant; runners) Anagram of (after training) ENLIST and DR (doctor) TENDRILS* |
| 14 |
Singer‘s last to join rescue vessel (4) NARK (informer; singer) N (final letter of [last to] JOIN) + ARK (vessel in which Noah rescued pairs of animals) N ARK |
| 16 |
Reporter’s incapable of producing issue for boss? (5) BARON (head of any organization or institution who is regarded as wielding despotic power; boss) BARON (sounds like [reporter] BARREN [incapable of bearing offspring]) BARON |
| 17 |
Airs broadcast showing coverage of Indian women (4) SARI (Hindu [Indian] woman’s chief garment, a long cloth wrapped round the waist and passed over the shoulder and head) Anagram of (broadcast) AIRS SARI* |
| 18 |
Curse three different articles by old lady (8) ANATHEMA (curse or execration) AN (indefinite article) + A (a different indefinite article) + THE (definite article), hence three different articles + MA (mother; old woman) AN A THE MA |
| 20 |
Lady wanting boy makes wishes (6) YEARNS (wishes) LADY excluding (wanting) LAD (boy) + EARNS (makes, in terms of wages or salary) Y EARNS |
| 22 |
Worshipped woman with two lives (4) ISIS (Egyptian goddess, wife and sister of Osiris; worshipped woman) IS (exists; lives) + IS (exists; lives) – having two lives IS IS |
| 23 |
Informer taped other suspect (4,6) DEEP THROAT (highly confidential informant. The term was first associated with the informant in the Watergate scandal) Anagram of (suspect) TAPED OTHER DEEP THROAT* |
| 24 |
Converse for example with people outside (8) NEGATION (the opposite; converse) EG (for example) contained in (with … outside) NATION (people) N (EG) ATION |
| 25 |
Prime minister cutting head of state’s hair (6) THATCH (thick hair) THATCHER (reference Margaret THATCHER [1925 – 2013], UK Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990) excluding (cutting) ER (Elizabeth Regina, Queen Elizabeth; Head of State in the UK) THATCH |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Author is writer of particular kind of verse (6) IAMBIC (describing a type of verse comprising feet of two syllables, a short followed by a long, or an unstressed by a stressed) I (author) + AM (is) + BIC (brand of ballpoint pen; writer) I AM BC |
| 2 |
College backed up reserve computer (8) NOTEBOOK (type of small laptop computer) ETON (college near Windsor, seat of education for many senior politicians and barons of industry) reversed (backed up; down entry) + BOOK (reserve) NOTE< BOOK |
| 3 |
Novel alibi could be immune to challenge (10) INVIOLABLE (that must not be dishonoured; that cannot be injured; immune to challenge) Anagram of (could be) NOVEL ALIBI INVIOLABLE* |
| 4 |
Stepped right over naked body (4) TROD (walked; stepped) RT (right) reversed (over) + OD (letters remaining in BODY when the outer letters are removed [naked]) TR< OD |
| 5 |
Carry on deregulating banks over there (6) YONDER (to, or at, a distance but within view; over there) YONDER (hidden word in [banks] CARRY ON DEREGULATING) YONDER |
| 6 |
University lecturer buried in vault with separate compartments (8) CELLULAR (characterized by or containing cells or compartments) (U [university] + I [lecturer]) contained in (buried in) CELLAR (vault) CELL (U I) AR |
| 8 |
After outlying event, this essentially sees arid remnant transformed (13) MEDITERRANEAN (read about the incident spelled out in the perimeter of the grid [outlying event] to understand how the wording of the clue links very cleverly to the history of the MEDITERRANEAN Sea) Anagram of (transformed) EE (central letters of [essentially] SEES) and ARID REMNANT MEDITERRANEAN* |
| 13 |
Controlling regime votes against accepting new head of National Gallery (5,5) NANNY STATE (the state regarded as overprotective and authoritarian in its institutions; controlling regime) (NAYS [votes against] containing [accepting] {N {new} + N {first letter of (head of) NATIONAL}]) + TATE (reference the TATE Galleries in London (2), Liverpool and St Ives Cornwall) NA (N N) Y S TATE |
| 15 |
Henry abandons anguished unorthodox Christian figure (5,3) AGNUS DEI (figure of a lamb emblematic of Christ, bearing the banner of the cross) Anagram of (unorthodox) ANGUISHED excluding (abandons) H (SI unit of inductance) AGNUS DEI* |
| 17 |
Member of 11 nicking side of face with blade in the morning (3,5) SEA BREAM (fish, member of a shoal or SCHOOL of fish. SCHOOL is the entry at 11 across) (SABRE [sword] containing [nicking] E [last letter of {side of} FACE]) + AM (ante meridiem; before noon; in the morning) S (E) A BRE AM |
| 19 |
Turbulent state revolutionised dated model(6) TISWAS (tizzy, flap, state of excitement, turbulent state) (SAW [went out with; dated] + SIT [pose; model]) all reversed (revolutionised) (TIS WAS)< |
| 21 |
Sister finally separating expert’s head from body shows subtlety (6) NUANCE (delicate or subtle degree or shade of difference) NUN (sister) with ACE partly inserted such that the first letter (head) A is contained at the end of NUN and the remainder CE (body) shown after the end of NUN (head separated from body) NU (A) N CE |
| 23 |
Platform said to have upset extremists (4) DAIS (platform for speakers) SAID with the outer letters S and D (extremists) changed round (upset) to form DAIS DAIS |
Serpent in very tricky mode today, well I thought so anyway
Thank you to him and to duncanshiell for both the blog and the explanation of the Nina
Similar experience with 8d. Quickly worked out the anagram but couldn’t parse until finding the nina after completion and seeing what it was. (Actually, the nina helped me get SEA BREAM as well.)
A few typos in blog: in 1d, BIC not BC; 4d has gone a bit astray but clearly RT EE.
Don’t know why, but the last part of my post @2 has disappeared. I also mentioned a typo in 8d where EEC should be EE.
Hovis @ 2
Thanks – all corrected now
Sorry, me again. I now see it was a chunk towards the end of my post @2 that disappeared between RT & EE. I shall take it as read what the correction to 4d should be.
I don’t think I’ve done a huge number of Serpents – enough to know it will be tricky, and this was no exception, but not enough to remember that a nina or suchlike is de rigeur. I do vaguely recall other posters mentioning that they’ve known to look out for one. Needless to say, even with a grid that screamed out ‘nina potential’, I was a mile away from spotting it so MEDITERRANEAN went in with a shrug.
That said, I was really pleased to complete the grid, albeit with a couple of unparsed elements so thank you Duncan for helping with SEA BREAM and YEARNS. I loved NUANCE, NANNY STATE, CELLULAR and MOREOVER. Thanks to Serpent for the challenge.
Enjoyed this but entered Mediterranean without parsing or seeing perimeter…..
Doh
Thanks for the blog, and to serpent for the entertainment
I know we’ve had it before, but I couldn’t get TISWAS, so I had rather an odd-looking Nina before Google corrected me post (attempted) solve. It was v. interesting to then read about the whole phenomenon which I’d never heard of.
Thanks to Serpent for an enjoyable solve and to Duncan
Once again the perimeter was a gre at help for finishing.
Picaroon and Serpent in the same day- a real treat
absolutely brilliant puzzle in concept, gridfill and clueing. Many thanks to Serpent and to DS for the blog
Not a fan of anagrams without any real clue to the definition.. so 8dn blocked most of Left side.. not helped by having tHIs essentially in the mix rather than sEEs… held out to last possible moment but had to resort to wordchecker.. after which all the rest fell in really quickly .. obvs Nina irrelevant with only R side to go on.. ah well
Thanks Serpent n mostly duncanshiell for bring light into darkness..
Just reread my first blog.. maybe a tad negative.. plenty of excellent stuff also.. faves being ANATHEMA, YEARNS, n CELLULAR..
That was all going swimmingly until I got to 14 ac, where I confidently entered SARK (s from singers + ARK makes (Cutty) Sark a well-known vessel, then Lark (l for last + ARK, then, remembering from a previous puzzle that deep throat was called Mark somebody, I toyed with that before the penny finally dropped. 3 wrong answers for one clue is a personal record. I enjoyed the rest of the puzzle though.
Thank you Serpent. I learned something new today. I saw what might have been ‘CRISIS THEME[S] ‘ at the bottom and wondered what was goig on! Then eventually at the end I found the Messinian Salinit Crisis and thought ‘OMG! What is this, and how do we stop it?!’ 🙂
Haven’t seen Her Ladyship for a while … favourites NARK and TISWAS (lovely word!)
Thanks also to duncanshiell for the breakdown.
Somewhat off-topic, but the Saga of the Exiles series of sf novels by Julian May is set in this geological period.
Fascinating! Though interested in geology, I had not previously heard of this theory. ‘Crisis’ seems an odd word in this context, as if the media had been around to apply it. No doubt when the Strait of Gibraltar closes again there will be an awful fuss. A DNF for me as like WordPlodder @8 I couldn’t see TISWAS. Great fun though, so thanks Serpent and Duncan.
I’m another who failed with TISWAS, despite having seen the perimeter and the TIS part, leaving only one letter! I thought this was a great crossword, as usual from Serpent. Thanks to Duncan for the blog.
Quality.
Yes, indeed, Quality (with a capital Q).
No doubt about that.
But is ‘capsized’ (in 7ac) really a proper anagram indicator?
I failed to notice the Nina completely and just couldn’t work out the anagram without a word search. 12ac wasn’t helped by entering a letter wrong in one of the crossers.
I knew about the dry Mediterranean, but didn’t know that was what it was called. I remember reading a story by Poul Anderson back in the seventies called Gibraltar Falls involving time travellers going back to observe re-filling of the Mediterranean.