Filbert has provided the first Tuesday puzzle of the year, getting this series of themed puzzles off to a flying start.
What is impressive about this crossword is not how the theme is revealed to solvers, since a quick perusal of the clues makes it abundantly clear that we are talking about cricket in all but 1A; instead, it is the sheer volume of cricket-related material that has been crammed into clues to words that have nothing at all to do with cricket!
My favourites among these clues are those that in their surface readings refer to stars of the game, yet whose names have to be read as common nouns in the wordplay: at 9, 23 and 28. Of course, 23 raised a cheeky little smile, and the smooth surface at 30 deserves a special mention, in my view.
A big thank you to Filbert for getting my New Year Indy solving and blogging off to such a terrific start. I hope that others enjoyed this puzzle as much as I did.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | NOT CRICKET | Like only this clue today? That’s hardly fair
Only this clue is “not (about) cricket”! |
| 06 | URDU | In downpour, Duckworth-Lewis is common parlance for Imran Khan, etc
Hidden (“in”) in “downpoUR DUckworth-Lewis”; Urdu is the mother tongue of Imran Khan and other Pakistani cricketers |
| 09 | MISTAKE | Michael Holding pirouetting at second slip
STA (AT + S=second; “pirouetting” indicates reversal) in MIKE (=Michael, colloquially) |
| 10 | ISTHMUS | Narrow strip remains like that, needing a bit of mowing to widen it?
M<owing> (“a bit of” means first letter only) in [IS (=remains) + THUS (=like that)] |
| 12 | EMUS | Aussies unable to leave the ground, English have to shortly
E (=English) + MUS<t> (=have to; “shortly” means last letter is dropped); the “ground” of the definition is not a cricket ground but the floor, with emus being flightless birds |
| 13 | BLACK WIDOW | Boycott opening leaves new Australian spinner
BLACK (=boycott, ban) + WI<n>DOW (=opening; “leaves new (=N)” means letter “n” is dropped); the “spinner” of the definition is not a spin bowler but a spider! |
| 15 | TOODLE-PIP | Rather tight-lipped giving bye
TOO (=rather, more than otherwise) + *(LIPPED); “tight (=drunk)” is anagram indicator; the “bye” of the definition is not an extra in cricket but a short form of “goodbye” |
| 17 | SINAI | Perhaps Botham’s over going for 16
IAN IS (=perhaps Botham’s, i.e. the England cricketer); “over” indicates reversal; Sinai is a peninsula (=entry at 16) in Egypt |
| 19 | OFTEN | Much to do with number of wickets to take
OF (=to do with) + TEN (=number of wickets to take, to get a cricket side out) |
| 21 | NULLIFIES | If wrong ‘un turns then Wales’ last pair makes nought
NULLIFI (IF + ILL (=wrong) + ‘UN; “turns” indicates reversal) + <wal>ES (“last pair” means last two letters only) |
| 23 | CONTAINERS | Boxes, for instance, saving fellow’s nuts
“saving fellow (=F)” means letter “f” is dropped from anagram of *(<f>OR INSTANCE), indicated by “nuts (=mad)” |
| 25 | FETE | Celebrate fine season for French cricket?
F (=fine) + ETE (=season for French cricket, i.e. the French word for summer) |
| 27 | CHATEAU | Clubs with gold clothing abomination for manufacturer of whites?
HATE (=abomination, aversion) in [C (=clubs, in cards) + AU (=gold, i.e. chemical formula)]; the “whites” of the definition are not cricket whites but white wines! |
| 28 | BURNOUT | Cook too long abroad suffering from overwork
BURN (=cook too long) + OUT (=abroad); the reference here is not to England cricketer Alastair Cook! |
| 29 | EAST | Point scoffs, “Flipping tail-enders”
EATS (=scoffs); “flipping tail-enders” means that the last two letters in the word change places |
| 30 | SAINT PETER | Lord’s wicket keeper isn’t particularly liked during series
[AIN’T (=ISN’T) + PET (=particularly liked, as in teacher’s pet)] in SER. (=series); as the guardian of the gates of heaven, Saint Peter could be described as the “Lord’s wicket (=gate) keeper” |
| Down | ||
| 01 | NUMBER TWO | Dropping // one place down in the batting order
Double definition: a number two is a dropping, excrement AND number two is one place from the top of a batting line-up in cricket |
| 02 | TESTUDO | Concealed by whites, Tudor combined protective equipment
Hidden (“concealed by”) in “whiTES TUDOr”; in Roman times, a testudo was a protective shelter made by joining shields around a group of soldiers |
| 03 | REAR | Tail-end // stand
Double definition: the rear is the tail-end, hindmost portion of something AND to rear (up) is to stand (up), especially of an animal on its hindlegs |
| 04 | CREEL | Indians not using e.g. leg trap
CREE (=Indians) + L<eg> (“not using e.g.” means letters “eg” are dropped); a creel is a lobster trap |
| 05 | EPISCOPAL | Bishop’s place is running around rope, just inside
<r>OP<e> (“just inside” means first and last letters are dropped) in *(PLACE IS); “running” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | RAMADAN | For this fast stuff guard’s middle and off
RAM (=stuff, cram) + <gu>A<rd> (“middle” means middle letter only) + *(AND); “off” is anagram indicator |
| 08 | UNSEW | Giving us new spin, the opposite of seam?
*(US NEW); “spin” is anagram indicator; to unsew is to do the opposite of to seam, cf. seamstress |
| 11 | TOWNSHIP | Poor side in South Africa?
Cryptic definition: the townships are the poor sides, districts of South African cities |
| 14 | ELONGATE | Pad out centrally, fell leg before wicket
<f>EL<l> (“centrally” means middle two letters only) + ON (=leg, i.e. side in cricket) + GATE (=wicket); to pad out is to extend, make longer, hence “elongate” |
| 16 | PENINSULA | Gower perhaps in cryptic XI – Paul’s excited about that
ENIN (“cryptic XI” is nine reversed!) in *(PAUL’S); “excited” is anagram indicator; the reference is not to England cricketer David Gower but to the Gower Peninsula in Wales! |
| 18 | INSPECTOR | Officer run out is upset with superior quietly stopping cricket?
[P (=quietly, i.e. piano in music) in INSECT (=cricket)] + OR (RO=run out, on cricket scorecard; “is upset” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 20 | TIN HATS | Which son collects batting helmets?
IN (=batting) in [THAT (=which) + S (=son)] |
| 22 | ICEBOAT | Reserve bowled on long grass in field, showing craft
ICE (=reserve, aloofness) + B (=bowled, on cricket scorecard) + OAT (=long grass in field) |
| 23 | CACHE | Garner caught one, grabbing hard
C (=caught, on cricket scorecard) + [H (=hard, as in HB pencils) in ACE (=one, in cards)]; the reference is not to West Indian cricketer Joel Garner but to a cache, store |
| 24 | ROBIN | Comic bat’s 1D puttin’ wig and gown on?
ROBIN’ (=puttin’ wig and gown on); Robin is “comic bat(man)’s number two (=entry at 1D)” |
| 26 | PROP | One of the Players parking item used during play
PRO (=one of the Players) + P (=parking, e.g. on sign) |
All I can say is Filbert has clearly knocked this one out of the ground! A brilliant concept, very well executed. SAINT PETER, NUMBER TWO, CHATEAU, ROBIN and the splendid URDU are my favourites. At last, something positive related to cricket!!!
Thanks Filbert & RR.
I think this would even Impress Tramp (Neil) who does theme puzzles where the answers seldom have anything to do with the puzzles
Anti-ghost themes? Although there was a slight undercurrent with PENINSULA. SINAI, ISTHMUS
Very impressive!Thanks Filbert and RR
We got 1A pretty quickly and thought we’d definitely fail hard on this one! As it turned out though, mostly only the usual cryptic cricket knowledge was required and we had a relatively smooth solve. We chuckled at ST PETER, learned TESTUDO and were glad that ISTHMUS was somewhere in the back of Scottish Labradoodle’s head. We had a non-parse for 23A and had to cheat on the first letter!
Otherwise quite accessible for a cricket themed puzzle! Thanks Filbert and RatkojaRiku!
Yes I was thinking that, and you’re right, as themes like this, that aren’t really themes, don’t always meet with universal approval. It reminded me slightly of Boatman who often does something similar in The Guardian.
I’ve resolved this year to join crossword sites, so hello.
I have to say my heart sank when I realised it was a cricket theme. A sport I have zero interest in. But I didn’t have to worry. Ok, some of the cleverness in the clues may have been lost on me but the skill employed with the various double meanings has to be applauded. Chateau, I mean chapeau, to Filbert.
Very impressive to have the cricket references being irrelevant to the answers and I think someone who knows nothing about cricket would have been able to solve this. I wondered if the ‘in’ at 11d could = HIP, with the ‘Poor side’ = TOWNS to make it more like an all-in-one, but I don’t think that really works.
Favourites for me were the misleading ‘Lord’s wicket keeper’ and semi-hidden ‘Dropping’ defs.
Bring on the Sydney Test tomorrow.
Thanks to Filbert and RR
Regarding e.g. TOWNSHIP, in puzzles like this there always seem to be one or two clues not quite up with some of the others due to the restrictions the theme can place on the writing.
Themes were once, and possibly still are, all the rage in The Guardian, as they are on Tuesdays in The Indy, but they do not find favour in the DT, as far as I know, nor in The Times, to which I subscribe.
ladygewgaw @4: congratulations on making progress with the resolutions and welcome to the site. Were it not for an inconvenient power cut on the coldest day we’ve had for a while, I’d have said Hello an hour ago! 😀
*Richie voice* “Marvellous effort, that”. Thank you Filbert & RR.
A steady Boycott-like accumulation of answers, rather than a Josh Buttler all-out assault. Great Stuff. Welcome lady gegaw.
Aww thanks guys!
Loved this. Cheers RR & Filbert.
Thanks all for comments, and RR for the lovely blog, glad it was your cup of tea.
Cricket can garner quite a lot of moeens (that’s meant to be moans), so sorry if that was you.
the last plantaganet @7, there’s loads of good cricketing material in TOWNSHIP (pull for TOW, in for HIP, centuries for TONS) so you can put any deficiency down to my fatigue; a cryptic definition comes as welcome relief when setting. ‘Poor side in South Africa has Henry caught by point’, how’s that? Other suggestions welcome.
Everything I know of cricket I’ve learned from crosswords, to misquote Camus. And it’s still not much, so my heart sank. I sneaked a look at the blog (thanks, RR, for making it clear the answers were NOT cricket terms or names, without giving any answers away. Fabulous blog altogether). Took a while, but finished it. Favourite was 1a, just because it anticipated my sort of reaction on seeing the clues. Thanks to Filbert for starting the year’s themes so entertainingly.
Filbert @13: What about ‘Howzat! South Africa off spin upsets Establishment’ ?
Got it! With no cricket knowledge whatsoever. The mark of a good setter. Thanks also to blogger.
Oh, well played, Filbert! (and well fielded by RR).
PM@15, nice, good spot for the ZA
Only managed about half yesterday, so came back today to try to finish it. Failed miserably, and succumbed to using the check facility on several occasions.
Didn’t enjoy it, sorry, but not my cup of Earl Grey.