10 days preceding the ides of March and we have a puzzle from a friendly Serpent.
A puzzle from Serpent is always a pleasure, both the quality of the clues the likelihood of a hidden message.
The clues I liked the most 11ac (great construction and surface), 15ac (I do work in IT), 22ac (for its simplicity and topicality), 2dn (lovely algebraic build), 6dn (for humour – oh that the cat really was in power) and 23dn (classical). I must also mention 14dn – great double meaning and I’m not 100% sure how to categorise it.
As for the hidden message, whilst all of the world’s major leaders behave like the 8 year olds that they really are, we have a biblical theme around the perimeter (in bold below).
“All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6″
There’s a part of me that thinks this may relate to the current violent disorder in the world, but I must admit a certain bias against the hypocrisy of the ‘lord’s teachings’, having been religiously instructed by a man of the cloth whose main passion was not moral rectitude but young boys.
Great fun as always – Thanks Serpent
If I may propose a biblical quotation in response “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the Serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion..” Corinthians 11:3. Any Eves completing the puzzle may prove this wrong.
Key * anagram; DD double definition Rev. reversed underline definition
Across
8 Say love stifles resistance for this reason (4)
eg (say) + o (love) around r (resistance) = ERGO
9 Lose one’s temper with intimidating woman that’s often found in bed (10)
snap (lose one’s temper) + dragon (intimidating woman) = SNAPDRAGON
10 Bird embodied by headless god for all time (8)
tern (bird) in deity (god) – d (headless) = ETERNITY
11 Sweet drink’s beginning to be commonest contributory factor to rotten teeth (6)
coffee (drink) swapping beginning for t (commonest letter in rotten teeth) = TOFFEE
12 Welcome department’s first study being kept secret (6)
Hi (welcome) + d (department’s first) + den (study) = HIDDEN
13 Plant requiring poor drainage (8)
(drainage)* = GARDENIA
15 Basic component of Windows is nonsensical for the most part (4)
silly (nonsensical) – y (for the most part) = SILL
17 Poverty-stricken Germany returned to slump (5)
Rev. poor (Poverty-stricken) + d (Germany) = DROOP
19 Cook starts to serve someone piece of cake (4)
Do (cook) + ss (stars to serve someone) = DOSS
20 Debacle upset university dons prepared to attend lectures? (8)
(debacle)* around u (university) = EDUCABLE
22 Part of warfare’s ultimate outcome (6)
hidden warfaRE’s ULTerior = RESULT
24 Dog’s home outside of London keen to relocate (6)
(ln + keen)* = KENNEL
26 Maker of Top Gear wrongfully punches Underground worker (8)
ill (wrongfully) in miner (Underground worker) = MILLINER
27 “Undetermined” ulterior motives are finally shown in a different light (10)
(ulterior + se)* = IRRESOLUTE
28 Heat-resistant mineral is electrochemically bonded (4)
Hidden electrocheMICAlly = MICA
Down
1 Tarted up multicoloured clothes couturier’s assistant sent back (10)
pied (multicoloured) around Rev. fitter = PRETTIFIED
2 50% of horses and riders are beastly (6)
hor (50% of horses) + rid (50% of riders) = HORRID
3 Dispensed diagnoses overlooking nothing unusual (8)
(diagnoses – o)* = ASSIGNED
4 Change university having left to be a model (4)
varsity (university) – sit (to be a model) = VARY
5 Who deals with English nonsense the author had written up? (6)
Rev. e (english) + Rev. rot (nonsense) + id (the author had) = EDITOR
6 Former American president is comical orange character (8)
DD GARFIELD
7 The sound of river’s gentle flow (4)
Homonym of Ouse (river) = OOZE
13 Inappropriate sexual act involving G-string? (5)
G + rope (string) = GROPE
14 State where one isn’t comfortable and could never settle? (10)
Not sure how to define this not comfortable is also poor and settle is to pay a bill – pure misdirection or hidden meaning? = INSOLVENCY
16 Publican glimpsed cycling after contemptible customers? (8)
lice (contemptible customers?) + seen (glimpsed) cycling = LICENSEE
18 Standard variant of gene lacking final base is equivalent (8)
par (standard) + allele (variant of gene) – e (base) = PARALLEL
21 Half contradicted mean and beastly outburst (6)
belied (contradicted) – ied (half) + low (mean) = BELLOW
23 Disgrace of character in The Iliad besieging Troy (6)
sigma (character in the Iliad) around t (troy) = STIGMA
25 Peer losing case, every twelve months (4)
yearly (every twelve months) – caes = EARL
26 Characteristically male – heartless and savage (4)
manful (Characteristically male) heartless = MAUL
Quite a few uncharacteristically easy clues but some that needed a head scratching. TOFFEE took a bit of thought and only got MAUL through use of the nina. Favourite was the hilarious GARFIELD.
Very good. The Nina helped me to get a few, especially towards the end. Missed the parsing of TOFFEE. Wasn’t sure about 14d either; ? a double def or ? cryptic def.
I know v. little about IT matters but liked the ‘Windows’ clue too. Favourite was the def and surface for MILLINER.
Thanks to Serpent and twencelas.
Certainly not Serpent at his toughest – I didn’t need to look for the nina to complete the grid (although it was helpful in confirming MAUL)
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Thanks to Serpent, and twencelas for the excellent blog.
I’ve not commented this week on the Indy as I’ve generally been tackling it too late in the evening, but I did want to say that the new app is, for me at least, an enormous improvement. I use my mobile phone and had been cursing the need to scroll backwards and forwards to read the clues, but now I find everything set out just as I’d want it.
TOFFEE is a really original idea; I needed the Nina for MAUL and VARY. The message is sad but alas appropriate given the state of the world. Thanks very much to Serpent and twenceslas.
Very doable for a Saturday Serpent. I know the Nina from all the times I’ve played Handel’s Messiah, and it always makes me smile. It’s very difficult for choirs to sing the implied comma in “We, like sheep” so it ends up sounding like an ovine appreciation society anthem. Jolly tune, too, for the guiltiness of the words. Favourites 15a, 26 a and 4d. Thanks to Serpent and twencelas
Thanks Serpent and twencelas. Found the LHS quite easy but then got stuck then looked at a potential Nina went aha! and the rest fell in even if the vary and maul parsing took a while.
Generally I have only partial success with Serpent (Basilisk is gentler) but I nearly completed this (missed LICENSEE) and actually saw the nina. GROPE, PARALLEL, and MAUL were favourites; I needed the blog to parse TOFFEE, VARY, and IRRESOLUTE. Thanks to both.
Thanks, Serpent. I generally have difficulties with Serpent’s puzzles, but lucked out and saw the Nina early, which proved necessary to complete the grid. Still tough, but enjoyed the struggle.
Apologies for the late post – I was off-grid in deepest Devon over the weekend.
Many thanks twencelas for the excellent blog and to everyone who has taken the time to comment. The puzzle was indeed inspired by the chorus from The Messiah.
Would’ve prefrerred “become” to “be” for precision in 11A and not knowing the quotation tried to fit in ARE WE LIKE SHEEP which didn’t help.
Thanks to twencelas and Serpent