Bluebird challenges Independent solvers today. I last blogged a puzzle by Bluebird when he produced a puzzle dedicated to the setter Klingsor who sadly died recently.
I made steady progress solving this. My last one is was YUMMY at 17 across. I pondered GUMMY for a time thinking that something sticky could attract something. I felt that we weren’t given particularly clear guidance about the new first letter.
I dithered over EAGRES or EAGLES at 23 across as I thought the definition could be either ‘bores’ or ‘sub-par golfing performance’ I felt that ‘Bores switching sides in the midst of’ could be an instruction to change the R of EAGRES to an L to form EAGLES. The R of DEMARCHES of course solved the problem.
I completed the puzzle with entries and parsing as explained in the table below and then remembered that this is Tuesday, so there may be a theme.
After a bit of research I hit upon ‘collections of poems’ by Philip Larkin as a theme. He published three collections entitled HIGH WINDOWS, WHITSUN WEDDINGS and [THE] LESS DECEIVED. The word ‘THE‘ is present in the grid reading up from the bottom left hand corner. At the top of that column, still reading up we can see the word ‘YOU‘ but I suspect that is just a coincidence.
A bit more research show that Larkin wrote poems including ‘The TREES‘, ‘The Coming’ which is described as a depiction of SUNSET, GHOST (singular) and MCMXIV which refers to sunblinds (AWNINGS). I think I’m clutching at straws with these, but it was interesting to do the research. I reckon there will be solvers who will know far more about Larkin than I will ever know.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Topless cuddle with someone in bed that is less good-looking (6) UGLIER (less good looking) HUG (cuddle) excluding the first letter (topless) H + LIER (someone who LIEs in bed) UG LIER |
| 5 |
More than one union faction’s infiltrated by journalist beginning to delve (8) WEDDINGS (more than one marriage union) WINGS (sections of political parties; factions) containing (infiltrated by) (ED [EDitor; journalist] + D [first letter of {beginning to} DELVE]) W (ED D) INGS |
| 9 |
Jet excursion stopped by rain (10) OUTPOURING (stream or jet of water for example) OUTING (excursion) containing (stopped by) POUR (rain) OUT (POUR) ING |
| 10 |
–50s (4) LESS (minus; – [minus sign]) L (Roman numeral for 50) + ESS (the letter S) L ESS |
| 11 |
Often seen in churchyards, these prog rockers drinking water were regularly ejected (3,5) YEW TREES (example of flora often seen in churchyards) YES (reference the prog rock group YES formed in 1968. The band still exists today but it has had many changes of line-up over the years) containing (drinking) WTREE (WATER WERE excluding letters 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 [regularly ejected]) YE (W TREE) S |
| 12 |
At the end of the day, is this a galaxy? (6) SUNSET (a period of time towards the end of the day) SUN SET (I think a galaxy could be described a SET of SUNs [stars]) SUN SET |
| 13 |
Harry and Fred in Rio? (9) FERDINAND (reference Rio FERDINAND [born 1978], footballer and pundit) Anagram of (harry) AND FRED IN FERDINAND* |
| 15 |
$1,000 present for father of Prince, 29, perhaps (5) GHOST (the father of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark [who is DANISH – entry at 29 across] appeared as a GHOST in Shakespeare’s play[Hamlet]) G (grand; $1,000) + HOST (present [a show] G HOST |
| 17 |
Say, King Tut has a different face – it’s attractive (5) YUMMY (attractive) MUMMY (King Tutenkhamun was MUMMified after his death) with the first letter changed (has a different face) to Y Y UMMY |
| 19 |
Eat odd pieces of seed and spew out flowers (5,4) SWEET PEAS (flowers) Anagram of (out) EAT and SE (letters 1 and 3 [odd pieces of] SEED) and SPEW SWEET PEAS* |
| 23 |
Bores switching sides in the midst of sub-par golfing performances (6) EAGRES (bores or sudden rises of tides in rivers) EAGLES (term for a two under par [sub-par] score at a hole in golf) with L (left) one of the middle letters of (in the midst of) EAGLES replaced by R (right) (changing sides) EAGRES |
| 24 |
Demand fish? That’s provocation! (8) NEEDLING (goading; provocation) NEED (a demand) + LING (fish of the cod family) NEED LING |
| 26 |
‘Hello’ sung falsetto? (4) HIGH (falsetto) HIGH (sounds like [sung] HI [hello]) HIGH |
| 27 |
Men in crushed velvet carrying zero change (10) EVOLVEMENT (gradual change) MEN contained in (in) (an anagram of (crushed) VELVET containing [carrying] O [character representing zero]) EV (O) LVE (MEN) T* |
| 28 |
Disreputable giantess providing lap dances? (8) TEASINGS (a lap-dancer could be described as a TEASER of her clients) Anagram of (disreputable) GIANTESS TEASINGS* |
| 29 |
Pastry made by martial artist is hot (6) DANISH (reference a specific type of pastry created in Denmark) DAN (level of proficiency for a martial artist) + IS + H (hot) DAN IS H |
| Down | |
| 2 |
Gentleman eats the last piece of éclair before cheese is served (7) GRUYERE (a whole-milk cheese) (GUY [gentleman] containing [eats] R [final letter of {last piece of} ECLAIR]) + ERE (before) G (R) UY ERE |
| 3 |
Enter fashionable place (5) INPUT (enter [data for example]) IN (fashionable) + PUT (place) IN PUT |
| 4 |
The direct way to beat English goalkeeper? (5,3) ROUTE ONE (a style of play in football usually involving a long high kick from the goalkeeper towards his own forwards near the opposition goal) ROUT (beat) + E (English) + ONE (goalkeepers often wear the number ONE) ROUT E ONE – the clue could possibly be read as an &Lit |
| 5 |
‘Holiday‘, a popular song penned by Welsh star (7) WHITSUN (holiday period centred on the seventh Sunday after Easter) HIT (popular song) contained in (penned by) (W [Welsh] + SUN [star]) W (HIT) SUN |
| 6 |
Abstract insult is in French (6) DIGEST (an abstract) DIG (taunt; insult) + EST (French for ‘is’) DIG EST |
| 7 |
Incremental journey is with learner driver and hard work (6,3) ISLAND HOP (journey around a series of ISLANDs by travelling from one to another in sequence; incremental journey) IS + L (symbol indicating a learner driver) + AND + H (hard, when describing pencil lead) + OP (opus; work) IS L AND HOP |
| 8 |
Maybe Matt and Luke Goss keep those small bottoms clenched in (7) GOSPELS (Matthew [Matt] and Luke are the first two GOSPELS in the New Testament) GOSS containing (clenched) PEL (last letters of [bottoms] each of KEEP, THOSE and SMALL) GOS (PEL) S |
| 14 |
Diplomatic manoeuvres from Dutch before Cashmere skirmishes (9) DEMARCHES (diplomatic steps, measures or initiatives) D (Dutch) + an anagram of (skirmishes) CASHMERE D EMARCHES* |
| 16 |
Exercised vice/taken in by act (8) DECEIVED (misled or cheated; taken in by act of cheating) Anagram of (exercised) VICE contained in (taken in by) DEED (act) DE (CEIV*) ED |
| 18 |
One in Mexico close to General Eisenhower? Not that close (7) UNALIKE (different; not that close) UNA (Spanish [spoken in Mexico] for ‘one’) + L (last letter of [close to] GENERAL) + IKE (Dwight Eisenhower was known as IKE) UNA L IKE |
| 20 |
The Times still available? They’re at the front of the shop … (7) WINDOWS (periods of time offering opportunities for something to happen – e.g. launch WINDOWS for spacecraft) WINDOWS (feature of the front of most shops) double definition WINDOWS |
| 21 |
… as are these unopened Genesis CDs, ultimately (7) AWNINGS (sunblinds, another feature of the front of many shops) DAWNING (creation; genesis) + S (last letter of [ultimately] CD’S DAWNING S |
| 22 |
A firm behind (6) ASTERN (behind) A + STERN (rigorous; firm) A STERN |
| 25 |
Terrible monster clutching fruit (5) LEMON (fruit) LEMON (hidden word in [clutching] TERRIBLE MONSTER) LEMON |
Larkin is proving inspirational this morning! Certainly so in the case of LESS which I twigged (though wondered about LOSS first). Very sneaky. Shame we don’t see more of this setter – he should pull his finger out and be more productive! 😉
Favourites today included: OUTPOURING, TEASINGS, GRUYERE, ROUTE ONE, WHITSUN, ISLAND HOP, DECEIVE (which felt &littish) and the linked WINDOWS and AWNINGS. Whilst I believe our setter is not averse to slightly more contemporary music, it was nice to get the whiff of prog this morning.
Thanks Bluebird and Duncan
I had noticed today’s guardian cryptic has the header ‘To mark the centenary of Philip Larkin’s birth’. Haven’t looked at it yet but saw that printing it out. Didn’t parse WINDOWS I’m embarrassed to say.
I meant to mention, Duncan, that you have the wrong header. Should say Independent not Inquisitor.
Lovely. Couple of reveals initially but a late-afternoon debrief was enlightening and the blog just now has helped with things I should have seen – the hidden lemon in 25a and the ‘bottoms’ in GOSPELS. There I was googling Bros. Face palm. Clue of the grid IMHO was GOSPELS just ahead of YEW TREES. Gratis.
Thanks and appreciation to Duncan and to the early commenters.
There IS a Nina ‘up’ the left-hand side, made difficult to spot by being censored!
Hovis @2: I, through habit and no other reason, do G before I every morning – a degree of deja vu today – though it in no way spoiled the solve here.
Bluebird @5: Clever! Not spotted – when will I learn to look for upside down, abbreviated, left hand side Nina’s? I don’t know. But thank you for inserting the one bit of Larkin I know! No deja vu there at all!
Bravo!
I couldn’t spot what the theme was and even doing the Guardian puzzle afterwards didn’t help when I just came back to have another look. WHITSUN rang a bell doing the G puzzle but I couldn’t put two and two together. I still don’t know what that left-hand side Nina is and probably just as well by the sound of it!
Quite apart from the theme I missed the parsing of a few and needed to come here to find out what GHOST and WINDOWS were all about.
Thanks to Bluebird and Duncan
Wordplodder @9 – See ‘This Be The Verse’ by the aforesaid Mr Larkin.
Thanks both. I’d say ‘disreputable’ in the clue for TEASINGS further proves the depth of options for anagrinds. This was ideal for me, where unknown words revealed themselves through the clues; missed the theme, but was tantalisingly close to at least a whiff of it having seen ‘they’ and ‘you’ spaced by an apparently rogue ‘F’ – it’s also all I know of his work, thanks to my daughter….perhaps I should read something into that
Thanks, (I think) redddevil @10. I can see which bits were censored now!
Thanks Bluebird and Duncan. I was tipped off elsewhere that this one shared a theme with the Guardian but it didn’t spoil my solving enjoyment in any way – the common solutions were clued very differently in each, so were hardly giveaways.
I also dithered over EAGRES – I thought it was clear enough that “bores” was the definition, but the solution seemed such an unlikely word. One to add to the lexicon.
Favourites were HIGH, ROUTE ONE, GOSPELS, AWNINGS
I think that is the first time I have come across a Nina where the direction was part of the sense as in They f you up. Very clever. GOSPELS and LESS were my favourites.