Wiglaf is a setter who makes you think.
I note that many blogs of Wiglaf’s puzzles mention the word ‘challenge’. Today’s puzzle scores high on the challenge scale.
There were a lot of people, both living and dead mentioned in the clues or in the entries. I noted Robert Crumb, Lillie Langtry, Caiaphas, Camille Pissarro, Sir Martin Ryle, Howard Carter, Aleister Crowley and Oliver Stone
Some of these people I know about, but not all, so there was quite a bit of research involved to complete the blog.
The only time I have come across ALEISTER CROWLEY before is in a crossword. Robert Crumb is completely new to me and if I have encountered Caiaphas it would have been a long time ago in Sunday School.
I think a SUBSONIC speed can be quite fast even if it below the speed of sound.
I used the dictionary a few rimes to check the meaning of a few words – e.g.. CAPO (guitar clamp) and GRIMOIRE, but the clues were fine.
Definitely one of the harder Independents, for me, but it was satisfying to complete it.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Disputed mensurable territory claimed by occupiers? (10) LEBENSRAUM (specific territory claimed as necessary for economic growth. An ideological principle of Nazism which provided justification for the German territorial expansion into neighbouring territories) Anagram of (disputed) MENSURABLE LEBENSRAUM* |
| 7 |
Time for Iftar snack (4) DATE (a statement of time, or time and place) DATE (a fruit that is frequently eaten as part of Iftar, the meal taken after sunset that breaks the daily fast during Ramadan) double definition DATE |
| 9 |
Hypocrisy of actors after change of direction (4) CANT (hypocrisy) CAST (group of actors in a play) with S (South) replaced by N (North) – after change of direction CANT |
| 10 |
Cash given to underground cartoonist for a little food (10) BREADCRUMB (small piece of BREAD; little food) BREAD (slang term for money or cash) + CRUMB (reference Robert CRUMB [born 1943], American cartoonist whose work was published regularly in the underground comix movement) BREAD CRUMB |
| 11 |
Judge rings about ballot box hack (6) JOURNO (informal term for a journalist, in this case a not very good one, as ‘hack’ is defined as a literary or journalistic drudge) J (judge) + OO (a couple of ring shaped characters) containing (about) URN (a container into which to put voting-tablets; a ballot box) J O (URN) O |
| 12 |
One picks voters closer to the front (8) SELECTOR (one who picks out preferences from a list; one who picks the members of a team for example) ELECTORS (voters) with the last letter (closer) S moved to the front to form SELECTOR SELECTOR |
| 13 |
Book of sorcery forbidding passion, suppressing love (8) GRIMOIRE (a magician’s book for calling up spirits; book of sorcery) (GRIM [forbidding] + IRE [passion]) containing (suppressing) O (character representing zero [love score in tennis]) GRIM (O) IRE |
| 15 |
The spirit of Lillie Langtry (4) ÉLAN (combination of style and vigour; spirit) ELAN (hidden word in [of] LILLIE LANGTRY, an English socialite who lived from 1853-1929 and displayed a great deal of ÉLAN during her life) ELAN |
| 17 |
Axe clamp used in The Godfather (4) CAPO (a movable bridge secured over the fingerboard and strings of a lute or guitar, to alter the pitch of all the strings together; axe is American slang for a guitar) CAPO (head of a branch of the Mafia; Godfather is another word for the head of the Mafia) double definition CAPO |
| 19 |
High priest from Asia cavorting with chap (8) CAIAPHAS (the Jewish high priest during the years of Jesus’ ministry. He is mentioned in the New Testament) Anagram of (… cavorting with ..) ASIA and CHAP CAIAPHAS* |
| 22 |
He painted Jimmy at school naked (8) PISSARRO (reference Camille PISSARRO [1830-1903], Danish-French artist prominent in the Impressionist and Neo-impressionist movements; he painted) PISS (urination; a Jimmy or a Jimmy Riddle is also an act of urination) + HARROW (public school in England) excluding the outer letters (naked) H and W PISS ARRO |
| 23 |
Decline to return books reminiscent of the Naughty Nineties (6) GASLIT (GAS lights were used in, and are reminiscent of, the 1890s, The period is sometimes referred to as the Naughty Nineties, as it was considered to be a time of fun-loving and laxity) SAG (decline) reversed (to return) + LIT (literature; books) GAS< LIT |
| 25 |
Cleric performing with horn and recorder (10) CHRONICLER (one who records a series of events in order; recorder) Anagram of (… performing with…) CLERIC and HORN CHRONICLER* |
| 26 |
Slew small goat (4) SKID (slip suddenly and uncontrollably; slew) S (small) + KID (goat) S KID |
| 27 |
Astronomer Royal entertained by Jerry Lewis (4) RYLE (reference Sir Martin RYLE [1918 – 1984], British Astronomer Royal from 1972 to 1982) RYLE (hidden word in [entertained by] JERRY LEWIS RYLE |
| 28 |
The old revolutionary, full of pain, closed diary in Carter’s study (10) EGYPTOLOGY (Howard Carter [1874-1939] was a British archaeologist and EGYPTOLOGIST who discovered the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922) YE (old word for ‘the’) reversed (revolutionary) containing (full of) (GYP [pain] + TO [closed] + LOG [diary]) E (GYP TO LOG) Y< |
| Down | |
| 2 |
Flipping old character embracing old mother in entrance (7) ENAMOUR (charm; entrance) (RUNE [any of the letters of the futhork or ancient Germanic alphabet; any of a set of tiles inscribed with such letters used for fortune-telling; old character] containing [embracing] [O {old} + MA {mother}]) all reversed (flipping) (EN (AM O) UR)< |
| 3 |
County town has demolished church compound (5) ESTER (compound formed by the condensation of an alcohol and an acid, with elimination of water) CHESTER (County town of Chesire) excluding (has demolished) CH ESTER |
| 4 |
Loans suspended mostly? Not so fast (8) SUBSONIC (below the speed of sound; not so fast?) SUBS (loans) + ON ICE (suspended) excluding the final letter (mostly) E SUBS ON IC |
| 5 |
English occultist reanimated 12 wearily (8,7) ALEISTER CROWLEY (reference ALEISTER CROWLEY [1875-1947], English occultist and man of many other talents [philosopher, magician, poet, painter, novelist and mountaineer])) Anagram of (reanimated) SELECTOR [entry at 12 across] and WEARILY ALEISTER CROWLEY* |
| 6 |
After gender reassignment monkey becomes mean (6) MIDDLE (average; mean – I expect the purist mathematicians may quibble with this definition) FIDDLE (meddle with; monkey) with F (female) changed to M (male) (gender reassignment) MIDDLE |
| 7 |
Chap tired out? Not at all dear! (4,5) DIRT CHEAP (very inexpensive; not at all dear) Anagram of (out) CHAP TIRED DIRT CHEAP* |
| 8 |
Doctor on Circle Line gets stuck in to a game of chance (7) TOMBOLA (a kind of lottery in which winning tickets are drawn from a revolving drum; game of chance) (MB [Bachelor of Medicine; doctor] + O [circle-shaped character] + L [line]) contained in (get stuck in) (TO + A) TO (MB O L) A |
| 14 |
Second film director to take on this gem of a novel (9) MOONSTONE (opalescent orthoclase feldspar; gem) [The] MOONSTONE (novel by Wilkie Collins [1824-1889]) – two definitions (MO [moment; second] + STONE [reference Oliver STONE [born 1946]. American film director) containing (take) ON MO (ON) STONE |
| 16 |
Played guitar with odd characters in Giza’s pyramidal tower (8) ZIGGURAT (temple-tower in ancient Mesopotamia, much like a pyramid in shape, consisting of a number of storeys each successive one of which was smaller than the one below it) Anagram of (played … with …) GUITAR and GZ (letters 1 and 3 [odd characters] of GIZA) ZIGGURAT* |
| 18 |
Half-hearted friend stifles expression of contempt in an asinine imitative way (7) APISHLY (imitatively in the manner of a stupid or asinine person) ALLY (friend) excluding one of the central Ls (half-heartedly) containing (stifles) PISH (an expression of contempt) A (PISH) LY |
| 20 |
A feature of bridge, though missing 6, is standing (7) ABIDING (tolerating; standing) A + BIDDING (a feature of the game of bridge) excluding the MIDDLE [entry at 6 down] letter, D A BIDING |
| 21 |
Cook given French kiss after promoting recipe (6) BRAISE (stew; cook) BAISER (French word for ‘kiss’) with the letter R (recipe) moving up the down entry from the final to the second position (after promoting) to form BRAISE BRAISE |
| 24 |
One upstanding young lady’s stocking fibre (5) SISAL (fibre) LASS (young lady) reversed (upstanding; down entry) containing (stocking) I (Roman numeral for one) S (IS) SAL< |
Completion of this puzzle would have been impossible (for me anyway) without a considerable amount of research (like our blogger) and word-searching, which slightly lessens the enjoyment. Though on the plus side one learns a lot, so thanks Wiglaf and Duncan.
Too tough for me. I did know of Robert Crumb. Keep On Truckin’ posters were quite well known in my youth. I also knew Aleister Crowley and ‘grimoire’ and the ‘Egyptologist’. Couldn’t get the unknown-to-me LEBENSRAUM, PISSARRO, CAIAPHAS without aids. Guessed BRAISE and wasn’t sure ‘skid’ and ‘slew’ were the same.
Thanks, Wiglaf and duncanshiell!
Liked CANT, CAPO, GASLIT, MIDDLE, MOONSTONE and ABIDING.
Duncan’s introduction pretty much says it all. GRIMOIRE and CAPO were new to me too, I recognised LEBENSRAUM though didn’t know what it meant and I’d never heard of either Robert CRUMB or Sir Martin RYLE. I couldn’t tell you much about CAIAPHAS either, but his name looked as though it should belong to a ‘High priest’. There’s EGYPTOLOGY, ?ZIGGURAT and TOMB in TOMBOLA but I can’t see more in the way of an archaeological theme, possibly due to my ignorance.
Thanks to Wiglaf for a tough Thursday puzzle and to Duncan for his as ever detailed blog
Excellent fare. Nice to see Robert Crumb get a mention and Oliver Stone and have just watched Platoon on the strength of his inclusion although the best part about it is Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. I needed e-search and have no qualms about that. Then again, 5d and 28a were gimmies. I really enjoy Wiglaf’s unique style no better illustrated than in GASLIT (a perfect clue, I thought), JOURNO, CAPO, ABIDING, BRAISE and MOONSTONE which I intend to read very soon. Thanks duncan and 11455 (oops, that will be Wiglaf).
Sofamore @ 5
Sorry – I have now added / Wiglaf after Independent 11455
Is it me or is there a problem with the site?
Kept telling me it was insecure and didn’t have the right certificate, had to threaten it with a spanner before I could get in. (actually dropped the ‘s’ from HTPPS)
Falkirkdouglas@7
Yes, there is a known problem with the site as explained in the thread on the Home page. You have found the logical work around which is recommednded whilst the problem is investigated. Unfortunately it oesn’t seem to work on all combinations of nbrowser and operating system.
duncanshiell
Thanks, it’s not just me then. Don’t feel so left out now.
ZIGGY[urat] “played guitar” with an “Axe clamp” that wasn’t DIRT CHEAP – it was the CAPO DI TUTTI CAPI.
Caiaphas, the high priest, sent Jesus to Pilate for further judgement. His character features in Jesus Christ Superstar.
https://youtu.be/Uo81UqO54dg
Thank you Wiglaf and Duncan.
This is just a comment to see for myself how users of the site who aren’t bloggers can leave a comment. Has anyone ever had to go through a captcha to leave a comment?