Rodriguez is a setter who appears fairly often these day.
Rodriguez is one of many Independent setters, a number of whom can be seen in all of the fourteen across entries. If you are an Independent cryptic crossword geek you might have spotted them. If you didn’t, it was academic because it was not necessary to know setters names to solve the clues.
In across clue order we have Radian, Phi, Hob, Atrica, Vigo, Monk, Angel, Dill, Gila, Tees, Wire, Mog, Eccles and Twin.
There are lots of other Independent setters who didn’t make the grid. Looking at the Setters page on this website at https://www.fifteensquared.net/setters I reckon there are fifty other setters since the beginning of 2021 that didn’t get a mention. Some could be clued as their name like Eccles was today, but good luck with trying to incorporate many into other words, e.g. Xestobium, Hippogryph and Rodriguez himself.
The clues referenced other setters and compilers but these were references to I, ME and a dog. The theme words were very well hidden.
I haven’t spotted a setter in the down entries, but it is challenging to get thematics into both the across and the down clues. Often you can tell there is a theme as there a few obscure entries in one particular direction having been constrained by the theme words in the other direction. I didn’t feel that was the case today. Indeed, it wasn’t until I had filled the grid that I noticed a few setters. names such as Phi, Monk, Tees and Eccles. That spurred me to look for some more.
Thanks to Rodriguez for a fun puzzle.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 8 |
Ariadne terribly bored by Charlie Sheen (8) RADIANCE (shine; sheen) Anagram of (terribly) ARIADNE containing (bored by) C (cocaine; Charlie) RADIAN (C) E* |
| 9 |
Old Catholic pens letter dealing with religious mysteries (6) ORPHIC (relating to the mysteries associated with the religious cult founded by Orpheus) O (old]) + (RC [{Roman} Catholic]) containing [pens] PHI [letter of the Greek alphabet]) O R (PHI) C |
| 10 |
Wanderer‘s house no use, with bad smell (4) HOBO (itinerant workman; wanderer) HOUSE excluding (no) USE + BO (body odour; bad smell) HO BO |
| 11 |
Dramatic articles about stopping ordeal (10) THEATRICAL (dramatic) (THE [definite article] + A [indefinite article] giving articles) + C (circa; about) contained in (stopping) TRIAL (ordeal) THE A TRI (C) AL |
| 12 |
Strength of Roman’s sex drive unclear after vacation (6) VIGOUR (strength) VI (roman numerals for six; Romans spoke Latin, sex is Latin for six) + GO (drive) + UR (letters remaining in UNCLEAR when the central letters NCLEA are removed [after vacation]) VI GO UR |
| 14 |
Swimmer in second lane’s off, covering kilometre (4,4) MONK SEAL (SEAL of the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and NW Africa; swimmer) MO (moment; second) + (an anagram of [off] LANES containing [covering] K [kilometre]) MO N (K) SEAL* |
| 15 |
Cake decoration mostly very sweet (7) ANGELIC (very sweet) ANGELICA (candied leaf-stalks and midribs, used as a decoration for cakes) excluding the final letter (mostly) A ANGELIC |
| 17 |
I called to reconstruct possible feature of facade (7) CEDILLA (a mark, originally a subscript Z, placed under the letter c, as ç; FACADE can be written as FAÇADE, so a cedilla could be a feature of FAÇADE) Anagram of (to reconstruct) I CALLED CEDILLA* |
| 20 |
Very big covers left on newspaper like The Observer (8) VIGILANT (watchful, like an observer) V (very) + I (a British newspaper) + (GIANT [big] containing [covers] L [left]) V I GI (L) ANT |
| 22 |
Understand I disapprove about students (6) TUTEES (people being tutored; students) (SEE [understand] + TUT [expression of disapproval]) all reversed (about) (TUT EES)< |
| 23 |
Cutting tool – it’s said to make you smile with rage (10) CHEESEWIRE (tool for cutting hard cheese) CHEESE (what a photographer asks you to say when trying to coax you to smile for the camera) + W (with) + IRE (rage) CHEESE W IRE |
| 24 |
Reason one can’t see small car circling round (4) SMOG (thick fog; a reason why you can’t see very well) S (small) + (MG [car brand] containing [circling] O [round shape]) S M (O) G |
| 25 |
Sort of cake clergyman cut in half (6) ECCLES (small cake or bun filled with raisins, currants, etc) ECCLESIASTIC (a person consecrated to the church, such as a priest or a clergyman) excluding the final 6 (of 12; half) letters) ECCLES |
| 26 |
Red port and a lot of e.g. Bordeaux? Gallons! (4-4) LEFTWING (socialist; red) LEFT (port side of a ship) + WINE (Bordeaux is a WINE) excluding the final letter (a lot of) E + G (gallons) LEFT WIN G |
| Down | |
| 1 |
A plan is devised to steal ball from Shrewsbury Town? (8) SALOPIAN (a person from Shropshire. Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire) Anagram of (devised) A PLAN IS containing (steal) O (ball-shaped character) SAL (O) PIAN* |
| 2 |
Loudly vow to provide e.g. setter’s name (4) FIDO (FIDO is a dog’s name. A setter is a dog) F (forte; loudly) + I DO (phrase said as part of a wedding vow response) F I DO |
| 3 |
Joiner‘s hesitation, getting under kitchen furniture (6) UNITER (one who joins; joiner) UNIT (reference a kitchen storage UNIT) + ER (an indication of hesitation in speech) This being a down entry, ER is located under UNIT UNIT + ER |
| 4 |
Liverpool’s inspiring goalie’s back, one setting up saves (7) REDEEMS (rescues; saves) REDS (Liverpool Football Club is known as the REDS) containing (inspiring) (E [last letter of [back] GOALIE + ME [the setter] reversed [up; down entry]) RED (E EM<) S |
| 5 |
Staff, keeping working, can go on (8) CONTINUE (go on) CUE (rod used in playing snooker of billiards etc; staff) containing (keeping) (ON [working] + TIN [can]) C (ON TIN) UE |
| 6 |
Leave key arrangement for working hours (5,5) SPLIT SHIFT (a working SHIFT divided into two separate periods during the day; arrangement for working hours) SPLIT (leave) + SHIFT (a key on a typewriter or computer keyboard) SPLIT SHIFT |
| 7 |
Spies entertaining scoundrel, a chirpy sort (6) CICADA (insect of warm regions, having a broad body and large transparent wings, the male of which makes a loud chirping sound) CIA (Central Intelligence Agency; spies) containing (entertaining) CAD (scoundrel) CI (CAD) A |
| 13 |
Compiler involved in corrupt deeds? Only partially (3-7) ONE-SIDEDLY (partially) I (descriptive of the crossword compiler) contained in (involved in) an anagram of (corrupt) DEEDS ONLY ONE-S (I) DEDLY* |
| 16 |
Somewhat trendy American karate teacher, briefly (2,1,5) IN A SENSE (after a fashion; somewhat) IN (trendy) + A (American) + SENSEI (martial arts [karate] instructor) excluding the final letter (briefly) I IN A SENSE |
| 18 |
Piece of classical music has rests (3-5) LIE DOWNS (rests) LIED (classical German lyric or song) + OWNS (has) LIE D OWNS |
| 19 |
Before pillage, cheers up slightly (1,6) A TRIFLE (of little importance; slightly) TA (thankyou; cheers) reversed (up; down entry) + RIFLE (plunder; pillage) A T< RIFLE |
| 21 |
Having debts, astounded to lose shilling (2,4) IN HOCK (owing money; having debts) IN SHOCK (astounded) excluding (to lose) S (shilling) IN HOCK |
| 22 |
Maybe drive noble around the middle of Greece (3,3) TEE OFF (drive off in a game of golf) TOFF (aristocrat; noble) containing (around) EE (central letter of [middle of] GREECE) T (EE) OFF |
| 24 |
Gnomes used to be around Switzerland’s capital (4) SAWS (sayings; GNOMES are defined as pithy and sententious sayings, generally in verse, embodying some moral sentiment or precept) WAS (used to be) reversed (around) + S (first letter of [capital] of SWITZERLAND) SAW< S |
What a beautifully constructed puzzle which was nicely challenging and a joy to solve.
A theme too! I spotted about half of the setters’ names in the grid but didn’t realise until reading the review that they appeared in all the across clues.
Many thanks to Rodriguez and to Duncan.
I did spot all the setters but needed lots of aids to complete this. Too hard for me but a pleasant workout.
I didn’t spot quite all the setters – I’m not familiar with all of the many Indy compilers – but I certainly enjoyed the puzzle.
My favourites were 8ac RADIANCE (wonderful surface), 9ac ORPHIC (ditto), 12ac VIGOUR (for the construction), 17ac CEDILLA (ingenious), 1dn SALOPIAN and 4dn REDEEMS.
Many thanks to Rodriguez and Duncan.
I consoled myself by putting B TRIFLE in for 19d.
Filbert 🙂
Filbert@4 – 😀
13d – ONE-SIDEDLY – “Compiler involved in corrupt deeds? Only partially” – a hint to the theme.
Filbert@4
😀
Filbert@4 as long as you don’t interfere with the intersecting across entry, that’s fine with me
Another fine crossword helped in a couple of places by spotting the setters fairly early on
Many thanks to Rodriguez and Duncan
Very rare DNF for me. Uber difficult
Thanks duncanshiell and Rodriguez.
Looked vigorously for nina and missed the theme. Well…
Likes
– VIGOUR
– REDEEMS
– SPLIT SHIFT
– ONE-SIDEDLY
– IN A SENSE*
– SMOG
*sensei is teacher in Japanese, too. Suddenly it came to mind…there was a TV show called Kinpachi-sensei that I used to watch decades ago.
Thanks both. Can’t remember when I last struggled quite as much as today, mostly beaten or heavily delayed by what were admirable clues, with the occasional unknown e.g. the karate teacher featuring in IN A SENSE. I checked whether ORPHIC was a word which created a ‘really?’moment as I’d have expected a little more guidance other than ‘letter’ for Phi, as there are so many when we factor in all the languages. Wasn’t looking for a theme – it would have helped with some – and I recall it’s been done before
Classy. I can confirm that no knowledge of the theme was necessary- vaguely recognised Monk but that was it.
SALOPIAN was a guess & Google.
Cheers R&D
I just couldn’t get int o this. One of those days.
Filbert @4 😀
26 across
How on earth can a novice ever progress with a clue like this
LEFT WING
G Representing Gallons
A lot of ….. clip off the last letter E
Alan Swinburne @ 16
Solving cryptic crosswords is something that takes a while to learn and many solvers begin the process with thoughts like yours.
To a great extent, learning to solve cryptics is a bit like learning a language which gets easier with practice and experience. Studying blogs on fifteensquared is a good way to see the tricks of the setter’s trade.
Abbreviations like G for ‘gallons’ are used frequently. Most of the time you will find the abbreviation in a dictionary. The Independent uses Collins, but other puzzles are based on Chambers or the Oxford English Dictionary.
Words in the clues like ‘a lot of’, ‘most of’, almost’, ‘in brief’ and others are frequently used to indicate that you must drop a letter off a constituent part that is referenced as part of the wordplay. On the other hand you will see ‘a bit of’, ‘a trace of’, ‘initially’ ‘start of’ etc to indicate that you use the first letter of a constituent reference.
There are many ther conventions. There are hundreds of words used to indicate anagrams, some more obvious and appropriate than others.
Crytpic definitions are favoured by many setters as one of the joys of the English language is the fact than many words have a range of meanings, on some occasions having meanings that are directly opposite to each other.
There are a few books that can help you understand the ‘mysteries of cryptic crosswords’, but the most important thing to remember is that in 99% of clues, the definition will either be at the beginning or the end of the clue and the rest of the clue references the wordplay to help you construct the answer if you can’t get it directly from the definition. The definition can be be one or more words.
Keep trying puzzles and reading fifteensquared and I am sure your solving ability will improve fairly quickly.
Also @16 & @17 this was a *very* difficult puzzle. Guardian’s Quiptic and Monday puzzles and Indie’s Sundays are better places to get going IMHO.
15^2 is a great place to learn.