I’m always happy to see a puzzle from Methuselah.
Methuselah covers a lot of subjects in the clues – today we had allusions to language, geography, sport, biology, music, literature, poetry and medicine.
The clue surfaces are good too – I liked the clues for POSSE with ‘have’ playing an important part, for GODS, for SONNET requiring a bit of maths and EAST ANGLIA with flies and nether regions.
In relation to the SONNET clue, perhaps some expert on poetry can clear up the distinction between feet and metre as I found ‘combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables’ defined as feet in one source and metre in another.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Flâneur openly taking in his surroundings, presumably (6)
EUROPE (word derived from French to mean a person who saunters about, a stroller. With a French derivation, the stroller will be surrounded by EUROPE) EUROPE (hidden word [taking in] in FLANEUR OPENLY) EUROPE |
| 4 | New recruits mostly speak without thinking to begin with (8)
CONVERTS (new recruits) CONVERSE (speak) excluding the final letter (mostly) E containing (without; outside) T (first letter of [to begin with] T) CONVER (T) S |
| 9 | Recordings of United overwhelmed by Barcelona’s cheers (6)
AUDIOS (sound recordings) U (united) contained in (overwhelmed by) ADIOS (Spanish [Barcelona] for goodbye [cheers]) A (U) DIOS |
| 10 | Reptile in trap to wriggle round here after shedding skin (8)
TERRAPIN (a reptile) Anagram of (to wiggle) IN TRAP containing (round) ER (letters remaining in HERE after the outer letters H and E are removed [shedding skin]) T (ER) RAPIN* |
| 12 | Crew have to abandon second ship (5)
POSSE (gang or group of (especially young) friends; crew also defines a group of people) POSSESS (have) excluding [abandon] the second occurrence of SS (steamship) POSSE |
| 13 | Shoots, flowers, evergreen, peace at last (5,4)
OPENS FIRE (shoots) OPENS (flowers) + FIR (evergreen tree) + E (final letter of [at last] PEACE) OPEN S FIR E |
| 14 | Parrot not quite as dead as a dodo? (7)
EMULATE (imitate; parrot) EMU (flightless bird) + LATE (dead) Apparently, the EMU is sufficiently common for it to be rated as a least-concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, so it is not quite as dead as a dodo (another flightless bird that became extinct in second half of the 17th century) EMU LATE |
| 15 | Olympians possibly left out of medals (4)
GODS (Greek GODS lived on Mount Olympus, so could be referred to as Olympians) GOLDS (medals, awarded as the Olympic Games for example) excluding (out of) L (left) GODS |
| 19 | Try to find someone faithful using phone (4)
SEEK (try to find) SEEK (sounds like [using phone] SIKH [adherent of the religion of the same name; someone faithful]) SEEK |
| 21 | Throw out swimmer moving back to front (7)
EMANATE (throw out [an aura]) MANATEE (large aquatic herbivorous mammal; swimmer) with the final [back] E moving to the front [back to front] to form EMANATE EMANATE |
| 24 | Dreadful private school grad with debts stuck outside No 10 (9)
OBNOXIOUS (offensive; dreadful) OB (Old Boy [graduate of a private school]- I’ve always assumed Old Boy could apply to someone who went to any school] + IOUS (I owe yous – debts]) containing (stuck outside) (NO [number] + X [Roman numeral for 10]) OB (NO X) IOUS |
| 26 | Letter from Rolling Stone clutched by woman now and then (5)
OMEGA (letter of the Greek alphabet) GEM (precious stone) reversed (rolling) contained in (clutched by) OA (letters 2 and 4 [now and then] of WOMAN) O (MEG<) A |
| 27 | Network when in lofty surroundings – might an icebreaker be useful there? (8)
ATLANTIC (an ocean where an icebreaker may be needed in northern and southern parts) LAN ([Local Area] Network) contained in (when in … surroundings) ATTIC (loft) AT (LAN) TIC |
| 28 | Just about out of debt, with a few coins (6)
AFLOAT (out of debt, usually used to indicate ‘just out of debt’) A + FLOAT (money in hand for purposes, such as to give change to customers or to provide money for small expenses) A FLOAT |
| 29 | Sending water away, ordered red again or a dear gin? (8)
DRAINAGE (method of sending water away) Anagram of (ordered) RED AGAIN Anagram of (ordered) A DEAR GIN double wordplay DRAINAGE* or DRAINAGE* |
| 30 | Inscrutable setter’s met with a lot of criticism (6)
MYSTIC (mysterious; inscrutable) MY (setter’s) + STICK (criticism) excluding the final letter (a lot of) K MY STIC |
| Down | |
| 1 | Cases of old politician popping into drinks (8)
EXAMPLES cases) EX (former; old) + (MP [Member of Parliament; politician] contained in [popping into] ALES [drinks]) EX A (MP) LES |
| 2 | Comes through or, alternatively, is routed (5,3)
RIDES OUT (get safely through or past; comes through) Anagram of (alternatively) IS ROUTED RIDES OUT* |
| 3 | Battering ram opened front (9)
PROMENADE ([paved terrace on a sea] front) Anagram of (battering) RAM OPENED PROMENADE* |
| 5 | Exaggerate somewhat, in more ways than one (4-3)
OVER-EGG (exaggerate to the point of unreasonableness) OVER-EGG (EGG is reversed [OVER] in EXAGGERATE) giving another way of cluing the answer OVER-EGG |
| 6 | Upwardly mobile clergyman going to a load of balls in Pride and Prejudice? (5)
VERBS (both ‘pride’ and ‘prejudice’ are VERBS, as well as nouns) REV (REVerend; clergyman] reversed (upwardly mobile) + BS (bullshit; load of balls) VER< BS |
| 7 | Republican instead of Democrat returned fix! (6)
REPAIR (fix) REPAID (returned [money, for example]) with R (Republican) replacing (instead of) D (Democrat) to form REPAIR REPAIR |
| 8 | It’s seventy feet but only one metre (6)
SONNET (poem, that has feet [divisions of a line] and metre [the regulated succession of groups of syllables (long and short, stressed and unstressed) in which poetry is usually written; also, poetry generally) SONNET (poem with one verse formed of 14 lines each with 5 feet [in this case, pairs of stressed and unstressed syllables– 14 * 5 =70) I’m no expert of feet and metres in poetry but there seems a slight confusion between the definitions I have used in the previous two lines. The first definition is from Chambers Dictionary and the second is from an explanation of feet in a SONNET from a web search. SONNET |
| 11 | A flat for one some singleton’s flipped (4)
NOTE (a flat is a musical NOTE lowered by one semitone) NOTE (reversed [flipped] hidden word in [some] SINGLETON‘S) NOTE< |
| 16 | Insect to go slowly and then go quickly (9)
DRAGONFLY (an insect) DRAG ON (go slowly) + FLY (go quickly) DRAG ON FLY |
| 17 | Amateur match official wearing protective gear or not (8)
BAREFOOT (without [not] protective gear on the feet) (A [amateur] + REF [REFeree {match official}]) contained in (wearing) BOOT (protective gear) B (A REF) OOT |
| 18 | Perhaps it means, roughly, about meaning (8)
SEMANTIC (relating to meaning) Anagram of (perhaps [?]) IT MEANS + C (circa; roughly; about) alternatively – an anagram of (roughly) IT MEANS + C (about) but I’m not sure what ‘perhaps’ is doing in this option SEMANTI* C |
| 20 | Wise man wrapping present (7)
KNOWING (wise) KING (chess piece [man]) containing (wrapping) NOW (present time) K (NOW) ING |
| 21/23 | Trouble with flies? A&E fixed up nether region (4,6)
EAST [ANGLIA] (nether region where nether can have the meaning ‘lower’. EAST ANGLIA is fairly low lying). Other definitions of ‘nether regions’ conjure up images of hell and purgatory. I don’t think the inhabitants of EAST ANGLIA would like to describe their area of Britain in those terms) (AIL [trouble) + GNATS [small flies] + AE [A and E]) all reversed (fixed up; down entry) (EA ST ANG LIA)< |
| 22 | Playwright crouched down to audience (6)
COWARD (reference Noel COWARD [1899 – 1973], English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer) COWARD (sounds like [to audience] COWERED [crouched or cringed in fear]) COWARD |
| 23 | See 21
[EAST] ANGLIA |
| 25 | Element of social media site nobody backed (5)
XENON (an element, atomic number 54) X (social media site, formerly known as Twitter) + NONE (nobody} reversed (backed) X ENON< |
SONNET
My understanding:
There are 70 feet (14*5) in a SONNET bit as explained in the blog.
Sonnets are written in Iambic pentameters (5 iambic feet/line).
A SONNET has 70 feet but just one meter i.e. iambic pentameter.
Am I right? Please educate me if I am wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iambic_pentameter
‘An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The rhythm can be written as: da DUM
A standard line of iambic pentameter is five iambic feet in a row: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM
Straightforward examples of this rhythm can be heard in the opening line of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 12:
“When I do count the clock that tells the time“
Just yesterday – POSSE – https://www.fifteensquared.net/2023/12/13/financial-times-17599-by-basilisk/ – “Officers have to abandon ship (5)”
“It’s like déjà vu all over again.” Methuselah more precise in telling us which of the two ships to abandon.
me@1
One extra ‘bit’ is there. Please ignore. 🙂
Not quick, but all went in. Tried to fit HOLA(S) round U for a while which didn’t speed things up… would have been surprised if it hadn’t been SONNET..
Thanks Methusela n duncansheill
Meter is the pattern in which the syllables appear, while a foot is a single iteration of the metric pattern.
I was beginning to think there was a bit of a Titanic theme, with the icebreaker, the crew abandoning ship and AFLOAT. I thought SONNET was very clever.
Thanks Methuselah and duncansheill.
Unlike his last one, I liked this.
Basilisk had POSSE yesterday, this one is more specific about which ship to abandon.
CONVERTS, EMULATE, OBNOXIOUS, OMEGA, VERBS, KNOWING make my list.
Thanks Methuselah, that was enjoyable with my top picks being POSSE, GODS, OMEGA, DRAGONFLY, KNOWING, and EMANATE. I needed a nudge to complete the NE corner, using a word finder to get SONNET. Thanks Duncan for the blog.
Great fun – DRAGONFLY and SEMANTIC were brilliant. Thanks setter and blogger.
In 11d it isn’t just “a flat” but “A flat” = a specific note in the musical scale.
Excellent
GODS is brilliantly clued.
It’s a good example of the need to stop yourself thinking of a plausible situation described by the whole clue.
Thanks both
Just noticed today that Noël COWARD died in 1973, so last month’s https://www.fifteensquared.net/2023/11/07/guardian-29221-paul/ was a 50th anniversary theme.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_No%C3%ABl_Coward ‘The opening to the song “The Lady Is a Tramp“(1937) includes the line
“Alas, I missed the Beaux Arts Ball, and what is twice as sad | I was never at a party where they honored Noël Ca-ad”.
So the COWARD/cowered homophone doesn’t work at all – Just kidding.