Today’s puzzle is set by Rodriguez.
Good to see the scientist getting a look-in today with a number of scientific disciplines referenced in the clues.
Sometimes there is a theme in Thursday Independent puzzles, but I don’t see one today.
I thought there were some good surfaces today with the highlights, for me, being the clues for CENTRAL HEATING, OTHELLO, CHAPPAQUIDDICK and DEEP SPACE in the acrosses, plus BOOK CLUB in the downs.
Doing the research for some elements of a crossword blog is often a rewarding experience as I learn about new things or refresh my memory of events from long ago.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 7 | Pained look of red maybe bored by Conservative (5)
WINCE (the act of WINCing [showing a pained look]) WINE (red is a term used to describe many types of wine, to distinguish them from white wines) containing (bored by) C (Conservative) WIN (C) E |
| 8 | People with successful records long to include one short snippet of song (9)
ACHIEVERS (people with successful records) (ACHE [long] containing (to include) I [Roman numeral for one]) + VERSE (snippet of a song] excluding the final letter (short) E ACH (I) E VERS |
| 10 | Open boxes are behind electronic stuff (7)
OVEREAT (stuff oneself with food) OVERT (open) containing (boxes) (E [electronic] + A [are; unit of land measurement]) OVER (E A) T |
| 11 | A source of cash keeps personnel excited (7)
ATHRILL (excited) A + (TILL [source of cash]) containing (keeps) HR (Human Resources; Personnel [Department]) A + T (HR) ILL |
| 12 | Dishonest about dodgy rental housing feature (7,7)
CENTRAL HEATING (feature of many houses) CHEATING (dishonest) containing (about) an anagram of (dodgy) RENTAL C (ENTRAL*) HEATING |
| 15 | Boldness about the time we live in (7)
COURAGE (boldness) C (circa; about) + OUR AGE (the time we live in) C OUR AGE |
| 17 | Moor boat, regularly going "ahoy there!" (7)
OTHELLO (reference OTHELLO, The Moor of Venice in Shakespeare’s play of the same name) OT (letters 2 and 4 [regularly] of BOAT) + HELLO (word for attracting attention as is the phrase ‘ahoy there’) OT HELLO |
| 18 | Male assistant with Nixon, say, pocketing cash to create scandal for Kennedy (14)
CHAPPAQUIDDICK (reference the place where Edward Kennedy [1932 – 2009], drove a car into a river late in the evening of July 18 1969, while taking Mary Jo Kopechne [1940 -1969] to a ferry. Kennedy survived but Kopechne didn’t. Kennedy didn’t report the events officially until some time later. The cause of Kopechne’s death is disputed with suggestions that she could have been rescued if the alarm had been raised immediately. Not surprisingly, the incident created a scandal centred on Kennedy) (CHAP [male] + PA [{personal} assistant] + DICK [Richard {Nixon}]) containing (pocketing) QUID (slang term for £1; cash) CHAP PA (QUID) DICK |
| 22 | Decked in expensive material, scoffed about waste product (7)
AUREATE (gilded; decked in expensive material) ATE (scoffed) containing (about) UREA (a waste product) A (UREA) TE |
| 23 | Great trouble concealing jollies in high-flying post (7)
AIRMAIL (post [mail] that is carried by aeroplanes; high flying post) (AI [A one; excellent; great] + AIL [trouble]) containing (concealing) RM (Royal Marines; jollies is a slang term for Royal Marines) AI (RM) AIL |
| 25 | Voyager’s here with two velocities going in different directions (4,5)
DEEP SPACE (Voyagers 1 and 2 are space probes launched in 1977 to study Jupiter and Saturn [Voyager 1] and Uranus and Neptune [Voyager 2]. Both probes are still active and are well into interstellar space. According to Wikipedia, they both have a potential lifespan up to 2036. As of late May 2024, Voyager 1 was 24.4 billion kilometres from Earth while Voyager was 20.4 billion kilometres away from Earth; so both satellites are in DEEP SPACE) SPEED (velocity) reversed [entered in one direction] + PACE (speed)[entered in a different direction giving two velocities in different directions) Good to see that the clue reflects the full definition of a velocity having both direction and magnitude. DEEP S< PACE |
| 26 | Scientific feat from medic tracking blood types (1-4)
A-BOMB (the development of the Atomic Bomb, A-BOMB, was a scientific feat) AB (a blood type) + O (another blood type) + MB (Bachelor of Medicine; medic) A-B O MB |
| Down | |
| 1 | Vacuous drive to plug identical articles from a certain range (6)
ANDEAN (relating to the ANDEs mountain range) DE (letters remaining in DRIVE when the central letters RIV are removed [vacuous]) contained in (to plug) (AN [indefinite article] + AN [an identical indefinite article] giving identical articles) AN (DE) AN |
| 2 | Adam, as described by George, is a venerable fellow (4)
BEDE (reference Adam BEDE, novel by George Eliot [1819 -1880]) BEDE (reference the Venerable BEDE, English monk [died 735 AD, buried in Durham Cathedral], also known as St BEDE) double definition BEDE |
| 3 | Yet to fill beaker, oddly, or jug in France (8)
BASTILLE (Former French prison [jug is slang for prison]; also a general term for a prison) STILL (yet) contained in (to fill) BAE (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of BEAKER) BA (STILL) E |
| 4 | Breaches of the peace reportedly leading to sentence (6)
PHRASE (a single element in a sentence) – I am not sure whether the definition should include ‘leading to’ as a PHRASE on its own is not a sentenced PHRASE (sounds like [reportedly] FRAYS [brawls; breaches of the peace]) PHRASE |
| 5 | Say I do understand problem of French revolutionary (3,7)
GET HITCHED (get married; say ‘I Do’ in a marriage ceremony) GET (understand) + HITCH (problem) + DE (French word for ‘of’) reversed (revolutionary) GET HITCH ED< |
| 6 | Supply ale or gin in local (8)
REGIONAL (a local area or district, rather than a national one) Anagram of (supply [word derived from supple]) ALE OR GIN REGIONAL* |
| 7 | One with large bill from court, where defendant is smuggling cocaine (8)
WOODCOCK (a large, bulky wading bird with short legs and a very long straight tapering bill) WOO (court) + (DOCK [place where the defendant stands {in court}] containing [smuggling] C [cocaine]) WOO D (C) OCK |
| 9/24 | Brief answer received by staff in commercial channel (4,4)
SILK ROAD (a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century; commercial channel) SILK (King’s Counsel; barrister; brief [slang term for a barrister]) + (A [answer] contained in [received by] ROD [staff]) SILK RO (A) D – entered as SILK at 9 down |
| 13 | On Spotify perhaps, better pay rate again (10)
REAPPRAISE (reassess performance; rate again) RE (with reference to; on) + APP (Spotify is an example of a computer APP) + RAISE (descriptive of better pay) RE APP RAISE |
| 14 | Reading fans heckle the number 4 of Stoke FC? (4,4)
BOOK CLUB (a group of fans of reading) BOO (heckle) + K (fourth letter of [number 4] STOKE) + CLUB [FC is an abbreviation for [Football] CLUB) BOO K CLUB |
| 16 | Wanting weapons to protect hotel safe (8)
UNHARMED (not injured or abused; safe) UNARMED (without or perhaps requiring [wanting] weapons) containing (to protect) H (hotel) UN (H) ARMED |
| 17 | Prepares to reproduce fancy vase, out to mould 50 (8)
OVULATES (releases an egg from the ovary; prepares to reproduce) Anagram of (fancy) VASE OUT containing (to mould) L (Roman numeral for 50) OVU (L) ATES* |
| 19 | Upset, handle cross American feller (6)
AXEMAN (a term for a man who fells trees) (NAME [title; handle] + X (cross) + A (American]) all reversed (upset) (A X EMAN)< |
| 20 | Running or quarrelling? (2,1,3)
IN A ROW (in unbroken sequence; running in sequence) IN A ROW [quarrelling) double definition IN A ROW |
| 21 | It may be used when charming women turned up make-up (4)
WAND (an implement used when casting spells or charming) W (women) + DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid; a nucleic acid that is the main constituent of the chromosomes of all organisms; make-up) reversed (turned up) W AND< |
| 24 |
See 9 down [SILK] ROAD |
My English teacher will be turning in his grave over 4d; a phrase is not a sentence as it does not contain a verb. Also, the “better pay” in 13d is not a British term.
Those minor niggles apart, this was an extremely enjoyable challenge with too many great clues to mention them all. I will just single out CHAPPAQUIDDICK. Not only was it a sublime clue, the wordplay also helped to work out the correct spelling.
Many thanks to Rodriguez and to Duncan.
I struggled until CHAPPAQUIDDICK suddenly clicked. Also struggled at 10A because I always forget that an ‘are’ is a unit of land measurement. Very satisfying so thanks Rodriguez and Duncan.
@1 – well said Rabbit Dave re the Americanism!
PHRASE
Duncan asks if the ‘leading to’ should be included in the def or not.
The ‘sentence’ alone doesn’t work.
A PHRASE may not be something that leads to a sentence.
Does the ‘leading’ here mean ‘important’? A PHRASE is something important to a sentence/an important part of a sentence.
I am not sure. That’s where we started. 🙂
COTD: DEEP SPACE (Voyager is flying away. Info flying back. Great scientific feat. No two ways about it).
Other faves: WOODCOCK (a fine clue. Settled.) and GET HITCHED (beautiful def coupled with a nice WP)!
Liked the puzzle on the whole. Loved the blog (Duncan’s blogs are always neat and detailed).
Thanks both!
A phrase could be a single word or it could be a complete sentence. Or anything in between. The clue isn’t really inaccurate but some might argue it needs a question mark at the end to indicate definition by example. Didn’t trouble me unduly though.
Good puzzle, very enjoyable. Thanks, Rodriguez & duncanshiell
skt @3 – don’t encourage him
It isn’t usual for me to have quibbles over Rodriguez puzzles but (pace Widdersbel @5 – I had a spell of teaching English Language!) I have to echo Rabbit Dave @1, for the same reasons. The discussion re ‘leading to’ does not help: a phrase is not necessarily an important part of a sentence, unlike a clause, which is – and contains a verb.
And that particular Americanism has always irritated me.
With that out of the way – I couldn’t ignore it – I can concentrate on the rest, where I continue to agree with Rabbit Dave. I had my usual abundance of ticks, which tallied exactly with all of Duncan’s ( great clue for OTHELLO, which we’ve this week booked to see in Stratford in October, and another brilliantly constructed one for CHAPPAQUIDDICK – still fresh enough in the mind; I loved the Reading fans, too), with the addition of 2dn BEDE, evoking thoughts of a favourite book from my schooldays and visits to Durham Cathedral, 7dn WOODCOCK, for a great story-telling surface, and 22ac AUREATE, my last one in, which required rather lengthy consideration of all the possibilities for the various elements, resulting in a sigh of satisfaction when the penny finally dropped.
Many thanks, as always, to Rodriguez for the puzzle and to Duncan for the blog.
Given I did not particularly enjoy the previous puzzle I solved this morning, this was a tremendous relief. Certainly, I was not in a mood to be upset by an Americanism which I’ve heard and seen used often enough for it not even to register. I suspect some of my faves today would not fit with the concept of encouraging the younger generation of solvers but BEDE was inspired, OTHELLO very nicely done, CHAPPAQUIDDICK a very witty allusion. Other big ticks go to CENTRAL HEATING, DEEP SPACE, REGIONAL, WOODCOCK, SILK ROAD and WAND.
Thanks Rodriguez and duncan
Like many a Chancellor of the Exchequer I struggled to find a source of cash. I was too busy trying to decide whether 4dn was AFFRAYS or PHRASE to worry about the definition, but I think Rodriguez has been misled by the French.
Thanks both. Re CHAPPAQUIDDICK I knew immediately the incident being referenced, but have never remembered the name (I was 3 or 4 at the time) so I began with Chappafundrick having missed out on quid for reasons of memory and potentially its Englishness in an American themed clue, and having lost the 50/50 on the Rick/Dick option, though I suspect his mother knew him as neither. WAND was clever enough to delay me for quite a while.
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Thanks to an old Readers Digest I once read at my folks place I was aware of Chappaquiddick.
Enjoyed REAPPRAISE and no qualms with better pay as I picked that up pretty quickly since I play poker. Also enjoyed AUREATE and WOODCOCK.