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One of our less frequent setters, but one I’ve enjoyed on previous appearances.
This one is well up to the standard of Mev’s earlier puzzles, though it had some tricky moments. I liked the long anagram of 8d, and 4d for building the wordplay without using an obvious name that has been mentioned far too much lately. My joint favourites were 6a for the delightful surface and 26a for the sneaky definition. 22a wasn’t the usual spelling but was guessable, and the only really obscure entry was 17a but the wordplay was very straightforward.
Tuesday is normally theme day, and if you knew 17a you probably had a good chance of spotting the theme. I recognised enough entries to spot a pattern, then WIkipedia helped with the rest. We’re looking at the titles of Ancient Greek comedy plays by Aristophanes: as well as LYSISTRATA, we have FROGS, WASPS and BIRDS (which I’d heard of) and PEACE, CLOUDS, FARMERS, ASSEMBLYWOMEN and WEALTH (which I hadn’t but found in Wikipedia). As always, though, you didn’t need to see any of that to solve the puzzle. Thanks Mev for a fun challenge.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SPECIMEN |
Example of rodents running back in not quite exhausted (8)
|
| MICE (rodents) reversed (running back), in SPEN[t] (exhausted) without the last letter (not quite). | ||
| 6 | FROGS |
Jumpers served for goalposts at both ends (5)
|
| Anagram (served?) of FOR, then both end letters of G[oalpost]S. I’m not quite convinced by the anagram indicator, but the surface image of makeshift park football made me smile.
Animals that jump. |
||
| 9 | AMAZONS |
Warriors once stripped down tame jazz song with soprano (7)
|
| [t]AM[e] [j]AZ[z] [s]ON[g] with all the outer letters removed (stripped down), then S (abbreviation for soprano). | ||
| 10 | GERBERA |
A long time after 19 composed for member of Daisy’s family (7)
|
| ERA (a long time) after an anagram (composed) of BERG (19a).
Genus of flowering plants in the Asteraceae (daisy) family. |
||
| 11 | STEADIEST |
Most reliable religious figure imbibes drink and expires (9)
|
| ST (abbreviation for saint = religious figure), containing (imbibing) TEA (a drink) + DIES (expires). | ||
| 12 | ETHIC |
Nazareth icehouse partly illustrates principle (5)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . partly) in [nazar]ETH IC[ehouse]. | ||
| 13 | MODS |
Government dept’s scooter riders (4)
|
| MOD’S (belonging to the Ministry of Defence, abbreviated to MOD).
Members of a 1960s youth subculture, who typically rode motor scooters; often in conflict with rockers, who rode motorcycles and didn’t like the same music. |
||
| 15 | NEVIL SHUTE |
Author unveils the criminal (5,5)
|
| Anagram (criminal) of UNVEILS THE.
20th-century English novelist. |
||
| 17 | LYSISTRATA |
Play with striking ladies’ clothes of lovely half-silk layers (10)
|
| Outer letters (clothes) of L[ovel]Y + half of SI[lk] + STRATA (geological layers).
Play by Aristophanes, in which the women of Greece try to end a war by refusing to sleep with their men until it stops. |
||
| 19 | BERG |
South African Hill is Lulu’s writer (4)
|
| Double definition. Word for a hill or mountain in Afrikaans (one of many languages spoken in South Africa) and in other Germanic languages; or Alban Berg, Austrian composer who wrote the opera Lulu. | ||
| 21 | WASPS |
Primarily worrisome animals spoiling picnic spreads (5)
|
| First letters (primarily) of W[orrisome] A[nimals] S[poiling] P[icnic] S[preads].
Clue-as-definition, from the well-known behaviour of these insects when food is available in the open air. |
||
| 22 | BOOGEYMAN |
Monster Of The Mind loaded on Game Boy (9)
|
| Anagram (loaded = slang for drunk, perhaps?) of ON GAME BOY.
Variant spelling (Collins says it’s US English) of bogeyman (an imaginary monster, especially one invented to threaten children). This brings to mind a rather bizarre recent US news story: sometimes there really is someone hiding under the bed. |
||
| 24 | MOODIER |
After second cricket match, queen becomes more glum (7)
|
| MO (short for moment = second) + ODI (abbreviation for a One-Day International cricket match) + ER (the late Queen Elizabeth). | ||
| 25 | ENLISTS |
Joins bafflingly silent society (7)
|
| Anagram (bafflingly) of SILENT, then S (abbreviation for society).
Join = enlist = to sign up as a member of an organisation. |
||
| 26 | NUMAN |
Cars delivered by him with letter from Greek bloke (5)
|
| NU (the letter N in the Greek alphabet) + MAN (bloke).
The musician Gary Numan, who sang (delivered) the song Cars in 1979. |
||
| 27 | SATCHELS |
Carriers crossing Thames at Chelsea (8)
|
| Hidden answer (crossing = crossing the boundaries between words in) [thame]S AT CHELS[ea].
Bags typically used to carry schoolbooks. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | PEACE |
Calm exercise class expert (5)
|
| PE (abbreviation for Physical Education = exercise class) + ACE (slang for expert). | ||
| 3 | CLOUDS |
Twits adopting universal digital storage networks (6)
|
| CLODS (twits = stupid people) containing U (abbreviation for universal, especially in film classifications). | ||
| 4 | MUSKETEER |
Person with old weapon encountered powerless lord outside Welsh town (9)
|
| MET (encountered) + [p]EER (a member of the House of Lords) without the P (abbreviation for power), around USK (town in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales). | ||
| 5 | NIGHT |
Dark ending that’s oddly edited out (5)
|
| [e]N[d]I[n]G [t]H[a]T[s] with all the odd-numbered letters edited out. | ||
| 6 | FARMERS |
People growing distant on French seas (7)
|
| FAR (distant) + MERS (French word for seas).
People who grow crops. |
||
| 7 | OPEN HOUSE |
Swan entering Ohio river’s place of easy access (4,5)
|
| PEN (an adult female swan) inserted into OH (abbreviation for the US state of Ohio), then OUSE (name of several rivers in the UK).
An event offering free access to a location not normally open to the public. |
||
| 8 | SEARCH ENGINES |
Sensing a cheer erupting, they give results to surfers (6,7)
|
| Anagram (erupting) of SENSING A CHEER.
We’re talking internet surfers, not people riding big waves at the beach. |
||
| 9 | ASSEMBLYWOMEN |
Legislators‘ “bylaw mess up” sign (13)
|
| Anagram (up) of BYLAW MESS, then OMEN (sign = a warning of something to come). | ||
| 14 | DUST STORM |
Springfield shop closed early before autumn’s fifth weather event (4,5)
|
| DUST[y] (the singer Dusty Springfield) + STOR[e] (shop), both without the last letter (closed early), then the fifth letter of [autu]M[n]. | ||
| 16 | INTROVERT |
International traveller initially thought reclusive (9)
|
| INT (abbreviation for international) + ROVER (traveller) + initial letter of T[hought]. | ||
| 18 | SESSION |
Rackets raised to receive Sabalenka’s opening spell (7)
|
| NOISES (rackets, as in “stop making such a racket!”) reversed (raised = upwards in a down clue), containing (to receive) the opening letter of S[abalenka]. For the surface, Aryna Sabalenka is a tennis player from Belarus.
Session = spell = a period of activity. |
||
| 20 | WEALTH |
Red mark on two items of this treasure? (6)
|
| WEAL (a red mark resulting from a blunt-force injury) + first two letters of TH[is]. | ||
| 22 | BIRDS |
Perhaps Martin and Robin kid upstanding police officer (5)
|
| RIB (as a verb = kid = tease) reversed (upstanding = upwards in a down clue), then DS (abbreviation for Detective Sergeant = police officer).
Martin = a bird related to the swallow, so Martin and Robin could both be birds. |
||
| 23 | MOSUL |
City rejected some abysmal US ombudsmen (5)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . .), reversed (rejected), in [abysma]L US OM[budsmen].
City in northern Iraq. |
What an odd bunch of titles that old Greek bloke chose. I’d heard of Lysistrata but had no idea otherwise.
Sympathy for non-cricket lovers having to know what an ODI is. What about Numan the Cars man, what % of the gllobal solvers club would know him? Not this one, but no worries, one person’s meat and all that. Thanks Mev and Q.
I had no idea of the theme, but very much enjoyed the puzzle nonetheless. Cars came out about a decade before I was born, but it was a staple on the radio when I was growing up, so no problems there & the reference made me grin. And now I’ve got an earworm.
Thanks both.
PS. Gary Numan is in fact 13 days older than Gary Oldman
Excellent theme-spot and explanation, Ms.Q, went over my head, I’m afraid.
As you say, it didn’t detract from a lovely puzzle, which ticks all the boxes. For once, I didn’t mis-parse anything!
( albeit, Mr.BERG the composer and his flower derivative, GERBERA, were whylist jobs).
Grumpy Old Man alert.
Anagrinds seem so often to disappoint me: here, it’s “served” in 6(ac) and “loaded” in 22(ac).
There’s a myriad of options, without spoiling the surface reading or dumbing down the clue; e,g, replacement; animated; respectively.
Grumpy Old Moan, completed.
Clever and entertaining stuff, both, ta, M and Q
Had no problem remembering the Gary Numan track, although I wasn’t sure if it was by him in Tubeway Army or later. Thanks for that tidbit of info Amoeba.
Like others, I didn’t care for ‘served’ as an anagram indicator. I wondered if ‘worked’ might have been better but maybe it’s always ‘worked as’ rather than ‘worked for’ in the context of the surface.
Think my knowledge of Aristophanes plays is about the same as yours, Quirister – enough to spot the theme but no more! But as you say, no more than that needed to enjoy the puzzle. I’m just the right age to remember seeing Cars on Top of the Pops.
Thanks both. Allowed myself extra time to identify a theme, having warmed to NUMAN and DUST STORM as they reference a period of ‘the arts’ I am comfortable with; contrast that with LYSISTRATA which is a nho but clued to allow me to solve – I read it was first performed 2436 years ago, and I’ve checked my diary to find I was out buying a new pair of sandals that day.
Given that Mev also sets for a cricketing magazine, I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised at encountering the odd abbreviation from that field, even with a theme such as this. I wonder how many Greek classicists have set a cricket themed puzzle? I was pleased to spot some plays whose names I recognised but I was unaware of FAMERS, PEACE, WEALTH and the unlikely CONGRESSWOMEN. BOOGEYMAN was new to me with that spelling – sounds more like a musician. Shame Aristophanes never tried his hand at the MUSKETEER ….
Thanks Mev and Quirister
Just happy to have finished this without googling or revealing anything along the way. Never heard of the playwright let alone the play, so the theme is all Greek to me, and can only wonder where people actually come into contact with this stuff.
I had never heard of NUMAN, but once the crossing letters had eliminated the likes of Muman, Piman, and Ximan, it couldn’t be anything else. And yes, despite living in baseball territory, I knew of ODI cricket (and even have watched bits and pieces of a couple of ODIs). My crossword brain is wired to automatically think TEST for “cricket match”, so it was nice to have a shorter match for a change. But I double-dog dare a setter to find a way to work T20 into a clue….
I forgot to even look for a theme, having forgotten that this is Tuesday in the Indy. I’ve heard of the same Aristophanes numbers as our setter, but I don’t think I’ve seen or read any. In school, our Greek drama exposure was limited to Sophocles and Euripides, and crowding-out by other things meant I never returned for more.
Courage, Traitors!
Thanks Quirister for the blog. Re cluing 4D, I’m glad to say it didn’t even occur to me. The ones you’ve heard of are the ones I’ve read, plus Clouds. Albeit a long while ago. If I squint, I think I can catch a glimpse of one of the [k]NIGHT[s] at 5D, but I probably just need my eyes tested. 🙂 If anyone has a copy of Farmers I could borrow, that’d be great. And very surprising.
Thanks too to all commenters so far. My thoughts on a couple of other points: There was a bit of editing discussion about “served”. I thought that if, say, “dinner was served to the guests”, then it was “dished out/distributed as required”. YMMV, fair enough.
GinF@1: As ever with a bit of GK, you never know who knows what. I always *try* to clue kindly for them.
ENB@3: Monster Of The Mind is the title of a (non-“animated”) short film I found on IMDb. Some Game Boys could play video, and computing devices can be said to be “loaded” with data, apps, or in this case movies. And with “loaded” being a synonym for drunk, that’s why I felt it sat well as an anagrind in this surface. I don’t think either “replacement for” or “for replacement” would work, cryptogrammatically, in 6A.
TFO@6: I hope they were comfortable. 😉
mrpenney@9: I did once try for the T20, but it didn’t work out. Maybe another time….
Cheers all, ’til next time….
A couple of lovely references to my yoof, as in Gary Numan, Nevil Shute and Dusty Springfield, which all added to the enjoyment. Thanks Mev.
Thanks to Mev for dropping in. Very informative.
Me @9: Here we go, but this requires knowledge of three different games (well, two–cricket knowledge will actually get in the way here)
Bid for less than 100–the expected tally at T20 (4,5)
Edit: two different dictionaries now tell me that should be enumerated (4-5).
Good one mrpenney @12. I think it’s “part-score”. (The “abjure-cricket” hint was key)
I got there too, as that was the sort of thing I’d tried, without being up on one of those games. Mind you, that must be a tricky pitch if you’re only expecting to get 100 on it in a T20. 🙂 Of course, the County Championship’s the only tournament that’s really worth following. But that’s enough cricket (for here, at least…)