The full 225 letters this week (unusual for an EV recently?), so value for money from Kruger, and more to blog for your’s truly…but, to paraphrase from John Cleese’s ‘great actor’ in the Monty P sketch:
‘I don’t want you to get the impression it’s just a question of the number of letters… um… I mean, getting them in the right order is just as important’…
Bit of a rushed post this evening, after a quiet week in deepest Devon, with virtually no mobile signal or access to t’internet, so apologies for any slip-ups/typos. I have the puzzle and theme solved, and most (I hope) of the clues parsed correctly, but I am still trying to work out the relevance of the title…any assistance apreciated. (Update: Please see comments below from Dave H & Gaufrid)
A familiar enough style and preamble – extra letters in the wordplay of over half of the clues leading to part of a quotation and the author. The remaining part to indicate how eight answers are to be treated. The ‘over half’ was vague enough to introduce some uncertainty – at least the ‘eight’ was more precise!
After an enjoyable hour or so with some pleasantly challenging clues I had eventually deduced a couple of treated answers, which had ‘partner’ and ‘spouse’ inserted, then ‘consort’ and ‘mate’ – but it was only when I twigged the author (Charles Dibdin) and then found the quote (in my electronic copy of ‘The Oxford Compendium’, on my laptop – Google, Google, wherefore art though Google?!), that I realised it was specifically ‘er indoors’ that I was looking for:
‘In every mess I finds a friend,
In every port a wife’
Charles Dibdin – Jack in his Element
Hence, eight words for ‘wife’ were inserted into eight ‘ports’:
BOROU(CONSORT)GH
W(RIB)INE
GAT(BRIDE)E
BA(MATE)G
DE(WOMAN)MEANOUR
TU(SPOUSE)NE
HAR(PARTNER)BOUR
L(DUTCH)EFT
(Aha – maybe this EV is a belated nod to the recent Henderson/Teather nuptials, much documented elsewhere on the site? My belated congrats, too…)
I had to reach for Chambers to confirm some of the more obscure (to me) answers, like URIM, OCTAPLOIDS, RHABDOIDS, MOKO. Slight quibble that 6, 7, 8 and 9 down were all anagrams – four in a row(!?) – and I feel Kruger could maybe have had more fun in 36D with the composer RUB-BRA…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Length | Extra letter | Entry | Clue / Logic |
| 2A | (14) | PORT/WIFE | BOROU(CONSORT)GH | Local government division’s blog oddly crude / BO (odd letters from BlOg) plus ROUGH (crude) |
| 13A | (4) | – | EARL | Peer is almost awake in good time / Contraction of EARLy (awake in good time) |
| 16A | (7) | PORT/WIFE | W(RIB)INE | Lewis’s dry European drink / WIN (Scottish usage, to dry by exposure to wind) plus E (European) |
| 17A | (5) | I | TASER | Stunner’s tastier posing with no top! / anag of (i.e. posing) tASTIER (without ‘top’ letter) |
| 18A | (5) | N | ORLES | Borders in French city are forgotten / ORLEaNS (French city) without A (are – metric measure, 100 sq. m) |
| 19A | (6) | E | MODENA | Exercise made one crimson / anag of (i.e. exercise) MADE ONE |
| 20A | (4) | – | MEGA | Great conclusion with nothing left out / oMEGA (Greek last letter/conclusion) without O (zero, nothing) |
| 22A | (5) | V | SPIRE | To shoot up, man suspected of criminal dealing finishes off another syringe / SPIV (suspected criminal) plus last letters (finishes off) anotheR and syringE |
| 24A | (4) | E | DONA | Spanish noble’s hairstyle includes one / DA (hairstyle, duck’s @rse) with ONE included |
| 25A | (4) | R | ARYL | Radical arrived carrying 150 Lira / ARR (abbrev for arrived) plus Y (Roman numeral for 150) and L (Lira) |
| 27A | (9) | Y | ASEPALOUS | Not having a complete calyx, a soya and pulse are deformed / anag of (i.e. deformed) A SOYA and PULSE |
| 28A | (6) | M | NUMDAH | New mother had turned over rug / N (new) plus MUM (mother) plus DAH (had, turned over) |
| 29A | (4) | E | MOKO | Sanction in Maine on ordinary tattoo / OK (sanction) in ME (Maine) plus (‘on’) O (ordinary) |
| 31A | (4) | – | ISNT | Contraction split tins / anag (i.e. split) of TINS, contraction of IS NOT |
| 32A | (4) | S | MENU | Letter from abroad restricts senator’s list of options / MU (Greek letter) restricting SEN (senator) |
| 33A | (4) | S | POSE | Puzzle old lawmen / double defn of POSE (puzzle) and POSSE (lawmen) |
| 34A | (6) | I | GIDEON | Provider of religious book i.e. God in novel / anag of (i.e. novel) I.E. GOD IN |
| 35A | (9) | PORT/WIFE | GAT(BRIDE)E | Defile street in some areas / double defn of GATE – ‘street’ in Northern/Scottish dialect, narrow opening or defile |
| 37A | (4) | F | SNEE | Non-smoker reversed wages cut / NS (abbrev for non-smoker) reversed, plus FEE (wages) |
| 38A | (4) | I | AESC | Ligature’s extremely abrasive thus / AE (extremes of AbrasiveE) plus SIC (thus) |
| 39A | (5) | N | TYRES | Sentry played with metal hoops / anag of (i.e. played with) SENTRY |
| 40A | (4) | D | LEER | Chief needs a lecherous expression / LEaDER without (needs) A |
| 42A | (6, hyphenated) | S | I-BEAMS | Imbases suspect girders / anag of (i.e. suspect) IMBASES |
| 45A | (5) | – | SQUAB | Fat American native’s black, not a hint of white / SQUAW (American native) with B (black) for W (trace of white) |
| 47A | (5) | A | ORIEL | Window is not new in renovated aileron / anag of (i.e. renovated) AILEROn (without N, new) |
| 48A | (7) | PORT/WIFE | BA(MATE)G | Slovenly woman in Indian garden without husband / BAGH (Indian garden) without H (husband) |
| 49A | (4) | F | LIEU | Substitute career at university / LIFE (career) plus (at) U (university) |
| 50A | (14) | R | RESTRAINEDNESS | Indication of anger follows reservation and discipline (self-control) / REDNESS (sign of anger) after RES (reservation) plus TRAIN (discipline) |
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Length | Extra letter | Entry | Clue / Logic |
| 1D | (14) | PORT/WIFE | DE(WOMAN)MEANOUR | Earl’s despicable in obstinate behaviour / E (earl) plus MEAN (despicable) in DOUR (obstinate) |
| 2D | (5) | I | BARRÉ | Horizontal rail in unfinished fence / BARRIEr (fence) unfinished |
| 3D | (4) | E | ORAL | Odd samples of our beer taken by mouth / odd letters (samples) from OuR plus ALE (beer) |
| 4D | (4) | – | OARS | Rows and bellows, but not initially / rOARS (bellows) without the initial letter |
| 5D | (4) | – | URIM | Augur impressively makes use of half of oracle / hidden word in augUR IMpressively (URIM and THUMMIM, biblical reference to an oracle…) |
| 6D | (4) | N | OLID | Foul-smelling oil’s dispersed in North Dakota / anag (i.e. dispersed) of OIL in ND (North Dakota) |
| 7D | (6) | D | SIENNA | Dianne’s crazy for reddish – brown pigment / anag (i.e. crazy) of DIANNE’S |
| 8D | (10) | C | OCTAPLOIDS | Clot said ‘Cop wrecked cells’! / anag (i.e. wrecked) of CLOT SAID COP |
| 9D | (9) | – | RHABDOIDS | Boards hid strange rodlike bodies / anag (i.e. strange) of BOARDS HID |
| 10D | (10) | PORT/WIFE | TU(SPOUSE)NE | Note introduces a Gallic melody / TE (note) introduces UN (French for ‘a’) |
| 11D | (6) | H | GLEANS | Government Home Secretary admits the French article assembles facts gradually / G (government) plus HS (Home Secretary) admitting LE (French for ‘the’) and AN (article) |
| 12D | (14) | PORT/WIFE | HAR(PARTNER)BOUR | Bar’s renovated in time to entertain / anag (i.e. renovated) of BAR in HOUR (time) |
| 14D | (7) | – | OBOISTS | Outside broadcast (orchestra’s first) in street: soprano and musicians / OB (outside broadcast) plus O (orchestra’s first letter) plus I (in?) plus ST (street) plus S (soprano) |
| 15D | (4) | A | KNEE | Valium initially exchanged for ecstasy in old rogue’s joint / KNAVE with V (initial of Valium) exchanged for E (ecstasy) |
| 21D | (10) | R | GYMNASTICS | We hear Jim trains recklessly – cycles every second and exercises on the floor! / GYM (homonym – i.e. ‘we hear’ – of Jim) plus anag (i.e. recklessly) of TRAINS plus CS (cycles per second) |
| 22D | (10, 2 words) | L | SOAP-BOILER | Maker of cleaning aid is very good – additional premium’s nothing in account to the queen / SO (very good) plus AP (additional premium) plus O (nothing) in BILL (account) plus ER (queen) |
| 23D | (6) | E | REMEDY | Cure engineers with woad, for example / REME (Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers) plus DYE (woad) |
| 26D | (9) | PORT/WIFE | L(DUTCH)EFT | Abandoned the socialist tendency / double defn of LEFT – abandoned, and (capitalised) implying socialist ‘tendencies’ |
| 30D | (7) | – | OVERMAN | Supervisor’s quite shortly entering Middle Eastern state / VER (very, or ‘quite’, cut short) in OMAN (Middle Eastern state) |
| 35D | (6) | S | GEORGE | Orbiter finally goes crashing to Earth in autopilot / anag (i.e. crashing) of GOES and R (last letter of orbiteR) with GE (Earth) – at either end(?) |
| 36D | (6) | D | RUBBRA | Polish bard misrepresented composer / RUB (polish) plus anag of (i.e. misrepresented) BARD |
| 39D | (4) | I | TEAM | A time to change side / anag of (i.e. to change) A TIME |
| 41D | (5) | B | EAVES | They project rodents – that’s not right! / BEAVErS (rodents) without R (right) |
| 43D | (4) | D | AMEN | Conclude reform / double defn of AMEND (reform) and AMEN (in conclusion) |
| 44D | (4) | I | STUD | Collection of cars in street with universal identification / ST (street) plus U (universal) plus ID (identification) |
| 45D | (4) | – | SEAN | Irishman’s fishing net / double defn of SEAN – Irish name, and fishing net (variation of ‘seine’) |
| 46D | (4) | N | UZIS | Guns are unknown in educational establishments / Z (unknown) in UNIS (universities) |
This puzzle had a similar theme (ie port) to EV 871 Needs by Charybdis only a year ago, but was nonetheless enjoyable. As for the title, I can see ALLY in STEW, but W (wife) in GENT (a Belgian town only 10 miles from the sea) seems a bit more dubious.
Dave.
Hi Dave
There’s no problem with Ghent (Gent) being a port, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Ghent
Thanks for the assistance, Dave H & Gaufrid – now you mention them, they seem quite obvious, given the theme…!
I emailed Kruger, and Dave H is right.
“The title is intended to be a cryptic representation of the verse .. “In every mess I finds a friend in every port a wife” i.e. W in GENT (sometimes spelt as GHENT) and ALLY in STEW. Sorry if that is too painful!!”
Nothing to do with the recent nuptials, though, just a coincidence.
Looking forward to comments on Kruger’s latest IQ – yet another coincidence of timing!
Nice work Mike – cut out the middleman, and go straight to the horse’s mouth! Nice to see Dave H’s logic confirmed. And, after a recent comment about the title of EV 922 (Works) being ‘dull and uninspired’, I guess this was the other end of the spectrum…
Coincidentally, the first crossword I picked up, after an entire week of cold turkey on holiday, was…Inquisitor 1137, Cryptogram, by Kruger! Only 169 letters this time, and generally less strenuous than Gwent’s Tall Yew, but very enjoyable, nonetheless.
For the sake of (rather pedantic, and entirely unimportant) exactness, the grid was 15 * 14 = 210 letters.
Apologies for that, and thanks for the blog, which greatly helped in clearing up the few in the lower half that I didn’t quite manage.
Doh! Thanks Simon – not too pedantic at all – I did say it was a bit rushed…
And glad to have been of help with your lower half!