Thanks to Brendan for the puzzle, with lots I liked including my favourites 11ac, 7dn, and 14dn.
I had a lot left to think about after filling in solutions: a few parsings to think through, including one I’m still not sure on, and…
there are six female names and six male names as solutions in the grid (SIX OF ONE AND HALF A DOZEN OF THE OTHER). Some might be paired (surnames of poets BROOKE and THOMAS; Saint BRIGID and Saint NICHOLAS), so perhaps there are further links between (pairs of) these solutions? There is also an additional pair of names in the grid (i.e. as a possible NINA): BETH and RON. Not sure if I’m missing something more.
| ACROSS | ||
| 5 | BROOKE |
Poetic Rupert Bear as perceived by audience (6)
|
| definition: Rupert BROOKE is an English poet [wiki]
sounds like (“as perceived by audience”): ‘brook’=to allow or to accept something=to “bear” |
||
| 6 | DAPHNE |
Adjusted pH and drainage finally for shrub (6)
|
| definition: a type of flowering shrub
anagram/”Adjusted” of (pH and)*, plus final letter of [drainag]-E |
||
| 9 | VIOLET |
Brutal, with no end of aggression – end of the spectrum (6)
|
| definition: the colour VIOLET is at one end of the visible spectrum
VIOLE-[n]-T=”Brutal”, losing the end of [aggressio]-n |
||
| 10 | INSANITY |
Succeeded in something nonsensical that’s crazy (8)
|
| S (abbreviation for “Succeeded” in genealogy) inside INANITY=”something nonsensical” | ||
| 11 | NINA |
Hidden message from spy in Japan ignoring its leader (4)
|
| definition: in cryptic crosswords, a word or phrase hidden in the grid
NIN-[J]-A=”spy in Japan”, ignoring the leading letter of J-[apan] |
||
| 12 |
See 13
|
|
| 13, 12, 18 | SIX OF ONE AND HALF A DOZEN OF THE OTHER |
Description of tie in certain kind of box, in other words (3,2,3,3,4,1,5,2,3,5)
|
| Not too sure here, have some ideas but can’t break it down in a way that I’m happy with:
The solution phrase describes two things as equivalent, so perhaps “Description of tie” as definition, with “in other words” also as a comment on the structure of the phrase highlighting two ways to phrase the same thing “box” might refer to boxing, often with twelve rounds in a fight, so a description of a “tie” in boxing would be 6 rounds to each boxer – SIX OF ONE AND HALF A DOZEN OF THE OTHER? |
||
| 18 |
See 13
|
|
| 21 | CHAD |
With greatest possible speed, took possession of part of Africa (4)
|
| C (abbreviation for the speed of light, “greatest possible speed”) + HAD=”took possession of” | ||
| 22 | DOORBELL |
Weird bordello? Don’t knock it! (8)
|
| definition: you can ring a doorbell rather than knocking on the door
anagram/”Weird” of (bordello)* |
||
| 23 | THOMAS |
Poet such as Eliot, to begin with (6)
|
| Dylan THOMAS the poet
the poet T. S. Eliot’s first name was THOMAS |
||
| 24 | DICKIE |
Back seat in poor condition, reportedly (6)
|
| definition: a rear seat in a carriage
sounds like (reportedly) ‘dicky’=”in poor condition” |
||
| 25 | STUART |
One of royal family, you said, contributed to foundation (6)
|
| definition: the royal House of Stuart [wiki]
U=letter pronounced as ‘you’=”you said”; inside START=”foundation” |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | KOHLRABI |
Supply with fuel, we hear, then I save up for cabbage (8)
|
| first syllable sounds like (we hear): ‘coal’=supply with coal/fuel, plus…
I (from surface) + BAR=except for=”save”, both reversed/”up” |
||
| 2 | SKETCH |
Outline of small craft (6)
|
| S (small) + KETCH=type of boat=”craft” | ||
| 3 | NAUSEATE |
Disrupt USA with a teen revolt (8)
|
| anagram/”Disrupt” of (USA a teen)* | ||
| 4 | SHINTO |
Faith in Asia is shaken on this (6)
|
| anagram/”shaken” of (on this)* | ||
| 5 | BRIGID |
Bishop introducing uncompromising and holy Irishwoman (6)
|
| definition: Saint Brigid [wiki] of Ireland
B (Bishop, chess abbreviation) + RIGID=”uncompromising” |
||
| 7 | ESTHER |
Among volumes there in libraries the readers repeatedly find historical work (6)
|
| I think the definition refers to the Book of Esther in the Bible [wiki] – historical either because it is presented as a history, or because of the work’s place in history
hidden multiple times (“repeatedly find”) in [… volum]-ES THER-[e in librari]-ES THE R-[eaders] |
||
| 8 | BIBLIOPHILE |
The things one loves to collect are bound to be sellable (11)
|
| cryptic definition: “are bound to be sellable” could be read as meaning ‘are certain to be sold’, but can instead/also describe books (the things a bibliophile loves to collect) that need binding before they are sold | ||
| 14 | O SOLE MIO |
Air of Naples can make you smile, with plenty of oxygen (1,4,3)
|
| definition: a Neapolitan ‘air’ i.e. a song [wiki]
anagram of (smile OOO)*, with O (chemical symbol for oxygen) three times anagram indicator: ‘X can make you Y’ can mean ‘Y can be made from X’ |
||
| 15 | NICHOLAS |
Saintly visitor to home at present time (8)
|
| reference to Saint Nicholas visiting homes to give Christmas presents | ||
| 16 | AFFORD |
Supply two notes in place of one (6)
|
| definition: AFFORD can mean supply or provide (e.g. one can be afforded with an opportunity)
AF FOR D could mean to put two notes from a musical scale (A and F) in place of one note (D) |
||
| 17 | SAVANT |
Sage remained in place, planted around front (6)
|
| SAT=”remained in place”, around VAN=vanguard=”front” | ||
| 19 | HORACE |
Pound, after half-hour, becoming odist (6)
|
| definition: the Roman poet Horace [wiki]
a heart can RACE or “Pound”; after half of HO-[ur] |
||
| 20 | ROTATE |
Change, as crops, more than 50% of turnip or spinach (6)
|
| definition refers to crop rotation
more than 50% of turnip gives ‘turn‘; more than 50% of spinach gives ‘spin‘ – two words that mean ROTATE |
Thanks Brendan and manehi
Some odd clues here. I guessed the long one from the enumeration, but thought it couldn’t be right because “other” was in the clue. I didn’t see why books needed to be sellable in 8d.
Several unparsed as well.
Favourite FOI BROOKE.
I also like NINA, but is it a fair clue?
Thanks Brendan and manehi
13,12,18
I was thinking of a tie (6-6) in a set in tennis. Call it a stretch…a set is a box (somewhere else).
ROTATE my COTD.
Good puzzle and great blog.
I’m another who got the long one mainly from the enumeration and crossers but couldn’t really work out how it parses.
The poet THOMAS could also be Edward rather than DYLAN, of course. Not that that helps with anything.
Liked DOORBELL and O SOLE MIO. Thanks Brendan, and especially manehi for teasing it all out.
Might the nina be RON and ETH instead of BETH? (The Glums)
Very nice to have all the ladies in one half of the grid and all the gents in the other. Just that little extra that Brendan always manages to achieve over and above the clever phrase and the twelve themers. Hard to tell whether RON and BETH are intentional or not – normally, I’d assume they were ninas but, as Brendan has his requisite number, not sure why he would give us two more?
I am with KVa in thinking tennis though I am sure there are other possibilities. ‘Box’ does feel slightly odd as a tennis reference.
Thanks Brendan and manehi
My take on the long answer was to do with eggs – which come in packs of six (often referred to as half-dozen), so maybe if we had a 12-pack, that would be six of one and half a dozen of the other?
In other news, thanks Manehi for the blog and Brendan for the crossword which, as always, I enjoyed although today’s was maybe a bit simpler than some of his other offerings.
Much like classical music’s three Bs, I am very fond of cryptic crosswordland’s equivalent (Brendan, Brummie and Brockwell)!
[Alex in SG @7
There are a lot more than three Bs in classical music! Which three are you thinking of? I’m guessing Bach (JS), Beethoven, Brahms?]
I also thought of eggs as the most likely but I’m still not convinced. Wonderful achievement again from Brendan, I don’t know how he manages to craft these puzzles, but I’m glad he does. Favourites were KOHLRABI, O SOLE MIO, ESTHER, NINA and BIBLIOPHILE.
Ta Brendan & manehi.
I just interpreted the long clue as indicating that there were six each of boys names & girls names in the lights (boxes) of the top and bottom halves of the puzzle. However you look at it the result was most ingenious and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Thanks to Brendan and manehi.
There’s also a NINA of FOLIO in the 11th row which would tie in nicely with BIBLIOPHILE and the poets.
AlexinSG@6: I like your boxes of eggs theory. Best of those emerging so far I think. I simply thought the box was the crossword grid itself. Too simple, I suppose. I found this very tough and some of the non-thematic ones had me scratching my head – particularly 16d (though I came up with something closely resembling yours, manehi, except I had the “a” as the one and the notes as “f” and “d”. Thank you, manehi, for a brilliant blog and Brendan for a corker.
Is there any significance in F-O-L-I-O?
As usual many layers from Brendan.
Thanks to him and to manehi.
Muffin @8
Yes, those are the generally accepted three Bs of classical music!
Auriga @13
Yes, but surely they would have been bound before the bibliophile collected them? And he probably wouldn’t want to sell them anyway!
My link didn’t work, but Wikipedia has a dedicated article for “the Three Bs” being Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Apparently Berlioz was the original third before being substituted for Brahms. Not sure what Bruckner et al need to do to be considered!
[Alex @16
Yes, I would rather have Bruckner than Brahms!]
Another gem from Brendan. Like others, I thought the long answer had to do with eggs; like muffin@1 I hesitated because ‘other’ appears in the clue. Also wonder whether NINA is a little unfair. But the whole crossword is greater than the sum of the parts, so hats off to Brendan. And thank you to manehi for the blog.
Tough puzzle – I needed help from online searches for GK and new phrase for me SIX OF ONE AND HALF A DOZEN OF THE OTHER. Also new for me: VIOLET = end of the visible light spectrum.
SE corner left unfinished. I failed to solve 21, 23ac and 15d.
Congrats to all who finished this puzzle unaided!
I didn’t notice the theme.
Of the ones I solved, I could not parse 16d, 20d apart for the def.
19d I was unsure why race = pound. Thanks for explaining this, manehi.
I really don’t get 8D. All the definitions I’ve found say a bibliophile is a person and I don’t see anything in the clue that points to a person.
simonc @20
“One” is the bibliophilic person, I think.
It isn’t 6 women’s names and 6 men’s names is it? The crossword could be the box?
I refer to 13a
simonc – the person is “one” – the things he loves to collect have to be bound before being sellable. Thanks manehi – I hadn’t found all the names, but I’m sure it must be Ron and Eth, even though I’m ancient and they were in my childhood!
An uncle had a car with dickie seat in the ’50s (not new); no idea what it was, whether ex-UK or -US.
Indeed so, muffin @21, and one of my favourite clue types.
[Liked your Glum suggestion. (Come on Eth, take them off. No Ron, I can’t see without them 🙂 )]
oh, and maybe the box is a MATCH box – which would provide a second definition
13,12,18 my parsing of this was from football, where appeals for fouls on attackers by defenders in the penalty box are often dismissed with this phase i.e. attacker and defender are equally at fault.
Prospero@26. That’s clever – great suggestion.
Solutions should be understandable once they’re found, and I’m afraid the long linked clues don’t pass the test. The egg box is an ingenious hypothesis but it really isn’t obvious that this is the explanation.
Found this on the harder side. Had to reveal O SOLE MIO, KOHLRABI and BIBLIOPHILE. A lot went in unparsed as well. I think this would have been a much bigger fail if not for the very helpful long middle clue.
I did look for a NINA after that clue but couldn’t spot it.
Thanks Brendan and manehi
Re Bibliophiles etc
Printing and binding were quite often separate operations.
In the past, many books were sold unbound and uncut. They would then be sent off periodically to a bindery to be bound in uniform covers by the purchaser. This is one reason why aristocratic libraries so often have yards of matching bindings. Such books were frequently re-bound as ownership changed.
As literacy rates increased, print runs increased, and publishers started to sell books ready-bound. This also helped publishers establish their imprint in the popular consciousness.
Great puzzle: thanks to both.
Neil Frowe @31
Interesting, but it means that the books were not bound to be sellable!
Some of the explanations for 13 are ingenious but I don’t find any of them totally convincing. Could it be a jury box in which the twelve jurors are tied 6-all in a vote for the guilt or innocence of the defendant?
I think the tennis “tie’ 6:6, as suggested by KVa and prospero’s match is plausible, but I don’t get why “in other words” is needed in the clue.
There is the symmetry in the grid both of the key clue and the male and female names as if on a tennis court on either side of the net.
Quite a challenge. At school yonks ago we were taught VIBGYOR. So the end is red. But some teachers said ROYGBIV. So violet.Lovely clue as expected from Mr G. Last one in 16d. Still can’t get it . Hey ho but thanks for the blog.
What about ballot box?
Thanks to setter and blogger.
with poc @29 – even the most gnarly clue should be obvious when someone explains it and the long one just doesn’t work. Mainly because no-one, as yet, has explained it.
BIBLIOPHILE is on the verge as well imo.
Also, NINA is just downright unfair if there isn’t one.
I found this a bit easier than most of Brendan’s. Things I need to remember: C for the speed of light and S for “succeeded” (though any word’s first letter is liable to turn out to be a hitherto unknown abbreviation). Failed to parse ROTATE and (of course) the long one, though I had spotted some of the names by then. I thought of an eggbox, but I’m not sure if eggs are usually sold in sixes everywhere.
Yes, I bet it was RON and ETH – or if it wasn’t, it should have been.
Smart, as always with Brendan, but too smart for me – a ton of checks and guesses… Liked O SOLE MIO, ROTATE and NICHOLAS; the BIBLIOPHILE and the long one were some of the LOI, guessed from the crossers and completely over my head… Thanks Brendan, and manehi for the much needed explanations
Commentary Box ?
Cedric @35: At school we were taught Richard Of York Goes Back In Vain.
Great setting from Brendan to fit in all the names and separate them into different halves. I’m fairly word-blind to long answers, so I didn’t see this one until virtually all the crossers were in, which is frustrating. I enjoyed reading the various theories for the boxes above. I’m not sure that 8D really works. If it were reorganised to: ‘One loves to collect things that are bound to be sellable’ or some such, I think it would have been easier.
I liked NINA, ESTHER, NICHOLAS, SAVANT, and now that it has been explained to me, ROTATE, which is a superb clue.
Thanks Brendan and manehi.
Tentatively I would suggest the twelve names refer to the series American Royals by Katharine McGee. I’ve never read any of them and probably never will.
William @ 41 William of York GIVES BATTLE in vain in my school!
paddymelon@34 Perhaps ‘in other words’ refers to the 12 other words (ie names) in the solutions …?
I’m in the minority who didn’t much enjoy this. I’d hoped to find here the parsing of the long answer and I’m unconvinced by any of the hypotheses put forward so far. The theme is clever enough but to me it’s rare that a theme adds anything to a crossword – and this time it didn’t.
It’s all a matter of taste of course, and it’s good that most liked it.
Like Robi@42 I hadn’t parsed ROTATE and now agree it’s very good. I also liked BIBLIOPHILE and some others.
Thanks Brendan and manehi.
Description of tie (6-6) in a certain kind of box/jury box (which has twelve members) –Def 1
Def 1 in other words is the solution.
Does it work?
Interesting that even at this point in the comments (mid 40’s), “certain kind of box” has not been satisfactorily resolved. I certainly don’t have any other suggestions to offer, beyond the good ones we’ve seen so far. The clue would have worked without that phrase, so it must be there for a reason. And note it doesn’t say “a certain kind of box”, which to me would have been more natural. Puzzling!
Here’s a thought: the top half of the puzzle (the ‘box’) contains 6 girl’s names, and the bottom half six boy’s names. I’m quite keen on this though as I said it’s not at all obvious.
I found this a delight! Thx Brendan and Manehi.
Me@49: And of course manehi hinted at much the same in the top comments, which I’ve just read more carefully.
Thanks for the blog, mane hi (spell checker insists on that space!) I enjoyed this very much despite not seeing the theme. I never do. I’m still unconvinced by 13a despite all the ingenious suggestions here, and I never like references to obscure crossword-land knowledge, so I tut very strongly at 11a.
I’m another one for whom this puzzle didn’t make me tick… I found it rather sloppy in places, and it really gave me the feel that the clues had been sacrificed for the theme (clever though it was to get the separation across the two halves in place). Some were unexpectedly simple, and others were simply strange.
The long one still doesn’t make sense to me; the most logical interpretation amongst those suggested is that the box is the puzzle and the tie is the equal number of boys’ and girls’ names… but then there ought to the something else in the clue that suggests that more directly, or else a definition of the actual phrase (which certainly doesn’t mean “in other words” – and so I have no idea what that latter part is doing there).
BIBLIOPHILE was weird for reasons already discussed, and the definition for ESTER was also odd. “Supply with fuel” for ‘coal’ was odder still.
On the other hand I did like NINA because I knew what a nina was (and because there was one, although I didn’t spot it despite a very cursory look); I can understand why some feel it unfair, tho it only offered two checkers, both vowels, so not what I’d call a mission-critical entry anyway.
Faves were ROTATE (alas vicariously; I failed to parse it) and NICHOLAS.
Thanks both
Bergerac’s (the original series) had a Triumph Roadster that had a dickie seat, I think.
Only judygs seems to agree that it was strange having “other” in both clue and solution for the long one! Surely this should be avoided?
@Muffin, I agree and would always try to avoid this myself. Something similar yesterday in Paul’s long clue which has “no” in both clue and solution.
The intended parsing of the long one was a 6-6 verdict in a jury box. I was surprised that this clue led to so much debate. As for “in other words” is not the point of the phrase that it paradoxically underlines the equality by the use of different words to express the number 6? Ah well, still learning.
Thanks to Manehi.
And I had no awareness about RON and (B)ETH, but I did enjoy the nostalgic mention of “The Glums”.
Loved this blog almost as much as the puzzle (which I completed but without parsing everything)
We had a triumph roadster soft top in the early seventies. Kids fought over who could sit in the boot dicky seats. At traffic lights next to a mini, we were sitting further back than the end of the other car.
And I agree it has to be Ron and Eth.
Lots of good memories stirred by this puzzle. Thank you !
Could parse virtually none of this.
Thanks both.
Brian Greer@57: thanks for the clarification. It does make sense when you put it that way. Goes to show that what’s obvious to some is less so to others.
Thanks for dropping in Brian G. I don’t think a 6-6 verdict from a jury box would ever have occurred to me as I don’t consider that a verdict and a “tie” is meaningless.. The verdict is guilty or not guilty, and in most jurisdictions that I’m aware of the decision has to be unaninimous or a specified majority e.g. 11:1.
Or is that it? 12 jurors all have to be saying the same thing? Only in that context they would have to be using the same words, not ‘other words’.
Doing my head in.
Thanks all and thanks to Brian for dropping in.
I found this challenging, especially in the south west where my parsing was sketchy in places. I hadn’t heard of DICKIE seats and am not familiar enough with BRIGID for her to spring to mind. The long phrase was a favourite of my mum’s but, despite her English being very correct, she used it without “and a.” It was well enough hidden that I didn’t get there for a while and even then, only via a bolt of inspiration. I now know the explanation, but was personally leaning towards eggs after writing it in.
I think BIBLIOPHILE works perfectly well, the one being the collector in question. I liked BROOKE, VIOLET and DOORBELL.
Thanks manehi, not the easiest blog for you today.
I was sailing along nicely, then hit a brick wall with eight remaining. Came back to it later and had no improvement. The ones I missed all seem fair, though, from the parsing, so it’s my own fault! Very clever puzzle
Of the ones I got, I especially liked 5a BROOKE (“Rupert Bear”), 21a CHAD, 22a DOORBELL (“don’t knock it!”)
Of the ones I didn’t get, 11a NINA might be considered unfair as it isn’t in Chambers. I did think of “Ninja”, but didn’t think to take away the “J”. And I agree that 20d ROTATE is very clever!
I wasn’t able to parse 13/12/18 either. Kudos to KVa@47 for proposing a tie in the jury box, as confirmed by Brendan@57
paddymelon@34, almost symmetrical!
Th puzzle was fine, but I saw this puzzle as a response to the one Paul had that had a 30+ letter fill. I don’t like those as it makes the puzzle an all or nothing deal. Otherwise, I enjoyed NINA and CHAD.
It seems the jury is still out….
Tough doing this with a cold and the tricky parsings mentioned above.
14d: I don’t quite get why ‘X can make you Y’ is equivalent to ‘X can make Y’. Is it an anagram for you?
13/12/18
I suspect just about everyone solved this from crossers and the enumeration. The reason that Brendan’s intended parsing wasn’t spotted was that a six-six split in a jury is not something that anyone, apart from the jurors, is ever aware of. Most guilty verdicts are 12-0; a few are 11-1 or 10-2. The splits in Not Guilty verdicts are never revealed.
I think the long clue has the box as the crossword grid and the ‘other words’ being the 12 names in the grid.
A couple of other potential NINAs – ‘A MEAL’ and ‘DNF’ (which was nearly me today!)
Brian Greer@59 thanks for clearing that up. I am always grateful when the setter pops in below the line, whether to explain his/ her thinking or for any other reason.
After Daphne and Violet went in, I was sure I was doing a Brigerton-themed puzzle, so was a little bit disappointed when it turned out I wasn’t!
I found this harder than any Paul, Enigmatist, or Vlad puzzle in recent times, though that’s perhaps because I’ve always scrupulously avoided reading fiction, especially the bible and related matter.
Thanks for a great challenge Brendan, and to blogger and commenters.
Alphalpha@66. 🙂
Brian @ 57,
I’d love to see what Copilot would have made of that. (It would just scrape the web if asked now.)
Thanks.
AP @53, coal in this sense is a verb. To coal a ship is to refuel it with coal. Likewise to oil a ship.
I got five on my first run through and thought ‘this is OK’ and then didn’t get any more… Thanks to setter and solver anyway.
In some parts of the country this is “It’s six and two threes.”
I must admit I was frustrated by this one. The clue for Esther bothers me. If it is just a “hidden” with definition historical work it seems like most of the clue could be omitted. In particular what is the word repeatedly doing?
Richard Clegg @76, a careful reading of the blog will answer your question. The answer is hidden twice (“repeatedly”), once in “…volumes there…”, and again in “…libraries the readers…” Yes, it’s an odd clue, and longer than strictly necessary!
Ballot box?
Rich @67 — I think you have to read “X can make you Y” as “X can make Y for you”. Compare to “I’m going to make you an omelette.” The “you” is unnecessary (but harmless) in the cryptic reading.