Wiglaf sets the Independent cryptic challenge today.
This puzzle is an opportunity for the scientists to shine, particularly the mathematicians. However, the musicians and students of the arts haven’t been forgotten about with the entries SCHERZO and SHERE KHAN.
I learnt quite a bit from this puzzle. I was vaguely aware of EMMY NOETHER but I didn’t know that ‘bevy’ was the collective noun for a group of ROE DEER and I wasn’t aware that there are six distinct simple machines. I was also unaware of the Roman Goddess OPS
BARDASH was a new word for me and the definition used for RANCHED was a meaning I hadn’t come across before. I have only recently become aware of BYD cars.
TITAN at 23 down would not have been out of place in Tuesday’s puzzle focused on satellites.
The definition, ‘way’ for CYCLE PATH was very well hidden in the clue at 12 across
There were other excellent clues. The ones I particularly liked were those for PERITONITIS, TAWDRIEST, ERR, CONSTANTINE and ELSEWHERE because of their surfaces or their wordplay.
Thanks to Wiglaf for the challenge.
|
No |
Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Mark spies jiffy bags about (9) CICATRICE (a mark which can take various forms) (CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] + TRICE [moment; instant; jiffy]) containing (bags) C (circa; about) CI (C) A TRICE |
| 6 |
Mantra from East Thailand provided thematic element (5) MOTIF (a design, symbol, etc on a manufactured article, whether decorative or identifying the manufacturers; a thematic element) OM (a sacred syllable intoned as part of Hindu devotion and contemplation; mantra) reversed (from East) + T (International Vehicle Registration for Thailand) + IF (provided) MO< T IF |
| 9 |
Erect nude, looking embarrassed, covers front (7) UNBOWED (not bent; erect) Anagram of (looking embarrassed) NUDE containing (covers) BOW (front of a ship) UN (BOW) ED* |
| 10 | Bevy of eggs, expensive reportedly (3,4)
ROE DEER (a group of roe deer is known as a bevy) ROE (a mass of fish eggs) + DEER (sounds like [reportedly] DEAR [expensive]) ROE DEER |
| 11 | Judge from German city (5)
TRIER (descriptive of the actions of a judge who examines and decides truth, justice, guilt or innocence) TRIER (a German city) double definition TRIER |
| 12 | They clap with excitement after Conservative gives way (5,4)
CYCLE PATH (a route or way) C (Conservative) + an anagram of (with excitement) THEY CLAP C YCLE PATH* |
| 14 | One playing a small part in business and government (3)
COG (an unimportant person in a large organization; one playing a small part) CO (company; business) + G (government) CO G |
| 15 | Female mathematician with award discovered unknown number (4,7)
EMMY NOETHER (reference the German mathematician Emmy Noether [1882 – 1935], who made many important contributions to abstract algebra) EMMY (a television trophy, corresponding to the cinema Oscar, awarded annually by the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences) + aNOn (anonymous; unknown) excluding the outer letters (dis-covered) + ETHER (an anaesthetic; number) EMMY NO ETHER |
| 17 | Spirit? It is not to be administered for this condition (11)
PERITONITIS (inflammation of a serous membrane in the abdominal and pelvic cavities; a condition) PERI (beautiful fairy; spirit;) + an anagram of (to be administered) IT IS NOT PERI TONITIS* |
| 19 | Tips for building your dream car (3)
BYD (brand of electric and plug-in hybrid cars made in China and sold in the UK) BYD (first letters of [tips for] Building, Your and Dream) B Y D |
| 20 | Nobody has news about Spooner oddly (9)
NONPERSON (a noboby) (N [new] + N [new] giving news) containing (about) an anagram of (oddly) SPOONER N (ONPERSO*) N |
| 22 | Best closely woven fabric shunned by European duke (5)
WORST (best) – both words are Janus words, each having two different meanings that are the opposite of each other WORSTed (closely woven fabric) excluding (shunned by) E (European) and D (duke) WORST |
| 24 | Lively piece from singer with variable penetrating note (7)
SCHERZO (musical term meaning a lively busy movement in triple time) (CHER [reference the American singer and actress CHER [born 1946] + Z [letter frequently used to denote a variable in mathematics]) contained in (penetrating) SO (note of the tonic sol-fa) S (CHER Z) O |
| 26 | One aircraftman later checks out (7)
INEXACT (at fault; inaccurate; out) I (Roman numeral for one) + (NEXT [succeeding; later] containing (checks) AC [aircraftsman]) I NEX (AC) T |
| 27 | Jam made by a simple machine (5)
WEDGE (jam) WEDGE (an example of a simple machine; The six basic types are the lever, wheel and axle, pulley, screw, wedge, and inclined plane. See definition of simple machine in Collins dictionary) double definition WEDGE |
| 28 | Kipling beast has shaken her up (5,4)
SHERE KHAN (Shere Khan is a fictional Bengal tiger [beast] and main protagonist in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling [1865 – 1936]) Anagram of (up) SHAKEN HER SHERE KHAN* |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Royal attendants love short skirts (5) COURT (the body of persons who form the sovereign’s suite or council; royal attendants) CURT (short) containing (skirts) O (character representing zero [love score in tennis]) C (O) URT |
| 2 |
Get a tight grip when fixing a bit of bad wiring (7) CABLING (wiring) CLING (get a tight grip) containing (when fixing) (A + B (first letter of [a bit of] Bad) C (A B) LING |
| 3 |
Little Diana Stewart after dressing up is most gaudily dressed (9) TAWDRIEST (most gaudily dressed) Anagram of (after dressing up) DI (abbreviation for [little] DIana) and STEWART TAWDRIEST* |
| 4 |
What’s offered to persuade Bond to dive in river (11) INDUCEMENTS (incentives; benefits; what’s offered to persuade) CEMENT (join firmly or bond contained in (to dive in) INDUS (Asian river) INDU (CEMENT) S |
| 5 |
Blunder made by Fermat after ignoring two transcendentals (3) ERR (make a mistake; blunder) piERRe (reference Pierre de Fermat [1601 – 1665], French mathematician) excluding (after ignoring) (PI and E, both of which are transcendental numbers [numbers or quantities that are real but nonalgebraic, that is, one that is not a root of any polynomial with rational coefficients]) ERR |
| 6 |
Irishwoman turned up in the morning on the previous day (5) MAEVE (female Irish name) AM (ante meridiem [before noon; in the morning]) reversed (turned up; down entry]) + EVE (the previous day) MA< EVE |
| 7 |
Cut through horseshoe for one English bay (3,4) THE WASH (bay on the East coast of England) HEW (cut) contained in (through) TASH (moustache; a horseshoe moustache is an example of male facial hair) T (HE W) ASH |
| 8 | Advanced German for present day (9)
FURTHERED (advanced) FÜR (German for ‘for’) + THERE (in attendance; present) + D (day) FUR THERE D |
| 13 | K-9 beheaded emperor (11)
CONSTANTINE (reference the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great [272 – 337]) CONSTANT (K is the Boltzmann constant [the ratio of the gas constant to the Avogadro constant, equal to 1.380 650 × 10–23 joule per kelvin) + nINE (9) excluding the first letter (beheaded) N CONSTANT INE |
| 14 | Tool used in dealing with gnome (6,3)
COPING SAW (a tool) COPING (dealing with) + SAW (saying, proverb, gnome) COPING SAW |
| 16 | English women must wear high heels at religious class but not in this place (9)
ELSEWHERE (in another place; not in this place) E (English) + (W [women] contained in [must wear] an anagram of [high] HEELS) + RE (religious education; religious class) E LSE (W) HE* RE |
| 18 | Repu blican party leader loses article made from animal skins on a farm (7)
RANCHED ([of a fur coat] made from skins of animals from a ranch [farm]) R (Republican) + ANC (African National Congress; political party in South Africa) + HEaD (leader) excluding (loses) A (indefinite article) R ANC HED |
| 19 | Old homosexual in black knickers! (7)
BARDASH (obsolete [old] term for a homosexual male) BAR (exclude; black ban]) + DASH (euphemism for ‘damn’ or some other mild expression of irritation such as ‘knickers’) BAR DASH |
| 21 | Governess protects island home for birds (5)
EYRIE (nests for birds of prey; home for birds) EYRE (the fictional character Jane Eyre was a governess) containing (protects) I (island) EYR (I) E |
| 23 | Giant squeeze announced (5)
TITAN (a giant) TITAN (sounds like [announced] TIGHTEN [to squeeze]) TITAN |
| 25 | Roman goddess dances topless (3)
OPS (reference Ops, the Roman fertility goddess) hOPS (dances) excluding the first letter (topless) H OPS |
Well I did rather poorly on this one. As for our blogger, there were more than the usual number of nho’s including BARDASH, BYD, OPS, EMMY NOETHER plus elements within WP that were a mystery including AC for aircraftman, the bevy of deer, horseshoe as a moustache, the facts that a WEDGE can be a machine and that ‘looking embarrassed’ can signal an anagram. I still don’t get how that last one works: where is the sense of movement, disruption or change?
On the plus side, I really enjoyed PERITONITIS, SCHERZO, INDUCEMENTS, ERR, CONSTANTINE and ELSEWHERE.
Thanks Wiglaf and duncan
I managed to understand a lot of the nho information (for me) thanks to Google and a couple went in unparsed (ERR, INEXACT), but ultimately I failed on the bay (and the horseshoe moustache). Never mind. Ticks for WORST and WEDGE which could see but couldn’t understand without dictionary assistance, and ELSEWHERE. But there were many nice clues. Certainly a workout from Wiglaf and the blog is excellent as usual. Thanks.
Me too, PM @1. In school physics I think a wedge was called an inclined plane; a screw is derived from it. But yes, revealed a few squares to get it over with, so a dnf, with all the same nhos as duncan, plus K the Boltzmann constant, and Shere Khan (only remember the boy and the mongoose). So, Mr Wiglaf, a struggle alleviated by help. Thanks anyway, and to duncan.
[gif: depends which boy you are remembering. Mowgli is the lad associated with the tiger, Shere Khan and the less well known Teddy with the mongoose, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Both are in the Jungle Books but in separate tales]
If you write a German word without the umlaut then you add an “e” i.e “fuer”. Should there have been a modifier of some sort?
By the way, mathematicians aren’t scientists…
Can’t help feeling that EMMY NOETHER is perhaps a shade too obscure for a standard blocked cryptic. Not even Mrs Bradford lists her. But, as with all general knowledge, those who have heard of her will no doubt be surprised to learn that some of us haven’t.
Many thanks for the blog, Duncan. Explained the parsing of a number of answers that were beyond my ability. Agree with comments above about the trickiness. One slight gripe is that Boltzmann’s constant is normally written as lower case k. Avoids confusion when using K for Kelvin.
chapeau, Duncan! – I completed this but there were at least a dozen I could not have parsed in years, let alone the same day …
Perhaps this has already been said but I think AC is Air Commodore.
I agree that Emmy Noether was a little obscure and only achieved after guessing the Emmy part and googling. Not then helped by having to parse that unkNOwn was not correct and aNOn was. Ether for number was fine but overall not satisfying to solve.
gsolphotog @ 9
Chambers Dictionary lists aircraft(s)man for ‘ac’
Collins lists Air Commodore as A/C and indicates it as a Canadian usage. I believe the Independent uses Collins as its primary reference, so your interpretation may be right for this crossword.
Chambers doesn’t offer Air Commodore as an expansion of ‘ac’
Thanks Duncan. I didn’t know that about the Indy and Collins so if I am correct it was by accident.
PS Thank you for the blog and of course Wiglaf for the puzzle.
Thanks both. Very little solver sympathy evident in the clues, however plenty to potentially learn as others have observed. I struggled too with much of the not very general GK, and ultimately needed assistance only with the impenetrable BARDASH, though I’ll freely admit ERR went in without me even beginning to follow the clue.
Best means worst? Best is a Janus word? What‘s that all about?
Like others I got many clues without being able to parse them.
I live in Germany and am ready for foreign words. Fur is not German.
…für…?
Jeez guys, are we going to get an achievable one this week?!?!? 🤷♂️
I am not commenting on this puzzle. Most of the above reflects my views.
I want to make a general point. The Times (the crosswords that I attempt every day) has a policy that the crossword bloggers do not make political comment. I am totally in favour of this. Should The Independent follow suit?
Tim @ 16
As today’s blogger, I am bit baffled by your reference to political comment. I have read and re-read the blog a few times and cannot see where I have made a political comment.
There is a mention in the detailed table in relation to the ANC (African National Congress) being a political party. That is a statement of fact. ANC was part of the wordplay for RANCHED and had to be explained.
The Independent does not employ me as a blogger. I am simply a member of the fifteensquared community who enjoys blogging puzzles from any publication, no matter its political leanings..
Many newspapers have strong political editorial bias, so on occasion it seems reasonable for their puzzles to reflect that editorial policy.
I can see from the comments on today’s puzzle that a number of solvers did not enjoy the challenge. I did enjoy it, but I have more of a science background that an arts background. Sometimes I blog puzzles that I don’t enjoy, or puzzles I struggle with. I learn quite a bit though by doing some internet research to understand the answers and console myself by knowing that there will be another puzzle along soon that I will enjoy solving.
Willie @ 13
I referred to Janus words in the blog because ‘best’ and ‘worst’ are two examples of such words.
Janus words are words that can have two opposite meanings. They are named after the Roman god Janus, who is depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. Examples include “cleave,” which can mean to split apart or to cling to, and “fast,” which can mean to move quickly or to be firmly fixed. The specific meaning is determined by the context in which the word is used.
Other examples of Janus words:
Sanction: To give official approval or to impose a penalty.
Overlook: To fail to notice something, or to supervise something.
Dust: To remove dust, or to sprinkle with a fine powder.
Rent: To lease something to someone, or to lease something from someone.
Left: To have departed from a place or to be remaining.
Mean: To be unkind or to be excellent.
Collins dictionary defines ‘best’ as a verb: ‘To gain the advantage over or defeat’
It also defines ‘worst’ as a verb: ‘To get the advantage over; defeat or beat’
Clearly ‘worst’ also means the opposite of ‘best’ – hence the reference to Janus words.
Some barred crosswords in recent years have been themed around Janus words where the grid has a significant number of such words.
This defeated me soundly and I had to start revealing answers with only about two thirds of it done. I had the right idea about the mathematician but as a NHO it wasn’t enough to spring the answer and it wouldn’t have enabled me to finish anyway.
Thanks for the blog, then, which was really useful for me.
I don’t understand the stuff about political comments either. Perhaps Tim will explain what he was referring to.
This one soundly beat me. Two answers after an hour staring.
I am a bookish gay man with an interest in gay history, but BARDASH was a new one for me. (That one also fails the “clue obscure words clearly” dictum, if I can be allowed a gentle criticism of a free puzzle. Azed and that ilk are allowed to clue obscure words obscurely, of course–that’s the whole challenge–but a random Thursday shouldn’t be like that.)
Defeated by the Air Commodore (needed a word search for INEXACT) and only then could enter the unknown BARDASH but otherwise I enjoyed this challenge! Thanks to Wiglaf and duncanshiell.
Duncanshiell @17
I apologise. My comment was not about you but a general observation. If you refer back to blogs this week you will find plenty of comment about politics ( from one person in particular).
My point is that newspapers are full of such comment but I would like the crosswords to be an oasis away from such observations. I prefer The Times crosswords and blogs for many reasons and this is just one of them.