Neo is today's setter.
This was as much a test of general knowledge as a crossword, with knowledge of Lord of the Flies being particularly important as some of the solutions were very difficult to parse. I think I'm happy with all of my parsing, except maybe for 1dn which seems a bit of a stretch. Being as avid a quizzer as a cruciverbalist, I like general knowledge, but it might not appeal to everyone,
Thanks, Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | INFERNO |
Conclude working when retired is hell (7)
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INFER ("conclude") + <=ON ("working", when retired) |
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| 10 | AIR TAXI |
Aviatrix not very mobile in transport (3,4)
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*(aiatrix) [anag:mobile] where AIATRIX is A(v)IATRIX without V (not very) |
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| 11 | ILL |
Tablet lacking power for sick (3)
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(p)ILL ("tablet") lacking P (power) |
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| 12 | EPHESUS |
Record man’s associated with US city (7)
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EP (extended play "record") + HE'S ("man's") associated with US Ephesus was an ancient settlement on the west coast of Turkey. |
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| 13 | YOKEL |
Couple with pound for peasant (5)
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YOKE ("couple") with L (pound) |
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| 14 | ETHOS |
Character finishes in farce caught with no trousers (5)
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[finishes in] (farc)E (caugh)T (wit)H (n)O (trouser)S |
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| 15 | REFUSAL |
Option in FA rules changing (7)
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*(fa rules) [anag:changing] |
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| 16 | INDRA |
God dressed as was La Rue often? Endlessly! (5)
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[endlessly] IN DRA(g) ("dressed as (Danny) La Rue often") Indra is the Hindu god of weather. |
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| 19 | DISPASSIONATE |
Unemotional lives progress: one about to break engagement (13)
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IS ("lives") + PASS ON ("progress") about I (one) to break DATE ("engagement") |
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| 23 | OASIS |
Nothing unaltered in Britpop band (5)
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O (nothing) + AS IS ("unaltered") |
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| 24 | ALPHEGE |
Old bishop having beer in pub say? On the contrary! (7)
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PH (public house, so "pub") + e.g. ("say") in ALE ("beer") Alphege was an 11th century Archbishop of Canterbury. |
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| 26 | SIMON |
Boy in 29 2: was he simply after a pie? (5)
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Refers to Simple SIMON in the classic English nursery rhyme. Simon was one of the principal characters in Lord of the Rings (answer to 29/2) |
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| 28 | DELAY |
Obstruct Democrat Ivy League uni backed (5)
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D (Democrat) + <=YALE ("Ivy League uni", backed) |
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| 30 | DOG BITE |
Rover’s attack d-damaged big toe? (3,4)
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D + *(big toe) [anag:damaged] |
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| 31 | TAO |
Rolling grass shows way to be followed (3)
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[rolling] <=OAT ("grass") |
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| 32 | NARRATE |
Finally in Coleridge, sailor hurried over to tell story (7)
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<=([finally in] (coleridg)E + TAR ("sailor") + RAN ("hurried"), over) |
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| 33 | LAYETTE |
Still wearing recent baby outfit (7)
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YET ("still") wearing LATE ("recent") |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BIG EARS |
Noddy’s friend twice a drugs mule? (3,4)
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BIS ("twice") carrying GEAR ("drugs") so "twice a drugs mule?" |
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| 3 | NOISELESS |
Lionesses, supple, silent (9)
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*(lionesses) [anag:supple] |
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| 4 | RALPH |
Sacred flower boy in 29 2 (5)
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The R(iver) ALPH is a sacred river in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Kubla Khan, and Ralph was a character in Lord of the Flies (29/2) |
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| 5 | GRAY’S INN |
Legal society elegist belongs to, note (5,3)
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(Thomas) GRAY's IN ("elegist belongs to") + N (note) |
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| 6 | JACK |
Ball bowlers aim at boy in 29 2 (4)
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Double definition, the first referring to the white ball in crown green bowling, and the second to a character in Lord of the Flies (29/2) |
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| 7/21 | WILLIAM GOLDING |
Writer’s pleasure: Neo’s away to consume lethal dosage (7,7)
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WILL ("pleasure") + I AM GOING ("Neo's away") to consume LD (lethal dosage) |
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| 9 | ROSES |
Flowers from Poldark securing Demelza’s heart? (5)
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ROSS (Poldark) securing (Dem)E(lza) ['s heart] Ross Poldark and his wife appear in the Poldark series of books by WInston Graham, set in Cornwall between 1781 and 1799. |
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| 17 | DO THE DIRTY |
Little Mark Dyer hit criminal cheat (2,3,5)
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DOT ("little mark") + *(dyer hit) [anag:criminal] |
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| 18 | GIRANDOLE |
Magnificent cheer welcomes one rotating firework (9)
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GRAND ("magnificent") + OLE ("cheer") welcomes I (one) |
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| 20 | PUSSYCAT |
Weak fellow raised up as cyst exploded (8)
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[raised] <=UP + *(as cyst) [anag:exploded] |
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| 22 | BEDEWED |
Wet monk got married (7)
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BEDE (a medieval "monk") + WED ("got married") |
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| 25 | PIGGY |
Boy in 29 2 like Chester White? (5)
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Double definition, the first being a character in Lord of the Flies (29/2) and the second referring to a breed of pig. |
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| 27 | MATER |
Mum to public schoolboys: one breeding? (5)
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Double definition |
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| 29/2 | LORD OF THE FLIES |
Feel for this old lunatic in 21 novel? (4,2,3,5)
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*(feel for this old) [anag:lunatic] as written by William Golding (the solution to 21) |
It has been a long, long time since I read LORD OF THE FLIES.
The anagram for NOISELESS was a good spot by Neo and gets a tick from me, and I also liked INFERNO, YOKEL, and TAO
As to GK, I was OK with the names of the characters in the books, as they were on theme. Beyond the themed clues, I had 3 jorums / lucky guesses and a couple of unknown references – adding up to way too much GK in my view.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
BIG EARS
I parsed it as the blogger did. I feel fine with it.
Of course, there could always be better ideas from
someone else.
Tricky in parts but a big improvement on yesterday’s impossipuzzle. Not sure about the theme as most could be written in and rationalised later once you had lotf. Balanced by some obscurities.
Lord of the Flies wasn’t a problem, as I’ve read it and seen the film, but I did need Wikipedia to remind me of some of the boys’ names. But there were quite a few other instances — rather too many — where my knowledge was found wanting. King of them all was GRAY’S INN, which I only found after completing all the intersecting clues.
GK was not knowledge possessed by me but, as others, guessed solutions from wordplay. Not my favourite type of cryptic but each to his/her own. In 19a, I had PASS (progress) + I (one) + ON (about). Parsed 1d as blog which, as KVa says, seems fine to me.
I’d never heard of a GIRANDOLE so failed to complete today. I read a Golding novel once and didn’t care for it so have never read Lord of the Flies, and that stymied me as well. I got PIGGY though and could probably have guessed the rest if I had persevered.
I’ve never read or seen Poldark either but I could guess that one.
By the way, Loonapick, you’ve put Lord of the Rings instead of Lord of the Flies in 26!
Simon auditioned for Lord of the Pies.
Anyway, was there really all that much GK in this?
LOTF has been a staple on school reading lists (in UK at least) since its publication in 1954, so are you really calling that one arcane knowledge? Or its principal characters? 25 million copies sold in English alone, and millions more worldwide, tells you its own story, I’d say.
I might just about give you ALPHEGE, despite the fact that he was an Archbishop of Canterbury (1006-1012), and maybe the non-English EPHESUS and GIRANDOLE, even though neither is ultra-rare in daily puzzles, but allow me to let you into a secret: all three feature this special thing you get in cryptic puzzles, which is called wordplay. To get these apparently esoteric answers, or any damn answer, all you have to do is, well, solve the clues. I know it’s tedious getting the grey matter out and having a go, and that since that luddite Mr Biff came along, with his insistence on setters writing clues that could always be biffed (Bunged In From definition), some solvers have enlisted in his militantly lazy band, but still.
Quite often, back in my formative years, I’d be sitting there with Araucaria of a Saturday afternoon, not knowing what the hell a MOTHER CAREY’S CHICKEN (for example) was, but I’d get there from the clue. I might even have met ALPEGE there for the first time. And that was the fun of it, for me anyway.
How about you? If you really want to biff all day, there’s always the quick.
Neo @8. Yes, I got the answers from the wordplay. LOTF was part of my schoolwork but that was over 50 years ago and I’ve never wished to revisit. My memory is not that great by any stretch. It’s debatable as to how rare GIRANDOLE is in cryptics. A search in this site reveals it has appeared twice before in more than 9 years, so pretty rare I would say.
Straightforward for me as I am a big William Golding fan (not just “Lord of the Flies”), but I happily take Neo’s point: I don’t complain about references to popular music, about which I am wholly ignorant, but try to work them out. It’s all part of the crossword challenge.
LOTF didn’t make it onto my school reading list till after I did O-level Eng Lit, and I’ve never read it, but I got all the characters’ names from the word play (the mention of Coleridge elsewhere may have helped by reminding me of Alph the sacred river). I had vaguely heard of ALPHEGE and GIRANDOLE but got them from wordplay too.
Overall, an enjoyable challenge with no real problems although I didn’t bother trying to parse DISPASSIONATE.
Thanks, Neo and loonapick.
For me it is over 40 years since I read LotF and I am hopeless with character names but these all rang a bell and, as the setter said, the wordplay was always there. Alphege was definitely obscure (yes he was an Archbishop of Canterbury. Yes I visited the cathedral earlier this year. Can I name all the ABs of C? No way) but the synonyms to put together were not obscure so fair dos. “girandole” was last one in – not heard of it but the I crosser was obviously one part of the wordplay and then “gira” as being related to “gyro” came to me, giving me “grand” at which point the “ole” seemed the appropriate triumphant finish.
Clue obscure words with unambiguous (not necessarily trivial) wordplay. I hate an anagram where the vowels could be any reasonable way round. I love a solution which I can type into a search engine and ask myself “was x an AB of C? Is y a baby’s clothing set?” and take pleasure in having unpicked the problem. I am sure setters take much more pleasure in people figuring out what they meant than either giving up or just biffing. They worked hard to lay the trail, we shouldn’t just plug the end point into our GPS and take the short cut.
Neo@8, I think you have a fair point, though it raises the question of what aids it is legitimate to use when solving. I feel strongly that only a dictionary is appropriate, which means that I can be smug about getting Alphege who isn’t in the dictionary, but is a person I’ve heard of. It’s trickier if the answers are characters in a book I haven’t read and, if it is anything like “The Spire” I have no desire to read. I get defeatist about trying to work it out from the wordplay because I won’t be able to check the answer. Having said that, I didn’t get RALPH anyway as the clue was too clever for me.
I don’t object to the use of “Lord of the Flies” however; after all, a lot of people have read it and I think Golding was a Nobel Laureate. If it had been a lesser-known novel by one of his lesser-read contemporaries, C.P.Snow say, it might have been different.
Okay good. We all agree.
I mean, there are some unfair clues around, like anagrams of (genuinely) obscure words, and I have penned some of those, but if I drop the sarcasm for 5 seconds I can truly say that solving from wordplay is joyful. Even if the word is a bit arse-end of Chambers. I’m sure it’s what this lark is all about.
The BIFF thing is essentially the result of a general dumbing-down, IMV, and I don’t like that very much at all. Literary refs are being hounded out of some puzzles, likewise anything that isn’t everyday vocab. That isn’t why I started solving crossword puzzles.
NB a Mother Carey’s chicken (or goose) is a storm petrel. Thank you John Graham.
Thanks Loona et al.
I, for one, got ALPHEGE entirely from the wordplay and the associated crossing letters. Which, as our setter says in his comments, is just fine–I just learned the name of a bishop. Same thing for RALPH. I remembered PIGGY, but had to go look up a list for the other boys. I read the book…once…nearly 40 years ago, so I think I can be forgiven for not remembering the names.
I’m not 100 percent sure that LOTF is still on American reading lists. It’s the British counterpart to Catcher in the Rye: serious literature featuring schoolboys which, since it isn’t actually aimed at schoolboys, doesn’t actually hold their attention as much as might be hoped. So I’d bet that it’s been crowded out, in many school districts, by things more recent, more diverse, and perhaps more American.
[As counterpoint to that, I know the British education minister weeded out American literature from your reading lists a few years back, so you may not have read Catcher in the Rye. It’s basically about a privileged teenager wandering Manhattan unsupervised. He’s angsty about something, perhaps to do with his dead brother. The end.]
Neo@14. The earlier comments by me and others (as I understood them) were not saying literary or obscure references are inappropriate. I agree with you that these references have their place in cryptic crosswords.
Instead, the commentators were saying we felt there were too many in this puzzle.
We are all entitled to our views. Our view is that this was definitely not a general knowledge crossword but rather a cryptic crossword with a theme. The skill of Neo was that all was solvable whether you have read Golding or not. Thank you Neo. We loved it.
Thank you Neo for dropping in and having your say, and well said. I admit that I, as did others, looked up the WikiPedia entry for the LoTF boys, but ALPHEGE and GIRANDOLE were clearly enough clued that the hypothesise-and-check method was applicable. Always a joy to discover unknown words. ‘Twill be challenge to find an opportunity to slip them into everyday conversation, mind you 🙂
P.S. thank you to loonapick for the blogwork.
Well said, Neo! We feel that so many crosswords are being dumbed down… nothing to get your teeth into.
Also we solve together and the BIFF type favours my better half who’s a walking dictionary. Chewy unknowns with a good subsidiary give me at least a chance to get a few in. Thoroughly enjoyed the crossword
Enjoyed the puzzle even if I couldn’t complete it. As jvector@18 said, always good to learn a new word. For me, that was girandole.