A puzzle from Phi today in his usual Friday slot.
This puzzle had a little bit of geography (4 towns [TIPPERARY, PAISLEY, ESSEN and BEAUVAIS] and an island, [ELLESMERE ISLAND]), but I don’t think that constitutes a theme, even given that all four towns have a cathedral. ATOLL also has a geographic element.
PERUKE was a new word for me, but the wordplay was quite clear once I had the crossing letters.
PALIMPSEST is a word that I have only ever come across in crosswords.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 7 | Comic role in Shakespeare: slip up dropping one pole (8)
FALSTAFF (a comic character who appears in a number of Shakespeare’s plays) FAiL (slip up) excluding (dropping) I (Roman numeral for one) + STAFF (rod; pole) FAL STAFF |
| 8 | Hard time recalling forename of WWI heroine (5)
EDITH (reference EDITH Cavell [1865 – 195], World War 1 nurse who tended the wounded of any nationality. She was executed by a German firing squad in 1915, not for aiding the escape of enemy servicemen, but because the men had been able to return to a country at war with Germany) (H [hard] + TIDE [a time of ebbing, of flowing, or both]) all reversed (recalling) (EDIT H) |
| 10 | Leave with detective before finale – that s a bit of good fortune (7)
GODSEND (a very welcome piece of unexpected good fortune) GO (leave) + DS (detective superintendent) + END (finale) GO DS END |
| 11 | Problem involving husband, bar, drunk – it generates conversation (7)
RHUBARB (a word muttered repeatedly to give the impression of indistinct background conversation) RUB (difficulty; problem) containing (involving) H (husband) + an anagram of (drunk) BAR R (H) UB ARB* |
| 12 | Recommend fruity drink when going round a part of Ireland (9)
TIPPERARY (Irish town in a county of the same name; part of Ireland) TIP (advise; inform; recommend) + PERRY (fermented pear juice; drink) containing (going round) A TIP PER (A) RY |
| 14 | Everybody gathering around closed part of the Maldives (5)
ATOLL (The Maldives is a country formed by a number of natural ATOLLs, along with a few islands and isolated reefs) ALL (everybody) containing (gathering round) TO (closed) A (TO) LL |
| 15 | Arctic region – leader stricken with illness calling me in (9,6)
ELLESMERE ISLAND (lying within the Arctic archipelago, ELLESMERE ISLAND is Canada’s third largest island and the world’s tenth largest island; Arctic region) Anagram of (stricken) LEADER and [with] ILLNESS containing (calling … in) ME ELLES (ME) RE ISLAND* |
| 18 | Business graduate seen following beginnings of song and dance (5)
SAMBA (Brazilian dance) SA (first letters of [beginnings of] each of Song and And) + MBA (a graduate who is a Master of Business Administration) SA MBA |
| 19 | One might catch you saying it doesn’t measure involuntary responses (9)
POLYGRAPH (an instrument which measures very small changes in body temperature, pulse rate, respiration, etc, and which is often used as a lie-detector) POLYGRAPH (if you say a POLYGRAPH doesn’t measure involuntary responses, it might indicate [say] you are a liar as a result of its use as a lie detector) – cryptic definition POLYGRAPH |
| 21 | Preferring solitude in urinals when tipsy (7)
INSULAR (seeking [preferring] isolation, detachment and / or solitude) Anagram of (when tipsy) URINALS INSULAR* |
| 22 | Wages bringing in 14, say, in Scottish town (7)
PAISLEY (a town in Scotland) PAY (wages) containing (bringing in) ISLE (the entry at 14 across is ATOLL [a coral island or isle]) PA (ISLE) Y |
| 24 | 2 getting end away in German city (5)
ESSEN (German city) ESSENe (entry at 2 down) excluding the final letter E (getting end away) ESSEN |
| 25 | The sound of thieves makes you cry in exasperation (8)
KNICKERS (a word used as a cry of exasperation) KNICKERS (sounds like [the sound of] NICKERS [thieves]) KNICKERS |
| Down | |
| 1/23 | Eccentric upset, coming round with letter (8)
LANDLORD (persons who lets property or rooms to tenants and lodgers) DROLL (eccentric) reversed (upset; down entry) containing (coming round) AND (with) L (AND) LORD< entered as LAND |
| 2 | Zealot contributing to upturn in pureness evidently (6)
ESSENE (one of a small religious fraternity among the ancient Jews, leading retired ascetic lives and holding property in common; zealot) ESSENE (reversed (upturn; down entry) hidden word in (in) purENESS Evidently) ESSENE< |
| 3 | Soldier and sailor of renown producing magical plant? (8)
MANDRAKE (a poisonous plant of the potato family, formerly thought to have magical powers because of the human-like shape of its forked root) MAN (soldier) + DRAKE (reference Sir Francis DRAKE [c1540 – 1596], English sialor) MAN DRAKE |
| 4 | Big fight, not initially crazy, about artist (6)
AFFRAY (disturbance or breach of the peace; big fight) dAFFY (crazy) excluding the first letter D (not initially) containing (about) RA (Royal Academician; artist) AFF (RA) Y |
| 5 | French cathedral good – go there (8)
BEAUVAIS (cathedral town in Northern France) BEAU (French for ‘beautiful’ or ‘good’) + VAIS (French for ‘go’) BEAU VAIS |
| 6 | Cocktail? Fix a soft drink before lawyer appears (4,6)
PINA COLADA (cocktail made from pineapple juice, rum and coconut) PIN (fix) + A + COLA (soft drink) + DA (District Attorney; lawyer) PIN A COLA DA |
| 9 | Adolescent limped: he’s gone over on uncovered toys (11)
HOBBLEDEHOY (awkward youth, a stripling, neither man nor boy; adolescent) HOBBLED (limped) + HE reversed (gone over) + OY (letters remaining in tOYs after the outer letters T and A are removed [uncovered]) HOBBLED EH< OY |
| 10 | Street resident finally turning up in street, possibly (11)
GUTTERSNIPE (street urchin; street resident) G (last letter of [finally] turninG) + an anagram of (possibly)UP IN STREET G UTTERSNIPE* |
| 13 | Rascals splitting least colourful historic document (10)
PALIMPSEST (manuscript in which old writing has been rubbed out to make room for new; historic document) IMPS (rascals) contained in (splitting) PALEST (least colourful) PAL (IMPS) EST |
| 16 | No place for tit’s wing in remarkable bird (8)
STARLING (bird) STARtLING (remarkable) excluding (no place for) T (first or last letter of [wing] TiT) STARLING |
| 17 | European piece of film on convulsive movement in part of the heavens (8)
ECLIPTIC (the great circle in which the plane containing the centres of the earth and sun cuts the celestial sphere; the apparent path of the sun’s annual motion among the fixed stars; part of the heavens) E (European) + CLIP (piece of film) + TIC (convulsive movement) E CLIP TIC |
| 19 | Fetch up carrying old queen’s wig (6)
PERUKE (wig) PUKE (vomit; fetch up) containing (carrying) ER (Elizabeth Regina; either of former Queens Elizabeth I or II; old queen) P (ER) UKE |
| 20 | Good connecting passage provided by a Russian composer (6)
GLINKA (reference Mikhail GLINKA [1865 – 1915], Russian composer) G (good) + LINK (connecting passage) + A G LINK A |
| 23 | See 1 (4)
LORD |
Not sure about the Essenes as Zealots. Way back in RK classes pretty sure they were described as deliberately not so. Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes – with the later Zealots as a reaction against the prevailing orders.
I suppose they could be zealots – but I am not even sure of that
As always – > love Phi crosswords; elegant and precise.
Thanks to Duncan and Phi