Methuselah provides our Tuesday challenge this week.
We found this much trickier than we expected. It took us a while to get onto Methuselah’s wavelength, and to sort out some of the crafty definitions, but we got there in the end.
As it is Tuesday, we then started to see if we could unearth a theme. After gazing at the completed grid for some time we realised that it is a pangram missing X, Y and Z – the co-ordinates in three-dimensional GEOMETRIES – which just happens to appear at 3d. Is there more?
It was interesting to note that we had Methuselah in yesterday’s Quince puzzle and we now have Quince in today’s puzzle. A sense of Déjà vu, especially as we have WOODCHUCK at 22ac!
A reversal (‘returning’) of EG (perhaps) GALS (young ladies) + D (diamonds)
Double definition
RAT (‘treacherous type’) In On (alternate letters or ‘regularly wanting’)
ABS (sailors – able-bodied seamen) TIN (can) E (middle or ‘essential’ letter of get) N (any number) T (first letter or ‘a little’ of tipsy)
MA’S (old lady’s) TEaRFUL (emotional) missing the ‘a’ (ace)
FEE (cost) round or ‘covering’ T (last letter or ‘base’ of font)
An anagram (‘in a puzzle’) of ENTER DEJA VU
GINGER (one of Posh’s bandmates in the Spice Girls) + a homophone (‘reportedly’) of BRED (produced)
TA (‘you shouldn’t have’) round or ‘bedecking’ Off-the-peG (first and last letters or ‘outsiders’)
D (day) in WOO (attempt to endear) CHUCK (cast)
An anagram (‘nouveau’) of RIOT AT ART
GO (move) after or with TAN (beat)
DISH (attractive person) round or ‘penning’ TIC (little quirk) – we had to check this – it’s two lines or verses, so one third of a sestet (the last six lines in a sonnet)
A reversal (‘turned’) of DrencheD AwningS with the middle letters missing or ‘on vacation’ + E (European) ST (street)
ShRIMP (seafood) with the ‘h’ (hot) replaced by C (cold)
AT (taking part in) TEST (dry run)
GE (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of grave) O (old) ME (writer) TRIES (cracks)
Hidden (‘some’) and reversed (‘served up’) in halF-RAW Dinners
CE (church) ST (saint) LAV (privy) IE (‘to wit’ – that is)
I (today’s crossword setter) BID (offers)
SENT (dispatched) in PRE (advance) S (south – one of the poles)
RET (retired) + an anagram (‘about’) of pADRES missing the first letter or ‘head’
U (uniform in the phonetic alphabet) + an anagram (‘ground’) of DENUDEs missing the last letter or ‘shortly’ round or ‘home to’ CAT (kitty)
The financial turnover at Apple could be said to ‘feed’ Steve JOBS’ WORTH
IT in or ‘cracking’ AGATE (gemstone) + D (last or ‘final’ letter of burnished)
A NAGS (horse’s) round or ‘boxing’ RAM (farmyard animal)
QUIChE (tart) round or ‘containing’ N (first letter or ‘trace’ of nuts) and missing ‘h’ (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of Methuselah)
E K E (last letters or ‘bits’ of useable stock made) + OUT (available)
An anagram (‘baked’) of LOAVeS missing or ‘scrapping the ‘e’ (first letter or ‘starter’ of Easter)
Hidden in perpETUIty
Stunning – and every clue in Methuselah’s puzzle today contains a word or phrase from Quince’s grid yesterday. An incredible Groundhog Day theme! How would they have planned this? Thanks to the setters and bloggers – hats off to all.
Thanks Universal*Rundle – well spotted!
Hats off to Quince and Methuselah.
There was also a hint at 6d which we now realise should have prompted us to look further.
It was seeing “deja vu in a puzzle” that immediately alerted me to the theme. I rarely spot themes so it was a great time to spot one.
I loved the theme. As I was reading through the across clues for the first time I thought I had seen ‘deja vu’, ‘groundhog’ and ‘art nouveau’ recently, but once I got to 4d I thought that ‘Bashful’ was definitely an answer in yesterday’s puzzle and I checked that every one of yesterday’s answers appears in a clue in this puzzle.
Thanks, Bertandjoyce, Methuselah and Quince.
A wonderful coordination between Quince and Methuselah. Doesn’t something like this fill you with joy and make you glad to be a crossworder?
Double first time ever, first, spotting the theme, altho I had to collect art nouveau n déjà vu, before committing… and second, feeling comfortable with Methusaleh’s unique wavelength… yesterday’s Quince took a lot longer… pleased I persisted..
Thanks Methusaleh and Bertandjoyce
Well played, lads, well played. Lovely PDM. Which way around did the build go? Methuselah wrote a puzzle, then Quince built a grid with its clue words? Or Quince built a grid, and Methuselah put all its answers into clues? Or a mix of both? Either way seems like a difficult challenge.
I’m lucky if I remember whether I did yesterday’s puzzle let alone what was in it so the remarkable feat sailed over my head. Nothing new there.
But I’m sure B&J will relate to my head scratching over what could make Ginger Baker anyone’s posh bandmate. 😊
Thanks all four.
I don;t know how many times I’ve thought, “That’s a coincidence” when a word or phrase is repeated in different crosswords, but today I slowly realized it was deliberate. So clever. Did PostMark and another setter once do something similar around Groundhog Day?
Petert @10: I think I recall a pair of crosswords that either had the same clues but different answers or the same answers but different clues.
Petert @10, I don’t remember that but I do remember a somewhat flawed experiment where two setters on consecutive days supplied a different set of clues for the same solutions (I think there may have been one small, insignificant change). It was interesting to see how the different setters clued the same word but, even with a lousy memory, too many of the solutions could be remembered.
We overlapped, Hounddog. Doubtless referring to the same occasion.
If anyone is interested, have a look at Donk’s puzzle 8498 set in January 2014. We had the pleasure of blogging it.
It really was a tour de force as Donk repeated clues throughout the puzzle with different answers for each pair. We really miss seeing his puzzles (and those by Rorschach his contemporary).
Thanks both. Great idea for the theme, entirely wasted on me, as I haven’t yet taken on yesterday’s. Had cutters instead of CLIPPER for a while.
I can only echo Quizzy Bob’s comment @6 – I’m blessed to have such a talented group of setters
BertandJoyce@13 Brendan did the same in the Guardian Prize 29769.