Like London buses, you wait ages for an Imogen Prize puzzle to blog, and then two come along in quick order… Lucky me…this one is a treat…
…with some quirky clue types, neat surface reads and a wide range of references, from Shakespeare’s Verona VALENTINE to ‘WALTZ’ Disney; Babylonian King BELSHAZZAR to US President Calvin COOLIDGE; horror movies (Texas CHAINSAW Massacre) to pantomime’s Cinderella (RAGS TO RICHES); David’s Psalms to modern day homosexual slang (POLARI).
In terms of clues, there was:
- a one-word clue – ‘Whippet?’ for CAT. I used to refer to this type as a ‘lift-and-separate’ clue, but I used to get told off for that, so I am trying a new coinage – ‘divide-and-conquer’!
- a triple-definition with wordplay for TURN
- a mid-clue definition for ORFE
Too many goodies to pick any favourite clue, but contenders include: the surface read of 1A LIONESSES; the image of GOYA cycling whilst doing Yoga backwards at 25D; the Gentleman of Verona receiving a VALENTINE card at 12A…I’m sure many solvers will have others on their ‘tick lists’.
I scanned the grid a few times for any Nina/theme-ette, but couldn’t really make anything stick – a smart ALEC might GET WISE TO something?; a COOL(idge) Jazz CAT might play a RAG on a THEORBO and buy RECORDS?…if there is something, then someone more observant and in tune will probably mention it below…
My thanks to Imogen for yet another high quality and enjoyable puzzle, and I hope all is clear below.
[I will, as usual, be playing some mediocre golf on Saturday morning, so will monitor from afar but probably won’t be able to come back to any comments until late afternoon – I am sure the usual community spirit will help to clear up any quibbles or questions…]
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 9A | LIONESSES | Football team 1-1 after leading at first, idiots missing header (9)
L (Leading, at first) + I ONE (one – one!) + ( |
| 10A | USHER | Old teacher’s pronouns (5)
US + HER (two pronouns) [Chambers has usher as ‘historic’, so ‘old’, for teacher] |
| 11A | CHAOS | Charlie brings in bowl for dog’s dinner (5)
CHA_S (Charlie) around (bringing in) O (round letter, bowl?) |
| 12A | VALENTINE | Card for One Gentleman of Verona (9)
double defn. – a VALENTINE is an example of a card; and one of Shakespeare’s ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ is called VALENTINE! |
| 13A | THIN AIR | Feature of High Peak in which to disappear (4,3)
double defn. – if you climb a high peak you might find THIN AIR; and people/things can metaphorically vanish into THIN AIR |
| 14A | IMPOSED | Imogen’s model daughter required to be paid (7)
IM (I am, contracted, from our setter Imogen’s point of view) + POSE (model) + D (daughter) |
| 17A | WALTZ | Dance music from Disney on air (5)
homophone, i.e. on air – if something belongs to or is created by Walt Disney, it could be WALT’S xxx, which can sound like WALTZ |
| 19A | CAT | Whippet? (3)
a divide and conquer clue – divide WHIPPET into WHIP and PET and it becomes a double defn…a CAT can be a lash, or whip; and a CAT can also be a pet |
| 20A | NEWEL | Changing hands, more recent post (5)
NEWE( |
| 21A | THEORBO | Boot her out? There are strings attached to that (7)
anag, i.e. out, of BOOT HER |
| 22A | RECORDS | Regularly take free measures of wood cut as logs (7)
RE (regular letters from fReE) + CORDS (measures of – 128 cubic feet of – cut wood) |
| 24A | SWINGEING | Huge energy in description of 60s London (9)
SWING_ING (description of 1960’s London!) around E (energy) |
| 26A | LOCAL | A number in the vicinity (5)
double defn. – a LOCAL anaesthetic could be described as a numb-er; and anything in one’s vicinity is LOCAL |
| 28A | WISPY | Flimsy Caribbean agent (5)
WI (West Indies, loosely the Caribbean) + SPY (agent) |
| 29A | GET WISE TO | See to twig confused for a different twig (3,4,2)
anag, i.e. confused, of SEE TO TWIG |
| Down | ||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 1D | ALEC | Total eclipse enthralling smart guy (4)
hidden word in, i.e. enthralled by, totAL EClipse’ |
| 2D | POLARI | Star’s name shortened, in slang (6)
POLARI( [Polari being an English slang brought back by sailors from the 16th C onwards, partly surviving in modern male homosexual slang – from italian ‘parlare’ – to speak] |
| 3D | BELSHAZZAR | Feasting king has a small herbal brew, interrupted by short nap? (10)
BELSHA_AR (anag, i.e. brew, of A + S (small) + HERBAL) around (interrupted by) ZZ (cartoon representation of sleep, a longer sleep might be ZZZZ!) [not Balthazzar, as your blogger originally – and lazily – entered!] |
| 4D | AS EVER | Like the usual answer (part) (2,4)
A (answer) + S_EVER (part) |
| 5D | PSALMIST | For one, David succeeded opening a handy reader (8)
P_ALMIST (hand reader) around (opened by) S (succeeded, genealogy) |
| 6D | TURN | Opportunity coming round to change colour, artist has no hesitation (4)
(JMW) TURN( [this clue has three definitions! – opportunity (e.g. my turn); coming round (e.g. turn a corner); to change colour (e.g. turn green)] |
| 7D | CHAINSAW | Round hospital, murderer noticed massacre weapon that was filmed (8)
C_AIN (biblical murderer) around H (hospital) + SAW (noticed) [weapon filmed in ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’!…] |
| 8D | ORFE | Penalty would be fit, if this swimmer knocked out (4)
F-ORFE-IT (penalty) removing (knocking out) ORFE (fish, this swimmer) leaves FIT [a rare-ish example of a clue where the definition is not at either end…] |
| 13D | TO WIT | In other words, what to do with broken-down car (2,3)
if your car breaks down you might need to TOW IT! |
| 15D | PENICILLIN | Writer covering India with nothing about treatment for infection (10)
PEN_CIL (writer) around (covering) I (India), plus LIN (nil, nothing, about) |
| 16D | DOLES | Mostly ease off work, getting handouts (5)
if you ease off work you might DO LES( |
| 18D | LEERIEST | More wary than anyone of lake, most unearthly (8)
L (lake) + EERIEST (most unearthly) |
| 19D | COOLIDGE | Calvin’s business giving off bad smell gets halved (8)
CO (company, business) + OLID (giving off bad smell) + GE (half of GEts) [US President, Calvin Coolidge] |
| 22D | RAGS TO (RICHES) | & 23 Chorister sang out, missing note in the story of Cinderella (4,2,6)
subtractive anagram, i.e. out, of CHORISTER SA( |
| 23D | RICHES | See 22D (6)
see 22D |
| 24D | SEWN | Stitched up by all the cardinals (4)
SEWN is made up of the four cardinal points of the compass! |
| 25D | GOYA | Artist’s ascetic discipline: cycling backwards (4)
YOG( |
| 27D | LOOM | Come close, perhaps threatening weaver (4)
double defn. – to LOOM can mean to come close, often in a threatening way; and a LOOM is a weaving machine |
A bit of a slow burn. I managed to finish eventually with ORFE and DOLES unparsed. ORFE was a hard clue for an unusual word. OLID, ORFE, THEORBO and USHER (as teacher) were new to me though achievable from the clues. I enjoyed the obscure references which I did get. Thanks to setter and blogger.