This is my first Indy blog – and I believe there is another new starter next week – so ‘thank-you’ to the Saturday Indy team for letting a couple of newcomers into the schedule. I have been doing a monthly 15^2 blog on the Sunday Telegraph’s themed Enigmatic Variations puzzles for a while now, but this is my first go at a conventional/straight cryptic. Grateful for any feedback – positive or (hopefully constructively) negative…
I have been solving and submitting the Saturday Indy for as long as I can remember, but I have to admit that these days it is usually a bit of a rush to get it done, along with the other weekend prize puzzles from the Grauniad, Times and Telegraph – yes, I am a bit of a mercenary on that front! So, it has been a pleasure to sit back and analyse one of these a lot more closely – and appreciate the clue-craft and clever references/mental images – like 4D, with a group of Premiership players, probably led by Wayne Rooney, crowding round the referee; 14D, hinting at the (now fading/tarnished?) hope the world felt when Barack Obama was installed in the White House; or 24A, which had me salivating at the thought of enchiladas and nachos, with a clever anagram there.
I also have to admit that I am not a ‘setter-spotter’ – I can’t wax lyrical over whether this was a classic, or above- or below-par, puzzle from Klingsor, or even how it compares to a Bannsider, an Anax or an Eimi. However, it was a very pleasant puzzle to solve – with some fair clueing, and nothing particularly controversial – to me at least!.
Solving time – approx 20 mins, in a couple of sessions – including a bit of to-ing and fro-ing around SHARP/SMART and TORTOISE/PORPOISE for 6D/18A. Then scanned a copy to blog from, and original in the post Monday morning (when, oh, when will the Indy embrace the 21st century and provide some sort of online subscription and submission service…!?)
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with some embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 1A | THROW A WOBBLY | Have a tantrum or what? (5, 1, 6) | Have a tantrum / ‘Reverse’ indication of anagram – ‘or what’ being ‘wobbly’ to produce ‘throw a’ |
| 9A | EXCEL | Top Forty on the radio (5) | Top / Homonym – XL (40 in Roman numeral) sounds like ‘excel’ |
| 10A | INTRODUCE | Elected party does a U-turn, blocking peace offer (9) | Offer / IN (elected) + TRUCE (peace) containing OD (party, or ‘do’, backwards) |
| 11A | CONCERTO | For example, Emperor Hirohito ultimately wanted to follow agreement (8) | For example ‘Emperor’ (Beethoven concerto no 5, in E flat) / CONCERT (agreement) followed by O (ultimate letter of Hirohito) |
| 12A | ISHTAR | Blemish tarnished screen goddess (6) | Goddess / Hidden word, ‘screened’ by blemISH TARnished |
| 13A | EXAMINER | One tests unknown compound within the margins of error (8) | One (who) tests / X (unknown) + AMINE (chemical compound) in ER (margins of ErroR) |
| 15A | BARELY | Only just head off assets being seized by British bank (6) | Only just / B (British) + A (head off Assets) + RELY (bank on) |
| 17A | RESIDE | Live on air (6) | Live / RE (on, or regarding) + SIDE (pretentious air, or arrogance) |
| 18A | TORTOISE | One’s shelled out too, finally getting to stand round (8) | One’s shelled / TO (last letters of ‘ouT & toO’) + RISE (stand) around TO (thanks to scchua for this parsing – comment #15 below) |
| 20A | FIANCE | One’s out for run in country? The opposite as intended (6) | Intended (as in betrothed) / FRANCE (country) with I (one) in for R (run) – ‘opposite’ indicating ‘one IN for run’, rather than ‘one OUT for run’ |
| 21A | STICK OUT | I disheartened clerk with bold housing project (5, 3) | Project / STOUT (bold) ‘housing’ I + CK (ClerK with middle letters, or heart, removed) |
| 24A | ENCHILADA | Dish which could be ideal with nacho, almost? (9) | (Mexican) Dish / anag (i.e. could be) of IDEAL + most of NACHo |
| 25A | ASHEN | Man captured by US security agents turned very pale (5) | Very pale / HE (man) in ASN (NSA, US National Security Agency, turned round) |
| 26A | INTELLIGENCE | In report one’s information leads to collective embarrassment for MI6? (12) | MI6 / IN + TELL (report) + GEN (information) + CE (first letters of Collective Embarrassment) |
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with some embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
| 1D | TREACLE | After claret’s drunk European displays intolerable sentimentality (7) | Intolerable sentimentality / anag (i.e. drunk) of CLARET, followed by E (European) |
| 2D | RECONNAISSANCE | A recession can end in nation falling apart, survey’s revealed (14) | Survey’s revealed (by…) / anag (i.e. falling apart) of A RECESSION CAN + N (last letter of nation) |
| 3D | WOLFE | General knowledge’s core to which old fellow regularly contributes (5) | General (James Wolfe, 1727-1759) / W-L-E (‘core’ of knoWLEdge) interspersed regularly with O (old) and F (fellow) |
| 4D | WHISTLER | Following game both sides surround English referee? (8) | Referee / WHIST (game) followed by L and R (both sides, left and right) surrounding E (English) |
| 5D | BATS | They fly Club Class at last (4) | They fly / BAT (club) + S (last letter of clasS) |
| 6D | LOOK SMART | Put on your Sunday best, and be quick (4, 5) | (Double defn) / ‘Look smart’ can mean both dress smartly, or hurry up. Unfortunately I entered SHARP instead of SMART, at first, which makes as much sense, but turned 18A’s TORTOISE into an unexplainable PORPOISE, for a frustrating while! |
| 7D | PUT THE KIBOSH ON | Finally disposed of most of the books in the jumble after turning up (3, 3, 6, 2) | Finally disposed of / PU (‘up’ turned) then anag (i.e. jumble) of TH (most of THe) + BOOKS IN THE |
| 8D | BETRAY | Give away film’s ending in newspaper article appearing in Times (6) | Give away / BY (times, as in multiply) around ET (film) + R (last letter of newspaper) + A (article) |
| 14D | INDUCTION | I count on reform following popular Democrat’s installation in office (9) | Installation in (political) office / IN (popular) + D (Democrat) followed by anag (i.e. reform) of I COUNT |
| 16D | SOFTBALL | Thus serious illness disrupts LA Lakers’ season for a game (8) | A game / SO (thus) + FALL (US season, indicated by LA Lakers, basketball team) around TB (serious illness) |
| 17D | RAFTER | Runs in pursuit of one travelling by water (6) | One travelling by water / R (runs) + AFTER (in pursuit of) |
| 19D | ENTENTE | First off, relaxation of hostilities provides setting for new agreement (7) | Agreement / dETENTE (relaxation of hostilities, minus first letter) around N (new) |
| 22D | CRAIG | Boy – one that’s into rock (5) | Boy / CRAG (rock) around I (one) |
| 23D | DARE | Daughter’s a long time rising to challenge (4) | Challenge / D (daughter) + ARE (era, or long time, rising) |
Welcome, mc_rapper67, and congratulations on your first blog.
I should obviously have looked more carefully at the clue for 7d. I put the answer in with ‘kybosh’ – the way I’ve always spelt it – so I then had a problem with 18a which I hadn’t got on the first pass. The only word I could find to fit was ‘zoophyte’, an animal resembling a plant; no wonder I couldn’t see how it fitted the clue.
Otherwise it was fairly straightforward although it was a little while before the penny dropped for ‘concerto’, even knowing Klingsor usually includes a musical allusion or two.
Many thanks, mc_rapper67, for a great blog of a super puzzle.
I knew I was going to enjoy it as soon as I saw ‘Klingsor’ and the very first clue made me laugh out loud. ‘Or what?’ is just the kind of thing people say when they’re having a tantrum.
I had ticks against that one and 11, 12, 18,20, 21, 26ac and 8dn.
I loved the ‘lift and separate’ device in e.g. Emperor Hirohito and General Knowledge’s and the unobtrusive definitions in, for instance, 20 and 21ac and 8dn.
Very many thanks, Klingsor, as always.
What does ‘lift and separate device’ mean for you, Eileen?
Many thanks, mc_rapper67, for an amazingly detailed analysis of a puzzle which I found extremely difficult. I needed your explanation for RESIDE, which I got from LIVE without understanding ON AIR. Also for BARELY. I read British as BR seizing the head of assets, and was left wondering how on earth ELY equated to BANK… Ho hum. Can anyone tell me if BR and B can be used interchangeably for British?
Solving time: approx 2 hours. Not quite in your league!
I thought I knew, Paul B, but I’ve presumably got it wrong. I’m willing to be put right. 😉
Wanderer, Chambers has both ‘B’ and ‘Br’ as abbreviations for ‘British’.
Eileen and Paul B, googling for ‘Lift and Separate’ came up with this reference: http://www.lululemonblog.com/2009/02/lululemon-lift-and-separate-bra-review.html
A reference, then, to what setters often clue as ‘support’
In the context of 11a and 3d I can see an analogy with ‘separate’ in that to solve the clue you have to treat as separate two words that seem to go together. Not sure about ‘lift’, though.
Well, thank you, Allan_C. I saw the double entendre as soon as I’d posted and wished once more for a ‘delete’ button!
Thanks for the great début Indy blog, mc_rapper67, and Klingsor for another excellent puzzle, clues always read so well. I found this relatively easy for Klingsor, my favourites were BARELY, STICK OUT and WHISTLER.
‘Lift and separate’ goes back fifty odd years to a Playtex advertising campaign. http://www.enotes.com/marketing-campaign/playtex-apparel-inc
It’s possibly not a subject for discussion today though…
I do know what you’re talking about, sidey!
Thank you for a really comprehensive blog, mc_rapper67 (and a wowing 20min completion time to boot), and to Klingsor for a puzzle that was perhaps easier, but only by Prize standards.
Finally got there, with 18A TORTOISE the last one in, after I stopped thinking about peas, and then warfare, and the like. My favourites were 1A THROW A WOBBLY, always like those clue-ic answers, 11A CONCERTO with its seamless definition and wordplay, and 8D BETRAY, a clever misdirection with “newspaper article”.
On a lighter note, I always learn something new from these blogs: from Allan_C@7’s link, this new word: “smushing”. Sounds nicely onomatopoetic …. or at least poetic!
Thanks MC. This was a brilliant effort from Klingsor. It was ingenious and entertaining with my favourite being the Emperor Hirohito reference. Like MC, I had most trouble with the tortoise/smart intersection. I was going for porpoise/sharp but, even with my limited knowledge of animal biology, I decided that a shelled porpoise was most unlikely.
Thanks MC_rapper67 and of course Klingsor. Found this surprisingly gettable for prize crossword. Thanks all.
Hi mcrapper_67, back again after reading more closely your 4th column for the problematic 18A TORTOISE. I think the “out” sits better if the definition is only “One’s shelled” and the first TO is from “(ou)T (t)O finally”. Makes no difference to the answer of course, just an alternative reading.
Oops, sorry.about the underscore being in the wrong position.
Hi all – thanks for all the welcoming words and feedback.
On comment 15 – thanks scchua – that sounds more sensible than my convoluted parsing of TORTOISE – will update accordingly.
On comment 2 – I enjoyed Eileen’s new (to me!) technical term for the usage of ‘Emperor Hirohito’ – and thanks to Allan_C and sidey, for keeping us abreast of the situation…it won’t be mentioned again – cross-my-heart…(;+>)
Re ‘lift and separate’ as an adperson I’d seen it before, but in the context of cryptic crossword analysis I have been a-strugglin’.
However, there is this kind of see-wot-u-did-there thing compilers deploy, which is to try to disguise definitions by running ’em on into the SI. That’s what wily ole Klingsor has done in at least the two clues you mention Eileen (e.g. ‘general’ is in fact an entirely separate entity to ‘knowledge’), so I’m plumping for that.
Bon Tempi,
PB
Paul B
I’ve been doing some delving in the 15² archive and didn’t have to go too far back to find examples of bloggers using ‘lift and separate’:
Shuchi, blogging an FT Mudd puzzle on 7th January and an Alberich [Klingsor] on 12th November, along with John on 28th October, in a Klingsor [it’s definitely a trademark of his]. John attributes the term to ‘the great Mark Goodliffe’.
Pete Biddlecombe also used it when blogging a Nimrod on 18th December.
I see.