I don’t think I have blogged an eXternal puzzle before although I know he/she has produced puzzles for Independent on Sunday and the Inquisitor series in the Saturday Independent.
This seemed to me to be a puzzle where a bit of lateral thinking was required as the definitions were by no means straight dictionary definitons. They were all very fair definitions though.
I liked the surface of many clues with my favourites being those for RUSHDIE (given his need to withdraw from the social literary scene following the publication of The Satanic Verses), GUAM (with its strong American military connections), ROCKET SCIENTIST (linking television programmes), SMOKESTACK (juxtaposing a model and a designer), and finally, BEDHEAD (with its use of shock for hair).
The clue for ENTENTE might not find favour at a Ximenean convention but I enjoyed it.
If I have a quibble with the puzzle it is about the match between parts of speech used for the definiton and the entry. Is ‘silence’ really a definition of SHTUM? Does POLLUTANT mean ‘dirtier’ or ‘getting dirtier’? Afternote: Muffyword at comment 1 below makes the very valid point that ‘diriter’ should be read as ‘something that dirties’ and a POLLUTANT certainly does that.
I’m not a fisherman so BYCATCH was a new word for me today. The wordplay was very clear though. I just had to check that BYCATCH was a word in its own right.
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Across |
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| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
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1
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Upstart cut short rendezvous after knock-back (7)
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(RAP [knock] reversed [back]) + (VENUE [rendezvous] excluding the final letter [cut short] E) PAR< VENU |
PARVENU (upstart)
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5
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Author‘s career to come to an end (7)
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RUSH (career) + DIE (come to an end)
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RUSHDIE (reference Salman RUSHDIE, British Indian novelist)
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9
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With it, detectives follow clue extremists left behind (5)
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LU ( CLUE excluding the outside letters [extremists left behind] C and E) + CID (Criminal Investigation Department; detectives)
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LUCID (intellectually bright; with it)
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10
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Sit up after python goes to pot for charmer (9)
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Anagram of (goes to pot) PYTHON + an anagram of (up) SIT HYPNOT* IST* |
HYPNOTIST (charmer)
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11
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Posh bird in cinema’s items to play with (4)
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U (upper-class; posh) + KES (reference the 1969 film [cinema] KES, directed by Ken Loach, about a boy and a kestrel)
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UKES (ukuleles; items to play [music] with)
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12
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Jet-setter‘s relatives regularly squeezed by bank clerk (9)
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RAV (letters 1, 4 and 7 [regularly] of RELATIVES) contained in (squeezed by) TELLER (bank clerk) T (RAV) ELLER |
TRAVELLER (jet-setter)
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14
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Wrong to get into bath spilling alcoholic drink (7)
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SIN (wrong) contained in (to get into) an anagram of (spilling) BATH AB (SIN) TH |
ABSINTH (a bitter, green, aniseed-flavoured liqueur)
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15
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Harmony from trio of entertainers seen two to three times (7)
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ENT (these three [trio] letters each occur 2 or 3 times within the word ENTERTAINERS) + ENT (the second occurrence of these three letters) + E (the one letter of the three that occurs 3 times)
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ENTENTE (common understanding; agreement; harmony)
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17
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Revolutionary widget with German investment caught on (7)
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Anagram of (revolutionary) WIDGET containing (with … investment) G (German) TWI (G) GED either G could be the one contained |
TWIGGED (understood; caught on)
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19
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Unplanned victims of netting, how might cricketers get out? (7)
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BY CATCH (a cricketer could be dismissed BY means of a CATCH)
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BYCATCH (immature fish, etc caught [in the net] along with the desired catch)
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20
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Sterile and extremely dire protest when overturned (9)
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(DE [first and last letters of {extremely} DIRE] + SIT IN (demonstration {demo}] + AS [when]) all reversed (overturned) (SA NI TIS ED)< |
SANITISED (sterile)
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21
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Island base for choppers invaded by America (4)
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GUM (the firm fleshy tissue that surrounds the bases of the teeth [choppers]) containing (invaded by) A (America) GU (A) M |
GUAM (island in the Pacific Ocean)
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23
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Tyrannosaurus Rex in lea openly starts to eat prehistoric creature (9)
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TRILO (first letters of [starts to] each of TYRANNOSAURUS REX IN LEA OPENLY) + BITE (eat)
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TRILOBITE (fossil arthropod; prehistoric creature)
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24
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External network device failing to start (5)
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ROUTER (communications device on a network) excluding the first letter (failing to start) R
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OUTER (external)
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25
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Spaniard that fights Frenchman’s a little yellow (7)
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M (monsieur; French man) + A + TAD (small amount; little) + OR (the tincture yellow)
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MATADOR (the man who klls the bull in bullfights; Spaniard that fights)
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26
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Right Reverend, extra large trousered (7)
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DEXTRAL (hidden word in [trousered] REVEREND EXTRA LARGE)
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DEXTRAL (right)
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| Down | |||
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1
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River, one agriculturalist brought up with conservationists, getting dirtier (9) |
PO (reference River Po in Italy) + (A [one] + TULL [reference Jethro TULL{1674 – 1741} pioneering English agriculturalist]) reversed (brought up; down clue) + NT (National Trust; conservationists]) PO (LLUT A)< NT |
POLLUTANT ([a substance] causing poluttion; getting dirtier)
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2
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Mastermind rescheduled, test cricket is on (6,9)
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Anagram of (rescheduled) TEST CRICKET IS ON
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ROCKET SCIENTIST (extremely clever person; mastermind)
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3
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Lead sinks in ship designs (4)
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SEND (ship) with the first letter (lead) S moving down the word in the grid (sinks) ENDS |
ENDS (designs)
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4
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Free meal, excluding starter, overwhelming success (7)
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LUNCH (meal) excluding the first letter (excluding starter) L containing (overwhelming) HIT (success) UN (HIT) CH |
UNHITCH (free)
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5
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Prince wearing tie once more to succeed (7)
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P (prince) contained in (wearing) RE-LACE (tie once more) RE (P) LACE |
REPLACE (succeed)
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6
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Extravagant Kate Moss gets designer chimney (10)
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Anagram of (extravagant) KATE MOSS + CK (Calvin Klein, designer) SMOKESTA* CK |
SMOKESTACK (chimney)
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7
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Routine job to bore teacher (5,10)
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DRILL (bore) + INSTRUCTOR (teacher)
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DRILL INSTRUCTOR (a job that focuses on training people to perform a routine)
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8
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Go into medical field seen on US hospital drama (5)
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ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat – a field of medicine) + ER (an American [US] hospital television drama)
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ENTER (go into)
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13
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Rank criminal after bishop’s neighbour (10)
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KNIGHT (on a chess board, a KNIGHT is placed next to a BISHOP at the start of a game; bishop’s neighbour) + HOOD (violent criminal [slang])
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KNIGHTHOOD (rank)
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16
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Short-lived ecstasy on her ample bust (9)
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E (ecstasy [tablet]) + an anagram of (bust) HER AMPLE E PHEMERAL* |
EPHEMERAL (short-lived)
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18
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First of injections in bum is brief (7)
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I (first letter of [first of] INJECTIONS) contained in (in) DOSSER (vagrant; bum) DOSS (I) ER |
DOSSIER (set of documents; brief)
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19
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Nasty shock having died in guillotine (7)
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D (died) contained in (in) BEHEAD (guillotine) BE (D) HEAD |
BEDHEAD (dishevelled appearance of hair after sleeping, also known as bed hair; nasty shock [of hair])
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20
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Heartlessly hunt in total silence (5)
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HT (HUNT excluding the middle letters [heartlessly]) contained in (in) SUM (total) S (HT) UM |
SHTUM (silent; silence) I’m not sure that SHTUM is the same part of speech as SILENCE. Perhaps they can both be used as interjections meaning ‘Be quiet!’
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22
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Persuade crew member to accept amateur (4)
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COX (crew member) containing (to accept) A (amateur) CO (A) X |
COAX (persuade)
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Thanks for the blog, Duncan and to eXternal for what I found to be a nicely off-beat crossword.
Re POLLUTANT – isn’t “dirtier” used as a noun for the definition – something that dirties?
Muffyword @ 1
Fair point about ‘dirtier’ – I’ll update the blog. Thanks
I enjoyed this puzzle by eXternal. The clues I liked were 9a, 6d, 5a, 15a, 2d & 3d (last in) and my favourites were 16d EPHEMERAL, 25a MATADOR & 19d BEDHEAD.
New words for me were TRILOBITE & BY-CATCH.
Thanks for the blog, Duncan. I needed your help to parse 21a & 11a.
Young eXternal is definitely a He! Another fine puzzle by him – lots to smile at and a particularly sneakily hidden word in 26a.
Thanks to him for the entertainment and Duncan for the blog.
A couple of years ago Anax told me that a crossword should ideally be built around six or seven stand-out clues – at least then it would be taken seriously.
Well, in eXternal’s second offering I ticked more than ten clues as being exceptionally good.
As I said on his debut, I like the neatness of his cluing style.
Very precise, no padding, yet sticking out his neck at times.
15ac (ENTENTE) is an example of that. Nice (and novel)!
While my own style relates more to setters like Rorschach, Donk and Tramp, I enjoyed this tremendously – a real asset to the Indy stable.
5ac (RUSHDIE) may be simple but the clue is eXtremely natural.
The two anagram clues at 2d and 6d are magnificent.
In my opinion, eXternal is very good at incorporating cryptic devices (and definitions too, like in 19d) into fine surfaces, putting them in one great melting pot.
In 20d: “in total silence”, how good is that?
And the Right Reverend thing in 26ac is of Klingsorian beauty.
In 3d’s ENDS nothing seems to be what it actually is – great clue.
But my CoD is 4d (UNHITCH).
Breathtaking, near perfect.
No pangram, no Nina as far as I can see.
But that is all irrelevant when a puzzle is good as this one today!
Many thanks for the blog, Duncan.
The only minor quibble I had was the use of ‘up’ as an anagram indicator in 10ac, but that might just be me. Overall an excellent puzzle in which the LHS fell into place much faster than the RHS. The BYCATCH/BEDHEAD crossers held me up for a while, as did REPLACE/ENTENTE which were my last two in.
Can’ t see why UP is a problem. I always go for the ‘under repair ‘ meaqning arther than the ‘wrtong’ or ‘amiss’ one.
Interesting to read Sil van den Hoek’s analysis @5. Such a dissection of what’s going on is beyond my ability, but on reading it it helps me to understand just why I thoroughly enjoyed eXternal’s puzzle. I often have a tendency to hit the reveal button far too soon so that I can get on with other things, but I really wanted to work out the stickers (11 and 15 were my last in and parsed) – I was sure it would be worth the effort, and it was. Now I’m wasting more of my day by posting here, but the puzzle and blog both deserve a big thank you.
Impossible to have a favourite clue, but my Groan of the Day was MATADOR, and the biggest penny dropper was UKES.
Thanks eXternal for a very enjoyable puzzle and Duncan for the blog. What I think is really good about this puzzle is the way that so many words have completely different meanings in the cryptic and surface readings – “choppers” in 21ac for example.
20dn: I had no problem with this, taking shtum as a valid shortening of keep shtum.
15ac: No problem in working out the answer here, but I am not completely convinced as to what the intended wordplay is. Is it just the first three letters of “entertainers” repeated more than twice, but less than three times, or is it a partial anagram of “entertainers”, selecting three letters that occur two to three times in the word, with “trio of” telling us to use the Es, Ns, and Ts, but not the Rs?
My first experience with solving an eXternal puzzle – I assumed it was an Indy dayboo, but apparently not.
This was a delight to solve – all clearly clued and some humour in there as well. I was okay with ENTENTE; bit of a liberty, but hey … everything else was pretty much by the book. Some delightful surfaces and contemporary references too. I was looking for a favourite clue today but realised that there were too many candidates.
Bravo, eXternal; I could handle some more of these. And thank you as always to Duncan for the comprehensive blog.
Superb puzzle and superb blog – thanks to setter and blogger.
K’s D @ 10: I think this is eXternal’s first appearance in a weekday puzzle. This was certainly only my second encounter, and I’m pretty sure the first was in an IoS puzzle.
I think this is eXternal’s second appearance in the Indy, the first being on Sunday 5 May this year in the IoS. Re UP as an anagram indicator, one of the meanings given in Chambers is ‘in an excited state’.
Cracking stuff from eXternal. His frequent hogging of DIY COW top places show he’s a very fine clue-jockey.
I’ve always been happy with (the very useful for setters) UP, although I tend to equate it slightly differently to nms’s version; for me, I just think of “What’s up? / What’s wrong?”. Keeps me happy anyway!
I completely agree with the sentiments about the quality of UNHITCH – superb clue. I also liked PARVENU and DOSSIER, the latter having the most obvious of constructions yet it took me ages to get!
Thanks
A cracker no doubt, was for a while buggered up on 4d and hence NE corner by seeing WIN in (l)UNCH for UNWINCH which looked like free to me. bah oh well. Some great stuff eXternal, thanks for the blog Duncan.
One of those puzzles where the simplest clues are sometimes the hardest to get. 3 and 5 held me up for ages whereas I got trilobite, matador and even ukes relatively quickly. The only one I didn’t feel happy with is 7 – why is a drill instructor a routine job? Surely the teacher is the drill instructor, in which case why does “routine job to bore” give you drill + instructor. Obviously, I’m misunderstanding it, but couldn’t quite see how it works from the blog either.
Thanks to those of you who gave me some feedback on ‘up’. Fair enough.
Flashing@15 – I also had UNWINCH in for a while but took it out when I couldn’t make 10ac and 12ac work.
By the way Duncan, and this applies to all the bloggers on this site, I do appreciate the great job you all do, but my initial exposure to blogs of this nature was Times for the Times in which the bloggers are never thanked for their efforts, and I just fell into the same habit.
Very well written blog, thanks Duncan. ENTENTE proved a pig to clue, so I had to do a bit of freestyling in the end.
NealH @ 16 I think you make a valid point and I’m not entirely happy with the clue for DRILL INSTRUCTOR, I suppose drill instruction is the job and drill instructor is the job title.
Nevertheless, glad it seems to have been a crowd-pleaser. Hope to be back soon.
Just completed the puzzle – we also had UNWINCH for a while.
We agree with the comments above – some clever clueing that got us thinking.
We look forward to the next one. Thanks eXternal.
Thanks also to Duncan.
Thank you so much for the explanations i often get the right answer but cant see why its right ill be calling in again tomorrow