Oh here we go – a new setter – straight in at the prize slot – we’re in trouble now.
Bound to be someone as tricky as a troop of tamarins, keen to challenge the Nimrods and Anaxes (Anaxi?) to the title of toughest terrier in t’indy.
But no. What’s this. Clues slotting in without too much fadoodle. Fan club and Fred Flintstone are found fast, and without too much fuss I find myself filling in Fifty Shades … Phew. An enjoyable solve with lots of interesting clue devices but nothing too difficult – which is a welcome change for the Prize puzzle in my opinion (thinking of those I get to blog) – but then I was stuck on one last silly little answer (26D) that I had to come back to later – I needed a break to shake the image of Marat in his bath from my imagination.
Pretty impressive for a first puzzle in one of the big papers. This will not be the last time we see Mr H in the Indy. It has the hallmark of someone who has set a few puzzles in his time.
And he has! He is a regular contributor to the “Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle” (NTSPP) series at Big Dave’s Telegraph Solving Blog site which has grown to a substantial body of work over the years.
[I understand Hieroglyph might also appear at the occasional crosswording bash, like the one in Holborn today.]
Theme is at 24: James, in various guises: Saint, Writer, Hero (fictional), Author[ess], and used in wordplay. I quickly got 10/16 “The Turn of the Screw” which was a bit of a giveaway for 24 [Henry] James, and for a while I was trying to recall other Henry James works that might fit (5,6,2,4). Indeed it was solving the appropriate (FAD ORGY FETISHES +FY)* anagram that lead to the realisation there was more than one James involved (thankfully, none of them were James Bellamy).
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 6 | APOSTLE | Send drink outside – 24, for one? (7) POST (send) inside ALE (drink) Ref Saint James, one of the 12. |
| 7 | FAN CLUB | Devotees flying Cuban flag, half-cut (3,4) (CUBAN FL[ag])* AInd: Flying |
| 9 | BADGE | Mark reeling in, for example, fish (5) E.G. (for example) DAB (fish) all reversed (reeling in) |
| 10/16 | THE TURN OF THE SCREW | Redraw 24’s work? (3,4,2,3,5) REDRAW Reversed = WARDER Slang for Screw – it is a “reversed clue” where the answer is a clue to the wordplay. Ref. The Ghost Story by Henry James. Having seen this early on so 24A was a giveaway. |
| 11 | TIGHTEN | Tense night-time adventures – I’m out of there! (7) (NIGHT TIME – I’M)* AInd: Adventures |
| 13 | HASSLE | Lashes out in quarrel (6) LASHES* AInd: out |
| 15/22 | FIFTY SHADES OF GREY | 24’s work sparks fad: orgy fetishes in extremely fancy surroundings (5,6,2,4) (FAD ORGY FETISHES)* AInd: Sparks, inside F[anc]Y I had to take care with the anagram to decide how to spell gray/grey. Ref. the phenomenally (weirdly) successful book by E.L. James |
| 19 | HIT MEN | Offers cryptic hint about setter? (3,3) HINT* AInd: cryptic, around ME (setter) Def. Offers in that Hit Men “off” (kill) people |
| 20 | COMPETE | Jockey‘s finished shedding pounds (7) COMPLETE – L. Def. is Jockey as a verb, as in e.g. “jockey for position” |
| 23 | SINECURES | Livings suspiciously secure, post-transgression (9) SECURE* AInd: suspiciously, after SIN (transgression) |
| 24 | JAMES | Australian critic‘s spread on El Salvador? (5) JAM (spread) ES = El Salvador plus reference to Clive James, Australian critic. |
| 26 | CONNERY | 24/1 actor‘s trick: conclusively learn some lines (7) CON (trick) [lear]N [som]E RY (lines) 24/1 = James Bond. |
| 27 | INVERTS | Turns up wearing green trousers at the end (7) IN (wearing) VERT (green) [trouser]S |
| Down | ||
| 1/2 | BOND STREET | Unmade beds to rent in West End locale (4,6) (BEDS TO RENT)* AInd: Unmade |
| 3 | PETTINESS | Beauty queen’s missing small-minded characteristic (9) PRETTINESS – R |
| 4 | INCUBATE | Hatch cabinet revolt with unionist leader (8) (CABINET U[nionist])* AInd: revolt |
| 6 | ABBOTS | Religious sorts depositing Old Testaments at a bed and breakfast (6) A B [&] B (Bed and Breakfast) OTS (Old Testaments) |
| 7/5 | FRED FLINTSTONE | Bedrock character‘s dense – lift front away (4,10) (DENSE LIFT FRONT)* AInd: Away |
| 8 | BUFFET | Batter cold meats, etc. (6) Double Def |
| 12 | GLISTENING | To eavesdrop between governments is flashy (10) LISTEN IN (to eavesdrop) inside G G (Governments) |
| 14 | SARCASTIC | Scornful and dreadfully crass about a nervous twitch (9) CRASS* AInd: |
| 17 | PHYSIC | Wholesome chips, fried with the last bit of gravy (6) (CHIPS [grav]Y)* AInd: fried. Early on I pencilled in the Y at the end of this light from the “last bit of” wordplay, assuming Y would be in its usual position at the end of the word – which stopped me getting this and 26 till near the end. |
| 18 | VERSES | Said to be against poetry (6) Homophone Versus |
| 21 | MOJAVE | 24’s first two characters travel around the desert (6) JA[mes] inside MOVE (travel). Solved from the definition – wordplay came while blogging |
| 25 | MARX | Revolutionary calendar finally adopted by Robespierre (à ses amis!) (4) [calenda]R inside MAX. Maximilien de Robespierre would be known as MAX by his buddies. (Well he would be wouldn’t he.) Last answer. This had me stumped for ages. I knew we were looking for a Revolutionary, and I even essentially had the wordplay, but was thinking it would be a French Revolutionary and couldn’t get Marat out of my head. |
I took this with me on a short trip into London last Saturday, thinking I’d probably only make a start but read a magazine for most of the journey. Then surprised myself by getting most of it in the remaining ten minutes into Waterloo, and surprised myself even more by completing it on the tube long before I got to my destination. For me, the easiest Saturday puzzle for a long time. Which was nice.
Thanks, beermagnet. I very seldom do the Indy Saturday Prize (too damn hard, frankly) but I was staying with friends last weekend and was sent to buy their paper while the breakfast was being cooked. Since they read The Mail I took the opportunity to buy the Indy so I could hide The Mail inside it on the way back (I have standards, I’ll have you know …)
I guessed it was a new setter, and I must say I thought this was an enjoyable puzzle with an interesting theme. Thanks for explaining TURN OF THE SCREW – clever. My only slip up was entering CHER for 25dn (well, it kind of works). Otherwise when I twigged FIFTY SHADES OF GREY was a different JAMES the rest went in smoothly.
Thanks to Hieroglyph – fine debut.
A smooth and pleasant solve, with some delightful moments (e.g., 10/16 — even though it went in from the enumeration, parsing brought a smile). I do hope, though, Mr. Hieroglyph will feel free to be a bit more challenging next time, especially of a Saturday.
Only other minor quibble is 18d. Does anyone in any region pronounce the last letters of verses and versus the same? I think not.
Thanks to blogger an setter.
Ian @3 They certainly sounded the same in my head as I did the puzzle, and thinking about it, they still sound the same. Except that the more I think, the less sure I am about how either word is pronounced.
As far as I know, a pluralising final S is always pronounced like a Z.
Sorry — except after c, f, k, p or t, of course. Anyway, “ver-suss” and “ver-sez” don’t sound alike, though I suppose they are similar enough within the realm of crosswords as a sort of literary fiction homophone. (In fact, I think I’ve seen this same “homophone” in a clue before.)
Entertaining, especially once the multiple Jameses emerged.
3D I think small-minded should be underlined as well. The wordplay in 14D is CRASS* about A + TIC and the AInd is “dreadfully”.
Thanks and welcome to Hieroglyph, thanks to beermagnet.
As others have said, a good first Indy puzzle from Hieroglyph. I didn’t start off too quickly but once I had a few answers the rest fell into place without too much trouble.
I put in THE TURN OF THE SCREW from the definition and only saw the wordplay a minute or so later, and I didn’t bother to parse FIFTY SHADES OF GREY once I had enough checkers in place. The way “offers” is used in the clue for 19ac was in another puzzle very recently so didn’t hold me up, although it is clever. MARX was my LOI.
gwep at 7: Thanks. Blog tweaked.
Ian@6 I think in my mind I pronounce both vers-is, with the ‘i’ very short. But I must admit I do find trying to analyse how I think I sound rather difficult.
Oddly, I didn’t twig 24ac at first, and it was only when I unscrambled the anagram for 15/22 and had to google for the author’s name (such was my ignorance) that I really got started – but then everything fell into place quite quickly. Although I couldn’t see the parsing of 10/16.
Thanks to Hieroglyph and beermagnet.
A warm welcone to Hieroglyph and thanks for an amusing Saturday debut puzzle – it was good meeting you at the Crossword Centenerary yesterday. We look forward to more of your puzzles in the future!
Thanks beermagnet for the blog.
Welcome Hieroglyph, some lovely stuff here, and many congrats.
Nice to see Donk sent the wrong way by henry James!
Many thanks for your comments and to Beermagnet for the review. I’m delighted to have snuck in to the first century of crosswords by the skin of my teeth. Hope to be back before long!