A relatively rare beast this week… a new EV setter, in the guise of Gaston. Obviously I had no idea whether to expect a toughie or an easy puzzle. I’m going to assume it’s fairly straightforward and let time tell whether I’m right or not.
The clues didn’t have any extra letters or words to deal with, just a couple of letters to be dropped from an unspecified number of answers before entry in the diagram. Nothing too strenuous, then.
In fact, the puzzle turned out to be a tad trickier than I initially thought. 12 EASEL, 13 MEAT and 15 A DEUX meant that I was off to a good start, but all the unlcued entries, not to mention the tough letter-dropping answers, slowed things down a bit. For me, the first thematic entry I got was BLOFELD, after which a bit of thought enabled most of the other characters, and A VODKA MARTINI, to be slotted in. Not having heard of Jaffa as a cricketing term delayed my getting JAWS.
Although I had already solved BROOCH at 35ac, for which only BRCH fitted with the other entries in the grid, I was remiss in not seeing the OO7 allusion immediately. Once Blofeld was solved, everything became clear, and the seven clues with OO were then fairly straightforward. There were, of course, seven villains and/or henchmen in the final grid.
All that remained was to erase one entry from the grid. Bond’s drink across the middle, A VODKA MARTINI, always SHAKEN, NOT STRIRRED, had me rub out STIRRED in the bottom left corner.
So, all in all, a nice puzzle from Gaston, and just time to mention a clue from Don Manley’s Crossword Manual — 014 (6,5)**.
Legend:
Definition in clue
[XX] = Letters removed from clue answers
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden
| ACROSS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Entry | Clue and Explanation | |
| SHAKEN | Unclued, first word of phrase SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED | ||
| BLOFELD | Unclued, James Bond supervillain, head of SPECTRE, appearing in several of the Bond books and films | ||
| 9 | HECATE | Tom has energy, but is a sinister goddess (6) HE CAT (Tom) + E (energy) |
|
| 10 | OUTBAR | Banish chap from Johannesburg having clobbered brat (6) OU (chap from Johannesburg) + BRAT* |
|
| DR NO | Unclued, James Bond villain from the book of the same name | ||
| 12 | EASEL | Possibly lease a frame (5) LEASE* |
|
| 13 | MEAT | Gaston having a bit of a kip? It’s food for thought! (4) ME (Gaston, the setter) + AT (part of a Kip, Thai currency) |
|
| 14 | P[OO]NAC | After awkward situation down under, is able to return for cake (4) POO (awkward situation in Australia) + CAN< (is able) |
|
| 15 | A DEUX | Nowadays earl and wife are together in Paris (5, two words) AD (nowadays) + E (earl) + UX (wife) |
|
| 16 | PR[OO]FREAD | Look closely at the animal’s stomach expert? (7) PRO OF READ (expert of animal’s stomach!) |
|
| 17 | CACTI | Rubbish match, you say? Prickly subject! (5) CAC (sounds like KACK (rubbish) TIE (match)) |
|
| 20 | JAFFA | Good delivery from Israel? (5) 2 meanings, well-bowled ball and place in Israel |
|
| A VODKA MARTINI | Unclued, James Bond’s favourite tipple | ||
| 26 | TUFTS | Shows displeasure about fellow titled undergraduates (5) TUTS (shows displeasure) around F (fellow) |
|
| 28 | SLIER | Lies about king being more cunning (5) LIES* + R (king) |
|
| 30 | WHIFFET | Dog’s very loud not very quiet — a real whippersnapper! (7) WHIPPET (dog) with FF (very loud) replaced by PP (very quiet) |
|
| 32 | MILCH | Old, nearly worthless coin taken to church for giving sustenance (5) MIL (old worthless coin) + CH (church) |
|
| 34 | LAIC | The French in charge of those who aren’t clergy (4) LA (the, French) + IC (in charge) |
|
| 35 | BR[OO]CH | Clasp little brother with show of impatience in Perth … (4) BRO (little brother) + OCH (show of impatience, Scotland) |
|
| SPANG | Unclued, James Bond villainous brothers, Jack and Seraffimo, from Diamonds Are Forever | ||
| 36 | SPAE | … and in Ayr foretell the odds on hospital department (4) SP (the odds, Starting Price) + AE (hospital department, A&E) |
|
| 37 | ANGELA | Woman‘s style in stories (6) GEL (style) in ANA (stories) |
|
| 38 | MERINO | E minor played for member of Pastoral scene (6) (E MINOR)* |
|
| STIRRED | Unclued, third word from phrase SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED and erased from final grid | ||
| ODDJOB | Unclued, James Bond character, henchman to the eponymous Goldfinger | ||
| DOWN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Entry | Clue and Explanation | |
| 1 | SHAMP[OO] | Clean fake in a sorry condition, mostly (5) SHAM (fake) + POO[R] (in a sorry condition, mostly) |
|
| 2 | HEDERA | Man had a long time to produce ivy (6) HE (man) + D (had) + ERA (a long time) |
|
| 3 | KART | Transport a thousand pictures (4) K (a thousand) + ART (pictures) |
|
| 4 | NEONATAL | A lot organised with Anne to do with the new arrival (8) (A LOT + ANNE)* |
|
| 5 | BREADS | Second-rate books for foods (6) B (second-rate) + READS (books) |
|
| 6 | LOACH | Fish are trapped in lake (5) A (are) in (LOCH (lake) |
|
| 7 | F[OO]TED | Returned as well and ate outside? Paid for it! (4) TOO< (as well) in FED (ate) |
|
| 8 | LAPUTAN | Wrote a number at end of note? Ridiculous! (7) PUT (wrote) A N (number) after LA (note) |
|
| DRAX | Uncclued, Sir Hugo Drax, James Bond villain from Moonraker | ||
| 11 | DAFFODILS | William’s host slipped up about losing right to consent (9) SLID< (slipped) about AFFORD (consent) – R (right); reference to William Blake’s poem Daffodils |
|
| LE CHIFFRE | Unclued, James Bond villain from Casino Royale | ||
| 14 | PEAKS | Reaches a high point but droops (5) 2 meanings |
|
| 18 | ACTU | Trade union group‘s actually short of a partner (4) ACTUALLY – ALLY (partner) |
|
| 19 | IRIS | ‘Teacher, I stand up for her‘ (4) (SIR (teacher) + I)< |
|
| JAWS | Unclued, James Bond henchman in the films The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker | ||
| 21 | F[OO]DIE | Kitchen connoisseur saw cricket match in enemy surroundings (4) IDO (one-day international, cricket match) in FOE (enemy) |
|
| 22 | MACHISMO | When there’s a boom important doctor shows male pride (8) MACH I (mach one, when there’s a sonic boom) + SMO (Senior Medical Officer) |
|
| 23 | ARTIC | Flexible transport brought up almost all lemon essence (5) CITRA[L] (lemon essence, almost) |
|
| 24 | VALIANT | Brave to be against the greatest soldier, perhaps (7) V (against) + ALI (Muhammad, the greatest) + ANT (soldier) |
|
| 25 | SWAGED | Society paid and shaped metal (6) S (society) + WAGED (paid) |
|
| 27 | TECHNO | College finished with Moving On Up music? (6) TECH (college) + NO< (on, up); finished with = coming after |
|
| 29 | ULNAE | Odd link in the Middle East produces bones (5) LN (LiNk, odd) in UAE (Middle East); although UAE is only part of the Middle East |
|
| 31 | THROB | Pin-up loses heart and gets beat (5) HEART-THROB (pin-up) – HEART |
|
| 32 | MOAS | A short time being old birds (4) MO (a short time) + AS (being) |
|
| 33 | C[OO]PER | Maker of containers for ship supplying fishermen’s booze? (4) 2 meanings |
|
| 35 | BARD | Back dreary Shakespeare, perhaps (4) DRAB< (dreary) |
|
** DOUBLE AGENT
I’m glad that you enjoyed the puzzle, Dave. For reference, five setters have made their EV debut in just the last four months (Artix, Poat, Stick Insect, Ferret and Gaston). At the time of writing, there are a further half dozen or so debutants expected to appear by the end of 2014.
I think the most notable thing about Gaston is that he’s an entirely new setter. Artix, Stick Insect and Ferret have been setting in other outlets since 2010, and Poat is a long=established setter, whose puzzles go back to before I was born!
Gaston, as I said, seems to be genuinely new to this game. Once again it seems appropriate to mention the loss of some old setters in Syd Lexis (although I understand he has a few more in the pipeline), Radix, Rustic/ Mr Lemon… the passing of the old generation. Let us hope that Gaston and the other debutants/ fairly new setters form an equally talented new generation of compilers.
Thanks, Samuel. Jaguar’s comment is what I really had in mind, and I too look forward to more up-and-coming setters in the future.
You’re right – completely new setters are a comparative rarity, which is a shame. The figures quoted above do include some true debutants, however 🙂