It’s Tuesday today, with its typical pot pourri of compilers, and today it falls for me to do battle with Hob.
I found solving and blogging this puzzle involved quite a lot of work, with the parsing causing something of a headache. However, I think I have sorted things out to my own satisfaction with the exception of the following, where input from others would be welcome: why is there an A at the beginning of 13; and what purpose does “from south” serve in 16, unless it indicates that the “x” is to be put beneath “Malcolm”?
Overall, I rather liked the idea of collecting together in one puzzle names containing a single letter or digit, and although royalty was an obvious source, some of the others kept me guessing. Indeed, 22A was new to me as a singer, as were 25 and 26D, where I used Google to find the answers and then used the wordplay to confirm. Incidentally, I didn’t know 12 but there worked back from wordplay to answer.
My favourite clues today were 9 and 11 for overall construction, flair and cheekiness, as well as 12 for its humorous surface. I also liked the way that the references to e.g. monarchs and beheading performed different roles in the puzzle, cropping up in answers and clues (definition and wordplay) alike.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 09 | NUMBER ONE | Tinkle some piano ivories
Hidden (“some”), at least in abbreviated form, in “piaNO 1vories”, i.e. No 1 = number one; a tinkle, wee, pee, etc is a number one in the lavatorial sense, as opposed to a number two! |
| 10 | INEPT | Beginning to exercise in home gym is useless
E<xercise> (“beginning to” means first letter only) in [IN (=(at)home) + PT (=gym, i.e. physical training)] |
| 11 | PEEVISH | 15 = 9 + 6 (keep it quiet!)
TESTY (=entry at 15) = PEE (=number one, i.e. entry at 9) + VI (=6, i.e. in Roman numerals) + SH (=keep it quiet!) |
| 12 | VIAGRAN | Aging playboy having his way in Rome with relatively old woman
VIA (=way in Rome, i.e. Latin for way, road) + GRAN (= “relatively” old woman, i.e. elderly female relative); this word is not in Chambers, but it is in the online Urban dictionary, doubtless derived from the performance-enhancing drug Viagra! |
| 13 | RATTY | A Mole’s friend // is 11
Double definition: RATTY is Mole’s friend in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows AND peevish (=entry at 11) |
| 14 | RETRIEVER | Dog // rescuer
Double definition |
| 16 | MAÎTRE D | Old woman has sex with wine waiter
MA (=old woman) + IT (=sex, as in to do it) + RED (=wine) |
| 18 | SKETCHY | Cast includes king “and the rest”? That’s rather vague!
[K (=king, i.e. in cards, chess) + ETC (= “and the rest”)] in SHY (=cast, i.e. throw) |
| 20 | LEISURELY | Laid-back Moldovan’s ready in a certain way
LEI (=Moldovan’s ready, i.e. unit of currency) + SURELY (=in a certain way) |
| 22 | PLAN B | Pair of notes held by lead singer?
[LA + N (=pair of notes, i.e. la from music and N from N.B)] in Pb (=lead, i.e. chemical formula); the reference is to English rapper, singer-songwriter Plan B, aka Ben Drew |
| 24 | OPHIDIA | Snakes holed up in ideal state (not Utah)
HID (=holed up) in <ut>OPIA (=ideal state; “not Utah (=UT)” means letters “ut” are dropped) |
| 26 | INSULIN | Hormone containing ions? Squillions, oddly
I<o>N<s> S<q>U<i>L<l>I<o>N<s> (“oddly” means odd letters only are used) |
| 27 | MIMIR | Norse god beheaded by Puccini’s tragic heroine? Right!
MIMI (=Puccini’s tragic heroine, i.e. from La bohème) + R; the Norse god Mimir was beheaded in mythology, his head subsequently being carried around by Odin for wise counsel! |
| 28 | IDEALISTS | They’d only have the bestLadies’ toilets at first out in Iceland*(LADIES + T<oilets> (“at first” means initial letter only) in IS (=Iceland, as IVR); “out” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | SNIPER | Undercover gunman cut the woman’s head off
SNIP (=cut) + <h>ER (=the woman’s; “head off” means first letter dropped) |
| 02 | UMBERTO I | King losing head, perhaps 100 to 1
<n>UMBER (=perhaps 100; “losing head” means first letter dropped) + TO + I (=1); Umberto I was King of Italy from 1878 to 1900 |
| 03 | EERILY | Edward I is buried in cathedral city, weirdly
ER I (=Edward I) in ELY (=cathedral city) |
| 04 | TOC-H | Christian society closed by church
TO (=closed, i.e. of door) + CH (=church); Toc-H was a society formed after WWI in the spirit of comradeship and Christian fellowship |
| 05 | LEO V | One who pontificated offers nothing after point is raised
LOVE (=nothing, i.e. in tennis); “after point – E for East – is raised” means letter “e” moves to a higher position in the word; Leo V – “one who pontificated” – was Pope from 903-4 |
| 06 | VITAMIN E | Sex in Rome, thanks to setter’s tocopherol
VI (=sex in Rome, i.e. the Latin for six) + TA (=thanks to) + MINE (=setter’s) |
| 07 | HENRY V | King very upset with Noah? Extremely!
*(VERY + N<oa>H (“extremely” means first and last letters only); “upset” is anagram indicator; Henry V occupied the English throne from 1386-1422 |
| 08 | STINGRAY | Fools around with Uncle Sam’s mixture of black and white fish
STIN (NITS=fools; “around” indicates reversal) + GRAY (=Uncle Sam’s mixture of black and white, i.e. US spelling of grey) |
| 14 | RIDGE | English king carrying princess over long, thin hilltop
DI (=English princess) in [E (=English) + GR (=king, i.e. George Rex)]; “over” indicates (here full) reversal |
| 15 | TESTY | Cross two northern rivers, striking out E in one and NE in the other
TE<e>S + TY<ne> (=two northern rivers; “striking out E in one and NE in other” means the letters “e” and “ne” and dropped from their respective rivers) |
| 16 | MALCOLM X | Activist from south of King’s Cross
MALCOLM (=King, i.e. in Shakespeare’s Macbeth) + X (=cross, e.g. on ballot paper); the reference is to African-American human rights activist Malcolm X (1925-65) |
| 17 | ROUNDERS | King got in lots of rounds, being game
ER (=king, i.e. Edward Rex) in ROUNDS (= “lots”– i.e. batches – of drinks) |
| 19 | CHARLES I | King losing head, hence life-force, outside French city
ARLES (=French city) in CHI (=life-force, i.e. in Chinese medicine); Charles I ruled England from 1625 to his execution in 1649 |
| 21 | INHUME | Bury popular philosopher
IN (=popular) + HUME (=philosopher, i.e. the Scot David Hume) |
| 22 | PESTLE | Slept badly, with drug seizure something crushing?
E (=drug, i.e. Ecstasy) in *(SLEPT); “badly” is anagram indicator |
| 23 | BANISH | Exile from Urban I’s homeland?
Hidden (“from) in “UrBAN IS Homeland” |
| 25 | ALI G | Da West Staines Massif boss drops wingers from Spanish league
<l>A LIG<a> (=Spanish league, i.e. in football); “dropping wingers” means first and last letters dropped; the satirical fictional TV character Ali G is head of Da West Staines Massiv gang |
| 26 | ICE-T | Rapper’s cycling pathetic? No way!
<path>ETIC; “no way (=path)” means latters “path” are dropped; last two of “etic” switch individually from back to front of word (“cycling”) to give Ice-T, the American rapper Tracy Lauren Marrow |
Thanks to Hob and RatkojaRiku,
An enjoyable tussle. Can’t really help with 13 and 16d. Maybe ‘A Mole…’ (with capitalisation) in 13 is meant to throw us off the scent and make us think of Adrian Mole, and maybe ‘…from south…’ is in 16d as so much of the Civil Rights movement was based in the South, but this seems too obvious and your suggestion of ‘beneath’ looks better. Someone will probably have more plausible explanations.
Thanks again.
Thanks RR I suspect the A in 13A is to try to mislead with Adrian Mole (aged 13 3/4)
Thanks to both. Have to say I found this a bit of a chore but glad to have finished it.
Any particular reason for US spelling of ‘aging’ in 12a, which had me needlessly fixated for a while, or is it just another case of Spellcheck Rools OK.. ?
G.
An unusual theme but a very enjoyable puzzle, IMHO. I didn’t know the noun VIAGRAN but it was obvious enough from the wordplay and definition, and the same goes for MIMIR. PLAN B was my LOI and went in from the wordplay alone.
Well done RR for explaining all this for us. I enjoyed it more than Geebs: I thought it was an inventive idea, although I couldn’t get ICE-T. This clue is a bit unfair, though – some rapper that most boring old fart middle-aged solvers like me will never have heard of, and a really convoluted wordplay. And a MAÎTRE D probably wouldn’t appreciate being described as a ‘wine waiter’. He or she would have a SOMMELIER to sort that out.
But apart from that, a good tussle. Like RR, I smiled at VIAGRAN (although I’d never heard it before).
The spelling of ‘aging’? We’ll be getting into a long and ultimately fruitless argument about ‘cluing’ or ‘clueing’ next.
Thanks to Hob for this morning’s entertainment.
KD @5
In 16ac the defn is just ‘waiter’. The ‘wine’ is part of the wordplay.
So it is, Geebs. I’m still not sure they’d like to be called a ‘waiter’, though!
Didn’t find this too hard, although there were a couple I couldn’t parse (and I was thrown by “south” in 16dn). Certainly didn’t know 12ac, but (unusually for me) I got it entirely from the word play. Similarly with 2dn I had to look up to see if there was such a king.
26dn was almost the first one in (and 25dn). I didn’t think he was that obscure (and with my 61st birthday this month, I don’t think I can be called middle-aged any more), even though I have no interest in rap.
Is “aging” an American spelling? Chambers doesn’t say so, giving both spellings.
K’sD@5: ICE-T is about the only rapper I’ve ever heard of!
Thanks to Hob and RR
Isn’t Malcolm X from the south US?
I loved solving this one. Thought it impossible at first but it came out well in the end.
Loved 1ac!
Meant 9ac!
Almw3 that’s how I read it, all the one letter last bits probably made it easier but a nice twist thanks Hob.
We both tried to remember the Mobty Python sketch about philosophers for 21d which added some amusement to the puzzle!
Thanks RR for the explanation of 1ac which we solved early on without being able to parse.
The idea behind the puzzle was great but we felt it resulted in one or two obscure references. However we enjoyed the solve and novelty so thanks to Hob for the fun!
Sorry for the typo – should have been Monty!
21d reminded me of a line in a Terry Pratchett book. A member of the Assassins’ Guild tells a client that they don’t kill people, they inhume them. I didn’t realise it was a real word.
This one in my pile of printed puzzles from last week, but somehow overlooked. I felt bound to post (even this late) as I found this puzzle was QUALITY manifest. Thank you, thank you Hob – extraordinarily enjoyable. Loved the quality.
With the greatest respect, difficult to say the same of one aspect of the blog. RR – what on earth were you up to with your use of eg and ie?! Although occasionally correct, most of your many uses were invariably wrong! This is not pedantry as you have done it here over and over…..or is this an intentional Michael extraction? (to check that we’re paying attention!)……
I am just wondering if the last part of 16 was necessary and/or appropriate ….
In any case, as a firm believer in life-long learning, I would be happy to be enlightened as to the proper use of i.e. and e.g.
I think it’s worth bearing in mind that the constraints of this exercise in terms of time and space militate in favour of the use of a kind of shorthand, albeit an imperfect one.
I am genuinely surprised that you don’t know the difference! Had I realised this, I would have perhaps couched my comment differently. I had no intention of being rude, as was made clear, I hope, by my proffering “the greatest respect”.
‘e.g.’ is used where an example is given.
‘i.e’ is used to mean “that is to say”.
Examples: “There is a 10% discount for those receiving government benefits, e.g. pensioners” (it would be wrong to use ‘i.e.’ since there are many other recipients of benefit, besides pensioners)
“He took the quickest route from the roof to the street, i.e. he jumped!” (It would be wrong to use e.g. since no other route is so quick).
These are important distinctions. In response to your wondering, I feel my remarks were appropriate, given the abundance of errors, and necessary since some visitors to blog are beginners and need accurate assistance.
In any case, why encourage an error in one of the few places left for correct use of our wonderful language?
I do hope this helps.
(to be continued…)
(continued – space rationed here!)
….Perhaps I seemed to make too much of it. But, for me, it’s a real bugbear (along with people using “of” when they mean “‘ve” as in “I should of…”; also the ‘grocer’s apostrophe’). Looking back on the blog, I have no concern with the across clues. With the downs, there were five where you should have used ‘e.g.’ not ‘i.e.’ (being 4, 5, 16, 17 and 19). Of course, I guess this grouping made it seem worse……?!
Please don’t think I’m being uncharitable. I feel sure I’ve voiced my gratitude to you for your blogs on previous occasions. Indeed, the only reason I posted at all (and so late) was because I felt Hob had not received the praise he deserved for this lovely puzzle.
Again, I do hope this helps…
With warm regards,
William F P
The distinction is abundantly clear to me as far as standard English prose is concerned. However, I still don’t see what your gripe is with my use of e.g. and i.e. in the blog, where, as I mentioned before, the use of some form of shorthand is required to keep the length of the blog, and the time taken to write it, in check.
If we asssume that i.e. can be substituted by “in other words” and e.g. by “for example” and look back through my blog(s), I truly do not see what you are taking issue with. A specific example or two from the blog would have helped me to see what your concern is.
Let’s look at 14 RIDGE – where I say GR (=king, i.e. George Rex), I am not saying that George Rex is an example of a king, whereupon I would have used e.g., but that here GR stands for George Rex, whereupon i.e. (or “in other words”) is clearly the more appropriate of the two abbreviations, certainly in my own blogging shorthand, which I endeavour to use consistently for the benefit of those “beginners” to whom you allude.
We’re talking at cross purposes here.
My shorthand has to be seen in the context of the puzzle: just to take 17, my use of i.e. is meant to specify which of the numerous meanings of a given word – here “lots” – is relevant for the parsing of the wordplay. In other words, I am saying: “lots” i.e./that is “lots” meaning “batches” rather than “lots” meaning “a great many”. Obviously, I am not suggesting that “lots” can only ever mean “batches (of drinks)”, and doubt many reading the blog would have understood either the language or the writer’s intention in that way.
Perhaps an alternative would be to use “meaning here” or “in the sense of”, which unfortunately does not meet the requirement of brevity to which I alluded earlier. Faute de mieux ….
I’m with RR on the i.e/ e.g. subject. It all seemed fine to me in today’s blog at least.
I’m with William on the outstanding quality of this puzzle.
Actually, it seems there were a couple of other Malcolm’s apart from Macbeth’s successor, so one objection at least can be upheld.
And can a window be ‘to’? I suppose so!
Malcolms* !
I will continue my crusade re the i, 2018.todays crossword was for the experts only, please can we have two cryptic puzzles one for the converted egg heads & one for the less domed pates,
Interesting prior discussion, particularly regarding the old i.e vs e.g. chestnut. However, don’t really agree with you, The tortoise VM, on the “for experts only” rating; without the theme, perhaps a fair point, but with so many clues themed, there was plenty of help available. By no means easy but do-able.
I question the parsing of only one clue, 5d, where, in my version, nothing (O) is offered into VEL, raised (LEV) which gives just as agreeable a solution. Vel is a sacred spear, lance or point in the Hindu religion.