I’m always delighted to see Crucible’s name on a puzzle, especially when I’m down to blog it. I’m always delighted to see Crucible’s name on a puzzle, especially when it’s a Prize. So – double delight!
Crucible’s puzzles usually contain a theme but it’s quite often a fairly well-hidden one, so this was rather a surprise, with the theme being spelled out in the preamble: ‘All solutions are wholly or partly 8, which is unclued’ .
We’re fairly used to themed crosswords where the theme answers are undefined but it was a bit disconcerting at first – because it was my blog – to find that the crucial answer was actually unclued. In these circumstances, the best / only thing to do is to solve as many of the ‘straightforward’ clues as possible and look for a connection – easier said than done.
For some reason and, as so often, I don’t really know why, I found that I had the whole bottom half filled in and very little of the top [the top left corner was the trickiest – but shouldn’t have been]. I got BANDLEADERS fairly early on but I didn’t recognise any of my answers as falling into that category!
When blogging, I try to keep notes on my solving process but this time I think the breakthrough came rather tantalisingly piecemeal. I actually got 8dn, TIMEKEEPERS, about two thirds of the way through, I think, but, even when I saw what was going on, it didn’t necessarily help a lot with the remaining answers, which is fine by me, in a Prize puzzle.
Every single clue – a tour de force from Crucible – is, as it says on the tin, either ‘wholly or partly a ‘TIMEKEEPER’ – in a variety of guises. I’m not sure I’ve seen Crucible’s intentions in every one of them and so, as always, I’m open to suggestions.
Many thanks to Crucible for a most enjoyable puzzle.
Across
5 Mount watch in case (6)
HUNTER
Double definition – a horse used for hunting and a watch in a case – so a TIMEKEEPER in the literal sense
6 Assist business to mail packages (6)
SECOND
SEND [to mail] round [packages] CO [business]
9 Strong shock when heart’s bypassed in power cut (6)
OUTAGE
OUT]r]AGE [strong shock] with its heart bypassed
10 Like bad jokes, limited supply left to crack (3-5)
ILL-TIMED
Anagram [supply] of LIMITED L[eft] – I just love this anagram indicator!
11 Current changeover (4)
TIDE
Reversal [over] of EDIT [change]: I’ve seen this device used a number of times but I thought this wordplay was particularly good. [TIDE = time as in Christmastide]
12 English bird is circling moor for endless periods (10)
ETERNITIES
E [English] TERN [bird] + IS round TIE [moor – tie up a boat]
13 8, for instance, discussed vetoed editorials (11)
BANDLEADERS
Sounds like [discussed] banned [vetoed] + LEADERS [editorials] – BANDLEADERS [try to] keep in time with the band!
18 Teams got rid of injured wings, perhaps (10)
SIDESWIPED
The wordplay seems to be SIDES [teams] + WIPED [got rid of] but I’m struggling with the definition: ‘injured wings’ just seems to be a repetition of the same wordplay. I know that I’m being really dim here.
But I hope I’m right with the IDES – [‘Remember March, the Ides of of March remember’?]
21 Touch and go (4)
MOVE
A really nice double definition
22 John Gay‘s overly evident in Amazing Grace (8)
COTTAGER
OTT [overly] in an anagram [amazing] of GRACE: a COTTAGER is a Gay who uses a public toilet [John] as a venue. [I liked the misleading reference to The Beggar’s Opera, which ‘made Gay Rich and Rich Gay’.]
23 Peer into the unknown twice per annum (6)
YEARLY
EARL [peer] in YY [the unknown twice]
24 Jock’s cross, forgetting Latin work by Juvenal, say (6)
SATIRE
SA[l]TIRE: the saltire is the cross of St Andrew, the flag of Scotland [Jock’s cross] minus L[atin] – and Juvenal wrote satires [in Latin]: I just loved this clue for its brilliant surface and the fact that we’ve been reading Juvenal in our Latin reading group this year – ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ and all that
For discussion of the use of ‘Jock’, see here
25 Hurry to develop a proposal for it (4,2)
COME ON
Double definition, with ‘it’ in its familiar crossword sense: I think this definition perhaps has a hyphen [Edit: triple defininition – thanks, Gaufrid @8]
Down
1 Old South American artist hosts writer privately (2,6)
IN CAMERA
INCA [old South American] + RA [artist] round [hosts] ME [writer]
2 Cut power escaping from exhaust (6)
DELETE
DE[p]LETE [exhaust] losing P [power]
3 Row during late duke’s set (8)
DECLINED
LINE [row] in DEC [deceased – late] D [duke]
4 He believes in one being sweaty around noon (6)
MONIST
MOIST [sweaty] round N [noon] [Edit: MONIST – see comments 18 and 19]
5 Mingling with these beauties, Ali could be hilarious (6)
HOURIS
A reverse clue: hilarious is an anagram [mingling with these … could be] of Ali and HOURIS – another lovely surface
7 Rushdie’s eloquent about this source of power (6)
DIESEL
Hidden in rushDIE’S ELoquent – I would love to think the ‘time’ here was DIES 😉 – but I think it’s either D [day] or S [Saturday / Sunday] – over to you
8 [See preamble] (11)
TIMEKEEPERS
14 Does regular income protect royal widows? (8)
DOWAGERS
DO WAGES [does regular income] round R [royal]
15 A politician is furious defending riots (8)
RAMPAGES
RAGES [is furious] round [defending] A MP [a politician] – ‘age’ is bound to crop up more than once, isn’t it?
16 Big shop stocks an assortment of iron keys (6)
MINORS
M and S – as Marks and Spencer’s now likes to be called [big shop] round [stocks] an anagram [assortment] of IRON
17 Old gardener‘s extremely lonely in flat (6)
EVELYN
LY [extremes of LonelY] in EVEN [flat] for John Evelyn, perhaps better known – to me, at least, – as a diarist
19 Assess writer’s lost property (6)
ESTATE
EST[im]ATE [assess] losing I’M [writer’s]
20 Anybody swimming anonymously doesn’t board (3,3)
DAY BOY
‘Anonymously’ means ‘without a name’ , so we need to take n from anybody and make an anagram [swimming] of it – lovely!
Thanks Eileen. I completed the grid and still could not explain the theme; my mind was just not working along the right lines.
I thought in 18 the reference might be to damaged mudguards after a side to side collision.
For 25 across I had “move on”. Even if it’s not the best answer it seems to fit the clue.
7d has DIES, day in Latin.
You will probably say “Oops” now, Eileen :).
What an enjoyable puzzle!
Wonderful blog Eileen, many thanks. I found this crossword a bit of a bore to be honest. You have done well to explain the time elements in each of the clues, but T in ESTATE, Oh please; Crucible must be having a laugh!! Could not 25a equally well be MOVE ON, as in move a proposal in a debate? Looking forward to a more fulfilling challenge today!!
And like exscouse we had MOVE ON too in 25ac, and didn’t like it because of 21ac.
Still, a charmer of a puzzle.
Thanks Eileen. You know your Latin, and your instincts I’m sure were right with DIESel. I really enjoyed this treasure hunt, though in my haste I failed with ‘move on’ (as one or two above) and ‘severe’ for 2D.
Many thanks Eileen & Crucy.
This was certainly different and I agree with the Comments @ 2, 4, 5 & 6 re 25a.
I was undecided between ‘COME ON’ and ‘MOVE ON’ but, as it has turned out, I had settled for the required solution.
No big deal because I never enter any competitions.
Thanks Eileen
I think you need a bit more underlining in 25ac. It is surely a triple def. – hurry / to develop / a proposal for it.
Thanks Puck and Eileen
As we have some foreign times (IDES, DIES), I could add the ESTATE is “summer” in Italian.
Nice to have something a bit different.
1D “In camera” was first in and the wordplay gave 13A “Bandleader” next. This was confusing for a while as it was hard to see a connection.
Gradually clues went in and it became obvious that time was a theme an in almost all cases a time period was involved. Almost three quarters of the puzzle was completed before I saw “Timekeeper” and 13A was explained.
All pretty straightforward from then on with some nice cluing. Only a couple of deviations from the time period when I was expecting more.
One small niggle was the repeated use of AGE and MO and perhaps some other “times”.
However a pleasant enough solve and worthy of a “Prize” I thought.
I’m a MOVE ONer as well for 25A. Still think it’s as good an answer as COME. (And an omission bty the Editor and Setter 😉 )
Thanks to Eileen and Crucible
Thanks Eileen.
Unusually for me, I spotted the time theme quite quickly, but then got thrown off the scent by 13… Like others, I had severe for 2d (couldn’t really parse it, but “eve” and “ever” fitted the theme); taking inspiration from muffin’s comment, the second half of 2d, with the addition of a couple of accents, is summer in French
I thought that Diesel simply referred to that well known make of watch.
Thanks, everyone, especially Gaufrid, for explaining ‘to develop’ in 25ac, which was bothering me. I think that confirms the answer as being COME ON, rather than MOVE ON, which, I must confess, hadn’t occurred to me. I have just tried to check the annotated solution which, as so often, I’d forgotten about – and there isn’t one!
And special thanks to muffin, for ESTATE. Of course! – I should have thought to look that up. I would love to be able to speak Italian – my scant understanding of it is derived from my Latin and French – and aestas-atis is Latin for summer.
My remark about DIES in 7dn was intended to be tongue-in-cheek [I don’t know why I couldn’t get the smiley to work properly]. I don’t know of any instance of DIES appearing in ‘English’ apart from ‘Dies Irae’.
[Another tongue-in-cheek comment: it has just occurred to me that, if Juvenal had been a cryptic crossword compiler [and I can well imagine him as such] he might have clued IDES as ‘dies irae’. Sorry. ;-( ]
I have just previewed this and again the emoticon hasn’t worked – what am I doing wrong?
Hi Eileen
“I have just tried to check the annotated solution which, as so often, I’d forgotten about – and there isn’t one!”
Using the ‘reveal’ feature on the puzzle itself gives COME ON.
“I have just previewed this and again the emoticon hasn’t worked – what am I doing wrong?”
You need to make sure there is a space immediately before the colon/semicolon. 😉
Don’t like John Gay as a definition for cottager. After all a cottager is not a gay man who uses a public toilet as a “venue” (not sure what that means Eileen?) but specifcially a gay man who uses a public toilet for sex. All feels a bit homophobic and offensive. We should expect better from The Guardian – or from any compiler and editor! A real pity as I usually greatly enjoy the Saturday prize and the blog!
I saw the theme about midway through, but I was another “move on” at 25ac. When I clicked on the Check All button before I came here and saw it was wrong I thought of COME ON immediately, but for some reason it didn’t occur me when I was solving the puzzle on Monday evening. When I entered “move on” on Monday I didn’t spot that I had already entered MOVE at 21ac despite their proximity, and if I had I’d probably have given 25ac some more thought.
John @15
Cottageing is a word that was used by the gay community. At least it was by gay friends of mine!
So how is this homophobic?
What perhaps IS offensive is that gays had to resort to this to meet people.
For 4d = MONIST, we reckoned the MON = Monday as the time element. Partly answers Brendan’s concern about repeated use of MO.
Thank you, Richard. That’s how I read it, too, when solving. [Honestly. 😉 ]
Great crossword from Crucible and good blog from Eileen which filled all the gaps for me. I had ÉTÉ as the time that was kept by DELETE. Would that be wrong?
As a gay man, I can assure John@15 that I didn’t consider 22 across as being remotely homophobic. I thought it was a brilliant clue.
Thanks Eileen.
@13, how about “sine die”?
Hi Mike @20
I had the same thought about ÉTÉ – but that was when I thought DIES was mere fancifulness on my part. I have since had confirmation that that was the intention [thanks, Crucible 😉 ] so, with that and muffin’s Italian ESTATE, I’m sure you’re right.
Thank you for your endorsement of 22 across.
I enjoyed this very much. I checked back through all the clues at the end and found all the connections. I thought it was very clever. I don’t agree that ‘move on’ is as good as ‘come on’ and can’t see ‘severe’ at 2d either.
I love themed puzzles.
Thx to both setter and blogger.
First time contibutor but long-time admirer of FifteenSquared.
I think Crucible has got more than just T for “time” into 2dn and 19dn. In 2dn ET stands for “Eastern Time” and in 19dn EST stands for Eastern Standard Time. At least, that’s the way I read them.
There is also ETA backwards in ESTATE,
All very enjoyable. Thanks to Crucible and Eileen.
I also noticed the EST in ESTATE.
Re SIDESWIPED: it seemed pretty straightforward to me. If a car sideswipes you, you’re likely (“perhaps”) to get injured wings.
Bit late to the party…
SIDESWIPED – I read the definition as what has happened to the front quarters or ‘wings’ of a car after it has been sideswiped. We don’t seem to refer to the wings of a car so much these days although of course they used to carry the ‘wing mirrors’, those useless things that were so far from the driver that the picture they provided was tiny. Why did we persist with them for so long when the basic physics of where best to put a mirror had been known for thousands of years?
I have a coach driver’s licence now and it is still difficult NOT to refer to the mirrors as wing mirrors even though coaches haven’t had wings at all for the last 50-odd years 😉
Crossed with you, drofle.
I’m late to this again since I was out walking yesterday, but from what I remember I enjoyed this a lot – found it difficult but rewarding – I think the NW corner was where the last few in were. I didn’t spot the time zone abbreviations and gave up on working out why a few of them were TIMEKEEPERS, for example I’d never heard of the HUNTER watch.
Thanks to Crucible and Eileen
Many thanks to Crucible and Eileen. Two of my favourites!
I was originally excited, on reading the blog, that the two ‘summer’ translations had been missed. I thought I’d have something useful to add…..but others have already covered this!
So I am left with just one tiny sprinkle to add to this time-cake’s icing, the AM in RAMPAGES.
Have a great Sunday, all. Thankfully, days set to become a little cooler. Some dog days (and nights!) we’ve had in the South East. How swiftly can “glorious” turn to “oppressive” with both familiarity and humidity breeding contempt!
Hi RobertMac @24 – if you’re still there!
My apologies for not having welcomed you to the site. I hope you’ll continue to comment.
Well, Eileen, you still haven’t changed DIES from black to red but, I think, you should.
Apologies for the fact that I really thought for a moment you didn’t see it (which, of course, was very unlikely as you taught classics).
You said that DIES was only there in the English language in the expression “dies irae”.
The first thing I had to think of was “dies natalis”.
In Holland a well-known expression as it is used for the birthdays of institutions and universities, in particular.
The university I went to (Utrecht) has its DIES (as they call it, shortened) on March 26. Founded in 1636.
I looked in Chambers etc and was surprised not to find this usage in the UK.
All the best.
Thanks for that, Sil.
I usually like to leave the blog unchanged, as far as possible – except, of course, for editing obvious errors and omissions – and let the comments speak for themselves.
I did let on @22 that I’d had it on the very best authority that the intention was DIES [but I also learned that some of the other surmises were accidental [sorry, folks!]. I think setters have said here before that we solvers sometimes get carried further away by themes than they intended – but it’s all good fun!
I haven’t come across that use of Dies Natalis in ‘English’- my university didn’t have one! I googled it and found references to celebrations at the Universities of Gent and Maastricht – sounds fun!