As happens most Fridays in The Independent, the puzzle is set by Phi.
There are a number of pairs of Christian names in this puzzle – all the four pairs are the full Christian names of authors best known by their initials:
Row 1 – G K Chesterton
Row 7 – J K Rowling
Row 11 – A A Milne
Row 15 – D H Lawrence
I looked to see whether the initial letters of the entries in the other rows could also be used as initials of authors and found that I had some success in the top half:
Row 3 – R L Stevenson
Row 5 – H L Mencken
However, rows 9 (M F) and 13 (K L) didn’t yield anything.
This is a puzzle with 34 clues so you are getting your money’s worth today. I feel that the two 3 letter acrosses (WIG [8 across] and EAT [29 across]) are probably included for a reason, but I can’t see what it is.
I made fairly steady progress when solving this and realised halfway through that any row with one male Christian name was almost certainly going to have a second.
AS usual Phi has tested our general knowledge a bit. The town of KEITH (5 across) was fairly well known to me, but may not be so to many solvers. In fact there were quite a few geographical locations with the ROSS SEA [10 across], EAST LONDON [3 down] and KHARKIV [19 down] also making an appearance. The almost mandatory New Zealand reference flew in at 27 across.
I discovered that LISP [13 across] is the second oldest high level programming language in widespread use today.. Only FORTRAN is older. I have programmed in FORTRAN [and sometimes continue to do so when solving some intractable numeric crosswords] but I have not programmed in LISP.
I have a few queries about definitions and wordplay in the detailed blog below
Across
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1
|
Librettist‘s good, with three-quarters of libretto redrafted (7)
|
G (good) + an anagram of (redrafted) LIBRET (6 of the 8 [three quarters] letters of LIBRETTO)
G ILBERT* |
GILBERT (reference W S GILBERT [1836 – 1911], librettist in the GILBERT and Sullivan partnership)
|
| 5
|
English amongst friends in Scottish town (5)
|
E (English) contained in (among) KITH (one’s friends or acquaintances [obsolete now except in KITH AND KIN, friends and relatives]).
K (E) ITH |
KEITH (town in Moray, North East Scotland)
|
| 8
|
Part of house lacking new rug (3)
|
WING (part of a [large] house) excluding (lacking) N (new)
|
WIG (rug is slang for a toupee or WIG)
|
| 10
|
Part of ocean surged round ship (American) (4,3)
|
(ROSE [surged] containing [round] SS [steamship; ship]) + A (American)
RO (SS) SE A |
ROSS SEA (deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica)
|
| 11
|
Like song in King and I, wrapped in circling decorated line (7)
|
(R [Rex; king] + I) contained in (wrapped in) ([LACY {decorated} + L {line}] all reversed [circling])
(L Y (R I) CAL)< |
LYRICAL (like song)
|
| 12
|
Emphasise feeling weightless after being drugged (6)
|
HIGH (drugged) + LIGHT (feeling weightless)
|
HIGHLIGHT (emphasise)
|
| 13
|
Programming language second in speed (not that of light!) (4)
|
S (second) contained in (in) (CLIP [speed] excluding [not] C [constant representing the speed of light])
LI (S) P |
LISP (programming language)
|
| 15
|
Paul’s wife: start of joyous love has besotted Newman losing his heart (6)
|
J (first letter of [start of] JOYOUS) + O (zero; love score in tennis) + (an anagram of NEWMAN excluding [losing] the middle letters [his heart] WM)
J O ANNE* |
JOANNE (reference American actress JOANNE Woodward [1930 – date] wife of Paul Newman from 1958 until his death in 2008)
|
| 16
|
Ferrier possibly last to abandon the lake in a storm (8)
|
Anagram of (in a storm) (N [final letter of {last to} ABANDON] and THE LAKE)
KATHLEEN* |
KATHLEEN (reference KATHLEEN Ferrier [1912 – 1953], contralto singer)
|
| 18
|
Deliver sixth ball in new style (8)
|
There are 6 balls in an OVER in cricket so if a bowler gets to MAKE an OVER he has delivered (bowled) 6 balls
|
MAKEOVER (a complete change in the style of a person’s dress, appearance; new style)
|
| 20
|
Not looking one’s best following half amount of sex (6)
|
F (following) + RUMPY (half of RUMPY-PUMPY [casual or playful sexual intercourse])
|
FRUMPY (dowdy; not looking one’s best)
|
| 23
|
Articles about Latin chap (4)
|
(A [indefinite article] + AN [indefinite article] giving articles) containing (about) L (Latin)
A (L) AN |
ALAN (man’s name; chap)
|
| 24 | A Greek figure that’s embraced by Greek leader (9) | A + (X [one representation of the Greek letter chi] contained in [embraced by] LEANDER [a figure from Greek mythology – see Hero and LEANDER]) I’m not sure I’ve got this quite right, but I feel fairly sure that the building blocks of the wordplay are A, X and LEANDER
A LE (X) ANDER |
ALEXANDER (possibly reference ALEXANDER the Great, leader of the Kingdom of Macedonia which was once part of Greece)
If we are getting tied up in all the Greek references we could just be referring to one of the Tsars ALEXANDER of Russia, any of whom could be considered to be a leader |
| 27
|
Awkwardly ask about felled oak containing quiet rare birds (7)
|
Anagram of (awkwardly) ASK containing (about) (an anagram of [felled] OAK containing (containing) P (pianissimo; quiet])
KA (KA (P) O*) S* |
KAKAPOS (rare New Zealand owl-parrots, nocturnal and flightless)
|
| 28
|
Reactive metal ignited gas, releasing energy and luminance (7)
|
LIT (ignited) + (HELIUM [gas] excluding [releasing] E [energy] and L [luminance])
|
LITHIUM (reactive metal, the lightest metal, atomic number 3)
|
| 29
|
Put away gun (after first shot) (3)
|
HEAT (American term for firearm; gun) excluding (shot) the first letter (first) H I’m clutching at straws a bit here but Chambers does have HEAT as a firearm.
|
EAT (put away)
|
| 30
|
Director keen to display statue (5)
|
D (director) + AVID (keen)
|
DAVID (reference the statue / sculpture of DAVID which can be found in the Accademia Gallery in Florence)
|
| 31
|
Woman’s to risk embracing right fool (7)
|
HER (woman’s) + (BET [risk] containing [embracing] R [right])
HER BE (R) T |
HERBERT (an undistinguished or foolish man or youth [Oxford Dictionary of English])
|
| Down | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1
|
Hard maths topic picked up, providing circumference (5)
|
(H + TRIG [trigonometry; maths subject]) all reversed (picked up; down clue)
(GIRT H)< |
GIRTH (circumferential measure of thickness)
|
| 2
|
Dish’s name encountered in story from California? (7)
|
N (name) contained in (encountered in) (LA [Los Angeles, a city in California] + SAGA)
LA SAG (N) A |
LASAGNA (dish of food)
|
| 3
|
Tend saloon, riotous in African city (4,6)
|
Anagram of (riotous) TEND SALOON
EAST LONDON* |
EAST LONDON (city in South Africa)
|
| 4
|
Describing accent: piquant, containing trace of Welsh (6)
|
TANGY (piquant) containing (containing) W (first letter of [trace of] WELSH)
T (W) ANGY |
TWANGY (one way of describing an accent as having a nasal tone)
|
| 5
|
Backer now accommodating composer of musicals (4)
|
KERN (hidden word in [accommodating] BACKER NOW)
|
KERN (reference Jerome KERN [1885 – 1945], American composer of musical theatre)
|
| 6
|
Bank greatly favoured Conservative policy (7)
|
IN (greatly favoured) + C (Conservative) + LINE (policy)
|
INCLINE (slope; bank)
|
| 7
|
Fortepiano in sound: two notes unknown (rather cheap) (9)
|
(FP [fortepiano] contained in [in] HALE [sound]) + (N [note] + N [note] giving two notes) + Y (letter frequently used to represent an unknown in mathematics)
HAL (FP) E N N Y |
HALFPENNY (coin of low value; rather cheap)
|
| 9
|
Female accepting curtailment of bingo, having issue with throat (7)
|
GAL (girl) containing (accepting) (LOTTO [bingo] excluding the final letter [curtailment of] O)
G (LOTT) AL |
GLOTTAL (of the opening of the larynx or entrance to the windpipe; issue with throat)
|
| 14
|
Energy captured in the beam subsequently (10)
|
E (energy) contained in (captured in) (THE + RAFTER [beam])
THE R (E) AFTER |
THEREAFTER (subsequently)
|
| 15
|
Very busy getting jars on the trucks? (3-6)
|
JAM PACKED (I think this is just a cryptic definition based on the fact that JAM usually comes in jars and if you put all the jars onto trucks then the trucks are PACKED)
|
JAM-PACKED (very busy)
|
| 17
|
Trellis I pulled out to tip over and fall back (7)
|
(ESPALIER [a latticework of wood to train trees; trellis] excluding [pulled out] I) reversed (tip over)
RELAPSE< |
RELAPSE (fall back)
|
| 19
|
King Henry IV securing vessel for remote city (7)
|
(K [king] + H [henry; SI unit of inductance] + IV) containing (securing) ARK (vessel)
K H (ARK) IV |
KHARKIV (variant spelling of Kharkov, the second-largest city of Ukraine; remote city)
I’m not sure that KHARKIV is that remote to many solvers given the developing situation in Ukraine at the moment. |
| 21
|
Delivery worker in South of France around Wednesday with iron (7)
|
(MIDI [Department of France, located in the South West of the country] containing W (Wednesday]) + FE (chemical symbol for iron)
MID (W) I FE |
MIDWIFE One who delivers children at birth)
|
| 22
|
Fell, clutching top of leg – it’s what medicine will help (6)
|
HEATH (both FELL and HEATH can be defined as barren open country and/or upland tract) containing (L [first letter of {top of} LEG)
HEA (L) TH |
HEALTH (medicine will help maintain your health, as will many aspects of a balanced diet and exercise)
|
| 25
|
Scope showing right bird soaring (5)
|
R (right) + (TIME [prison sentence; bird] reversed [soaring; down clue])
R (EMIT)< |
REMIT (scope)
|
| 26
|
Digging tool turned up some bottles, inverted (4)
|
SPUD (hidden word [bottles] in TURNED UP SOME reversed [inverted])
SPUD< |
SPUD (small digging tool)
|
Thanks Duncan and Phi. Loved the Nina, right up my street – and I spotted it all on my own!
FWIW My programming days go back to before there were high level languages. Many a night I have spent typing machine code directly into memory to fix a bug in the payroll so that 9000 men could get their money in the morning. Happy days. Not.
Thanks duncan. I think Alexander is A + (Greek character) LEANDER embracing ‘by’ x (multiplication).
Good stuff as always.
Thank you, Duncan. As others will point out, Midi isn’t a département, it’s just French for the (deep) south, as the clue suggests.
I found this tricky for a Phi. I was beaten by JOANNE because I hadn’t parsed it, thought it was something biblical, and I’d gone with Joanna. I was also beaten by LISP because I didn’t know the programming language and I couldn’t get away from thinking that the P at the end of the answer was the “second in sPeed” in the clue.
Theme-wise, although I saw the names I didn’t know their significance.
Conrad Cork@1
I wrote a program in Assembly Language [machine code] once and was quite proud of myself when it worked, but I wouldn’t have wanted to do it on a regular basis.
Sidey @ 2
Yes, I think you’ve got the right relationship of A, X and LEANDER. I tend to get X for ‘by’ about 50% of the time.
NormanLinFrance @ 3
Thanks – I didn’t do my research properly.
Andy B @ 4
I played about with the P in sPeed for a while as well.
Thanks Phi and Duncan
May I suggest that the reason for including the two three-letter words was to avoid 3/7 cross-checking in 9dn and 17dn, and perhaps also to break up what would have been two fairly large block of black squares?
… and of course I meant two fairly large blocks.
Confounded by LISP as just didn’t know it. Always frustrating when the answer is only four letters and you have two of them.
Otherwise a nice puzzle and very good blog. I missed the theme, as I usually do.
I parsed ALEXANDER as you did, Duncan, and I agree sidey@2’s explanation is a better fit than what we had.
“Issue with the throat” I took to mean “using the glottis to make a sound” (glottal stops and fricatives, etc) and not merely “of the glottis”, but maybe that’s what you’re saying as well, and I have misread the blog.
Duncan@5
Just a comment. Machine code is the bytes all programming languages get converted to. Assembly languages equate one for one to machine instructions, but are nevertheless symbolic, with words like ‘add’ etc. They were all there were in those bygone days. I was referring to typing hexadecimal digits direct into memory via a console, exactly as the output of a compiler. (The only alternative at the time since compilations were once a week.)
The issue here was threefold:
1) Authors using initials
2) Real names to be cluable mostly without using ‘man’, ‘woman’ (gave up on ALAN, had fun finding another JOANNE)
3) Had to be right lengths to allow symmetry when they appeared on single rows and not too weird a diagram
OK, given that ‘and’ in (3), maybe fourfold. So a few rareish words were also likely. KHARKIV, I found in my research, was the preferred transliteration, so as my initial O was unchecked, I changed it.
Have never used LISP. Have typed Hollerith cards..
This is getting like a Monty Python sketch – my first computing experience was producing Hollerith cards on a hand punch, and I did my DPhil writing 16 bit machine code without an assembler …
16 bit? Luxury! Early 4 bits and we had to eat grit.
Thanks Duncan and Phi
Pfft, we had to carve the holes in our own abacus beads…
You didn’t know you were born! I had to translate from Neanderthal into Cro-Magnon……and then invent a numbering system using more than two fingers…..
Great puzzle, Phi (though Lisp didn’t roll off the tongue easily) – many thanks; also to Duncan.
We only started the puzzle yesterday morning in York after the S&B get-together the previous day. We had no internet access in our hotel room so only checked the blog quickly in the hotel lobby before we left.
We’re not sure which was more enjoyable – the solve or the blog – thanks to everyone!