Some ‘relatively’ light-hearted stuff from Anax this week…
…and a Nina that even I could spot!
This looks like a very personal/family puzzle from Anax, with a perimeter message wishing a ‘HAPPY SIXTEENTH MY GORGEOUS XANA’. (I assume Xana is a child, or close relative, of Anax’ – although it could just be an ageing family pet?! Either way, may I add my – by now belated? – felicitations on this auspicious occasion…)
I guess there is probably some other relevant stuff in there – maybe they took an AIRMALTA plane to SKIATHOS to celebrate the birthday? Maybe they went to a USED-CAR LOT to buy a LIMO? Or went to a performance of IOLANTHE?
YEARS in the centre also looks relevant, as may be the XMAS TREE wrapped around YEARS.
LOI was MANNA-ASH – M*A*S*H not being one of my core cultural references – and my favourite clue was probably 22D AGEISM – ‘not digging fossils’!
I hadn’t heard of cricketer TED PEATE, although the name was gettable from crossing letters and the hidden letters indication. A little research shows that he was the last English batsman in the fateful Test match that led to the creation of the Ashes. With 10 runs needed, rather than taking a single to get off the strike and leave his more established partner to face, he took two and was then bowled trying to slog later in the same over – and the rest, as they say, is history…
This last gem alone was worth the entrance fee for me, but hopefully all you solvers enjoyed this to some degree, and thanks/congrats to the palindromic ANAX/XANA.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 8A | AIRMALTA | Operator’s song about drinking whisky (8) | (Airline) Operator / AIR_A (aria, or song, about) around MALT (whisky) |
|
| 9A | OUTFOX | Best option for studying? By frequently reflecting (6) | Best (as in out do, outwit) / OU (Open University, in UK – opportunity for studying) + TFOX (X – by, multiplied by + TFO – OFT, or frequently, reflected) |
|
| 10A | NEXT | Following cross, blocks goal (4) | Following / NE_T (goal) around (blocked by) X (cross) |
|
| 11A | SMELLS A RAT | Officer rates all criminal suspects (6,1,3) | suspects / SM (Sergeant Major, officer) + ELLS A RAT (anag, i.e. criminal) of RATES ALL |
|
| 12A | ASTUTE | Wise, like pharaoh heading for Egypt (6) | Wise / AS (like) + TUT (Tutankhamun, pharaoh) + E (heading, or first letter, for Egypt) |
|
| 13A | TED PEATE | Cricketer wanted PE at Etonian houses (3,5) | (Yorkshire & England) Cricketer / hidden word (i.e. housed by) in ‘wanTED PE AT Eton’ |
|
| 14A | XMAS | Member of jazz group about to secure month’s holiday (4) | holiday / X_AS (SAX, or member of jazz group, about) around (securing) M (month) |
|
| 16A | YEARS | Extremely restless after vote for a long time. (5) | a long time / YEA (vote for) + RS (extreme letters of YearS) |
|
| 18A | TREE | About to replace hydrant in the plant (4) | plant / T(H)E with H (hydrant) replaced by RE (about) |
|
| 19A | SKIATHOS | Short film – Count de la Fere’s Island. (8) | Island / SKI(N) (skin, or film, short of a letter) + ATHOS (one of the musketeers, Count de la Fere) |
|
| 21A | DUNCAN | King murdered in dingy prison (6) | King, murdered (in Macbeth?) / DUN (dingy) + CAN (prison) |
|
| 23A | USED-CAR LOT | On view to all, dodgy old crates here?. (4-3,3) | &lit-ish, ‘dodgy old crates’ might be ‘on view to all’ here / U (film rating, on view to all) + SED-CAR LOT (anag, i.e. dodgy, of OLD CRATES) |
|
| 25A | SUET | Fat students regularly cut down (4) | Fat / regular letters of ‘StUdEnT’ |
|
| 26A | ORANGE | Colour of old grass? (6) | Colour / O (old) + RANGE (open country used for grazing, hence grass?) |
|
| 27A | MANNA-ASH | TV series featuring girl, 18 (5-3) | 18 (i.e.tree) / M_ASH (TV series) around (featuring) ANNA (girl) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | HIKERS | They need boots of girl bottling milk occasionally. (6) | They need boots / H_ERS (of girl) around (bottling) IK (occasional letters of ‘mIlK’) |
|
| 2D | AMATEUR STANDING | Graduate isn’t man desperate for unpaid status (7,8) | unpaid status / anag, i.e. desperate, of GRADUATE ISN’T MAN |
|
| 3A | PLASTERY | Flower coated with a layer like gypsum? (8) | like gypsum / PL_Y (layer) around (coating) ASTER (flower) |
|
| 4D | PAGE | Ask for party to start, reaching 16? (4) | ask for / P (start of Party) + AGE (years, 16 Across) |
|
| 5D | YOWLED | Was crying initially, yet only wanted a little light (6) | was crying / YOW (initial letters of Yet Only Wanted) + LED (Light Emitting Diode, ‘a little light’) |
|
| 6A | ST VALENTINES DAY | Dean intends to be naughty during last part of February (2,10,3) | part of February / ST_AY (last, endure) around VALE (dean, small valley) + NTINESD (anag, i.e. naughty, of INTENDS) |
|
| 7A | IOLANTHE | I love how prima donna’s introduced – and the opera (8) | opera / I + O (love, nil) + LA (Italian feminine definite article, so how a ‘prima donna’ might be introduced) + N (contraction of ‘and’, as in fish’n’chips) + THE |
|
| 13D | TRAPS | Mouths opening to take up quarrel? (5) | Mouths / T (opening letter of Take) + RAPS (spar, or quarrel, up) |
|
| 15D | MAKE SURE | Resume moves with a king in check (4,4) | check / M_E SURE (anag, i.e. moves, of RESUME) around A + K (king) |
|
| 17D | SEDATING | Putting out chairs, about 500 (8) | putting out / SE_ATING (chairs) around D (Roman numeral, 500) |
|
| 20D | HEATER | Essential component of the one feeding fire? (6) | fire / H (essential, or central, component of tHe) + EATER (one feeding) |
|
| 22D | AGEISM | One is into precious stone, not digging fossils! (6) | not digging (liking) fossils (old people) / A (one) + GE_M (precious stone) around IS |
|
| 24D | LIMO | Lincoln product born out of uncertain situation (4) | Lincoln (car maker’s) product / LIM(B)O – uncertain situation, minus B (born) |
|
Xana is Anax’s beloved daughter, and it’s no coincidence that one is the reversal of the other.
Aww, very nice. Missed last Saturday’s paper and now wish I hadn’t. 26 Across is pushing it, mind. 😀
Not up to the Indy’s normal standard. Maybe if the setter spent more time on coming up with some interesting or amusing clues than he did on filling the grid with a personal message about which solvers won’t give a fig, we might have had a decent crossword to solve. Sort it out.
A lovely crossword full of clever and witty clues. Typical Anax, in fact, and I have no idea what Carl Hooper is on about or why but that’s he’s problem. And Happy Birthday, Xana! 🙂
Not quite what I think of as typical Anax (no mention of busty substances or the underpinnings that cover them, which would have been quite inappropriate in the circs) – just good clean fun, and most enjoyable. Greetings to the birthday girl, and to her top dad.
The clue to 4D is also thematic.
Overall tough, occasionally obscure but ultimately very satisfying.
I thought that this was a typically challenging Anax puzzle. Seeing the possibility of the nina helped, although I was glad I already had the X from XMAS by the time I saw it. I don’t know what the enumeration of 8ac was in last Saturday’s paper, but the online version has it as (8) when it should be (3,5) because as far as I can tell the airline is AIR MALTA. I was glad I had heard of SKIATHOS because my knowledge of The Three Musketeers doesn’t extend to knowing Athos’ title. I needed the wordplay for MANNA-ASH because I don’t remember having come across it before. I eventually finished in the SE with DUNCAN after AGEISM.
Carl @3: Hidden messages (aka ninas) in crosswords have well-established precedents – not that I spot them very often. But something seemed to be going on here once I got the first three down answers and as the message emerged it helped in completing the grid.
One expects a challenge from Anax and this was well up to his usual standard. I’d never have got MANNA ASH – I don’t mind admitting I’d never heard of it – without the nina. To my shame, though, I didn’t know who TED PEATE was, although I got that answer from the clue alone.
One minor quibble: I would have enumerated 8ac as (3,5), although I see on Google that the name is sometimes one word, sometimes two.
OUTFOX and SMELLS A RAT are my two nominations for CoD
Thanks, Anax and mc_rapper67 (and it seems a long time since mc_rapper67 last blogged an Indy.)
I’m with Carl at 3 on this one. 27 across is very obscure and 13 is so obscure that the only way to work it in is by making the wordplay ridiculously simple. And in 22 down,if the A represents “one” it very clearly isn’t “into” gem, but outside it. 26 across and 8 across are also thin.
David, re 22: ‘One’ is indeed A, but it stands alone at the start of the wordplay; it’s ‘is’ that is ‘into’…
The enumeration for 8ac in the paper was (3,5).
Dormouse@11 – thanks for that. I assumed it was a mistake but I didn’t know if it was just the online version.
allan_c@8 – on the company site they call themselves AIR MALTA, therefore one has to assume that anything to the contrary that can be found via a Google search must be erroneous. I have seen an Air Malta logo in which the two words look like they have been concatenated, but that doesn’t make it an alternative name for the company. I would assume that some people have seen the logo, assumed it is one word, referred to it as such online, and those posts are what a Google search picks up.
Loved it! Birthday greetings to Xana.
Really unkind, Carl Hooper
Lovely puzzle. Carl Hooper @3, you seem to have got out the wrong side of the bed – sort it out!
Thanks mc_rapper67 and well done, Anax. I enjoyed this a lot!