Punk has produced today’s puzzle with something of a cricketing theme, perhaps to coincide with the end of this summer’s Ashes series this week.
Rather oddly, the first clue that I solved is the only one that I have failed to parse: the extended entry at 13/21/18/20. I look forward to hearing from other solvers how the clue actually works. Although the wordplay takes more unpicking than I have time for today, full marks to Punk for including so many cricketing references in this clue. The theme is reinforced by the clues, but not the solutions, at 8 and 14.
Overall, I found this a challenging puzzle, affording entertainment and mental challenge in equal measure. My last ones in were 17A and 17D, the former being a new word for me, not to be confused with “caribou”. My favourites today were 1, for concision; 14, for surface; and 17D for raising a smile. However, as always with Punk’s puzzles, there is always so very much to appreciate.
(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 09 | RHINO | Animal in love with rough skin?
R<oug>H (“skin” means first and last letters only) + IN + O (=love, i.e. zero score) |
| 10 | RIGMAROLE | Duty beyond doctor with a degree? Nonsense!
RIG (=doctor, fix e.g. results) + MA (=degree) + ROLE (=duty) |
| 11 | ENSHRINED | Dinner she cooked is cherished
*(DINNER SHE); “cooked” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | DEPTH | Principal characters of Degas’ erotic painting that have intensity
D<egas’> E<rotic> P<ainting> T<hat> H<ave>; “principal characters” means first letters only |
| 13/21/18/20 | THE BOWLER’S HOLDING, THE BATSMAN’S WILLEY | Grossly below the belt, West Indian male seeking English dismissal (hard to get out) coming to grips with length finally, finding famous slip in cricket?
Wordplay?? The reference is to the gaffe (=slip) ascribed to cricket commentator Brian Johnston (1912-94) when commentating on a test match in 1976: England batsman Peter Willey was facing a delivery from WI fast bowler Michael Holding |
| 14 | ORAL | Right to leave out opener for test
<m>ORAL (=right, just); “leaving out opener” means first letter dropped |
| 16 | ERDOGAN | In conclusion, a god refused repellent Turkish leader
Reversed (“repellent”) and hidden (“in”) in “conclusioN A GOD REfused”; the reference is to Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, the 12th and current president of Turkey |
| 17 | CARABAO | Officer lassoing horse and a buffalo
[ARAB (=horse) + A] in CO (=officer, i.e. Commanding Officer); the carabao is the domesticated Asiatic buffalo |
| 19 | IOWA | Isle, a state
IOW (=Isle, i.e. Isle of Wight) + A |
| 23 | GULAG | Swallow travelling westward over a prison camp
A in GULG (GLUG=swallow; “travelling westward” indicates reversal) |
| 25 | EPIDERMIC | Remedy initially cutting disease on the surface in humans, for example?
R<emedy> (“initially” means first letter only) in EPIDEMIC (=disease) |
| 26 | APERIODIC | Irregular account describing spirit before cricket game
[PERI (=spirit) + ODI (=cricket game, i.e. One-Day International)] in AC (=account); aperiodic is irregular, infrequent |
| 27 | DENIM | This writer’s after office material
DEN (=office) + I’M (=this writer, i.e. Punk) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | ERNEST HEMINGWAY | He wrote fliers in dynastic style?
ERNES (=fliers, i.e. birds, here sea-eagles) + THE MING WAY (=in dynastic style?); the reference is to American author Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) |
| 02 | AIRSPEED | Broadcasts went for a high rate?
AIRS (=broadcasts) + PEED (=went, i.e. to the toilet); cryptically, “a high rate” is the speed of an aircraft, hence “airspeed” |
| 03 | SOURDOUGH | Potential bloomer, perhaps, the ultimate in licentiousness – function of crossword setters that’s disgusting
<licentiousnes>S (“ultimate in” means last letters only) + OUR (=of crossword setters) + DO (=function, party) + UGH (=that’s disgusting); since a bloomer is a type of loaf, sourdough is a “potential bloomer”! |
| 04 | FRANKLIN | Note provin’ an irritation for soul singer
F (=note, in music) + RANKLIN<g> (=provin’); the reference is to American musician Aretha Franklin (1942-)) |
| 05 | AGADIR | General gossip curtailed in African city
AGA (=general, in Turkey) + DIR<t> (=gossip, especially spiteful; “curtailed” means last letter dropped) |
| 06/07 | SAND HOPPER | Small crustacean also caught by one with a basket?
AND (=also) in SHOPPER (=one with a basket); a sand hopper is a crustacean of estuaries that jumps by suddenly straightening its bent body |
| 08 | WE SHALL OVERCOME | Words of defiance noted as some deliveries from a West Indian fast bowler arrive
WES HALL (=West Indian fast bowler, 1937-) + OVER (=some deliveries) + COME (=arrive); “We shall overcome” is a protest song of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, hence “words of defiance”, with “noted” suggesting “set to music” |
| 15 | ORANGEADE | Drunk agreed on quaffing a drink
A in *(AGREED ON); “drunk” is anagram indicator |
| 17 | CODPIECE | Scale, perhaps, that would be put in front of an organ?
Cryptically, a scale is a “cod-piece”, in that there are many scales on the skin of a fish; an Elizabethan actor would hide his manhood (=organ) behind a codpiece |
| 22 | OVERDO | Stretch too far right in Spanish city, deporting first of immigrants
R (=right) in OV<i>EDO (=Spanish city, in Asturias; “deporting first of i-mmigrants” means letter “i” is dropped) |
| 24 | GRIT | Some hard stuff //in bottle
Double definition: grit is hard stuff, i.e. sand, stone, gravel AND bottle, nerve, courage |
Thank you for blogging, RR.
Unlike you, I found no entertainment or stuff to appreciate in this. I gave up, and I’m a cricket fanatic. The long clue is no doubt very subtle. No doubt someone will parse it for us in a bit. If you’re not into cricket, then you will never, ever have heard this phrase, so what it’s doing in a daily cryptic is beyond me. This is supposed to be a puzzle which your Average Joe (id est, me) can solve in less than an hour before getting on with more serious stuff like working.
Cleveritis, in my humble opinion.
Thanks RatkojaRiku
I think the parsing of 13/21/18/20 is: an anagram (to get out) of GROSSLY BELOW THE BELT WEST INDIAN MAL[e] (male seeking English dismissal) H (hard) around (coming to grips with) [lengt]H (length finally).
Thank you, Gaufrid, and well done on the parsing.
Yes, well done to Gaufrid for parsing the long anagram – I tried but couldn’t see how it worked. I liked this crossword though don’t know what someone who is not familiar with cricket would make of the key clue, much less be able to parse it. Still, brought a smile of recognition for me. A few new words and 1and 8 were both nice clues and satisfying to solve.
Thanks to S & B.
“Cleveritis”, excellent description. I might’ve been less polite.
FWIW I know nothing and care less about cricket, but I knew the long phrase, and had even heard of Wes Hall.
So, sorry K’s D and Sidey, but I had a thoroughly good time. Thanks Punk and RatkojaRiku.
No need for an apology Conrad, we all like different things.
I always find Punk difficult so I was pleased with how far I got! I enjoyed working out 17a and knew the rude slip from years back. But most answers came from the letters and one half of the clue. Thanks to both!
Well, I enjoyed this one if only for the smile 13/21/18/20 raised. Mind you, I couldn’t parse it, and it wasn’t the only one I couldn’t parse. My CoD was WE SHALL OVERCOME.
Thanks, Punk and RatkojaRiku.
Haha ‘cleveritis’!
HH
I don’t see how a cricket broadcasting clue is cleveritis, but references to 200 year old operas are perfectly valid. Or novels of the nineteenth century. Or songs from artistes one had never heard of. Or one of the many other themes were are daily entertained with. What should we class 17A as?
Don’t be so grumpy, your team is bound to win a game eventually.
Anyway, I thought this an excellent puzzle, and as always, a great blog.
Thanks to both.
Just a bit peeved that this didnt turn up in a Graun prize- its certainly right up my alley but then I’m a Graunister,
Thought 1D and 8D very clever and enjoyed this a lot. As for the long phrase, it’s clear many non-cricket buffs have heard this, but I also baulked at trying to untangle the wordplay.
I’ve always found it difficult to believe that if Jonners really did say it, that it was a “slip”.
Thanks muchly to Punk and RatkojaRiku.
Indeed, GeordyGordy, operas and songs and novels are all fair game, bonny lad; but (imho, of course) a cricketing broadcast clue like this one is likely to go a million miles over the head of most folk who do this crossword (and not just the smartarses like me who comment on this thread).
And as for cricket, then hello to those who believed that it would be 5-0 to the Aussies in the Ashes. Which is a score that should be familiar to Mags as far as local derbies are concerned over the last few years.
Grumpy is my middle name, btw.
Yes, it is not a knowledge of a ‘thing’ but of a particular instance within a thing. For example an event within a particular opera performance, known only to deep aficionados. Where the chair fell over, that sort of thing.
This one took me a while, but I found it very satisfying to finish unaided. I agree that the long clue is more of a GK clue and I didn’t bother to unscramble the wordplay, but it is typical of Punk to try and work something like this into a puzzle so no regular solver should be surprised by it. I thought the clue for WE SHALL OVERCOME was a cracker, especially as it brought back memories of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith who were the first pair of West Indian fast bowlers I was aware of when I was a nipper. I also thought the clue for RHINO was very good. I had to trust the wordplay for CARABAO because I don’t remember seeing it before, although that could just be my memory playing up. I eventually finished with APERIODIC after CODPIECE (which raised another smile).
From the Radio Times crossword on 1 August 1968 compiled by Donald F. Manley:
3 Down Test cricketer reveals our intention (3,4)
And he was better known then!
Quixote tomorrow — enjoy!
I got the gateway clue on first sight and even worked out the parsing, with a bit of an effort. That gave me an enormous head start and helped me to finish in reasonable time. Sourdough and aperiodic were the two that gave the most resistance, both being a bit unusual.
The issue with the gateway clue from my point of view is that it’s either a write-in (in which case, don’t read the rest) or you have no hope as the wordplay is too intricate to disentangle. (I say this fully aware that I have occasionally pulled the same trick myself – ‘A cold coming we had of it…’, anyone? – but I always feel guilty about it, OK?) Operas/novels etc are generally shorter and anagrams and the like more discernible, and some sort of entry is deducible.
For what it’s worth it was a write-in for me, and I’m no follower of cricket; navigating the Basin Reserve roundabout in Wellington is enough to give anyone a phobia for cricket grounds and all they entail. On the other hand, even though I was eating a sandwich made of the stuff at the time, I was rather slow on 3d.
Phi has put his finger on the point regarding long answers. The accompanying complex clues, one suspects, are more satisfying for the setters than the solvers, offering the possible equivalent of an ‘aren’t-I-clever’ exclamation mark.
As a ‘cricket nitwit’ I had never heard of the long one.
So I could do nothing else than trying to solve the remainder of the puzzle, forgetting about 13/21/18/20.
It became clear that there had to be two ‘the’s in the long one and that 18d couldn’t be anything else than ‘batsman’s’.
In the end, I only missed out on the crucial (for the intended smile, that is) ‘Holding’ and ‘Willey’.
In general, I do not like crosswords with long entries such as these.
If the solution doesn’t come naturally to you, the puzzle becomes in a way ‘locked’ for too long.
The final a-ha moment is usually not enough to compensate the extra struggle.
BTW, is it really satisfying for setters to compile a puzzle like this?
What fun is it if the average solver cannot parse the clue (or cannot be bothered anyway)?
Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the crossword but mainly because I enjoy solving well-written clues (ideally with a nice surface).
Punk’s not bad at that, is he?