This was a crossword of two halves
After my “first pass” I had the entire left hand side complete but not the central down 5D and only a scattering in the right hand side. Indeed I only had 9 answers to go.
I was cruelly misled by the left hand side into thinking this was a reasonably easy crossword. I was shown otherwise in the end, by the right hand side. I was taught that while I can spell ASCETICISM, LABYRINTH and even ORESTEIA, I cannot spell Dante’s surname (without help) and have certainly never heard of the Agenbite of Inwyt.
I was also taught that a couple of doubtful (aka wrong) guesses can scupper a number of attached answers.
I do like Tees offerings. They always have something surprising…
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1/15 | PATRICIA HIGHSMITH | Writer having revised Part One spies wasted worker at forge (8,9) (PART I(one))* AInd: revised. then CIA (spies) HIGH (wasted) SMITH (worker) Spotted Patricia from the crossing letters and then spotted def. |
| 6 | DENTAL | Transaction to import books concerning London’s Hampstead Heath? (6) DEAL (transaction) “importing” NT (books) “Hampsteads” are surely one of the most well known Cockney Rhyming slang examples. |
| 9 | BIG MAC | Fat old woman gets cold burger (3,3) BIG MA (Fat old woman) C[old] First answer entered. Slightly non-PC I thought, maybe, such that it almost made me doubt the answer |
| 10 | EINSTEIN | Would he calculate mc2 of E in beer mug? (8) E IN STEIN (beer mug) Another where the answer seems all too clear. And is it too hard to make the 2 in the clue a superscript? |
| 12 | LABYRINTHS | Confusing passages, Bryn Terfel finally has it sorted (10) (BRYN [terfe]L HAS IT)* AInd: sorted |
| 14 | WHITE-HOT | Very intense compilers keen to neck wallop (5-3) WE (compilers) HOT (keen) around (to neck) HIT (wallop) |
| 16 | GREY | Dismal or dark horse (4) Double Def. Made a rod for me own back early on by thinking this was GRIM |
| 18 | AGRA | Metal god finds Indian city (4) AG (Metal, Silver) RA (god) |
| 19 | ORESTEIA | Greek plays, others in Old English, I start to adapt (8) REST (others) in O[ld] E[nglish], I A[dapt] |
| 21 | ASCETICISM | Self-denial exists among cats at play with mice (10) IS (exists) CATS and MICE all anagrammed (at play). Pleased to get this one early on |
| 22 | NUDE | Brown back and midsection in Pietà or other work (4) DUN< [pi]E[ta] |
| 24 | WITHDRAW | Pull out having contest no side wins (8) WITH (having) DRAW (contest no side wins) |
| 26 | AVAUNT | Old move on – relative takes in V&A (6) V and A inside AUNT (relative) (interj.) Begone; depart; — a word of contempt or abhorrence, equivalent to the phrase “Get thee gone.” Not a word I use every day. |
| 27 | SHREWD | Clever Kate Minola departs (6) KATE (Shrew, as in Taming of the Shrew) D[eparts] Then who is Minola? – turns out that is the surname of the Shakespearean Kate/Shrew character. Who knew? |
| 28 | TEETERED | French head drinking English wine looked wobbly (8) E[nglish] inside TETE (french head) then RED (wine) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | ALIBI | Defence starts to address legal issues behind injunction (5) First letters: A[ddress] L[egal] I[ssues] B[ehind] I[njunction]. Easy to write this in for the second answer entered in the grid |
| 3 | REMONSTRATE | Protest about WW1 battle charge after start of truce (11) RE (about) MONS (WWI battle) T[ruce] RATE (charge) Briefly considered Demonstrate before slapping this in as the third answer entered in what felt like as many seconds |
| 4/11 | CECIL THE LION | For trophy unfairly taken, Celtic exploited hole in formation? (5,3,4) CELTIC* AInd: exploited, then (HOLE IN)* AInd: formation. The eponymous lion was the victim of Walter Palmer who I see from this news story (link) is now not a wanted man. It won’t stop him forever being known worldwide as the “Lion Murderer”. And another written in with barely a pause for breathe. I thought it can’t go on like this – it didn’t … |
| 5 | AGENBITE OF INWYT | Styled on wife-beating it becomes work of remorse and conscience (8,2,5) (ON WIFE-BEATING IT)* AInd: Styled. Last answer in after a fair amount of internet help. Looks like you can please yourself with the spelling. Please follow the link to discover more [Wiki link] Suffice to say I haven’t put it on this year’s reading list The correct spelling is INWIT otherwise the anagram doesn’t work. See comment #1 |
| 6 | DE NIRO | Actor put in frock that’s lifted without notice? (2,4) OR[da]INED< ORDAINED is Put in frock, remove A D (notice) and all reversed (lifted) Even after deciding it must be De Niro the transformation of “put in frock” to “ordained” took me a while |
| 7 | NET | Fortune to keep after taxes (3) Hidden in fortuNE To. Another where I made a doubtful early guess based on the wrong definition: I thought this was LOT from def. Fortune, with, in retrospect, no good reason from any wordplay |
| 13 | NIGHTINGALE | Nurse at work after dark has good drink (11) IN (at work) after NIGHT (dark), then G[ood] ALE (drink) This was the breakthrough answer in the second part of the solve. I was misled to think the def. was at the other end of the clue and “nurse” was TEND down from the crossing T that I had in place. No, it doesn’t make sense to me on reflection either |
| 17 | PERMEATE | Apparently carnivorous French dad to pass through! (8) MEAT “eaten by” PERE – so the French dad (PERE) is apparently carnivorous (eats MEAT) Great clue! |
| 20 | NIMROD | Sent aloft to assassinate but stopped by Mr Hunter (6) (DO IN)< (to assassinate) all reversed, around (stopped by) MR. |
| 23/8 | DANTE ALIGHIERI | Rage in The Iliad confused poet (5,9) (RAGE IN THE ILIAD)* AInd: Confused. When I finally twigged it was Dante I still had such doubts over his second name’s spelling I succumbed and looked it up. |
| 25 | HUE | Husband and uncle eviscerated in shade (3) H[usband] U[ncl]E |
I remember finding this one tough. I, too, had problems remembering how to spell Dante’s surname. I did know 5dn, however, it’s mentioned in Ulysses, I think. But from the anagram fodder, I think they wanted the INWIT spelling.
As Dormouse said, Agenbite is mentioned more than once in Ulysses which would be where most people know it from. Its part of the obstacle course.
Dormouse and copmus:
Good grief you’re right. It must be the INWIT spelling. And now you’ve mentioned the references in Ulysses I see it is spelled ‘Agenbite of Inwit’ there.
How did I make that mistake? It’s because for a while I was using STYLED as part of the anagram fodder rather than the indicator and got it stuck in my head there was a Y in it.
Shall I correct the blog? I have used the wrong spelling in several places. I think this time I’ll just make a note on the clue explanation
Strikes me that this puzzle was built around the setter spotting an anagram of a spectacularly obscure phrase.
Can’t think of anything else to say about it.
Well, here’s another who’s never heard of 5dn, not having read Ulysses (I find Joyce’s style somewhat unappealing). Finally got it as LOI, after Chambers Word Wizard gave me INWIT, by trial and error with the remaining letters of the anagram fodder. Word Wizard offers only the AYENBITE spelling for a-e-b-t-. I think a little moan is justified about the spelling variants coinciding with unchecked letters.
But otoh NIMROD was my CoD – very subtle!
So thanks to beermagnet and qualified thanks to Tees.
I would defend the inclusion of ‘Agenbite of Inwit’ in a prize puzzle. Especially if I had written that puzzle. And I see that I have, begob, begorrah and bejaysus.
No write-in, the thing does have variant spelynges, but all the letters are there in an anagram, inwit. Sorry. I meant to say ‘innit’. So I would say that you can work it out if you really want to. From all the letters, see? And there’s them there crossers that everyone seems to think are part of the whole craic, aren’t there? Yes, eight out of the fifteen are checked, so that’s all right.
If you are interested, ‘inwit’ is your inner wit, your conscience, and the ‘agenbite’ suggests that this conscience thingy is always pricking, or biting you. No regrets here of course. And so if you’d been a wife-beater for example … no? Oh, never mind. In Ulysses people who experience it (the agenbite) tend to be shown as heroic, sort of, whilst those who do not are seen as somewhat less ethical. And hey! What is ‘Joyce’s style’, I wonder, in an episode such as Oxen of the Sun?
Universally that person’s acumen is esteemed very little perceptive concerning whatsoever matters are being held as most profitable by mortals with sapience endowed to be studied who is ignorant of that which the most in doctrine erudite and certainly by reason of that in them high mind’s ornament deserving of veneration constantly maintain when by general consent they affirm that other circumstances being equal by no exterior splendour is the prosperity of a nation more efficaciously asserted than by the measure of how far forward may have progressed the tribute of its solicitude for that proliferent continuance which of evils the original if it be absent when fortunately present constitutes the certain sign of omnipollent nature’s incorrupted benefaction.
Buggered if I know. But I’m glad the silly sod didn’t write crosswords. Many thanks though, to those who write blogs, and to those who comment on them.
Cheers
Teesey
I only managed to get around to tackling this today, but I thought it was an absolutely terrific puzzle, even if I had to admit defeat with four or five left to go.
So many wonderful clues to tease apart and so many “aha” moments.