(Not too) stormy weather
A Shakespearean themed puzzle from Neo, where the solver requires some knowledge of The Tempest in particular to complete the puzzle, although the wordplay makes answers attainable even if you don’t know who Prospero, Caliban and Sycorax are.
On the whole, an enjoyable solve.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SCHOLASTIC |
Pedant thus restricts small children – only one left in charge (10)
S(CH)O + LAST + I.C. |
| 7 | WICK |
Highland town one adding fuel to flame (4)
Double definition, the latter cryptic |
| 9 | UNDO |
Open party Ban Ki-moon gives? (4)
U.N. do – a party at the United Nations, hosted by Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General |
| 10 | MERCANTILE |
Commercial mail centre destroyed (10)
*(mail centre) |
| 11 | LANDAU |
Deliver gold in horse-drawn carriage (6)
LAND + AU |
| 12 | EWE LAMBS |
Sheep or small black ram we returned? (3,5)
<= S B MALE WE |
| 13 | PROSPERO |
Magician puts sulphur in right hole (8)
PRO(S)PER + O A magician in The Tempest |
| 15 | INNS |
Legal institutions in north and south (4)
IN N + S Refers to the Inns of Court in London |
| 17 | USER |
Addict taken in because relapsed (4)
Hidden in “becaUSE Relapsed” |
| 19 | NASALITY |
Say Latin may require thinner voice? (8)
*(say latin) |
| 22 | OCCIDENT |
West’s mishap having replaced leader (8)
O(a)CCIDENT |
| 23 | ASTHMA |
After time in dust mum’s wheezing (6)
AS(T)H + MA Is “wheezing” a sufficient definition for ASTHMA? Or is the whole clue an & lit.? |
| 25 | URBI ET ORBI |
Our tribe AC/DC rocked to the City and the World (4,2,4)
*(our tribe) + BI(sexual) Urbi et Orbi is a papal address intended for a global audience. |
| 26 | MEET |
Hounds assembly that’s correct (4)
Double definition |
| 27 | OXEN |
Animals driven from Rio Xenxem (4)
hidden in RiO XENxem |
| 28 | LAST MINUTE |
Thrown at me, insult done at 23:59? (4-6)
Cryptic definition and *(at me insult) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | CENTAUR |
Horsey person brings coin to one ancient city (7)
CENT + A + UR |
| 3 | OVOID |
Roman poet holds ball shaped like rugger ball? (5)
OV(O)ID |
| 4 | ARMOURER |
Lover’s run inside with her topless military man (8)
A(R)MOUR +(h)ER |
| 5 | THREE-POINT TURNS |
Pretension and truth interchangeable in certain manoeuvres (5-5,5)
*(pretension truth) |
| 6 | CHAPEL |
Husband in robe left here to worship (6)
C(H)APE + L |
| 7 | WITH A WILL |
Humour and derisive exclamation given by Shakespeare vigorously (4,1,4)
WIT + HA! + WILL |
| 8 | CALIBAN |
See greatest boxer tops outlaw monster (7)
C + ALI + BAN Caliban is a subhuman character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest |
| 14 | SARDINIAN |
Islander collapsed drain to stop Irish girl (9)
*(drain) in SIAN |
| 16 | ESCAPISM |
Travel in space is male fantasy (8)
*(space) + IS + M |
| 18 | SYCORAX |
Witch discontented Savoy Company getting artist cross (7)
S(avo)Y + CO + R.A. + X Sycorax is the mother of Caliban in The Tempest, although she doesn’t appear in the play. |
| 20 | TEMPEST |
English politician in tax storm (7)
T(E M.P.)EST |
| 21 | MENTAL |
Food given outside theatre off trolley (6)
ME(N.T.)AL N.T. is the National Theatre |
| 24 | TIMON |
Athenian misanthrope has army doctor split money (5)
TI(M.O.)N M.O. stands for Medical Officer, and Timon is the protagonist in Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens. |
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Was able to finish this on the train ride home tonight and found it pretty straightforward apart from the RCC phrase URBI ET ORBI.
Picked up the theme quite early for a change, although originally thought that it was a more generic Shakespearean one with MERCANTILE. Settled on the TEMPEST as the theme, and see that ARIEL features across the centre as a nina as well.
Nice crisp clues as per usual although OCCIDENT with the covered up O was pushing the envelope. LAST MINUTE was my favourite and finished in the SE corner with NASALITY and ASTHMA the last couple in.
@1 Thanks brucew@aus for pointing out the nina. I ALWAYS miss ninas!
Apart from the Merchant of Venice, is there another link between Shakspeare and mercantile that I’m missing?
Hi loonapick … nope not that I know of. It was just the merchant / mercantile connect that I thought might be going somewhere.
Yes — thanks brucew for pointing out the Nina. Thanks too to Neo for a most enjoyable brainstorm.And to loonapick for a job well done.
Just a quibble on 14dn. Isn’t Sian a Welsh, not Irish name?
I think ‘travel in’ is required for anagram indicator.
Sofia – I though that too, but didn’t want to point it out in case I was wrong.
hedgehoogy – Yes, you are right. I’ll edit accordingly.
As usual a most enjoyable puzzle from Neo. URBI ET ORBI rang a bell and I see Neo’s alter Ego Tees clued it as: Our tribe played with AC/DC to the City and the World. Is this a signature clue? Many thanks to Neo and Loonapick.
Well, er, yes, I do seem to have got my money’s worth out of that one. I thought about getting rid of it actually, but there are some connexions which made that seem too much like hard work.
Nina across the middle anyone? Oh never mind.
Thanks to Loona and to all for chiming in.
Cheers
Neo
Thanks loonapick for the blog, Brucew for spotting the Nina, and of course to Neo for both the puzzle and for dropping in – even if he apparently didn’t read the comments –
I too thought Sian was Welsh.