Good morning, and today we have another absolute gem from the store of puzzles left us by Richard Rogan, this time under the byline of Corelli. I do seem to be unusually favoured by the gods who allocate puzzles to bloggers – having joined the blogging roster at the start of 2024, this is only my 31st puzzle, but of those no less than six have been by RR. And every one a real pleasure.
One is always on high alert for a NINA with a Corelli puzzle, but once again the most reliable rule in Crosswordland – that Statherby never spots NINAs – held firm and I shall leave it to others to say if there is one. Instead I merely enjoyed a high class puzzle in which all the words are familiar, there is a good mix of types of wordplay and if some of the definitions are perhaps a little looser than usual, none of them is totally beyond the pale.
All in, a completion in 12:58. How did everyone else get on?
(I am travelling for most of today and won’t unfortunately be able to respond quickly to any direct comments).
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (abc)* indicates an anagram of abc, and strike-through-text shows deletions.
| Across | |
| 1 | One’s boy touring northern Majorca, perhaps (6) |
| ISLAND – IS (ie I’s, or one’s) + LAD (boy), around (“touring”) N (northern). A DBE, indicated by the “perhaps”. | |
| 5 | Naval hero in the hold! (6) |
| NELSON – A DD.
A Nelson hold, or more commonly a full Nelson to distinguish it from the one-handed half-Nelson, is a wrestling move which uses both arms to surround an opponent, render them immobile and pin them to the floor. It is widely considered quite dangerous and because of the high risk of injury, many forms of wrestling ban it. How the name arose is unclear, and the internet gives various derivations, but the most often quoted is a reference to Admiral Lord (Horatio) Nelson, who used strategies based on surrounding the opponent to win the Battle of the Nile and the Battle of Trafalgar. Whether that stacks up I leave to any naval experts to opine on! |
|
| 8 | Angriest after dispersing one of several elements (5,3) |
| INERT GAS – (angriest)*, with the anagram indicator being “after dispersing”.
There are 7 so-called inert gases. The classic 6 are Helium (He), Neon (Ne), Krypton (Kr), Argon (Ar), Xenon (Xe) and Radon (Rn), to which many chemists now add the artificially created gas Oganesson (Og, atomic number 118 – only 5 atoms of this synthetic and highly unstable gas have ever been made). The term inert gas was originally coined because it was believed that none of the original six reacted with any other element, but it is now out of favour following the discovery in the early 1960s that under certain specific conditions xenon can in fact form compounds after all. Instead the preferred term these days is “noble gas” – “noble”, because they hold themselves aloof from mixing with the common-or-garden other elements. I suppose “snooty gas” didn’t sound right … |
|
| 9 | Note very loud quarrel (4) |
| TIFF – TI (a note in the sol-fa scale) + FF (musical notation for very loud). | |
| 10 | Club I run round November (4) |
| IRON – An IKEA clue, with the answer made up of I (from the clue) + R (run) + O (round) + N (November, the name for the letter N in the NATO alphabet). 4 components for a four letter clue – impressive! | |
| 11 | Commercial vehicle to give way briefly — then moved forward (8) |
| ADVANCED – Another IKEA clue, the construction this time being AD (commercial) + VAN (vehicle) + CED (cede or give way, “briefly”, ie with the last letter deleted). | |
| 12 | Dye ignited letters from Greek (6) |
| LITMUS – LIT (ignited) + MUS (or mu’s: mu is a letter in the Greek alphabet so more than one of them is presumably several mus).
Litmus is a water-soluble mixture of different dyes extracted from lichens. It is used to make Litmus paper, a test for acidity. The Litmus paper test is very reliable, which in turn gives rise to the expression Litmus test for any decisively indicative test. Irrelevant fact of the day: mu, written μ in Greek, is the only non-Latin letter used in the SI system of prefixes. It stands for micro and means one millionth, so a μm or micrometre (often shortened to just “micron”) is one millionth of a metre or one thousandth of a millimetre. |
|
| 14 | Messenger dined on stage (6) |
| LEGATE – ATE (dined) after LEG (stage). As I have observed before, in an across clue, “on” can mean following. In a down clue, “on” more usually means preceding, ie visually on top of. Is that clear?
In classical Rome, a Legate (Latin legatus) originally meant a senior military officer – the commander of a legion was a legate – and then later in the Empire the term became used for the governor of a province. More recently the term is often used in the Catholic church for a member of the clergy, usually a cardinal, who represents the Pope (a “papal legate”). From these high ranking positions to the designation of simply “a messenger” is perhaps a wee stretch, but the wordplay is clear enough. |
|
| 16 | Prominent position of deep hole in fence, not the first (8) |
| EMINENCE – ENCE (fence, with the first letter deleted, given by “not the first”) surrounding MINE (deep hole).
Mine for deep hole held me up a bit here, but it is fair enough, as anyone who has seen a big open-cast mine will agree. The largest open-cast mine in the world is the Bingham Canyon Mine, in Utah, USA, a massive copper mine with a depth of over ¾ mile (1.2 km). |
|
| 18 | As I see it, a large book (4) |
| TOME – The construction is TO ME, as in It seems to me / As I see it. | |
| 20 | Walked in time with stick (4) |
| TROD – T (time) + ROD (stick). | |
| 21 | Daydreamer spies cat wandering (8) |
| ESCAPIST – (spies cat)*, the anagram indicator being “wandering”. | |
| 23 | Screen almost camouflaged small secluded spot (6) |
| RECESS – (scree)*, the anagram indicator being “camouflaged” and the anagrist being made up of SCREEN with the last letter deleted, given by “almost”, + S (small).
A slight MER at the definition; a recess is to me more of an alcove, a part of a wall which is built further back than the rest of the wall. It may be secluded but it isn’t guaranteed. |
|
| 24 | Anger after day’s work sending things up? (6) |
| SATIRE – IRE (anger) after SAT (a day, ie Saturday). I wondered for a bit what the word work was doing in the clue but I concluded it is part of the definition, as in a satirical work. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Spanish gentleman from south in French orgy — not half! (5) |
| SENOR – S (south) + EN (“in” in French) + OR (orgy, with the second half deleted, given by “not half”). | |
| 3 | A companion met initially in eg NAAFI (7) |
| ACRONYM – A (from the clue) + CRONY (companion) + M (Met “initially”, ie first letter of). Another DBE, given by the “eg”. | |
| 4 | Follow divine being going towards heaven? (3) |
| DOG – GOD (divine being) reversed and reading up (“going towards heaven”). A nice variant for the reversal indicator and a very nice surface. | |
| 5 | Strangely, he’ll start to need visa for city in America (9) |
| NASHVILLE – (he’ll n visa)*, with the N in the anagrist given by “start to need” and the anagram indictor being “strangely”. | |
| 6 | Short story put up in the language of Juvenal (5) |
| LATIN – LAT (tale, or story, with the last letter deleted, ie “short” and then reversed, ie “put up”) + IN (from the clue).
Decimus Junius Juvenalis, known in English as Juvenal, was a Roman poet (55-128 AD) and the author of the Satires, a collection of satirical poems. |
|
| 7 | Eccentric no longer on patrol? (7) |
| OFFBEAT – OFF (no longer on) + BEAT (patrol). | |
| 11 | A bishop posted: “Look up: they aren’t there!” (9) |
| ABSENTEES – A B (a bishop) + SENT (posted, eg a letter) + EES (see or look reversed, given by “up”). A very smooth clue indeed and my COD. And also my LOI, as it took me a while to work out what was going on. | |
| 13 | Dip provided by slimmers, excellent (7) |
| IMMERSE – A hidden, in slIMMERS Excellent, with the hidden indicator being “provided by”. | |
| 15 | Decline to prepare to put ball in pocket? (2,2,3) |
| GO TO POT – I am scoring this as a DD, with the second half a “constructed” definition more than a straightforward one. But when a snooker or billiards player approaches the table and gets ready to pot a ball, I think it is fair to say he is “going to” or “about to” pot it. | |
| 17 | Poke after mounting for example dark horse (5) |
| NUDGE – EG (for example) + DUN (dark horse), all reversed (“after mounting”).
Another one where I had a very slight query over the definition, as I would consider a dun horse to have more of a tan or golden brown body colour, often with a black mane and tail. |
|
| 19 | Monsieur is, I hesitate to say, a penny-pincher! (5) |
| MISER – M (monsieur) + IS (from the clue) + ER (I hesitate to say). | |
| 22 | Lettuce is firm against spades (3) |
| COS – CO (firm, company) + S (spades). | |
I’ve had a few cans – but sometimes that helps. Not on this occasion though, joining the slow coach club in just over 20 mins. Without wanting to denigrate the setter who’s clearly held in high regard, I thought some of this would have been better placed in the longer form of the game. That said I got them all in the end and understood them. Massive props to you Stathers for such a detailed write up-up.
Best wishes
Jonathan
I thought this was absolutely top class. I must say I stared at 1a for a minute before tearing myself away to 5a, which I stared at for another minute. Finally got off the mark with 5a INERT GAS, didn’t know inert and noble gas were the same thing, thanks. After that, everything started falling into place quite quickly. ACRONYM was very good I thought as the setter has chosen an unusual acronym to provide the answer, not the usual NATO, which would have given the game away immediately. NASHVILLE took me a little while to figure out, not least because the anagrist was a little convoluted. I had the same thought about RECESS for secluded spot.
Thanks Cedric for all the helpful info.
Pretty straightforward, if I recall correctly. Biffed NASHVILLE. I think I share, retrospectively, Cedric’s MER re RECESS. 7:05.
All three of the usual dictionaries have a separate entry for ‘recess’ (often plural) as a remote, secret, hidden place. 11 minutes, no problems. No theme or Nina spotted.
I guess I retract my MER.
Well I had looked at it twice myself before checking the books and finding that they have it covered. I think it goes with the territory that MER posters remain open to suggestions that may not have occurred to them.
🙂
Five minutes on the dot for a most enjoyable puzzle.
Great blog Cedric. My only knowledge of chemistry comes from crosswords and Breaking Bad, so the lesson was much appreciated.
I haven’t been to Utah but you should check out the Super Pit in Kalgoorlie next time you’re passing through.
Thanks for the tip about Kalgoorlie. I am actually planning to be there in January so I will certainly have a look. And if there are any TfTT alumni/alumnae who would like to meet up while I am in Sydney (early Jan) or Perth (mid-Jan) I’d be delighted to share a drink with you.
I’ve just started reading Bill Bryson’s “Down Under” which begins with his trip on the railway which goes from Sydney to Perth and probably stops in Kalgoorlie – haven’t read that far. I recall from the Des Moines clue of a few months ago you weren’t too up on Bryson but may I suggest it as your holiday book!
PS See if you can locate Tina on your travels.
We’ve been watching a Griff Rhys Jones travelogue on C4 about crossing Australia by train – very enjoyable. And yes, he went to Kalgoorlie and the super pit – absolutely mind-blowing.
A bucket-list item for a lot of people but I believe many find it over-priced and a little underwhelming. I haven’t done it myself but I’ve done the drive many times and always love it. Again though, it’s not for everyone.
Only just saw this Cedric. Yes, please include me in any planned drinks / meetups in January. I’ll be in Sydney for the Test in the first week of January then back to Perth, so we should be able to come up with something. Just need a memory-jogger on here closer to the date.
My comment about “just passing through” Kalgoorlie was a bit tongue-in-cheek as it’s not exactly on the way to anywhere. Unless you enjoy a bit of a drive…?
Thanks, and the timing should work, as my reason for being in Sydney is for the test match too. Then not so much the long drive as the long train – I note your comment above, but it does stop for a few hours at Kalgoorlie specifically so passengers can visit the Pit.
Hope to meet up in early January.
Wonderful NINA again from the much-missed RR.
The clue is ACRONYM and the initial letter of each across clue spells INITIAL LETTERS
Well spotted! I am not in the least bit surprised that this joined the very long list of NINAs I failed to see.
Yes amazing how folk spot these things is beyond my twisted mind.
Also really nice stuff around the chemistry piece – as a former research chemist I immediately thought xenon tetra fluoride which you more than cover off in blog and clue still works.
Wow! In awe of you this morning👏👏👏
It’s my turn to set the Weekend QC for those who would like something on Sunday morning. The link is via johninterred’s blog on Friday’s QC. Let me know your thoughts.
Great spot.
Oh. My. Word.
Sawbill, that is an unbelievable spot. Round of applause.
Well spotted!
Thank you for spotting the NINA. The cherry on the …. of a hugely enjoyable puzzle completed in just over 15 minutes – a PB.
Thank you Cedric for another excellent blog
Congratulations on the PB! 🏆
There may be more? Every ‘random’ letter, both down and across, is part of an acronym. The ones that immediately jumped out were NT (National Trust), AD (Anno Domini), AA (Automobile Association), and CS (Computer Science). All the others may be looked up as acronyms, admittedly some being rather obscure! But a proportion do relate to terms in computing or manufacturing engineering. Or maybe I’m starting to imagine things…
HTF does anybody spot that???
A brilliant nina and a brilliant spot too 👏👏👏
All done in a speedy 15.10. Right on the wavelength this morning started with island and pretty much worked anti-clockwise to finish with Nashville.
Had forgotten about Corelli being a rich sort of ninas and came here fresh from enjoying the fun device in todays concise – but would NEVER have spotted the acronym
Thanks Cedric for the super blog.
Concert day for me with my chamber choir, we have violinist Fenella Humphreys coming to play The Lark Ascending in a great arrangement where the choir replace the orchestra, it’s beautiful. Great perfornance here by Voces8 for those that like this kind of thing https://youtu.be/o4rt4-JIKbA?si=mbZu40h24J39jNcK
Lovely, thank you.
What beautiful voices- listening to this could possibly cure even astro_nowt of his birdophobia!
Thank you! Just saw them, don’t miss if you have a chance.
I envy you your chamber choir.
A bit slow this morning as I struggled in the SW for no apparent reason. LOI ACRONYM also caused a long delay at the end, despite having seen similar clues in the past.
Eventually crossed the line in 10.38
Top blogging Cedric
Great puzzle. We are apparently back on definition this week with the ‘QC’. Thanks to Corelli. A relaxed, enjoyable Saturday solve in 13 mins for me.
Excellent blog, too, Cedric.
16 mins…
A second successful Saturday solve. Something must be wrong!
As soon as I saw it was Corelli, I knew it must be one from the late Richard Rogan’s seemingly endless portfolio of puzzles. And a perfect QC it was. Only issue was trying to parse 16ac “Eminence”.
FOI – 1ac “Island”
LOI – 16ac “Eminence”
COD – 11dn “Absentees”
Thanks as usual!
Tough one for me. Managed four. Not 100 percent focused this morning.
My memory seems to think the term noble gases predated the term inert gases by a century or more. I think they were still referred to as noble gases when I did my chemistry O Level in 1967. I still didn’t get it even though I twigged that anagrist was the anagrist.
Steady, methodical solve of this lovely puzzle. Paused to work out parsing of EMINENCE and hadn’t appreciated the DD in LOI NELSON – of course! Didn’t know noble and inert gases were the same. Thanks for info Cedric. COD to ACRONYM which was the clue that took me the longest to solve (wanted to use CH for companion). Would never have spotted the Nina! Thanks all.
7:45
Nina not spotted, so thanks Sawbill. Nothing too tricky, just seemed to take a while to get around the board. A few that didn’t leap out immediately included LEGATE and LITMUS. My LOI was ACRONYM.
Thanks for the enjoyable analysis Cedric
Thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle from the late RR. It showcases the setters art, by including a wonderful Nina without having to resort to convoluted clues.
Unfortunately I missed out on the chance of a sub-15 thanks to a recurrence of my wrong end of clue tendency: looking for a ‘dark horse’ in 17d. Eminence eventually put me on the right track, but the clock had by then moved on to 17mins.
Absentees just pips Go to Pot for my CoD vote, but it was a really strong field, ably unpicked by Cedric’s comprehensive blog. Invariant
Very quick three-quarters followed by very slow SW corner. On the chemistry, stable substances have complete electron shells. The periodic table is arranged with the left hand column has elements with one electron in its outermost shell, second column with 2 etc. until the right hand column where the outermost shell is full. That is where you will find the noble gases. They were called noble because they were “born” with complete shells and so didn’t need to do any “work” to complete them. Nice crossword, a blog to the usual excellent standard, and a free chemistry lesson thrown in, what more could you ask?
Well, given that Chemists think an electron orbiting a red double decker is a hydrogen atom. . .
18.46 YAY! Out of the SCC for a quick gulp of fresh air.
Time consuming alphabet trawl for RECESS (R is a long way from A… and then still not convinced. Now bow to the wisdom set out above).
Blog very much enjoyed and appreciated.
Delightful start to the weekend.
LOI RECESS
COD ACRONYM
Blogger of the Day: SAWBILL for spotting the NINA.. we are in awe, both of Sawbill and of the late setter.
Oh darn, long comment deleted, so I repeat…
Very quick today. Much enjoyed. Many thanks, Cedric. Missed the Nina.
The Papal Legate or Nuncio is equivalent to an Ambassador.
You may know the possibly apocryphal story about Foreign Secretary George Brown asking a tall ‘lady’ in a long red dress to dance at a ball. The reply: ‘No, I cannot dance because, firstly, you are drunk, Mr Brown (b) the orchestra is playing the Peruvian national anthem and (c) I am the Papal Nuncio.’
🤣
Even if it’s not true, it jolly well should be 🤣 I believe the euphemism ‘tired and emotional’ was coined by Private Eye to describe George Brown!
9:35 (Good King Wenceslas murdered by his brother Boreslaus the Cruel)
A very enjoyable puzzle. LOI was EMINENCE.
My half-remembered A-level and first year undergraduate chemistry came in useful today, although it took me a few seconds to remember that the noble gases are also called INERT.
I completely missed the Nina. Well done Sawbill for spotting it.
Thanks Cedric for the blog
They should have called them the Etonian Gases, just to annoy Merlin.
First pass through the acrosses took just under five [not entering the actual time for fear of the scraper picking it up!] with four clues unsolved; then all the downs and then mopped up the Gang of Four. LOI RECESS, COD LITMUS.
All done in 07:50 for 1.2K and a Good Day. Many thanks RR and Cedric, great blog.
FOI was ISLAND. Remembered the gasses by both their soubriquets. I was held up in the SW as my IMMERSE had gone in as IIMMERE, which made TROD impossible. Eventually noticed it and then struggled with NUDGE before getting LOI, RECESS. 8:52. Thanks Corelli and great, comprehensive blog Cedric.
9.18
Great puzzle and blog. For both LITMUS and ABSENTEES I couldn’t see the literal so just started to follow the w/p and hey presto! Always nice when that happens and usually the mark of a good puzzle (or a slightly sluggish solver!)
10:25 for the solve. While I like a fast time, I also like to be able to parse stuff as it goes in. Of course, the occasional clue in a puzzle gives me trouble but today I was unsettled by LATIN, NUDGE (NHO horse) and EMINENCE (where I thought we were doing something with a printer’s EM for a deep hole) plus the question of whether TI is the spelling of the musical note – which all left me a little disconcerted through the solve. Decent puzzle from RR nonetheless and while replacements have been incoming, it is a shame that eventually there will be no more QCs from him.
Thanks to Cedders for the detailed and informative blog 👍
8.58 This didn’t feel easy but there were no major hold-ups. RECESS LOI. Thanks Cedric.
A most enjoyable puzzle and an entertaining informative blog. Thank you.
16:48
Lovely puzzle and much more accessible than some recent Saturday offerings. Pretty sure that ACRONYM clue has come up recently. Helped me anyway. LOI RECESS for no real reason other than I left it to last.
What a great blog by Cedric though! Above and beyond with some of those explanations. My only quibble would be that oganessun is not a gas. Nobody know for sure as it has never been created in sufficient quantities but current thinking is it would be a solid at room temperature.
Parksolve 46 minutes.
Tough, but fair I suggest. All done in around 40 minutes, which is the point at which I start to flag, lose interest and become slightly irritable. So, no harder please!
The top two Across clues went in first, but I couldn’t capitalise on the sudden availability of starting letters as I solved only one of their dependents and had to move on further down the grid. My LOI was LATIN, partly because I had NHO JUVENAL and suspected that it was an unfortunate typo.
Many thanks to Cedric and Corelli.
I like a NINA and this one was as usual unspotted. Excellent puzzle with no real holdups except litmus and legate. Failed to parse go to pot but it had to be. 8:35.
13:08. ACRONYM held me up the longest. ABSENTEES and TOME were favourites. Lots of interesting things to learn in blog- thanks, Cedric! Looking forward to tackling Sawbill’s latest production this afternoon.
10:14. LOI ACRONYM where EGNAAFI looked for all the world like an anagram, before checkers disproved.
Nice puzzle but I’m probably biased having hit a PB of 7:19 held up only by the limitations of my typing.
Thanks for pointing out the NINA, that is very clever.
Congratulations on the PB!
Praise for RR (sadly missed) Sawbill (well spotted) and Cedric for a really good blog.
Small praise for self for finishing in 22m.
Lovely puzzle, obviously I failed to spot the NINA, I have no idea how people ever do!
COD for me was ACRONYM, even before I read about the NINA.
I was taught that the Noble Gases were also known as the Inert Gases when I was at school (1985 – 1992) so that one wasn’t a problem for me.
An enjoyable 13:43 here. Favourites today are ABSENTEES, TOME and GO TO POT.
Thanks to Corelli (RIP) and Cedric.
I had forgotten (if I ever knew) that Corelli was RR, but a few clues in I was saying to myself that this puzzle is a cut above. Really lovely, had me thinking, then a bit stuck in the southwest where I had only TROD for the longest time. 19:14 to finish it, enjoyed it immensely. DOG was my favorite.
How’s this for a classic newbie error: at 14a I said, well, ATELEG isn’t a word, is it, and moved on. 🤪
Well spotted Sawbill!
We miss you RR! Thank you Cedric for the informative and amusing blog. I especially like the idea of snooty gases.
9:10. Cracking puzzle, RR you are very much missed!
It’s all been said. A lovely puzzle – my slowest this week but all the more time to enjoy. For once I had all the GK, including ‘the science bit’ 😅
Really hard to choose a COD today – there are ticks next to ADVANCED, ESCAPIST and ACRONYM, but I eventually plumped for 11d for the terrific surface.
14:34 FOI Nelson LOI Acronym COD Absentees
Thanks again to the much missed RR and big thanks to CS for the excellent blog.
In today’s puzzles newsletter, JC comments that he has less time to set now he is crossword editor, which is hardly surprising. But it does make you wonder how on earth RR did it.
A very enjoyable 14:25, though for some reason I needed help to parse LATIN.
Thank you for the very thorough blog!
This shows just how RR was well beyond the standard – the clues themselves and the Nina, and that the Nina doesn’t get in the way of the puzzle. RIP.
Enjoyed the blog which was as entertaining as the QC. Thanks Cedric. Had the same thoughts about DUN meaning dark. Hadn’t spotted the Nina – so clever -and so clever of Sawbill to spot it.
Brilliant Nina spot and a quality puzzle that took me 20:51 to solve at a steady plod.
10.41. A veritable tour de force of setting.
I really enjoyed this qc. Great words, emanating from clever clues, but nothing obscure.
I add my sadness to the other comments, that Richard Rogan is no longer among us.
Well done, Sawbill, in finding the NINA.
I’m very much enjoying learning to do battle with cryptic crosswords, and finding these threads super useful in making some progress. But all the acronyms in the explanations / comments are defeating me; NINA? LOI? FOI? COD? BB? etc etc etc. Any chance of a summary, so us uninitiated can understand more of the comments?
Hi, I’m in the same boat, only started a couple of months ago. The blog has a glossary on it, which can be accessed through the menu. I have to keep checking on it to remind myself 🙂
Ah, that’s the missing link! Lots of other good stuff in there too. Many thanks 😊
Really enjoyed this puzzle, and found it a game of two halves, having solved it over yesterday morning, and this morning. Had ACRONYM as my final clue, as kept thinking to myself what did the acronym NAAFI mean, looked it up, but then kept ignoring my thoughts repeating acronym for too long! Favourite clue was OFFBEAT. Many thanks for the blog and explaining some of the more obscure clues, learnt about a Nelson hold and a dun 🙂