QC 2927 by Dangle, welcome to our newest setter

Author   MerlinPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A new setter, welcome Dangle.

I generally don’t pay much attention different setters styles, but it’s good to have someone new join the team. Dangle’s opening offering felt pretty tough to me, how did everyone get on?

Definitions underlined in bold , synonyms in (parentheses) (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, other wordplay in [square brackets] and deletions in {curly} brackets.

Across
1 Made a delivery, containing urge with knees apart (3-6)
BOW-LEGGED – BOWLED (Made a Delivery, in cricket) contains EGG (urge)

Egg on = Urge on.
6 Promise Victor it hurts (3)
VOW – V{ictor} + OW (it hurts)
8 Entertaining American soldier’s growths (5)
FUNGI – FUN (entertaining) + GI (American Soldier)
9 Place where one might learn about religion’s income (7)
REVENUE – “R.E. Venue” (where one might learn about religion)

Very nice clue, which beat me all ends up until I was able to biff from checkers.
10 I resist terrible threats to kidnap Oscar (8)
RHEOSTAT – (THREATS)* [terrible] contains O{scar}

It’s a variable resistor just like the ones in a traditional dimmer switch.
11 Panic starts to feel like anxious pattern (4)
FLAP – F{eel} L{ike} A{nxious} P{attern}
13 Compulsion to set alight extremely pretty country (9)
PYROMANIA – P{rett}Y [extremely] + ROMANIA (country)
16 Open a glass container (4)
AJAR – A + JAR (glass container)

One of the very first jokes I remember telling was “When is a door not a door? When it is ajar.” I didn’t learn the meaning of “ajar” until many years later, and so developed a whole line in what I thought were similar jokes such as “When is a dog not a dog? When it is a cat.” Parents dutifully laughed. Then, “When is a fish not a fish?”  etc.
17 Bush can stop former head of state (8)
LAVENDER – LAV (can) + END (stop) + ER (former head of state)

I thin CAN is very much American English, like DOVE or GI, but LAV is very much British English.
20 Mine providing fuel regularly? That’s terrible (7)
PITIFUL – PIT (Mine) + IF (providing) + {f}U{e}L
21 Fury about new series (5)
RANGE – RAGE (Fury) contains N{ew}

RANGE=series is not the first use of Range that comes to mind (but to be fair, it is first in the OED). One example is “a whole range of emotions”
22 Close to losing knight’s attention (3)
EAR – NEAR (Close to ) – N[knight, in Chess notation]

“Give EAR and come to me” – Isaiah 55:3
23 Tough Listener I messed up (9)
RESILIENT – (LISTENER I)*

I’m Not sure what the surface refers to. With the capital L maybe it refers to the demonic Listener puzzle generally regarded as the most difficult cryptic crossword to appear in a national weekly. It survived the closure of The Listener and now appears in The Times on a Saturday.
Down
1 Earlier bribe for exploitable guards (6)
BEFORE – Hidden  [guards] in “bribe for exploitable”
2 Flinch as top of cork found in Beaujolais? (5)
WINCE – WINE (Beaujolais) contains C{ork} [top of]
3 Representative young woman stops before she should, left out (8)
EMISSARY – MISS (young woman) enclosed by [stops] EAR{l}Y (before she should) [left out]

You can tell this is a tough parse as it needs all my different types of brackets to explain. I had LASS with the L missing for a long time.
4 Nameless gamer spread disease (6,7)
GERMAN MEASLES – (NAMELESS GAMER)* [spread]

The surface is somewhat ungrammatical for what is a very good anagram.
5 Bird plunged in LA (4)
DOVE – DIVED (plunged) in American English [in LA]

One of the few examples of new strong verbs that have appeared in the last 50 years. Generally strong verbs (which indicate past tense by a change of vowel) get replaced by their weaker forms. eg Chid/Chided, Strove/Strived, Spake/Speak.

Snuck (for sneaked) is another new strong verb, and Drug (for dragged) is starting to make an appearance.
6 Plain caravan? I’ll alter covers (7)
VANILLA – Hidden in “caravan? I’ll alter”

The OED has this meaning from 1972. It can now be confusingly used with foods such as “Do you want a flavouring in your coffee”, “No just Vanilla”, and “Yes, Vanilla” produce very different results.
7 Wife assists young animals (6)
WHELPS – W{ife} + HELPS (assists)

WHELP is a very Old English word :it’s in a very early translation of the Lindisfarne Gospels (Matt. xv. 27)  But is rarely heard this days, where “pup” seems to cover it, except perhaps in dog-breeding circles.
12 In time, big upset is essential (8)
INTEGRAL – IN + T{ime} + LARGE (big) [upset=reversed in a down clue]
13 Penny with second tray of food (7)
PLATTER – P{enny} + LATTER (second)

The OED explains LATTER this way: mentioned second of two, last of a group of more than two, or at the end of a preceding clause or sentence.
14 Collector quietly taken in by manipulated image (6)
MAGPIE – (IMAGE)* [manipulated] contains P(quietly, in music)

The OED recognises Magpie=collector from 1900. The earliest known reference to magpies as hoarders or collectors comes from ancient Roman times. Pliny the Elder mentioned this behavior in Naturalis Historia, (77-79 AD). In Book 10, which covers birds, Pliny describes magpies as having a tendency to steal and hide shiny objects.

But modern research shows that magpies are actually quite cautious about shiny objects.
15 Desperate old city gentleman (6)
URGENT – UR (old city) + GENT (gentleman)

GENT for gentleman is a bit weak. Maybe “chap” or “fellow” would have been better.
18 Unintelligent study with vacuous style (5)
DENSE – DEN (study) contains S{tyl}E (vacuous, lose the middle)
19 A long way away from return of Nadal? (4)
AFAR – RAFA (Nadal) reversed

Nice one! Rafa Nadal, the famous tennis player.

81 comments on “QC 2927 by Dangle, welcome to our newest setter”

  1. 18:36 Found this hard, almost gave up. Enjoyed strong verb, whelp, and magpie discussions in blog- thanks! I think 4 down is grammatical if spread is past tense.

  2. I biffed BOW-LEGGED, never parsed it. Can ‘egg’ mean ‘urge’? ‘Egg on’, of course, but just ‘egg’? I don’t see a grammatical problem with 4d; ‘spread’ can be past tense. I didn’t know that DOVE was a newcomer; always assumed it had been around for ages and only survived in the US. I wasted a lot of time on BEFORE until finally seeing the hidden; I’m generally terrible with hiddens, although I did spot VANILLA right away. 8:30.

  3. A clever crossword I thought, perhaps a bit on the tough side but well done Dangle. I was getting nowhere at the start until I switched to the downs and got WINCE followed by the nice GERMAN MEASLES anagram, and things started falling into place. Didn’t know enough science for RHEOSTAT to make sense but once I had the crossers there was nowhere else to go really. Thanks Merlin, I think I’ve only heard WHELP as a verb (ie what the mother does…)

  4. 5:55 Nice start from Dangle. COD to PYROMANIA.

    Great blog Merlin, loved the childhood joke-telling story. I recall going around reciting my favourite jokes from Dad’s Max Miller records (some of which were slightly “blue”) and laughing my head off. They were my favourites because they sounded funny, I didn’t have a clue what they meant.

    1. I did the same, but with rounds of ‘hospital chat-up lines’ from I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue…

  5. Had to work hard here. Same as Lindsay for RHEOSTAT and could have done with getting to GERMAN MEASLES faster. Struggled at the end with PLATTER, it wasn’t until I saw ‘psalter’ would fit that it came to me/ Four on the first pass of acrosses on the way to an all green 16.04.

  6. 10 minutes. I thought this was going to be very easy, but 3dn (EMISSARY) and several in the SE quarter delayed me a little.

  7. Tough but gettable in the end. I missed both hiddens but biffed them from checkers. Needed your blog to parse a couple like LAVENDER and PITIFUL. Thanks Merlin.

    Btw, your childhood style of joke may resonate in crosswordland:
    1) When is a flower not a flower? When it is a river.
    2) When is a number not a number? When it is an anaesth….zzzzzzzz

    Pi ❤️

    2. Just spotted your puns after putting my own down below. Great minds think alike!!

  8. Slow to get going but once I’d tuned in (at the bottom of the grid) I didn’t have too many problems.

    Like some others I couldn’t have told you what a RHEOSTAT was but I knew they existed and I found PITIFUL and LAVENDER tough to parse, the former as I always forget that providing/if is a thing so spent time wondering how ‘fuel regularly ‘ translated to ‘ful’.

    Started with VOW and finished with RHEOSTAT in 8.08.

    Thanks to Merlin and welcome to Dangle.

  9. FOI BOW-LEGGED and hoped for an easy ride but not to be. 21A for Series I assumed Range as in ‘From 1 to 10’. I struggled in the SE and was grateful to see old friends UR and DEN bringing in a relieved shrug to finish. Held up forever on LAVENDER and INTEGRAL did not reveal till last, I think because of lack of sleep my focus was disturbed by extraordinary political events. All in all, well over 30 minutes.
    Thanks Dangle and Merlin

  10. I found this a struggle, and couldn’t crack the SW corner for quite some time, thus missing my target.

    I wasn’t keen on “I resist” when the answer is an inanimate object. “One resists’ would have been a better alternative in my opinion.

    FOI VOW
    LOI PLATTER
    COD REVENUE (once I parsed it later)
    TIME 6:14

    1. On ‘I resist’ (RHEOSTAT), it’s what I call a ‘riddle clue’ or ‘riddle definition’ in which the solution is treated as if it were a person. You get this sort of thing in riddles that begin e.g. ‘My first is in a but not in b’ etc. The last line of the riddle is usually ‘What (or who) am I?’.

  11. Welcome to Dangle, who follows the custom of a number of recent new setters in creating a pretty stiff challenge for their first outing. I found this tough, taking 17:50, much of which was on the NW corner where for a long time I had a series of blanks until BOW-LEGGED appeared, which proved the key to others, including EMISSARY which was my COD as a clue with several moving parts. All parsed in the end except my LOI LAVENDER, which I needed the blog to explain it.

    Many thanks Merlin for the entertaining blog.

  12. Enjoyable and pleased to finish in 15:55 which was a surprise as it was a tricky one. Biffed and retro parsed the medical ones (genu varus and Rubella) which helped but emissary and revenue dangled just beyond my grasp for quite some time…dang that setter’s tricksy
    Good puzzle great blog (enjoyed the strong verb enlightenment) Thanks Merlin. Welcome Dangle (although you’re most likely someone we’ve met before😉)

  13. Good to welcome a new setter who offered a fairly stiff challenge, I thought. It was a steady, dogged solve for me with some biffs that emerged with crossers but which I didn’t parse carefully (BOW-LEGGED, PITIFUL, LAVENDER, REVENUE). I was pleased to see answers like RHEOSTAT and PYROMANIA quickly.
    In the end, I just avoided the SCC (again – this is becoming a habit).
    Some very nice clues which others have listed above.
    Thanks to Dangle. I look forward to the next one. Thanks to Merlin, too, for a good, thorough, blog. I appreciated the discussion of ‘strong’ verbs but I find examples like DOVE and DRUG as past tense of verbs to be ugly and wouldn’t use them myself.

  14. Welcome Dangle, terrific debut. Lots of excellent clues.

    I was a reverse-Plett, in that I tuned in fast at the top but found the signal fainter and fainter towards the SW corner. However, the outcome was exactly the same as I too finished in 08:08 🤝 for a Very Good Day. COD to PYROMANIA.

    Many thanks Merlin and Dangle.

  15. 5:17. Welcome Dangle. One or two tricky clues here, but nothing unfair. LAVENDER and EMISSARY took a bit of thought to parse. COD to REVENUE. Thank-you Dangle and Merlin.

  16. I found this relatively easy. Although I missed a few across clues on the first pass, I got all the downs so had every checker in place and quickly filled in the gaps. My LOI was REVENUE, which I biffed. I stared at it for a couple of minutes trying to work it out before I gave up and came here. Should definitely have worked it out but somehow it never feels quite so important to expend the energy on the parse when they’ve already all gone green!

    6:57 for me so quicker than my average.

    I thought it was a good puzzle, thanks Dangle, and thanks Merlin for explaining REVENUE.

  17. 18:34 for the solve. It was only when I reached the last three Down clues (URGENT, DENSE, AFAR) on my first readthrough that I thought this is Quickie territory.

    There were some good clues in here but it felt more bif-then-parse (EMISSARY, REVENUE, BOW-LEGGED, LAVENDER, DOVE).

    As for CAN=lav – this might be the funniest use ever … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri791tauGmU

    Thanks to Merlin for the blog (“When is a setter not a setter? When it’s a dog …”) and welcome to Dangle – promising but more of my first para than second please.

  18. LAVENDER, PITIFUL, EAR and EMISSARY went in only partly parsed, but all fair. COD BOW-LEGGED. Thanks Dangle for a thought-provoking puzzle and Merlin for great blog (interesting info about strong verbs.)

  19. 8:26 (Death of Beornwulf. End of Mercian supremacy).

    Welcome Dangle.

    A relatively straightforward solve. I struggled to see the hidden for BEFORE, and only partially parsed EMISSARY. COD to LAVENDER.

    Thanks Merlin

  20. Definitely on the tough side but enjoyable – thanks Dangle and Merlin.
    I don’t understand the justification for vanilla as plain.
    I think people usually have coffee black, with milk or with cream – don’t they ? Whoever would think of asking for vanilla??
    When I was young the default ice cream flavour was vanilla so one might have thought that vanilla was plain in those days but it is a flavour when all said and done!

    1. The online Premium Oxford Dictionary has this as the first definition of vanilla as an adjective:
      vanilla adjective
      informal
      (also plain vanilla)
      having no special or extra features; ordinary or standard

    2. Ignore the food/drink – vanilla is just a word used to mean plain. Nothing fancy or extra added.

      Edit: as Jackkt has stated above while I was writing!

      1. Thanks both – for me this is one of those instances where dictionaries are not necessarily reflecting current usage. I think it might have been more justifiable in the days before especially different flavoured ice creams became more popular.

        1. I’ve noticed that vanilla ice-cream can be tricky to find. Mrs AF (and I) dislike all the others and had to go without the other day.

          1. Sounds like a good excuse to buy a tub of Neapolitan and tuck into the strawberry and chocolate yourself!

            1. Ho ho, but they were far too posh to have Neapolitan, it was just every flavour you can think of except whatever you want. I think they had garlic. Yeuch!
              And I’m not pushed about icecream anyway.

        2. gcook52, perhaps these modern examples given in the same dictionary entry may help:

          ‘choosing plain vanilla technology wherever you can will save you money

          ‘the original, vanilla MP3 format is still the most commonly encountered form of the technology’

          ‘they seem to be quite content in their plain vanilla domestic life’

          ‘his sex life is totally vanilla’

          1. Interesting – do you think that this use of vanilla has its roots in the ice cream of our youth or is it earlier? Unless we did have Neapolitan we knew we were going to get vanilla didn’t we?

          2. Vanilla is routinely used in all sorts of contexts. If you just stick the word into the search function for the Times, for example, you immediately get economics (“Vanilla Keynesianism”), arts (“a ‘vanilla-isation’ of music culture”), finance (“inflation-linked bonds, rather than vanilla ones”), and sex (“nookie in best picture winners has otherwise been very vanilla”; “the shenanigans taking place in the Cotswolds make Somerset look vanilla”, “twice-weekly vanilla missionary” and so on). OK it’s mostly sex, in the Times anyway!

            1. Yes – happy to concede that these uses are out there – even if they have escaped my experience. My Collins suggest that these uses are possibly from C17 Spanish eg word for a male sheath or a female private part – which suggests nothing much to do with flavour – but I could be wrong about that last assertion too – I often am!

              1. Sometimes used to call into a sweet shop on hot days on the way to the bus station to go home after school. The exchange always went like this:
                “Could I have a vanilla cornet, please?”
                “Certainly! What flavour would you like?”

  21. The 15ers seem keen, but I found this very hard and there was more than usual retro-parsing as I filled the squares but couldn’t quite see where it came from. Lots of clever stuff, but cleverer than my preferred level and I nearly gave up several times, and the “check” button was deployed a few times to reassure me it was worth soldiering on.
    I did however note the Crosswordland city which I learned long ago but assumed had been buried in the sands of time again, but clearly not. AJAR was also a write-in from childhood.
    Clues like LAVENDER and DOVE went over my head until I saw the blog, so many thanks for all the clarification, and hello Dangle: I hope we will become better friends on further acquaintance.

  22. On this setter’s wavelength, as probably a bit quicker than usual. Several bifs, including LOI REVENUE. DOVE held me up far longer than it should have – I was put off thinking of the rather specific LA.

  23. Tricky in places and I was glad to finish in 28 minutes. Several went in unparsed or only partially parsed and I missed the hidden at 1dn. Not particularly on Dangle’s wavelength but an enjoyable puzzle nonetheless.

    FOI – 6ac VOW
    LOI – 17ac LAVENDER
    COD- 1ac BOW-LEGGED

    Thanks and welcome to Dangle. Thanks also to Merlin for the missing parsing sand informative blog.

  24. Welcome Dangle! I was reasonably quick (for me) at 7:45 with, admittedly, a few biffs parsed afterwards. Some nice clues in there – great stuff, and thank you. Thanks to Merlin too, of course.

  25. Welcome Dangle. It may be a one off for me but I was on your wavelength today. Admittedly I biffed BOW LEGGED and my LOI LAVENDER. Lots of lovely clues and I particularly enjoyed WHELPS, MAGPIE and PYROMANIA. Thanks Merlin for the parsing of LAVENDER……I forgot lav = can. 5:55 and a red letter day.

  26. A rare digital foray for me 20:20 but had to reveal Rheostat. Very enjoyable although some like Lavender required all the checkers and didn’t parse until later. Thanks Merlin and Dangle

  27. Fairly tough, but managed it in 24 minutes. LOI RHEOSTAT – sudden bolt from the blue!!

  28. Well done Dangle on a very entertaining first puzzle. A slightly tougher than average offering today I thought, which extended me beyond my target time at 10.42. I would have finished inside but for my LOI INTEGRAL which took me about a minute to solve.

  30. I thought the puzzle had an old fashioned feel, which I liked. Welcome to our new setter.
    I was quite quick with all but INTEGRAL after 12 minutes.
    However I paused to parse LAVENDER which was LOI technically after INTEGRAL confirmed the checker.
    15 minutes in the end- all parsed.
    COD to REVENUE amongst some nice clues.
    David

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