An easier puzzle than of late mainly distinguished by its inclusion of two rather obscure UK locations. I knew of Herne Bay because my aunt once took me there when I was about 10. I had never heard of Gotham the Nottingham village. I can’t think of any reason why most people should know of either location.
There are a good number of starter clues and no really complex clue structures. Some like ORNITHPPHOBIA are very easy to derive. It’s a good bet it ends in “phobia” so with the “dorian” part of the clue the answer probably starts “or”. It’s then a very short haul to the answer. We even have an oblique reference to a Marvyn Gaye song – pity Jack doesn’t do Mephisto!
Just a reminder that the club monthly puzzle for March is now available and that Jerry will be blogging it at the end of the month.
For new solvers (C) = Chambers used to verify part of a clue (S) = starter clue (see memories/solving tips at the top of the page)
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | HAEMIN – (he + main)*; haematin chloride; haematin is a ferric compound found in dried blood; C; |
| 6 | GANGSAW – G-ANGS(t)-AW; WAG=a joker=”a caution”; a power saw with several parallel blades (used to make sliced bread?) |
| 11 | ANTEMUNDANE – (meant)*-UN-DANE; UN=one (dialect=local); once=old word; between the big bang and the creation of the world; |
| 12 | KARAIT – KAR(AI)T; AI=Great North Road; a deadly snake, possibly incorrectly named in the Speckled Band; C; |
| 13 | ACOL – A-CO-(farewel)L; English bidding system in bridge invented in Acol Road, London based upon point count, limit bids and weak no trump opening. Causes huge confusion if ones partner is accustomed to Standard American bidding; S; |
| 14 | GHEE – G(H)EE; Henry=H (physics); GEE=move to the right in horse lingo; clarified butter; |
| 15 | HARELD – HARE-LD; a long-tailed duck found in Shetland; C; |
| 17 | DORDOGN – DO(R-DOG)NE; beautiful district south of the Loire full of castles, châteaux and the river of course; S; |
| 21 | ORNITHOPHOBIA – (d)OR-NIT-HOP-HOB-IA(n); HOB=imp; fear of birds (not to be confused with the far more common gynophobia); C; |
| 23 | EXHALANT – EX(H)A-LANT; AXE=cut; Hotel=H (phonetic alphabet); LANT=launce-1=a fish; C; |
| 24 | GOTHAM – GOT-HAM; not clued by reference to Batman but instead to an anonymous Nottingham village (that sits between the Trent and the Soar) – I can’t imagine why this obscurity was used; S; |
| 27 | OLAF – O(L)AF; King Olaf 960-1000 indulged in most of the usual pass times that were prevalent back then; S; |
| 28 | OMER – (more)*; Hebrew measure; C; |
| 29 | NIOBIC – C(IB)OIN all reversed; IB=ibidem=in the same place; hydrated niobium pentoxide; |
| 30 | HETEROPTERA – (three)*-OP(T)ERA; 22D=three; bugs; |
| 31 | ENFEOFF – EN-FE-OFF; nut=EN; iron=FE; to surrender; C; |
| 32 | SITREP – (priest)*; typical military contraction of “situation report”. All together now – “who, what, when, where, why” – yes sir; |
| Down | |
| 1 | HANGDOG – H(ANG-D)OG; hog-2=a curling stone; ANG=Ang Lee Taiwanese film director famous for Brokeback Mountain for which he won an Oscar in 2005; D=director; |
| 2 | ANCHORWOMAN – (charm on now a)*; a money honey; Sue Herera perhaps; nice clue; |
| 3 | ETHERNET – (p)ET-HERNE-T(y); Herne Bay is an anonymous seaside town in Kent, south of the Thames estuary. It once boasted the second longest pier in the UK (the longest being Southend on the north of the estuary); ETHERNET is a LAN technology; |
| 4 | IMAX – long skirt=”maxi” and move “i”; modern cinema; S; |
| 5 | NURAGHE – (hear gun)*; Bronze Age Sardinian tower; C; |
| 6 | GNAW – WANG reversed; C; |
| 7 | NATASHA – N(AT-ASH)A; Natasha Kaplinsky is a money honey; |
| 8 | GNARL – RANG reversed – L; lecturer=L; S; |
| 9 | APOLLINAIRE – A-POLL-I(NAIR)E; NAIR=old African caste; Guillaume Appolinaire 1880-1918 French writer who coined the word “surrealism”; C; |
| 10 | WILD – WILD(cat); cat=chap; a wildcat strike is unofficial (these days illegal) industrial action; |
| 16 | EMBALMER – EM(BAL)MER; wheat=EMMER; Tutankhamen’s beauty consultant perhaps; |
| 18 | OTRANTO – OT-RAN-TO; OT=Old Testament; the easternmost point on the tip of the heel of Italy; S; |
| 19 | EPHEBOS – EP(HEB)OS; long poem=EPOS; teeny-bopper in Athens; C; |
| 20 | CATFLAP – C(AT-F)LAP; AT=money in Laos, 100 ats=one kip; panic at the jazz club?; C; |
| 22 | THREE – TH(R)EE; count back briefly=3,2,1,go; Romeo=R(phonetic alphabet); S; |
| 24 | GONE – (dog)GONE; best known to me as the Marvin Gaye song “I’ll Be Doggone” from the 1960s; S; |
| 25 | CORF – CORF(u); an old coal miner’s wagon pulled/pushed by women and children known as hurriers through tiny underground tunnels. On such slave labour was the Empire built; C; |
| 26 | PIPI – PIP-I; pods of the Brazilian Caesalpinia; C; |
Let’s just say it provided a different sort of challenge, because this is the first Mephisto I have completed correctly without a dictionary.
The few words I didn’t know were accessible from wordplay and ANTEMUNDANE and HETEROPTERA were easily understandable from their roots.
I am sure we have had GOTHAM as an English village before, possibly in a Times cryptic – I certainly remember it from somewhere.
Strangely Apollinaire came to mind when I was doing 13ac (one of his poetry volumes is called “Alcools” and consists of poems in interesting typographical arrangements rather like the Mouse’s Tale in Alice in Wonderland) and before I even looked at 9dn.