Greetings, barred-grid fans
I found this challenge a tad easier than the last few weeks, assisted by one of my favorite words making an appearance at 24 across. I did not finish in one setting, though, I think I found the bottom half eluded me in the time I had originally allocated.
A reminder that definitions can be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Applied the Spanish stamp (5) |
| APPEL – APP(applied), then EL(the in Spanish) | |
| 6 | Green stone since found in Poland and Morocco (6) |
| PLASMA – AS(since) inside PL(Poland) and MA(Morocco) | |
| 11 | Note chicken covered in spots finally healthy in Russian pen (12) |
| SOLZHENITSYN – SOL(musical note), then HEN(chicken) inside ZITS(spots) and the last letters of healthY, iN. Glad for the wordplay because even though I’ve read One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich, being able to come up with the spelling of the author on the fly would be impossible | |
| 12 | Bird seen around great British tree (8) |
| LACEBARK – LARK(bird) surrounding ACE(great) and B(British) | |
| 14 | Particular photograph with Luing cattle (5) |
| PICKY – PIC(photograph) and KY(Scots cows). I did a little diversion to read about Luing cattle | |
| 15 | Cut about a centimetre part off the peak (7) |
| PARACME – PARE(cut) surrounding A, CM(centimetre) | |
| 16 | Form of existence like God’s without origin (6) |
| ASEITY – AS(like) then DEITY(god) minus the first letter | |
| 18 | Hand in one’s kitbag (5) |
| NESKI – hidden inside oNE’S KItbag | |
| 20 | What’s drawn out duet composed around common time (5) |
| EDUCT – anagram of DUET surrounding C(common time in music) | |
| 22 | To some extent neglecting runs, rarely in a fit way (5) |
| PATLY – PARTLY(to some extent) minus R(runs) | |
| 24 | Silly reversing move to the right in Tesla (5) |
| EEJIT – JEE(move to the right, found under GEE in Chambers) reversed, then I(in), T(Tesla) | |
| 28 | Spain’s leading crack European team (6) |
| EQUIPE – E(Spain), QUIP(crack), E(European) | |
| 29 | One person in history accepting money to succeed King William’s chronicler? (7) |
| RICHMAL – I(one), CHAL(obsolete term for person) containing M(money) after R(King). Pieced this together from the wordplay, I had never heard of the Just William books written by RICHMAL Crompton | |
| 30 | Cockroach found in books chiefly getting left out (5) |
| ARCHY – ARCHLY(chiefly) minus L(left). Bad day for my literary knowledge, I was also unaware of Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis | |
| 31 | What’s battered on a pier protecting front of cutwater? (8, two words) |
| ICE APRON – anagram of ON,A,PIER containing the first letter of Cutwater. Clever all-in-one | |
| 32 | Damage ruler — measure which is used by carpenter (12, two words) |
| MARKING GAUGE -MAR(damage), KING(ruler), GAUGE(measure) | |
| 33 | Irish lad dropping special cudgel (6) |
| ALPEEN – SPALPEEN(Irish lad) minus SP(special) | |
| 34 | Dash round Sweden where campers go? (5) |
| ELSAN – ELAN(dash) surrounding S(Sweden) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Turkish officer gets head down — note, one sees this under fire (6) |
| ASH-PAN – PASHA(Turkish officer) with the first letter at the bottom, then N(note) | |
| 2 | With a proposition MP, sailor and I act improperly (12) |
| PORISMATICAL – anagram of MP,SAILOR and I,ACT | |
| 3 | Church breaking up sole organ (8) |
| PLACENTA – CE(church) inside PLANTA(sole of the foot) | |
| 4 | English prison inmate that is beginning on library book (7) |
| EZEKIEL – E, ZEK(prison inmate), IE(that is), and the first letter of Library | |
| 5 | Like mole-ridden land, something of little value, not the first (5) |
| HEAPY – CHEAPY(something of little value) minus the first letter | |
| 7 | Rib, one found in ancient swamp (6) |
| LIERNE – I(one) inside LERNE(ancient swamp) | |
| 8 | Time to score bye that’s bowled in the middle over (5) |
| AT-BAT – TA-TA(bye) with B(bowled) in the middle, all reversed | |
| 9 | Those living on the hills poach my game terribly around river (12) |
| MYRMECOPHAGA – anagram of POACH,MY,GAME surrounding R(river) | |
| 10 | Volume of old bulk carrier offloading tons (5) |
| ANKER – TANKER(bulk carrier) minus T(tons) | |
| 13 | Scots porter about to stop working (5) |
| CADIE – CA(about), DIE(stop working) – in Chambers under CADDIE | |
| 17 | Spineless insurgent that’s caught replacing nation’s leader (8) |
| MUTICOUS – MUTINOUS(insurgent) with C(caught) replacing the first letter of Nation | |
| 19 | Old royal makes active king when mother’s gone (5) |
| KESAR – MAKES, A(active), R(king) minus MA(mother) | |
| 21 | Phone about vessel service book (7) |
| DIURNAL – DIAL(phone) surrounding URN(vessel) | |
| 23 | Unsupported rise for rally driver that is former professional youngster (6) |
| YUMPIE – YUMP(leave the ground in rallying), IE(that is) | |
| 25 | I’m surprised over cutting eager essential workers (6, two words) |
| KEY MEN – MY(I’m surprised) reversed inside KEEN(eager) | |
| 26 | First spring in Italy the girl’s missed (5) |
| PRIMA – PRIMAVERA(spring in Italian) with VERA(girl) removed | |
| 27 | Scatter oriental fungi, but not in it (5) |
| SHAKE – SHIITAKE(oriental fungi) minus I(in), IT | |
| 28 | Some old praise energy on record YMCA (5) |
| ELOGY – E(energy), LOG(record), Y(YMCA) | |
I’d not come across Archy and Mehiabel either but the just William books were well known from my childhood. Not too difficult from John Grimshaw. Enjoyable puzzle, thanks for the blog.
I ended with RICHMAL, which wasn’t found in the Chambers app, like most Proper Names. New to me (but I knew ARCHY). Worked most of this on Monday during a lull in my workflow and hastened to finish up on Thursday because other puzzles were coming and I still hadn’t done my taxes (getting down to that tomorrow).
I must confess to a DNF, as I biffed yuppie, which of course made Richmal impossible. I did find the long answers enjoyable – the clue for Solzhenitsyn is something else!
However, I have managed to solve this week’s, which is really quite easy. I’ll be back in a week to blog it.
Does 1D actually work
PASHA becomes ASHAP
It doesn’t specify how far down the P goes, so the clue is fine, for me.
My Chambers – admittedly dating from 1998 – gives CHAL as a Romany word, not obsolete, in which case “person in history” isn’t appropriate – but maybe the latest Chambers is different? I remember Richmal Crompton’s name and boks very well, but couldn’t have placed Archy.
It’s marked as obsolete in the latest edition.
Thanks. I had the same query (and same edition of Chambers).
I really enjoyed this one, just the right level of chewiness for a Mephisto. I don’t know if John Grimshaw has deliberately adapted his style but I’ve been finding his puzzles a bit more approachable lately.
There were a couple that I’d got correct, but with wrong parsing that I’d not noticed until I read your blog:
19d. KESAR. I thought “active” meant an anagram of MAKES (could be), and then remove M = mother (which is not a correct abbreviation).
27d. SHAKE. I had the less polite SHIITAKE (with one “i”) – “IT”. But, although that spelling is in Collins, the wordplay doesn’t justify that subtraction.
Thanks for the clear and comprehensive blog (including the two instances where we have to follow a cross-reference).
I did know about Archy (or “archy”). And all thanks to struggling with the Times crossword in the pre”timesforthetimes” era!
Back then, if I couldn’t work out an answer, I look on Usenet. And I still remember the below exchange, 25 years ago (to the extent that I could find it archived on “Google Groups”).
***
rec.puzzles.crosswords Jul 7, 2000:
Bktep
From the Times, Thurs. July 6th:
Clue: Assets Archy was unable to use (7)
Ans. Capital
Help! Explanation neeeded for the word play part of this clue.
Barbara
Jon Delfin
The reference is to archy the cockroach, who typed out stories about
himself and mehitabel the cat, but was unable to use capital letters.
(Of course, some claim that Don Marquis wrote those stories. It’s a free
world.)
***
Although it seems clear now, Jon’s rather whimsical bit in brackets confused me. Who is Don Marquis? (Some fictional character like Don Quixote?) I was probably reading offline, and I couldn’t just right-click and search. It took me a while to figure it out. To the extent it’s etched on my memory.
It still rather intrigues me how Marquis’s work (he died in 1937) found its way across to UK crosswords. I don’t think he appears on this blog – but the veteran Araucaria referenced Archy once in 2009 in the Guardian crossword (to some bemusement).
It appears that Faber published him consistently in the UK. There was a musical and film Shinbone Alley, and I suppose his style (gimmick?) appealed to setters.