16:50 for me, and I think that was good going. Quite a few wry smiles as the last ones went in, well-played Teazel.
My earliest Cryptic Crossword that I came across was in Asterix the Gladiator. Asterix has persuaded them not to fight but to sit down and play word games. One Roman Gladiator comes up with this riddle:
My first is a Hundred, my second is a sign of the zodiac, my third is a Hibernian, my fourth is the Egyptian god of the son, and Julius Caesar loves my whole.
No word length is given, but all of the words are Ancient. Well played translator Anthea Bell (daughter of the inventor of The Times cryptic, Adrian Bell), who translated it from the French
« Mon premier ouvre les portes, mon deuxième se boit, mon troisième garde les moutons et Jules César aime bien mon tout. »
There is a completely different one in the Latin version clued by “Julius Caesar does not love me” (Caesar non amat), the answer in “Vercingetorix”, the Gaulish god.
| Across | |
| 1 | Small northern town deprived of field is convulsed (8) |
| SHUDDERS — S{mall} + HUDDERS{field}
Huddersfield, Yorkshire town, where Rugby League and Harold Wilson were both born. |
|
| 6 | Fuss exceptionally loudly around area (4) |
| FAFF — FFF (exceptionally loud) contains A{rea}
Three Fs is much rarer in musical scores, when the composer ones everyone to play at maximum volume, where ff wouldn’t cut it. Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture uses fff and even ffff for critical moments. Not that a cannon has much of a volume control. |
|
| 8 | Initially shaky piece of furniture is steady (6) |
| STABLE— S{haky} + TABLE (piece of furniture)
I was trying to make SETTLE work somehow, which works if the clue was just a double def (“piece of furniture is steady”) |
|
| 9 | A time nurse is to present herself (6) |
| ATTEND— A + T{time} + TEND (nurse)
And there I was trying to think of all of those abbreviations for nurses, RN, SRN etc. |
|
| 10 | Request garment fold to be shortened (4) |
| PLEA— PLEA{t} (garment fold) | |
| 11 | Annual charge for room from mum and dad (8) |
| PARENTAL— PA (per annum, annual charge) + RENTAL (charge for room) | |
| 12 | Extra condition for one in the saddle (5) |
| RIDER—Double def.
A RIDER clause is a provision that is not part of the main legal document, but still applies to it, so I guess it “rides” it? |
|
| 13 | Be obliged to keep pounds to divide (5) |
| HALVE— HA^VE (be obliged) contains L (pounds) | |
| 15 | Success saving the planet? Fail to convince any more (4,4) |
| WEAR THIN— WIN (success) contains EARTH (planet)
“Saving” is a rather odd containment indicator. |
|
| 17 | What’s afoot is a hit (4) |
| SOCK— Double def, a-foot could mean on your foot.
The a‑ prefix comes from Old English an / on, other examples are ashore and abed. |
|
| 19 | Prepare us some creamy dessert (6) |
| MOUSSE— (US SOME)* | |
| 20 | Crushed in sporting arena (6) |
| GROUND—Double def | |
| 21 | Questionable moment to lose head (4) |
| IFFY— {J}IFFY (moment, “in a jiffy”)
The exact origin of “jiffy” is unknown, but you can expect a local tour guide to come up with a cute folk etymology. “The Innkeeper at this pub here was a Frenchman called M. Joiffre, and he served pints very quickly, hence…” |
|
| 22 | Raising a glass to Browning (8) |
| TOASTING—Double def
Double def, I couldn’t get Tanning out of my head. The Surface refers to Robert Browning, top quote “Grow old with me, the best is yet to be” |
|
| Down | |
| 2 | Very warm, the Spanish inn (5) |
| HOTEL—HOT (very warm) + EL (“the” in Spanish) | |
| 3 | Expert to wipe fingers lightly? (3,4) |
| DAB HAND—Double def, second definition cryptic
The reason for dab=expert is also not really known. |
|
| 4 | Girl, the middle of seven (3) |
| EVE— The middle letters of {s}EVE{n}
Eve wasn’t one of seven, she was an only child, and no mother either. |
|
| 5 | Sure China disturbed some marine life (3,6) |
| SEA URCHIN—(SURE CHINA)* [disturbed] | |
| 6 | Great pleasure keeping to mattress (5) |
| FUTON—FU^N (great pleasure) contains TO
I had a hard time getting this, but it is originally just a mattress in Japanese use, but in modern Western use it usually means a mattress on a folding frame that converts between a sofa and a bed. |
|
| 7 | Cooler, manage and flourish (7) |
| FANFARE—FAN (cooler) + FARE (manage)
“How did you fare?”/”How did you manage?”. This was my LOI. |
|
| 11 | Page merchant developed something to write on (9) |
| PARCHMENT—P{age} + (MERCHANT)* | |
| 12 | Rapidly read out “Dance cancelled” (4,3) |
| REEL OFF—REEL (dance) + OFF (cancelled)
I liked this one, I imagined this a sign on a Scottish Church hall. |
|
| 14 | Liberal with a turn at the bar, spend extravagantly (4,3) |
| LASH OUT—L{iberal} + A SHOUT (a turn at the bar)
This has come up before in these puzzles, I always called spending “splashing out”, and reserve “lashing out” for unreasonably berating someone. On reflection I think that LASH OUT can be used for spending if the speaker doesn’t approve. |
|
| 16 | Tiny state broadcaster is precarious (5) |
| RISKY—RI (Rhode Island, the America’s smallest state) + SKY (broadcaster)
This was tricky, as plenty of babyish words for tiny end in -Y, which led to me seeing the clue backwards. (teeny, titchy, dinky, mimsy) |
|
| 18 | Cold soon, as a general rule (5) |
| CANON—C{old} + ANON (soon)
I didn’t know this meaning of Canon, I thought it was just an authorised or accepted body of works. But the original meaning (from the Greek for a measuring stick) is “a general rule”, as in the canons of good taste or the canons of fair play. |
|
| 20 | Energetic person reported in Indian state (3) |
| GOA— Sounds like “goer” (energetic person)
Since the famous “nudge nudge” python sketch I am sure “goer” now has a different sense : “Is your wife a… goer… eh? Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Nudge nudge. Nudge nudge. Know what I mean? Say no more.” |
|
Oh, I really enjoyed this but made the mistake of starting it at breakfast and then forgot to close the puzzle when the husband and 8 year old both started talking to me, so my official time was 31 minutes even though in terms of time actually spent I think this may have been my first QC completed in under 10.
I thought “fare” for “manage” was fair enough – I struggled a bit with “fan” because my brain was stuck on “more cool” rather than “thing that cools”. I did have to sanity check “fanfare” as a definition for “flourish” though.
COD: can’t choose between FANFARE and WEAR THIN (my LOI).
FOI: STABLE
Many thanks to Merlin and Teazel