Not too tricky, but no pushover either – I thought this was a very good QC. In particular I felt it gave newcomers exposure to a number of frequently recurring conventions / tricks of the trade, so a good puzzle for those moving along their learning curve.
1ac highlights an abbreviation that always causes me to harrumph somewhat (although it’s a fairly low level harrumph), and I bang on about this in an attempt to assist newcomers in my explanation of the clue (old hands should skip this bit as it will be quite tedious). I also treat 4d and 17d as potential learning experiences for newer solvers, so the same observation applies with regard to the seasoned campaigners.
I had not come across the phrase which is the answer to 3d, but post solve research indicates it is not that unusual. In any event, the cluing was pretty generous so no problem there. Also, the second definition in 14d caused me to pause for a while. Other than that, a reasonably smooth solve that I’d rank as probably pretty straightforward for experienced solvers but quite tricky for newer players.
Thanks as ever to Teazel for an enjoyable puzzle.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {-}
| Across | |
| 1 | Painter departs, returning wise (5) |
| DEGAS – D (abbrev. Departs) + SAGE reversed (returning wise). D for Departures (or in this case Departs) – and A for Arrivals for that matter – crop up from time to time in crosswords, and are regarded as legitimate abbreviations for use by the setter. Must admit when I first started tackling cryptics and came across these particular abbreviations I thought they were a bit dodgy, leading me to repeat the oft heard lament of the newcomer that “well on that basis seems like setters can use the first letter of pretty much any word as an abbreviation…” This issue never totally goes away – indeed T for Town triggered some debate amongst a number of highly experienced solvers in yesterday’s blog of Sunday Times puzzle 4784. But, at a pragmatic level, I would urge newcomers to acknowledge (for better or worse!) that these abbreviations are in use and to learn them accordingly. | |
| 4 | English singer included in my official mission (7) |
| EMBASSY – E (English) + BASS (singer) ‘included in MY’ | |
| 8 | With end of fingers, squeeze round a vegetable (7) |
| SPINACH – S (end of fingerS) + PINCH (squeeze) ’round A’ | |
| 9 | Section of door and piece of window left (5) |
| PANEL – PANE (piece of window) + L (left) | |
| 10 | Doing badly, is our hope: some national motto! (2,3,2,5) |
| IN GOD WE TRUST – *(DOING) – with “badly” signalling the anagram – gives us IN GOD, + WE TRUST (our hope), giving us the official motto of the USA. Apparently it was nearly the (somewhat more loquacious) phrase “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God”, championed by Franklin and Jefferson. If anyone is interested, there’s quite an intriguing account of all this to be found here https://www.thedailybeast.com/in-god-we-trust-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does | |
| 12 | Cartoon dog tending to pry? (6) |
| SNOOPY – The cartoon beagle is backed up with a slightly cryptic secondary definition regarding a tendency to be a nosey parker | |
| 13 | Boss is right to go after mistake (6) |
| GAFFER – R (right) comes ‘after’ GAFFE (mistake) | |
| 16 | To be clear, moved with no orders (2,5,5) |
| IN OTHER WORDS – *(WITH NO ORDERS) with “moved” signposting the anagram | |
| 18 | Measure the announced route (5) |
| WEIGH – Sounds like (announced) WAY (route) | |
| 20 | Long period at the top of eg show business (3,4) |
| BIG TIME – BIG (long) + TIME (period) | |
| 21 | One running away receives small support (7) |
| BOLSTER – BOLTER (one running away) ‘receives’ S (small) | |
| 22 | In short autumn month wife did some cleaning (5) |
| SWEPT – W (wife) ‘in’ SEPT (short autumn month) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Be contemptuous towards teacher — and send her packing (7) |
| DISMISS – DIS (slang short form for ‘disrespect’) + MISS (teacher) | |
| 2 | Getting worse at skiing? (5,8) |
| GOING DOWNHILL – Neat DD | |
| 3 | Buys Irishman a drink, and refuses any change (6,3) |
| STANDS PAT – STANDS (buys a drink for) PAT (Irishman). I’d never actually come across the phrase “to stand Pat”, but the cryptic wordplay really couldn’t lead anywhere else – particularly after a couple of affirmatory crosscheckers came in. | |
| 4 | Slavishly copies city gardens (6) |
| ECHOES – EC (city) + HOES (gardens). EC for city (the City of London) derives from the postcode for the area: this is another crossword ‘chestnut’ that is likely to bemuse newcomers – forget it at your peril! | |
| 5 | British at work strike (3) |
| BOP – B (British) + OP (work) | |
| 6 | Religious programme strangely forges passion (5,2,6) |
| SONGS OF PRAISE – *(FORGES PASSION) with “strangely” indicating the anagram. Long running UK TV show, probably unknown beyond these shores but the definition and fairly obvious anagram indicator will hopefully have enabled an educated guess for overseas solvers (and local heathens) | |
| 7 | Finally buy beer in university (4) |
| YALE – Last letter (finally) of buY + ALE (beer) | |
| 11 |
Purchasing power of earnings law agrees must be adjusted (4,5) |
| REAL WAGES – *(LAW AGREES) with “must be adjusted” being the anagram indicator (and they don’t get much clearer than that!). The concept underlying the Big Mac Index – sort of… | |
| 14 | Considerately treat relation (7) |
| RESPECT – DD, the first being fairly obvious, the second somewhat less so, until one thinks of “in relation to” / “with respect to” | |
| 15 | One in the club, married, remains smouldering (6) |
| MEMBER – M (married) + EMBER (remains smouldering) | |
| 17 | Cornish sailor’s mop? (4) |
| SWAB – SW (Cornish – i.e. south west) + AB (sailor). Tip for newcomers: this clue highlights rather nicely the significance of question marks in clues. South West (or SW) does not inevitably flow from ‘Cornish’, as the SW could also be pointed to by Devon, Somerset or (at a pinch) Dorset: however, the question mark is effectively saying “maybe / perhaps”, enabling the clue to work properly. | |
| 19 | Almost loathe bowler, for one (3) |
| HAT – HAT{E} (almost loathe) | |
I had/have a problem with my desktop at home, where in the middle of solving this, the cursor refused to move on, so that each letter I typed simply replaced what I’d typed first. No idea what’s going on. Nor can I get the 15×15 cryptic to appear. I finished this here at work on my laptop, and am hoping the club boffins will have something to tell me when I get home. Anyway, I was in a foul mood and just biffed a couple to get shot of the puzzle, like IN GOD … The club leaderboard says 4:45, I’m not sure why.
With regard to single-letter abbreviations as mentioned in the blog intro, the thing about ‘T’ for ‘Town’ is that nobody was able to confirm that they had actually seen it anywhere, despite one of the dictionaries saying that it could be used in the names of sports teams. It would need to be used in isolation as a single letter and not as part of a multi-letter abbreviation or acronym, as that’s a whole separate area for discussion. ‘D’ or ‘d’ for ‘departs/departure’ along with ‘A’ or ‘a’ for ‘arrives/arrivals’ is very commonly found in travel itinieries and bus and train timetables so I wouldn’t query its validity for a moment.
Edited at 2018-02-07 06:58 am (UTC)
Edited at 2018-02-07 10:08 am (UTC)
Liked going downhill, in other words, dismiss and COD echoes.
My word of the day is definitely SWAB!
LOI was 21a after 17d and 18a. Good puzzle, nice range of clues.
I have just checked the current Southeastern timetable, valid till 19 May 2018: a = arrival time, d = departure time and s = stops to set down only (scope for the setter there). David
Incidentally, I’ve never understood the logic of “set down only”. Many years ago I commuted quite often from Slough to Paddington and some of the trains did “set down only” at one of the stops en route (can’t recall which one). But I distinctly recall the pleasing sight of some anarchic passengers clambering aboard at the “set down only” location!
other clues that help me up was 3 & 18. I hadn’t heard of 11 either.
thanks Teazel & Nick.
Carl