Myles has set what for me was a puzzle which provided a good challenge without being too fiendish. Finished in 10:33.
There are a few which I can’t explain properly so I’m looking forward to seeing what others have to say. Only having one (partial) anagram (as a wordplay device anyway) and several cryptic definitions didn’t make things any easier.
It won’t help me be a better player (no hope), but I now know a little more about chess terminology thanks to 10a and 2d.
Thanks to Myles and a happy New Year to everyone.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 7 | Composer discernible in subtle harmonies (5) |
| LEHAR – Hidden (‘discernible’) in ‘subtLE HARmonies’)
A not too difficult one to start with. |
|
| 8 | A couple of animals shot for host, say (7) |
| ANAGRAM – A (‘A’) NAG RAM (‘couple of animals’)
‘Shot’ is an anagram of ‘host’. Neat, though the clue specifies only two animals. |
|
| 10 | Players, guided, moved two men defensively (7) |
| CASTLED – CAST (‘Players’) LED (‘guided’) with extended definition
Our first chess reference. I’d heard the term often enough (yes, mostly in crosswords) but didn’t know exactly what castling was. It is a special move in which the king moves two spaces to the left or right while the rook on that side moves to the opposite side of the king. It is the only chess move allowing two pieces to be moved at the same time. There are also a few conditions which have to be satisfied. This link from chess.com explains it with pics. |
|
| 11 | Fellow holding me back is evil genius (5) |
| DEMON – DON (‘Fellow’) containing (‘holding’) EM (‘me back’=’me’ reversed) | |
| 12 | Its players are a shade lighter than their traditional opponents (9) |
| CAMBRIDGE – Cryptic definition
There may be more to this than I can explain. CAMBRIDGE are the “light blues” vs. Oxford who are the “dark blues” (named from the shade of blue they wear) eg in the Boat Race and other sporting events, hence ‘players’. |
|
| 14 | Neanderthal starting on all fours (3) |
| OAF – First letters (‘starting’) of On All Fours
The poor old Neanderthals are a byword for OAFish behaviour, though from the TV programmes I’ve seen about them, they seemed to have been quite intelligent. |
|
| 15 | Severely criticise Peter in theatre (3) |
| PAN – Definition with cryptic hint (‘Peter in theatre’= Peter PAN) | |
| 16 | What seasonally encourages a romantic understanding? (9) |
| MISTLETOE – Cryptic definition | |
| 18 | A great American author or two (5) |
| TWAIN – Double definition
“Mark” and “ne’er the…” |
|
| 20 | Look left on plane for its destination (7) |
| AIRPORT – AIR (‘Look’) PORT (‘left on plane’=left side of plane)
‘Plane’ is there for the def to make sense; could also be a boat (though I don’t think I’ve heard PORT and starboard being used for other forms of transport). |
|
| 22 | Slowly move young woman back, straggler (7) |
| LAGGARD – DRAG (‘Slowly move’) GAL (‘young woman’) all reversed (‘back’) | |
| 23 | Philanthropist’s name inscribed in entrance (5) |
| DONOR – N (‘name’) contained in (‘inscribed in’) DOOR (‘entrance’) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Kind of letter that’s written to be financially obstructive (5,7) |
| BLOCK CAPITAL – Definition with cryptic hint. To BLOCK CAPITAL is one way of being ‘financially obstructive’
‘Letter’ being a character, not a missive. |
|
| 2 | Bishop, for one, whose position is determined by rank and file (8) |
| CHESSMAN – Having only heard of ‘rank and file’ in a military sense, I didn’t understand the wordplay and had to look it up. In chess terminology, ‘rank’ refers to the eight (horizontal) rows on the chess board, numbered 1 to 8 and ‘file’ to the eight (vertical) columns, lettered a to h. Serendipitously I happened to first find this on Big Dave’s Blog “Chess Terminology” page. | |
| 3 | Test in Oval with area separating sides (4) |
| ORAL – O (‘Oval’) A (‘area’) between (‘separating’) R L (‘sides’=Right and Left)
I can’t remember seeing O for ‘Oval’ before; I think it’s referring to the shape of an ‘oval’, like an upper case O, rather than its first letter. |
|
| 4 | Frank, Charlie and I would (6) |
| CANDID – C (‘Charlie’) AND (‘and’) ID (‘I would’=I’d) | |
| 5 | Distort shared lines for aggressive marketing (4,4) |
| HARD SELL – Anagram (‘Distort’) of SHARED and LL (‘lines’) | |
| 6 | Advocating for Mahler’s first for concert (4) |
| PROM – PRO (‘Advocating for’) M (‘Mahler’s first’=first letter of ‘Mahler’) | |
| 9 | GBS and RLS, for example (3,2,7) |
| MEN OF LETTERS – Cryptic definition.
Two male writers, George Bernard Shaw and Robert Louis Stevenson, who are often identified by their initials (‘letters’) |
|
| 13 | East European‘s craziness depicted in series (8) |
| RUMANIAN – MANIA (‘craziness’) contained in (‘depicted in’) RUN (‘series’) | |
| 14 | Going to be published before spring (8) |
| OUTBOUND – OUT (‘to be published’) coming in front of (‘before’) BOUND (‘spring’)
A couple of separations in the surface reading, between ‘Going’ and ‘to be published’ and between ‘before’ and ‘spring’, required here. |
|
| 17 | Small and convenient mixed drink (6) |
| SHANDY – S (‘Small’) HANDY (‘convenient’) | |
| 19 | A journey across river for legendary vessel (4) |
| ARGO – A (‘A’) GO (‘journey’) containing (‘across’) R (‘river’)
‘Journey’ as a verb for GO in the wordplay. |
|
| 21 | Attempt to improve some wine circle (4) |
| REDO – RED (‘some wine’) O (‘circle’)
See also 3d |
|
This was on the hard side but doable for me. The only word I’d not heard, LEHAR, was perfectly obtainable.
It is amazing what a break can do for you when stuck on a crossword. Came back to this after brekkie and immediately saw CAPITAL and ANAGRAM that had eluded me before.
I had all the crossers for my LOI – CAMBRIDGE but couldn’t see it at all – probably because I was looking for a game. Any how, the Gentleman, being interested in sports saw it straightaway.
COD – SHANDY. Is it because dry January is starting to kick in?
Thanks Myles and BR.
Like others I initially put in ROMANIAN but for once decided to return to it to check the parsing, and was able to correct it to RUMANIAN. Even as I type that, it doesn’t look right, even though throughout my academic years this would have been the way I spelt it. I was only held up a little at the end with my LOI which was CAMBRIDGE, and I crossed the line in a good time for me of 7.44.
DNF. As others I had MaN OF L… and looked at it hard just before coming here and changed it to MEN so that was a near squeak, and MAN is almost as good as MEN. But the unparsable RoMANIAN stayed in, DOH. I see that Wiktionary allows ROMANIAN, ROUMANIAN and RUMANIAN, so all of those are now in my cheating machine as it reflects not what is right but what setters might use or have actually used.
Didn’t like.
Finished in 27:11 which is my slowest for a long time but with Romanian. I saw that Rumanian fitted the wordplay but stuck with the O.
I prefer something like: East European man has madness inside.
It might be the same setter but I prefer the 15×15 today. I didn’t like cambridge, mistletoe, men of letters, or chessman.
COD block capital or anagram.
Edit: I’m a bit worried about GaryA and this crossword!
6:13 but..
…didn’t know LEHAR but pencilled in early on, plus a big pink square for MAN OF LETTERS which I meant to come back to and decide whether it should be singular or plural, but neglected to do so – looks like about half of the Crossword Club solvers had at least one fail today…. Otherwise, very quick.
Thank Myles and Bletch
9:02 (Battle of the Holme. Danes of East Anglia defeat Anglo-Saxons of Wessex and Kent)
Enjoyed, apart from the spelling of RUMANIAN. COD was MEN OF LETTERS.
Thanks BR and Myles.
Dnf…
Are the editors trying to put everyone off at the start of the year? I found this fiendishly difficult and after 40 mins still had a number of clues in the top half to get, and some of those I did I have, I still wasn’t sure of the parsing.
1dn “Block Capital”, could equally have been “Large” or “Small” depending on your point of view. Nho of the composer for 7ac and whilst I probably should have got 12ac “Cambridge”, not something that is massively obvious if you don’t know the institutions.
Not enjoyable at all I’m afraid.
FOI – 14ac “Oaf”
LOI – Dnf
COD – 16ac “Misteltoe” – only because I’m still feeling somewhat festive.
Thanks as usual!
BLOCK CAPITAL is a recognised term equivalent to ‘upper case’. ‘Large capital’ and ‘small capital’ do not exist as such.
You’re right – I’m talking rubbish. I must have been thinking of upper/large and small case.
And there was me feeling aggrieved that Anagram(!) had pushed me out to around 25mins. I quite enjoyed this, spotting both chess answers quickly and being old enough for Rumanian to seem perfectly natural (I only discovered the ‘update’ when I asked my adult son what an Ro number plate designated, and he collapsed in laughter at my spelling of the country). I would even, begrudingly, admit that 8ac was a very well constructed bear trap, with shot instantly conjuring up thoughts of brace/pair for the two animals, before the much delayed pdm. CoD to 9d, Men of Letters, another pdm. Invariant
11.26 WOE. Another MAN OF LETTERS. AIRPORT was biffed and even after reading Tina’s comment I was still confused by AIR/LOOK but I’ve finally twigged. I found this tough so I was very pleased with the time. Thanks BR and Myles.
Good start to 2024 – I am 2 for 2. I enjoyed this one with 8a, 10a and 20abeing favourites. I struggled with LOI 21d -even with both the checkers. Very unkind to the Neanderthals. Is Myles a new setter?
Ran through this quite fast (by my standards) until I came to a halt in the NW. Eventually finished in 17 minutes and came here to read the blog, only to find that I had ROMANIAN instead of RUMANIAN. Having spotted ‘mania’ in the middle I hadn’t bothered to completely parse this. Careless! I also hadn’t the remotest idea what was going on with ANAGRAM except that it contained the requisite two animals. Nor sure about ‘players’ in 12ac – the setter could equally well have written ‘participants’ which would have been better imo.
FOI – 7ac LEHAR
LOI – DNF, although my actual last entry was 8ac ANAGRAM
COD – liked 1dn BLOCK CAPITAL and 9dn MEN OF LETTERS
Thanks to Myles and BR
Nearly an hour yesterday and a hour-long, DNF today. Not a good start to 2024. Only 5 clues solved after my first full pass and 10+ minutes already on the clock.
I have NHO either author referred to just by their initials, so I put ruN OF LETTERS. A_A_R_r was then impossible to solve, of course, although I also never saw shot as an anagram indicator. The clue completely flummoxed me.
I had also NHO LEHAR or ARGO and I can’t remember the last time I saw RoMANIAN spelt with a U. Does anyone?
Overall, this was far too cryptic for me and required quite a bit of not-so-general knowledge, IMHO.
Many thanks to BR.
. . .shot and host are anagrams of each other
Managed to avoid the elphant trap at 13d even though I’ve never seen the U spelling, but I was nobbled by a typo which I didn’t notice in 1d BOLCK CAPITAL. Drat. That gave 2 erros as it knocked OEHAR out too. 11:52, but! Thanks Myles and BR.
Should never have got past the editor. Nuff said.
Thanks BR
Dismal failure with over half the clues unsolved. My worst day ever – completely off Myles’s wavelength. Disheartening.
I DNF today as I was unable to solve the MEN part of the clue at 9d despite two alphabet trawls. Had I got that I think I would have also solved ANAGRAM which remained elusive without the final letter. I still would have had a pink square due to biffing RoMANIAN. Ah well! About 14 mins in total.
You biffed a Romanian? What did he do to deserve that? Poor bloke!
Finished with a bit of help for 12a Cambridge and two errors,Romanian and outgoing for 14d. A shortage of anagrams which tend to be our stronger area.
Also DNF (discouraged non-finisher!). And I still think both MAN and MEN (OF LETTERS) are valid for 9d. Surely the “for example” could mean either “taken individually” or “both together”??
I can see your thinking, my computing logic gate days says the presence of “AND” means you only get the answer if you have both.
If you’re stood in a room with “George and Robert”, you have men.
If you’re stood in a room with “George or Robert”, you have a man.
But heck what do I know. Tough today.
Am I right to recall you’re a Poole person like myself? RLS lived in Westbourne for a while – coincidentally his house was opposite “Robert Louis Stevenson Ave”. Long demolished but now a small park/memorial garden with a stone lighthouse statue of Skerryvore.
indeed in Poole, having moved there from the East Midlands . . . loving the easier access to the beach!
I finished it just before it finished me. Hard going, although I didn’t feel the opprobrium of many commentators above.
Hear hear. I very rarely comment, but have been following this blog for years (and doing the Times crossword for 50+ of those, fwiw, so not a newbie).
The vitriol being spouted today is absolutely horrible, and I feel so sorry for Myles. I thought it was a good, challenging and perfectly fair crossword. There seems to be a new tranche of contributors to this blog who want very easy crosswords, and moan when there’s a slightly tricky clue. How will you ever learn? Shame.
hear hear. we found it hard but with lots of very good clues, dnf but very enjoyable. Chris and Francesca
I’ve given up trying to reason with them daipugh. The whingeing from some quarters if it’s not a write in is deafening, and as you say, quite often offensive.
Maybe that’s the problem – you’re trying to reason with people about some thing that is an emotional issue.
If you’re emotional about a quick cryptic crossword puzzle, you need a new hobby, or you have way too much time on your hands.
I try to keep out of commenting on such matters these days unless something really crosses the line, but I have to say I agree that a lot of what has been said here today makes for very uncomfortable reading and has spoiled my enjoyment of the discussion. It’s quite possible to make constructive criticism of a puzzle without rubbishing the efforts of the setter. I really appreciate the contributions of commenters who find things hard but still soldier on and strive to improve according to whatever yardstick they choose to apply.
I wish we had like buttons! I completely agree with you, Dai, C&F, and Hopkinb (Ben?) – it’s a puzzle, nothing more. My day isn’t complete if I don’t get my fix, but I don’t mind if things go wrong – like yesterday! Sometimes I find the criticism quite wearing – I doubt that anyone would speak so harshly if they were face-to-face.
Genius level solver to get Ben from just the b Penny!
Can’t claim that 😅 I just had a vague memory that you mentioned your name in a discussion on names some time last year! Hence the query.
Good memory PB!
You are quite right of course. And if we all commented the day after the puzzle I’m sure there would never be a problem, but sometimes, in the heat of ‘battle’, Triumph and Disaster are distant cousins.
I was heartened to read various comments above and was a DNF. I fell for the Men of Letters, thinking GBS and RLS were initials for medical conditions! 🤔
Coo-err, that was tough! But I did enjoy it; good variety of clues and some satisfyingly elliptical trickery.
To my great shame (as a Cambridge Blue), CAMBRIDGE was my LOI by some considerable distance … just couldn’t see it! (Cheers Kevin for rubbing it in.)
Thought very hard and proudly out in RUMANIAN … then got the Dreaded Pink Square anyway, having not thought very hard and shoved in MAN of letters. At least I’m in good company.
12:04 WOE, so well beaten today. Thanks for the work-out, Myles, and for the blog, Bletchers.
Templar
Not a good start to the year. A DNF after 19+ minutes because I couldn’t see CAMBRIDGE despite being a graduate! Was also reluctant to put in ANAGRAM, though couldn’t see anything else that would fit, because I just couldn’t parse it, so thank you, BR, for the blog. Fortunately saved by the parsing from ROmania, though also had a pink square for MAN (of letters). Seemed rather tougher than the snitch would suggest but that’s the way the cookie crumbles I guess. Thank you, Myles.
Thanks to those of you who worried about how I would cope with this QC 🤣
After 8 mins, I had all but OUTBOUND and ANAGRAM.
After 12 mins, I had all but ANAGRAM.
After 32 mins, I finished.
Frustrating to be close to a decent time, but that’s just the way it goes. I didn’t understand the word play so can hardly complain! A very clever clue.
Thanks for a great blog BR.
Although it took me 16:32 to complete, I rather enjoyed the challenge, and liked the fact that there were more cryptic clues than usual. I felt I’d achieved something by getting to the end!
FOI Lehar LOI Anagram (I have seen this similarly clued a few times now but it gets me every time 😅) COD Men of letters although I liked Twain too
Thanks Myles and BR
I found this tough going and bit cryptic in places. Surprised by many of the NHO comments above. Agree hat a toughie is to be welcomed now and again – how else are we to progress? Alas, now without Rotter to help guide us.
I thought this was incredibly hard – easily the hardest of the year so far. No, really, it was hard. I don’t mind that, and I still enjoyed doing it, but what I can’t understand is how the Snitch score can be only 96. I wonder what the difference would be if a set of representative solvers offered a 1-5 difficulty rating for the crossword, whether or not they finished it? With thanks to Myles, Bletch (I would never have got the Anagram parsing without you) and Starstruck.