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 |
|
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.