Today we have yet another of the treasure trove of puzzles left to us by Richard Rogan, this time setting as Felix. When doing so as Felix he usually liked to include a Nina, but other than the opening two clues perhaps referencing Kinder Scout, a high moorland plateau in the Derbyshire Peak District (where I was, by a strange coincidence, for a brief walking holiday a few days ago – which is perhaps why it is in my mind), and references later to a Pass and a Dale, both also Peak District terms, I cannot see any continuation of that theme or indeed any other. But then “Statherby fails to spot the Nina” is the very definition of Not News. Perhaps someone else will see one.
No matter, it is a very fine puzzle, Nina or not, and it took me 11:20 to complete it, slightly under my par time to round off an up-and down week which contained both one of my fastest and two of my slowest complete solves. Some very good clues today, no obscure words, and I hope something for everyone, from the crustiest old buffer to those with a more adventurous temperament. 5D was my LOI, and when I saw it, it was also my COD.
A trigger warning is possibly necessary for 10A, for those scarred by the debate 9 days ago in Felix’s last offering for us (QC 2767) over whether an Imamate could be a Caliphate, but today’s clue is I hope a lot less controversial.
So, much enjoyed even if (as ever) any Nina escaped me. How did everyone get on with it?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (abc)* indicates an anagram of abc, and strike-through-text shows deletions.
| Across | |
| 1 | More compassionate family, visibly embarrassed, retreating (6) |
| KINDER – KIN (family) + DER (ie RED, or visibly embarrassed, reversed, ie “retreating”). | |
| 5 | Small camera initially reveals people on patrol (6) |
| SCOUTS – S (small) + C (camera “initially”, ie first letter of) + OUTS (reveals). | |
| 8 | Bahraini travelling around east, having rejected an area in Ireland once (8) |
| HIBERNIA – (bahrini)*, the anagram indicator being “travelling” and the anagrist being Bahraini with one of the A’s removed (“rejected an area”), all surrounding E (“around east”). We have to lift and separate “an area in” from “Ireland” here – Hibernia refers to the whole of the island of Ireland not just a part of it.
Hibernia is the name the Romans gave to Ireland, an island they never invaded but were certainly aware of its existence. The Latin name is both a Romanisation of the classical Greek word for Ireland, Ἰουερνία (Iouerníā) and something of a pun, as its literal meaning in Latin is “land of winter”, the Latin for wintry being hibernus. A little unkind – it is not always cold and wet in the Emerald Isle, even if to people more used to the Italian climate it might have seemed so! |
|
| 9 | Fail to answer question — but go through? (4) |
| PASS – A DD, the first meaning referring to the UK TV quiz show Mastermind, in which contestants who could not answer a question were allowed to say “pass” and move swiftly on to the next, and the second to succeeding in an exam.
Mastermind first ran in 1972, more than 50 years ago, and is still running on BBC TV, making it one of the longest running TV quiz shows in the world. The setting (a blacked out studio with just a spotlight on the contestant) and the usually fiercely inquisitorial quizmaster are both intentional features of the programme’s design; the creator of the show, Bill Wright, said he “drew inspiration from my experiences of being interrogated by the Gestapo during World War II”. |
|
| 10 | Prayer leader 0ne’s meeting before noon (4) |
| IMAM – IM (one’s, ie one is, ie I am, ie I’m – phew) + AM (before noon).
The Muslim cleric makes a second appearance in consecutive Felix puzzles. Whatever his fixation with Islamic leaders might be, those who remembered and learnt from the debate last time about “one’s” representing “I’m” not “Is” will hopefully have not had too much trouble here. |
|
| 11 | Favourites look furtively back to see what marching band must do? (4,4) |
| KEEP STEP – PETS (favourites) + PEEK (look furtively) all reversed (“back”). | |
| 12 | Some brambles tore Ruth’s one stocking! (6) |
| STORER – A hidden, in brambleS TORE Ruth’s, with the hidden indicator being “some”. Nice misleading by Felix here: despite the connection with Ruth in the surface, stocking is as in stashing away, rather than ladies’ hosiery. | |
| 14 | Firmly maintain it’s wrong to admit mortal sin (6) |
| INSIST – (its)*, with the anagram indicator being “wrong”, containing (“to admit”) a second anagram, (sin)*, with the anagram indicator for this one being, er, “mortal”? At least I think that is the second anagram indicator, but if so it is certainly an unusual one. | |
| 16 | One who has deserted a post office, say (8) |
| APOSTATE – A PO (a post office) + STATE (say). An apostate is someone who has renounced or abandoned their religion, so in that sense they could be said to have deserted it. | |
| 18 | Valley seeing return of English youth (4) |
| DALE – E (English) + LAD (youth), all reversed (“return of”). | |
| 20 | No hawk swooped in America (4) |
| DOVE – Our second DD of the puzzle, with the first meaning a nod to the phrase “hawks and doves”, a way of categorising those who prefer an aggressive approach to an issue (the hawks) versus those who favour a more conciliatory one (the doves), and the second referring to the fact that in US English, the past tense of dive (ie swoop) is often “dove”, where British English would more usually have “dived”. And I await being told that “dove” is perfectly acceptable in British English too … | |
| 21 | How tithe gets distributed, making you intensely passionate (5-3) |
| WHITE-HOT – (how tithe)*, the anagram indicator being “gets distributed”. | |
| 23 | Not so fair, challenger trapping king (6) |
| DARKER – DARER (challenger, as in “I dare you”) with K (for King) inserted into it. | |
| 24 | Reduce amount of education, we hear (6) |
| LESSEN – Sounds like (“we hear”) a period of education or lesson. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Girl in Isle of Man’s peculiar way of speaking (5) |
| IDIOM – IOM (Isle of Man) with DI (random girl’s name) inserted into it.
As it happens the Isle of Man does have its own “peculiar way of speaking”, the language Manx, which is closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Returning to the surface, the Manx for Girl, I learn, is ben aeg, which literally means something like “the blessed young”. We all needed to know that … |
|
| 3 | Fantasist rearmed for exchanges (7) |
| DREAMER – (rearmed)*, the anagram indicator being “exchanges”. | |
| 4 | Manage to flee (3) |
| RUN – A straightforward DD, and my FOI. | |
| 5 | Drink with cider, or a nip of something poisonous? (9) |
| SNAKEBITE – Another DD, but in contrast to the last clue nothing like so straightforward, and it was my LOI.
Snakebite is a mixture of cider and lager (beer to those outside the UK), and for some reason it is much more intoxicating than the alcoholic strength of either component would suggest. It also has, in my opinion, a rather unpleasant taste, so “a nip of something poisonous” is for me a fair description of the drink as well as the second meaning of “a bite or nip from a poisonous snake”. And for that it gets my COD. |
|
| 6 | Colleagues filling shop, possibly (5) |
| OPPOS – A hidden, in shOP POSsibly, with the hidden indicator being “filling”.
Oppo is an interesting word with a variety of meanings. In British slang it can indeed mean colleague or friend, and this is the meaning Felix is targeting here. But it can also mean opponent or opponents, especially in a sporting context, as in “Let’s press home our advantage while the oppo are tiring”; this is taken further in US English where, via “opponent research”, oppo can also mean “damaging information about a rival political candidate”. And in military slang I am told it can mean “a sweetheart, partner, or spouse” – which could I suppose encompass both friend and opponent. A very versatile word! |
|
| 7 | Samples last of fragrant flowers (7) |
| TASTERS – T (last letter of fragrant) + ASTERS (flowers). We have to lift and separate fragrant and flowers here. | |
| 11 | A worker confused about an old conflict (6,3) |
| KOREAN WAR – (a worker)*, with the anagram indicator being “confused”, around (ie “about”) AN (from the clue). | |
| 13 | Odd bits from that poison chap’s pudding ingredient (7) |
| TAPIOCA – Every other letter (ie “odd bits”) from ThAt PoIsOn ChAp. | |
| 15 | Melancholy of elite troops holding post up (7) |
| SADNESS – SAS (elite troops, the Special Air Service) with DNES (ie SEND, or “post”, reversed, ie “up”) inserted into it. The verb meaning of post, as in post a letter/ send a letter. | |
| 17 | Utter chaos at the end, before climax (5) |
| SPEAK – S (chaos “at the end”, ie last letter of) + PEAK (climax). Another very fine lift and separate; we are not looking for complete chaos here, but a meaning for Utter as a verb. | |
| 19 | Going places east for free (5) |
| LOOSE – LOOS (ie places for “going”, as in going to the loo / toilet / bathroom / choose your own noun) + E (east). | |
| 22 | Bad to leave without wife (3) |
| ILL – |
|
I used this puzzle for a lesson with my beginner student. Showing how to analyze each clue, and discussing all the possibilities, sharpened my solving a bit. I had to explain how my solving instincts usually, but not always, lead to the correct solution.
After about an hour, we were left with S _ A _ E_I _E – very unhelpful. After staring at this for five minutes, I biffed snakebite, saying this must be some sort of drink in the UK. It was.
If snakebite has not made it to the States, all I can say is that you are very fortunate …
Enjoyed this puzzle. Had to dredge up HIBERNIA from GCE Latin many moons ago.
COD – SNAKEBITE
Finished and enjoyed. Solved about two thirds on the train going up to London and on the way back slowly managed a few toughies like APOSTATE. Completely stuck on LOI 5d but Son 3, not normally a cryptic expert, biffed SNAKEBITE having drunk lots of it in Edinburgh apparently.
Knew HIBERNIA. DOVE sprang to mind straight away, luckily. Put OPPO but thought it meant Opponent.
Cd not parse KEEP STEP. Thanks vm for thorough blog, Cedric. Missed the Nina inevitably.
For a couple of seconds there, I thought you had produced a crossword prodigy ! 😂
Son no 3! But actually granddaughter, aged 11, is starting to solve the QC, with help from Son 2, as I boasted a while ago.
12:40. Liked this one a lot. I spotted the Kinder Scout reference in the top row, but got no further with the theme. Kinder Scout has a decent claim to be the place that led to the creation of national parks in the UK. If you haven’t been, I recommend it.
Thanks to Cedric for the blog. I wonder how many more gems we have to come from Richard Rogan.
8:36, with SNAKEBITE my LOI.
Unusually for me, I spotted the Nina whilst solving. I walked the Penine way nearly four decades ago, so after Kinder Scout and Edale wondered if we were heading for Kirk Yetholm, but Dove relocated me back to the Peak District.
Thanks Cedric for the blog.
Upper half OK, lower half tricksy.
Snakebite LOI. Never drunk it. Sounds disgusting.
Bit slow but not terrible at 37 mins. In one sitting. Well two as I had an interruption of hot Welsh cakes. Bit tired today on account of labouring all day, but that’s just an excuse.
Oppo I thought was short for opportunity. Never heard of the other meanings.
Thanks to setter and bloggers.
A friendly puzzle to close out a hot-and-cold week at 16:02, a respectable time for me. I was held up for a long time by the NHO SNAKEBITE drink (sounds horrible), and OPPO means opposition research not colleague in my world. TASTERS went in with a shrug; to me a TASTER is a person who tastes (Collins says “mainly British”). HIBERNIA took a while as I struggled with the instructions on what to leave out and flipped between looking for a region of Ireland and a name for Ireland as a whole. Liked TAPIOCA best, partly because I hate the stuff, which made me smile at the surface. APOSTATE is a neat clue!
Thanks to the sadly departed Felix, and to Cedric for the outstanding blog.
A fun puzzle but did anyone else get DIKE first, instead of DALE? Both are valid answers in my view. DYKE is a more common spelling (as in Devil’s Dyke, Sussex), but Chambers gives DIKE as an alternative.
Barely worth commenting at this hour, but it was a great puzzle and I was pleased to finish in 17 mins despite a delay in the SW. Appropriately for my location and the end of the school holidays!
Well, I read your comment. 🙂
I liked this puzzle and fairly rattled through it, despite doing it on my phone. Time was 28min but there was a long gap in the middle when I didn’t stop the clock, so who knows?
Lovely NINA as the Peak District isn’t too far from us.