As mentioned previously, I’ve pretty much given up trying to gauge the degree of difficulty of these puzzles – I consistently seem to be at odds with the consensus!
What I can say for sure is that I enjoyed this puzzle very much, so thanks to Orpheus. A couple of unknown (to me) words involved in 3ac & 7dn, but both could be worked out from the surrounding wordplay and checkers without too much trouble.
Definitions underlined, anagrams indicated by *(–), DD = double definition
Across |
1 |
Customer’s first request, a container for liquor (4) |
|
CASK – C (“customer’s first” – i.e. first letter) + ASK (“request”) |
3 |
Presumptuously claim leader’s left N Yorks town (8) |
|
ARROGATE – HARROGATE. The elegant Yorkshire spa town without it’s first letter (“leader’s left”) giving us a word meaning “to claim proudly or unduly” according to Chambers. Not a word I knew, but the answer was clear enough from the wordplay together with cross checkers |
8 |
Convey strong emotion (9) |
|
TRANSPORT – DD (and perhaps also a Semi & Lit, but I’ll leave that to the senior pros to determine!). The second definition (carry away on a wave of strong emotion) is less widely used, but for me will forever be associated with Flanders & Swann’s paean to the London omnibus, the Transport of Delight |
10 |
Place ram recalled? (3) |
|
PUT – TUP (“male sheep”) reversed (“recalled”). A word well known to students of Othello, crossword fans and sheep farmers (now there’s an eclectic alliance for you) but not everyday vocabulary for the man on the Clapham Omnibus. For newcomers to Crosswordland, well worth tucking away in the memory bank |
11 |
Distribute a complete set of religious books (5) |
|
ALLOT – ALL (“complete set”) + OT (“set of religious books” – OT being standard abbreviation of Old Testament) |
12 |
Cost of carrying paintings in barred structure? (7) |
|
CARTAGE – ART (“paintings”) inside (“in”) CAGE (“barred structure”) |
13 |
Earnings right for new resident (7) |
|
INCOMER – INCOME (“earnings”) + R (“right” – standard abbreviation) |
18 |
A fellow spy? (5) |
|
AGENT – A + GENT (“fellow”). Straightforward but neat clue |
19 |
Called in quirky set? That’s odd (7) |
|
STRANGE – RANG (“Called”) inside *(SET) |
20 |
Doctor I read of, as previously mentioned (9) |
|
AFORESAID – *(I READ OF AS) |
22 |
Former partner, say, one running through the West Country? (3) |
|
EXE – Homophone of EX (“former partner”) indicated by “say”, giving us the slightly cryptically defined river “running through” Devon in the West Country |
23 |
Wrong character, perhaps, to enter party politics (4) |
|
TYPO – parTY POlitics. Very elegant hidden clue indicated by “to enter”. My COTD. Will ulaca – brilliant crossworder but with a self-confessed blindspot for hiddens – spot it?! |
24 |
American painter who uses wind instrument? (8) |
|
WHISTLER – DD (second one based on a whistle being a wind instrument of sorts). Must admit my heart sank when I saw the clue, as I only know four American painters – fortunately James Abbott McNeill Whistler is one of that illustrious quartet |
Down |
1 |
Girl adopting a medieval name for China (6) |
|
CATHAY – CATHY (“Girl”) taking in (“adopting”) A, giving the medieval name which was apparently a variation of Cathai. Did not know the specific reference, but the wordplay, cross checkers and being a frequent customer of Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific meant I got there in the end… |
2 |
Firm providing accommodation for Arabs, perhaps (6) |
|
STABLE – DD – the second (slightly cryptic) referencing Arabs as in the horse breed |
4 |
Three people heading off for a port (3) |
|
RIO – TRIO. First letter removed (“heading off”) from the threesome, giving the Brazilian port |
5 |
Disorganised subeditor here in Scottish islands (5,8) |
|
OUTER HEBRIDES – *(SUBEDITOR HERE), with “disorganised” as the anagrind. Nice surface and anagram |
6 |
Turn up with a soft piece of fruit (6) |
|
APPEAR – A + P (“soft”- musical notation) + PEAR (“fruit”) |
7 |
Woman housed originally in compound (6) |
|
ESTHER – H (“Housed originally”) in ESTER (a chemical “compound”). Did not know the compound, but the answer fell into place OK from the wordplay and cross checkers |
9 |
Silky fabric finally bought in estate somehow (9) |
|
SATINETTE – *(IN ESTATE + T): “somehow” is anagrind, with T (“finally boughT” – i.e. last letter thereof) also being included in the mix |
12 |
Affliction that makes us angry (5) |
|
CROSS – DD. Cross to bear (“Affliction”) and “angry” |
14 |
Empty container dropped into large tank (6) |
|
VACANT – CAN (“container”) “dropped into” VAT (“large tank”). My LOI as I was looking for CR as “empty container” and TANK as the definition. Anyway, got there eventually… |
15 |
Get back part of army before seizure of power (6) |
|
RECOUP – RE (Royal Engineers – “part of army”) in front of (“before”) COUP (“seizure of power”) |
16 |
Illusory, a French coin in Brazil (6) |
|
UNREAL – UN (“a French”) + REAL (“coin in Brazil”) |
17 |
Façade archdeacon always displayed (6) |
|
VENEER – VEN (abbreviation of “Archdeacon” – The Venerable) + EER (somewhat archaic / poetic word for “always”) |
21 |
Expression of sympathy about son’s remains (3) |
|
ASH – AH (“expression of sympathy”- as in Ah, poor dear) around (“about”) S (abbreviation of “son”) |
I was also unaware that ‘eer’ was ever a word so I cheerfully, and incorrectly, took ‘displayed’ (17d) to be an anagram pointer (ere). But for me the clue would have worked even better with ‘displaced’ as the last word.
But I was fine with ‘tup’ and ‘Cathay’
Excellent puzzle and a crystal clear blog.
COD for me was 24a as I’d never heard of the painter but got it from the wordplay/checkers.
Thanks for the blog and an explanation of 12d which I didn’t fully parse.
Obscure / archaic words are frequently used in cryptics. They are part of the landscape and that’s just the way it is. I suspect in most cases (the Mephisto puzzle on Sundays might be a different story!) this occurs not so much because the setter wants to make life particularly hard for the solver, but more because, when constructing the grid, it’s the only word that fits in the space with the other cross checkers – i.e. it’s driven by pragmatic necessity rather than a desire to inject obscurity for the hell of it!
If you look at the blogs and comments for the 15×15 puzzles, it is common to find even top flight solvers saying that they did not know this or that word. Being able to come up with an unknown word from the wordplay and other cross checkers is all part of the game in any cryptic crossword.
The only times that “protest flags” sometimes get raised is when there is a combination of an obscure answer, obscure wordplay and a lack of any helpful cross checkers – and that is a rare combination because the editors (who are masterly at this sort of stuff) generally prevent such things occurring.
So, to take one of your examples – Cartage – the clue suggests that the answer is likely to be a word meaning “cost of carrying” built from something meaning “paintings” inside something meaning a barred structure. Paintings may well put you on to “art”, so you are looking for that as a component of the answer. If you then get the R from 5dn, that suggests the ART will probably fit in there. If you then get the C from 12dn you’ve got CART, and you know the barred structure starts with a C – which may well suggest CAGE. Further cross checkers from 6 and 7dn will make this a racing certainty, even if you have never heard of the word – it just has to be right!
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