Time: 11:56. A couple of clues here for our ‘very wise’ (I would never say ‘smug’) classicists.
Apart from the classical references, I found this did not require too much specialised knowledge (our ovine friend in 8a) and the vocbulary wasn’t too obscure. The ‘artist’ in 24a and ‘Norse god’ in 18d are pretty standard fare in crossword land, even if I know very little about either. Overall, about medium level of difficulty for me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if many of our commenters found it on the easier side.
Thanks to Wurm
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions and letters in wordplay not appearing in answer indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bump into freight boat (5) |
| BARGE – Triple definition
My initial thought was a double definition (‘Bump into’ and ‘freight boat’), but ‘freight’ and BARGE can both be verbs meaning to transport goods, the latter specifically by barge, so a triple def does work. |
|
| 4 | An elder could be very wise (7) |
| LEARNED – Anagram (‘could be’) of AN ELDER | |
| 8 | Barber of Suffolk and Kent say? (7) |
| SHEARER – Cryptic definition
I tried to make “Seville” fit. The ‘Suffolk’ and ‘Kent’ are both breeds of sheep. Very good and my COD. |
|
| 9 | Tolerates poor journalists (5) |
| HACKS – Double definition | |
| 10 | Flying nowhere near settlement? (2,2,3,3) |
| UP IN THE AIR – Definition with cryptic hint – the ‘settlement’ nothing to do with a group of dwellings, village etc, but a matter to be resolved | |
| 14 | Staff cutting wages in travesty (6) |
| PARODY – ROD (‘Staff’) contained in (‘cutting’) PAY (‘wages’)
The “a false, absurd, or distorted representation of something” definition for travesty in Oxford Dictionaries covers many bases, including our answer and Collins specifically has “parody”. |
|
| 15 | Distances between small steps (6) |
| SPACES – S (‘small’) PACES (‘steps’) | |
| 17 | Old job description (10) |
| EXPOSITION – EX (‘Old’) POSITION (‘job’)
Not the first word to come to mind for ‘description’ – I would think of an exposition as more of an explanation or demonstration than just a description, but again Oxford Dictionaries comes to the rescue with sense 1 as “A comprehensive description and explanation of an idea or theory” and the other dictionaries suggest this sense. |
|
| 20 | Parties with news boss given drugs (5) |
| DOSED – DOS (‘Parties’) ED (‘news boss’) | |
| 22 | A last look back for Cretan princess (7) |
| ARIADNE – A (‘A’) then reversal (‘back’) of END (‘last’) and AIR (‘look’)
I would have had no idea about this if it weren’t for the wordplay. In Greek mythology she helped Theseus to defeat the Minotaur by providing him with a ball of jewels to navigate the labyrinth. Thanks, Wikipedia On edit: Thanks to Roundabout Here and Templar. The ball of “jewels” was a figment of my imagination, ignorance and bad proof-reading. It should be a ball of thread of course. |
|
| 23 | Luddite hurt, made weaker (7) |
| DILUTED – Anagram (‘hurt’) of LUDDITE | |
| 24 | Artist living in eastern state (5) |
| ERNST – Hidden (‘living in’) eastERN STate
Max Ernst (1891-1976), German surrealist artist and a founder of the Dada movement. |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Deep sea fish (4) |
| BASS – Double definition
The first definition as an adjective as in “a bass/deep voice”, the second as a noun for the swimmer. Looking it up, there are both sea and freshwater species of bass fish. |
|
| 2 | Dance authentic we’re told (4) |
| REEL – Aural wordplay (‘we’re told’) of REAL (‘authentic’) | |
| 3 | EU with final message on fateful day for Greek writer (9) |
| EURIPIDES – EU (‘EU’) RIP (‘final message’) IDES (‘fateful day’)
Playwright in Ancient Greece (approx. 480-406 BC), author of Medea and Electra amongst other works. Wondering what ‘final message’ could be, my first try was EUMENIDES, which I now see is a play rather than a playwright. Maintaining the classical feel, the Ides of March as a ‘fateful day’ for one Julius Caesar; instant word association for Ides = March. As noted here before, in the ancient Roman calendar the ides represents the 15th day of March, May, July and October and the 13th day of other months. |
|
| 4 | Cat eating a rat’s head and throat part (6) |
| LARYNX – LYNX (‘Cat’) containing (‘eating’) A (‘a’) and R No need to dwell on the grisly surface here! |
|
| 5 | Timber made up part of Noah’s Ark (3) |
| ASH – Reverse hidden in a down clue (‘made up part’) of NoaHS Ark | |
| 6 | He can con criminal? That won’t happen (2,6) |
| NO CHANCE – Anagram (‘criminal’) of HE CAN CON | |
| 7 | Key is with lock in Harrow (8) |
| DISTRESS – D (‘Key’) IS (‘is’) TRESS (‘lock’)
‘Harrow’ as a verb here, nothing to do with the place name or boy’s school as the initial surface reading suggested. |
|
| 11 | Somehow the pony is put in trance (9) |
| HYPNOTISE – Anagram (‘Somehow’) of THE PONY IS | |
| 12 | Cracking spindle injured daughter (8) |
| SPLENDID – Anagram (‘injured’) of SPINDLED then D (‘daugher’)
‘Cracking’ seems a rather old-fashioned word, but maybe that’s just me. |
|
| 13 | Rugby player also involved in plan (8) |
| PROPOSAL – PROP (‘Rugby player’) then anagram (‘involved’) of ALSO | |
| 16 | Maroon thread (6) |
| STRAND – Double definition
‘Maroon’ as a verb meaning to abandon or isolate and nothing to do with the colour as suggested by the surface. |
|
| 18 | Zero clamour for Norse god (4) |
| ODIN – O (‘Zero’) DIN (‘clamour’)
Odin, Thor, Baldur… and that’s the limit of my knowledge of gods in Norse mythology. |
|
| 19 | Better echo in club (4) |
| BEAT – E (‘echo’) contained in (‘in’) BAT (‘club’)
‘Better’ here as a verb. |
|
| 21 | Point little Dorothy makes (3) |
| DOT – Definition with a not so cryptic hint, an abbreviation of the name Dorothy (‘little Dorothy makes’) being DOT. | |
There actually was a play by Euripides that featured Ariadne, but it is not extant.
Oh, the puzzle. I didn’t find it too difficult, although I did have to biff shearer. More sheep, as if the teg and the Jacob weren’t enough. Hacks for tolerates does not come up often, but setters do like to use the more obscure meanings of words.
Time: 8:07
6:31
I was a bit surprised to find HACKS. And I was nonplussed by 8ac, biffing SHEARER with some trepidation.
9 minutes. ARIADNE went in because it fitted and I parsed it later. I wouldn’t have remembered her but for a technique in Sudoku solving called ‘Ariadne’s Thread’.
I probably use that without knowing what it is….sudoku came naturally to me (unlike QCs), without have to read books.
It’s really just a posh name for Trial and Error. When completely stuck you find a square with only two choices, pick an option and proceed keeping note of your moves. If you hit a wall you have made the wrong choice so you backtrack unpicking the thread and then take the other option.
I sometimes have to do that on a Sunday for the competition puzzle but I regard using that technique as a failure 🙂
I’m finding the Killers quite difficult to do on my phone because of the size of the grid. I haven’t completed a deadly for over a year.
Thanks to bloggers for hints on another puzzle I enjoy.
What a great club this is.
Another, hopefully useful, tip is that if you can see a rectangle/square with unknown numbers: xy,xy,xy,xyz, then z has to be the number in the fourth square because otherwise there wouldn’t be a unique solution to the puzzle.
‘Counting ahead’ is normally frowned on in the Invariant household, but that was the only way I could finish last Saturday’s expert sudoku in the Guardian. Mrs Invariant (who is usually much quicker than me) is still working on the puzzle, to find the ‘proper’ solution.
I do nonograms on the Nonograms Katana app, which actually has a robust RPG element for a puzzle game, including a dungeon crawler. One item you can craft to use in the dungeon to find your way to treasure is Ariadne’s thread. I’m intrigued to learn more about it in a sudoku context, too.
6.59, with the SE (ARIADNE, ERNST and the rather clever BEAT) holding out the longest. Had no idea about the sheep either, thanks BR and Wurm.
A nice start to the week with a steady 16.05. Like the surface of hypnotise. Thanks BR for the blog, and the help parsing Shearer and Ariadne (I think she provide a ball of string or thread, not jewels?)
Thanks Wurm
Thanks. Why I said that I don’t know! Blog edited.
An enjoyable start to the week, starting with BARGE and finishing with ARIADNE in a bang average 7.36.
Thanks to BR and Wurm
11:18 for a par finish, but my last two – SHEARER and ARIADNE – took up a decent chunk of that. Both put in from definition and checkers; ARIADNE subsequently eventually parsed but I had no idea what was going on with SHEARER, breeds of sheep not being my forte.
Many thanks BR for the blog.
20:25 – about average time, but would have been quicker if I had biffed the NHO ARIADNE sooner. Otherwise a fairly steady solve.
15 mins…
8ac “Shearer” was a logical punt, although I also tried to fit ‘Seville’ at first. Thankfully, 3dn “Euripides” and 22ac “Ariadne”, whilst vaguely known, were helped by the wordplay and checkers.
FOI – 1dn “Bass”
LOI – 22ac “Ariadne”
COD – 7dn “Distress”
Thanks as usual!
Biffed SHEARER, parsed the rest. I was held up by my LOsI: ARIADNE and BEAT.
I found it a chewy mixture of simple, off-beat, and rather clever clues. I was slowed down markedly at the end. Just avoided the SCC, though.
‘Cracking’ is perhaps a bit old-fashioned, as BR says. It always brings to mind Wallace and Gromit for me these days.
Thanks to both.
Had to work hard here. Realised with huge relief that ERNST was a hidden, my GK well was emptied after ARIADNE and EURIPIDES. Resisted the huge temptation to put a Y in EURIPIDES but took the time to parse – not that it mattered, a two key typo gaven in ‘bedt’ for BEAT. Pleased to be under 10 though.
6.47. A bit more than medium difficulty, I thought, though not very tough.
I also biffed SHEARER and hoped.
Enjoyable all round.
14:40 with pink square for Euripedes, even though I read some of it for my Greek O-Level.
Saw comment about classics, so went with LEANDER, might have been a wise guy?
LOI SHEARER, After biffing SEVILLE.
Yes, we read excerpts from Medea in first-year Greek, and tackled The Bacchae in second-year. Euripides was considered easy compared to Sophocles and Aeschylus.
Excellent crossword.
7:56
Years ago, New Scientist used to have a column written under the name of ARIADNE, featuring ingenious inventions by Daedalus.
COD to EURIPIDES.
I biffed SHEARER – I don’t know the breeds of sheep.
Thanks BR and Wurm
I don’t know what Wiki’s been telling you, Bletchers, but Ariadne definitely gave Theseus a ball of string, not jewels. Rather more practical assistance in terms of finding your way out of a maze!
Same hesitations as others, plus taking a while to spot LOI ERNST was a hidden. I’ll still NHO him next time he appears.
All done in 05:41 for an Excellent Day. Many thanks BR and Wurm.
Thanks, you’re right of course about the ball of thread. I’ve had another look at Wikipedia and it says nothing about jewels – goodness knows where I got that from!
4:23
The sheep types went over my head, but the answer seemed sensible with all checkers in place. Had forgotten who the Cretan princess might be, but the wordplay was favourable. Heard of Max ERNST but couldn’t name anything he’d painted. Other than that, this seemed pretty straightforward.
Thanks Bletch and Wurm
15 in 20 finishing with 19. Blank around the SE corner and missing the obvious (?) reel and the not so obvious sheerer.
thanks BR and W
Just about got there despite MER and CNPs, thanks BR for much-needed explanations; MER was due to total ignorance of sheep, thus withdrawn. Last look = END AIR was difficult, as was staff wages = ROD PAY. IMHO key = any letter you want from A to G is bogus. Fortunately there are always two ways of reaching the answer.
4:51. Nice one. I took a while to spot the sheep at 8A and the Cretan princess, my LOI. Thanks Wurm and BR.
15.30 in stops and starts. Required the welcome blog to parse quite a few.
Thank you Wurm and BR.
Overall a very good puzzle – thanks Wurm and Bletchley Reject. For me hacks means to overcome a problem or to break into an account say – I’m not sure hacks means tolerates (at least not in everyday speech) but most of it was fine for me. Thanks again!
Perhaps more “cope with” than tolerate, and often in the negative, as in “he can’t hack it” of someone who is failing to handle a situation, job, etc?
Thanks – as was mentioned earlier in this blog I do think that the setters sometimes enjoy stretching the meaning of words, and for the quickie it often feels a bit perverse or at least unnecessary. Maybe just me!
I agree, Cedric – cope, or manage, rather than tolerate. My late husband, a pilot, used the expression ‘he can’t hack it’ so perhaps an RAF expression.
From my offline dictionary, sense 2:
To withstand or put up with a difficult situation. [20th c.]
Can you hack it out here with no electricity or running water?
That’s coping with or surviving rather than tolerating isn’t it?
No problem today apart from not parsing ARIADNE. Accept that PARODY is a synonym of TRAVESTY, although I would use them in different contexts. Thanks BR and Wurm.
Hello Templar. I am currently just behind you on the leaderboard.
ODIN was more familiar than my LOI ARIADNE who I am now going to read about! 5:55 Thanks BR
But still ahead on averages, I see! My crosswording twin Plett and I are now dead level at 07:30.
The only reason for that is I have more DNFs.
I had to rely on the cryptics to get several of these clues; in particular LOI ARIADNE which took a fair chunk of my 12 minutes.
A high class crossword I thought. Most of the answers are clear in hindsight but I was challenged by SHEARER not knowing the relevant sheep.
COD to EXPOSITION.
David
Enjoyable puzzle. Classicist, moi? Ego? Latin A-level, and a four-year stay in Greece, which included a trip to Crete.
So biffed EURIPIDES as he fitted. CNP ARIADNE.
Fairly fast today but then slow back in NW. PDMs with BARGE and BASS enabled LOI SHEARER. Breeds of sheep, oh.
Liked many inc LARYNX, PROPOSAL, and EXPOSITION.
Thanks vm, BR.
Hi CW – am I right in remembering that you used to travel up the M1 every now and then, and stop at Coton Manor on the way? I discovered some new gardens today – Felley Priory, just off J27, so a bit further on than your usual stop. Quite small, but delightful – a lovely garden, very good (and reasonable) nursery, and a very nice tearoom. To be recommended – if you can last that long!
Did I hear mention of a nice tearoom?
You did – but it involves venturing into the realms of the frozen north 😰 😅
Hi Penny, Thanks for that info. Will bear in mind. Have been going to Yorkshire on the train recently. When driving with the (late) dog, we used to stop at Donnington, I think, as there was a large grassy area. I did find the drive exhausting.
I went to Coton the other day to see friends. Such a lovely garden.
It’s a pleasure! I don’t blame you for taking the train – it’s quite a slog to drive between Yorkshire and Sussex / Hants. We’re coming down your way in a couple of weeks – bracing ourselves for the M25 😅 But gardens and tearooms will be on the agenda once we’re there, I’m sure!
So sorry to hear about your dog – they are such a joy 😊
Fair enough. Should have known the sheep, having lived in Southern England for decades, but had to biff it. Only knew Ernst from previous puzzles. Had to look up Ariadne as didn’t spot surface ( and DNK she was Cretan). Enjoyable puzzle- thanks to both.
An enjoyable puzzle solved in reasonable time – cuppa still warm on completion. Biffed SHEARER, not being an ovine specialist, and looked the breeds up afterwards. Liked EURIPIDES, BEAT, ARIADNE
Thanks Wurm and BR
Nice romp through, Ariadne and Euripades no problem, but didnt get Shearer or Ernst. There are only two types of GK questions, ones you know the answer to and ones you dont. The former are always “obvious, everyone surely knows that”, and the latter are always “horribly obscure”. Thanks Worm and BR.
so true
I think I was on form to finish this in 8.57, as it felt more difficult than that in solving
Having said that, the times submitted so far would suggest it was easier than I thought. My only hiccup was biffing LEARNER for 4ac not taking the trouble to properly check the letters of the anagram. For this reason DISTRESS became my LOI after correcting 4ac.
After the death of Ian Fleming, the first author to be asked to write a James Bond novel was Kingsley Amis. It was entitled ‘Colonel Sun’ and took place in Greece. The heroine ( I seem to recall) was a Greek Secret Service operative named Ariadne. In the course of James wining, dining and (naturally) bedding her, he points out that she was named after a Greek princess.
How on earth I completed this one I just do not know. I don’t think I answered a clue until about halfway down the list on my first lap.
As the clues slowly trickled in so I became more and more confident until I was answering the last 7 or 8 at a fairly rapid rate.
I didn’t understand SHEARER but it just had to be. I too tried to fit Seville in there.
Enjoyable puzzle that I found to be not as difficult as I thought it to be.
First Lap: 9
Answered (no help): 24
Answered (help): 2
Time: 26:35
I was quite pleased to finish this one under my average at 9:16, as some of them were quite tricky. Couldn’t parse SHEARER, and ARIADNE gave me a bit of a wobble before I figured out how it worked. Held myself up for a while by positing Zeus as the Norse god, which is just appalling.
Thank you for the blog!
I didn’t know the ovine breeds, so biffed SHEARER. BARGE was FOI. ARIADNE was LOI and was biffed from crossers then reverse engineered. 6:47. Thanks Wurm and BR.
DNF. Having nearly come a cropper with the first Greek, (my suspicions about CL for final message were fully confirmed when Euclides left me one short), the Cretan princess stepped up to deliver the final blow.
Just couldn’t think of how A*i*d*e could involve a ‘last look back’ – the lift and separate twins were nowhere to be seen – and so stumps were pulled at the 25min mark. Invariant
DNF
I’m afraid my GK let me down – did not know the sheep, EURIPIDES or ARIADNE.
Another learning day.
FOI: UP IN THE AIR
LOI:DNF:
COD: EXPOSITION
Thanks to Wurm with a bigger thank you to BR
Just avoided the club at 19 minutes. CNP SHEARER (my knowledge of sheep breeds is minimal) or ARIADNE. Otherwise no great problems, just a bit slow.
FOI – 1ac BARGE
LOI – 19dn BEAT
COD – 17ac EXPOSITION
Thanks to Wurm and BR
My knowledge of sheep breeds is not minimal & nobody calls Kent sheep Kents: they are universally known as Romneys!
6:36, very fast for me, and surprising for a Wurm puzzle. Everything understood except PROPOSAL and SHEARER, I studied classical Greek drama in school, not rugby and sheep. FOI HACKS, LOI BASS (whyyyyy?), CsOD EURIPIDES and the pony in a trance.
Thanks Wurm and Bletch. Fun blog today. Ariadne’s fate is an example of how no good deed goes unpunished. I remember reading about it as a child and thinking, hmmm, this is how heroes act, is it? If you want to know more, the novel The King Must Die based on the Theseus story is a real page-turner.
Finished in 23 minutes. My CSE in Classical Studies helped me get Ariadne and watching a sketch featuring the talking rats in The Young Ones some 40 years ago helped me get Euripides (you ripper dese trousers you mend a dese trousers)!
Thanks Wurm and BR
I wondered if we would get the trousers 🤣!
Afternoon all – smug classicist here. My only hold up was waiting for the PDM on the sheep.
FOI BARGE
LOI SHEARER
COD HYPNOTISE
TIME 3:24
27 minutes for me which, given the setter and a slow start (only BARGE and DOSED went in early from the Across clues), was better than I had anticipated.
A number of clues went over my head, as I didn’t have the required GK for SHEARER, ARIADNE, EURIPIDES, ODIN and ERNST and I still can’t see why tolerates leads to HACKS. Still, I trusted the wordplay, wrote them in and luck was on my side.
MY LOI was BEAT and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that I hadn’t made any errors.
Many thanks to BR and Wurm.
A coincidence: I had listened to two different versions of Starship Trooper only a few minutes before spotting the identity of today’s setter.
5.45 DOSED put me in mind of Ralph Brown in Withnail and I. I didn’t know the sheep and finished with a guess of ARIADNE. Thanks BR and Wurm.
A faster than it felt like it was going to be 8:36. A bit of a delay putting in LOI ERNST until we saw the hidden. COD EURIPIDES. On other matters cultural, Mrs T’s claim to fame is that she was born on the same street as Alan SHEARER. Today’s learning : there is a breed called the Kent. Thanks, all.
All but 2 solved in 20 minutes. I didn’t know a bat was a club! – which sport is that? Overall this was pitched at the right level for beginners! The timing is irrelevant!
…. must be golf. One of my sons bought himself a second-hand set of golf bats. He sometimes hits a good shot.
Physicist here. My knowledge of Classics limited to my grand daughter’s book of Greek and Roman gods, and Ariadne Oliver is a co sleuth of Poirot.
Ariadne was also the escape lifeline, their boat, for the Germans in the 39 Steps.
10:32 today. I found the downs much easier than the acrosses. After my first pass through the acrosses I only had three, but then most of the downs were write-ins. Ariadne was a hopeful guess that fitted the crossers and sounded as if she might be Cretan.
Thanks to Wurm and BR.
Mm a bit of learning by repetition I think. SHEARER, HACKS, Rod for Staff, Bat for Club, Tress for Lock, BASS for Bass, all almost impenetrable without crossword practice. No complaints, maybe a measure of my gentle advances – I don’t need to kick the nearest bits of furniture any more! Please wiggle again the Wurm.
12:02
A strange crossword. I found the across answers really hard, in fact only got 2 on first pass but then the downs just fell into place and it was then pretty easy to fill in the blanks. NHO ERNST but I always look for a hidden if I can’t see anything else. LOI BEAT.
As for the classical references, I know zero about them but EURIPEDES featured in The Young Ones and Ariadne was the boat in The 39 Steps.
Cretan princess immediately suggested Ariadne and in she went: Strauss and Hofmannsthal struggled with her story for five years or more, but the revised version took to the stage and we shall see it (again) at Glyndebourne this summer. I enjoy Wurm as a setter and this one (20 minutes) did not disappoint: although SHEARER took me longer than it should have. ERNST is OK for us Germanists, and ODIN OK for Wagnerians and lovers of Norse mythology. But it all flowed nicely : thank you Wurm and our excellent blogger.
I envy you Glyndebourne, enjoy!
No problem with EURIPIDES or ARIADNE, and I tried LEANDER before arriving at LEARNED. Biffed SHEARER, and then laughed when the penny dropped.
A good QC. Thanks to Wurm and BR.