When I saw the anagram at 11ac a bell rang, so I did a bit of a search to see when it last came up. It turned out to be July 2008, barely a year ago (blogged here). This was disappointing from an editorial point of view, but I also suspected some recycling by the setter so looked more closely at the previous puzzle to see if they struck me as being by the same compiler.
To my astonishment it became clear that not only was the anagram simply regurgitated from a year ago but so was a huge chunk of the puzzle; no fewer than 14 interlinking answers (starred below), including the whole of the top right, were identical to those in the first puzzle. In seven cases the clues were identical, and three others were similar to last time.
I suppose there are many ways this could have happened, but here’s one theory: the setter has the grid to use; selects an eye-catching 15-letter answer to start the grid, forgetting that he has used this before; presses ‘fill’ in his software and gets, not surprisingly, a very similar result to the last time he filled the same grid; then simply dips into a database of clues, making the odd minor change here and there, to produce a puzzle which at best could be described as uninspired. Obviously the editor doesn’t notice the recycling because the editing of this puzzle is a joke.
Of course, this may be completely wrong; maybe the editor was sent a pair of puzzles and asked to pick one but mistakenly (or deliberately) allowed both into the pipeline, or maybe a half-completed puzzle was saved and subsequently accidentally spawned two puzzles, or perhaps there’s another explanation. As some of the setting team are known to read this blog, would one of them like to comment?
Since many solvers may not have seen the original I’ve blogged all the clues as usual.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | ANOINTS; (NATIONS)* – can’t remember seeing this anagram before, though I’m sure I must have. |
| * 5 | DEBATES; rev. of (SET A BED) – identical to last year’s puzzle. |
| 9 | TRICORN; RIC[h] in TORN |
| * 10 | REGATTA; REG (= ‘Man’) + ATTA[r] – attar is an essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers. |
| * 11 | CONFIDENCE TRICK; (KIND OF ECCENTRIC)* – a memorable anagram, it seems. |
| 12 | DHARMA; HARM in D.A. |
| * 14 | NEGLIGEE; (GENIE L)* around E.G. (= ‘say’) |
| 17 | MUSCULAR; rev. of SUM, + CU (= ‘copper’), + LAR[d] (= ‘fat’ with the last letter missing, i.e. ‘short’) |
| 18 | HEARSE (cryptic definition) |
| * 21 | THREE-LEGGED RACE (cryptic definition) – similar to last time. |
| 24 | DIOCESE; (O + C.E. + S) in DIE (= ‘stamp’) |
| * 25 | ELECT + R,O – slightly adjusted from last year, but the quibble that this answer word is a prefix (as defined by the clue) still stands. |
| 26 | RESORTS (2 defs) |
| 27 | SHE + BANG |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | ANT-ACID – one straight definition and a cryptic allusion. |
| 2 | ORIENTALS; (RELATIONS)* – Chambers actually says this word is ‘offensive’ when used to mean ‘a native of E Asia’, though why that should be is beyond me. |
| 3 | NAOMI; rev. of (I MOAN) – probably number one in the list of ‘hackneyed cryptic clues’. |
| 4 | SON + NET |
| * 5 | DIRECT + ED – identical to last time. |
| * 6 | BAGATELLE; (A GAT) in BELLE – identical. |
| * 7 | TUTTI (cryptic definition) – punning on ‘scored’, as in an orchestral score. |
| * 8 | S.P. + ARKLE – identical. SP stands for ‘starting price’. |
| 13 | MOUSE DEER; M.O. + USE, + rev. of REED – I wasted a bit of time trying to justify ‘mouse bear’. |
| * 15 | GARGANTUA (cryptic definition) – another bit of hackneyed crosswordese, this time ‘of course’ meaning ‘relating to food’. |
| * 16 | NAMELESS (2 defs) – identical. Last year I couldn’t get this one, so I must have got better! |
| * 17 | MATADOR (cryptic definition) – virtually identical, with a pun on ‘gore’. |
| 19 | ERELONG (hidden) |
| * 20 | [n]EGRESS – as with 2dn, Chambers says ‘Negro’ and ‘Negress’ are ‘usually considered offensive’, but other sources don’t tend to support this; Collins (online) just has ‘old-fashioned’. Chambers does tend to err on the PC side of caution. |
| 22 | ROO(K)S – a ‘roo’ being a kangaroo, hence a ‘bouncer’. |
| 23 | DI(E)NE |
I thought the previous clue for THREE-LEGGED RACE (“Paradoxically two runners are bound to win this”) was slightly better than the new one (“Events depending on an odd number of runners?”), particularly as the latter looks like a misclue – shouldn’t it be “Event” rather than “Events”? At least the setter avoided the old chestnut “The Manx?”
Edited at 2009-09-28 07:24 am (UTC)
“I wonder if the setter responsible will go the same way as the Sun’s astrologer who was found to be using the same predictions over and over on a six month rotation and was famously fired by Kelvin MacKenzie in a letter that began “As you will no doubt have foreseen…”.
Even though I blogged the ‘original’ of this crossword, to be honest, had talbinho not emailed me and said “Have you noticed anything” this week, this would have passed me by. When solving it, I thought there was something familiar, especially with the Gargantua clue, but it’s as well that talbinho’s memory is rather better than mine. I had to come back to it several times before the truth dawned and I sought out the old puzzle. Being an endlessly good-natured sort, I shall subscribe to talbinho’s generous interpretations of how this could have happened (though the first explanation that leapt to mind was a little more cynical).
Peter, my last three postings to the bulletin board failed to be published so I don’t go there any more. I will be interested to see if yours fares better, and amazed if you get a response from the ST.
On the subject of negros etc I cannot understand how it could possibly be polite to say “negro” but simultaneously tabu to say “negress.” Nor do I understand how “Brit” apparently is ok, but “Jap”” or “Chinaman” is not. All they do is specify a place of origin. What a strange world we inhabit!