There were some grumbles on the club forum about a couple of the clues this week. 2dn, for instance, which is undoubtedly a very obscure reference: I wonder if anyone had actually heard of this chap. However I also wonder if Dean didn’t include him just as a trap for the unwary (myself included) who will have bunged in the much more likely-looking LORD READING. Devious.
However much the most controversial clue was 12ac: the dreaded foreign term clued with an anagram. I generally have a strong aversion to obscure terms that are clued in such a way that you can’t be sure of the answer, but I don’t think that is the case here. I think this one is solvable with a reasonably high degree of certainty even if you don’t know the word or speak Italian. In fact I’m certain it is, because I did so, as explained below. Of course this may just have been a stroke of luck on my part, so I suppose the question is whether the solver can reasonably be expected to find the answer on the basis of the information in the clue. You need to deploy your ‘that looks sort of like a word meaning X’ skills, but this is a regular occurrence for me at least so it doesn’t bother me. Admittedly the requirement for this particular skill is usually restricted to English, and I think it would be fair to say that this linguistic innovation on the part of Dean has not met with universal acclaim. Personally I thought it was tough but fair, but then I would say that wouldn’t I? I’d be very interested to hear the thoughts of our esteemed setter and editor. And of course this community in general: what did you think?
And in the meantime, happy Easter!
Across | |
1 | Being stupid, hum? |
HALFWIT – if I’m interpreting this right then the definition is easier to understand if you insert a comma: ‘being, stupid’. If WIT is ‘humour’ then half of it is of course HUM |
|
5 | Heart races, locked in trunk |
BOTTLE – heart = courage = BOTTLE. A BOLE is the trunk of a tree: insert TT, the Tourist Trophy, annual races held in the crossword setter’s favourite island. | |
8 | Odd cure ending love for excess |
OVERINDULGENCE – (CURE ENDING LOVE)*. Super anagram. | |
9 | Acid on screws of electrode |
ANODIC – (ACID ON)*. A straightforward clue made more difficult for me by the presence of the wrong lord at 2dn. | |
10 | Part of tree with variable roughness |
ACERBITY – an ACER is a tree (or shrub), so part of one is an ACER BIT. Add Y (variable). | |
12 | In rewrite of Avatar, omit Italian verse |
OTTAVA RIMA – (AVATAR OMIT)*. I may have come across this term studying Don Juan (which is written in it) years ago, but I didn’t remember it and puzzled over where to put the letters for ages. The key to solving the clue for me was letting go of the idea that the second word was going to be VITA and trying other things. This led to the realisation that RIMA must be a good bet for ‘Italian verse’. OTTAVA is then the only feasible-looking arrangement of the remaining three letters from the anagrist, and the whole thing looked pretty convincing to me as the name of an Italian verse form involving eight of something or other. I confess I submitted with my fingers crossed but I have been less sure about many an English word. | |
14 | We must leave most recent hideout |
NEST – NE |
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15 | At airport, guide one on duty |
TAXI – TAX (duty), I. A pilot taxiing a plane would be guiding it. | |
17 | 14 pin on scholar |
RABBIT HOLE – or RABBI (scholar), THOLE (pin). A NEST for rabbits. | |
20 | Found about four men finally pardoned |
FORGIVEN – FORG(IV)E, |
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22 | The morning crossword in The Observer was stunning |
AMAZED – AM, AZED. Reference to the barred grid puzzle in the Observer. | |
23 | In which sewer’s cover should be found? |
HUNT THE THIMBLE – I have come across this game before, but not for a very long time and it took me a while to remember it. | |
25 | Move right — not right, left |
PROPEL – PROPE |
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26 | Pirate ship gutted by missile |
SPARROW – S |
Down | |
1 | Pauper’s refuge (Old Testament) |
HAVE-NOT – HAVEN, OT. The opposite of a ‘have’, of course. | |
2 | Dancing in drag, older Post Office boss |
LORD DEARING – (IN DRAG OLDER)*. And not, as I had for a while, LORD READING. This chap was the Chairman and Chief Executive of Post Office Ltd, apparently. | |
3 | Get shock installing decoration for seat |
WING CHAIR – WIN (get), HAIR (shock) containing GC, George Cross (decoration). | |
4 | Big wave from guy turning up in pants suit |
TSUNAMI – reversal of MAN inside (SUIT)*. ‘Pants’ is the anagrind. | |
5 | Part of brass tap extremely loose |
BUGLE – BUG, L |
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6 | Bottomless container’s function |
TAN – TAN |
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7 | Father of Odysseus given genuine upset |
LAERTES – reversal of SET (given, as in homework), REAL. I only knew the one in Hamlet, but the wordplay was pretty clear. | |
11 | Mountain goat’s week in reserve |
BENCH WARMER – BEN, CH(W)ARMER. I struggled with this one: the expression is not familiar to me, and I’d have said that a defining characteristic of a ‘goat’ in this sense is that he is not charming. | |
13 | A border area, the area where Joseph came from |
ARIMATHEA – A, RIM, A, THE, A. The wordplay was very helpful for the spelling here. | |
16 | Someone else answer him! |
ANOTHER – A, NOT HER. | |
18 | Turning handle, monarch’s out to lunch |
BONKERS – reversal of KNOB, then ER’S. | |
19 | In fabrication, measured holes up |
LIES LOW – LIE, SLOW. | |
21 | Russian guy, not quite alive |
VITAL – VITAL |
|
24 | Feeling cold draught |
NIP – DD, one as in ‘there’s a nip in the air’, the other a reference to whisky or similar. |
Edited at 2016-03-27 05:39 pm (UTC)
Thank you to setter and blogger.
I also wasn’t over-enamoured with 15ac Although I wouldn’t deny that guiding is implicit it’s the slow speed that’s the key factor and there’s no indication of this in the clue; missiles are guided but don’t taxi. However the wordplay was crystal clear here and the answer was easy to get from that so this is only a passing thought.
Along with others in the Club I had SIN{k} for ages at 6dn which didn’t help things in that quarter.
Edited at 2016-03-27 06:31 am (UTC)
I’m old enough to remember LORD DEARING but he is to say the least obscure and should not be clued by anagram in my opinion
As to 12A much the same applies. The phrase is in Chambers and therefore, as a Mephisto solver, is fair game from my viewpoint. However, it is also very obscure making the use of the anagram weak as a setting device.
The fact that the answers intersect serves to compound these weaknesses. All in all a poor show.
Picky point: the report title needs “ogni” and “entrate”.
9ac is an easy clue, and was instrumental for me in sorting out LORD DEARING. I don’t have any problem at all with relying on solving order: using crossing letters to help solve clues is an integral part of the process and we all do it all the time.
As you say, if you spot that RIMA is the second word for 12ac, you’ve cracked it, and personally I don’t see that as an unreasonable thing to expect the solver to spot. For sure it’s a difficult clue, but for my money it’s not in the same category as Club Monthly or Mephisto clues, which are often unsolvable (for me at least) without reference to Chambers.
Edited at 2016-03-27 12:18 pm (UTC)
However, jackkt raises another key point – the number of crossers and their configuration. Dean’s crosswords are hard enough without him forcing me to solve in a particular sequence. Most great clues can be solved from their devious wordplay without or with only a few crossers. This clue, for me, required all of the crossers and then it was still a gamble.
I had much more trouble parsing 1ac.
I agree with Jim that there is no cause for folk as obscure as Dearing to be given the accolade of a crossword clue. No complaint about Jack Sparrow though 🙂
You had no problem with 12A and nor did I but as solvers of Club Monthly/Mephisto (and thus used to deriving such phrases) we aren’t the prime target audience, so far as I’m aware. The moment I saw the clue I thought more mainstream solvers were likely to have considerable difficulty with it
If the verse is not Italian – and there may well be some obscure works of Hindu poetry that like these letters – then ‘omit’ may be asking for a three letter word, followed by I for Italian. Indeed, the comma after Avatar in the clue makes this the most likely parsing, although obviously using punctuation to mislead is fair game. For this clue, though, I thought that was a step too far.
Jan & Tom Toronto
General knowledge, is all it is.. 😉
Net result – I was just very glad to have been able to complete it (albeit with guesswork around 12a as LOI) and, given the number of times I submit an unknown on a wing and a prayer derived from wordplay and crosscheckers, I’d be struggling to explain why these controversial clues are (to me) any different to those other frequent instances. (Sorry that was somewhat clumsily written, but hopefully you get my drift…)
Who’d be an editor, eh?
Edited at 2016-03-27 03:08 pm (UTC)
As for Lord Dearing, I had vague memory of a toff of that name although the PO aspect was news to me. But READING seemed less likely.
And there were IMO some especially good clues – 3d, 11d, 18d and more.
Anyone else with BUSTLE at 5ac? races and encloses the torso – a couple un-Dean-like extra words and weak syntax made it seem unlikely, but the ideas were there, and crossed with SIN(k). That would be 2-0 to the setter.
I never considered airplane taxi-ing — I was thinking of the signs in all black cabs sitting at the airport saying “No Smoking. Credit Cards In Advance. City Tours and Sightseeing Available”. And the less genteel solicitations from cabbies in Athens, Valencia, etc etc. 2.5-0 to the setter – as I did have the answer on this one..
Thanks, Keriothe, both for some needed explication and for moderating the discussion.
It takes years to acquire this slightly warped way of thinking, but the quickest way to do so is undoubtedly to check in here and check your understanding of all the clues. When I was trying to learn I didn’t have this resource, so there were tons of things I just never understood. If you don’t understand it you can’t really learn it.
Jan & Tom Toronto