An entertaining puzzle that was a steady solve apart from the NW corner where I struggled a little for reasons I now can’t fathom. There are several homophones (including a truncated one) but none of them are awful plus the usual crop of poets and literary references. I don’t know how famous t Dr Who is and thus how overseas solvers will cope with the Dalek.
In May and November 2008 I analysed the topics that appear in Times cryptic clues. To read the full analysis go to the top of the blog and click on “memories” then “miscellaneous” then “clue topics analysis”. I have just repeated the exercise for November 2009 with the following results:
The Big Four
Geography 21% (16% in both November and May 2008)
Literature 16% (14% in November 2008 down from 16% in the May)
Natural World 13% (12% in both November and May 2008)
History 11% (11% in November 2008 down from 12% in the May)
Miscellaneous 39% of which the main entries were:
Music 5% (8% in November 2008 up from 5% in the May)
Religion 5% (7% in November 2008 up from 5% in the May)
Science 5% (6% in November 2008 up from 4% in the May)
Sports 5% (12% in November 2008 up from 10% in May)
– leaving 19% of entries falling into a potpourri that included obscure phrases such as “above the salt”.
The mean (average) number of entries was 9.5 per puzzle, up from 8.0 in November 2008 and 7.3 the previous May, so both the level and range of knowledge used in the puzzles has increased. The continued dominance of the big four is regrettable and the fact that literature scores three times the entry for science a cause for sad reflection.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | MINNOW – M(INN)OW; |
| 5 | NORMANDY – N-ORMANDY; reference Eugene Ormandy 1899-1985 who I thought was a Hungarian who worked in the US; |
| 9 | PANNIKIN – sounds like “panicking” without “g” (truncated homophones now!!); a small pan; |
| 10 | STABLE – two meanings 1=firm 2=chez dobbin (an Arab no doubt); |
| 11 | MONOLITHIC – (tool+Michigan without ga=Georgia)*; |
| 13 | DUKE – D(ownland)-UKE; UKE=ukulele; |
| 14 | CARD – two meanings 1=playing card 2=the runners and riders; |
| 15 | FREQUENTLY – FRE(QU)E(NT)LY; QU=question; NT=books; |
| 18 | CANNELLONI – CA(NELL)ON-I; Nell Gwynne 1650-1687 who traded more than oranges; |
| 20 | FOUL – cryptic definition (a foul leads to a free kick – or a goal if your name’s Thierry); |
| 21 | ECHT – (br)ECHT; Bertolt Brecht 1898-1956 is one of today’s almost mandatory poets; |
| 23 | RELENTLESS – RE-LENT-LESS; RE=royal Engineers; fast=LENT; |
| 25 | COBALT – CO-BAL(d)-T; strictly speaking it’s cobalt-60 that’s used in radiotherapy; |
| 26 | REGIONAL – LAGER reversed contains I(r)ON; |
| 28 | WELL-BRED – WE’LL = you and I plus BRED sounds like “bread”; |
| 29 | GUFFAW – GUFF-A-W; cobblers is slang for GUFF; answer=A; with=W; |
| Down | |
| 2 | INAMORATA – A-TAR-OMANI all reversed; Nell again; |
| 3 | NUNHOOD – N(ark)-UN-HOOD; Thomas Hood 1799-1845 is the overworked poet; from one extreme to the other; |
| 4 | deliberately omitted – ask if puzzled; |
| 5 | deliberately omitted – ask if puzzled; |
| 6 | ROSICRUCIAN – (incurs Cairo)*; The Rose Cross mystics who influenced Luther and Scots Freemasons; |
| 7 | ABANDON – A-BAND-ON; leg=ON (cricket); |
| 8 | DALEK – (LAD reversed)-E-K; Dr Who’s most famous and most immitated enemies exterminate! exterminate!; |
| 12 | INFILTRATOR – IN=at home + sounds like Phil traitor; |
| 16 | deliberately omitted – ask if puzzled; |
| 17 | LOUISIANA – L(OUI-SIAN)A; |
| 19 | NETBALL – NE-(bat)*-LL; Nell from The Old Curiosity Shop (I prefer the other Nell); |
| 20 | FALL-OFF – FALL=autumn; OFF=the other cricket side (opposite to “on”); |
| 22 | CLOSE – two meanings 1=airless 2=cathedral precinct; |
| 24 | LURID – L(U-R)ID; U=universal (old film rating); R=resistance (electricity); |
| 27 | deliberately omitted – ask if puzzled; |
Away for a couple of days with uncertain connectivity, so you’ll have one of our subs on duty tomorrow.
Eugene Ormandy became a US citizen in 1927. He is included on a really quite impressive Wikipedia list of famous Hungarian-Americans
I’m becoming convinced that the crossing NELL’s is a setter’s trademark; it happens too frequently (in a recent Jumbo for instance). Either that or they’re all in on the joke.
From such tiny commands, many words could be built up.
As a first base, how about as many names of mathematicians and scientists as of poets? Or the use of even common scientific words like ogive, quark and ketone?
I justified ego as (R)EGO(T) being received going over but I am sure Jack’s explanation is the right one.
John Dowland on the ukulele sounds as though it comes from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band’s record “The Intro and the Outro” along with Princess Anne on souzaphone and Adolf Hitler on vibes.
I’m about equally well-versed in Science and Literature, so the more the better for me. Not so hot on music, although I’ve learnt a lot of musical terms and obscure composers through crossword solving. Interesting to see that Sports have gone down so much. Are you counting wordplay references to cricket fielding positions etc?
I find it hard to believe there is someone who hasn’t heard of Ormandy, since just about every other record in the thrift shops (= charity shops in the UK) is conducted by him. His records sold by the ton, and today no one wants them. That was my first in, of course.
As for Dalek, I thought you bought office furniture there, but that turns out to be Dallek.
INAMORATA always makes me think of Flanders and Swann and the Hippotamus Song – His inamorata adjusted her garter,
and lifted her voice in duet: Mud glorious Mud!……
I liked the clues to FREQUENTLY and PANNIKIN.