Solving time 25 minutes
An interesting puzzle with a mix of an old Italian poet (in the Times, surely not), a French Revolutionary and a nautical manoeuvre using an anchor (sounds like fun). I found the eastern bloc easier than the western, probably because I couldn’t get 1A until I had some checkers and used the wordplay (who was Loki?) and the poet for some reason didn’t come immediately to mind. Some nice deceptions, as at 14D for example where I couldn’t get The Needles out of my mind.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | TRICKSTER – T(R)ICK-STER(n); all I know about Loki is that he appears in Norse mythology; |
6 | CORAL – CO(R)AL; “material” is the definition otherwise “reef” is doing double duty; |
9 | SIGNORI – GI’S reversed – IRON reversed; |
10 | EVICTOR – E-VICTOR; |
11 | OUSEL – (car)OUSEL; a blackbird; cue Gordon MacRae and “You’ll Never Walk Alone”; |
12 | GYMNASIUM – cryptic definition; |
14 | IDA – sounds like “eider”; |
15 | DOMICILIARY – DO-M(ICILI)ARY; |
17 | SEPTEMBRIST – (priest set)* surrounds MB=doctor; one who massacred royalist prisoners in Paris, September 1792; |
19 | deliberately omitted – easily solved unless you’re a bit below it today; |
20 | LITTERBUG – LITTER (as in puppies)-BUG (as in germ); |
22 | EMEND – E(MEN)D; a chauvinistic clue?; |
24 | EPOCHAL – (chapel + o=old)*; |
26 | ISOLATE – I-S(O)LATE; |
27 | TREWS – (s)TREWS; tartan trousers, Jock; |
28 | GADGETEER – G-AD-GET-EER; yes, there is such a word; |
Ā | |
Down | |
1 | TASSO – SAT=brooded reversed – SO (the note); your well know poet for today is Torquato Tasso 1544-1595; |
2 | INGESTA – sounds like “in jest” – A(nalyse); |
3 | KNOWLEDGE – K(NOW-L)EDGE; to kedge is to move a vessel using a kedge anchor (surely you knew that!); |
4 | THINGUMABOB – THIN-GUM-A-BOB; shilling=BOB (old slang); old what’s-his-name; |
5 | RYE – sounds like “wry”; |
6 | CHINA – CHI-(A-N reversed); more slang (china plate = mate); |
7 | RETSINA – (trains + e)*; awful Greek wine. No wonder they’re in such a mess when they drink the stuff; |
8 | LORD,MAYOR – LORD-MAYO-R; goodness!!=LORD!!; County Mayo is in the west of Ireland; |
13 | MOCKINGBIRD – MO-C-(big drink)*; no literary references – wow!; |
14 | INSOLVENT – IN SOL(V)ENT; off Hampshire=IN SOLENT; “on the rocks” is slang definition; nothing to do with The Needles; |
16 | LITHESOME – (homeliest)*; |
18 | POTHOLE – PO(THO)LE; we still have some that have not been repaired from last winter!; |
19 | PRELATE – PRE-LATE; geddit?; |
21 | ETHOS – E-THO(ma)S; |
23 | DREAR – D(R)EAR; |
25 | deliberately omitted – you shouldn’t need to dally on it; |
Didn’t know the verb to kedge and INGESTA was new to me. If I was simply asked to spell THINGUMABOB it would be thingummybob. Such useful information can only be gleaned from crossword puzzles. Guessed that Loki was a trickster. Straightforward solve although a bit slow off the mark.
Good puzzle.
Jimbo, you’ve a K missing in the explanation at 1ac if I’ve understood the clue correctly.
I hesitated over KNOWLEDGE (despite parsing it correctly) because, in spite of the dictionary definition, viz. āfacts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subjectā, these days [theoretical] knowledge is commonly contrasted with āpractical skillā.
Trivia: āLoki Boundā is the name of a tragedy, of which only a fragment survives, written by a teenage C.S. Lewis, who was much influenced, especially in early life, by Norse mythology.
Thingummybob and thingummyjig need watching: Chambers gives nine possible different spellings for the two of them.
Loki indeed is from Norse mythology but much of his character really comes from Wagner’s Ring cycle, I think. In myth he is more unpleasant.
3d’s kedge I think I knew from “Riddle of the Sands” where they did a lot of that. LORD=goodness was a bit of wordplay I didn’t get, but there were no alternative entries. 6d caused me pause as I tried to remember the Greek letter with an N in it, but since it wasn’t lapna I eventually kicked myself and the clue into a different shape.
CoD to PRELATE for cheeky wordplay, close second to INSOLVENT.
Another garden path I strolled down which I forgot to mention earlier was “Loki, say”, looking for a word meaning low key.
The key passage is from about 5:30 to 8:30 in this clip – chosen because the cartoon version shows the shape-shifting better than stage performances. Loge is the orange character with the pointy head.
Solved 17 by misremembering the Russian Decembrists, whose name might possibly have been inspired by the earlier revolutionaries.
There were a number of easy one like ‘ousel’, ‘china’, and ‘isolate’ that went right in, and I managed to spell ‘thingumabob’ using what for me is the normal spelling, reinforced by the cryptic.
I got stuck for the last eight minutes on ‘Ida’/’insolvent’/’trews’. It is surprising that Jim did not denounce the dubious homophone of ‘Ida’, but my main problem was that I had no idea where either Hampshire or the Solent is located.
Dafydd.
In the Norse mythology, Loki is often referred to as “Loki the Trickster”, rather like “Jove the Thunderer” (now which well-known daily newspaper should we rename, do you think?).
I did not know Loki, but the wordplay was clear.
pleased with that!
I was tempted to look up Loki (I thought he was from Hindu mythology), but feel good that I didn’t.
I have happy memories of using a KEDGE anchor on the Norfolk Broads – the only way to make any progress in a flat calm.