Timed at 25:39, of which a lot of time was spent sorting out some carefully disguised wordplay, most especially why 13 across should be what it is. As we will see, I await the comments of residents of the county in question.
Across |
1 |
SHRIMP – SHRI + M.P. |
4 |
DISMAYS – MAY (one of several possible months, so worked out by elimination) in DISS. |
9 |
LEVER – (REVEL)rev.; this didn’t immediately convince me, perhaps because though a lever is usually a rod or something quite like it, a rod isn’t always a lever. |
10 |
OBVIATING – (VAINBIGOT)*, again didn’t immediately connect until I thought of it as, say, avoiding disaster i.e. preventing rather than dodging. |
11 |
PERSUADER – (RED A U.S. REP)all rev. A surface which immediately made me think of The Manchurian Candidate. |
12 |
DEIST – tiDE IS Turning. |
13 |
IBEX – I BE (how West country folk say “I am”, for crossword purposes at any rate) + X (=”by” as in multiplying 8 by 4); the mountain dwelling ibex is, of course, a “high liver”. I must admit something politically correct got hold of me at this point, and I did worry that this clue might be reinforcing a lazy stereotype involving a man in a smock with a flagon of cider, or possibly someone in a pirate hat; however, in fairness to the setter, it does seem that this is a strictly valid linguistic observation about an ancient dialect. Thus I shall not be offended on behalf of any residents of Devon, unless they tell me I’m wrong, and should be offended. (Plus, it made me think of the Young Crone in Blackadder, and that always raises a smile.) |
14 |
PREDICATED – Anticyclone in PREDICTED. |
18 |
MOTHERLESS – the temptress is EVE; you turn MAEVE into EVE by taking away the family member MA, thus making her MOTHERLESS. |
20 |
GAFF – GAFFe. I think there was some discussion recently about the many sorts of poles available for crossword purposes. |
23 |
BLAZE – double def. I was initially misled by Conan Doyle, and the Sherlock Holmes story Silver Blaze, concerning a horse with such a mark on its head. The dictionary is quite specific, however, that the mark is white. |
24 |
CELLARAGE – CELL + A RAGE; I spent too long trying to work out how corkage fitted in to this, which suggests I’ve invested far more effort in drinking wine than storing it. |
25 |
GUITARIST – [1 in GUT] +(SITAR)*. |
26 |
GRIPE – GRIP + Energy. |
27 |
MIDWEEK – the cryptic nature of which dawns when you look at a calendar and see where the SUNday appears. |
28 |
INTENT – IN(home) TENT(temporary shelter). Possibly a tribute to the upcoming Glastonbury Festival. |
|
Down |
1 |
SOLIPSISM – [0 in SLIP] + [IS in S&M]. |
2 |
REVERIE – REVerend + ERIE. Oddly, also 2 down in the concise puzzle today. |
3 |
MARQUE – MARQUEe. |
4 |
DOVER – DOVE + River. Not unnaturally, given its location, one of the most enduring fortifications in England. |
5 |
SHADDOCK – ADD in SHOCK. For obvious reasons, I spent most of my life vaguely thinking this was a fish rather than a tree. |
6 |
ANIMIST – they can’t see because of A Northern Ireland MIST! Geddit? |
7 |
SIGHT =”SITE”. |
8 |
FOLDEROL – FOLDER +(LO)rev. |
15 |
DESOLATE – (LOSE)rev. in DATE. |
16 |
DIFFERENT – [IF FE chancelloR] in DENT. |
17 |
GENERATE – (TEENAGER)*. |
19 |
TOADIED – TO + Authorities + DIED. |
21 |
AVARICE – (CAVIARE)*. |
22 |
JARGON – Just ARGON makes an elegant &lit. |
23 |
BEGUM – E.G. in BUM. |
24 |
CRICK – CRICKet. The traditional cricket clue making an appearance at the last. |
On the other hand, I put in ‘begum’, ‘folderol’, ‘persuader’, and ‘obviating’ almost immediately.
My big hangup was ‘ibex’. I just could not see the cryptic, and hesitated because ‘ibex’ and ‘ilex’, finally pumping for ‘ibex’. Phew!
Bottom half was certainly the hardest and the SW hardest of the corners. I twigged to the IBEX but couldn’t parse DESOLATE even after I got all the crossers and it had to be that. Last in(s): (1) CRICK, thinking “now what kind of game can this be?” Ditto stupidity for (2) MIDWEEK, for which I duly thank Tim for the explanation. COD to MOTHERLESS.
PS: anyone else getting strange formatting on the T4T site? I’ve had to go to the “View in my own style” option to be able to read the blog.
I will, of course, be prepared to submit to those with superior credentials.
well done setter
I solved 9ac by considering Laver (what with it being Wimbledon time) and immediately discounting him, but this put me in mind of the correct answer.
I do think 13ac is taking liberties and in any case the stereotypical local yokel who is supposed to use this sort of dialect is not confined to Devon or even the West Country.
How does AVARICE = ‘stinginess’?
Not my sort of puzzle, I’m afraid.
We had SHADDOCK a few months ago when I think it was clued as ‘fruit’. It’s lodged in my brain because I regularly see a sign for Shaddock Avenue; there are two in Sydney, according to the street directory.
Thinking tennis, I did put in LAVER at 9a (but then, he’s not dead yet, is he?), as I’m always looking out for names used at the beginning of clues. I didn’t get IBEX, and threw in IVES (although, in my defence, I had considered the X=by hint). Also left a gap at FOLDEROL, an unknown, although I had worked out the wordplay correctly.
COD to MOTHERLESS (now I understand the wordplay, thanks Tim!)
“I be” for “I am” can be heard all over the South West including Somerset and the west of Dorset beyond Dorchester, and not just spoken by yokels, so no problem there.
Weakest clue 27A. I thought JARGON very clever and spent too long trying to justify “oxygen” until I twigged CELLARAGE. 25 minutes to solve.
Otherwise, lots of meaty clues. IBEX went in because I needed the X for the pangram (it is, isn’t it?), though I toyed with something beginning with che for quite a while, messing up my chances with 1d.
Two of my confident answers in the bottom half didn’t fit, namely MIDNIGHT and CORKAGE, and I wondered a while about power=GRIP and directory=FOLDER: in all my years playing with computers from DOS 6.1 and Mallard basic onwards I’ve never thought of it that way. I nearly spelt the entry FOLDIROL for that reason, fol(low) stretched to mean get.
CoD to PERSUADER for being a decent surface for a reverser.
I did make life difficult for myself by making very heavy weather of some easy clues (CRICK, for example) but still I’d say this was much harder than the average. All absolutely fair, though, and putting in unknown words like FOLDEROL and SHADDOCK with full confidence is most satisfying. First class stuff: I be grateful to the setter!
I hope I’m not repeating someone, but 1d reminded me of Bertrand Russell’s story of the woman who told him she was a convinced solipsist and was surprised that there weren’t more people like her.
I’m intrigued by Ring Lardner and I Gaspiri as well – clearly an interesting guy. (I’m vaguely aware of having come across his name somewhere in the past.)
‘”Shut up,” he explained.’