Solving time: 34 minutes.
So confirming I’d have Buckley’s at the Championships. An interesting mixture today of business, theatre and religious vocabulary, with a smidge of music and politics. Don’t like cryptic defs in general and in particular I didn’t like today’s (1ac, 25ac, 7dn).
Across |
1 |
BAPTISMAL. I took this to be just a cryptic def. where “nomination” refers to the name-giving part of many (but not all) baptisms; and the “sponsors” bit refers to the godparents required to sponsor the new church member — again in some versions of baptism. As usual, a heavily christist slant. |
6 |
C(UP)ID. UP=revolting. |
9 |
A(C)TRESS. The key of C in a lock of hair. |
10 |
B(AND)ITS. |
11 |
HOO-HA. Middle letters of “tHe lOg fOr tHe dAy”. |
12 |
PER,FORMER. Reversal of REP (theatre). |
13 |
S(T)AID. |
14 |
RE(LEGATE)D. A legate is “a member of the clergy, esp. a cardinal, representing the pope”. Here he is appropriately dressed in RED. Ximenean? |
17 |
CHERRY PIE. Two defs. One is “the common or garden heliotrope”. |
18 |
Omitted. Damn! |
19 |
ALTISSIMO. Anagram: “So a limit’s”. |
22 |
A,MISS. Two wordplays and a definition, in that order. |
24 |
I,NEX(A,C)T. |
25 |
RETRIAL. A cryptic def. after the manner of 1ac. |
26 |
{s}NAKED. |
27 |
DETHRONED. Anagram of “he’d noted”; insert R (for Rex, king). |
Down |
1 |
Omitted. Rain in Scotland; brittle in America. |
2 |
PAT,R(ON)AGE. ON (performing); RAGE (fashion). |
3 |
ICE,LANDER. Germany is made up of 16 Länder. |
4 |
M(IS,APPROPRIATE)D. MD for Managing Director. |
5 |
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT. Anagram: “Mar electoral bid”. |
6 |
CANTO. Included in “signifiCANT Other”. From Italian, literally ‘song’, from Latin cantus. |
7 |
PRIAM. King of Troy when the Greeks gave him a horse. The siege was long. And (see jackkt’s helpful advice below) “investment” = “archaic: the surrounding of a place by a hostile force in order to besiege or blockade it”. So it‘s a cryptic def. On edit: Can I open a beer now? |
8 |
D,ISCREDIT. Anagram of “1 directs”. |
13 |
SEC,T,ARIAN. Arianism: “an influential heresy denying the divinity of Christ, originating with the Alexandrian priest Arius (c.250–c.336). Arianism maintained that the Son of God was created by the Father and was therefore neither coeternal with the Father, nor consubstantial”. More christism. |
15 |
GIBRA,L,TAR. Anagram of “A brig”. |
16 |
TRADITION. Anagram of “idiot, rant”. |
20 |
T,WEAK. |
21 |
S,HARD. Cf 6dn yesterday. |
23 |
SOL(I)D. |
I found the cryptic definitions kind of interesting. I was thinking ‘Paris’ would make a better answer, since that would be a real cryptic clue, but the solid ‘performer’ made that impossible.
I don’t think I would have finished this and the two others anywhere near inside of the allotted hour, but at least I can do them eventually.
I thought PRIAM was R.I.A. (Retirement Investment Account?)inside P.M., which would make Priam a city. City of Priam has google cred but mostly for Priam’s City, so we’d need a classical scholar, or just someone who knows.
… or double-duty from “top man” (Troy’s king / PM).
Is the likes of that allowed? I see it occasionally in American cryptics.
Nice puzzle. I especially enjoyed the cardinal … which isn’t something I ever expected to say.
21dn did not delay me long having spent for ever yesterday trying to make it fit at 6dn in 25001 and finding it wouldn’t go.
PRIAM was my last in because I managed temporarily to forget the old chestnut investment/siege which would have instantly justified the answer I’d had in mind for some time.
The only unknown today was cherry-pie, the flower.
Edited at 2011-11-09 06:00 am (UTC)
Never been a huge fan of cryptic defs, it seems a lazy way to set a clue.. 1ac for example seems a poor clue to me
I agree that this was the easiest of the three in the first heat.
I’m no big fan of cutesy CDs, and PRIAM rather neatly illustrates why – it looks like a definition and wordplay, as much discussed above, and becomes something of a time waster as you slosh around the possibilities. RETRIAL equally, with one, second, case, initially and mishandled has a veritable glossary of cryptic indicators, but no real use for them.
CoD therefore to the triple at AMISS. Oh, and it still took me 12 minutes today – I got stuck on TWEAK/INEXACT for no discernible reason.
Quite liked the clue for HOO HA. Unknown vocab: CHERRY PIE for the flower.
In the event bunging the answers in worked out fine for once.
For me cryptic definitions have to be really good or not used at all. Today’s bunch are all poor in my opinion. BAPTISMAL I got from checkers – awful clue I think not just because of its CD construction but the religious overtones also put me off. RETRIAL as is said above is a real time waster as you run through the alphabet until the penny drops – not what solving should be about. PRIAM also solved from checkers and sudden memory of obscure meaning of “investment”.
PRIAM was fine for this one-time classicist (coincidentally I had a dream last night in which I was going into an important exam, but was woefully underprepared: not so much an anxiety dream as a pretty accurate recollection of what happened 20 years ago). CHERRY PIE less so; as usual with plants I had to rely on everything else in the clue looking right.
I don’t see the problem with the occasional religious reference. Religion of all varieties is part of history and the present. Is a religious fact worth less than any other? I can see that 3 references in one puzzle might irk the enthusiastic atheist, but I suspect most of us are a little more tolerant.
Enigma
I thought this was an excellent puzzle – almost ideal as something easy for less experienced solvers to enjoy in a preliminary. The cryptic definitions were just fine – at any rate they were obvious enough for me to solve them at a first reading, though I probably had some crossing letters available except for 1ac. (I find CDs often come as a blessed relief after some of the convoluted clues that some setters come up with these days.)
My one minor objection is to LANDER being used to represent Länder in 3d (should be LAENDER in my book) – but I expect you’re as bored with me banging on about this as I am with others riding their hobby-horses to death.
COD to HOO-HA for the wordplay.