Solving time 25 minutes
On a day that sees a Government publish a radical bill for which it has absolutely no mandate after a leading MP admits trying to pevert the course of justice,a very enjoyable puzzle that ranges over several fields of general knowledge. A steady solve for most I would think with some interesting twists and turns along the way.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | PARACETAMOL – PARA-(came to)*-L; Roman numeral L=50; what replaced religion as the opiate of the people; |
7 | SOB – BOS(s) reversed; ghostly sound in corridors of House of Commons as Government flouts democratic process; |
9 | GUILLEMOT – G(U)ILL-(TOME reversed); large seabird of the auk family; |
10 | ADULT – AD-(c)ULT; euphamism for porn; |
11 | BLERIOT – (a)BLE-RIOT; Louis who in 1909 was the first to fly the channel in a machine (ie not a baloon); |
12 | TENDRIL – TEN (all your digits)-(sounds like “drill”); what supports a climbing plant such as honeysuckle; |
13 | DECOR – RO(CE)D all reversed; |
15 | ARTHROPOD – A-(maste)R-THRO-POD; spineless creature with hard exterior sometimes found in Westminster; ; |
17 | EXTROVERT – TEXT-ROVER then move the first T; |
19 | ROGUE – (euro)* contains G=grand (£1,000); MP who seeks to pervert the course of justice, perhaps; |
20 | PROJECT – PRO-JE(C)T; Airbus A380; |
22 | ERASMUS – SURE reversed surrounds AS-M; Desiderus 1466-1536, humanist who eschewed Luther; |
24 | RABBI – RABBI(e) Burns; the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley, Mr Huhne; |
25 | BRAZIL,NUT – BRAZIL (exporter of coffee)-NUT (fruitcake); cause of much frustration at Christmas; |
27 | DUD – DU (some for Bleriot)-D (diamonds); Pete’s mate; |
28 | GRETNA,GREEN – NE-ERG-ANT-ERG all reversed; Tyneside=NE; unit of work=ERG; Scottish border town where young couples used to flee to get married when under age in England. Today they just live together on taxpayer funded benefits; |
Down | |
1 | PUG – G(r)U(m)P(y) reversed; |
2 | RAISE – R-AIS(L)E; what the Tyneside worker hasn’t had recently; |
3 | COLLIER – CO-L(LIE)R; CO=Company=business; LR from L(eathe)R; Jarrow marcher perhaps; |
4 | TEMPT,FATE – TEM(PT-FAT)E; the Teme rises in Wales and enters the Severn at Worcester – the whole river is an SSSI; |
5 | MOTET – M-O(c)TET; music familiar to ERASMUS; |
6 | LEARNER – L(EAR)NER; LNER from L(i)NER; |
7 | SQUARE,PEG – SQUA(d)-REP-EG; from saying “a square peg in a round hole”; |
8 | BATTLE,DRESS – B-(rattled)*-ESS; good queen Bess; as worn by Bader; |
11 | BAD,TEMPERED – BAD(TEMP)ER-ED; another flyer, Sir Douglas Bader CBE, DSO, DFC, legless fighter pilot; me when considering current bunch of politicians we’re lumbered with; |
14 | COTTON,BUD – C(OTTO)H-BUD; OTTO=attar=oil produced from the damask rose; used to clean the inner ear; |
16 | TITHE,BARN – TI(THE-BAR)N; old barn used to store the one-tenth (tithe) levy on grain collected by the church; |
18 | OPENING – O-PEN(n)ING; |
19 | READING – (gear)* surronds D-IN; famous for its prison, Mr Huhne; |
21 | TABLE – TABLE(t); what the dumped Mrs Huhne turned; |
23 | MANSE – MAN(S)E; home to a methodist priest; |
26 | TUN – NUT reversed; large beer barrel; |
I wonder if the old Blacksmith’s Forge (28) will shortly be offering same-sex weddings to reckless couples?
Nice to see Erasmus cropping up – after discussion on this forum I’ve taken up reading Charles Reade (free on Kindle) and started with his biography of Erasmus’ father, “The Cloister and the Hearth”.
Pick of the day the “organ cleaner” just for that sideways definition in a clue that was an evocative little story in its own right.
On edit – I see I’m way behind the times on Gretna Green.
Edited at 2013-02-05 09:45 am (UTC)
Re the government: we have what we deserve, sadly.
If Jimbo is referring to the bill to legalise same-sex marriage, Huhne’s mistress must be hot favourite to become the first person to get married to a person of either gender.
I had niggles on a number of points but on further consideration I don’t think they are worth pursuing other than to wonder why ‘cult’ has ‘extremist’ in its definition.
Didn’t know the River TEME.
Edited at 2013-02-05 11:00 am (UTC)
Unfortunately I can’t say the same about BAD REMPERED.
Motet, otto and the River Teme were all unknowns. Bleriot came to mind straightaway after his appearance in Mr Selfridge a few weeks ago.
Didn’t know the river TEME, or that OTTO was an oil, so thanks for that. More knowledge to be stored for Crosswordland.
Sorry for being a bit thick, but I still don’t really get the ‘sounds like drill’ = ‘thumbs’ bit of TENDRIL.
Edited at 2013-02-05 11:45 am (UTC)
Nice clues for COLLIER and ARTHROPOD.
13 is grammatically faulty unless there’s another way of reading it that I’ve missed. ‘Retired staff’ (ROD) is one item, so needs to be followed by ‘maintains’ or ‘to maintain’. Quite possibly it’s just a misprint because ‘maintains’ wouldn’t spoil the surface.
(No more politics, I promise!)
Edited at 2013-02-05 10:01 pm (UTC)
If you like a fuzzier, more allusive style, you should certainly try some Araucaria puzzles. They’re available on the Guardian website, and the FT for that matter under the pseudonym CINEPHILE. He wrote my favourite ever clue: it’s in his wiki entry. Sadly the Reverend won’t be with us for very much longer, a fact he revealed cryptically (how else?) in a recent crossword.
A subject-verb mismatch in the cryptic grammar is easily committed or overlooked if one focuses too closely on the surface. I know, having on the odd occasion done so myself in the seven years I’ve been setting puzzles for The Listener, The independent and The Telegraph’s EV series. Fortunately one of the alert editors or vetters has spotted my error and drawn it to my attention for correction.
There is another ‘crosswordland’ outside the world of The Guardian, where cryptic grammar can be somewhat loose. The vast majority of Times clues are pretty rigorous, which is why I supposed the example in question might have been a simple misprint.
Everything else was pretty easy. It helps if you’ve blogged puzzles containing ‘Gretna Green’ and ‘tithe barn’. I was afraid that ‘cross’ was going to be some obscure hybrid plant, and was relieved when I saw the simple answer.
OTTO and TEME unknown.
Personally I’m all in favour of gay marriage but I don’t really understand the politics of it. The idea seems to be to demonstrate that the Conservative party is progressive and modern, but if anything the brouhaha has demonstrated the opposite.
COD … BRAZIL NUT
Nothing in any manifesto; no green paper; no white paper – that’s not democracy as I understand it. The subject is almost immaterial (I personally have no strong views on it) – but in my book no government should launch into something so basic that it has never consulted on and has no mandate to enact.
Edited at 2013-02-05 03:37 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2013-02-05 06:01 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2013-02-05 11:06 pm (UTC)
Quite a few clues to struggle with and several journeys to the dictionary to look things up. I managed to get stuck in the NW corner for too long.
Aside form that, I can do without the puerile attempts to tie clues in with important political and social issues. Such petty activity is beneath this forum.