Solving time: 51:24
I plodded my way through this one fairly steadily, if not particularly quickly, without getting held up for more than a few minutes at any point. When I finished just before 1am, there were already half a dozen quicker than me on the leader board. I imagine there might be some quick times out there.
Nothing really jumped out at me as being particularly clever or noteworthy. The definition part of 1a is quite neat, but using chemical symbols as definitions in this way is a technique I’ve come across before, as there are several others that are also words – I, At, He, Be, In, Am & Er
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this
Across | |
---|---|
1 | ARSENIC = SENI |
5 | PHARAOH = H |
9 | CA(MEMBER)T |
10 | HOUR + I |
11 | SO(N)AR |
12 | IN GENERAL – dd |
14 | CROCODILE TEARS – cd |
17 | SIMPLE F( |
21 | RARE EARTH = EAR (attention) in (RATHER)* |
23 |
|
24 |
|
25 | BAR(CAROL)E |
26 | ODYSSEY = YES + SCARY + DO all rev with CAR removed |
27 | GREMLIN = KREMLIN with initial letter changed |
Down | |
1 | AC(COS)T |
2 | SEMINAR = SEMI + RAN rev |
3 | NUMERICAL = (I’M UNCLEAR)* |
4 | CHEMIN DE FER = CHIN about ME rev + DEFER – An early version of Baccarat, favoured by James Bond |
5 | PIT = TIP rev |
6 | ASHE + |
7 | A + QUAR |
8 | H |
13 | GOLIATH FROG = GO + (FOR A LIGHT)* |
15 | TIT + ILL + ATE |
16 | ESPRESSO = |
18 | MERCURY – dd – Mercury is poisonous and overexposure to it can cause madness. Milliners used to use mercury a lot when working with felt, hence as mad as a hatter. |
19 | ON A ROLL – dd |
20 | INTERN = IN (hip) + (RENT)* |
22 | ET + |
25 | BAY – dd |
At least we got to have the correct spelling of ‘espresso’.
I can imagine that some ideas in the clues might be hard to fathom, such as equating mercury with madness and knowing that a BARCAROLE is a gondola song, hence the reference to Venice. Also pressing ‘0’ for room service, if that IS the idea.
Edited at 2013-09-13 01:21 am (UTC)
Edited at 2013-09-13 01:35 am (UTC)
Oscar-winning film La Vita è Bella brought the barcarolle (sic) from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann, featuring La Stupenda and Huguette Tourangeau, to a wide audience, whether they realised it or not. They also did a rather nice version of the Flower Duet from Delibes’s Lakme.
All ok, but took time. One of those puzzles where I knew I would finish it in the end…
Didn’t take time to parse ARSENIC, didn’t know about MERCURY making you mad, hadn’t heard of the GOLIATH FROG.
LOI: CROCODILE TEARS
LOI INTERN ,mainly because I try and work from NW to SE.
No hesitation over mercury, which I don’t see as in any way unfair, any more than using As would be. Its effects are well known, and moreover encapsulated in a well-known cliche, as Dave points out..
And you see, setters can spell espresso correctly, when it suits them 🙂
Edited at 2013-09-13 08:46 am (UTC)
I don’t really think ‘mad as a hatter’ is a cliche; nor does it have much encapsulation of mercury, as far as I can see. 🙂
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mad2.htm
Still, in your defence Snopes.com is less decided:
http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/hatter.asp
.. I will rest with the OED, if a trifle less happily than hitherto 🙂
Edited at 2013-09-14 03:54 pm (UTC)
I’m generally sceptical about these very neat etymological explanations, because they usually turn out to be dodgy: language doesn’t usually work in such an orderly way. I’m particularly sceptical about this one because I find it hard to believe that the link between milliners and madness was sufficiently well-known. The reality is probably that no-one really knows.
With the 100th anniversary of WW1 approaching not entirely sure that 12A is very sound advice!
Most papers today have a photograph of NASA’s LADEE rocket launch showing an unfortunate frog blown out of its pond to a great height by the blast: not a GOLIATH FROG, but certainly a giant leap.
I didn’t think the definitions were particularly well hidden in a lot of cases, but maybe I’m just getting better at spotting them with certain setters.
SONAR was my FOI, followed by CROCODILE TEARS, and it opened up nicely from then on. SHUSH was my LOI after I solved ETHOS. I didn’t know GOLIATH FROG but the wordplay made the answer clear once enough checkers were in place. I knew the MERCURY/madness connection, but even if I hadn’t I agree with keriothe that the answer couldn’t be anything else with all the checkers in place.
George Clements
I had to chuckle when I saw the version of ESPRESSO preferred by foodies and language snobs (I include myself in both categories). A coincidence, no doubt.
I didn’t get the MERCURY/madness connection but I can’t see how a clue where the definition is “world” and the checkers give you M_R_U_Y can be called unfair.
COD ..CROCODILE TEARS and SIMPLE FRACTION both made me smile.
I shall now go and weep quietly for that blasted frog.
One reason for my slowness in getting 10 was the definition, which was unfamiliar to me. I normally use Chambers as a reference and that says nothing about virgin, though I suppose it sort of implies it in one of its definitions. I see that COD is far more specific.
I enjoyed the room service device.