Solving time: 7:25
It’s been a while since I blogged a Wurm puzzle, so was pleased when their name popped up onscreen – I greatly enjoyed the challenge.
I initially completed the puzzle a minute earlier, but was served with the ‘Unlucky’ message. It took a further full minute to spot that I’d given the tragic heroine too many Es (I could have sworn it was spelled that way!)
Slight eyebrow twitch at 2d as the definition and answer are not strictly synonymous.
Let me know how it was for you…
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones]. The tilde ~ indicates an insertion point in containment clues.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Baby elephant mostly quiet female (4) |
| CALF – All but the final letter [mostly] of CAL{m} (quiet), then F (female) | |
| 4 | Gateau served after meat in hunks (8) |
| BEEFCAKE – CAKE (Gateau) after BEEF (meat)
Hunks as in muscly gym bunnies. |
|
| 8 | Second Greek character backed Labour group (8) |
| MOMENTUM – MOMENT (Second) then MU (Greek character) reversed [backed]
Only properly parsed post-solve. I had been fixated on Second = MO, rather than the complete word MOMENT. I wonder how many might be baffled by the definition of MOMENTUM. Personally, I’d never heard of this British left-wing political organisation, which has been described as a grassroots movement supportive of the Labour Party. |
|
| 9 | Hellish river flows no more from mouth? (4) |
| STYX – Sounds like [from mouth] STICKS (flows no more) | |
| 10 | Some returned from enchanted mountain (4) |
| ETNA – Reverse [returned] hidden [Some] in enchANTEd | |
| 11 | Loudly criticises army accommodation (8) |
| BARRACKS – Double definition | |
| 12 | Roman stoic disrupted seance (6) |
| SENECA – Anagram [disrupted] of SEANCE | |
| 14 | Defect in hose that fireman uses (6) |
| LADDER – Hose here refers to stockings, socks or tights. Firemen, of course, use much bigger LADDERs… | |
| 16 | Minoan is astir: one possible cause (8) |
| INSOMNIA – Anagram [astir] of MINOAN IS ‘astir’ is kind of doing double duty here as ‘one possible cause’ refers back to it |
|
| 18 | Ecstasy wrapped in cannabis for bard (4) |
| POET – E (Ecstasy) contained by [wrapped in] PO~T (cannabis)
BARD originates from the Old Celtic term bardos, meaning “poet” or singer.” In historical times, it was a term of great respect among the Welsh, but one of contempt among the Scots (who considered BARDs as itinerant troublemakers). Why is cannabis also known as POT? The term is most likely derived from potaguaya, which itself is a portmanteau of the Mexican Spanish potación de guayaya, an alcoholic/medicinal drink made from cannabis leaves and guava. |
|
| 19 | Shop in Indian metropolis did you say? (4) |
| DELI – Sounds like [did you say?] DELHI (Indian metropolis) | |
| 20 | Pains restricting poorly Greek hero (8) |
| ACHILLES – ACH~ES (Pains) containing [restricting] ILL (poorly) | |
| 22 | Arctic animals check two rivers (8) |
| REINDEER – REIN (check) DEE (river) R (river) | |
| 23 | Farewell from Indian steel producer (2-2) |
| TA-TA – TATA (Indian steel producer)
Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel company headquartered in Mumbai. It was ranked 8th globally in crude steel production in 2024. |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | Disciple and saint in a bar (7) |
| APOSTLE – ST (saint) inserted [in] into A PO~LE (bar)
Hmm. While an APOSTLE is always a disciple, a disciple is not necessarily an APOSTLE. According to multiple religious websites, a disciple is a follower and learner of Jesus, while an APOSTLE (from the Greek word for ’emissary’) is specifically sent out with a mission to spread the Gospel. |
|
| 3 | Runs into whimsical American goddess (5) |
| FREYA – R (Runs – cricket abbreviation) inserted into F~EY (whimsical), then A (American)
In Norse mythology, FREYA (or Freyja), from the Old Norse for “Lady,” is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). |
|
| 4 | Joe Root’s cricket club? (3) |
| BAT – Yorkshire (the county cricket club that Joe Root plays for) doesn’t fit, so club here refers to the implement Joe uses to hit the ball, which is called a BAT
I spent a while, post-completion, looking for something deeper than this, but I couldn’t see anything else. Let me know if you spotted anything… |
|
| 5 | De la Mare’s wild, tragic heroine (9) |
| ESMERALDA – Anagram [wild] of DE LA MARE’S Correct me if I’m wrong, but I am not aware that Walter De La Mare ever wrote about ESMERALDA. If he had, this would have been an even better clue. . ESMERALDA refers to the fictional character in Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (French: Notre-Dame de Paris). ESMERALDA was born Agnès, but is referred to as ESMERALDA due to the paste emerald she wears around her neck. |
|
| 6 | Sauce from copper with famous daughter (7) |
| CUSTARD – CU (copper – chemical symbol) with STAR (famous) D (daughter) | |
| 7 | Canoe going in either direction (5) |
| KAYAK – “going in either direction” here suggests that the answer is a palindrome i.e. reads the same forwards and backwards | |
| 11 | Bright idea: view a barn that’s renovated (9) |
| BRAINWAVE – Anagram [that’s renovated] of VIEW A BARN | |
| 13 | Feeling close to marriage proposal (7) |
| EMOTION – Last letter [close to] of {marriag}E, then MOTION (proposal) | |
| 15 | First woman leading others in highest peak (7) |
| EVEREST – EVE (First woman) leading REST (others)
Very chestnutty. |
|
| 17 | Relative close to collapse in French city (5) |
| NIECE – Last letter [close to] of {collaps}E inserted [in] into NI~CE (French city)
Same words “close to” to point to last letter, as in 13a… |
|
| 18 | One in plan to do the Wright thing? (5) |
| PILOT – I (one) inserted [in] into P~LOT (plan)
“do the Wright thing?” refers to the American aviation pioneers, Wilbur and Orville Wright, a.k.a. the Wright brothers. They are credited with inventing, building and flying the world’s first successful airplane. |
|
| 21 | That woman seen in Chertsey (3) |
| HER – Hidden [seen] in CHERtsey | |
All done in 12:32, which is fast for me. Not sure if it was by luck or judgment but no problem with spelling Esmeralda. Initially tried MCC for Joe Root’s club but that would really have hit the non-cricketing set for six.
12.21. Ironically, held up by ‘momentum’.
We enjoyed this puzzle, avoided the spelling problems and finished with a minimum of help.
of hel
Dnf: add me to the “people who don’t know how to spell ‘Esmeralda’” list: like others, I switched the unchecked E and A. I didn’t know Seneca was a stoic, but I had at least heard the name before. Other than those minor quibbles, I liked this one. LADDER and BAT both got smiles, so get joint COD from me.
Thanks to Wurm and Mike.
No time recorded for this one, because I completed it with a friend and didn’t time it. We narrowly swerved the ESMERALDA problem when I thought to double-check the letters, and while my friend knew who Joe Root is (unlike me), we were both baffled by the clue. What’s the point of putting him in there at all, rather than just having “cricket club” as the entire clue?
Thank you for the blog!
“Cricket Club” would have been a great clue – concise and unarguable, and also requiring much less Brit-centric GK.
I seem to remember Wurm clues are hard but not today for me. I did double check FREYA, MOMENTUM, ESMERALDA, SENECA, not for spelling but to confirm the meanings were what I thought were. Or, yes, I knew Esmeralda but no idea who she was. Of course, my education is entirely unimproved, I’ll have forgotten by tomorrow!
enjoyed, but another Esmeralda. astonished by the comments on Joe Root, probably England’s best ever cricketer and at the top of his game now, surely not obscure compared to much GK used in crosswordland.
7d reminds me of Rotter’s law stating that two word clues were always double defs. For a while, I collected exceptions and “Reversible canoe (5)” was one of them.
18 minutes.
Joyless. I had all bar 4 in 5 minutes and then my usual ineptitude struck.
It gets no better.