TLS Crossword 1185 – “1 Across and 1 Down” by Praxiteles – July 21, 2017.

ENVOI
“Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery”.  The theme of this excellent puzzle is Jane Austen – for obvious reasons (the 200th anniversary of her death).  There seems to have been some controversy about the commemorative banknote but I must have missed the crucial explanation.

Her counterpart here is John Langshaw Austin the Oxford linguistic philosopher.  Philosophy is a subject I never had the wits to grasp so I only just barely knew of him.  I’m sorry about that because what I read of him now makes me wish that our jurisprudence syllabus had assigned him rather than Hegel, Wittgenstein and Kant….

This was done within the 40-minute range on the train.  It took me a while to cotton on at first and some of the answers needed confirmation.  I have a couple of quibbles but they didn’t at all detract from enjoyment of the puzzle.

In the spirit of the theme (if it’s bad it’s meant to be – at least that’s my story):

My first describes the pet and pique of rage
We fret and fume and call the setters names.
My second hides upon some learned page
The answer in these fascinating games.

But oh! conjoined the frequency we find,
The wavelength plays our tune and we rejoice.
The grid is filled, the answers all aligned –
Submit and hope the board confirms our choice.

Your ready wits the answer will supply
Beam your approval hereto by and by.

Well that’s all from me in this space.  Thank you Broteas, Myrtilus, Praxiteles and Talos – it’s been an honour and a pleasure.  Answers in bold caps.  Definitions in italics underlined.

********  BREAKING NEWS*******
Answer to the charade/riddle.  CROSSWORD.  Even as pastiche it’s dire.  Ximenes would turn in his grave.  The clue-writing contest referee would give it short shrift.  And Sotira would say that even for the Christmas Turkey it’s a turkey.

Across

1.  Here one’s to enter only initials of eminent novelist – one initial and surname actually (1,6)
J AUSTEN.  Once the theme emerged and 1D was solved, this became clear.  She had no middle name.  And see special_bitter infra.
5.  Second half of Burgess novel has second papers on caliphate (7)
ABBASID.  Abba Abba is a 1970s novel by Anthony Burgess about John Keats.  Half of it with S=second and ID=papers.  They were a dynasty of caliphs in Baghdad centuries before the Ottomans, the British and the Americans got there.
9 & 27.  Riding through cold Scottish county to Jane’s village near Crewkerne (10) (one word) (5)
UPPERCROSS.  UP=riding.  PER=through.  C=cold.  ROSS=scottish county.  In Persuasion this is the fictional village in Somerset where the Musgroves, in-laws of Anne Elliot’s sister Mary, live and where Anne goes to stay when her father and elder sister are forced by their extravagance to rent out the stately family home and move to Bath.  The additional (5) enumeration was rather confusing.
10.  Selina Hawkins’s husband’s children (9)
SUCKLINGS.  Very neat.  In old parlance children may be sucklings.  Specifically here, in Emma, Selina is married to the wealthy merchant Mr. Suckling and is the sister of the insufferable Augusta who becomes Mrs. Elton.  Mrs. E is always swanking about her brother-in-law’s “seat” Maplegrove, supposedly near Bath but more likely nearer the commercial hub of Bristol.  I’ve wondered if the name “Maplegrove” is one of those batsqueak non-U signifiers that would indicate to those tuned to the frequency that the Sucklings aren’t quite quite.  Emma is very silly but she has Mrs. E’s number right away.  Particularly when the latter carries on about “extensive grounds”, while the thought bubble over Emma’s head quite correctly says “rubbish”.
11.  Subject enthralling Miller at last, in each of two books (6)
TROPIC.  And lit.  We get some exemplary ones from the TLS setters.  TOPIC=subject containing (enthralling) [Mille]R (at last).  In the 1930s Henry Miller wrote the controversial novels Tropic Of Cancer and Tropic Of capricorn.
12.  For instance, wicked demon mostly found at outer bits of underworld’s .. (8)
ASMODEUS.  AS=for instance.  Anagram (wicked) of DEMO[n] (mostly).  With U[nderworld]S (outer bits).  Nice sort of and lit.
14.  They might cancel the race as fillies run about (10)
NULLIFIERS.  Anagram (about) of FILLIES RUN.
15.  At last she did, tragically, on 18 July 1817; and he on 8 February 1960 (4)
DIED.  The dates when the subjects of this puzzle departed this life and the 200th anniversary last month of Austen’s death.  It is indeed tragic to think she was only 41.
18.  Dr. Jones is at home, decidedly on vacation (4)
INDY.  As in Indiana (Henry Jr,) of the adventure movie series.  IN=at home with D[ecidedl]Y (on vacation).  From the sublime to the merely very entertaining.
19.  Things perceived to be sins perhaps I must have trouble over (10)
SENSIBILIA.  Anagram (perhaps) of BE SINS with I and then AIL reversed (over).  Of Sense And Sensibilia was originally a treatise by Aristotle which became the basis of a posthumously published work by our Mr. Austin (with a nod to Miss Austen) having to do with language and perception.  At the moment we have a president in these parts who has only the most primitive idea of the uses of language and the value of veracity.  What would the professor make of his tweets?
22.  Morse at start of literary novel has tricky problems (8)
DILEMMAS.  DI=Inspector Endeavour Morse from the Colin Dexter series.  With EMMAS=novel has.
24.  What Peacock does, society disapproves of about start of “Rhododaphne” (6)
STRUTS.  S=society.  TUTS=disapproves of, containing (about) R[hododaphne] (start of).  The shrub is an oleander and Thomas Love Peacock wrote a poem so entitled, aka The Thessalonian Spell.
26.  What results in chat, espec. performatively, according to 1D (6,3)
SPEECH ACT.  And lit.?  Another very clever one.  Anagram of  CHAT ESPEC.  According to Austin this is an utterance that has a “performative” function, such as a promise, order or warning (or tweet?).
27.  See 9.
28.  Posed awkwardly next to it, Emma’s picture was a precious one (7)
DEPOSIT.  Anagram (awkwardly) of POSED with IT.  Mr. Elton was entrusted with Emma’s portrait of Harriet Smith to take to London for framing.  He languished over it excessively and so dubbed it.
29.  I slip up when surrounded by special force in mountain country (7)
SIERRAS.  I ERR=slip up surrounded by SAS=special force.

Down

1.  Here one’s to enter a man’s name – author of 7 and 19 (1,6)
J AUSTIN.  Like Jane he died far too soon – in his forties.  And see special_bitter infra
2.  Desolate, like Milton’s paradise of fools (9)
UNPEOPLED.  Described in Book 3 of Paradise Lost as a kind of Limbo, unpeopled and untrod.
3.  Frightening description of everything, according to Hurree Jamset Singh (8)
TERRIFIC.  This was the favourite word of Singh, classmate of Billy Bunter in the Remove at Greyfriars, the public school created by Frank Richards – the pen name of Charles Hamilton.
4.  Headmistress only partly as keen as Harriet in collecting riddles? (4)
NASH.  Hidden in [kee]N AS H[arriet].  Here comes the first quibble.  In Emma, Miss Nash was the Head Teacher at Mrs. Goddard’s school, it’s Mrs. Goddard who is described as the “mistress”.  It’s not important.
5.  Tess and Angel Clare’s perhaps, constitutes a doubtfully legal one? (10)
ANCESTRESS.  And this is the other quibble because unless I’m completely astray (which is admittedly always a possibility) it should be the spurious ancestress of Tess and Alec D’Urbeville, not Angel Clare.  At the beginning of Thomas Hardy’s Tess Of The D’Urbevilles, Tess’s father, the drunken peasant Jack Durbeyfield, is told by the antiquary Parson Tringham that he is the descendant of a Norman knight who came over with William the Conqueror.  This goes to his head on top of the drink.  In time Tess sets off to present herself as a relative to a wealthy widow named D’Urbeville in another part of the county.  In doing so she meets up with the widow’s son Alec.  What Tess doesn’t know is that Alec’s father was really a moneylender named Stoke from the North of England who changed his name, on moving to Wessex, after consulting with works on extinct local gentry in the British Museum so as to choose a plausible one.  Alec uses his purported common ancestry with Tess as part of his harassment and seduction technique – with a cascade of tragic results.  Angel Clare is a farmer, one of the sons of a parson, some rungs up the social ladder from Tess but not in any way claiming descent from Norman knights.
6.  A loud 26 by a Nobel prize winning novelist (6)
BELLOW.  Saul, Canadian-American author won the 1976 literature prize.  Is a bellow a “speech act” as postulated by Austin, or is it just a loud vocal noise, made by animals as well as humans?  Oh picky picky.
7.  First part of work by either one, confusingly seen with second (5)
SENSE.  As in the Austen novel and 19A.
8.  Female speaking in French, not English, with German abandoned (7)
DISUSED.  DIS[e]USE=female speaking in French with D=Deutsch (German).  There’s a particular meaning for “diseuse” which is a performer who specialises in dramatic solo speaking performances.
13.  Mozartian pasha turns up with a role a long way off (5,5)
MILES APART.  SELIM=the pasha from The Abduction From The Seraglio reversed (turns up) with A PART=role.
16.  Bad temper in which Jonson said you would find every man after trouble (3-6)
ILL-HUMOUR.  ILL=trouble and the reference is to Ben Jonson’s play Every Man In His Humour.
17.  What stopped Catherine Morland travelling on shortly to top of Blaize Castle?
OBSTACLE.  Anagram (travelling) of O[n] (shortly), B[laize] (top of) and CASTLE.  In Northanger Abbey, Catherine never does get to see Blaize (also spelled Blaise) Castle, a mock Gothic folly near Bristol, because the proposed expeditions with the Thorpes never come off for sundry reasons.
18.  Is diode possibly how I modified it? (8)
IODISED.  Anagram (possibly) of IS DIODE.
20.  Helps Jane and Lydia Bennett, say, without hesitation (7)
ASSISTS.  Jane and Lydia are sisters.  AS=like.  SIST[er]S, dropping ER=hesitation.
21.  Manet initially in footwear or artist’s garments (6)
SMOCKS.  M[anet] (initially) contained in SOCKS=footwear.
23.  “When there’s nothing going on, there is nothing going on, and you –” (Kipling) (3,2)
LIE UP.  From A Conference Of The Powers, a short story describing army life.
25.  Sei Shonagon’s workers or Heraclitean characters (4)
ETAS.  The Greek characters couldn’t be anything else but I had to look up the Japanes court-lady poet of the first millennium and the workers.  Jason and Kevin probably knew of both.  Etas were an untouchable caste that did menial work.

17 comments on “TLS Crossword 1185 – “1 Across and 1 Down” by Praxiteles – July 21, 2017.”

  1. I hadn’t thought to print off the last couple of TLS puzzles before they disappeared down the rabbit hole so I missed this chance to demonstrate how much I don’t know about Jane Austen.

    I recall ‘speech acts’ cropping up during university days, though I’m not sure I really understood the concept (I still don’t). I don’t remember the name Austin coming up, so it’s nice to see him given his due here.

    Thanks for all the terrific blogs, Olivia. And a ‘hear, hear’ to your appreciation of the TLS setters.

    I’m too dim to get what’s going on in your doggerel riddle (it is a riddle, yes?) so I hope that after a suitable length of time you, or somebody, will reveal all.

    1. Thanks much Sotira, and the same to you. In Emma Mr. Elton presents Harriet Smith (and Emma) with this charade/riddle.

      My first displays the wealth and pomp of kings,
      Lords of the earth! their luxury and ease.
      Another view of man my second brings,
      Behold him there the monarch of the seas!

      But, ah! united, what reverse we have!
      Man’s boasted power and freedom, all are flown;
      Lord of the earth and sea, he bends a slave,
      And woman, lovely woman, reigns alone.

      The ready wit the word will soon supply,
      May its approval beam in that soft eye!

      Answer: COURT SHIP

      The answer to my effort will appear on Sunday!

      1. Thanks. I’m sure I read Emma at school but I have no recollection of it.

        Looking forward to seeing if anyone else can crack your riddle (I’ve only come up with nonsense so far)

    2. I can send you a scan of 1186 if you like – I’ve blanked out my answers using some rudimentary Photoshop skills. If you’re interested, should I sent it to the Vivaldi email address that’s in vinyl1’s blogger email list?
      1. That’s very nice of you. Thanks. And yes, re the Vivaldi address. It would be nice to be able to join in on the final, final TLS blog.
  2. Thanks for all the entertaining and informative blogs, Olivia. I’m sorry this is your last one. I may have been seriously overthinking it but for what it’s worth the handwritten scrawl in the margins of my TLS indicates that my derivation of a couple of the answers differs slightly from yours.

    1ac – I thought this was “A” (for “one”) to enter “Just” (for “only”) – giving you “Jaust” followed by the initials of “eminent novelist” (EN)
    1dn – similar to the above I parsed this as “a” (for “one”) to enter “Justin” (a man’s name)
    15ac – I had “tragically” as an anagrind mixing up the “e” from “at last shE” with “did”.

    I’ll get thinking on your riddle!

    1. Yes SB you must be right about the parsing of 1A and 1D – I have amended the blog.
  3. I got through about 3/4 of this without too much trouble but then ground to a halt in the NE corner and eventually resorted to aids.

    Thanks Olivia (and sotira/z8b8d8k/verlaine) for the TLS blogs – they were very helpful in filling in the many gaps in my literary knowledge. I only really started doing the puzzles in earnest this year and generally found them enjoyable so Friday mornings will be a little emptier due to their absence. Thanks obviously to the setters too – I’m guessing that this was one of the few forums where you got any feedback on the puzzles so it’s a shame that the TLS crossword will no longer be available to Crossword Club members.

  4. I think I have it, too, and am very impressed (so I hope I’ve got it right!). Fine work.
  5. I must confess to never having read Sei Shonagon, although I did know (as of course Jason knows) of the eta. The word is never–never–used today–not even listed in most dictionaries–but the people are still here and still discriminated against to some extent. They were in certain ‘unclean’ occupations, like tanning.
    When I think of Austin I always think of his wonderful distinctions between terms such as exactly/precisely (you could measure your yardstick with bananas and find that it’s exactly 4 bananas long, but you couldn’t claim precision for your measurement) or by mistake/by accident’
    You have a donkey, so have I, and they graze in the same field. The day comes when I conceive a dislike for mine. I go to shoot it, draw a bead on it, fire: the brute falls in its tracks. I inspect the victim, and find to my horror that it is your donkey. I appear on your doorstep with the remains and say—what? “I say, old sport, I’m awfully sorry, etc, I’ve shot your donkey by accident”? Or “by mistake”? Then again, I go to shoot my donkey as before, draw a bead on it, fire—but as I do so, the beasts move, and to my horror yours falls. Again the scene on the doorstep—what do I say? “By mistake”? Or “by accident”?
    1. Thank you for this Kevin. Interesting and it made me think….. All these decades later and I’m still no philosopher. If I’m driving towards an intersection and I step on the gas instead of the brake and an accident ensues that’s a mistake. If I’m driving towards an intersection and I’m distracted by the guy in the truck with NRA symbols in back of me honking menacingly and I step on the gas instead of the brake, it’s an accident but not really a mistake. Is it a matter of intent, fault, or what?

      A Google engineer was recently fired for suggesting (among other things) that men and women think differently. He was stupid and callow but not absolutely wrong. I’m sure there are brilliant women who are well capable of abstract thought. I’m not one of them and I always need the concrete to see the point. I’m still puzzling about the donkeys!

      1. You might be interested in Simon Baron-Cohen’s “The Essential Difference: Men, Women, and the Extreme Brain”. Or you might not; I haven’t read it, myself. Baron-Cohen (he’s Ali G’s cousin) has done very important work on autism and Asperger’s, and written on male/female cognitive differences.
  6. Sorry that this is to be the last TLS puzzle to get the blogging treatment, and thanks to everyone for all the kind remarks about the puzzles. I hope that someone who gets the paper might want to continue blogging here, even though the puzzle has been removed.

    PS: special_bitter is right about the cryptic elements in JAUSTEN, JAUSTIN, and DIED.

  7. I ought to add thanks to Peter Biddlecombe, for sensitive editing and for starting the whole thing in the first place.

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