Fifteensquared

An interesting solve. Having got the first 3 down answers immediately, I was convinced that there was probably going to be a perimeter message reading ‘HAVE….’. It wasn’t until I got WOODSTOCK and ISLE OF WIGHT that I twigged that the theme was instead festivals, a number of which are given in across answers. I’m definitely aware of Glastonbury, Brighton, IoW, Cannes, Sundance and Venice, and I’m guessing that Camden and Cambridge probably have them too. Not sure about Cairo though.

Some nice clues here from the Ed too. Where he gets time to set his own puzzles in and amongst editing all others I’ve no idea!

Across
7	CAMBRIDGE - MB,RID in CAGE (i.e. incarcerated)
8	SUANA - S[-p]A,U,N.A
10	CAMDEN - CAM,DEN
11	BRIGHTON - B,RIGHT ON - B for ‘bloody’, don’t know if I’ve seen that before.
12	GLASTONBURY - G,LAST ON,BURY - A nice mixture of Gs there - Kenny, Warren and my namesake Ali
15	VENICE - E in V NICE
17	CANNES - C,ANNES (Boleyn and of Cleves)
20	ISLE OF WIGHT - 1,S,LEO + W in FIGHT
23	SUNDANCE - (NUDES CAN)* - Home of the film festival
24	ARENAS - (ARSENAL[-l])*
25	CAIRO - AIR in CO
26	WOODSTOCK - WOODS,TO,C[-oo]K
Down
1	HARANGUED - RAN in HAGUE,D
2	ABU DHABI - (BAH[-rain] + DUBAI)*
3	VIGNETTE - (GENET ITV)*
4	AGE-BENT - BE in A,GENT[-s]
5	CATHAY - CAT on HAY
6	ENSOR - Hidden in cENSORed
9	LIEU - Alternate letters in dUlE hIlL rev.
13	RIA - AIR rev.
14	TEST MATCH
16	COS - COS[-t]
17	COWHANDS - (SO W C HAND[-y])*
18	NEGLECTS - (LEG)* + C in NETS
19	BOREDOM - (BEDROOM)*
20	INDORE - “Indoor”
21	LINE - Had to cheat on this one I admit - “Short letter that’s true.”…?
22	DUBAI - Hidden reversal in cassIA BUDs”

When I see a Bradman puzzle I brace myself for a toughie. This started off smoothly enough on the left but the right half was slow to fall. A few new words for me such as SANHEDRIN and COLUMBINE, which took some time to work out. The fair wordplay helped.

The clueing is top-class throughout. Bradman’s clue surfaces are admirable I think; they don’t just manage a semblance of meaning, they tell stories.

Across

1 DECIMATES MICE (rodents) reversed, in DATES (fruit)
6 BUCKS dd. Short for Buckinghamshire, and an old-fashioned word for ‘fashionable’.
9 MUSED (-a)MUSED
10 UGLY AS SIN (USA’S LYING)*
11 TRIPLE TIME TRIPLE (very large drink) TIME (final call). Great subterfuge with ‘bar’.
12 FATE FAT (big) E (last letter of ‘cheese’)
14 FOREIGN OF reversed REIGN (rule)
15 SPENCER cd? I took this to be a reference to Herbert Spencer the philosopher, and the fact that Churchill’s ancestors were Spencers.
17 CADENCE C (first letter of ‘Catholics’) A DEN (retreat) CE (Anglicans)
19 CATALAN C at Alan?
20 I SAY Is this really “Whisk YISLA ‘nd ditching L?”. Very inventive, if it is. I’ve been guilty of reading too much into the wordplay in the past, so will wait for comments to clarify/confirm .
22 SPEED LIMIT (SIMPLE DIET)*
25 NEWSAGENT NEW (latest) SAGE (guru) NT (books). One of my favourite clues today.
26 ONION ON (functioning) ION (something electrically charged). Happy to note that Bradman didn’t settle for ION = charge.
27 LARCH L (line) ARCH (bridge)
28 SCRAPHEAP SCRAP (fight) HE (the man) AP (Associated Press, NYC). Another very nice clue.

Down

1 DEMIT D E (from ‘Dodgy Experiments’) MIT (US institute). ‘hints’ is an interesting indicator for picking letters.
2 CASHIERED CASH (money) IE (that is) RED (very hot)
3 MEDALLIONS D (last letter of ‘awarded’) in MEAL (feast, maybe) LIONS (heroeS)
4 TAUNTON AUNT in TON (fashion)
5 SALAMIS dd. An island near Greece, and cured sausages.
6 BRAG B (British) RAG (tabloid)
7 CASCA Hidden in ‘publiC A Scallywag’
8 SANHEDRIN (HAD SINNERS)*. An assembly of 23 judges in every city of Israel.
13 LENTIL SOUP (LOTS LINE UP)* For some reason I couldn’t see the anagram till the very end.
14 FACTIONAL ACTION (deed) in FAL (river)
16 COLUMBINE L (left) U (university) in COMBINE (marry), ‘part way through’ being the containment indicator. Columbina (or Colombine) is a fictional character in the Commedia dell’Arte.
18 EXPRESS EX-PRESS
19 CHEATER C (cold) HEATER (the answer to ‘cold’). Clever clue.
21 AT WAR RAW (inexperienced) TA (army), all reversed
23 TON-UP Reaching a speed of 100 mph, which may well be over the SPEED LIMIT (22a). I took this to be a cd at first, on closer look I see that it’s also NOT* UP (going well).
24 BASH B (first letter of ‘burn’) ASH (wood)

Nineteen normal clues, with the rest needing one or two added or subtracted letters; that sounded a bit tricky. It proved to be a tougher puzzle than most EVs recently. The NE corner was easier than the other three, and led to one of the two unclued entries being something like “unpredictable”, except beginning with a P. Yet again an initial thought got stuck in my head. But wait, it’s two words, so it’s PERIODIC TABLE and the other one must be ATOMIC NUMBERS with the missing and extra letters being the chemical elements. I’m sure many of you got it from the first few extra/missing letters; indeed there’s probably one lucky soul who got it after reading the preamble!

Solving time: about 3 hours I think. Too many extra and missing letters to enable it to be any quicker for me!

Unfinished business: I haven’t a clue about the title!!

Legend:
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden
+red for letters which need to be added to the subsidiary indication and  -red for letters which need to be taken away.

Across
1	-H	STICK	jam: SHTICK (familiar routine)
5	-B	RAINLESS	dry weather like this: BLESS (give approval to) around [RA (sun-god) + IN]
12		AHULL	with sails furled: A + HULL (ship’s body)
14	+N	ANNULLED	abolished sin: (A DULL EN(D))*; even with a question mark, I can’t see the justification for sin
15		PERIODIC TABLE	Unclued
16	-S	PREMIE	one who arrives too soon (ie premature): PREMISE (mention by way of introduction)
17		MOLE	2 meanings: hot dressing (ie sauce) & underground worker
18	-Ar	ELENCHI	refutations: LEAR (literary king) in EN (space) + CHI (Greek letter)
20		TAWER	producer of white leather: WATER*
21	-Sc	RAPS	censures: SCRAPS (newspaper cuttings)
22	-Ti	SANE	reasonable: TISANE (herbal tea)
23	-V	SERE	ecological series: regular letters in ShE’d ReViEw
24		T-BAR	type of lift: TB (consumption) + AR (annual return)
28		SUDS	American beer: SUS (loitering with intent) outside D (had)
31	+Ag	SPAG	Italian: PS<
34	+Se	EASE	peace and quiet: EA (running water)
36	-Kr	DACE	small fish: DACKER (word in clue)
37		CANAL	panama for instance: AL (American state, Alabama) after CAN (American bum, buttocks)
38		GHARIAL	crocodile: initial letters of Grab Hartebeest And Retreats Into A Lake
39	-Y	ARDS	ploughs, primitive: YARDS (enclosed areas)
41	-Nb	SEABEE	engineer in American navy: (SEEN BABE)*
43		ATOMIC NUMBERS	Unclued
44		SERENATE	evening music, Milton: RE (note) in SENATE (chamber
45	-Rh	ELMEN	made of wood: REN (run, old word) around HELM (head armour); gives RHELMEN with the Rh being removed
46		WRANGLED	acted like a cowboy on a horse (ie herded cattle): (LEG DRAWN)*
47		LEASE	2 meanings: contract to let & pasture

Down
1	-H	SAPPERS	engineers: (SAPPHIRES - I)*
2	+He	THEREAT	at that point: TREAT (negotiate)
3		IURE	by right: I URE (use, once)
4		CLIMES	poetic regions: sounds like CLIMBS (mounts)
5	-B	RADE	went on horseback, Scots: BREAD*
6	-C	ANIS	black cuckoos: I (one) in CANS (headphones)
7	+N	INCHING	taking small steps: I CHING (Chinese means of looking into the future)
8	-O	NUTATES	droops: (STATUE ON)*
9	-F	LLAMAS	South American transport: FALLS* around AM (morning)
10		ELBOWED	with a sharp bend: EL (railroad) + BOWED (inclined downwards)
11		SELLER	winning horse to be auctioned: sounds like CELLAR (underground room)
13	-Al	LOINS	source of new life: (AlL COINS)* - C (top of crown)
19	-K	HARSH	jarring on the senses: HARK SH (words in clue)
25		BANDORA	old instrument: DORA (WWI Defence of the Realm act) after BAN (prohibition)
26	-Fe	RELYING	depending: [REF (soccer official) + EYING (looking) around L (league)]
27	-Co	MAGICAL	wonderful: COMA (deep sleep) + GI (American soldier) + LAC< (large number in India and Pakistan)
29		SCLERES	supporting elements: [CARELESS - A (article)]*
30		DEMESNE	manor house: sounds like DEMEANS (is lower in dignity)
32	-Ge	PARTER	one who leaves: GREAT* in PER (for each one)
33	+As	GASMEN	meter-readers: G-MEN (who work for the FBI)
35	+Br	BREME	fierce, Spenser: EME (old uncle)
36		DIABLE	casserole: DI (princess) + ABLE (has skill)
40		ANTE	fixed stake: regular letters in AnNeTtE
41	-Nb	SUED	made a legal claim against: SUNBED (lounger for lying)
42	-Mo	BEMA	platform for speech: MOB + ME< + A

Not having a lot of time this morning I was happy that this was rather straightforward. A few clues held me back, 17ac in particular. Also not entirely sure about 22ac.

Across
9	PNEUMONIA: homophone of ‘new mown’+ I + A
10	INERT: IN + (p)ERT
11	MOTEL: MOTE + L
12,19	GREYHOUND BUS: GREYHOUND (sprinter) + BUS(t)
13	APRICOT: anagram of PAIR + COT
14	BRAN TUB: B + RAN + BUT (reversed)
17	LIMIT: LIM(b) (leg as example of a limb, without ‘b’, bowled out)
20	RELAX: RE + LAX
21,24d	BULLDOG CLIP: BULL + DOG + CLIP
22	BRUISER: (c)RUISER with new prow (B); not sure where the B comes from, other than guessing (Thanks to Crypticnut - for explanation)
24,2	CROSSWORD SETTER: anagram of WORCEST(e)R and DORSET without an E (not east)
26	HOOCH: HO + OCH (Scottish term of suprise)
28	ITCHY: (b)ITCHY without the bishop (b)
29	TEA FOR TWO: T (centre of cloThes) + anagram of FOOTWEAR
Down
1	SPAM: MAPS reversed
3	IMPLICATED: I + anagram of DECIMAL and PT (short point)
4	KNIGHT: K (last letter of soundtracK) + anagram of THING
5	WATER BUS: anagram of WASTE BUR(n) without ‘n’ (releasing nitrogen)
6,27	FISH HOOK: FISH + HO + OK
7	REBUTTAL: BUTT (cask) in REAL (concrete)
8	STUD: double definition
13	AD LIB: in gatesheAD LIBrary
15	AIR CUSHION: AIR (vent) + CUSHION (shield)
16,23	BOXER SHORTSR: BOXER (packer) + SHORTS (fails to complete circuit)
18	MALLORCA: LAM reversed + anagram of CORAL
19	BIGMOUTH: double definition
22	BEDPAN: B + ED + PAN
25	STYX: homophone of ’sticks’

When I see the word ‘Cinema’ in a crossword title I tend to go Ugh! as I am not film literate. However, as is often the case with barred cryptics, the title turned out to be cryptic itself.

 

The preamble stated that there were six unclued entries (one of two words).  These unclued entries suggest six characters.  Extra single letters indicated by the wordplay in ten unspecified clues would describe, cryptically, something bad for which the six characters were responsible.  Finally we were told that one element of this description in full and the initial letters of the other (20 squares in total) had to be highlighted in the completed grid.

 

I took some time to solve this.  There were 42 clues in all which makes it more difficult to locate the special clues with the extra letter in the wordplay.  Well I find it more difficult.  If I know I am looking for an extra letter in every clue I know exactly what I am dealing with.  Here there was no indication of how evenly spaced the ten clues were.  In the end I found five extra letters in the Acrosses and five in the Downs. with the majority towards the end of each of the Acrosses and Downs.

 

As I went through slowly detecting the extra letters, the ones I had didn’t seem to spell anything sensible  The unclued words also seemed a fairly random selection with little in common initially.  The first unclued words I deduced were WINE-GLASS and CIGARETTE.  The other four didn’t look very promising for some time.  The two word unclued entry looked like it was going to be LEAN PERSON (still not helping) and FRUIT looked another possibility for one of the remaining three.  

 

The first breakthrough came with the identification of PLAY as a likely word in the 10 extra letters although the penny didn’t completely drop at that point either.  The real breakthrough came after typing a couple of possible synonyms for WINE-GLASS (FLUTE) and CIGARETTE (SNOUT) into Google together.  Bingo! - A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Peter Quince’s troupe of labourers putting on a fairly mediocre performance of the play PYRAMUS AND THISBE for Theseus’s wedding.  This enabled me to confirm FRUIT (QUINCE) and LEAN PERSON (STARVELING) and deduce COSY (SNUG) and BUTT (BOTTOM).

 

To put it all together, the ten extra letters, in clue order, spelled:

 

APAPLAYLAY or A PLAY within A PLAY.

 

The unclued across entry was

 

WINEGLASS

 

and the unclued down entries (in standard clue order) were

 

LEAN PERSON

CIGARETTE

COSY

FRUIT

BUTT

 

These therefore suggested

 

Francis FLUTE who plays Thisbe,

Robin STARVELING who plays Moonshine,

Tom SNOUT who plays the wall,

SNUG who plays the lion,

Peter QUINCE who leads the troupe, and

Nick BOTTOM who plays Pyramus

 

The play within a play, PYRAMUS AND THISBE (16 characters) was located in the completed grid at row 5, columns 2 to 8, row 7, columns 6 to 8 and row 9 columns 7 to 12.

 

The remaining 4 characters to be highlighted are AMND the initial letters of the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in column 3 rows 10 to 13.

 

The final thematic piece is the title CINEMA CLASH which is an anagram of MECHANICALS the collective name for Peter Quince’s troupe of players.  Tradesmen by day, actors by night.

 

I found the clues fair, but there seemed to be a lot that were based on the concept of defining one word and taking a letter or letters away at the beginning, middle or end to create a second word.   The first four acrosses were of this form as well as 23 across, 34 across and 3 down.  Also there seemed to be a greater than average number of obsolete or archaic words as solutions, but it all helps to increase knowledge and vocabulary.

 

I don’t think I’ll admit to a solving time for this one.  It certainly took more than one session.

 

Across
No.	Letter	Entry	Wordplay
1		FLIC	FLICK (film) without the final K (short) = FLIC (policeman; cop, French slang)
8	A	RÉCIT	Anagram of (to be recast) CERTAIN without the final N (almost) = RÉCIT (a solo part for voice or instrument)
9		INMATE	INTIMATE (private) without (dropped) TI (musical note) = INMATE (prisoner)
10		OGGIN	NOGGIN (small mug) without the leading N (heading, first letter, off) = OGGIN (sea, naval slang)
11,33		LESLIE ASH	LEASH (control) containing (in) (S [has] + LIE [remain]) = LESLIE ASH (actress, probably best known for her role in the sitcom Men Behaving Badly) I think the spelling ‘Leslie’ is more usually applied to males, with ‘Lesley’ being the more common spelling for females, but there is no doubt that ‘Leslie’ is right in this case.
12		ANSATE	AN (one) + SATE (Malaysian dish,; a variant on the the more common spelling ’satay’) = ANSATE (having a handle, handled)
14		RIOTISE	RIO (city; Rio de Janiero) + anagram of (abandoned) first and last letters (extremely) of IrresponsiblE amd TraderS = RIOTISE (an obsolete [past] word meaning extravagance)
16		MUSICKER	MU (Greek letter) + SICKER (more disappointed) = MUSICKER (an old word for a performer or composer of music)
18		YEDE	E (English) + DEY (dairymaid) all reversed (about) = YEDE (to go, as used by Edmund Spenser)
19		BAIT	BIT (young woman) containing (in) A (advanced) = BAIT (temptation)
20		FOUR	FOUR sounds like (vocal) FORE (previously) = FOUR (rowing crew)
21		PROTEA	PEA (climbing plant) containing (full of) ROT (decay) = PROTEA (plant of the South African genus Protea)
22	P	DRAPED	D (duke) + RAPPED (criticised) = DRAPED (hung)
23		SATS	SWATS (studies) without (renouncing) W (women) = SATS (school tests [Standard Assesment Tasks]; I’ve lost track of which age groups actually sit SATS now)
24		RATU	RT (right) containing (to adopt) A (accepted) + U (a Burmese title of respect, eg U Thant former Secretary General of the United Nations, 1961 - 1971) = RATU (local chief or ruler in Fiji))
25		TONG	T (first letter [start of] Talk) + ON (about) + G (German) = TONG (Chinese secret society)
27		COPE WITH	(O [old) + PEWIT [bird]) contained in (in) CH (China) = COPE WITH (successfully handle)
28		ANATASE	A + NASTASE (reference Ilie Nastase, Romanian tennis player, most successful in the 1970s; ILIE is also the answer to 2 down, hence the reference to 2 on court) without (wants) S (special) = ANATASE (a mineral consisting of titanium oxide)
30	A	ATTUNE	ATE (worried) containing (about) (TAU [cross] + N [first letter {initially} of Needing]) = ATTUNE (acclimatise)
31		BEMIRE	BEE (worker, possibly, reference worker bee) containing (outside) MIR (a commune in pre-revolutionary Russia) = BEMIRE (an archaic [earlier] word meaning to soil)
33		ANNAT	Hidden word (has) in ITALIAN NATIONAL = ANNAT (an obsolete (discontinued) word meaning a half-yearly stipend payable to a Minsiter’s wife or next of kin after his death [no doubt it was his and not her in those days])
34	P	ENTERS	PEN (author) + TERSE (short) without (cut) the final E = ENTERS (joins)
35		ANTSY	ANY (some) containing (admitted) ST (street, way) reversed (back) = ANTSY (eager, excited = nervous)
36		ELDERSHIP	Anagram of (different) PIERS HELD = ELDERSHIP (church officer)
37	L	DOSS	D (department) + LOSS (destruction) = DOSS (a task very easily accomplished)

Down
No.	Letter	Entry	Wordplay
1	A	FREAKY	FARE (go on) + A (about) + KY (Scottish, therefore Aberdonian word for cows) = FREAKY (odd)
2		ILIE	I (independent) + LIE (story) = ILIE (reference Ilie Nastase, Romanian tennis player as mentioned above at 28 across)
3		NIN	NINNY (fool) without (leaving) NY (New York) = NIN (reference Anais Nin, a Cuban-Spanish-French authoress)
4		ENLIST	ET (Egypt) containing (about) (NL [Netherlands] + IS [Iceland]) = ENLIST (obtain the support of)
5		LAST	LAST (hold out) = LAST (load) - double definition
6		SEI	SEI (sounds like [on radio] SAY [talk]) = SEI (whale)
7	Y	STEERED	STEED (horse) containing RYE (grass) = STEERED (guided)
13		TABES	Anagram of (injured) BEAST = TABES (wasting away)
14		RUINATE	RUE (pity) containing (about) (IN [home) + AT) = RUINATE (destroyed)
15		SERENENESS	RE (about) contained in SEN (without) + E (force) + NESS (reference Eliot Ness, US Federal Agent who led a group of incorruptable agents dubbed  The Untouchables) = SERENENESS (calm)
17		COATSTAND	Anagram of CADAT (CADET with E [European] replaced by A [American]) and NOT and S (first letter of [at first] Sure) = COATSTAND (you might find an Ulster coat on a coatstand)
21	L	PACABLE	PAL (mate) + CABLE (telegraph) = PACABLE (an archaic [formerly] word meaning willing to forgive)
24		RISERS	(IS [ones] + E [last letter of {finally} nosE]) contained in (breaking) RR (R is an abbreviation of rule, hence RR is rules) + S (sabbath) = RISERS (they get up)
26	A	GLENYS	GLEAN (pick up) + YS (sounds like [reportedly] wise) = GLENYS (girl)
29		TITE	TITE (sounds like [said] TIGHT [drunk]) = TITE (at once)
30		ANTI	IN (trendy) containing T (time) + A (Australia) all reversed (turned) = ANTI (the opposite of pro, hence ‘pro, on the contrary’)
32	Y	EEL	ELY (see, bishopric of Ely, crossword setters’ favourite See) containing E (earl) = EEL (fish)
33		ASH	See 11 across