There were three important parts to the preamble:

1. Every across clue lacked a definition and the wordplay generated a word which could be associated with the entry at that number - i.e the actual entries had to be deduced.

2. Each down clue contained one word that simply represented its first letter in the wordplay, but was otherwise normal.

3. These eighteen words provided the nature of the across associations, in no particular order.

The title - Who’s Who - suggested something to do with famous people.

A first scan of the preamble had me scratching my head a bit, but the realisation that there were exactly 18 across clues as well as exactly 18 down clues helped me to understand the instructions more clearly.

After reading the down clues and solving a couple, things began to crystalise and the theme became very clear.

In the down clues there were many descriptive words like ‘novelist’, ‘composer’, ‘dramatist’ and ‘pianist’. In the majority of clues it was fairly obvious which was the important word, but there were a couple of red herrings such as ‘apostle’ and ‘bishop’.

I found it easier to solve the down clues first given that the first letter of the representational words was a key part of the wordplay.

Following the entry of a few down clues, and the solution of the more obvious across clues, a couple of the actual across entries could be deduced and it became apparent that the across clues led to the Surnames of frontiersmen, singers, poets etc while the across entries were the appropriate Christian names of these people.

In the explanations below for the across clues, I have given the answer to the clue first and then indicated the actual entry with a very short note about the individual.

For the down clues I have indicated the representational word before explaining the clue.

Solving time: One fairly long evening session - say three hours, which included some interesting research about many of the people.

Some of the individuals could be classified in more than one way - e.g. Tariq Ali could be an activist and a writer, and Diana Mitford could be a sister and an activist. However, I think there is a unique association for all but novelist and writer which could cover either or both of Louisa Alcott and Margery Allingham. I have gone with writer for Allingham and novelist for Alcott, but the actual association was not part of the solution to be submitted.

Grid entries are shown below in red; while the representational words are shown in blue

…to all of our readers. Thanks for all your help, support and encouragement in 2007 - we couldn’t have done it without you.

 We’ll aim to blog every day next week except the 25th so do drop by if the festivities get too much for you. Indy solvers will be pleased to hear that nmsindy will be again be producing his review of the year’s puzzles so keep an eye out for that.

Neil 

Monk is a setter whose puzzles I seek out, so Christmas came early to see that pseudonym in the Indy today.    Almost every clue has something special.    Solving time:  43 mins.  There is a theme:   in case anyone wants to look at the grid again, I’ll refer to it after the clue explanations.

* = anagram   < = reversed

ACROSS

9 ANY OLD IRON    Old London music hall song   (London air y - yes primarily = 1st letter)*

11 HA(REBEL)L    Hal = Henry  rebel = mutiny (vb)

12 AUTO (car) TYPE     I think this refers to the Jaguar E-type of the 60s ie its top off = take away the E.

16 TENG HSIAO-PING     Better known perhaps as Deng Xiaoping - effective ruler of China in 80s, 90s.  (going apeshit)* containing n = note

19 ST(R)EAM    Great misleading surface, playing with’ ‘burn’

21 EMOTI(C) ON     Another great clue.   Definition is perhaps (the emoticon shown).  C = caught (cricket)   opening means put it in ecstasy = emotion

23 IMP LICIT

27 DOTTED LINE     If you use Morse Code for sissies, you get a line of dots.

28 SPUR(s)

DOWN

1 FLOCCULENT    (On c = cold fell cut)*

2 EVEN SONG    Going for a song ie cheaply

3 Gordon RAM SAY      A ram butts

4 M(one)Y TH(e)

5 ALFRE(d)’S CO      Another classic    Definition = outside   d = Duke

6 TIMBRE    cf  timber

7 SOIL   Lio(n)s<        n = new

13 (Car M) ELITE

15 CONSORTIUM    (monitors Cu = Copper)*

18 P (RIM) ROSE

20  EOLITH   (hotel i = one)*

24 M (O) OT    Tom<

25 TRIO   First letters

Theme:   Top and bottom rows spell Fermat’s Theorem.      Fermat’s (last) Theorem is well known in pure mathematics.   He left a note that he’d solved it in the 1600s, but had not time to write it down.    I think it’s still not been solved, but if anyone knows more about it, please correct me.    I saw it after about 19 mins, which did speed solving after that.

A good number of long phrases, with quite a few cryptic definitions and some subtle wordplay. Explanations of 20 ac welcomed.

ACROSS:

1. HARD TO GRASP. CD.

9. OB(VIA T)E. Complex wordplay here - OBE is squeezing VIA and T(unnels).

11. DEATH RATE. I thought at first this might be a scatological reference, but it’s the speed at which we drop off our perches.

12. DEER, E. Ref well-known (?) make of tractors, John Deere.

14. PER SE, CUTE, S. I like the construction here, with ‘essentially like fluffy bunnies’ giving ‘per se cute’.

16. EYEGLASSES. (AGELESS YES*).

20. MOLLY, I think - it is a fish, but not sure why it’s a pussy. I was thinking it might mean pus-filled, but can’t see the second meaning wither way.

23. L(O OK)OUT.

24. ACH(A)E, AN. I’m not great on classics, but this seems clear from the wordplay.

25. EARTH CLOSET (TEST CHOLERA*).

DOWN:

1. HAVE A SCREW LOOSE. CD - i.e. it’ll make the hinge fall off. No coincidence, I suppose, that both phrases link physical and mental disrepair.

2, 5. RE A CHAV ERDICT. Not sure I’ve seen ‘chav’ in worsplay before, but I suppose it was only a matter of time.

3. TEE NAG E. I almost gave up on this, thinking it was an unfamiliar equestrian term, the I remembered support can mean TEE.

6. PROPER, TY IS THE, FT. (YET THIS*). A phrase originally coined by French 19th century anarchist philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Probably better known now as the punchline to jokes along the lines of the one in my title.

 7. CON(DENSE)D MILK. Quite hard, because it’s not an obvious sweet food, and ‘dense’ and ‘milk’ don’t come instantly to mind for ’stupid’ and ‘use’.

15. P(LAY GO)ER. Took me a while to figure out the wordplay, with another clever containment indicator - LAY GO ‘opens’ PER (for each).

18. EYE BALL. (Hom ‘I’).

22. A SHE’S.

I found this very easy. Solving time: 14 mins

Notes on some clues below: happy to explain others if asked.

* = anagram

ACROSS

1 S (AMOS) A SA = Salvation Army

11 TH(is) UNDER (below)

24 ALL THERE ie none here

25 CIC ‘ERO Definition is ‘old Roman’

DOWN

7 INGEST “in jest”

14 RES(PIG)HI Pig = bit of livestock in (shire)*