Guardian 24370/Brendan - placeholder
Posted by Colin Blackburn on April 23rd, 2008
Talk amongst yourselves…
Fifteensquared
Never knowingly undersolved.
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April 23rd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
It’s a shame Brendan couldn’t work the world’s first female Prime Minister in among all those 9Dn. .. (Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon/Sri Lanka, to save anyone having to look it up.)
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
How would you clue that, then? There must be a good anagram in there somewhere…
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I only ever heard of her as Mrs. Bandaranaike, so offer, for her surname: First of Admirals in Victory follows Hastings artist, first of 9d.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I’ve several queries about this puzzle.19ac [GLOBALISM]23ac [LEGAL AID[ and 28ac [STARTLE} all have the definition as part of the wordplay. Is this usual? [At least 19 and 28 have a question mark.]
I couldn’t quite see why 11 ac was FIELD EVENT and spent far too long after writing in IMITATE for 2dn puzzling why a Christian was a mate, until the pebnny dropped: Fletcher Christian was Master’s Mate on the ‘Bounty’!
Very enjoyable, though!
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
19ac, 23ac and 28ac are all “&lit” clues, where the definition and wordplay are cleverly the same.
In athletics, a FIELD EVENT (high jump, javelin, etc) is in contrast to a TRACK EVENT (running) - the latter have times (e.g. world record for 100 metres is 9.something seconds) whereas the former usually have a height or distance instead.
Applause for your BANDARANAIKE clue ;)
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Eileen - on 11ac, I think it’s that field events, unlike track, are not timed - the def is “in the Olympics, for example”.
I also was a bit put out by the three clues you query.
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Thanks, both. I thought the FIELD EVENT must be something like that.
I still don’t see where the definition for 23 ac is!
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
I think the idea is that LEGAL AID is a form of support for advocates; the definition reading of the clue should be parsed as “Support [that] advocate put in place” with “support” as a noun. Slightly dodgy wording, I think: legal is not exactly “put in place” _by_ an advocate..
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Thanks for help with this: I had quite a few of the refs in 9dn but only just now got it!
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Who needs bloggers when the 15sq community is there to help? (Only joking, Colin, we await your notes with interest.)
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
23 ac: LEGAL AID. LEG=support, A=advocate primarily, LAID=put in place. But where is the definition?
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Muck, isn’t LEGAL AID a form of support for a member of the public? Another &lit, as Andrew pointed out.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
The whole clue is the definition plus elements of wordplay. As Andrew says above this, 19 and 28 are examples of &lit clues. Brendan seems to have a particular talent for these.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Thank you Eileen (post 4) - I would have never have understood why Christian = mate. Nice puzzle and very hard - in terms of quality and difficulty it wouldn’t have been out of place as a Saturday prize puzzle.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:25 pm
If anyone wants to go ahead and write up their own blog then please feel free as it looks like Colin has been delayed by Real Life.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:21 pm
OK, I’ll give it a go… hope Colin’s RL delays are nothing serious.
A double-edged theme here, featuring two types of LEADING LADIES, and a smattering of &lits including one of the thematic clues.
1ac HILL + A-RY (RY = railway = system of track)
5, 10ac LILLIAN GISH - anag of L (pound) + A SHILLING - a film star, initially of the silent era, and the first of the 9dn
11 FIELD EVENT - cryptic defintion: see discussion in previous comments
12ac,22dn LAUREN BACALL - another anagram (A BANAL CLUE + L (learner) & R), another leading lady. Useful pub quiz fodder: her real name was Betty Joan Perske, and she married Humphrey Bogart when she was 20 and he was 45.
13 DO-(R)-I’S DAY - another one.
14 BEGGARING . Def is “Making poor”, but the wordplay took me a while to work out. I think it’s start=BEGIN , “finally good” = G at the end, and so GAR must be a fish: which luckily it is.
17 SMELT - nice double def
19 GLOBALISM - anag of BIG + O + SMALL, and the first of three &lit clues in this puzzle.
23 LEGAL AID - LEG (support) + A (advocate primarily) + LAID (put in place), and another &lit - see previous discussion in comments
27 WORD - “what you are doing” is a CROSSWORD
28 STARTLE - anag of RATTLE+S &lit
29 CLINT-ON - I had to check Chambers to find that CLINT is “one of a series of limestone blocks or ridges divided by fissures or grikes”. So what’s a grike? Glad you asked - it’s “a fissure in limestone rock formed or widened by the dissolvent effect of rain”. And here we get a link to 1ac for another CLINTON.
2dn IMITATE - IT in I MATE. As mentioned in a previous comment, Fletcher Christian was a Master’s MATE on the Bounty, of Mutiny fame.
3dn LEHAR - hidden
4dn RE-FINE-R
6dn,24ac - INDIRA GANDHI: R in INDIA + anag of HEADING less E. Another “leading lady”, though a different sort this time; and also another &lit
9dn LEADING LADIES - the theme phrase for the puzzle. Note the “maybe” after “1 29″, indicating the Hillary Clinton is only a potential LL.
15dn GOLDA MEIR - GO + anag of A MILDER. Another political LL - PM of Israel 1969-1974.
18 MAE WEST - back to film stars, and also the name of a wartime lifejacket, named after its supposed resemblance to her curvaceous figure.
20 BIG DEAL - B + G in IDEAL
21 SCHERZO - Z (unknown) in anag of ORCHES(tras).
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Failed to get 8D and 16A - help please.
Also I have a gripe with 4D. What is the purpose of the words “in a way” in the clue? I was trying to put ST or RD around bits for ages. Not needed for the clue to flow.So??
Thanks
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:39 pm
16A BE[A]ST
8D ANNU[A]LS
April 24th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Hi All,
Sorry about the lack of a blog. Great puzzle, solved early but I ran out time to actually blog the thing. Thanks in particular to Andrew for taking the time to produce a blog. At least this demonstrates the effectiveness of the Neil’s placeholder idea.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Thanks Eileen, I should have got those.
But anyone, please, what is the answer to my query on 4D?
“Also I have a gripe with 4D. What is the purpose of the words “in a way” in the clue? I was trying to put ST or RD around bits for ages. Not needed for the clue to flow.So??”
April 24th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I think “in a way” is not technically incorrect - fining someone is a “way” of punishing them. As you say, it could be omitted without affecting the wordplay: maybe it’s deliberate misdirection.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Thanks Andrew.
I haven’t really come across/thought about the idea of “deliberate misdirection” before but take your point. I think a well crafted and ingenious clue should be hard enough; dare I suggest that deliberate misdirection is the last refuge of a lazy setter?!