A cryptic title, hinting maybe at Columbo, with his dour demeanour and down-at-heel dress sense? The preamble tells us to find a horizontally-symmetrical four word quotation, and twelve answers needing some sort of adjustment before entry – which for me means a working copy of the grid and a sharpened pencil…a sharp mind would help as well, but we can’t have everything! The aforementioned twelve are also undefined in their clues, which have ‘some’ extra words as a further distraction.
Due to a busy couple of weeks, with work travel commitments and holiday, I seemed to have lots of mini-sessions with this puzzle, without cracking through it particularly quickly. Some early cold solving filled a few ‘normal’ looking clues in, without any hint of a theme, even though one of those I got early on was ‘POETS’ at 23A. Then I spotted a possible undefined/partial clue at 28A – ‘rambling as yet’ which looked like YEATS – a poet! – but crossing letters were YE??T – YEAST?
When 10A suggested KEATS but needed to fit ST??E (STAKE?) the penny dropped and a bit of searching found ‘ALL POETS ARE MAD’ in the middles of rows 4, 6, 8 and 10. So anagrammised (mad) poets turned into real words – RIMBAUD -> RADIUM B, LORCA -> CORAL, CARDENAL -> CALENDAR, etc. A few more obscure (to me) poets, in addition to YEATS, KEATS and LEAR, meant this involved a bit of e-research and an educational time filling the last few gaps. The quotation is from Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy.
I jumped to a couple of conclusions – 21A PATINAS, 46A NASH, 49A MONTALE – whilst solving, which I then couldn’t remember or justify when I came to blog this. Any suggestions – and/or corrections to this rather hurried write-up – are welcomed.
All in all, a nicely constructed puzzle, a decent mix of harder and easier not-so-hard clues – giving a good chance of a start-in from cold solving, followed by some hard slog to completion. As for the title?…I can see DRAB as an anagram of BARD (poet), but not completely sure where ‘COPS’ comes in (?)…
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Poet | Entry | Clue / Logic/Parsing |
| 1A | ACCEPT | Understand process of swallowing mushroom (6) / ACT (process of) around (swallowing) CEP (mushroom) |
|
| 5A | RIMBAUD | RADIUM B | Ancient parapets border Mercutio’s hare (7) / RIM (border) + BAUD (hare-related quotation from Mercutio in Shakespeare’s R&J) |
| 10A | KEATS | STAKE | Constant food for ever warm and still to be enjoyed (5) / K (Boltzmann constant – physics, or velovity constant – chemistry) + EATS (food) |
| 12A | REAU | Take water in small scale (4) / R (Latin abbr – ‘recipe’ – imperative, ‘take’) + EAU (water) |
|
| 14A | LEAR | LARE | Heartless composer with crimson whiskers (4) / LEhAR (composer Franz Lehar, doubly heartless – without centre letter – H – also H = heart) |
| 15A | APRICOT | Fruit before a meal with Italian cheese – no thanks (7) / AP (Latin abbr – ante prandium, before meal) + RICOT (Italian cheese, ricotta, without TA – thanks) |
|
| 17A | TIE-IN | Note a German connection (5, hyphenated) / TI (note) + EIN (German, a, or one) |
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| 18A | STORE | Painful, internally tense – lay up (5) / SORE (painful) around T (tense) |
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| 19A | RONDOS | They’re composed and extremely narrow-minded when wearing jumpers (6) / ROOS (jumpers, kangaroos) around ND (extremes of Narrow-mindeD) |
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| 21A | PATINAS | Latin American party figures in moving films (7) / PATINA = FILM, but not sure of parsing?! |
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| 22A | ADDS | Joins couples hanging around adventure playgrounds (4) / ADDS = first and last two (couples) of ‘ADventure playgrounDS’ |
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| 23A | POETS | They might pen employment trainee in chambers (5) / POS (po – chamber pot) around ET (employment trainee) |
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| 25A | SOLD | Alchemist’s gold and diamonds for poet’s pay (4) / SOL (gold, alchemy) + D (diamonds) |
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| 28A | YEATS | YEAST | Nine bean rows rambling as yet (5) / anag (rambling) of AS YET |
| 30A | PEELE | ELPEE | Schoolboys playing urinate beside bounds of lake (5) / PEE (urinate) around LE (bounds of LakE) |
| 32A | SERA | Serine beginning to assimilate watery liquids (4) / SER (serine) + A (first letter of assimilate) |
|
| 35A | SAREE | Rupee found in so Scottish garment (5) / SAE (Scots for ‘so’) around RE (Rupee) |
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| 37A | BEMA | Enrage once director’s left rostrum (4) / BEMA = bemad (archaic, to madden, enrage) without D (director) |
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| 38A | SAWBILL | Hummingbird maybe found out what was paid (7) / double defn/&lit? SAWBILL = hummingbird, SAW BILL = found out what was paid |
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| 40A | ADORED | Loved to set things in order after trouble (6) / ADO (trouble) followed by RED (or redd, Scottish to put in order)) |
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| 41A | ARMED | Cultivated fellow going prickly (5) / ARMED (prickly, of a plant) = FARMED (cultivated) without F (fellow) |
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| 44A | SPARE | Avoid slit in Donald’s trews (5) / double defn – SPARE = avoid, save, and also Scottish for slit/opening in a pair of trews-ers |
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| 45A | UTILISE | Employ and call troops into service as replacement for gang (7) / UTILISE = MOBILISE (call into service) with UT (as) replacing MOB (gang) |
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| 46A | NASH | SHAN | Pear from Asia (but not India) simply rotted early (4) / not sure?! NAISH or NASHI – pear – without I (India)? |
| 47A | OBOE | Stop vessel reaching Spain (4) / OBO (vessel, carrying Oil & Bulk Ore) + E (Spain) |
|
| 48A | DANTE | ANTED | Sorrowful city long ago discouraged closing early (5) / DANTE = DANTED (daunted, discouraged, without last letter – closing early) |
| 49A | MONTALE | TELAMON | Burmese narrative crazed with the love of light (7) / not sure?! MON (Burmese?) + TALE (narrative)? |
| 50A | THESIS | Shiest drunk’s downbeat in bar (6) / anag (i.e. drunk) of SHIEST |
|
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Poet | Entry | Clue / Logic/Parsing |
| 1D | ASHTRAYS | Off course Society injecting heroin where butts may be seen (8) / ASTRAY (off course) + S (Society), around H (heroin) |
|
| 2D | CARDENAL | CALENDAR | Eccentric person ascending track while classes exist (8) / CARD (eccentric person) + ENAL (lane, or track, ascending) |
| 3D | PERN | Hawk in the direction of Norway (4) / PER (in the direction of) + N (Norway) |
|
| 4D | TREASON | Turncoat’s last to discuss disloyalty (7) / T (last of turncoat) + REASON (discuss) |
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| 5D | REAL | Sincere german Green abandons oxygen (4) / REAL (sincere) = REALO (German Green politician) less O (oxygen) |
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| 6D | DURST | Rarely ventured right into the earth (5) / DUST (earth) around R (right) |
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| 7D | IRITIS | Pursuing the taxman – it’s a localised irritation (6) / IR (Inland Revenue) + ITIS (it’s, it is) |
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| 8D | UNCO | Some news from Perth – tip off American con (4) / UNCO (Scottish, news) = BUNCO (US, confidence trick, missing first letter, or tip) |
|
| 9D | BETES | Locally relieves temperature when bitten by insects (5) / BEES (insects) around (biting) T (temperature) |
|
| 11D | TRIODE | Editor trashed semiconductor (6) / anag (i.e. trashed) of EDITOR |
|
| 13D | LORCA | CAROL | Left whale at five in the afternoon (5) / L (left) + ORCA (killer whale) |
| 16D | PLAT | Missing Hughes at first, poetess abandoned scheme (4) / PLAT (obsolete for scheme) = PLATH (Sylvia, poet) minus H (Hughes, at first) |
|
| 20D | OPTS | Chooses very well indeed shortly before Sabbath (4) / OPT (short for optimum, or very well) + S (Sabbath) |
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| 21D | PEARL | Perhaps conference lecturer’s a paragon (5) / PEAR (Conference, type of pear) = L (lecturer) |
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| 24D | SEED | Recognised local origin (4) / double defn – SEED = dialect, past tense of ‘see’, and also means ‘origin’ |
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| 26D | PATERSON | OPERANTS | Father leading boy by a billabong (8) / PATER (father) + SON (boy) |
| 27D | DEAD ENDS | Saddened working in situations going nowhere (8, two words) / anag (i.e. working) of SADDENED |
|
| 29D | DEADSET | Bathed in insect repellent, notices prolonged onslaught (7) / DEET (insect repellent) around ADS (notices) |
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| 31D | EMERGE | Welcoming some work, uncle’s to come out (6) / EME (uncle) around (welcoming) ERG (unit of work) |
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| 33D | HARTE | EARTH | Unlimited allowance of western pine (5) / HARTE = CHARTER (allowance) without its ‘limits’, C and R |
| 34D | ABELIA | Seaman Lamb’s shrub (6) / AB (sailor, ‘able bodied’ seaman) + ELIA (Lamb, essayist) |
|
| 36D | ALMS | Poor relief from healing ointments out of barrels (4) / ALMS (relief for poor) = BALMS (ointments) without B (barrels) |
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| 38D | SAULT | Canadian’s rapid pungent wit, essentially universal (5) / SALT (pungent wit) around U (universal) |
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| 39D | IDIOM | Dialect’s briefly the same over island (5) / ID (Latin, idem, the same) |
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| 42D | MILL | Rob Frenchman wrongfully (4) / MILL (military slang, to rob, steal) = M (Monsieur) + ILL (wrongfully) |
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| 43D | AEON | Foot pedal missing for quite some time (4) / AEON (long time) = PAEON (foot, in verse) minus P (pedal) |
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| 44D | SHAH | King’s period of mourning lasting seven days, not four (4) / SHAH (king) = SHIVAH (period of mourning for seven days) without IV (not four) |
|
Many thanks for the blog mc_rapper67 … the COPS in the title is also an anagram, of SCOP, another poet.
The PATINAS wordplay is PINATAS with ‘IN’ shifted – you are correct on your parsing of NASH and MONTALE.
I’m sure you noticed (but didn’t mention) the fact that all extra words in the poet clues are not just a distraction – all are extracts from the poet’s work quoted in ODQ7 – I gather that some people did find this to be a way into the thematic stuff.
This was a nice one to set, and a voyage of discovery and rediscovery – I hope that others found it as enjoyable to solve. Thanks again
Nudd
Really nice puzzle, Nudd – great stuff! Thanks also mc_rapper67 for the blog.
Nudd – thanks for the explanations at #1 – much appreciated.
I have to admit I hadn’t noticed that the extra words were related to each poet’s work – nice touch! It was a frantic week, and I’m afraid I wasn’t able to give this the full attention it deserved…