Seven entries are “starting points” (towns, cities, countries) clued in alphabetical order by wordplay only, and seven rhyming “destinations” are not clued at all. Extra letters in the wordplay of 33 clues spell a similar rhyming journey whose “optimistic” destination is to be highlighted in the grid.
The final “starting point” came immediately …
… WARE. But put that to one side, and look at the regular clues. (The bottom right corner was always going to be difficult to dig out, crammed with ‘special’ entries.)
I felt I got off to a good start, but made an uncommon number of mistakes in answers & wordplay (namely 4, as opposed to usually less than one). I had DIS at 11a: “God’s spoken back”, solving it as DIS = S(a)ID<; BAN at 32a: "Part of China's blunt about backing governor", with BAN = (Chi)NA('s) B(lunt)<; CAT in the wordplay for 15a, = CAT(amaran) (small boat) instead of COT; and the river TEST at 5d, where it should have been TEES. This slowed up the solving and finding the 'journey', but … all was eventually sorted out, and the grid filled up in an orderly fashion.
So the journey starts at TROON then goes via KOWLOON, RANGOON, CAMEROON, and DUNOON, to end at THE MOON. Not much more to say really.
Thanks to Samuel – not up there with his best, but an OK diversion. (And the fact that the places visited were separated by ‘space breaks’ from ordinary clues was noted & appreciated.)
{The wordplay for 23d seems to generate the redundant letter O twice. “Low greeting initially angered part of Arab country”: MOO (low) HALLO (greeting) A(ngered) = MOHALLA.}
>>> Nick at comment 18 on my previous blog, requesting that I include the clues: If someone would furnish me with the text to cut & paste then I’d gladly do so; as it is, I simply don’t have the time to type in ~40 clues – c’est la vie.
PS I read last week that Syd Lexis has recently died: Crossword Message Board. We’ll miss his puzzles.
| Thematic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Wordplay | Destination |
| BREMEN | BRE(n) (machine-gun) MEN (followers) | YEMEN |
| BRISBANE | BR (bank rate) IS BANE (source of evil) | LISBON |
| CREWE | CREW (man) E (base) | PERU |
| JEDDA | J(udge) EDDA (mythological book) | CHEDDAR |
| KIEL | KIER (vat) with L for R (changing hands) | LILLE |
| SANTA FE | SAFE (cautious) around [TAN]* | MANDALAY |
| WARE | W(omen) ARE (exist) | AYR |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Answer | Extra letter | Wordplay |
| 1 | YACK | T | (arm)Y + TACK (turn) |
| 9 | ECHO | R | [CHORE]* |
| 10 | SPEEDO | O | SO (signal officer) PEED (urinated) O(ver) |
| 11 | LAR | O | ORAL< (spoken) |
| 12 | MOERA | N | [MOANER]* |
| 13 | ORIBI | (Ma)ORI BI(rdwatchers) | |
| 14 | ELD | K | (sai)D KLE(ptomania)< |
| 15 | T-CLOTH | O | CO(s)T< (small boat) + LOTH (ugly) |
| 17 | ITAS | W | I TAWS (strap) |
| 19 | SERB | L | LOSER (deadbeat) − O (love) + B(orn) |
| 20 | PARSEES | O | PAROLEES (released prisoners) + S(pades) − L(ecturer) |
| 21 | ARROWS | O | [WAS]* around RO-RO (ferry) |
| 24 | NALAS | N | ALAN (Partridge, perhaps) in NS (Nova Scotia) |
| 25 | ISOTRON | [MONITORS]* − M(ass) | |
| 27 | DEID | R | DERID(e) (mock) |
| 30 | POPLIN | A | PO (post office) PLAIN (uncurled) |
| 31 | LABIA | N | LA (legislative assembly) BIN (reject) A(merican) |
| 32 | AVO | G | A(bout) GOV< (governor) {part of China = Macau, blunt = money} |
| 33 | SCARCE | O | OSCAR (cash, loot Australian) + CE (church) |
| 34 | FLAW | O | A(nswer) in FLOW (current) |
| 35 | NETSUKE | N | NET (capture) SUNKE(n) (hollow) |
| Down | |||
| No. | Answer | Extra letter | Wordplay |
| 2 | ACOLD | C | ACOL (bidding system) + D(u)C(k) |
| 3 | APPLIES | A | APPAL (horrify) + ALLIES (colleagues) − ALL |
| 4 | NEMO | M | N(ew) + MEMO (message) |
| 5 | TESTA | E | TEES (river) TA (volunteers) |
| 6 | FORESEERS | R | [ERRORS + FEES]* |
| 7 | ELIDED | O | (pan)E LOIDED (opened with a bit of plastic) |
| 8 | FABURDEN | O | F(rom) A(ttacking) BOURDER (jester) + N(ote) − R (king) |
| 10 | SACHS | N | SANCHOS (guitars) − O(rdinary) {ref: Andrew Sachs} |
| 16 | BROADWISE | [RAISED BOW]* | |
| 18 | TEMSE | D | TEE (support) around D(e)M(o)S |
| 20 | PRAECAVA | U | [CARVE UP A]* + A(dvanced) |
| 22 | BOLLOCK | N | BON (good, Fr) L(eague) LOCK (forward, rugby) |
| 23 | MOHALLA | O | MOO (low) HALLO (greeting) A(ngered) |
| 26 | TOILE | O | TOO (also) [LIE]* |
| 28 | IOTAS | N | (p)I(l)O(t) TANS (browns) |
| 29 | MYLAR | M(ar)Y + LAR {answer to 11a – ugh!} | |
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Many thanks for blog HG.
( Sometimes I think it’s easier to follow the blogs if they don’t include the clues. I keep a copy of the relevant puzzle so it’s easy to check.)
It was a nice puzzle, but I think TROON had no sense of a starting point or THEMOON as a destination. They just rhymed.
But, the thing I was most looking forward to was an explanation of 23D. I’m sure a few of us will agree that it looked like a redundant O too many.
Look forward to being enlightened by contributors – or Samuel.
I had the same problem with DIS/LAR and BAN/AVO among others.
The only other problem was that I agree with jonsurdy (#1) that there was one too many Os redundant in 32A, as your explanation indicates. There were other clues with repeated letters where only one of them was ignored (e.g. 10A) so there seems to be an inconsistency/error in the clue.
I too had the same problem with DIS/LAR, and although I had no problem with AVO in 32a from the wordplay, I completely failed to identify both BLUNT (and OSCAR in 33a) with money. I sometimes find that I just don’t see some of these unusual definition in Chambers. I also couldn’t find MOHALLA in Chambers and had to rely on a Google search to confirm the spelling.
The spelling of JEDDA for JEDDAH has me puzzled. I’ve never come across it before and even Google doesn’t recognise is, at least as far as I can see.
Thanks Samuel – I didn’t find the rhymes too outrageous – and thanks to HG for the blog
I got ‘Dis’ and ‘Ban’ too, and was stuck on 23d for a long time thanks to the double redundant letter.
All good fun though…I thought trickier than Samuel’s usual offerings, but maybe that was just me. ‘Dis’ and ‘Ban’ certainly added to the difficulty, because both seemed to fit the clues so well that I didn’t consider them being wrong for a long time. That’s not a complaint though…it just adds to the challenge.
Thanks to Samuel and HG (excuse the pedantry HG, but shouldn’t it be Andrew rather than Oliver Sachs?)
Jedda (#3) – see http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2256935?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21103420634451 amongst others.
Quite right, Dan @4 (not a pedant) – now corrected. How could I mistake an actor for a neurologist? (And Oliver S’s surname is spelt with a K anyway, not an H.)
And Wikipedia gives JEDDA as one alternative spelling of the Saudi Arabian city.
I enjoyed this one. Like everyone else, ‘DIS’ was confidently inserted in 11A and followed by much brow-creasing. I got 35A quickly because of Edmund de Waal’s excellent book of a couple of years ago.
Tried to imagine a few of the journeys in terms of their sheer length and difficulty….Santa Fe to Mandalay anyone ?
Thanks to Samuel and HolyGhost
I meant to mention in the blog: “In the dock of Tiger Bay, On the road to Mandalay, From Bombay to Santa Fe, …” are just some of Ian Dury & the Blockheads’ suggestions in Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.
Although I did steal the one rhyming journey from Ian Dury, the main inspiration for the puzzle was the fabulous Radio 4 comedy Cabin Pressure. In the programme, the two pilots (played by Roger Allam and Benedict Cumberbatch) often play silly word games to while away the time on long, boring flights. “Rhyming Journeys” was one such game – although most of the journeys were unique to this puzzle.
I can only apologise for the error which led to two redundant letter Os being generated by one clue. I’m not sure how this managed to get past me, my test solver and the IQ vetting team, but obviously it did. I hope this didn’t cause too many headaches.
We didn’t notice the error Samuel!
The puzzle took a while to get started although just like HG we solved WARE straight away!
Thanks for the entertainment Samuel and HG for the blog.
I quite like Cabin Pressure, although it’s a bit creaky – slightly reminiscent of the Navy Lark to me.
I now remember them playing that game.
Going slightly off piste here, but I love Clare in the Community and Fags Mags and Bags.
I agree with you on Fags, Mags and Bags, although I’m less sure about Claire in the Community. Out of interest, the great John Finnemore, creator and writer of Cabin Pressure (and one of its stars) is a regular Listener solver – which isn’t surprising if you hear some of the wordplay and word games inherent in both Cabin Pressure and his excellent Radio 4 sketch show, John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme.
John Finnemore. Yes, respect.
Ed Reardon’s Week is wincingly painful because so close to reality for someone who’s a freelance copywriter.
But, oddly comforting to know it’s not just me.