It’s Thursday, it’s Scorpion and it’s a theme about which I know very little, so this had me very worried for a while. In the end this was a remarkably quick solve, although it never felt overeasy, and the clues were enjoyable and satisfying to work out.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 5 | APHRODITE – A + PH + ROD + TIE*. |
| 7 | RAVE – [sa]RA[h’s] [lo]VE[ly]. |
| 9 | STRAIT OF MESSINA – (SISTER’S NOT + MAFIA)*. The narrow strip of water between Sicily and Italy. |
| 10 | AMICABLE – A[tlantic] + ((C[oncerned] + AB) in MILE). |
| 12 | IMPISH – I’M P[ol]ISH. |
| 14 | CAPRI – [trav]ELSI[ck]<. |
| 15 | NIECE – N[ourish] + (E in ICE). |
| 16 | RACY – R.A.C. (“car men”) + [gyps]Y. |
| 18 | ADDS UP – A + DD + SUP. |
| 20 | POSEIDON – POSE + [f]I[nals] + DON. |
| 22 | IAIN DUNCAN SMITH – IN DUN in (A MACHINIST)*. |
| 25 | MARS – A in MR’S. |
| 26 | EFFLUENCE – E[ditor] + (FLU in FENCE). |
| Down | |
| 1 | THE ARCHERS – (HEAR + CH) in [blis]TERS. |
| 2 | HOT TUB – (T + U[nwind]) in BOTH*. |
| 3 | RIFF – (F + FIR)<. The "axeman" here being a guitarist rather than a woodcutter. |
| 4 | ARES – AR[i]ES. This took me a while to figure out, but of course the author is “I”. |
| 5 | ARTEMIS – I in STREAM*. |
| 6 | ELEGISE – ELE[ven] + GIS + E. |
| 8 | VENUS – VENU[e]S. Williams, of course. |
| 11 | EYE UP – (YE + [prod]U[cers]) in E.P. |
| 13 | PARLIAMENT – MAIL< in PARENT. |
| 15 | NEPTUNE – (E-NUT + PEN)<. |
| 17 | CHORTLE – LT< in CHORE. |
| 19 | DIANA – ([b]AN[d] + AID)<. |
| 21 | SINFUL – S[k]INFUL. The Boltzmann constant (k or kB) is the physical constant relating energy at the particle level with temperature observed at the bulk level. It is the gas constant R divided by the Avogadro constant NA. Thanks to Wikipedia for making that clear, then. |
| 23 | NOSY – NO + [thi]S + Y. |
| 24 | CAFE – (FA in EC)<. The FA Cup, I guess. |
Thanks for the blog Simon. NEPTUNE, MARS, and EFFLUENCE were easy enough to fill in, but I couldn’t parse them. Re MARS,I still don’t see how “damages” changes “chap’s” to “Mr’s”, can you help me with this?
A good puzzle with the theme proving very helpful. Particularly liked IMPISH and RAVE.
PS. I think you mean “STRAIT” in 9ac.
Thanks Simon.
Thanks Scorpion for a crossword which requires chipping at – at first look, very little to go on, but gets easier little by little as one progresses, especially after the theme became clear.
jmac, re 25A (Simon allowing): Definition is MARS (=damages), MR’S = chap’s + A(merican) inside.
Favourite clue was 16A: short, punchy, and a clever crytic description of the RAC.
Many thanks, Simon. Feeling quite pleased with myself this morning for finishing this one. Once the theme became apparent it helped; like you I’m not particularly knowledgeable about it (I bet Eileen’s purring, though), but a quick glance at a couple of reference books helped.
There were at least half a dozen clues that I got without the slightest understanding of the wordplay, so thanks for the explanations. There was shedloads of stuff to enjoy: RACY, MARS, THE ARCHERS (don’t you just hate Tony? … what a drip). So I’m in better spirits than I normally am after a tussle with the Thursday crossword. Thank you Scorpion.
[You have a little typo at 16ac, Simon: it’s RACY not RAC]
Thanks Scchua.
Hi Kathryn’s Dad
Having finally got round to this puzzle [‘purring’ is not what I was doing at 9.13!], I see what you mean [and nice to get The Archers, too!]
I thought the cluing of the pairs was quite ingenious and made the process of matching them up not quite so automatic as it might have been.
Some very good clues: I liked IMPISH, RACY, SINFUL [bit of a theme here!] and the neat surface of 6dn, with ‘consider passing’ as the definition of ELEGISE.
A very enjoyable puzzle – many thanks, Scorpion.
And thanks to Simon for the blog, of course.
Thanks for the blog, Simon. I enjoyed this too. The usual very elaborate, precise, clueing from Scorpion. The planets and the clearly linked answers made it a little easier than Scorpion sometimes is as others have commented. Favourites EFFLUENCE, IMPISH, CHORTLE, SINFUL and NOSY. Like Eileen, I liked the definition in ELEGISE. I think k is in general use as a constant in maths, not necessarily referring to any particular one.
My pleasure – and thanks to commenters for pointing out typos, which I believe are now corrected.
Easy, harder, easy, hard, so far this week in the Independent, but I have enjoyed all of them. Interesting to see that both tha harder ones this week were given a theme to offer some extra help, for those who spot these things!! Looking forward to Phi tomorrow.
Odd, I found this strangely easy although the justification for ar(i)es eluded me, despite not being classically trained the planet/gods links were obvious to me. Grid screamed nina after seeing the first 4 at the top T H R A could certainly be the start of something but if there is it’s over my head. Carmen again? Although it’s RAC this time, will this become hackneyed? Should be me v Phi tomorrow unless Eimi has another twist coming.
Oooh controversial. The Ximeneans will not be pleased.
Nothing really difficult, having twigged the theme straight away, but I struggled with 3d and 6d till i realised I’d stupidly put ‘Straits of Mesina’ for 9a.
btw, no-one’s stated the theme; if anyone’s still wondering it’s Roman deities and their Greek equivalents or vice-versa.
I enjoyed this one and was surprised that it was comment 12 before the full theme was mentioned. I initially thought it might be a planet theme as I had VENUS and NEPTUNE. I then found MARS and set about checking light lengths for other planet candidates, unsuccessfully it turned out. I thought that was a nice red herring, deliberate or not.
The answer to 14A is ISLE, rather than CAPRI.