The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29148.
To exaggerate only a little, that was easier to solve than to blog. Several of the clues, mostly falling in the general double/cryptic definition area, were not easy to pin down. Very likely, others will have other takes on the parsings.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CORNCOB |
Ear of horse with hard growth on the front (7)
|
| A charade of CORN (‘hard growth’) plus COB (‘horse’), with ‘on the front’ indicating the order of the particles. | ||
| 5 | CRAMPON |
Hamper available that climber may need (7)
|
| A charade of CRAMP (‘hamper’ – cramp one’s style) plus ON (‘available’). | ||
| 9 | ALPHA |
First-class kind of brainwave (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 10 | GOES TO POT |
What tea bag does is ruined (4,2,3)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation – and the definition is questionable: GOES TO POT is the process, ‘ruined’ is the result. | ||
| 11 | MACHINE GUN |
Staff receiving unexpectedly nice hug, but one is fired (7,3)
|
| A |
||
| 12 | PURR |
Losing energy, more refined sound from pet (4)
|
| PUR[e]R (‘more refined’) minus the E (‘losing energy’). | ||
| 14 | TESTIMONIES |
Accounts people boxed in have to give, after some swearing (11)
|
| Cryptic definition, the ‘box’ being a witness box. | ||
| 18 | POLTERGEIST |
Let priest go casting out troublesome spirit (11)
|
| An anagram (‘casting out’) of ‘let priest go’. | ||
| 21 | RUTH |
Book, not initially non-fiction (4)
|
| A subtraction: [t]RUTH (‘non-fiction’ treated as a noun) minus the first letter (‘not initially’). My first thought was [f]ACTS. Wrong Testament. | ||
| 22 | SNOWMOBILE |
Son finally getting wheels, but not on this (10)
|
| A charade of S (‘son’) plus NOW MOBILE (‘finally getting wheels’), with a definition extended at least as far as ‘wheels’. | ||
| 25 | VANCOUVER |
Vehicle needs insurance to go round university city (9)
|
| An envelope (‘to go round’) of U (‘university’) in VAN (‘vehicle’) plus COVER (‘insurance’). | ||
| 26 | LYING |
Prone to dishonesty (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 27 | DAMN ALL |
Save nobody and nothing (4,3)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 28 | TADPOLE |
Young swimmer to plead being injured (7)
|
| An anagram (‘being injured’) of ‘to plead’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CLAMMY |
Like a shellfish, might you say, sticky and damp? (6)
|
| Definition and punning reference (or choose your own way of describing this clue). | ||
| 2 | REPACK |
Freshly arrange record in shelf (6)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of EP (‘record’) in RACK (‘shelf’). | ||
| 3 | CHARIOTEER |
Ben Hur for one a wildly enjoyable event — applause all round (10)
|
| An envelope (‘all round’) of A RIOT (‘a wildly enjoyable event’) in CHEER (‘applause’). | ||
| 4 | BOGIE |
Said to be one more than expected in golf trolley (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘said to be’) BOGEY (‘one more than expected in golf’). Chambers and the OED list BOGEY as an alternative spelling for the trolley, which muddies the clue somewhat. | ||
| 5 | CHERUBINI |
Composer has sweet child in India (9)
|
| A charade of CHERUB (‘sweet child’) plus ‘in’ plus I (‘India’ – not in Chambers). | ||
| 6 | ARTS |
To a degree, one may be master of these (4)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 7 | POP MUSIC |
To which one does dad dancing? (3,5)
|
| A pun. | ||
| 8 | NOTARISE |
Fail to get up to acknowledge formally (8)
|
| NOT A RISE or NOT ARISE (‘fail to get up’, or something near to that). | ||
| 13 | CONTROLLED |
Restrained right-winger attacked online (10)
|
| A charade of CON (Conservative, ‘right-winger’) plus TROLLED (‘attacked online’). | ||
| 15 | SAGA NOVEL |
A long read for the old folks’ outing? (4,5)
|
| Another clue which does not fit comfortably into the usual clue types, and as such is perhaps most nearly rendered as a cryptic definition. A saga novel is a set of novels following several generations of a family (e.g. The Forsyte Saga). | ||
| 16 | APPROVED |
Some schools used to be ticked off (8)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 17 | PLATINUM |
Special nuptial mass for recent jubilee (8)
|
| A charade of PLATINU, an anagram (‘special’) of ‘nuptial’; plus M (‘mass’). The ‘recent jubilee’ was the 70th. anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II. | ||
| 19 | LIBIDO |
Swinging both ways in pool, manifesting sexual impulse (6)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of BI (bisexual, ‘swinging both ways’) in LIDO (‘pool’). | ||
| 20 | MEAGRE |
Inadequate? Some agree, but only some (6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘but only some’) in ‘soME AGREe’. | ||
| 23 | WURST |
Sausage of lowest quality for an audience (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘for an audience’) WORST (‘of lowest quality’). | ||
| 24 | COLA |
Pass up a soft drink (4)
|
| A charade of COL (‘pass up’ – with ‘up’ serving to suggest the mountainous location) plus ‘a’. |
Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.
“..clue which does not fit comfortably into the usual clue types” – couldn’t parse SAGA NOVEL.
TESTIMONIES required almost all crossers.
Thanks, Vulcan and PeterO!
GOES TO POT
Doesn’t the phrase mean ‘is ruined?’ The clue works as a double def (the first one cryptic?). Have I just repeated what you said?
TESTIMONIES
And after some ‘swearing’ (on oath). Nice CD, I feel.
SAGA NOVEL
Agree with the blog.
Nice puzzle, thsnks V and P. Couldn’t parse saga novel either, though have read heaps of them [they were mrs ginf’s favourite relaxation after a hard day at the therapy coalface: Poldark, Outlander, Cadfael, O’brian and more, and, longest of all at 35 volumes from 1430 to post-WWII, Harrod-Eagles’s Morland series].
It’s worth noting that SAGA is a UK travel company catering for over 50s.
I share concerns about GOES TO POT being “is ruined”.
I thought ARTS was a bit weak.
Always thought it was a Golf Buggy (certainly in Aus). Is it a UK thing? Chambers has “bogie” as just “a trolley”.
Tim C@5
go to pot (Collins)
in British English
to go to ruin; deteriorate
Do you have reservations about some other aspect of this usage in the clue?
Tim C@4
SAGA for old folks’ outing. Sounds plausible as a CD. Thanks.
Tim C@4
BOGIE
Yes. Just a ‘trolley’ is the def (as underlined in the blog).
KVa @6 I’m aware of the phrase go to pot, the reservation is about the tense, the same as PeterO. If someone “is ruined” I would say they have “gone to pot”.
You’re quite right about the trolley. I got misdirected thinking that golf was part of the definition.
Tim C@8
GOES TO POT
In a way, it works.
If ‘go to pot’ is ‘to be ruined’
‘goes to pot’ can mean ‘is ruined’.
Not sure it will be idiomatic to say so. Normally, you may say ‘It is going to pot’ or
‘It has gone to pot’ (as you mentioned).
What’s the story with some schools used to be approved? I thought all schools were. Or is this something you need to be a Brit to understand?
On = available? Hmmm …
A fair smattering of smiles, but a few groans too.
Thanks Vulcan & PeterO.
GDU @10, and Approved school in the UK was a place that young offenders were sent to. It sounds better than Borstal.
Thank you, Tim.
Thanks Tim C, I was feeling none the wiser about what ‘old folks’ outing’ had to do with ‘saga novel’, but you shone light on it.
Geoff Down Under, ‘on’ = ‘available’ is more commonly used in the opposite state, e.g. ‘Can I have baked beans?’ “Baked beans are off, dear!”
nice clear blog! thanks V and P. wrt India=I: it’s phonetic alphabetic — used commonly no?
Tim C and Geoff @10 and @11 – hence the old joke: “I went to a good school. Well, it was approved…”
I’m sure there’ll be instances where it works, something like ” .. after such and such happens, everything goes to pot/is ruined …”
I wonder how many solvers will do a minor head scratch with 24d and that ‘Pass up’ = col?
Ilan Caron@15
Yes. The Nato phonetic alphabet.
Ilan Caron @15, maybe PeterO is suggesting that the I for India is not included under the definiendum “I” in Chambers. Chambers is a bit strange in that the letters of the international radio communication alphabet are not listed under the letter involved, but under the corresponding word, so I for India is listed under India, not I.
Even Azed has fallen foul of this saying in the Slip for 1680 that “Interestingly, a number of clues submitted used w = whisk(e)y, I assume from the NATO phonetic alphabet. This alphabet is not given in Chambers and I can’t find it in other dictionaries of comparable size, so I’m not too happy about allowing it (as distinct from, say, the IVR abbreviations, which are all in C).”.
The next slip said “As several of you pointed out, I was mistaken in saying last month that the NATO phonetic alphabet is not given in Chambers. I didn’t think to look up the words which are used to represent their initial letters, which is where they are all shown.. It still seems odd to me that the lexicographers chose to deal with them in this way without at the same time including them as abbreviations at the single-letter entries.”
Postmark@18
Did look up LOCA…
😉
PostMark @18, I certainly did. It warranted a question mark next to the clue with “up” underlined.
Thanks Vulcan and PeterO. I wondered about COL, but Peter’s explanation is okay.
Peter – don’t know if you’ve been at the gin, but something’s gone awry with your explanation of MACHINE GUN.
As Mondayish as they come and all the more enjoyable for it. I immediately thought of soda and COLA for 18 but couldn’t make sense of either so waited for the crossers. Thanks PeterO for the explanation, which reminds me of my O Level Geography (col, cwm and corrie all being much the same thing iirc). Thanks Vulcan.
Pass=COL is well known, so “up” isn’t necessary to clarify the meaning and just confuses things. I sat there thinking “but that makes LOC…”
Just for the record, the company SAGA provides not only holidays (and has their own cruise ships) but also insurance and other financial services for the over 50s. I’m neither recommending it nor otherwise, just saying. It’s a bit of a cliche for us oldies.
Thanks Vulcan and PeterO for nice start to the week.
Though I haven’t actually heard SAGA NOVEL as a common phrase, just family saga or some such.
I took “up” to imply “above the letter A” in a down clue.
I enjoyed this Vulcan puzzle quite a bit more than I usually do – especially 18ac POLTERGEIST, 25ac VANCOUVER, 28ac TADPOLE, 3dn CHARIOTEER, 5dn CHERUBINI, 13dn CONTROLLED, 15dn SAGA NOVEL (top favourite) and 17dn PLATINUM.
I’m among those who raised an eyebrow at 24dn COLA, before the penny dropped – I agree with gladys @25 – and, like PeterO, thought first of ACTS for 21ac and confidently entered it, then 17dn put me right.
I was quite surprised to find that WURST does not have to be pronounced as ‘vurst’.
10ac GOES TO POT works for me but I’m surprised that there has been no comment on 8dn NOTARISE – I can’t make any sense of it.
Thanks to Vulcan for the puzzle and to PeterO for the blog
Eileen@29
GOES TO POT
I have some company. 🙂
NOTARISE
I thought about the equivalence of NOT ARISE to DO NOT ARISE/fail to get up.
Somehow thought it was fine but your comment makes me rethink.
This was entertaining. POLTERGEIST was nice with the reference to the priest casting out.
Eileen @29: how about “Did you fail to get up?” / “Did you NOT ARISE?”.
Many thanks Vulcan and PeterO.
Very entertaining and some lovely surfaces. I liked MACHINE GUN, POLTERGEIST, SNOWMOBILE and TESTIMONIES. Can’t see the problem with GOES TO POT, seems straightforward. Smiled at BOGIE (Humph) crossing with MACHINE GUN.
Ta Vulcan & PeterO.
Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO, and contributors so far. I liked 21a “The Book of RUTH” and 19d LIBIDO, as well as some others already mentioned by others. 5d CHERUBINI was a biff and google check as the name was unfamiliar. Didn’t really get 15d SAGA NOVEL and wasn’t convinced until I read Tim C@4’s useful reference and further info about SAGA. And good to have further local intel on 16d APPROVED in relation to the educational euphemism. Re the already much discussed 24d COLA, for a while I had PILS [SLIP (pass as in a note to leave) up (reversed) for a light (soft) beer (drink)], but had to re-think that when nothing else worked in what I found a tricky SW.
[Sorry about repetition of “others” and “further” – note to self, cooking dinner and making a contribution to 15² – and trying to check back to ensure I’m not repeating what others have said – can be tricky!]
Quite a workout. I needed help from Google for the GK and new words such as COB = a powerfully built, short-legged horse (for 1ac); BOGIE = trolley; ALPHA brain wave; composer CHERUBINI; CRAMPON.
Favourite: MACHINE GUN.
I could not parse 14ac.
Thanks, both.
I didn’t notice the repetition of “others” and “further” JIA @24. It all made perfect sense to me.
Tim C @20: Very helpful. Thanks. There is also this from a few years back: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2017/feb/13/cryptic-crosswords-for-beginners-the-nato-alphabet
[TimC@36: nor did I but JIA@24 – how was the dinner?!]
[SAGA – Sexually Active Geriatrics Abroad.]
Thanks to Vulcan for Monday’s entertainment and to PeterO for the blog
Found this trickier than the usual Vulcan. Not many solved on first pass. Slowly got there. Last two in the interlocking REPACK and finally ALPHA, bizarrely enough. Never come across SAGA NOVEL before, or BOGIE as a trolley. Only as something unpleasant coming out of (someone else’s) nose…
…then of course there’s the marching tune Colonel Bogey, made famous by the film Bridge Over The River Kwai…
Thanks to Tim C@20 for the Azed quotes re ‘India’ for the letter I. It seems natural to me that it is listed in Chambers under India, as it is not an abbreviation but a representation. It’s not I for India, it’s India for I!
Chambers also helps with COL(A): “a pass or depression in a mountain range”. This justifies ‘up’ in exactly the way our blogger has done.
Favourite for me was SNOWMOBILE, with ‘son finally’ not – as seemed obvious – referring to the last letter of son.
Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.
In my mind BOGIEs are always associated with trains, as here in Wiki
I too puzzled over ‘up’ in the COLA clue. Never heard of SAGA NOVEL. And I wasn’t happy about pronouncing WURST with a W. Otherwise a pleasant start to the week. Thanks!
I should say an English W. A German W is an English V !
Yes, I was initially done by putting GONE TO POT and (F)ACTS, which delayed me. And I too was confused by (pass) up. SAGA could be used as an adjective for a novel, but SAGA NOVEL is not exactly a well-known phrase. Nevertheless, I was pleased to have some difficulties to deal with on a Monday. There’s already a Quiptic; we don’t need two of them!
copland@46. SAGA NOVEL as a phrase didn’t seem right to me, either, but it is in Chambers!
Was the only one entirely unfamiliar with CHERUBINI? Even with all the crossers I had to resort to an onlist of composers by name, although in hindsight I might have pieced it together from the clue.
Otherwise, a nice start to the week.
Finished before lunch (with a bit of help from word finder) – a first for me.
(Paul@24 – cwm, Corrie, combe and cirque are the same – hanging valleys, but col is a pass between higher ground)
On a side note, I wonder whether younger solvers are thrown by the use of EP for “record”? It’s been a very long time since the EP format was common, although the LP of course has made a comeback.
Thanks to Vulcan for an enjoyable start to the week. Some lovely surfaces and ticks for POLTERGEIST and DAMN ALL. Thanks to PeterO for the blog but, like so many others, I still can’t parse SAGA NOVEL. The ref to ‘SAGA’ as the organisation relating to older people is there; but how does the ‘NOVEL’ component work? Is Vulcan available?
Thanks to Vulcan for the puzzle and PeterO for the blog.
Like Cobbler@51 I am still trying to solve the riddle of how to parse ‘SAGA NOVEL’. But an enjoyable puzzle nonetheless.
Cobbler@51&Shropshirelass@52
I thought …
A long read for the old folks who take a SAGA tour/trip.
A CD.
Tim C @4
Thanks for reminding us of the Saga Company. I had come across them before (in another crossword, way back when), but the enhancement to the clue slipped my mind.
Crispy @23
No, not the gin. I generally start to write the blog over dinner, and use a knockabout Chromebook which would be no great loss if I spilled wine on the keyboard. It will occasionally start inserting text in unexpected places; most times, I correct the error, but this one slipped under my radar.
SAGA NOVEL (me @53 contd…)
A long NOVEL one reads when one is on a SAGA outing!
In the middle of the Monday spectrum I’d say. Some oddities as have been pointed out.
I had no quibbles with COLA and agree with PeterO’s parsing.
I thought MACHINE GUN was neat with a great surface.
Thanks Vulcan and PeterO
Eileen et al: Here in the US, WURST has been Anglicized to the point where it’s more often said with a W than a V, though it’s also more often said as part of the name of a specific sausage (such as the ever-popular bratwurst.) I think I would only say “vurst” if I were in Germany!
Nothing else to add about the crossword–as usual it’s all been said better than I could.
Cobbler @51
SAGA NOVEL is , as pointed out by sheffield hatter @47, in Chambers, and it merits its own Wikipedia page.
Thanks for the blog, I like the Monday tradition and I think Vulcan has filled the slot very well recently but I was less than impressed with this. I counted 12 clues without any word play at all and some of these were just vague allusions to the answer, ARTS is a good example of my least favourite type of clue.
VANCOUVER and POLTERGEIST were good constructions.
Tyro@49 – many thanks. I recognise cirque now that you mention it. In my defense, O Level Geography was a long time ago. The teaching of separate continents broken up from the Pangea was considered cutting edge!
(Re 15d where I live which has been known as Costa Geriatica for many years the term SAGA has always been referred to as “Send all Grannies away”. The company founded by Sidney de Haan in Folkestone many years back specialises in holidays for those over 55. It is a highly successful organisation for a well off niche market). As one of the oldies the expression is quite well known but never seen it in a crossword before. I thought this was quite a good one from Vulcan. Ta for the blog
Thanks both,
I took ‘saga novel’ to be a reference to the genre of novels about middle class country women having mid-life crises, commonly known as ‘Aga sagas’, after the brand of cooking range favoured by many of them.
Didn’t take long, but good crossword. I put in ‘gone to pot’ at first, then re-read and thought ‘oh it’s goes!’
1d I don’t think CLAMMY – “sticky” but rather slippery (like a clam, for instance) .
4dn Never heard of a bogie/trolley. Wikipedia gives so many different images I still don’t know what it is. And they say it’s called a truck in North America — news to me. By me a truck is a lorry.
I’ve heard of the Forsyte Saga (and watched some of its interminable television version decades ago), but didn’t know SAGA NOVEL was a thing.
Eileen@29 Why would 17dn put you right on RUTH vs ACTS? Both books have T in the third place where it intersects with PLATINUM. Did you mean 16dn? And do you say “livervurst”?
PeterO — gin or no gin, what was Aram doing in your blog for MACHINE GUN?
mrpenney@57 Your mentioning bratwurst reminds me of a time last June at a folk festival on the grounds of a county fair, where one food vendor who had one of those menus with insertable letters found itself offering ratwurst. (When I pointed it out, they fixed it fast.)
Thanks, Vulcan and PeterO.
I’m another who confidently entered ACTS at 21ac.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the definition at 1ac: In my understanding, which is confirmed by the dictionaries I’ve checked, a corncob is not the same as an ear. The corncob is the woody inner part, while the ear is the whole thing.
I’m convinced that the various explanations for 15dn (SAGA NOVEL) are all there is to say about this clue, but I don’t think that they’re sufficient to make the clue a sound one.
I found this puzzle disappointing, with quite a few clues that, while technically sound, struck me as uninspired (e.g., 9ac, 10ac, 1dn, 7dn). But setting seems like a difficult job, and they can’t all be gems.
Jacob @50 – as I think one of the younger solvers here (albeit still thirtysomething!), bands continue to put out mini-albums they call EPs, even when it’s only actually on CD or streaming services. How long that lasts in the Spotify era I couldn’t say…
Valentine @16 – yes, I did mean 16dn, of course.
And no, I don’t say ‘livervurst’: I barely know what it is, let alone know how to pronounce it. I’ve certainly never needed to ask for it in a shop. 😉
I meant ‘Valentine @ 64’, of course – I’m not doing very well with numbers today!
Can a saga novel contain more than one novel, as does the Forsyte Saga? Or should that be a saga of novels, or perhaps a novel saga? Wikipedia offers single novels with the characteristics of a saga as saga novels, including War and Peace, Middlemarch, and Gone With The Wind. But The Forsyte Saga? Or The Chronicles of Barsetshire? Or the Human Condition?
Another (f)acts….
BeelzeBob @69
Good question. Chambers gives “saga (also saga novel) a long, detailed story”, which is hardly conclusive; the OED does not give saga novel at all, but the supplement under saga includes “a novel or series of novels …”; Collins online plumps for “a series of novels …”, and, as you say, Wikipedia lists single novels. You pays your money and takes your choice.
I went for “Acts” too at first.
Re COL, they are always high, even the low ones, so after a shrug or two I came to the same conclusion as PeterO. However CWM is Welsh for valley, not a hanging valley, usually with a stream or river in the bottom, e.g. Cwm Gwaun (Cwm is male , no mutation),
Jacob@48 Was the only one entirely unfamiliar with CHERUBINI? I think there must be only two of us – I had to consult Bradford’s to find him/her.
I was a little disappointed with SAGA NOVEL – I was hoping for an anagram of SAGA, but all I can see is A GAS, with no relevance
Nice bit of Monday fun, thanks, Vulcan and PeterO.
sheffield hatter @42 – excellent point about the Nato alphabet, top of the class for you.
Jacob@50. I have a CD (ok, that automatically dates me as someone who possesses physical formats of music, but bear with me) by Joe Jackson called Fast Forward (ok, that means he’s into cassetes). Released in 2015, it consists of 16 songs recorded in four different places with four different sets of musicians, listed on the sleeve as New York EP, London EP, Amsterdam EP and Berlin EP. Which tells me that the EP was alive and well within living memory.
I have never seen Ben-Hur unhyphenated.
AndrewTyndall@77: Yes, the Lew Wallace novel and the 1950s film of the book both have hyphen…
Accidentally wrote in SLOW COACH without thinking about it for 15d … wasn’t familiar with saga novel, but worked it out eventually. Must have been a bit dozy, as I wrote in REPROVED instead of APPROVED. Once that was sorted, the SE corner fell into place. Very much liked 25a, VANCOUVER, and 1d, CLAMMY. Valentine @64, think handshakes.
AndrewTyndall@77 & nuntius@78 – yes, it even appears on the poster, but so small you might miss it:- — —
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Hur_(1959_film)#/media/File:Ben_hur_1959_poster.jpg
I especially liked 24d COLA “Pass up a soft drink” – where one had to:
1 – lift-and-separate the usual meaning of “pass up” by repunctuating it as “pass, up” – I would always pass up a soft drink in favour of an alcoholic one.
2 – ignore the misdirection of a change in direction of “up” in a down clue.
3 – ignore the misdirection of “up” as an anagram indicator in an across or down clue.
4 – see the “up” as meaning up a mountain.
For 15d SAGA NOVEL as PeterO@58 has pointed out, there’s a Wikipedia page – so why no Wiktionary entry? Merriam-Webster & Collins have one.
I’d pick this one, where Gabriel Garcia Márquez gives an “outing” to the “old folks” in seven generations of Buendias:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude#/media/File:Cien_a%C3%B1os_de_soledad_(book_cover,_1967).jpg
Thanks V&P
Fell down on COLA, as I bunged in ;soda; without thinking. Otherwise, fair enough for a Monday.
A day late, but am I the only one who initially bunged in a rather ruder alternative to DAMN ALL?
(it is the Guardian, after all…)
BeelzeBob @69
Sorry for the late response – I wrote the following, and forgot to hit ‘”Post”:
Good question. Chambers gives “saga (also saga novel) a long, detailed story”, which is hardly conclusive; the OED does not give saga novel at all, but the supplement under saga includes “a novel or series of novels …”; Collins online plumps for “a series of novels …”, and, as you say, Wikipedia lists single novels. You pays your money and takes your choice.
I agree with AuntRuth @44. I can’t imagine saying ‘wurst’ with an English W like ‘worst’!
I may be misreading it but I took 4D’s BOGIE as an alternate/sounds-like spelling of Bogey (the golfing term of 1 over par).
Still not clear how NOVEL is supported in to 15D.
Bit late as usual – but like AuntRuth@44 and others I didn’t think the ‘wurst’ had become anglicized enough to be a homonym for ‘worst’. But no-one else much commented, so perhaps it is. It still grates on the ear though!