Wiglaf has given us quite a workout this morning with his puzzle on an old but rarely used grid.
I think that I have managed to solve and parse everything to my satisfaction, but please let me know if anything has slipped through the net. I also find puzzles set on this grid challenging, because owing in part to the large number of intersecting 6-letters in all four quadrants. Todayβs puzzle was very much at the hard end of the Indy spectrum, especially in terms of vocabulary and cultural references.
My favourite clues today were 9, 13 and 17, all for smoothness of surface; 11, for the ingenious definition; the & lit. at 12, for concision; and 3 and 25, both for making me smirk!
Today is Tuesday, so theme day, and other than the mini-theme around Wagner, I suspect that I may be missing something involving all the female forenames that serve as grid entries. I await possible enlightenment – I am reliably informed that the grid contains a lot of one-word Beatles song titles, at 5A, 6, 9, 11, 12, 15, 20, 21, 22 …
*(β¦) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | Β | |
| Β | Β | |
| 05 | JULIA | Start of second half of year given a miss
JUL 1 (=start of second half of year, i.e. 1st of July) + A; Julia is a female forename, hence βmissβ |
| Β | Β | |
| 06 | MISERY | A killjoy like Harpagon getting left out
MISER<l>Y (=like Harpagon, in MoliΓ¨reβs The Miser); βleft (=L) outβ means letter βlβ is dropped |
| Β | Β | |
| 09 | TAXMAN | Government official put burden on staff
TAX (=put burden on, strain) + STAFF (=man, as verb) |
| Β | Β | |
| 10 | LEHMANN | The French king and queen once snubbed a singer of 2
LE (=the French, i.e. a French word for the) + HM (=king, i.e. His Majesty) + ANN<e> (Queen once, i.e. Anne Stuart; βsnubbedβ, cut means last letter is dropped); the reference is to German singer Lilli Lehmann (1848-1929), renowned for her performances of Wagnerian opera |
| Β | Β | |
| 11 | ANNA | Indian national eating stale Indian bread
Hidden (βeatingβ) in βindiAN NAtionalβ; an anna is an obsolete Indian coin, hence βstale Indian breadβ!! |
| Β | Β | |
| 12 | REVOLUTION | Result of our violent rioting?
*(OUR VIOLENT); βriotingβ is anagram indicator; & lit. |
| Β | Β | |
| 13 | PORT MORESBY | Left with additional bit of silver in reserve capital
PORT (=left, on ship) + MORE (=additional, extra) + S<ilver> (βbit ofβ means first letter only) + BY (=in reserve, as in money put by) |
| Β | Β | |
| 18 | MYTHOPOEIC | Mike discovered the old writer residing in backward town producing made-up stories
M (=Mike, in NATO alphabet) + {[<t>H<e> (βdiscoveredβ means external covers are stripped away) + O (=old, as in Old Testament) + POE (=writer, i.e. Edgar Allan Poe)] in YTIC (CITY=town; βbackward indicates reversal)} |
| Β | Β | |
| 21 | RAIN | Now and then Croatians spit, possibly β¦
<c>R<o>A<t>I<a>N<s>; βnow and thenβ means alternate letters only |
| Β | Β | |
| 22 | BECAUSE | β¦ on account of us backing cases in competition
[CA (=cases) + US] in BEE (=competition, as in spelling bee) |
| Β | Β | |
| 23 | ASHRAM | A quiet crowd meditate here?
A + SH (=(be) quiet!) + RAM (=crowd, cram) |
| Β | Β | |
| 24 | LITERS | American volumes in Irish mostly
LIT (=in, alight) + ERS<e> (=Irish; βmostlyβ means last letter is dropped) |
| Β | Β | |
| 25 | NYALA | Horny type from New York state getting half-cut
NY (=New York) + ALA<ska> (=state; βgetting half-cutβ means 3 of 6 letters are dropped); a nyala is a South African antelope, hence βhorny typeβ! |
| Β | Β | |
| Down | Β | |
| Β | Β | |
| 01 | PLUMBAGO | Lead poisoning primarily leads to backache
P<oisoning> (βprimarilyβ means first letter only) + LUMBAGO (=backache); plumbago is graphite, hence lead, Pb |
| Β | Β | |
| 02 | WAGNER | Robert // Lindsay?
The reference here is not to English actor Robert Lindsay (1949-), but to US actor Robert Wagner (1930-) and to US actress Lindsay Wagner (1949-)!! |
| Β | Β | |
| 03 | MICHELLE | Womanβs nether regions bitten by rodents
HELL (=nether regions) in MICE (=rodents) |
| Β | Β | |
| 04 | SECANT | Function in which oneβs inducted into religious group
AN (=one) in SECT (=religious sect); secant is one of six trigonometrical functions of an angle |
| Β | Β | |
| 05 | JOANNA | Girl played a banjo topless? Not initially
*(A +<b>ANJO + N<ot>); βtoplessβ means that first letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by βplayedβ, and βinitiallyβ that the first letter only is used in it |
| Β | Β | |
| 07 | YANGON | A new government installed in that old Asian city
[A + N (=new, as in New Testament) + G (=government)] in YON (=that old, i.e. an old word for that); Yangon in Myanmar was formerly known as Rangoon in Burma |
| Β | Β | |
| 08 | PLUVIOMETER | Source of 21 data in much of volume 1, curiously safe outside
*(VOLUM<e> + 1) in PETER (=safe); βmuch ofβ means that last letter only is dropped from anagram, indicated by βcuriouslyβ; a pluviometer is a rain gauge, hence βsource of rain (=entry at 21) dataβ |
| Β | Β | |
| 14 | TOP QUARK | Harry quit pork? I must go out for a little bit
*(QU<I to A>T PORK); βI must go out for a means letter βiβ is replaced by βaβ in anagram, indicated by βharryβ, harass; top quark is a particle believed to be one of the fundamental constituents of nuclear matter |
| Β | Β | |
| 15 | BIRTHDAY | By securing a third off, thereβs reason to celebrate
*(A THIRD) in BY; βoffβ is anagram indicator |
| Β | Β | |
| 16 | CYMBAL | During audition, Mark traps instrument
Homophone (βduring auditionβ) of βmark=symbolβ, sign; the cymbals are a percussion (=traps) instrument |
| Β | Β | |
| 17 | CICADA | Bug used by US intelligence to catch blighter
CAD (=blighter, scoundrel) in CIA (=US intelligence (agency)); the βbugβ of the definition is not a listening device but an insect! |
| Β | Β | |
| 19 | HECATE | Queen of the witches canβt stand going round the City
EC (=the City (of London)) in HATE (=canβt stand); Hecate is the goddess of magic and witchcraft in Greek mythology |
| Β | Β | |
| 20 | CHAINS | Charles invests in bonds
IN in CHAS (=Charles, i.e. diminutive form) |
| Β | Β |
Julia, Misery, Taxman, Anna, Revolution, Rain, Because, Michelle, Birthday, Chains…
…all single-word Beatles song titles.
Thanks wiglaf and RR!
Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog!
Liked JULIA, LEHMANN, ASHRAM, LITERS, TOP QUARK and CYMBAL.
ASHRAM
Looks like an extended def/CAD.
Thanks FrankieG for the enlightenment!
Well done Frankie G! Although inclined to the classical end of the spectrum I do like the Beatles so should have spotted this. Found it fairly gentle on the whole, so much enjoyed. Thanks Wiglaf and RatkojaRiku.
There’s also a Beatles ASHRAM
CHAINS
CHAS invests IN
Chambers has under ‘invest’
‘to surround, besiege’ (military).
Possibly the setter had this sense of ‘invest’ in mind.
Or the archaic sense of ‘to clothe’?
Failed the parsings on several and GK gaps on several e.g. I’ve never heard of trap for percussion. Didn’t particularly like the Robert Lindsay clue. Is that even a cryptic clue in any sense of the word?
Was looking for a Prince theme after RAIN and REVOLUTION, especially as it’s 40 years this year since Purple Rain was released. Obviously I didn’t spot the actual theme.
Can anyone please give me an example of the use of LIT for IN? I’m struggling to see it.
This was a bit of an unsatisfactory puzzle for me today for some reason. I think I must’ve got out of bed the wrong side or something.
I’ll go for BIRTHDAY as fave clue today as I’d just finished a slice of the OH’s cake as I started the puzzle. Happy birthday to her.
Thanks to RR for the blog and filling in all the parsings and FrankieG for the theme.
Thanks also to Wiglaf for the workout.
Thank you to FrankieG @1 and @2 for enlightening many of us as to the theme π
For those who prefer classical music there’s Roll Over Beethoven – ‘Tell Tchaikovsky the news’ – or The Rutles’ parody Blue Suede Schubert.
They all go nicely with both Wagners, Lindsay and Robert – after Robert Lindsay has received the lift-and-separate treatment.
rocket@7
LITERS
Collins has this example and explanation:
‘If a train, boat, or plane has come in or is in, it has arrived at a station, port, or airport.’
arrived/landed=LIT.
KVa @10
Ahhhh yes LIT not LIT, bloomin’ sneaky setters.
Thanks for that.
rocket@11
RR says in the blog in=alight.
Collins has this example:
do you keep the fire in all night?
I think there was a discussion on this topic some time ago.
RatkojaRiku@8 – You’re very welcome – π
[Here’s where I learned that Rangoon is the capital of Burma, back in May 1962: Superman #153 – a COMIC – see row 9 in the grid.
Thanks W&RR.]
Tatrasman@4 – If you found that gentle in any way, you did better than me.
I did get there in the end, but there was a lot of fairly obscure GK and involved parsing, neither of which I mind, just that I found it a serious workout. I liked CHAINS, ASHRAM, MISERY, BIRTHDAY, MISERY and REVOLUTION. I remain unconvinced by “in = LIT”, but I’ll grudgingly accept it. At least the theme was obvious to me for once.
Thanks RatkojaRiku and Wiglaf
Iβm with Bodger on this one!
Sorry, didn’t enjoy this one. I spotted the theme which helped a bit, but there was some questionable parsing (LIT as discussed above, Harpagon in 6), a lot of niche GK required here (Lotte Lehmann, Nyala, Port Moresby, Pluviometer, Yangon – I’m not counting Top Quark or Secant because I happened to be familiar with those but I’m sure they would be obscure to some);
… and ‘Robert Lindsay?’ for Wagner is just ridiculous.
Barely got started with this one. Either I’ve got out of bed on the wrong side or this was ludicrously hard.
This was an insomnia solve for me. Some very elegant clues but others a bit too obscure for 3am. I needed a lot of parsing help and still remain slightly unconvinced.
Thanks Setter and Blogger
Iβm with @Leedsclimber. So much obscure GK.
Loved 2d WAGNER – A “lift-and-separate” par excellence – just “Robert Lindsay” and nothing else!! – yes, RR, it deserves 2 exclamations!!
Splitting Wolfie Smith(1977-80) to get Jaime Sommers(1975-6,76-8,87,89,94) …
… and Anthony DiNozzo, Sr.(2010-19).