A timely themed Prize offering from Kite
I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say here that the timing of 27ac coincided almost exactly with that of the publication of the puzzle. The theme emerged quite early on and was comprehensively exploited – but it was only when I read the full report of the achievement and reached the Closing Summary there that the significance of the entries at 1ac, 21ac, 19dn and 20dn was revealed and all fell into place – quite remarkably.
Good cluing throughout, with generally meaningful surfaces and just a couple of bits of parsing where I’d be glad of comments. I had ticks for 9ac ORION, 12ac ISLE, 18ac AT ALL EVENTS, 2dn SKIERS, 4dn NASAL, 13dn FALSEHOODS and 15dn INVENTORY.
Thanks to Kite for an entertaining and absorbing puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Ladies’ organisation names retiring magician (4,3)
WISE MAN
Women’s Institute (ladies’ organisation) + a reversal (retiring) of NAMES
Magus is an ancient word for a magician – the Wise Men from the East in the Bible are known as the Magi
5 Bonaparte mistress’s a goddess (7)
ARTEMIS
Hidden in BonapARTE MIStress – we need to read ‘mistress’s as ‘mistress has’
9 ‘Old flower’, term for bargain hunter (5)
ORION
O (old) + RIO (river, thus ‘flower’) + [bargai]N (last letter – term – of)
[My grandpa always called me, as a child, ‘my old flower’ – I’ve never heard anyone else use this expression but googling suggests it’s a Northern term of endearment]
10 A sun proven briefly to be unstable (9)
SUPERNOVA
An anagram (unstable) of A SUN PROVE[n] – &lit
11 Those last wrestlers maybe united being acknowledged at first (10)
STRAGGLERS
STRUGGLERS (wrestlers maybe) with the u (united) replaced by A[cknowledged] at first
12 We’re told Kite will land in water (4)
ISLE
Sounds like (we’re told) ‘I’ll’ (Kite will) – the definition is a wry nod to the theme
14 Pa OK, with a pie and gin cocktail or a bacon sandwich? (1,3,2,1,4)
A PIG IN A POKE
An anagram ( cocktail) of PA OK A PIE GIN
An interesting clue: a ‘pig in a poke’ is ‘something that is bought without first being inspected, and thus of unknown authenticity or quality’, see here, from my Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
“A blind bargain. The French say Acheter chat en poche. The reference is to a common trick in days gone by of substituting a cat for a sucking-pig, and trying to palm it off on greenhorns. If anyone heedlessly bought the article without examination he bought a “cat” for a “pig;” but if he opened the sack he “let the cat out of the bag,” and the trick was disclosed. The French chat en poche refers to the fact, while our proverb regards the trick. Pocket is diminutive of poke.”
However, this definition does not appear in the clue; I learned, when I lived in Northern Ireland, decades ago, that a poke was an ice cream cone and I believe it can also describe a cone used for other types of food, such as chips, hence a pig in a poke could, cryptically, be a bacon sandwich?
I’d be interested to hear of others’ interpretations
18 Anyway, slave with talent for cooking (2,3,6)
AT ALL EVENTS
An anagram (for cooking) of SLAVE and TALENT
21 German scientist has floor with central heating (4)
KOCH
KO (floor, as a verb) + CH (central heating)
22 Not ideal, he reused tissues (10)
ENDOTHELIA
An anagram (reused) of NOT IDEAL HE – a new word for me but gettable
25 It’s fine, so they say now, very thin, evenly-divided dress (9)
TOOTHCOMB
I’ve spent more time on this than the rest of the puzzle put together.
All I can make of the parsing is TOO (very) + TH[in] (evenly divided?) + COMB (dress), with a surface that I cannot make much sense of.
This word has mystified / exasperated me for as long as I can remember: I first met it in the expression ‘a fine-tooth[ed] comb’ (as Bill Bailey was thrown out with), which made perfect sense to me – but, over the years, according to the dictionaries, it has changed its form to ‘toothcomb’, as in the clue (Chambers’definition: ‘a fine-tooth(ed) comb’; Collins: ‘a comb with fine teeth’) which, for me, doesn’t make any sense at all and irritates me every time I see it; is this what Kite is getting at with ‘so they say now’?
Again, Id be glad to hear others’ ideas
26 Idiots’ heads not used at the beginning (5)
OAVES
[l]OAVES (slang for heads) minus the initial letter – archaic form of oafs (idiots)
27 Note record for return of 8 (2-5)
RE-ENTRY
RE (note) + ENTRY (record)
28 Check score of 1 in game (4,3)
TEST RUN
In a test cricket match a run would be a score of one?
Down
1 High-speed train sound covering mostly quiet first of whistles at the outset (6)
WHOOSH
W[histles] + HOO[d] (covering, mostly) + SH (quiet)
It took a while for me to winkle out the (rather long-sounding) definition – originally, I simply had ‘high-speed’ – but then I found this
2 PM with tummy upset on board getting slippers (6)
SKIERS
KEIR (Starmer – PM) with the middle letters (tummy) ‘upset’ in SS (familiar crosswordese for ‘in a ship’ – on board)
3 Person largely mature and fit is compliant (10)
MANAGEABLE
MAN (person) + AGE[d] (largely mature) + ABLE (fit) – not sure about this: AGE = mature as a verb and so there’s no real need for the [d]
4 Nosy neighbour’s opening a half of salmon (5)
NASAL
N[eighbour] + A SAL[mon]
5 Share program or no one backs saving time (9)
APPORTION
APP (program) + OR + a reversal (backs) of NO I (no one) round T (time)
6 Change act (4)
TURN
Double definition
7 Ambitious project – show behind picture? (8)
MOONSHOT
MOON (show behind) + shot (picture)
8 These fellows wear tight-fitting headgear or small bowlers (8)
SPACEMEN
S (small) + PACEMEN (fast bowlers in cricket)
13 She with loads of bananas and pork pies (10)
FALSEHOODS
An anagram (bananas) of SHE + LOADS OF
‘Pork pies’ – Cockney slang for ‘lies’ = falsehoods
15 Trendy Conservative including detailed sale in register (9)
INVENTORY
IN (trendy) + TORY (Conservative) round VEN[d], which I was surprised to find as a noun (sale) in Chambers
16 Duke’s vessel starting to sink given sailor’s not a light body (4,4)
DARK STAR
D (duke) + ARK (vessel) + S[ink] + TAR (sailor)
17 Standard finish for screen (8)
PARCLOSE
PAR (standard) + CLOSE (finish) – a new word for me
19 Craftsman makes good partner (6)
GLOVER
G (good) + LOVER (partner)
20 German/English name for leprosy pioneer (6)
HANSEN
HANS (German) + E (English) + N (name)
23 Piece of gold circle (5)
ORBIT
OR (gold) + BIT (piece)
24 Bird or rabbit (4)
CHAT
Double definition
Mostly presented little trouble. I couldn’t quite parse ORION and had STRUGGLERS for STRAGGLERS. PARCLOSE required the dictionary. I enjoyed ‘show behind’ for MOON and just about realized there was a theme. Thanks to Kite and Eileen.
I happened to be doing this just I was watching the astronauts splash down on Friday night – one of the advantages of not being on UK time, I suppose. Anyway, the pretty obvious theme did speed things up a bit.
Defining ORBIT as a circle is probably just fine, especially as there are metaphorical uses as well as the astronomical one, but in the latter case the more accurate term is ellipse (of which circle is a special case).
I tried for a while to interpret the “1” in the clue for TEST RUN as a reference to 1 across, which is the way small numerals are often to be interpreted in cryptics (as opposed to spelled-out numbers, which are never used as clue references). I don’t know how fomalized this is, just what I’ve observed.
Didn’t like STRAGGLERS – I got it but thought it was pretty loose. Did like ARTEMIS and SUPERNOVA.
Tx K&E
I just about saw the theme. Everything went in pretty well except ORION, which I could not parse and I had STRUGGLERS for STRAGGLERS. I enjoyed ‘show behind’ for MOON, nice misdirection. Thanks to Kite and Eileen
Sorry for the repetition. Thought the first comment got lost.
Thanks Eileen. My experience mirrored yours, I spent about as much time worrying about 25a as I did on the rest of the clues and 1d occurred to me immediately but took longer to reason why. I courted ‘Pauline’ for 5a but couldn’t quite make her work for me..
Thank you Eileen. I parsed TOOTHCOMB as you did, and the surface reading similarly. Perhaps earlier combs weren’t so fine? And thanks for the background to PIG IN A POKE. I’d go with your suggestion that POKE is a diminutive of pocket. We have sandwiches down here in pocket bread.
I loved this. I’d been getting up early every morning during the Artemis II mission when I thought the astronauts would be awake (even though I thought it was a lunatic mission, and still do). So it was a delight to see Kite’s Prize on RE-ENTRY day. I read somewhere that Jeff Robinson, Kite, is a scientist, and also a windsurfer (Kite), or some such, so it doesn’t surprise me he was passionate about this.
Recognised all of the crew, and liked the misdirections. My only disappointment was that Kite clued SPACEMEN, albeit appropriately with ”these fellows”, as there was a woman on board. I noted how all of the NASA people used words like ”humans” and ”crewed” to avoid sexism. And how many of the leading scientists were women.
Generously comprehensive blog, thanks Eileen. Knocked this over just now, with the subtleties mostly whooshing past. Agree toothcomb is a mongrel, but otoh I like that the plural of oaf can be oaves. Well done Kite for honouring the big event. (Tho I do agree with pdm@6!)
Haven’t seen Kite for a while — a welcome return. Thanks Kite for an enjoyable, engaging, and timely puzzle. I especially enjoyed 9a ORION (“bargain hunter”), 10a SUPERNOVA (anagram and CAD (except for “briefly”)), 11a STRAGGLERS (finally caught a letter substitution trick), 2d SKIERS (“slippers”), 16d DARK STAR (funny surface)
Clear clues led to nho’s 22a ENDOTHELIA, 17d PARCLOSE, 20d HANSEN (leprosy pioneer, but the astronaut well-known and celebrated in Canada!), 24d CHAT (bird)
Had trouble parsing several crossing clues in the SE: 25a TOOTHSOME, 23d OPERA, 28a ALSO RAN, mainly because they were all wrong…
At least I saw the theme for a change, but not all the references — thanks for highlighting them all, Eileen, and for an enjoyable, engaging, and timely blog! 🙂
Dr. WhatsOn@2, Orbit as a verb? “The satellites orbit/circle the planet”?
Thanks for the blog , even a theme I would get and very well done . SUPERNOVA is very neat , PARCLOSE is new to me but well clued , I will store it behind the reredos . ORBIT , I agree with DrW@2 , it can mean one’s circle , and with Mig@8 for the verb . SPACEMEN , have to agree with PDM@6 but I can forgive because of the grid .
Great and surprising to see Helmut KOCH (no smirking) who did important work with LEAR on antimatter and CP violations .
TOOTHCOMB – do not think I have anything new .
It’s fine , so they say now , – definition referring to how people now always say – a fine toothcomb .
TOO and COMB as in the blog .
THin – with evenly divided meaning cut down the middle which is a neat idea .
I suspect this is exactly what you meant in the blog but you did ask for ideas . So just definition + wordplay .
Finally , A PIG IN A POKE to me is a sausage wrapped in a Staffordshire oatcake , not bacon . Other regions may have their own versions .
Helmets off to Kite for this superb and timely construction.
[Roz, I wondered, when you said you’d be away for a while, if you were involved in the Artemis II project in some way?)
Thanks Eileen. Your commentary on 14 across brought back a memory of a Two Ronnie’s sketch of two blokes in a pub where the one had been duped into buying a “day-old labrador pup” that turned out to be a hamster.
Thanks, Eileen. Even I managed to notice the theme this time, and was impressed by its timing (and thankful the 27a was successful). But I worked out the four naming clues before realising they were the crew. For KOCH, I first thought of Ludwig Koch, German expert on birdsong on the BBC when I was a child, before looking up the Nobel laureate – by chance Ludwig featured in a guardian article on 13 April this week (sorry, I cannot make the link work).
I too had trouble with ‘sandwich’ as ‘poke’ in 14a, being aware of the ‘cat out of the bag’ fable, and am not entirely satisfied with the suggestions others have made.
I agree with the 25a parsing – it should be ‘fine-toothed comb’, but in modern parlance “they [ie, people who understand words less well than we in this blog] now say ‘toothcomb'”. Though ‘evenly divided’ is an odd way of indicating the last half of the word is dropped.
PDM@6, at England’s ancient univs, many women are college fellows, and fine scientists like Christina Koch. Also, the answer is SPACEMEN, so perhaps fellows can be restricted to just the men.
Congrats to Kite.
My faves:
SUPERNOVA, STRAGGLERS and ORBIT.
MANAGEABLE
Agree with Eileen’s observation.
TEST RUN
‘Score of 1 in cricket’=(a) TEST RUN seems all right to me,
Mig@8
SUPERNOVA
I think ‘briefly’ is needed for the def and so it’s an &lit as the blogger says.
Thanks Kite and Eileen.
This was an entertaining well-timed puzzle for last Saturday – I vaguely knew some of the names, Koch was my giveaway as she was a Girl Scout, so is all over Girlguiding* posts, and looked up the others, which helped with Hansen in particular. I know ENDOTHELIA as endothelium, the skin layer in those diagrams, so it made sense, and I can see that OAVES was my last one in, as I convinced myself that oafs could be spelt that way.
*Girl Scouts are the US equivalent of Girl Guides.
Going through hair with a fine TOOTHCOMB is one of those things that go with being a parent of young children, or being stupid enough to work with them – it’s the better way to remove headlice and nits, mechanically, rather than using nasty insecticides on heads, especially as often as I have been known to acquire them from my charges. But it is necessarily thorough and painful. Since my first encounter with nits as an adult, I just visualise the nit combs I own.
Thank you to Eileen and Kite
You’re right, sjshart @15. We have academic fellows and membership of medical associations.
From etymologyonline, I stand corrected.
fellow(n.)
“companion, comrade,” c. 1200, from Old English feolaga “partner, one who shares with another,” from Old Norse felagi, from fe “money” (see fee) + lag, from Proto-Germanic *lagam, from PIE root *legh- “to lie down, lay.” The etymological sense of fellow seems to be “one who puts down money with another in a joint venture.”
Meaning “one of the same kind” is from early 13c.; that of “one of a pair” is from c. 1300. Used familiarly since mid-15c. for “any man, male person,” but not etymologically masculine (it is used of women, for example, in Judges xi.37 in the King James version: “And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows”).
But I still don’t like it. 🙂
I did not pick up on the theme as I was not following news of this mission, and I also failed to solve 9ac and 2d.
Favourite: TEST RUN.
New for me: PARCLOSE, ENDOTHELIA, plural of oaf = OAVES; Gerhard Armauer Hansen = leprosy pioneer.
I could not parse 11ac, 25ac, 1d apart from W + SH = quiet.
Nice puzzle. I spotted the theme thanks to RE-ENTRY (got without yet having the cross-reference and so it helped specifically with SPACEMEN, and also with knowing that ARTEMIS was bound to turn up somewhere). I didn’t twig the significance of the surnames, though.
I remain baffled by the bacon sandwich (specifically the poke, but also the bacon really, because I imagined something like that described by Roz@11, probably based on pigs in blankets where the former are the sausages and the latter the bacon). I laughed at the fine toothcomb, and shrugged at the sound of the high speed train. Everyone seems to have enjoyed MOONSHOT for the “show behind” (as did I) but I can’t make much sense of the surface so I can’t say that it’s one of my faves – unlike the simple ISLE which I think is great.
Thanks to Kite for the fun, and to Eileen for the interesting etymology of the pig-poke and cat-bag sayings. I didn’t know that.
Surely the “bacon sandwich” just refers to the supposed pig being hidden in something, with the question mark indicating that it’s a jokey definition.
Very entertaining and I even twigged the theme in time for it to help.
Many thanks Kite and Eileen.
I was another who failed to substitute an A for the U in STRUGGLERS. I think the problem is that ‘those last’ in a race are generally referred to by racing commentators as struggling, so the crossers suggested the obvious answer and I didn’t need (or read) the rest of the clue (doh!).
Like Mig@8 I (almost) wrote in TOOTHSOME with a shrug, but luckily I was with my daughters last weekend for my grandson’s 2nd birthday, and one of them helped me see the error of my ways. A “fine toothcomb” is a ridiculous error for a fine-toothed comb, but we seem to be stuck with it. (I borrowed my grandson’s comb to disentangle my beard, as there is no hair on my bonce, and he took it back and combed his chin!)
Thanks to Kite and Eileen. (I agree that there’s no cryptic necessity for AGE[d], but in the surface, ‘largely mature’ flows better, perhaps?)
Thanks Kite and Eileen. I got
“Most “
Of the theme but completely missed the names (and was wondering why Koch,Hansen et al were solutions — doh!!). I thought the wordplay in the clue for Koch was brilliant!
ORION the hunter was
Slain by ARTEMIS according to something I read somewhere along my solving journey! So a further nice connection.
Good weekend everyone!
My problems with 25a were of a rather different kind. Arriving n the SW after accounting for the north, I quickly had the T from DARK STAR, the H from CHAT and the O from INVENTORY. Given the theme, I was therefore convinced that the answer must be ‘TOUCHDOWN’ and spent an age trying to reconcile this with the rather odd clue. It was only when I moved on to the SE and got ORBIT that I was disabused.
Regarding POKE, in the west of Scotland it is used to refer to plastic and paper bags of various kinds. My wife, unaccustomed to the vernacular, was once, during a holiday in Ayrshire, asked at a supermarket checkout if she wanted a poke. She was somewhat disconcerted.
Many thanks to Eileen for her customary excellent blog. I particularly enjoyed the description of the PIG IN A POKE. For the parsing of this, I went with the Chambers definition of POKE as ‘a pouch’ or ‘a pocket’ to give as Eileen suggests a somewhat whimsical definition. A good piece of detective work for WHOOSH, although I had just gone with the noun derivative of the ODE definition of the verb ‘ move quickly or suddenly with a rushing sound: [no object, with adverbial of direction] a train whooshed by. The clue for SPACEMEN originally used ‘people’ instead of fellows but it was thought that as the answer was MEN, fellows was more accurate. I doubt that Christina KOCH would want to be described as a SPACEMaN. For TOOTHCOMB, I had originally put just ‘as they say’ but it was thought that the ‘now’, as Eileen surmised, reflected the change from fine TOOTH(ed) COMB. The surface kind of made sense to me as a type of fine dress.
From Google AI: While “spaceman” specifically implies a male, “astronaut” is used to describe any person trained, equipped, and deployed to serve as a crew member on a spacecraft, regardless of gender.
MOONSHOT. Ambitious project, definition, ok. Show behind picture, we get the joke. I think the other meaning of ”show behind picture” is the reason for the Artemis mission, ie taking shots of the dark side of the moon.
Two linked clues do not a theme make (particularly when there was such an obvious one) but there is a clear link between KOCH 21ac and HANSEN 20dn. Both scientists discovered and are linked with the two commonest Mycobacterial infections worldwide. Infection with Koch’s bacillus (TB) was a term used euphemistically by my irascible old boss when he didn’t want to frighten the patient. In the 1970’s TB was eminently curable but historically a cause of great anxiety and the diagnosis needed to be confirmed then communicated sensitively. Hansen’s Disease (or leprosy) is now extremely rare in the UK and is usually seen in individuals coming from Africa or SE Asia. Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and Mycobacterium Leprae have this shared microbiological genus, are spread by infective droplets ,are indolent metabolisers, grow slowly in the lab and require at least 6 months treatment with complex multidrug antibiotic regimes.
Thanks Kite for dropping in. Shame that ”astronaut” wouldn’t fit, but it would have been a dead giveaway. Enjoyed the crossword very much as I was watching re-entry,
Whatever the dictionaries may say, ‘toothcomb’ is objectionable. Either it is something that doesn’t exist, as nobody needs to comb their teeth, or the first part is superfluous, as all combs have teeth. On the other hand, ‘fine-tooth comb’ is all right, meaning a comb with fine (thin, delicate) teeth. So, can we proscribe ‘toothcomb’?
Many thanks to Kite for dropping in @25 with a welcome reassuring comment and to others for taking time to add their observations. We actually seem to be in broad agreement, which is gratifying. (To emphasise the point of 25ac, though, as confirmed by Kite, it’s the ridiculous TOOTHCOMB, not ‘fine-tooth(ed) comb’ that is ‘so they say now’.)
I don’t remember seeing the Two Ronnies sketch recalled by Richtonard @14 but I managed to find this, where it’s mentioned: https://www.facebook.com/gabriel.burgess.71/videos/the-two-ronnies-1979/2278375052646332/
Thank you, too, to Balfour @24 – my Scottish husband would have appreciated the anecdote. 😉 – and to OnceAPhysician @28 for the interesting extra information.
Fun puzzle, with its blatant topical link to the recent lunacy 🙂 Like ES @23, I missed the significance of the surnames, but they were all well clued.
The word PARCLOSE did ring a faint bell, so the clue gave me no trouble, but I couldn’t have told you what it meant. Like Shanne, I recognised ENDOTHELIA only in the singular. Many good clues, but the &lit SUPERNOVA was the standout for me.
paddymelon passim: ‘fellow’ used attributively – eg ‘fellow solvers’ – covers males and females without seemingly risking offence. (And it is odd that a ‘guy’ is always male, but in the US ‘you guys’ is commonly used to address a mixed group).
Thanks to Kite and Eileen
OnceAPhysician @ 29. I can see why Kite clued KOCH and HANSEN in that way, He’s got a PhD in Microbial Biochemistry.
Protase @33. I don’t know your gender, but yes, I understand about ”fellow” solvers. I just wish there was another word. I baulk at being addressed in a group by ”you guys” especially by women, and even more so if we are all women. I’m pretty tolerant of almost anything, but in crosswords there are so many times ”men” comes up, military, sports etc. It just jars and makes me feel not part of the human race.
paddymelon@27, Aha! Thank you. (Maybe I was the only one who couldn’t see what it was talking about.) I think “rear” instead of “behind” would have been more intelligible for me.
paddymelon@35
I have heard women (mainly girls and younger women) call each other ‘bro’ and ‘dude’.
Just saying.
Of course, I appreciate your point.
[paddymelon @35: I appreciate your sensitivity; as I’ve remarked before, it’s a pity that the word ‘man’ which originally meant ‘human being’ has also become the usual word for ‘male person’. At least you are anglophone and don’t have to put up with the masculine plural which is the standard usage in languages with grammatical gender for any group with at least one male. And BTW I deplore the prissy use of ‘gender’ to mean male or female. I prefer the good old fashioned ‘sex’ 🙂 ]
[ PDM@13 , Artemis is way out of my field . I am just taking a break from Guardian blogs in the week , they take so much time and I am keeping my screen use under 15 minutes a day . Reached my limit for today now . ]
A very enjoyable solve. It was HANSEN and GLOVER that tipped me off to the theme. I did wonder, rather grimly, if the crossword would have been withdrawn in the event of a re-entry failure.
MichaelB @30, try telling a cock or a bee that all combs have teeth.
I enjoyed this (pace the toothcomb issue) but am surprised that RIO is accepted without a quibble. No doubt it’s familiar enough, but the fact that it ‘s a non-English word for ‘river’ is not signalled by the clue.
Since I first came across the phrase in childhood, I’ve thought the “poke” referred to a style of bonnet, hence a pig wearing one was akin to mutton dressed as lamb (ie something that looked better than it was), so the whole cat in a bag scenario was a real eye-opener for me. It makes far more sense, of course – although what it has to do with a bacon sandwich still eludes me. Thank you nevertheless for the enlightenment, Eileen, and thanks Kite for a worthy and enjoyable prize puzzle.
Thanks, Eileen. As a Belfastian I’m familiar with poke for cone, but “bacon sandwich” maybe a bit of a stretch for PIG IN A POKE.
Dr.Whatson @2: I think circle=orbit works better when we think of verbs rather than nouns, e.g. “the Moon circles the Earth.”
My theme-blindness kicked in again, not least because I didn’t follow the space mission, but that didn’t spoil the puzzle for me.
Ah yes, KVa@16, thanks for clarifying. I guess a SUPERNOVA does exist for a relatively brief time. Makes sense
Wikipedia: “Compared to a star’s entire history, the visual appearance of a supernova is very brief, sometimes spanning several months”
Absolutely, Miche@44 and Mig@8, ORBIT as a verb is very much interchangeable with circle (and as it happens, they both mean “go around”, without particular concern for the precise geometry of the path).
paddymelon, passim
Looking at it the other way round I can assure you that we males don’t begrudge having to share our pronoun with women for some purposes.
As a law student many years ago I learnt that, since the Married Women’s Prtoperty Act, 1870, “man” has embraced “woman”.
I’m not very good at commenting on Prize puzzles because I can’t remember much detail of how I completed them. I know I managed this one and that I didn’t notice the theme; I remember thinking the names were a bit niche! Anyway, forget the astronauts, I just wanted to comment because of the extra miles Eileen went. Thank you and Bravo!
Enjoyed the puzzle, and even got the ARTEMIS theme – a magnificent spectacle, but vanity science – an expensive distraction from the urgent existential problems faced by humanity and other life. Grateful for Eileen’s help in explaining a few of the answers and my one mistake – STRUGGLERS – but happy to read that I was not the only one. I have long been irritated about the distorted word TOOTHCOMB, so I was interested in the discussion above. Favourite clue was WHOOSH.
Wiseman was first shot; stragglers was last shot; moon shot was enjoyed; test run was a favourite shot; toothcomb, although picked-over rather, was a fine shot and the theme was deserving of such a fine puzzle.
Thanks to Kite, Eileen and, as usual, to all contributors, whatever their sex!
Well, I would say more on this, but I’m in a bit of a plankton-filtering whale mood today, and need to nip off to comb my teeth.
Cheers all.
Tim C #41: strictly speaking, you are, of course, correct. But, if you said “This cock’s comb hasn’t got any teeth. That’s why we don’t categorise it as a toothcomb”, I think you’d get some funny looks.
I was another with STRUGGLERS, possibly influenced by “last” in the wordplay and “Help the Poor Struggler”, the name of the pub run by Albert Pierrepoint, the famous hangman.
Thanks Kite and Eileen. Failed to get TOOTHCOMB and ORBIT because I inexplicably entered ALSO RAN for 28a. Kicking myself now.
GrahamC@54, see me @8 — I missed the same three!
Yes, Mig @55, I saw your comment, and should have acknowledged it.
Like Scribbler #43, I have always thought that “poke” referred to a poke bonnet. The phrase (as I know it) refers to a purchase made without due attention to what you’re getting. So “to buy a pig in a poke” means to purchase something which might look genuine on a cursory glance, but turns out to be a disappointment. So although i did solve the clue, I’m afraid it didn’t make sense to me at the time.