Doc had me in (DOUBLE) TROUBLE here, as I couldn’t quite get to the end of this puzzle before the deadline…and I have just realised the error of my ways while typing up the blog…
The preamble states that:
“The unclued lights, (which include two paired words, and three of two words, one of which is not listed in Chambers, and two hyphened), bear a common feature, different in each case, and 13 and 41 are even more so!”
So far, so standard for a Spectator puzzle, with ‘some’ unclued lights to deduce. Although maybe more than the average number – with a lot of white space on the grid after initial grid-filling.
Once I had a good bit of coverage of normal clues, I cottoned on fairly quickly that 13A was probably TENNESSEE, notable for having three sets of double letters, and 41A soon followed as ADDRESSEE – with similar (but different) properties.
So we are looking for words with two sets of double letters, given that those two were ‘even more so’ with three.
This took some grid-staring and, I am not ashamed to admit, a bit of e-dictionary pattern-matching, and I gradually started to find some candidates – BASSOON for 8D; RACCOON for 17D; RED DEER for 43A…TEEPEE at 2D (although with hindsight that could be wee-wee, or tee-hee?) and then things slowed down a bit…LAP-POOL would fit at 32A, although I couldn’t find it anywhere in my e-Chambers or e-Collins, so maybe that was the one mentioned in the preamble?; 26D then probably had to be ALLEE as it was unlikely to start LL…in which case 30A was probably COLLEEN. I wasn’t sure on this, as proper names weren’t mentioned in the preamble, but then Chambers confirmed it as a generic (Irish) word for ‘girl’.
I spent a while trying to justify TOOL-LOCK for 31A/34A, before guessing at SPIT+TOON for 24A/31A. That led to 27D GOOD-DAY, another hyphen, and 42A PATTEE.
And there, the well went dry… 34A LOC? and 33D ?N?EE?. They had to be paired in some way, as L?C? obviously couldn’t have two paired letters. And none of LOCK, LOCH, LOCO, LOCI seemed to fit with ?N?EE?, so I was guessing there is probably some obscure loch in Scotland called ANSEEL LOCH?…
I was about to publish this tale of woe – hoping that someone in the comments below would put me out of my misery! – when I think I have spotted where I went wrong…
The ambiguities of 2D TEEPEE/WEE-WEE/PEE-PEE/TEE-HEE etc. had me thinking maybe I went wrong there…and a quick check on 33D ‘?N?EE?’ as a single word gave ANNEES as a possible…in which case…LOCK and KEEPER would work for those remaining two…doh!
A quick revamp of the grid and here we are…unless I have gone wrong anywhere else?!…IN NEED at 33D?…
So, no chance of a John Lewis voucher this week, and a fair amount of time spent grid-staring and taking Doc’s name in vain! Although maybe I was the architect of my own misfortune with TEEPEE.
Re-reading the preamble – maybe I should have taken that phrase ‘different in each case’ to mean that the two pairs in each particular case had to be different? Whereas I took it to mean each of the ‘cases’ had to be different, so TEEPEE, with EE/EE, was different from all the other cases…
Anyway, no point crryinng ovverr spiillt miilkk…thanks to Doc for a bit of a workout, and pleased I got there in the end…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing |
||
| 4 | FRENCH BREAD | It’s a pain to us Brits! (6,5)
punning CD – ‘pain’ is FRENCH for BREAD! |
||
| 11 | AEOLIAN | Harp from Asia Minor (7)
double defn – an AEOLIAN harp is a type of soundbox with strings, played by the wind; and AEOLIIAN (with a capital A) is an adjective for ‘of Aeolis’, a Greek colony of ancient times, in Asia Minor |
||
| 12 | MAUNDY | Religious celebration for mother and German boy, finally (6)
MA (mother) + UND (and, German) + Y (final letter of boY) [Maundy Thursday] |
||
| 14 | SEWER | Needlewoman, maybe, was a mediaeval servant (5)
double defn – a SEWER, someone who sews, can be a needleworker; and a SEWER was a high-ranking medieval servant |
||
| 16 | VERST | Russian unit, experienced it’s said (5)
homophone, i.e. it’s said – VERST, a Russian unit of length, can sound like VERSED, experienced, as in ‘well versed in…’ |
||
| 19 | RECITAL | Article about musical performance (7)
anag, i.e. about, of ARTICLE |
||
| 21 | GAOL | Olga got out of prison (4)
anag, i.e. got out, of OLGA |
||
| 23 | PORTICO | Left in charge round covered walkway (7)
PORT (left, nautical) + IC (in charge of) + O (round letter |
||
| 25 | EQUERRY | Begins to express doubt about king’s attendant (7)
E (beginning of Express) + QUER_Y (doubt, question) around R (rex, king) |
||
| 35 | INFERNO | Imply there isn’t conflagration (7)
INFER (imply) + NO (there isn’t) |
||
| 37 | AT SEA | Confounded sailing (2,3)
double defn – to be AT SEA can mean to be confused, or confounded; and being AT SEA could also include sailing |
||
| 40 | ADAIR | US firefighter once given a challenge, it’s reported (5)
homophone, i.e. it’s reported – Red ADAIR, legendary US firefighter, oil rig fires, etc., can sound like A DARE, or a challenge |
||
| 44 | SYSTEMATISE | A mess, yet it’s sorted to do this? (11)
anag, i.e. sorted of A MESS YET ITS |
||
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing |
||
| 1 | WATER BEETLE | Member of the Dytiscus finds rain on VW (5,6)
WATER (rain) + BEETLE (a model of VW) |
||
| 3 | SONIC | Prickly character’s shot overheard, near Ian Chappell, for starters (5)
first letters, or starters, of ‘Shot Overheard Near Ian Chappell’ [Sonic the Hedgehog!] |
||
| 5 | RIEL | Colombian coin that is held in both hands (4)
R_L (Right and Left, both hands) around (holding) IE (id est, that is) |
||
| 6 | EAST | Player’s partner oddly hiding net assets (4)
even letters, i.e. hiding odd ones, of ‘nEt AsSeTs’ [bridge player’s partner] |
||
| 7 | CHEERIO | Frankfurter’s goodbye (7)
double defn – a CHEERIO is a type of small frankfurter, in Aus/NZ; and CHEERIO generally means goodbye |
||
| 9 | ENWRAPPED | Engrossed and in ecstasy, one hears (9)
homophone, i.e. one hears – ENWRAPPED, engrossed, can sound like ENRAPT, or in ecstasy |
||
| 10 | ADENOID | Tissue gets taken out going across, then 1 Down upset, then one Down (7)
A (Across, crossword notation) + D ENO (One D, or One Down, upset) + I (one) + D (Down, crossword notation) [the adenoids are often removed, i.e. gets taken out] |
||
| 15 | VIPER | It creeps through after six (5)
VI (six, Roman numerals) + PER (through) |
||
| 18 | ALTON TOWERS | Waterloo Stn rebuilt as theme park (5,6)
anag, i.e. rebuilt, of WATERLOO STN! |
||
| 20 | ARREARS | Arab brings up unpaid debts (7)
AR (Arab) + REARS (brings up) |
||
| 22 | AUTOCRATS | Actuators could become absolute rulers (9)
anag, i.e. could become, of ACTUATORS |
||
| 28 | ELSTREE | Studio location of Nightmare horror film with final bits cut (7)
EL( [Elstree Studios, producing films since 1914] |
||
| 29 | EPHEDRA | Source of asthma medication peer had for treatment (7)
anag, i.e. for treatment, of PEER HAD |
||
| 36 | RISER | Upright revolutionary? (5)
double defn – a RISER can be something upright; and a RISER can be someone who rises, or revolts |
||
| 38 | DREI | Number from the Third Reich (4)
hidden word in, i.e. from, ‘thirD REIch’ – appropriately, as the number in question is 3 in German! |
||
| 39 | BEDS | County borders (4)
double defn – the county of Bedfordshire is often abbreviated to BEDS; and flower BEDS can form the borders of a garden |
||
I had IN NEED for 33d, which I think gave me the “three of two words”, but agree on the rest. The key for me was spotting LOCK-KEEPER. After that things fell into place.
5d. the RIEL is the standard monetary unit of Cambodia (probably not legal tender in Columbia!).
Thanks to mc and Doc.
Thanks, Jay – I spotted things so late in the day I didn’t really have time to double check the ‘manifest’ from the preamble, or to re-redo the grid once I’d realised IN NEED might work!…
If you tried to buy something with riels in Colombia, they might think you were taking the peso…
Perhaps you should have engaged the services of a SUB-BOOKKEEPER 🙂
I got everything except LAP POOL – which presumably IS the one not mentioned in Chambers, because what is it??. But without realising the double letters motif … I was imagining it was all to do with different groups that rhymed. So well done jono and Michael – you are probably the only two people on the planet to complete this – 14 unclued entries is a bit much, with many of them crossing each other.
No John Lewis voucher for us either. We came to the same sticky end as the blogger but didn’t see the option of LOCKKEEPER. We added GEE-GEE to the list of possibles for 2D and should have deleted that as well as the others because as well of the ambiguity the pairs of double letters weren’t together.
Two incompletes on the trot now for the first time. Fingers crossed for this weekends effort.