Samsa seems to be a new setter of Independent puzzles, so welcome!
I note that Gregor Samsa is the main character in The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka [1883 – 1924], German author. Kafka’s books describe situations that are bizarre, nightmarish, illogical, and overwhelmingly complex. Let’s see whether Samsa’s puzzles can be described similarly.
This being Tuesday, there is likely to be a theme in the puzzle. Today’s theme is signalled by the clue at 15 across leading to NOAH‘S ARK. Every other Across answer has a creature [passenger] within it.
In clue order, these are HEN, CUB, LAMB, ANT, BAT, RAM, HARE, EFT, APE, ASP, EWE, CAPON, OTTER, BEE and EEL.
If we look at the Down entries, we could claim that three of these creatures go in ‘two-by-two’, as suggested in an associated nursery rhyme. BAT, ANT and EEL feature in COMBATANT and FEEL OUT. You could also add the BAY written upwards in PAYABLE as another potential creature for the ARK.
I struggled a bit with the definitions, thinking one or two entries weren’t quite the right part of speech – e.g. fighting and COMBATANT, plus TAPERS and the link to cameramen. I had to look at the Merriam-Webster dictionary website to find a definition for FEEL OUT, and there are a couple of other (clearly flagged) Americanisms, SLAM BANG and BLOTTERS. I wonder if Samsa is based ‘across the pond’. Having said that, I did enjoy the puzzle and the theme.
| Across | |
| 1 | Real gold in addition to this unfinished check (9)
AUTHENTIC (genuine; real) AU (chemical symbol for gold) + THEN (after that, in addition) + TICk (mark or check) excluding the final letter K (unfinished) AU THEN TIC |
| 6 | Oddly crumby energy block (4)
CUBE (a solid in the shape of a block) CUB (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of CrUmBy + E (energy) C U B E |
| 8 | American recklessly getting business degree in jargon (4- 4)
SLAM BANG (informal American term for carelessly or recklessly) MBA (Master in Business Administration, a business degree) contained in (in) SLANG (jargon) SLA (M BA) NG |
| 9 | A prayer with wings? Bro, it’s poetic (6)
MANTIS (reference a praying MANTIS [insect]) MAN (bro’ is an informal term for a male friend, man) + TIS (a poetic form of it’s or it is) MAN TIS |
| 10 | Diminished seventh note opens a bass promotion (6)
ABATED (became less in amount or intensity; diminished) (TE [seventh note of the tonic sol-fa) contained in (opens) (A + B [bass] + AD [ADvertisement; promotion) A B A (TE) D |
| 11 | Public transport controlled after prince is run over (8)
TRAMPLED (is walked on roughly; is run over) TRAM (a form of public transport) + P (prince) + LED (controlled) TRAM P LED |
| 12 | Drunk has wine and joint (6)
SHARED (joint) Anagram of (drunk) HAS + RED (a RED wine) SHA* RED |
| 15 | Drifting on a shark boat with passengers from every other across answer (5,3)
NOAHS ARK (a boat into which the animals went two by two; Each across entry, apart from this one, has a creature concealed within it; a boat with passengers from every other cross answer. ) Anagram of (drifting) ON A SHARK NOAH‘S ARK |
| 16 | Birth defect in hand captured by short video (5,3)
CLEFT LIP (a congenital cleft or fissure in the midline of the upper lip, often occurring with cleft palate; an example of a birth defect) LEFT (descriptive of a hand) contained in (captured by) CLIP (a short extract from something longer, such as a film or video) C (LEFT) LIP |
| 19 | Contracts for cameramen? (6)
TAPERS (marrows, contracts) TAPERS (I’m guessing some cameramen record their work to tape, therefore making themselves TAPERS) TAPERS |
| 21 | Rudeness is therapy, surprisingly, after losing husband (8)
ASPERITY (churlishness; rudeness) Anagram of (surprisingly) IS ThERAPY excluding (after losing) H (husband) ASPERITY* |
| 22 | Some absinthe we bought in place for surfers? (3,3)
THE WEB (reference the phrase ‘surf THE WEB‘ looking for information) THE WEB (hidden word in [some] absinTHE WE Bought) THE WEB |
| 24 | Notorious gangster‘s international debut? (6)
CAPONE (reference Al CAPONE (1899 – 1947], notorious American gangster) CAP ONE (the first CAP for an international player) CAP ONE |
| 25 | American record holders initially behaved like aquatic animals (8)
BLOTTERS (In America, records of police station activity) BL (first letters of [initially] each of Behaved and Like) + OTTERS (aquatic animals) B L OTTERS |
| 26 | Vegetable batter delivered (4)
BEET (a vegetable) BEET (sounds like [delivered] BEAT [batter]) BEET |
| 27 | Move around a restyled weighing machine (9)
STEELYARD (a weighing-machine consisting of a lever with a short arm for the thing weighed and a long graduated arm on which a single weight moves) Anagram of (move around) A RESTYLED STEELYARD* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Improvise most of alibi about diamonds (2-3)
AD–LIB (improvise and deliver without preparation) ALIBi excluding the final letter I (mostly) containing (about) D (diamonds) A (D)-LIB* |
| 2 | Satan‘s team shedding a quiet tear, missing answer (7)
TEMPTER (Satan, the chief evil spirit, adversary of God and TEMPTER of men) TEaM excluding (shedding) A + P (piano; quiet) + TEaR excluding (missing) A (answer) TEM P TER |
| 3 | Internet regards collie’s last wag (1- 4)
E–CARD (a pictorial greetings card, expressing one’s regards to the recipient, sent via the internet; internet regards) E (final letter of [last] colliE + CARD (a witty person; a wag) E CARD |
| 4 | Tense Truss in conversation on X (7)
TIGHTEN ([make or become] tense) TIGH (sounds like [in conversation] TIE [a truss]) + TEN (X is the Roman numeral for ten) TIGH TEN |
| 5 | Fighting company with maiden flyer and soldier (9)
COMBATANT (ready for combat or fighting; a person engaged in fighting) CO (company) + M (maiden [a cricketing term]) + BAT (a flyer) + ANT (reference a soldier ANT) CO M BAT ANT |
| 6 | After flipping immense pan, a chef’s holding appetisers (7)
CANAPES (small biscuits or pieces of pastry or bread, etc, with a savoury filling or spread, usually served with drinks; appetisers) CANAPES (reversed [after flipping] hidden word in holding] immenSE PAN A Chef’s) CANAPES< |
| 7 | Make a mistake in Rob Reiner remake (2,2,5)
BE IN ERROR (make a mistake) Anagram of (remake) ROB REINER BE IN ERROR* |
| 13 | Man will corrupt space into something horrible (9)
HELLSCAPE (a situation characterised by pain, suffering, and confusion; something horrible) HE’LL (man [he] will) + an anagram of (corrupt) SPACE HELL SCAPE* |
| 14 | ‘Rims’ clued badly as ‘instruments‘ (9)
DULCIMERS (tuned percussion instrument) Anagram of (badly) RIMS CLUED DULCIMERS* |
| 17 | Gently interrogate clue for ‘Flee’ (4,3)
FEEL OUT (to talk to or question someone in an indirect way in order to find out if something one wants to do or get will be possible; gently interrogate) I found that definition on the Merriam-Webster (American dictionary) website. None of Chambers, Collins or the Oxford Dictionary of English list the phrase. FEEL OUT could be a cryptic crossword clue for FLEE where FEEL is the anagram fodder and OUT is the anagram indicator FEEL OUT |
| 18 | Reddish-white colour turning up in pasty? Outstanding! (7)
PAYABLE (still owing; outstanding) BAY (reddish-white colour? – Chambers and Collins both describe BAY as reddish-brown) reversed (turning up; down entry) contained in (in) PALE (wan; pasty) PA (YAB<) LE |
| 20 | Picks active particle with no current (7)
PLECTRA (guitar picks [implements for plucking strings]) Anagram of (active) PARTiCLE excluding (with no) I (electric current) PLECTRA* |
| 22 | Time to go around something under the bridge? (5)
TROLL (an evil-tempered ugly dwarf, found under a bridge in the fairytale “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”) T (time) + ROLL (to rotate; to go around) T ROLL |
| 23 | Finally achieve a colour like corn (5)
EARED (corn has EARS so can be described as EARED) E (last letter of [finally] achievE) + A + RAD (a colour) E A RED |
I think maybe Samsa’s thinking of COMBATANT as an adjective as in ‘combatant spirit’. With TAPERS maybe the setter’s old tech. Roll the tape. Nice puzzle, fun theme. SHARED joint my favourite. Thanks.
I originally read ‘every other’ across answer to be alternate. However it soon emerged what Samsa intended, although bringing a capon on board wouldn’t have done much to preserve the poultry species – unless it was just there for Sunday lunch!
CAPONE my favourite
Thanks to Samsa and Duncanshiel
Doofs. I had the same thought about CAPON.
Well, I felt the theme was weak, and adversely affected the quality of several clues.
As an aside, did Noah take on board the marine creatures? No point, surely. But EEL, like the rest: easy to slip into a solution.
Worst culprit, OTTER in BLOTTERS, 25(ac). Awful.
Had the setter paired the creatures, in across clues and down clues, so “they went in two-by-two”, it would have been a different story.
There’s some very good setting, but too much off target, for me.
BAY is distinctly NOT “reddish-white”! COMBATANT doesn’t work, was it a rollover to get ANT and BAT into the grid?
On the other hand, MANTIS, 9(ac) was a good ‘un, and gave us two of Noah’s sailors.
So, like the Ark, ups and downs, but more ups than downs, so my boat was floated, if a bit leaky.
Thanks to Sam & Dunc
Wearing my Colombo hat…there’s just one more thing.
If Noah’s got his RAM and his EWE, why’s he taking a LAMB with him?
That said, I can see why he didn’t take any woodworms.
Interesting idea for a theme but some of the animals were a bit weak – too many three-letter ones and EFT is pure crossword speak. Points off also for putting “aquatic animals” in the clue so that the OTTER wasn’t even hidden. And MANTIS is already an animal. And did Noah really take two bees on the ark??
Not that it was a bad crossword. I enjoyed it. STEELYARD was new to me and fairly clued. I saw one at an industrial museum in Derbyshire but I didn’t know that was what it was called. “Diminished seventh note” was very clever, gold star for that one.
I quite enjoyed it although my anagram hat must have been in the wash as I was slow to get them. I was going to make comments about the capon on the ark and the surely reddish-brown bay but see I have been beaten to it.
Liked MANTIS and HELLSCAPE
Thanks Samsa and Duncanshiel