This week’s Spectator puzzle is set by Eumolpus.
We had a very short preamble that informed us that the 23D 41A, stirred up by 3D and 6A 26D the mother of 29A. Unclued lights identify the protagonist and the poet. Elsewhere ignore an accent.
This seemed a more gentle Spectator puzzle than some I have solved recently. The grid filled up fairly quickly and the unclued lights were relatively easy to deduce, especially after I had enough to deduce the theme, which was epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton [1608 – 1674].
A quote from the poem encapsulates most of the unclued entries, as follows.
The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile
Stirred up with Envy and Revenge, deceived
The Mother of Mankind
The infernal Serpent of course, is Satan
If we plug the enumerated unclued lights back into the preamble, it now reads:
The infernal Serpent, stirred up by Envy and Revenge, deceived the mother of Mankind. The protagonist is Satan (14a) and the poet is Milton (1d)
The title of the puzzle, RAPID SEA, could be viewed as an entry to the cryptic clue Paradise Lost (8) where Lost is the anagram indicator and Paradise is the anagrfam fodder.
I’m not quite sure about the parsing of CONGAED at 12 across.
I learnt a few new words when filling the grid. Hopefully I can remember them if they are clued in later barred crosswords from different publications and setters.
| No | Detail |
| Across | Unclued entries shown in fuchsia |
| 1 | Pitman facing very active idol? (7)
MINERVA (The Roman goddess of intelligence and skill, identified with the Greek Athene; an idol) MINER (pitman) + V (very) + A (active) MINER V A |
| 6 | REVENGE |
| 11 | One central to wrong education, is pressed (6)
IRONED (pressed) I (Roman numeral for one) + RON (the three central letters of wRONg) + ED (education) I RON ED |
| 12 | Go with new dance – it’s done! (7)
CONGAED (performed the CONGA [a Latin American dance in which dancers are linked in single file and move forward in a series of steps and side kicks]) Anagram of (new?) GO and DANCE – perhaps “it’s done” is the anagram indicator and the whole clue is an &Lit? CONGAED* |
| 14 | SATAN |
| 15 | Impact the littlest born first (5)
BRUNT (the force of a blow; impact) B (born) + RUNT (the littlest in a litter) B RUNT |
| 16 | Spenser’s to study translation, sure to include note (6)
TRAYNE (Spenserian word for train [to undergo instruction; to study) TR (translation? – I can find TR for translator or translated ior transactions in dictionaries, but I can’t find TR for translation) + (AYE [agreed; sure] containing [to include] N [note]) TR AY (N) E |
| 17 | Access nut pine, say (6)
ENTREE (introduction or means of access) EN (a printer’s measure, half the width of the letter em; nut can be defined similarly) + TREE (reference a pine TREE) EN TREE |
| 19 | Hold out during visit for Judas (9)
TREACHOUR (betrayer or traitor, like Judas Iscariot) REACH (stretch forth, hold out) contained in (during) TOUR (visit) T (REACH) OUR |
| 21 | Current line in memos for East Africans (7)
NILOTES (inhabitants of the banks of the Upper Nile; members of any of several peoples from East Africa and the Sudan) (I [electric current] + L [line]) contained in (in) NOTES (memos) N (I L) OTES |
| 25 | With no cap burden blokes, time for confusion (9)
ADDLEMENT (confusion) sADDLE (burden) excluding the first letter (with no cap) S + MEN (blokes) + T (time) ADDLE MEN T |
| 27 | Dart into shelter that’s most close (9)
NARROWEST (a description of the point where the opposite sides of something are at their closest point) ARROW (dart) contained in (into) NEST (shelter) N (ARROW) EST |
| 29 | MANKIND |
| 31 | I’d try to sway European carer involved with mob (9)
EMBRACEOR (a person who seeks to influence jurors by corrupt means to deliver a partial verdict; I’d try to sway) E (European) + Anagram of (involved with) CARER and MOB E MBRACEOR* |
| 33 | English book in price discount (6)
REBATE (discount) (E [English] + B [book]) contained in (in) RATE (price) R (E B) ATE |
| 34 | Ordinary clue’s reworked for little mouth (6)
OSCULE (a little mouth) O (Ordinary) + an anagram of (reworked) CLUE’S O SCULE* |
| 36 | Oil supplier born with Mark of the Beast (5)
NEEMB (one of the spellings of an Indian tree whose fruit and seeds yield nim oil; oil supplier) NÉE ([of a woman] born, used in stating a woman’s maiden name) + MB (Mark of the Beast) NEE MB |
| 37 | Some save natural oats (5)
AVENA (the oat genus of grasses; oats) AVENA (hidden word in (some) sAVE NAtural) AVENA |
| 38 | Drive advantage and run boat that clears up (7)
DREDGER (a machine or boat for deepening a harbour, canal, river, etc, for excavating underwater or on land; boat that cleans up) DR (drive) + EDGE (advantage) + R (run) DR EDGE R |
| 39 | Fussiness in Jewish festival around Sabbath (6)
PURISM (fastidious, especially over-fastidious, insistence on purity, particularly of language in vocabulary or idiom; fussiness) PURIM (Jewish Feast of Lots) containing (around) S (Sabbath) PURI (S) M |
| 40 | Roped in girl with dictionary (7)
LASSOED (caught with a long rope; roped in) LASS (girl) + OED (Oxford English Dictionary) LASS OED |
| 41 | SERPENT |
| Down | |
| 1 | MILTON |
| 2 | Number distracted person often on the move (5)
NOMAD (member of a wandering pastoral community; person often on the move) NO (number) + MAD (distracted) NO MAD |
| 3 | ENVY |
| 4 | High-power valve errant son exploded (9)
RESNATRON (a high-power, high-frequency tetrode; high-power valve) Anagram of (exploded) ERRANT SON RESNATRON* |
| 5 | Contributions in want of female players (6)
ACTORS (cast; players) fACTORS (elements in the composition of anything, or in bringing about a certain result; contributions) excluding (in want of) F (female) ACTORS |
| 6 | Branches and sticks surrounding a hideout (4,4)
ROAD ENDS (places where one road branches off another) RODS (sticks) containing (surrounding) (A + DEN [hideout]) RO (A D EN) DS |
| 7 | The Muses, say – name each in epilogue (6)
ENNEAD (a set of nine things. There are nine Muses) (N [name] + EA [each]) contained in (in) END (conclusion; epilogue) EN (N EA) D |
| 8 | Fumitory: fantastic heart cure (5-5)
EARTH-SMOKE (a fumitory) Anagram of (fantastic) HEART + SMOKE (to cure fish) EARTH* SMOKE |
| 9 | Forms of distress as neon covers posh plants (8)
NEUROSES (forms of distress) NE (chemical symbol for Neon) + U (upper class; posh) + ROSES (plants) NE U ROSES |
| 10 | Board scoffed having a passage to digest (8)
ENTERATE (having an alimentary canal; having a passage to digest) ENTER (go on board) + ATE (scoffed) ENTER ATE |
| 13 | Linked weapon in similar (3,2,3)
ARM-IN-ARM (with arms interlinked) ARM (weapon) + IN + ARM (similarly, a weapon) ARM IN ARM |
| 18 | Opening features women grasping Oscar in preference to French (10)
DOORFRAMES (features of openings) DAMES (women) containing (grasping) (O [Oscar is the international radio communication code for the letter O] + OR [alternatively, possibly in preference to] + FR [French]) D (O OR FR) AMES |
| 20 | Laden nun struggled lacking rite for Shakespeare (8)
UNNANELD (Shakespearean term for ‘without extreme unction’; lacking rite) Anagram of (struggling) LADEN NUN UNNANELD* |
| 22 | Ordain use differently for forgotten creature (9)
DEINOSAUR (archaic [forgotten] spelling of Dinosaur [extinct reptilian creature]) Anagram of (differently) ORDAIN USE DEINOSAUR* |
| 23 | INFERNAL |
| 24 | Fisherfolk who drift (8)
CRABBERS (folk who fish for crabs) CRABBERS (people who move by drifting sideways in a crablike fashion) double definition CRABBERS |
| 26 | DECEIVED |
| 28 | Very cool spell that is partially engaged with cooler? (3,3)
ICE AGE (a very cool spell in the life of Earth) IE (id est) entered as separate letters within (partially engaged) CAGE (prison; cooler) ICE AGE |
| 29 | Money and those who should pay it? Gardeners, perhaps (6)
MOWERS (people who mow the lawn could be considered to be gardeners) M (money, as used in money supply indices M0, M1 etc) + OWERS (people who should be paying their debts; persons who should be paying money) M OWERS |
| 30 | Thought idly of drummer and strange mate (6)
DREAMT (thought idly of) DR (drummer) + an anagram of (strange) MATE DR EAMT* |
| 32 | Copper to restrain smart girl (5)
CUTIE (smart girl) CU (chemical symbol for copper) + TIE (to restrain) CU TIE |
| 35 | Find fault with vehicle parking (4)
CARP (find fault with) CAR (vehicle) + P (parking) CAR P |