I always enjoy a puzzle from Wiglaf, and I hope to enjoy this one as well.
At 10 across, I couldn’t find a dictionary linking ‘follow’ and ‘FLOW‘ directly, but I think there is a strong link.
For 29 across, it was interesting to do some research about Queen Victoria as a carrier of the Haemophilia B gene mutation.
Wikipedia tells me that NANKING at 4 down is now known as Nanjing, but I suspect most solvers are most familiar with the older name entered in the grid
SPECIE at 21 down is a word I first came across as a young land surveyor working remotely in jungle and bush country in the Far East and Africa in the 1970s, where the funds for the field party were kept in a locked SPECIE box. It was quite a long time after that before I understood why it was called a SPECIE box.
I wonder what Lord REITH, referenced at 25 down, would make of the world of broadcasting today?
I liked the definition of EVE as a scrumper, although I doubt if a scrumper gathers just one apple.
Crosswords always throw up interesting rabbit holes to dive down. Apart from the ones mentioned above, I also looked into the life of Percival Lowell. Wiglaf opened a few for me today, so yes, I did enjoy today’s puzzle.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Americans mad about work, as this lot are (11)
ERGOMANIACS (people with an abnormal desire to work) Anagram of (mad) AMERICANS containing (about) GO (work) ER (GO) MANIACS* |
| 7 | No shame occasionally offering some resistance (3)
OHM (derived SI unit, the unit of electrical resistance; some resistance) OHM (letters 2, 4 and 6 [occasionally] of nO sHaMe) OHM |
| 9 | A weapon was tested again after backfiring (5)
TASER (a small gunlike device which fires electrified darts or barbs, used to immobilise or stun e.g. an attacker) RESAT (was tested again in another examination) reversed (after backfiring) TASER< |
| 10 | Follow one complaint about controversial feminist author (5,4)
NAOMI WOLF (reference the author NAOMI WOLF [born 1962], American feminist author, journalist, and conspiracy theorist; controversial feminist author) (FLOW [if something FLOWs from an action it can be said to follow from that action] + I [Roman numeral for one] + MOAN [complaint]) all reversed (about) (NAOM I WOLF)< |
| 11 | American bill to stop college group campaigning (9)
CRUSADING (vigorous campaigning) (US [United States; American] + AD [ADvertisement; poster; bill]) contained in (to stop) (C [college] + RING [group]) C R (US AD) ING |
| 12 | What was foreshadowed by Percival Lowell initially before bowing out? (5)
PLUTO (Percival Lowell [1856 – 1916], was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, and furthered theories of [foreshadowed] a ninth planet [PLUTO] within the Solar System) PL (first letters [initially] of Percival and Lowell) + an anagram of (bowing) OUT PL UTO* |
| 13 | Reckless driver runs over lad, out of his head when approaching corner (4,3)
ROAD HOG (reckless driver) R (runs) + O (over) + lAD excluding the first letter (losing his head) L + HOG (to take all or most of something or use selfishly; corner [control]) R O AD HOG |
| 15 | Heads off to Ramallah in Palestine for vacation? (4)
TRIP (holiday; vacation) TRIP (first letters of [hats off] each of To, Ramallah, In and Palestine) T R I P |
| 18 | Odd parts declined by John Wayne? He pulled out at the last minute (4)
ONAN (reference the biblical figure ONAN, mentioned in the Book of Genesis, who withdrew [pulled out] during sexual intercourse with his late brother’s wife) ONAN (letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 remaining in jOhN wAyNe after the odd letters jhwye are excluded [odd parts declined]) ONAN |
| 20 | Announcement of giant squeeze (7)
TIGHTEN (crush; squeeze) TIGHTEN (sounds like [announcement of] TITAN [anything gigantic; giant]) TIGHTEN |
| 23 | Pressure applied to city of old Georgia to eliminate dissidents? (5)
PURGE (eliminate undesirable elements, such as dissidents) P (pressure) + UR (city of ancient Mesopotamia) + GE (International Vehicle Registration for the country of Georgia, founded as an independent kingdom in 1008 AD [old], long before the American State of the same name)) P UR GE |
| 24 | Tense setter is cutting short cigar (9)
IMPERFECT (a grammatical tense) I’M (I am, setter is) + PERFECTo (large tapering cigar) excluding the final letter (short) O IM PERFECT |
| 26 | Island to the west of my new house (9)
CAPRICORN (one of the twelve divisions [houses] of the heavens in astrology) CAPRI (Italian island) + COR! (gosh!; my!) + N (new) CAPRI COR N |
| 27 | Descartes declaring himself the personification of peace (5)
IRENE (ancient Greek goddess and personification of peace) I RENÊ (RENÉ Descartes [1596 – 1750] briefly expressing his name as I [am] RENÉ) I RENE |
| 28 | Scrumper evicting companion finally from flat (3)
EVE (reference the Biblical character EVE who picked a forbidden fruit [generally assumed to be an apple] in the Garden of Eden. A scrumper is someone who gathers windfalls or steals apples from orchards) EVEn [level; flat) excluding (evicting) N (last letter of [finally] companioN) EVE |
| 29 | Henry recollected Ophelia and Mia having problem with the Victoria Line? (11)
HAEMOPHILIA (Queen Victoria [1819 to 1901] was a carrier of the rare HAEMOPHILIA B gene mutation which she passed to one son and two daughters; problem with the Victoria Line) H (henry, unit of inductance) + (an anagram of [rcollected] OPHELIA and MIA) H AEMOPHILIA* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Those who lure models in secret (8)
ENTICERS (people who lure) Anagram of (models) IN SECRET ENTICERS* |
| 2 | Mixture of lust and rage expressed in body movements (8)
GESTURAL (expressed in body movements) Anagram of (mixture of) LUST and RAGE GESTURAL* |
| 3 | She has the Man in the Moon’s darkish features (5)
MARIA (girls’ name; she) MARIA (darkish level areas on the Moon which help create the illusion of the Man in the Moon ) double definition MARIA |
| 4 | Old lady’s man on board in Chinese port (7)
NANKING (port city in China;) NAN (pet name for a grandmother [old lady]) + KING (man on a chess board) NAN KING |
| 5 | Song cycles “about” a mountain? On the contrary, it’s “in” (7)
AMONGST (amid; in) SONG wtih the letters cycled one place left and front letter to back, to form ONGS, contained in (opposite [on the contrary] to the form specified in the clue) (A + MT [mountain]) – if the clue was followed as written in the first five words (A + MT) would be contained in ONGS, hence the need for ‘on the contrary’ A M (ONGS) T |
| 6 | Son starts drinking and painting in dotty fashion (9)
STIPPLING (painting by the use of dots; painting in dotty fashion) S (son) + TIPPLING (drinking) – does ‘starts’ tell us to take the first letter of Son or is it just a link word? S TIPPLING |
| 7 | Round lump sum of money in ancient Greece (6)
OBOLUS (in ancient Greece, the sixth part of a drachma in weight or in money) O (a round-shaped character) + BOLUS (a rounded mass; lump) O BOLUS |
| 8 | Well I never pay for rubbish! (2,4)
MY FOOT (an interjection expressing disbelief; Rubbish!) MY! (gosh!; well I never!) + FOOT (pay fthe bill or) MY FOOT |
| 14 | German scorer in game has hard time making a comeback (9)
HINDEMITH (reference Paul HINDEMITH [1895 – 1963], German and American composer [scorer], violist and conductor) HIND (female of the red deer; an animal considered to be in the category of wild animals hunted for sport [game]) + (H [hard, when referring to pencil lead] + TIME) reversed (making a comeback) HIND (EMIT H)<) |
| 16 | That place in east Alabama is heavenly (8)
ETHEREAL (heavenly) THERE (that place) contained in (in) (E [east] + AL [Alabama]) E (THERE) AL |
| 17 | The curse of Bibiana the Martyr (8)
ANATHEMA (a curse or execration) ANATHEMA (hidden word in [of] BibiANA THE MArtyr) ANATHEMA |
| 19 | Moonie’s bum is foul-smelling (7)
NOISOME (foul-smelling) Anagram of (bum) MOONIE’S NOISOME* |
| 20 | I’m grateful for that piebald hack (3,4)
TAP INTO (gain unauthorised access to a company’s computer system, files etc; hack) TA (thank you; I’m grateful for that) + PINTO (a piebald horse) TA P INTO |
| 21 | Change in pieces? (6)
SPECIE (coined money; pieces of money; change) Anagram of (change in) PIECES SPECIE* |
| 22 | Backside of prominent Liberal observed in mature threesome (6)
TRIPLE (threesome) T (last letter of [backside of] prominenT) + (L [Liberal]) contained in [observed in] RIPE [mature]) T RIP (L) E |
| 25 | Old director general punches where it hurts (5)
REITH (reference John REITH, 1st Baron REITH (1889–1971), first Director-General of the BBC) REITH (hidden word in [punches] wheRE IT Hurt) REITH |
An interesting and intelligent puzzle, ditto, the blog. Not a quick solve, for me, but very satisfying to crack.
NOISOME, MARIA, and HINDEMITH were toughies.
OBOLUS, I can recall from a previous puzzle, which stuck with me from background reading ( the coin used by the dead to pay Charon, the ferryman of the underworld ).
FLOW = FOLLOW: a bit iffy, perhaps, but “go with the flow”, i.e. ” follow the herd”, is close enough for me not to quibble. I suppose, too, if something flows from something, it follows on. Say, “the second verse flowed from the first”.
Thumbs up to both Wiglaf & duncan.
Likes for TAP INTO, MARIA, MY FOOT, TIGHTEN and the workaholic at 1a et al. Like duncan I enjoyed the interesting GK that Wiglaf introduced to the solve. Thanks to duncan and Wiglaf (you’re perfect today).