My apologies for the extreme lateness of this blog
There’s been a bit of a calendar mix-up at 225 HQ (entirely my fault, as it happens) and so I failed to realise I was duty blogger for today’s Indie puzzle. But hey, better late than never, right? Anyway, this was a most enjoyable crossie from Spartacus with something of a Shakespearean theme, what with PROSPER(o), GLOBE, BARD, SHAKESPEARE, the King Lear and Comedy of Errors references, and perhaps some more tangential touches, such as (A Midsummer Night’s) DREAM, LOVE(‘s Labours Lost) and PRETTIES, which put me in mind of Macduff’s response on hearing that Macbeth has murdered his wife and children, and AMBITION, which hints at the same play.
Many thanks to Spartacus for an enjoyable tussle, and apologies again both to setter and solvers for the most unconscionable delay.
Moh’s bardic cruciverbal hardness scale rating: Gypsum
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MADNESS |
Lear’s affliction created mostly by head (7)
|
| MAD[e] (created, mostly) + NESS | ||
| 5 | PROSPER |
Flourish from magician, making ring disappear (7)
|
| PROSPER[o] (magician making ring disappear) | ||
| 9 | GLOBE |
The earth? Throw into empty grave (5)
|
| LOB inside G[rav]E | ||
| 10/21 | IDENTICAL TWIN |
Dromio or Antipholus potentially land in it twice by accident (9,4)
|
| Anagram (by accident) of LAND IN IT TWICE, def referring to the two pairs of identical twins in The Comedy of Errors | ||
| 11 | TRUNCATION |
Curtailment of holiday (3rd-8th) after travelling chest’s end falls off (10)
|
| TRUN[k] (travelling chest’s end falls off) + [va]CATION (third to eighth letters of vacation) | ||
| 12 | LOVE |
Left because of almost nothing (4)
|
| L + OVE[r] (because of, almost) | ||
| 14 | SHAKESPEARE |
Starter of soup, fish second, fruit compote finally for Anne’s husband perhaps (11)
|
| S[oup] + HAKE + PEAR + [compot]E | ||
| 18 | REMONSTRATE |
Argue against Sartre and Monet in review (11)
|
| Anagram (in review) of SARTRE MONET | ||
| 21 |
See 10
|
|
| 22 | SORDIDNESS |
Delivery of blade and nastily snide son lead to immoral actions (10)
|
| Soundalike (delivery of) of “sword” + anagram (nastily) of SNIDE + S | ||
| 25 | IMITATIVE |
Fake current Lloyd Webber musical with brief interval making a comeback (9)
|
| I (current) + reversal of EVITA (Lloyd Webber musical) ) TIM[e] (brief interval) | ||
| 26 | GREED |
Consented to take top off, resulting in desire (5)
|
| [a]GREED | ||
| 27 | SINE DIE |
Trespass originally every day, in other words indefinitely (4,3)
|
| SIN (trespass) + ED (every day, originially) + IE (that is, in other words) | ||
| 28 | MASTERS |
Gains power over turbulent streams (7)
|
| Anagram (turbulent) of STREAMS | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MIGHTY |
I hear setter’s hot beverage is strong (6)
|
| Soundalike (I hear) of “my tea” | ||
| 2 | DOOFUS |
Party of America supplying dimwit (6)
|
| DO + OF + US | ||
| 3 | EXERCISING |
Driving out evil energy, replacing nothing troubling (10)
|
| EX[o]RCISING (driving out evil) with the O (nothing) replaced by E (energy) | ||
| 4 | SHIFT |
Change key (5)
|
| Double def | ||
| 5 | PHENOMENA |
Remarkable things: a mixture of hope ‘n’ amen! (9)
|
| Anagram (a mixture of) HOPE N AMEN | ||
| 6 | OATH |
Pledge made by prisoner of hero at Hyperborea (4)
|
| Hidden in (of…) herO AT Hyperborea | ||
| 7 | PECTORAL |
Friend cradling decapitated Trojan close to chest (8)
|
| PAL around (cradling) [h]ECTOR | ||
| 8 | RELIEVED |
Freed soldier survived swallowing drug (8)
|
| RE (Royal Engineer, soldier) + LIVED around E (swallowing drug) | ||
| 13 | APPENDAGES |
Maybe branches hang on over generations (10)
|
| APPEND + AGES | ||
| 15 | AUTHORISE |
Writer reporting parliamentary assents gets permit (9)
|
| AUTHOR (writer) + soundalike (reporting) of “ayes” (parliamentary assents) | ||
| 16 | PRETTIES |
Ugly stripe concealing alien’s knick-knacks! (8)
|
| Anagram (ugly) of STRIPE around (concealing) ET | ||
| 17 | AMBITION |
Boring piece I hone endlessly following morning drive (8)
|
| AM + BIT (boring piece) + I + [h]ON[e] | ||
| 19 | SERENE |
Tranquil moon goddess changes sides (6)
|
| SE[L]ENE (moon goddess) with the L changed to R | ||
| 20 | ASIDES |
Words spoken privately since ill-omened day (6)
|
| AS (since, because) + IDES (as in, of March) | ||
| 23 | DREAM |
Fancy doctor exfoliates and moisturises initially (5)
|
| DR + first letters (initially) of Exfoliates And Moisturises | ||
| 24 | BARD |
14‘s pointless facial hair (4)
|
| B[e]ARD |
Thanks both. All was fairly clear so the late blog shouldn’t have caused any frustration. My only uncertainty was RELIEVED in that I thought RE could only be soldiers, not the singular.
A small correction to 14a – SHAKESPEARE is missing his “second” S.
Many thanks to Spartacus and moh
Thanks Spartacus and moh. My favourites were SHAKESPEARE (an excellent surface though not sure why the “perhaps” is needed), SINE DIE and MIGHTY
moh…I would have just lied, and said ” I have been speed-reading the complete works of Shakespeare to find every possible nuance in the grid, for the benefit of solvers”.
It’s a nicely-constructed puzzle, and the setter has been kind with the Shakespearean solutions.
For example, the “perhaps” in 14(ac) is a fair nudge towards, not so much a DBE, but an EOD, “example of definition”.
Hoist with my own petard, having used my patented cryptic strategy…solve the final down clue first, it’s always a throwaway: so of course, I bunged in [BROW] n, thereby cocking up the best theme indicator!
Very enjoyable stuff, both, thanks Spartacus & moh