It’s Boatman back, after quite a while, I think ….
… and nearly two years since my last blog.
Boatman’s puzzles always have a theme: today’s is chess, predominantly MAN, and all the pieces are here, in clues or entries, together with the trademark couple of Boatman clues, one generic, at 6dn and the other self-referential, at 22dn.
The cluing is generally straightforward and there were no problems with parsing. I liked the alignment of CHECK and MATE in column one, the link between 10 and 11 ac and the use of key(s) to clue ISLAND / SKYE. Ticks, too, for 14ac STATION, 19ac HOP, 29ac AUTHENTIC, 3dn FRANGIPANI and 15dn ARABESQUES.
Thanks to Boatman for the puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
9 Centrism in turmoil about one troublemaker (9)
MISCREANT
An anagram (in turmoil) of CENTRISM round A (one)
10 Second man gets permit … (5)
BROOK
B (second) + ROOK (chessman)
11 … to get second man (5)
SPAWN
S (second) + PAWN (another chessman)
12 Orange fury stops pointed article (9)
TANGERINE
ANGER (fury) in (stops) TINE (pointed article)
13 Drug laws in Spain (7)
CODEINE
CODE (laws) + IN + E (Spain)
14 Perhaps Paddington is still not finished – no limits for his creator (7)
STATION
STATI[c] (still, not finished) + (Michael) [b]ON]d (creator of Paddington Bear)
17 A piece of text? Rather more (5)
EXTRA
Contained in tEXT RAther
19 Dance piece, twice released (3)
HOP
[bis]HOP (chess piece) minus bis (twice, in musical scores)
20 Devious man and go-between (5)
AMONG
An anagram (devious) of MAN + GO
21 Man admits evil murder? (7)
KILLING
KING (chessman) round ILL (evil)
22 Host transmitted in advance? (7)
PRESENT
PRE-SENT (transmitted in advance)
24 Rouses rabble with lie after naked lie, concealing dollars to gain heart of Essex (9)
MOBILISES
MOB rabble) + [l]I[e] (‘naked’ lie) + LIE round S (dollars – I think I’ve seen this before) + S (the ‘heart’ of esSex)
26 Holy text with God appearing where there is need essentially in Man (5)
QURAN
RA (god) in QU[ee]N (chessman) minus [n[ee]d
28 Tips to transform any communication instantly: try without words (5)
TACIT
Initial letters (tips) of Transform Any Communication Instantly Try
29 Accurately depicted Gaul, Athens and Utica for Discovery (9)
AUTHENTIC
Internal letters (dis-covered) of gAUl, aTHENs and uTICa
Down
1 Contemplate cycling with fast-running Australians (4)
EMUS
MUSE (contemplate) with the letters ‘cycled’
2 Man perhaps is left in addition (6)
ISLAND
IS + L (left) + AND (in addition)
3 Composition of Paganini in support of French perfume (10)
FRANGIPANI
An anagram (composition) of PAGANINI under (in support of, in a down clue) FR (French)
4 Move two men, extracting unit from Spanish region (6)
CASTLE
CAST[i]LE (Spanish region) minus i (unit) – reference to a move in chess
5 Pay for drink that holds water (6,2)
STANDS UP
STAND (pay for) + SUP (drink)
6 Boatman: extremely lithe and fit (4)
ABLE
AB (boatman) + L[ith]E
7 Compilation edited to remove letters from man, a party animal (8)
POLITICO
An anagram (edited) of COmPILaTIOn, minus man
8 2 keys used in pieces (4)
SKYE
An anagram (used in pieces) of KEYS
13 Confirm payment from America (5)
CHECK
The American spelling of cheque (payment)
15 Poses on one foot off base in square-dancing (10)
ARABESQUES
An anagram (off) of BASE in an anagram (dancing) of SQUARE
16 Dark man in audience (5)
NIGHT
Sounds like (in audience) ‘knight’ (chessman)
18 Seminar on support for retort (4,4)
TALK BACK
TALK (seminar) + BACK (support)
19 Sound, something that trumpeters aim for in the main (4,4)
HIGH SEAS
Sounds like ‘High CS’ – aimed for by trumpeters
22 Boatman in online article on southern states (6)
POSITS
I (boatman) in POST (online article) + S (southern)
23 Rues turning down top to waders (6)
EGRETS
r[EGRETS] (rues) minus its initial letter
24 Tea with a friend (4)
MATE
Double definition
25 Behind time getting up – and the rest (4)
LATE
A reversal (getting up) of ET AL (and the rest)
27 Take shape (4)
NICK
Double definition, the second as in ‘in good nick’
I managed to see the theme for once after solving QURAN and NIGHT so HOP & BROOK were made easier 🙂
I could not parse 14ac – I was thinking of unfinished STATIONary, and I thought of the author Bond but could not work it all out.
Favourite: CASTILE.
Delightful puzzle, one where even I could see the theme as I solved. Am entirely in agreement with Eileen’s ticks, so thanks to her and to Boatman for a fun excursion.
Totally agree with Eileen’s summary.
Failed to parse HOP and NICK but now think they’re both nice.
So good to see this excellent setter again.
I hesitated for a while to enter SPAWN as it didn’t seem synonymous with ‘get’, but the wordplay made the answer clear. I also mistakenly entered ‘koran’ at first before the chess man theme took me to the QURAN spelling, seen less often these days. Otherwise, I think Eileen has said it all. Welcome back Boatman and thanks to him and Eileen.
A cleverly woven theme I thought. I wonder if Boatman considered clueing the first three letters of 18d with reference to GM and World Champion Mikhail TAL (a crossword chess favourite).
Thanks to Eileen and Boatman.
Lovely puzzle – appreciate the chess theme, though I could not parse HOP or QURAN, having biffed them in. Now looking back, they were the missing pieces I was looking for!
I found this much harder than yesterday [although that was a bit of a breeze]. I saw the theme yet again, not that it really helped this time.
I thought this was a good little challenge. I was pleased with myself when ARABESQUE led to QURAN and I saw what was going on there. I quite liked STATION.
Boatman seems like a setter I could really tune in to but he’s not here often enough for that to happen.
Thanks Eileen and Boatman.
Great fun, I especially enjoyed the theme with the interplay of man & piece, including the subtraction of ‘man’ in POLITICO and ‘in pieces’ as anagrind for SKYE.
I also liked the positioning of CHECKMATE, which made me think there could be an oblique reference to ‘The Man in the HIGH CASTLE’ by Philip K. Dick and/or ‘The SKY at NIGHT’?
And TACIT made me laugh!
Many thanks to Boatman and Eileen.
Perfectly summed up by Eileen, I also liked the alignment of CHECK and MATE. My favourite was QURAN, after I eventually worked out was going on.
Ta Boatman & Eileen
Like others , I failed to parse ‘hop’. Otherwise an enjoyable solve, thanks B and E.
Good fun. I’d put Boatman in my “Don’t attempt” list but I’ll move him back
Missed the theme.
Oh, so that’s how HOP works! Thanks, Eileen.
Good to see Boatman again after quite a while, with a well worked theme. I liked ARABESQUES, the places “for dis-covery” in AUTHENTIC, and the orange one’s fury at the article in TANGERINE.
Newly hooked puzzler enjoyed solving this one. Help and guidance from Eileen and this site essential to my learning curve.
Comment #14
Couldn’t quite parse the tiddlers HOP, NICK, LATE and MATE, so many thanks Eileen with the clarification on those. I’ve taken up playing chess again after a lapse of many years, so this was a fun solve today…
Never heard of mate in the sense of a drink resembling tea. Otherwise enjoyable.
From memory, Boatman was quite a frequent setter, so it’s good to see him back. A good variety of clues here making it a good workout. I parsed BROOK differently as BRO (man) + OK (permit) but the definition doesn’t really work. Thanks, Eileen.
Willi @16
Re MATE – see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(drink)
With this grid, I always go first to the 3-letter clue in the middle, which is often thematic, although not in this instance. The only dance I could think of was ‘jig’, which, not having yet seen the theme, I could not make to work, so I started elsewhere and came back to it. I hadn’t thought that it might be ‘the local hop at the local county jail’, as 10cc sang in ‘Rubber Bullets’. Well, it was 2 o’clock in the morning in my defence.
I parsed 14 as stationary not finished, so less the -ary, and wondered what the no limits bit was there for.
Very entertaining. I liked the way that “man” was mostly a chess piece, but sometimes it wasn’t, as in ISLAND and AMONG. The two Boatman clues were well done, with “Boatman” being at the start so it wasn’t obvious whether it was a boatman or Boatman.
Like michelle @1 I was stuck on the idea of “stationary” in 14a so didn’t quite parse that one.
Many thanks Boatman and Eileen.
Boatman is incapable of producing anything other than delightful puzzles. This was by no means his hardest, perhaps because for once I found the theme both easily identifiable and helpful! Particularly enjoyed the misdirectional use of “man” in ISLAND and the linked SKYE, and thought CODEINE was a masterpiece of concision. Great stuff.
Comment #23
Thank you Eileen@18. I was about to ask the same question. Never heard of mate for tea. Or mah-tay.
And thanks to Boatman for a nice crossword. Enjoyed it all.
Comment 23 was deleted – not by me! There’s no sign of it.
And I got my favorite colour too.
It’s not that I couldn’t parse HOP, just that I forgot to try. But I should have noticed that the bishop was the only man missing.
Thanks to Eileen for the as-always delightful blog, and especially the link to the fascinating yerba mate article. With all the complexities involved in preparing the brew (and avoiding social faux pas when drinking it) it’s something else that I think I’ll forget to try…
Not sure I should be posing this question on here, but I picked up a paper copy of The Times just now when out food shopping. I notice their crossword today is numbered 29654. That’s not that far away from our own Guardian 30118 today. Did both crosswords originate in about the same year, then, or have there been gaps…?
On the subject of chess, however, there’s a local charity based in Northstowe near Cambridge promoting/encouraging actual face to face chess to improve mental health…
A great rarity for me, not only did I see the theme, it actually helped me with a couple of clues including 19A and 26A. Congratulations to Boatman for working in all the pieces, plus bonuses Skye and the reference to Man. FRANGIPANI was new to me, so required an internet search to verify.
Thank you Boatman and Eileen.
Even I spotted the theme today and after solving only 3 clues. It helped with QURAN.
I hadn’t noticed that Boatman has been missing for so long, but I welcome his return.
Thanks to him and to Eileen.
Most enjoyable puzzle, put together with Boatman’s customary skill.
Particular faves were CODEINE (possibly because I was having to spend three hours in the waiting areas of the local hospital) and the very cleverly clued and thematic QURAN.
Thanks to Boatman and Eileen
Good fun. There’s even a slight chess link in the wordplay that uses “discovery” in its older meaning of “uncovering”, since “discovered check” & “discovered attack” are phrases used by chess-players.
Lovely puzzle. Slap bang in the middle of my Goldilocks zone.
Like others, I thought of STATIONary for 14ac, then could not parse the rest.
I spotted the theme early, which helped with 10ac and 26ac.
Musically, 19ac immediately made me think of XTC’s wonderful Life Begins At The Hop.
For 17a, my thoughts went to EXTRACT as a piece of text, and then I read the whole clue as some sort of play on ‘less’ and’ more’. Well, it worked …
Really good to have Boatman again, and Eileen always
Yes, good to see Boatman again; I failed to parse a few, but although (as per) I forgot to look for a theme, it could hardly have been clearer. Delightful, TTS&B.
Wasn’t he good, oh so good?
I found this on the easier end of my previous experiences with Boatman, undoubtedly helped by spotting the theme for once – although that only happened when ARABESQUES forced me to change KORAN to QURAN as others have said.
It definitely enabled me to get HOP. It’s interesting that Eileen refers to musical scores for “bis”. My own route to that subtraction was through computer modems, back in the dial-up days before broadband. These complied to international standards given names like V.22 and V.34, and I distinctly remember that there were some variants such as V.32bis which provided data rates around double the original standard.
Thanks again to Boatman and Eileen.