Gozo presents us with some tricky clues today.
I think that the convolutions in the clues are in the service of a theme, which appears to be AMERICAN STATES, and specifically, the US Postal Service abbreviations for the states, which most of the solutions include. I managed to spot eighteen in the solutions: AL, AR, CA, CT, DE, ID, IL, LA, MA, ME, MI, MO, MS, ND, OR, RI, SC, and VA, and there are even more if we include reversed/inverted solutions (including IN and WA). Also, every clue includes at least one of the state abbreviations somewhere. I suppose that this is in recognition of the frequent use of these abbreviations in cryptic wordplay.
UPDATE: In response to the comment from Gozo, I have uploaded a grid marking what might be the alternate (intended?) theme of the puzzle, MEN’S NAMES, of which I counted twenty-six. There may very well be more.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SAMOSA |
Pastry first seen in Polynesian island group (6)
|
| First [letter of] S[EEN] inside (in) SAMOA (Polynesian island group) | ||
| 4 | DRUG USER |
He may get high on his horse (4,4)
|
| Cryptic definition, “horse” here referring to heroin | ||
| 9 | RELICT |
Widow having keepsake close to heart (6)
|
| RELIC (keepsake) + last letter of (close to) [HEAR]T. Chambers indicates this usage as “archaic.” | ||
| 10 | LA-LA LAND |
State three times and another — places remote from reality (2-2,4)
|
| LA (state) repeated three times + ND (another [state]) | ||
| 11 | EDDIES |
Some poured diesel on troubled waters (6)
|
| Hidden in (some) [POUR]ED DIES[EL] | ||
| 12 | AMERICAN |
Hank or Chuck, say, turning round in camera (8)
|
| Anagram of (turning round) IN CAMERA. I am not sure I quite understand this clue, unless the implication is that these nicknames are stereotypically American (for Henry and Charles, respectively). | ||
| 13 | ITS |
Indication of ownership during Whitsuntide (3)
|
| Hidden in (during) [WH]ITS[UNTIDE], i.e., a possessive pronoun | ||
| 14 | NICKEL |
Steal the Spanish metal (6)
|
| NICK (steal) + EL (the [in] Spanish) | ||
| 17 | DIVORCE |
End of the match? (7)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 21 | ESTATE |
House and grounds from Eastern Maine, say (6)
|
| E (Eastern) + STATE (Maine, say) | ||
| 25 | BOB |
It’s 5p now to bounce gently up and down (3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | AIR MILES |
Israeli male ordered travellers’ rewards (3,5)
|
| Anagram of (ordered) {ISRAELI + M (male)} | ||
| 27 | MARKET |
Mum rearranged trek to bazaar (6)
|
| MA (mum) + anagram of (rearranged) TREK | ||
| 28 | CROMARTY |
About to marry anew in sea area (8)
|
| C (about) + anagram of (anew) {TO MARRY}, referring to The Shipping Forecast | ||
| 29 | TOMATO |
Salad ingredient also covered coaster (6)
|
| TOO (also) around (covered) MAT (coaster) | ||
| 30 | STANSTED |
Turning northeastwards, missing out Harrow and airport (8)
|
| Anagram of (turning) N[OR]T[H]E[A]ST[W]A[R]DS minus (missing out) HARROW | ||
| 31 | LENSES |
Contacts the French about three points (6)
|
| LES (the [in] French) around (about) {N + S + E} (three points [of the compass]) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SERGEANT |
Rank material on one set of books (8)
|
| SERGE (material) + A (one) + NT (set of books) | ||
| 2 | MALEDICT |
Utter a curse to Frenchman about citadel (8)
|
| M (Frenchman, i.e., Monsieur) + anagram of (about) CITADEL | ||
| 3 | SECRETED |
Hid on isle in south-east Germany (8)
|
| CRETE (isle) inside (in) {SE (south-east) + D (Germany)} | ||
| 5 | REALMS |
Genuine manuscript showing spheres of activity (6)
|
| REAL (genuine) + MS (manuscript) | ||
| 6 | GHARRY |
Indian horse-drawn vehicle will worry German first (6)
|
| G (German) + HARRY (worry), with “first” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 7 | SÉANCE |
O’Casey at church meeting (6)
|
| SEÁN (O’Casey) + CE (church) | ||
| 8 | RODENT |
Creature’s home covered in rubbish (6)
|
| DEN (home) inside (covered in) ROT (rubbish) | ||
| 12 | ATROPOS |
A leading tutor with terribly poor student to start with — that’s fate! (7)
|
| A + first letter of (leading) T[UTOR] + anagram of (terribly) POOR + first letter of (to start with) S[TUDENT] | ||
| 15 | LID |
Some sliding top (3)
|
| Hidden in (some) [S]LID[ING] | ||
| 16 | ACE |
At cards, one is very good (3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | ESCALOPE |
Cut of meat, peas and cole served (8)
|
| Anagram of (served) {PEAS + COLE} | ||
| 19 | JACKDAWS |
Deadpan comedian, we hear, saw off birds (8)
|
| Homophone of (we hear) JACK DEE (deadpan comedian) + anagram of (off) SAW | ||
| 20 | DESTROYS |
Ruins of Dorset, scattered heartlessly — yes! (8)
|
| Anagram of (scattered) DORSET + Y[E]S minus middle letter (heartlessly) | ||
| 22 | DANCES |
They could be square or round balls (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | AREOLA |
Dared cold gal to take off clothing and nipple ring (6)
|
| [D]ARE[D] + [C]OL[D] + [G]A[L] minus outside letters (to take off clothing) | ||
| 24 | DIVANS |
Just over five hundred vehicles in Beds? (6)
|
| DI (just over five hundred, i.e., 501 in Roman numerals) + VANS (vehicles), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 25 | BEETLE |
Just the VW car for a drive! (6)
|
| Double definition, in the second sense, “a heavy wooden mallet used for driving wedges,” according to Chambers. For a different (most likely better) take, see Roz@3. |
I hardly ever see themes, and I sometime feel a bit silly, but I don’t this time. I wouldn’t have thought of “American states” in a fit.
Rather a lot of hurdles for non-UK people today, alas. I’d not heard of Jack Dee or Sean O’Casey, and had to reveal CROMARTY. But at least I managed STANSTED.
GHARRY and AREOLA were unkown to me, but I got them eventually.
What GDU@1 said.
Thanks Gozo and Cineraria
Thanks for the blog and the extras , these are used a lot in crosswords but I would never have noticed . Strange grid , almost four completely separate corners . A few obscure words but the wordplay was very clear .
AMERICAN , I think you have the right idea , these names are not used in the UK but are thought to be typically American .
BEETLE , I think the second part refers to Beetle Drive , a simple dice game often used on charity fund-raising evenings .
Drats, missed the theme!
Very enjoyable nonetheless and my favourites were BEETLE and TOMATO.
Thanks Gozo and Cineraria.
Roz@3: Re: BEETLE. Thanks, that is probably what Gozo intended (although I think my parsing is also plausible). Some sort of double definition, in any event. I have never heard of this game before. I see BEETLE DRIVE in Chambers, but it does not go into much detail on the explanation.
Thanks Gozo and Cineraria.
25dn further to Roz@3; I thought of Beetle drives at once. Collins 2023 p 182 gives us beetle¹ n 2 a game played with dice in which the players draw or assemble a beetle-shaped form, and then (p 183) beetle drive n a social occasion at which a progressive series of games of beetle is played.
A cracking puzzle, very crafty, but totally enjoyable, too.
The surface readings are superb. I had a snowball’s chance in Hell of getting the theme, hats off to Cineraria…I think Mr.P mentioned once, you are based in the States, so I’m not beating myself up too much.
Re beetle drives, they were often referred to in my American comics 60 years ago, so I assumed it was an American thing, and that it was beetle-racing, i.e. the insect. I now find it’s English, and sounds far less fun.
Tiny quibble, SEANCE, 7(d), I’m not sure “meeting” quite works, for me: “gathering” befits the surface and the definition, perhaps. Nit-picking.
ATROPOS, 12(d), best in show. Here in Greece, it’s a word which means roughly “unchangeable”, so quite akin to “kismet” – “if it’s fate, then it will be, you can’t change it”.
Wonderful work, Gozo & Cineraria
ENBoll&@7: Re: SEANCE: The definition in Chambers begins: “a session or meeting of psychical researchers. . . .”
And the general “sitting” meaning of séance” predates the specialized meaning we are used to now. I get square dances and balls as dances, but where does “round” come in?
@Petert #9
A Round Dance is a form of Ballroom dancing i think.
Peter@9 , you must have done the Hokey Cokey .
PeterT@9: According to Chambers: “a dance in a ring, or its tune.” It would appear that nowadays this definition might be more apt for the folk form of “circle dancing,” but that a “round dance” is a choreographed form of ballroom dance steps.
Thanks to Gozo for a puzzle which was enjoyable, but over too soon as it was a write-in for me: all the GK was in my range and the wordplay was all admirably clear. Kudos to Cineraria for spotting a theme, which went straight over my head, as often happens.
Thanks to everybody for the round dance explanations. In my experience the Hokey Coke only ever loosely aspires to roundness.
Tricky in places; I never even thought of a theme but this was solvable without any knowledge of it, even allowing for the states in 10ac. I did have to check in Chambers for GHARRY and AREOLA after working them out from the wordplay. As for 25dn I immediately thought of a beetle drive as the second definition; it reminded me of when I used to produce church notices – if there was a beetle drive coming up I would add an illustration of a VW Beetle with the caption ‘no, not that sort of beetle!’
Thanks, Gozo and Cineraria
Very enjoyable
Missed the theme
Thought Areola very clever.
It’s time to put things right. No one has yet correctly acknowledged the theme in my FT puzzle today. Everything about the theme so far is wide of the mark.
Gozo
What? A bunch of hidden men’s names? SAM, ELI, HARRY, EDDIE, etc.?
BOB, NICK, MARK, DAN, MARTY, STAN, ERIC, IVAN, TROY, JACK, CAL, ACE, SEAN, SERGE
TED, MILES
The Mousetrap
Rodent
Sergeant
The world premiere of The Mousetrap took place on October 6, 1952, at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham. This puzzle was published on October 6, 2026……😳😳😳
Also AL and IVOR
MAL, GUS, LEN
DES
Gosh, what a great chain of posts, and the setter joining in!
If only t’were ever so.
Moly@21, 22. An inspired spot.
Loved it, extremely satisfying. And didn’t even spot the names! Thanks all
I was convinced that 24dn was Dicars. (A flower -as in flower beds).