I cannot believe it’s so long since I have blogged a Knut puzzle – it is over 7 years! (*)
Even then I wrote “I have been waiting for another Knut to appear on my blogging rota for far too long.”
The sentiment persists, as you can guess.
This puzzle gave me a very enjoyable hour or so.
I have been using the solving method where I ignore the grid and try cold solving each clue before putting those in and using crossing letters to aid the rest.
This time I got 9 out of the 30 on that first pass, which I think shows Knut always provides some reasonably accessible entry points.
The rest followed with no major issues despite there being more homophones than usual (my bugbear).
The only one I struggled with was the last one in, 11a had to be MEDOC given the crossing letters but I had no idea it was a peninsular till I looked at a wine region map. I knew the Gironde looked like that, but I didn’t realise the various regions are such specific areas within the Bordeaux region.
The clue I learnt most from: 23d NAHUM
Thanks Knut!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ARMAGNAC |
Spirit embodied by secular Magna Carta (8)
|
| Hidden in seculAR MAGNA Carta. First one solved. | ||
| 5 | ANUBIS |
Uncover Blue River island figure revered along the Nile (6)
|
| [d]ANUB[e] (blue river, uncovered) IS[land] | ||
| 10 | CORKSCREW |
Irish city’s ship’s company that gets stuck into the vino (9)
|
| CORK’S (Irish city’s) CREW (ship’s company) | ||
| 11 | MEDOC |
Peninsula: sea freezing cold (5)
|
| MED (sea) OC (Freezing cold, 0°C) Is the Medoc a peninsular? <looks at map> OK it is. Last one in. |
||
| 12 | FETA |
Source of protein, iron? Thanks! (4)
|
| FE (iron) TA (thanks) | ||
| 13 | ANDROMEDA |
Group of stars departs capital in open landau (9)
|
| D[eparts] ROME (capital) all inside [l]ANDA[u] | ||
| 15 | CINDERELLA |
Sweeper coached away from the ball? (10)
|
| Cryptic Def. | ||
| 17 | FAVE |
Best-loved shanty town bulldozing large area (4)
|
| FAVE[la] (shanty town, – L[arge] A[rea]) | ||
| 19 | ROOD |
Cross and abusive on the phone (4)
|
| “Rude” (abusive, as a homophone) HInd: on the phone | ||
| 20 | USED-CAR LOT |
Where one might find old Reg Ford? (4-3,3)
|
| Cryptic Definition. Why does “old Reg Ford” make me think of “Free Bill Stickers” |
||
| 22 | NON-PERSON |
Breaking news: poor Spooner being ostracised (3-6)
|
| (SPOONER)* AInd: poor, inside NN (news) | ||
| 24 | IGBO |
Foreign language starts to influence opinion around part of UK (4)
|
| Starting letters: I[nfluence] O[pinion] around GB (part of UK) | ||
| 26 | TITHE |
What idiot rejected cash meant for the church? (5)
|
| EH (what) TIT (idiot) All Reversed | ||
| 27 | DEHYDRATE |
Heading back east late, he would dry out (9)
|
| E[ast] TARDY (late) HE’D All reversed. Reverse indicator: Heading back | ||
| 28 | NEEDLE |
Make cross stitch using this? (6)
|
| Double Definition | ||
| 29 | AMETHYST |
Hot, steamy, lacking oxygen, turning violet (8)
|
| (HOT STEAMY – O[xygen])* AInd: turning. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ARCH |
Roguish Austen hero undressed Elizabeth finally (4)
|
| [d]ARC[y] (Austen hero, undressed) [elizabet]H | ||
| 2 | MARIE ANTOINETTE |
Trashing contents of Petit Trianon, mean European princess (5,10)
|
| [p]ETIT TRIANON MEA[n] + E[uropean] | ||
| 3 | GOSSAMER |
When spread, marge’s so light (8)
|
| (MARGE’S SO)* AInd: When spread. | ||
| 4 | AORTA |
Car crash south of Aleppo cleared arterial route (5)
|
| RTA (Car crash, Road Traffic Accident) underneath (south of) A[lepp]O | ||
| 6 | NIMROD |
Hunter set up sleeping accommodation at home (6)
|
| DORM (sleeping accommodation) IN (at home) All reversed (set up) | ||
| 7 | BODLEIAN LIBRARY |
Robin Day worked with braille books here (8,7)
|
| (ROBIN DAY + BRAILLE)* AInd: worked. | ||
| 8 | SACRAMENTO |
Seated, eating cold Japanese noodles over US city (10)
|
| SAT (seated) around (eating) C[old] RAMEN (Japanese noodles), then O[ver] | ||
| 9 | SWADDLED |
Well wrapped up, son walked with clumsy gait (8)
|
| S[on] WADDLED (walked with clumsy gait) | ||
| 14 | ACCRINGTON |
Where to see Stanley, Bill and Charlie call Tony endlessly? (10)
|
| AC (Bill) C[harlie] RING (call) TON[y] | ||
| 16 | EAST SIDE |
Each second flood covers small part of Manhattan (4,4)
|
| EA[ch] S[econd] TIDE (flood) around S[mall] | ||
| 18 | SAMIZDAT |
We’re told Samuel’s girlfriend abridged dissident literature (8)
|
| Homophone (Ind: We’re told) of “Sammy’s dat[e]” | ||
| 21 | SEWELL |
Novelist comfortable after spine drained (6)
|
| S[pin]E WELL (comfortable) Ref. Anna Sewell of Black Beauty fame |
||
| 23 | NAHUM |
Note buzz surrounding Alqosh’s top prophet (5)
|
| A[lqosh] in N[ote] and HUM (buzz) I have certainly never heard of Alqosh north of Mosul in Iraq. I had heard of the (minor) prophet Nahum but had no idea he came from Alqosh. He can’t be that minor if he has a whole OT book. |
||
| 25 | KENT |
County clerk gossiped (4)
|
| Clerk sounds like (homophone indicator: gossiped) Clark Kent, aka Superman. I wondered briefly why it was a homophone till I realised the job and the man are spelt differently |
(*) It was 10,092
I echo our blogger, in that half the puzzle was plain sailing, until Knut turned the tide against me.
Nearly sunk by NAHUM/ SAMIZDAT/ IGBO, but the wordplays threw me a lifeline.
Very entertaining, some novel and crafty routes to the solutions.
Honesty’s the best policy, the parsing of DEHYDRATE defeated me ( so thanks, BM).
Thumbs up, both Knut & beermagnet
Absolutely superb. A puzzle fizzing with good ideas. As ENB observes, honesty is the best policy: I have clued several of the words in this puzzle in my own crosswords and I’m looking at Knut’s constructions thinking ‘why didn’t I spot that possibility?’ And, as always, not only are the assemblies excellent, the surfaces tell cracking stories too. One of my favourite Indy puzzles in a while. And I am shamelessly copping out of nominating favourite clues: every one’s a winner.
Thanks both
PostMark says it all – and I’m echoing him re copping out of naming favourites, not least because I’m off soon for a few days in my beloved Yorkshire Dales and I’m not really ready yet.
But I can’t not mention the (customary) excellent anagrams – MARIE ANTOINETTE, BODLEIAN LIBRARY, and the chortles at Old Reg Ford and the Spoonerism, for not being one (although Knut / Julius is one of the few who know how to do them).
And I must add ACCRINGTON, for reviving memories of the milk advert, beloved in our family when the children were young: we all used the scathing ‘Exactly’, in the appropriate accent, at every opportunity. (Google ‘Accrington Stanley milk advert’: the links too long to post and I’ve forgotten how to shorten them!)
Huge thanks, as ever, to setter and lucky blogger.
Thanks both. I only slowed down when needing time to dredge the LIBRARY name, but ANUBUS still beat me – I see the angle of the blue river, but having recently sailed it, it is only so known in the arts. SAMIZDAT was a partial defeat as I stuck in an ‘s’ instead of ‘Z’; a clue below the high standard of others imho