Mev fills what will be one of my last Monday slots blogging the Independent, if – as looks increasingly likely – the paper goes ahead with its decision to discontinue the crossword.
This puzzle from Mev is exactly what the Indy is about as far as cryptics are concerned: a soundly constructed, entertaining offering with a twist in its tail. Around the perimeter is the nina STICKLEBRICK GRID. This, I learned from Mrs Google, is the name of the grid that appears today, with sticky-out bits all round it, and named after the Sticklebrick children’s interlocking construction toy. The name was devised, apparently, by bloggers at idothei, so a shout out to the team there.
Quite a bit of person-specific GK required today: we met Pasty Cline, Cathy Tyson, Lisa Loeb, Lou Reed and Des O’Connor. I am struggling to see a connection, but crosswords always surprise me.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
5 Patsy caught cable
CLINE
A charade of C and LINE, with a reference to Patsy CLINE, the singer.
6 Places to sit and fish
PERCHES
A dd.
8 Made-up lady?
DAME
(MADE)* with ‘up’ as the anagrind.
9 Cher was in this low vehicle circumnavigating the poles
MOONSTRUCK
An insertion of NS in MOO and TRUCK. ‘The cattle are lowing; the baby awakes.’ A 1987 film featuring Cher in the lead role.
10 Example of canniest crackpot
INSTANCE
(CANNIEST)* with ‘crackpot’ as the anagrind.
11 Sent back some people’s sumptuous seafood serving
MUSSEL
Hidden reversed in peopLES SUMptuous.
12 Note computer on spaceship undergoing retrograde motion
LAH
A reversal of HAL, the sinister computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. ‘I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.’ The sixth note of the tonic sol-fa.
14 Cathy who acts with presumably uncool tiny child
TYSON
If ‘cool’ means ‘in’ (which it does in their sense of ‘trendy’), then ‘uncool’ tiny would be T[IN]Y, to which you need to add SON to get your answer. Cathy TYSON is a British actress.
15 Sheep moves head and limb
ARM
Mev is inviting you to move the first letter of RAM one place to the right.
17 Perjurer rejected by journalist complained bitterly
RAILED
A charade of LIAR reversed and ED.
19 Past pathetic Go form aside, finally succeed against adversity
OVERCOME
A charade of OVER and COME for the final letters of ‘pathetic’, ‘Go’, ‘Form’ and ‘aside’.
21 Glam rock band doctor diary about ultimate accolades
GOLD MEDALS
A reversal of SLADE, MD and LOG.
23 Singer Lisa tucked in to sloe berries
LOEB
Hidden in sLOE Berries. Lisa LOEB is an American singer-songwriter.
24 Expel police officer’s young lady
DISMISS
A charade of DI’S and MISS.
25 King rows and bellows
ROARS
A charade of R and OARS.
Down
1 Lets in squiffy mum
SILENT
(LETS IN)* with ‘squiffy’ as the anagrind.
2 Finished the prom piano act Verdi regularly forgot
TERMINATED
The odd letters of ThE pRoM pIaNo AcT vErDi.
3 Body part is viewed under infrared
IRIS
A charade of IR and IS.
4 Allure of tea: Mev finally buys case of matcha
CHARISMA
A charade of CHAR, I, S for the final letter of ‘buys’ and MA for the outside letters of ‘matcha’.
5 Fashion brand takes control of new station
CHANNEL
An insertion of N in CHANEL. The insertion indicator is ‘takes control of’.
6 They get paid for work of person Lisa’s corrupted
PROFESSIONALS
(OF PERSON LISAS)* with ‘corrupted’ as the anagrind.
7 Charlie enters certain city in South America
SUCRE
An insertion of C for ‘Charlie’ in the radio alphabet in SURE. The insertion indicator is ‘enters’. The capital of Bolivia.
11 Storm noise disturbed pioneering educator
MONTESSORI
(STORM NOISE)* with ‘disturbed’ as the anagrind.
13 Electronic album O’Connor recorded in Hong Kong for IT dept?
HELPDESK
An insertion of E, LP and DES in HK. The insertion indicator is ‘recorded in’.
16 Married woman wraps English award for those in a group
MEMBERS
An insertion of E MBE in MRS. The insertion indicator is ‘wraps’.
18 Reed interrupts one of The Adverts audibly
ALOUD
An insertion of LOU [Reed] in AD.
20 Arrest zero students occupying vehicle
COLLAR
An insertion of O and LL in CAR. The insertion indicator is ‘occupying’.
22 Great record, almost cool
EPIC
A charade of EP and IC[E].
Many thanks to Mev for this Monday’s puzzle. In a small nod to other recently invented crossword terms, I will lay claim to inventing the expression ‘gateway clue’ as one that gives you access to other referenced clues in the grid: I live near Ashbourne in Derbyshire, which is the ‘Gateway to Dovedale’, so it struck me as a good metaphor. And after a lunch in a curry restaurant in Leicester with BertandJoyce, we introduced and promoted the catch-all term ‘clue-as-definition’ as an alternative to ‘&lit’, because nobody could ever quite agree what exactly that meant. That seems to have caught on, and stopped a lot of ultimately fruitless discussions about ‘&lit’, ‘partial &lit’ and ‘&littish’.
Found this mostly straightforward. I’m of an age that I remember the ‘Crazy’ singer, Patsy Cline, so an easy start. Didn’t know the film MOONSTRUCK but got that immediately from the clue. Didn’t know Cathy Tyson but eventually guessed that with the crossers. Spotted the nina which helped me guess MONTESSORI. GOLD MEDALS was the last to fall, assuming the answer was a Glam Rock band for ages. Didn’t know SUCRE either but geography was never my strength.
“… after a lunch in a curry restaurant in Leicester …”
Hmm … Gateway to Rutland perhaps?
My all-time favourite came in T-shirt form: “Canberra: Gateway to Queanbeyan”.
Another solver who didn’t know Cathy TYSON or SUCRE and who spent ages trying to think of a glam rock band to fit 21a. Lisa LOEB also an unknown but very generously clued. Very much a gentle Monday puzzle.
Thanks both
8a could easily be seen as doing more. In addition to the simple anagram, a ‘made up’ lady could be one who has been elevated/honoured with a Damehood. A pantomime DAME is certainly heavily made up and could also be considered made up in the sense of being false. Triple def? CaD? &lit? Or am I overthinking?
No idea in retrospect why it took so long to parse TERMINATED after entering it.
Thanks Mev and Pierre
You’ll have to ask the Leicester contingent about that one, Trovatore. Multum in parvo and all that.
Filled the grid ok, with a few shrugs — Tyson, Loeb and Sucre were dnks. Patsy Cline I remember (eg I Fall to Pieces), but not her stature, which wiki says was considerable, albeit sadly short. Enjoyed this, thanks Mev and Pierre.
My huge thanks to Mev for impeccable timing….I set myself a target time some 5 or 6 years ago, to correctly complete a cryptic from the Indy, which I never achieved. Today, scraped inside with 13 seconds to spare.
Old age was to my advantage, so the likes of PATSY, DES, LOU REED, SLADE et al were gifts.
May be a slight music-based undertone, what with Cher and Ms.Loeb?
In fact, I felt Mev was very generous with his definitions, too, but it’s still a clever and skilful work of setting.
Lovely stuff, Mev & Pierre.
Thanks Pierre for your postscript about & lit, I’ve always wondered about this.
Lego
Thank you to Pierre for the blog(s), and to all commenters so far. There was no intended connection between all the people who happened to have turned up in the grid fill or the clues along the way.
Doofs@4: I noticed those possibilities after I wrote the clue, but didn’t have them in mind while doing so. (No, wait, I definitely did, I’m a genius, dammit!)
ENB@7: Don’t forget Verdi, (Hazel) O’Connor, and The MEMBERS. Or perhaps Smiley Culture’s “Police Officer”, or Bowie’s Fashion or… etc, etc… Music references abound if you look for them. (“You want it all, but you can’t have it…”)
So, a sad farewell from Mev to The Indy (or so it certainly seems at time of writing). Thank you to the boss Eimi for featuring me there over the last 5.5 years, and to 225 commenters for the fun along the way. (And yes, hi to the Indy’s second-chance solvers/bloggers at idothei – though perhaps they’ll never get to read this…?) It’s been a pleasure. Well, see you around, some where(s), cool cats?
I have been enjoying the Indy lately in the vain hope my extra percentage of a penny ad revenue will somehow lead to a change of heart from.
Feel like this was set perfectly for someone of my age. A few of the answers evoking memories.
I did know of sticklebricks but not that it was the name of this particular type of grid. A rare time I spotted the Nina as well.
Favourite today MOONSTRUCK
Thanks MeV and Pierre