Scorpion has given us a puzzle that makes us think.
When I first read the clues, I expected ‘man/woman of note’ to refer to singers, instrumentalists and composers. However, the first theme clue I solved was DICKENS (14 across) which clearly didn’t fit my preconceptions. The second I solved was WATT at 7 down. It was only when the Bard appeared at 32 across that the penny finally dropped that we were focusing on men and women who have appeared, or are going to appear of Bank of England currency notes (£1 [only referenced in a clue], £5, £10, £20 and £50) Many of the names were well known to me, but I have hardly ever seen a £50 note and certainly don’t carry one in my wallet, so Matthew BOULTON [ English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James WATT] was a stranger to me. Presumably the partnership relationship explains why both of them feature on different but current versions of the £50 note
I apologise that I have had to produce this blog in a bit of a rush, as I am out for most of the day. There may be the odd typo and so far, I haven’t cracked the wordplay at 10 across (ADO).
There were 34 clues today, a figure on the high side for standard daily cryptics, but I think themed crosswords often result in slightly odd grids.
Favourite clues for me today were those for FRY (very simple construct but good surface), RHINO (linking money and Isaac Newton who also appeared on a note), DMS (for the outrageous inclusion of a word with no vowels!), and NEWSGROUPS (for its linking of Spurs and own goal).
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Across |
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|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay |
Entry |
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9
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Woman of note chivalrous chap picked up during storm (11)
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NIGHT (sounds like [picked up] KNIGHT [chivalrous chap]) + IN (during) + GALE (storm)
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NIGHTINGALE (reference Florence NIGHTINGALE, featured on the £10 note 1975 – 1994)
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10
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Fuss over connecting plug (3)
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???? – I’ve had to put this blog together in a bit of ,rush and I am currently defeated by the wordplay on this one. When I return home this evening I expect that I will find a couple of comments explaining the obvious wordplay to me. It looks like a reversal (over) clue. The reverse of ADO is ODA which means ‘harem’. Stretching my imagination, I can just about see how ‘harem’ could be defined as a place (joint) where people connect, but I’m not entirely happy with it.
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ADO (fuss)
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11
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Fellow trains woman of note (3)
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F (fellow) + RY (railway; trains)
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FRY (reference Elizabeth FRY, features on the current £5 note, first appeared 2002)
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12
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Dad embraces mum heading for work – it’s disgusting (5)
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(PA [father; dad] containing [embraces] SH [quiet; keep mum]) + W (first letter of [heading for] WORK) P (SH) A W |
PSHAW (an expression of contempt or impatience; it’s disgusting)
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13
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A kid doing U-turn left unqualified (5)
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(A + TOT [child; kid]) all reversed (doing U-turn) + L (left) (TOT A)< L |
TOTAL (complete; utter; unqualified)
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14
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Director in charge knows man of note (7)
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D (director) + IC (in charge) + KENS (knows, chiefly Scottish usage)
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DICKENS (reference Charles DICKENS, featured on the £10 note 1992 – 2003)
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16
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Emperor lands on front of hyacinth, primarily a yellow type (3-4)
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NERO (reference Emperor NERO) containing (lands) (ON + H [first letter of {front of} HYACINTH]) N (ON H) ERO |
NON-HERO (one not distinguished in terms of showing bravery; potentially a coward [someone who is primarily yellow])
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19
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Short vintage pen (6)
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CRU (vintage) + STY (pen)
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CRUSTY (snappy; surly; short)
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20
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Refuse to let joker into court (6)
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SEE (meet up with romantically; court) containing (let … in) WAG (joker) SE (WAG) E |
SEWAGE (waste; refuse)
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22
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Old theologian coming from shade keeping in sun (7)
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AQUA (colour [shade] of ultramarine) containing (keeping] IN) + S (sun) AQU (IN) A S |
AQUINAS (reference Thomas AQUINAS, [1225 – 1274], Italian Dominican friar and priest, influential philosopher and theologian)
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24
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I run into bar drunk – is it Paddy’s shout? (7)
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(EGO [the ‘I’ or self] + R [run, in cricket scoring notation]) contained in (into) an anagram of [drunk] BAR ] B (EGO + R) RA* |
BEGORRA (a word attributed to irish people [Paddy] meaning ‘By God!]; is it Paddy’s shout)
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26
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The intention is to tour Cornwall area, tending to drift (5)
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AIM (intention) containing (to tour) SW (South West; Cornwall is located in the South West of England) A (SW) IM |
ASWIM (afloat; tending to drift)
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29
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Necessary arithmetic, say Isaac Newton initially brought in house (5)
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R (arithmetic, one of the 3Rs [reading, writing and arithmetic]) + (IN [first letters of {initially} ISAAC and NEWTON] contained in [brought in] HO [house]) R H (I N) O |
RHINO (money; necessary) Isaac Newton appeared on the £1 note from 1978 – 1988
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30
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Boots start to dispense script (3)
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D (first letter of [start to] DISPENSE) + MS (manuscript; script)
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DMS (reference Doc Martens [DM] boots) – pronounced DEE EMS
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31
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Female returned salutation (3)
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EVA (lady’s name; female) reversed (returned) AVE< |
AVE (be well and happy; hail; a salutation)
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32
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Man of note uses harpoon on fish standing in Swale disheartened (11) |
(HAKE [fish] + SPEAR [use a harpoon]) contained in (standing in) SE (first and last letters only of [disheartened {losing the letters at the heart of}] SWALE) S (HAKE SPEAR) E |
SHAKESPEARE (reference William SHAKESPEARE, featured on the £20 note 1970 – 1993)
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| Down | |||
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1
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Sign up with agent, getting deceived furtively (6)
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INK (sign [to ink in a signature]) reversed (up; down clue) + FED (Federal agent) KNI< FED |
KNIFED (defeated by treachery; deceived furtively)
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2
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Offensive left-wingers in unionist group look young (4)
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UGLY (first letters of [left wingers of words written from left to right] each of UNIONIST, GROUP, LOOK and YOUNG)
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UGLY (offensive)
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3
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Female disturbs relative man of note (10)
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HEN (female) contained in (disturbs) STEPSON [relative]) STEP (HEN) SON |
STEPHENSON (reference George STEPHENSON, featured on the £5 note 1990 -2003)
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4
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With craft working, charity workers leave ancient Greek region (2,3,3) |
ON (working) + (THESSALY [region of Greece] excluding [leave] SA [Salvation Army; charity workers])
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ON THE SLY (with craft)
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5
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Man of note from Harrow regularly ignored during clamour (6)
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(ARW [letters 2, 4 and 6 [the letters 1, 3 and 5 {regularly} being ignored of HARROW]) contained in (during) DIN (clamour) D (ARW) IN |
DARWIN (reference Charles DARWIN, currently featured on the £10 note, first appeared 2000) Unfortunately DARWIN wasn’t educated at Harrow, or the clue would have been even better.
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6
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Roger, one missing funniest gag (4)
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(OK [roger] + I [one]) excluded from (missing from) JOKIEST (funniest)
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JEST (gag)
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7
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Man of note finding centre of Kuwait dry (4)
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WA (middle letters of [centre of] KUWAIT) + TT (teetotal; dry)
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WATT (reference James WATT, currently featured on one version of the £50 note, first appeared 2011)
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8
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Sprinter appearing to catch superior man of note (7)
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(BOLT [reference Usain BOLT, sprinter {100 metres and 200 metres}] + ON [appearing]) containing (to catch) U (upper-class; superior) BO (U) LT ON |
BOULTON (reference Matthew BOULTON, also currently featured on one version of the £50 note, first appeared 2011)
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15
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Island business, 220 yards, relocating back in October (5)
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CO (company; business) + FUR (furlong [220 yards] with the R [last letter of {back in} OCTOBER] moving within the word [relocating]) CO RFU |
CORFU (Greek island)
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17
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Latest Spurs own goal briefly broadcast for Web users (10)
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NEWS (latest) + (an anagram of [broadcast] SPURS and OG [abbreviation {briefly} for ‘own goal’) NEWS GROUPS* |
NEWSGROUPS (groups that exchange views and information by means of the Internet; web users)
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18
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Article in Spanish newspaper upset man of note (5)
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EL (Spanish for ‘the’; defiinite article in Spanish) + (RAG [newspaper] reversed [upset]) EL GAR< |
ELGAR (reference Edward ELGAR, featured on the £20 note 1999 – 2010)
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20
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Fish reserves transferred at bottom of Lakeland fell (8)
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(SUBS [reserves] + IDE [fish]) + D (last letter of [bottom of] LAKELAND) The clue said ‘fish reverves’; the entry is of the form ‘reserves fish’ – hence fish and reserves have been transferred.
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SUBSIDED (fell [into a state of quiet or calm])
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21
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Man of note sees Ripley around drama school (7)
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FAY (reference FAY Ripley, actress) containing (around) RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art; drama school) FA (RADA) Y |
FARADAY (reference Michael FARADAY, featured on the £20 note 1991 – 2001)
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23
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Gentleman shifts position, reporting for duty (6)
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SURTAX (sounds like [reporting] SIR [gentleman] + TACKS [changes direction; shifts position of sails to do so])
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SURTAX (levy; [excise] duty])
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25
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Future woman of note given gold star (top 50%) in French (6)
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AU (chemical symbol for gold) + ST (first 2 letters [of 4; 50%] STAR) + EN (‘in’ in French)
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AUSTEN (reference Jane AUSTEN, soon to feature [2016] on the £10 note)
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27
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Man of note right to dissect revolutionary novel (4)
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R (right) contained in (to dissect) NEW (novel) reversed (revolutionary) W (R) EN< |
WREN (reference Christopher WREN, featured on the £50 note 1981 – 1996)
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| 28 |
Times Squares’s eating place (4)
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MESS (hidden word in [‘S of SQUARE‘S indicates possession] TIMES SQUARE)
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MESS (eating place)
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30
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Film actress at heart of publicity, surrounded by washing powder (4)
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I (central letter of [at heart of] PUBLICITY) contained in (surropunded by) DAZ (a brand of washing powder) D (I) AZ |
DIAZ (reference Cameron DIAZ, film actress)
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Thanks Scorpion and Duncan,
I took ADO to be ad = plug and 0 = over, but wasn’t totally happy with it.
There were no straight anagrams in this puzzle.
Muffyword @ 1
I much prefer your suggestion for ADO to mine – Thanks
Thank you Duncan.
My main pleasure in this one was cracking the theme, which came after two or three of the ‘noted’ people. I too was initially into composers, but seeing some females in the clues ruled that one out, since there aren’t many of them who are that famous.
There were a couple that were a bit obscure – NON-HERO and ASWIM – but on the whole I enjoyed it. Thank you to Scorpion.
Thank you very much to setter and to blogger. I only wish my work done “in a bit of a rush” was half as thorough. Challenging, particularly for a “furr’ner” like me who’s not familiar with the Bank of England currency notes and I couldn’t get it all out. Would have really made my day if 32a had been clued “Man of note makes noisy wobble stick” (yes, I know a pretty lame clue from a rank amateur) but you can’t have it all.
Thanks Scorpion and Duncan for the reasoning for “on the sly” which evaded me, it appears to be a pangram which we’ve not had for a while.
Thanks for the puzzle and for teaching me (a Scot) that Matthew Boulton was James Watt’s partner. (I had to Google him, though.)
I missed the currency element in the theme because I thought “of note” just meant “famous”. D’oh!
I found this on the tough side but enjoyable, and I was very pleased to have been able to finish it without resort to aids and with all clues parsed. DMS was my LOI after I finally cracked DIAZ.
Me too, Andy. Too poor to have much interface with folding money. Found it a bit like pulling teeth today, but got ADO straightaway as advert and over shortened, so not all hope lost.
Thanks to blogger and setter
re. 12ac
“pshaw” occurs frequently in 18th century drama/dialogue to mean “that’s ridiculous” but I have not come across it before being used to suggest “that’s revolting”.
Damn, I’d thought of DMS for 30ac from the word play, but dismissed it as I’d never heard of that as an abbreviation for Doc Martens. I also guessed “bingo” for 29ac, which did rather sabotage 20 and 23dn, so a few blanks still on my grid.
The puzzle is also a pangram.
Sorry. It was already mentioned above!
Thanks Duncan for parsing 6d. It had us beat!
Thanks to Scorpion for a NOTEworthy puzzle!
Too late to think of anything else to say but we enjoyed it.