Guardian 26,116 / Crucible

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I didn’t know I was going to be blogging today until after I got up and checked my emails.

As it turned out, after yesterday’s sad news I got a distinctly eerie feeling whilst solving due to several clues having a reference associated with death, though I’m sure this was purely coincidental.

I didn’t find this as tricky as some of Crucible’s previous puzzles and so it was completed fairy quickly though I did spend a little time at the end looking, unsuccessfully, for a theme or Nina. From the nature of some of the answers I still think there might be a theme but, if there is one, it is outside my knowledge base. Overall, despite the eerie feeling, an enjoyable solve.

Across

9 Bury’s outstanding player shouted “Referee!” (9)
INTERCEDE – INTER (bury) homophone (shouted) of ‘seed’ (outstanding player)

10 Tennyson’s first crude poem kept by maestro (5)
TEMPO – T[ennyson] anagram (crude) of POEM

11 Took on old English, swapping parts (7)
ENGAGED – ENG (English) AGED (old)

13 Court service admitted trickery (5)
CRAFT – CT (court) around (admitted) RAF (service)

14 Plug new gold bed till thoroughly sick of it (2,7)
AD NAUSEAM – AD (plug) N (new) AU (gold) SEAM (bed)

16 Men Only issues cover playing field, 22 down’s one of them (5,10)
STAGE DIRECTIONS – STAG (Men Only) EDITIONS (issues) around (cover) REC (playing field)

19 Insurance for theatrical feats spanning river? (6,3)
SAFETY NET – anagram (theatrical) of FEATS around (spanning) TYNE (river) – with the whole clue providing the definition

21 Sage in 5 Hindu borders (5)
SADHU – SAD (5 {despondent}) H[ind]U (Hindu borders)

22 Bent front off charm (7)
ENCHANT – [p]ENCHANT (bent front off)

24 Radio Nicosia’s dialect? (5)
IONIC – hidden in ‘radIO NICosia’ – again the whole clue provides the definition

25 Was very camp redcoat sacked about a quarter past five? (9)
OVERACTED – anagram (sacked) of REDCOAT around (about) V (five) E (quarter)

Down

1 Dilemma: director in Tesco’s fiddled overheads (5,5)
FIXED COSTS – FIX (dilemma) D (director) in anagram (fiddled) of TESCO’S

2 Such blemishes are unusual for a magistrate (8)
STIGMATA – an anagram (unusual) of ‘stigmata are’ gives ‘a magistrate’

3 Cargo avoiding Spain for a start (6)
FRIGHT – FR[e]IGHT (cargo avoiding Spain)

4,8 One of 16 useless people (8)
DEADWOOD – double def. – the first being the destination of the stagecoach in Calamity Jane

5 Low needs winds and time to cross Atlantic (10)
DESPONDENT – anagram (winds) of NEEDS T (time) around (to cross) POND (Atlantic)

6 Begin to take drugs regularly for that dreamy feeling (8)
STARDUST – START (begin) around (to take) D[r]U[g]S (drugs regularly)

7 A short distance to river wall (6)
IMMURE – 1 MM (a short distance) URE (river)

14 One line transformed into a complex Brechtian effect (10)
ALIENATION – A anagram (transformed) of LINE anagram (complex) of INTO A

15 When queens made out in disguise? (10)
MASQUERADE – MADE around (out) AS (when) QUE R (queens)

17 Cast of ten performed this in Paris foyer (8)
ENTRANCE – anagram (cast) of TEN RAN (performed) CE (this in Paris)

18 Old big-chested guys’ backstreet scraps (8)
ODDMENTS – O (old) DD (big-chested) MEN (guys) ST reversed (backstreet)

20 Federer starts serving well opposite (6)
FACING – F[ederer] (Federer starts) ACING (serving well)

21 High-spirited doctor, one who 25 in hospital? (6)
SHAMAN – HAM (one who 25 {overacted}) in SAN (hospital)

22,12,23across Lacking love, baby due to expire, Ursa involved — best known of 16? (4,7,2,1,4)
EXIT PURSUED BY A BEAR anagram (involved) of BABY DUE T[o] EXPIRE URSA – for the stage direction in The Winter’s Tale

23 Last platform that’s retained by its former operating company (4)
BIER – IE (that’s) in (retained by) BR (former operating company {one that had platforms})

 

19 comments on “Guardian 26,116 / Crucible”

  1. Super. 4d/8d a delight of misdirection. Quickly realised what the long solutions were going to be, so I now need to go back and really appreciate the clues.

  2. Well, there’s at least a mini-theme: Stage directions; exit pursued by a bear; entrance; overact; [stage]craft; masquerade; safety net; alienation. Even stardust and tempo, at a pinch.

  3. I generally enjoyed and appreciated this, with ticks against 9 and 11ac. The ‘think up a clue’ aspect of 2dn went right over my jet-lagged head, while the Calamity Jane conceit was too clever for me, and perhaps too clever for its own good.

  4. Thanks Gaufrid. The linked long ones went in pretty early, in part because of recent discussion on the very quote – by Peter O exactly a week ago. Philistine, too, in September had the play as the answer. And the late great man had this quote in his puzzle of 4 January. He will be much missed.

  5. Good puzzle; once I had E?I? and the fodder it quickly led to the bear.

    Thanks Gaufrid, especially for the Calamity Jane link that I had missed.

    I particularly liked the STIGMATA and SAFETY NET.

  6. Thanks, Gaufrid: I couldn’t quite work out the queens in MASQUERADE.

    I found this quite difficult to start, having only the F of 20d on the first run through! Once I had IONIC, the I (somehow) suggested EXIT, and the rest followed, but a slow solve nevertheless.

  7. This fitted exactly into a drive up the M11 to Cambridge for shopping. Wasn’t confident about DEADWOOD though till I read the blog; thought it might be something to do with Birnam.

  8. Thanks, Gaufrid.

    The first two across clues went straight in for me, so I thought the puzzle was going to be a walkover. I was wrong… Although I guessed DEAD WOOD quite quickly, it took me a while to spot the long answer (PURSUED was the key for me), but then 16a leapt out and the rest followed.

    22,12,23a is not only an anagram, but has a strongly allusive element: the BEAR (= ‘Ursa’, of course) appears in ‘The Winter’s Tale’ at the point where Antigonus has just abandoned the baby Perdita on the coast of Bohemia (sic).

    I liked the multiple linkage of clues, not all directly connected with STAGE DIRECTIONS. My favourite clue is probably 9a, with its well-constructed reference to my local football club. If only Bury actually had an outstanding player they might not be languishing near the bottom of League 2.

  9. PS I recognised the link between DEAD WOOD and STAGE DIRECTIONS immediately, as I have actually been to the town of Deadwood, South Dakota. It is close to many other interesting sites, including Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park, Wounded Knee (note to US colleagues: some of us Brits do get around a bit).

  10. Thanks all
    If I was held up at all it was entirely due to my own errors. I was convinced that 12ac was ‘followed’ which would not fit! And I kept looking at 15d instead of 16 ac and wondring what were all the cross references to masquerade meaning.
    Overall enjoyable

  14. molongo @4 – re the stage direction

    The late, great man’s puzzle was a Christmas Prize, 25826, published 22 Dec 2012. 4 Jan is when it was blogged.
    On 5 Jan Indy 8177, of 29 Dec, is blogged. “Antigonus’ plea for patience?” clues BEAR WITH ME. Some fellow calling himself Tees.

  16. Thanks Gaufrid and Crucible

    A very enjoyable puzzle with lots of amusing clues.

    I missed the clear instructions in 2d, though the answer was clear as too the presence of a link with ‘a magistrate’ when ‘are’ is added.

    I ticked lots of clues including 16a, 19a, 22a,1d, 4,8!, 5d.

  18. I finished this quicker than some previous Crucible puzzles, but it was still on the tricky side. I couldn’t parse STIGMATA or MASQUERADE so thanks for the explanations Gaufrid. DEADWOOD was my LOI after I saw through the misdirection.

  19. Like some others I had a very slow start on this. Ominously the grid was sparsely populated after the first pass. However slow but steady won the game.

    Although I entered STIGMATA I failed to see the compound anagram!

    Lots of clues to be admired and a quite superior crossword for a Wednesday.

    Thanks to Gaufrid and Crucible

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