Hieroglyph appears on a monthly basis in the Independent weekday series.
Once you solved any of the across clues in this puzzle, it was fairly obvious what the theme was. A quick check on the clue at 1 down confirmed this as CHEESE. The fridge in our house tends to be awash with the stuff, but it’s my wife rather than me who is both the consumer and the aficionado. However, I knew enough cheeses by name to be able to get a strong foothold into the puzzle.
I had a list of CHEESEs in my mind and some of them obviously fitted the wordplay of some of the acrosses. The ones I didn’t know – about half – I was able to deduce from the wordplay together with a bit of online research to confirm that the solutions I came up with were CHEESEs
I solved this puzzle reasonably quickly with my last one in being TILSIT at 23 across.
My favourite clue today was the one for UNDER THE WEATHER with its double insertion of THE
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
7
|
Bizarrely, carve Hieroglyph’s initial in 1D (8)
|
Anagram of (bizarrely) (CARVE and H [first letter of {initially} HIEROGLYPH) and IN) VACHERIN* |
VACHERIN (a cow’s milk CHEESE [1 down] made in both France and Switzerland)
|
|
9
|
A moron melted 1D (6)
|
Anagram of (melted) A MORON ROMANO* |
ROMANO (sharp tasting hard CHEESE [1 down])
|
|
10
|
Berliner regularly dropped 1D (4)
|
BRIE (Letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 that remain in BERLINER after letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 [regularly] ELNR are excluded [dropped])
|
BRIE (white soft CHEESE [1 down])
|
|
11
|
Pickled pear wrapped in cold 1D (10)
|
Anagram of (pickled) PEAR contained in (wrapped in) CHILLY (cold) C (AERP*) HILLY |
CAERPHILLY (mild white CHEESE [1 down])
|
|
12
|
Noble eating a knight’s 1D (6)
|
PEER (noble) containing (eating) (A + N [knight in modern chess notation]) P (A N) EER |
PANEER (mild crumbly CHEESE [1 down] used in Asian cookery)
|
|
14
|
Finish off toilet gag about 1D (8)
|
Anagram of (about) (TOILET excluding the last letter [finish off] T and GAG ) TALEGGIO* |
TALEGGIO (a semi-soft cow’s milk CHEESE [1 down] from the Lombardy region of Italy)
|
|
16
|
Deal out after theologian gobbles new 1D (11)
|
WESLEY (reference John WESLEY [1703 – 1791] founder of the Methodist movement; theologian) containing (gobbles) N (new) + an anagram of (out) DEAL WE (N) SLEY DALE* |
WENSLEYDALE (white crumbly variety of CHEESE [1 down])
|
|
22
|
Revolutionary’s anger about hard 1D (11)
|
(CHE’S [Che Guevara’s {revolutionary’s}] + IRE [anger]) containing [about] H (hard) CHES (H) IRE |
CHESHIRE (type of mild CHEESE [1 down])
|
|
23
|
On the way back, note cut 1D (6)
|
(TI [note of the tonic solfa] + SLIT [cut]) reversed (on the way back) (TILS IT)< |
TILSIT ( light yellow semi-hard smear-ripened CHEESE [1 down], created in the mid-19th century by Prussian-Swiss settlers from the Emmental Valley)
|
|
25
|
Sweet milky coffee and 1D (10)
|
DOLCE (sweet) + LATTE (espresso coffee with frothed hot milk)
|
DOLCELATTE (a soft Italian CHEESE [1 down] with blue veins.)
|
|
27
|
Poet rejected 1D (4)
|
GRAY (reference Thomas GRAY [1716 – 1771], English poet) reversed (rejected) YARG< |
YARG (semi-hard cow’s milk CHEESE [1 down] made in Cornwall)
|
|
28
|
Throw out French joiner’s 1D (6)
|
JUNK (throw out) + ET (French for ‘and’; French joiner)
|
JUNKET (a cream CHEESE [1 down])
|
|
29
|
Some Brummagem men talk 1D (8)
|
EMMENTAL (hidden word [some] in BRUMMAGEM MEN TALK)
|
EMMENTAL (a hard Swiss CHEESE [1 down], similar to Gruyère)
|
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Foodstuff said to produce a smile? (6)
|
CHEESE (the word that photographers traditionally ask you say to generate a smile)
|
CHEESE (foodstuff)
|
|
2
|
Shopkeeper sounds increasingly unpleasant (6) |
GROCER (sounds like [sounds] GROSSER [increasingly unpleasant])
|
GROCER (shopkeeper)
|
|
3
|
Off-colour article repeatedly goes into unmentionables (5,3,7)
|
(THE [definite article]) twice [repeatedly] contained in [goes into) UNDERWEAR (unmentionables) UNDER (THE) WEA (THE) R |
UNDER THE WEATHER (indisposed; off colour)
|
|
4
|
Contended with Greek technology company director (8)
|
GR (Greek) + APPLE (a technology company) + D (director)
|
GRAPPLED (contended)
|
|
5
|
Independent member originally invited southern African warriors (4) |
I (independent) + MP (Member [of Parliament]) + I (first letter of [originally] INVITED)
|
IMPI (a group of armed southern African native warriors)
|
|
6
|
In clear translation? Yes! (2,5)
|
Anagram of (translation) IN CLEAR EN CLAIR* |
EN CLAIR (not in cipher; uncoded; in clear [translation])
|
|
8
|
Sailor turned up gold after date in the field (6)
|
AB (able seaman; sailor) + (OR [gold] reversed [turned up; down clue]) + AD (anno domini; [in the year of the Lord]; referencing a date) AB RO< AD |
ABROAD (in the field)
|
|
13
|
Eternity ring hidden by enrolled nurse (3)
|
O (ring shape] contained in (hidden by) EN (enrolled nurse) E (O) N |
EON (vast age; eternity)
|
|
15
|
Posh female pin-up (3)
|
LEG (pin) reversed (up; down clue) GEL< |
GEL (facetious rendering of an upper-class pronunciation of girl; posh female)
|
|
17
|
Characters from Ennis leaving Northern Ireland (3)
|
ENNIS excluding (leaving) NI (Northern Ireland) ENNIS is a town in the Republic of Ireland, although it may also be a shortened version of ENNISkillen , a town in Northern Ireland)
|
ENS (multiple occurrences of the letter N; characters)
|
|
18
|
Possibly pans art film society (8)
|
SKILL (art) + ET (name of a film) + S (society)
|
SKILLETS (small long handled pans;in America, frying pans)
|
| 19 | Friend‘s goal, having raised money (3) |
AIM (goal) with M (money) moving up the word [having raised; down clue) AMI |
AMI (friend) |
|
20
|
Endlessly worried sheep grow very fast (5,2)
|
SHOOK (unnerved; worried) excluding the last letter [endlessly] K + TUP (ram; sheep) SHOO T UP |
SHOOT UP (grow very fast)
|
|
21
|
I slip up in South American mountain range (6)
|
(I + ERR [slip up]) contained in (in) SA (South American) S (I ERR) A |
SIERRA (mountain range, especially in Spanish speaking countries and the United States)
|
|
23
|
Louise’s on-screen partner in production of Hamlet? (6)
|
Anagram of (production of) HAMLET THELMA* |
THELMA (reference the 1991 film THELMA and LOUISE)
|
|
24
|
Amateur in Gabon making eggs (6)
|
LAY (amateur) + IN + G (International Vehicle Registration for Gabon)
|
LAYING (making eggs)
|
|
26
|
Cold, satisfactory energy drink (4)
|
C (cold) + OK (satisfactory) + E (energy)
|
COKE (Coca-Cola; drink)
|
Enjoyable romp, and a thorough blog. Thanks S&B.
But (curmudgeonly cavill warning) paneer is not crumbly, it is rubbery like halloumi.
Thanks, Duncan.
I’m not always a fan of themed puzzles, but this was a fun outing. I’m partial to a nice bit of cheese myself: of the ones here, EMMENTAL is my fave. Not all the acrosses yielded immediately, despite the fact that I’d got CHEESE straight away.
UNDER THE WEATHER was good.
Congrats to Hieroglyph on being able to get a cheese in every across clue and yet avoid anything obscure in the downs. I agree with CC@1 on the consistency of PANEER. The cheese in a good Sag Paneer should still be lumpy. I only found this out after I broadened my culinary tastes, and it was then that I realised the “Sag Paneer” I had been getting at an Indian in Maidenhead for many years was more likely to have been “Sag Cheddar” because it contained melted cheese. One lives and learns.
One of my quickest solves in ages, fairly rushed through this, although at the end there were three cheeses I didn’t know an had to look up to get the correct answers: 9,14,23.
Duncan, just in case you thought I was criticising you, the BRB does of course describe paneer as crumbly. Just shows (as do other instances) that it sometimes gets things wrong.
It doesn’t help that some Indian restaurants used to (and probably still do) describe it totally wrongly as ‘Indian cottage cheese’.
Rather too cheesy to be honest and really, some of these are beyond most folks vocabulary, it’s ok, I solved it and Tuesday is theme day but setter and editor need to think about the audience in this.
The bloke on the train isn’t going to have a cheese sauce or source, and don’t say use the internet. The signal on commuter lines is appalling
I’m a fan of cheese but don’t tend to venture that much beyond cheddar and brie, so I was stuck on the three cheeses I’d never heard of (tilsit, dolcelatte and taleggio) and had to resort to word searches to find them. I got the latte part of dolcelatte but, not being big on Italian, was unlikely ever to think of dolce for sweet.
@Neal I got dolce from a film I saw many moons ago called la dolce vita, which was translated as the sweet life. Can’t remember anything else about it though.
Flashing,
Yes, I have heard of the film, although I haven’t seen it. However, as a Northern, I was looking for sweet to be a dessert.
Flashling, you’re getting even grumpier than me (which is some achievement). There was nowt wrong with this. As I said, I’m not really keen on the Tuesday themed puzzles, but this one was a bit of fun. Go and get the crackers out, cut yourself a portion of something cheesy, and wash it down with a glass of red. Then you can have something dolce: fromage avant dessert, as the French say.
Some while ago we had something similar and a poster complained that it was just a matter of getting a list and looking for themed items in it. I see what was meant. Once I realised, and I did so pretty quickly because of the fairly obvious 29ac, that this was about cheeses I just went to my Chambers Crossword Dictionary (which I had to really because I’d never heard of some of them) and got most of the acrosses. But it didn’t give yarg. Nor did my Bradford. Perhaps they are too old.
However, despite the automatic ease, I enjoyed it. Some good clues, especially 3dn.
Sorry, but I really don’t see the point of looking at a list of cheeses and trying to find the ones that fit the puzzle. What happened to good old “decipher the wordplay”?
Cracking puzzle, Heiroglyph!
Cracking blog, Duncan!
(With a nod to Wallace and Gromit)