A pleasant, if gentle, workout from Alchemi – no particular theme or Nina that I could see, but some symmetrically placed (10, 4), (4, 10) connected pairs of clues, and a couple of ‘curved ball’ references, one familiar to me, the other not…
Alchemi isn’t a name I am too familiar with, but a quick search of 15×15 reveals a number of Indy appearances and several Sindies as well.
I found this rather at the easier end of the Saturday Prize puzzle ‘difficulty spectrum’, in terms of solving, but in the process enjoyed some nice clueing and surface readings, such as the ‘RUGGED’ Thomas Hardy, wearing a wig – which would probably have blown off in those long walks along the Dorset coast…
The two ‘curved balls’ were AR(THUR) DENT at 30A – OK if you know your early-80s UK sci-fi-comedy, which I do - and CARL ANDRE at 17D – OK if you know your American minimalist artists, recognized for their ‘ordered linear format and grid format sculptures’ – including some with bricks involved… but this was gettable from the wordplay, the HHGTTG reference maybe less so for non-initiates, by which I mean ’the younger generation’…
Talking of which, I enjoyed the definition of NINETY at 8D… as someone rather trepidatiously(?) approaching 48, it is encouraging to think I am only just over half way to ‘getting on a bit’!
LOI was NYLON, taking a while to spot ‘tails’ as an indicator of last letters.
I’m not sure if there is a technical term for the ‘symmetrical, paired’ clues, but it seems to be a reasonably frequent device, and maybe is used as a way of getting the grid started…? (Not being a setter I am always in awe of the art of just getting all those words to interact and fit, let alone clueing them…)
Thanks to Alchemi, and hope this was enjoyed by everybody else as well…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | PRETTY | Fairly races into quarry (6) | Fairly / PRE_Y (quarry) around TT (TT motorcycle races on Isle of Man) |
|
| 4A | FENCED IN | According to Spooner, stupid northern European is anything but beyond the pale (6,2) | anything but beyond the pale / The Rev Spooner might say ‘FENCED IN’ as DENSE (stupid) FINN (Northern European) |
|
| 10A | NEWSPAPER | Recently-built resort a media outlet (9) | media outlet / NEW SPA (recently buil resort) + PER (a, as in each, or per) |
|
| 11A | NYLON | Pressmen, very formal, go in tails to get material (5) | material / last letters (tails) of ‘pressmeN verY formaL gO iN’ |
|
| 12/13A | LORD LIEUTENANT | Dignitary upset until done later (4,10) | Dignitary / anag (i.e. upset) of UNTIL DONE LATER |
|
| 15A | DAFTEST | Extremely silly set of questions on retro craze (7) | Extremely silly / DAF (fad, or craze, retro) + TEST (set of questions) |
|
| 16A | FLEECE | Run away from church cheat (6) | cheat / FLEE (run away) + CE (Church of England) |
|
| 19A | EXMOOR | Pony ride finishing times with scope to be put back (6) | (Breed of) pony / E (finishing letter of ridE) + X (times, by) + MOOR (room, or scope, put back) |
|
| 21A | SECURED | Tethered dog surrounded by children (7) | Tethered / SE_ED (children, issue) around (surrounding) CUR (dog) |
|
| 23/25A | UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE | Cheerful team losing odd bits of cracknel pudding? (6-4,4) | pudding / UP (cheerful) + SIDE (team) + DOWN (losing) + CAKE (odd letters of CrAcKnEl) |
|
| 27A | GROAN | Good horse to audibly indicate distress (5) | to audibly indicate distress / G (good) + ROAN (horse) |
|
| 28A | ON THE EDGE | Pay attention to scribbled German note about being at the margin (2,3,4) | being at the margin / ONT_GE (anag, i.e. scribbled, of NOTE + G – German), around HEED (pay attention to) |
|
| 29A | DEPOSITS | Nervously dips toes in residues (8) | residues / anag (i.e. nervously) of DIPS TOES |
|
| 30A | ARDENT | Keen galactic hitchhiker losing a day (6) | Keen / AR(THUR) DENT – character from ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, losing Thur – a day |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | PINK LADY | Fix stable-boy in Kentucky a cocktail (4,4) | cocktail / PIN (fix) + K_Y (Kentucky) around LAD (stable boy) |
|
| 2D | EDWARD FOX | Elizabethan dramas initially attract rising loud bovine actor (6,3) | actor / ED (initial letters of Elizabethan Drama) + WARD (draw, or attract, rising) + F (forte, loudly) + OX (bovine animal) |
|
| 3/14D | TAPE | Devious stranger copied sound evidence (4,10) | sound evidence / anag, i.e. devious) of STRANGER COPIED |
|
| 5D | EARMUFF | Getting aural protection, political group shut up member being very loud (7) | aural protection / E_U (European Union, political group) around (shutting up) ARM (member) + FF (fortissimo, very loud) |
|
| 6/26D | CONFERENCE | Fruit meeting the standard containing a number of additives (10,4) | Fruit / CONFERENCE (meeting) + P_AR (the standard) containing E (E-numbers are associated with food additives |
|
| 7D | DELTA | Character brought up by volunteers (5) | (Greek) character / DEL (led, or brought, up) + TA (Territorial Army, UK volunteer force) |
|
| 8D | NINETY | Popular film set in New York is getting on a bit (6) | getting on a bit / N_Y (New York) set around IN (popular) + ET (film, ET the Extra-Terrestrial) |
|
| 9D | SPRINT | Run very fast time at the end of curtailed season (6) | Run very fast / SPRIN(G) (season, curtailed) + T (time) |
|
| 14D | RECORDINGS | See 3D (10) | See 3D / See 3D |
|
| 17D | CARL ANDRE | Artistic bricklayer has both hands in mind (4,5) | Artistic bricklayer (minimalist artist, some works in brick)/ CAR_E (mind) around L AND R (left and right, both hands) |
|
| 18D | ADHERENT | Follower died in this place tended by social worker (8) | Follower / A_NT (social worker insect) around D (died) + HERE (in this place) |
|
| 20D | REDCOAT | Traitor smuggling broken code to British soldier once (7) | British soldier, once / R_AT (traitor) around (smuggling in) EDCO (anag, i.e. broken, of CODE) |
|
| 21D | SOWETO | Very namby-pamby old South African suburb (6) | South African suburb / SO (very) + WET (namby-pamby) + O (old) |
|
| 22D | RUGGED | Hardy wearing a wig? (6) | double defn. / RUGGED can mean tough, hardy; a RUG can mean a hairpiece, or wig |
|
| 24D | STOEP | Poets milling around porch in Bloemfontein (5) | porch, in Bloemfontein / anag (i.e. milling around) of POETS |
|
| 26D | PEAR | See 6D (4) | See 6D / See 6D |
|
Thanks for the blog, mc. I’m unaware of anything beyond the (10,4)/(4,10) scaffolding around which the rest of the words were hung. You are entirely correct to surmise that at least in this case they were simply a method of getting started.
I admit to having been mildly surprised when the boss notified me it would be appearing on a Saturday, since I didn’t think it was tough enough for this slot. But Eimi is a man of infinite wisdom, and he always knows best.
If you do want a tougher one of mine, I’m occupying this month’s Prize Puzzle slot on Big Dave’s site which will be published later today. That one is tough.
And if you want some more of all sorts of levels of difficulty, I am pleased to announce the opening of Alchemiland. Since I have been composing puzzles at the rate of 2-3 a week and have publishers for 2-3 a month, I have rather a backlog of puzzles which won’t otherwise get seen. So I’m publishing just about all the puzzles I composed up to the end of 2013 plus those which were published elsewhere in 2014 and whose original publishers don’t mind them being published a few months later. It also includes my specialist cricket-themed puzzles which I did for Cricinfo, including some newer ones which I composed after the series ended. So there are about 240 puzzles all told at present.
A word of warning: I will not be held responsible for any adverse consequences should hedgehoggy attempt any of the first 90 or so puzzles without an emergency medical team on hand. After about number 90, I began receiving the benefits of Eimi’s sage advice with a consequent improvement in the standard, but the further back in time you go, the more likely you are to find the odd wince-worthy clue in a puzzle (the puzzles between 30 and 40 in particular are evidence of a torrid fling with the compound anagram which I am extremely pleased was over quickly, for instance). It was quite interesting compiling the site because the puzzles are old enough for me to have forgotten clueing them, and I was moderately pleased to find that only a handful were so badly flawed I had to chuck them and that most of them are at least OK, with some being really rather good.
Anyway, it’s free, so you’re getting your money’s worth.
http://www.alchemipuzzles.com
11ac (NYLON) was also my last one in. I’m afraid I don’t consider “A B C D E tails” to indicate the final letters of A B C D E without a possessive indicator being present, either as an apostrophe, or by means of eg “tails of A B C D E”.
Thanks mc and Alchemi,
I loved FENCED IN and RUGGED.
Thanks also to Alchemi for the tip-off about the puzzle on Big Dave’s site. It is indeed tough, but well worth the effort.
Thanks for the link to your site Alchemi, and also for the confirmation that you were surprised it was chosen to be a prize puzzle. Still, I enjoyed it and was grateful for the clear wordplay for CARL ANDRE. I have no problem at all with the way NYLON was clued.
Alchemi – thanks for the feedback, and the info re. your other output (Three a week sounds fairly prolific!). Glad you weren’t offended by my description of this as a ‘gentle workout’, and thanks also for providing the technical term ‘scaffold’ for those (10,4), (4,10) clues!
Thanks also for the other comments, Mike Denton, Muffyword and Andy B. Interesting point from Mike D on the use of ‘tails’, although as it was the last one in we already had N?L?N – which doesn’t leave too many ‘materials’…