I have had few opportunities to solve and blog puzzles compiled by Alchemi so far, so I was rather looking forward to this, despite having to rely on a less than optimum internet connection in my hotel!
Overall, I found this a medium-difficulty puzzle, where I found that I solved quite a few clues from their definition but then really had to do some head-scratching to tease out the wordplay, with 10 being a case in point.
I would be interested in hearing from other solvers how they parsed the wordplay in 11 – “arrangement” – and in 7 – “redacted”. These were clues which I feel confident of having solved correctly solely on the strength of the definition, but I haven’t understood the wordplay to my satisfaction. Conversely, I worked out 1A from the wordplay and confirmed (although didn’t really understand!) the definition in Chambers.
My favourite clues today were 10, for its topicality and for cleverly working the German Chancellor into the clue; 22, for its smooth surface; and 21, for its (cryptic) definition. I also appreciated the misdirection of “cleaner” in 12 and “loads” in 17.
Many thanks, Alchemi, for brightening up my stay away from home this week.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | GOLDEN SECTION | Heavy metal scene rearranged into amazing divine proportion
GOLD (=heavy metal) + *(SCENE) + *(INTO); “rearranged” and “amazing” are both anagram indicators; according to Chambers, “divine proportion” is one of a number of alternative names for “golden section” (or “sectio aurea”), which according to Chambers is “division of a line so that one segment is to the other as that to the whole”, in mathematics |
| 08 | HERNIA | 14 get back home before a medical problem
HER (=answer at 14) + NI (IN=(at) home; “back” indicates reversal) + A |
| 09 | UNDREAMT | Provençal 1D papers reaching difficult conclusion not thought of before
UN (=Provençal 1, i.e. the French for one) + D + REAM (=papers) + <difficul>T (“conclusion” means last letter only) |
| 10 | ALEXIS TSIPRAS | As head of European government ultimately, Angela Merkel is upsetting Paris
<angel>A <merke>L (“ultimately” means last letters only) + EXISTS (=is) + *(PARIS); “upsetting” is anagram indicator; Alexis Tsipras is the newly elected Greek PM |
| 11 | ESPLANADE | Asleep and off for a walk by the sea
*(ASLEEP AND); “off” is the anagram indicator |
| 13 | MARSH | River flowing through potatoes makes wetland
R (=river) in MASH (=potatoes) |
| 16 | LAP UP | Eagerly consume back of chrysalis
PUPAL (=of, pertaining to, chrysalis); “back” indicates reversal |
| 18 | LOUNGE BAR | Nothing in 2 except a place to drink
[O (=nothing, i.e. numerically) in LUNGE (=entry at 2)] + BAR (=except, other than) |
| 22 | MIDDLESBROUGH | Town centres beginning to be a bit violent
MIDDLES (=centres) + B<e> (“beginning to” means first letter only) + ROUGH (=a bit violent, e.g. of neighbourhood) |
| 24 | OUTRANGE | Can go further than nationalist to block atrocity
N (=nationalist) in OUTRAGE (=atrocity) |
| 25 | ADHERE | Stick poster in the place I’m indicating
AD (=poster) + HERE (=the place I’m indicating) |
| 26 | STRATOSPHERIC | Very high-level ciphers broken by special tax officer capturing turncoat
{RAT (=turncoat, renegade) in [S (=special) + TO (=Tax Officer)]} + *(CIPHERS); “broken” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | GEEGAWS | Encourage WAGs to go out to get cheap, shoddy jewellery
GEE (=encourage) + *(WAGs); “to go out” is anagram indicator |
| 02 | LUNGE | During Winter Olympic event, Norway go on the attack
N (=Norway, in IVR) in LUGE (=Winter Olympic event) |
| 03 | EVASIONS | Keep up with Italian leader over Poles prevarications
EVAS (SAVE=keep, bar, except; “up” indicates vertical reversal) + I<talian> (“leader” means first letter only) + O (=over, on cricket scorecard) + N S (=Poles, i.e. North and South) |
| 04 | STUNTED | Amaze priest on TV having prevented further growth
STUN (=amaze) + TED (=priest on TV, i.e. Father Ted in the sitcom of the same name) |
| 05 | CADDIE | Who will help golfer design technique to finish?
CAD (=design technique, i.e. computer-aided design) + DIE (=to finish) |
| 06 | INEBRIATE | Get drunk on Ribena mixed into vermouth and then take ecstasy
[*(RIBENA) in IT (=vermouth, i.e. Italian vermouth)] + E (=ecstasy) |
| 07 | NEMESIS | Contents of Nature magazine redacted by MI6 in retribution
N<atur>E M<agazin>E + SIS (=MI6, Special Intelligence Services); “redacted” seems to have been used to mean that all but first and last letters are dropped, perhaps in the sense of “censored, obscured (of part of text), for legal reasons” |
| 11 | ELL | Measure the centre of stellar arrangement
<st>ELL<ar>; “centre of” means middle letters only are used; I am not sure how to parse “arrangement” here |
| 12 | LAUNDERER | Cleaner description of British subject follows statute being shortened
LA<w> (=statute; “being shortened” means last letter is dropped) + UNDER ER (=description of British subject, i.e. under Queen Elizabeth!) |
| 14 | HER | Female ambassador starting to run
HE (=ambassador, i.e. His/Her Excellency) + R<un> (“starting to” means first letter only) |
| 15 | ENCROACH | Begin to invade insect enclosure raised on high
ENC (=enclosure, in correspondence) + ROACH (=insect, cockroach) |
| 17 | ARMFULS | Loads weapon and puts petrol in the tank when leaving Europe
ARM (=weapon) + FU<e>LS (=puts petrol in the tank; “when leaving Europe (=E)” means letter “e” is dropped) |
| 19 | OYSTERS | Roy sets out to get shellfish
*(ROY SETS); “out” is anagram indicator |
| 20 | AMHARIC | Chairman fails to finish translating tribal language
*(CHAIRMA<n>); “fails to finish” means the last letter is dropped from anagram indicated by “translating”; Amharic is a Semitic language and the official language of Ethiopia |
| 21 | PLANET | Design event disheartened member of star’s entourage
PLAN (=design) + E<ven>T (“disheartened” means all but first and last letters are dropped); cryptically, a planet in orbit could be described as a “member of star’s – e.g. sun – entourage” |
| 23 | USHER | Escort female into old city
SHE (=female) in UR (=old city, from Bible) |
There’s a jolly nina.
I took redacted to mean the contents had been removed. Just what MI6 would be likely to do, so it raised a smile.
‘Arrangement’ seems to be there simply to make the surface work. Might be missing something.
Very enjoyable. Thanks to both.
LOI was 10ac which held me up for ages.
Leftmost and rightmost columns for Nina.
HELLO THERE, RR, and thanks for blogging when away from base.
I thought this was a delightful puzzle – just the right mixture of stuff to get you going and then stuff to make you think. The use of Angela Merkel and Alexis Tsipras was very clever; and I also liked MIDDLESBROUGH.
GOLDEN SECTION I did know (sometimes called the GOLDEN RATIO) because it’s useful for photographers, and I used to be one in a previous life. It’s also useful for snails, although they don’t know it themselves.
Thanks, Alchemi.
Not just snails, but pine cones and the arrangement of leaves on stems.
Bartok kept pine cones on his desk, and used the golden section (which has affinities with the Fibonacci sequence) as a constructional device in several compositions.
I should have said before thanks RR and Alchemi. Delightful, as per K’s D, and very enjoyable as per Geebs.
Thanks for the kind review RR.
I have to admit that Conrad’s right and I’ve committed the sin of including a redundant word to make the surface work. Um, sorry.
[own-trumpet-blowing]: If you click on my name in this comment, you will be transported as instantly as your browser and connection will allow to Alchemiland, my vanity site, where you will find a couple of hundred puzzles which were either published somewhere else before the end of last year or haven’t been published at all and are more than a year old.
I have been on Alchemi’s site quite a few times over the last couple of weeks so I am getting quite used to his style, and that definitely helped make this a faster solve than it otherwise might have been. I enjoyed this puzzle, particularly the excellent clue for ALEXIS TSIPRAS. AMHARIC was my LOI after I decided it was the most likely arrangement of the anagram fodder. At 1dn I had only come across “gewgaw” before but the wordplay was clear enough and when I checked my Chambers post-solve I saw that GEEGAW was indeed a valid alternative. Oh, and I missed the nina despite the grid screaming that there was going to be one.
This is a perfect example of a Goldilocks puzzle. Just right for a snowy morning in January, or even March!
I struggled with nul points until 11A, at which point things began to flow. My LOI was the tieless one, a super clue in my humble opinion. Lots to like elsewhere, especially the Nina.
Many thanks to Alchemi and of course to RR.
My only problem was spelling 10A. I thought I was doing quite well to remember the chap, let alone be able to spell him! Very nice puzzle, thanks very much to the setter.
Thanks Alchemi, great puzzle.
Thanks also to RR. I liked the Greek man (Paris) and MIDDLESBROUGH.
I would like to echo all those who thought this was a great puzzle.
Despite 11ac’s arrangement – ‘sorry’ accepted but it is a bit of a strange kind of padding, isn’t it?
The prickly one in me would prefer ‘gets’ instead of ‘get’ in 8ac, but if that is all he’s more than happy.
Fine stuff from a setter who (also as Chalmie) is quickly approaching my Top 10.
Many thanks, RR.
Sil @10
Yes, it is a strange kind of padding. My guess is that it made sense in an earlier draft of the clue, and I didn’t notice that it had become redundant after I’d chipped away and remodelled it.
Ola! An enjoyable solve here in the Canarian sunshine – not a snowflake in sight!
We missed the Nina until we read Conrad’s first comment and went back to look.
Many thanks to Alchemi and RR and thanks for the link to Alchemiland.
I think for the first time ever, I spotted a Nina before having all the letters – I still had 24ac to get and that helped. As with others, 10ac was my LOI.
As a bit of a maths geek, I first came across the golden section about fifty years ago in a collection of mathematical essays from Scientific American by Martin Gardner. Like pi and e, it’s an irrational number, but unlike them it’s not transcendental, it can be calculated by an easy to solve quadratic equation. It works out to be about 1.618 and is the only number to be one plus its own reciprocal.
For those of you who follow Indie setters, mathematicians give it its own Greek letter like pi. The golden ratio is phi.
Now that’s curious. Successive terms in the Fibonacci sequence come closer and closer to the golden ratio, and the require security sum for entering this comment is “eight + 5”. 5,8, and 13 are successive terms in the Fibonacci sequence.
Thanks all, the Greek PM was a pain to spell right, even though the instructions were clear enough once sussed. Cheers Alchemi and hello there, saw the nina long before completion which helped a bit.
Being a mathematical sort I discovered the golden ratio myself aged ten, yes I was that sort of kid, mind you aged 12 the teachers were convinced I couldn’t read. No they just couldn’t read my hand writing, doctors have nothing on me in that regard. Good job the blogs are typed up!
Thanks RR for the blog, this comment sent from a hotel with iffy wifi, I feel your pain,
I’ve finally worked out where the arrangement came from. The mistake is actually the use of the word “stellar”. It should have been “heavenly arrangement”, of which the centre is constELLation.
Alchemi – I don’t think I’d have parsed your original version in a million years!
Andy B, ‘Measure the centre of heavenly arrangement’ gives ARR, Accounting Rate of Return’, sounds advantageous, especially with EVASIONS and LAUNDERER. I would never have got the right answer.
Thanks Alchemi and RR, great puzzle and blog.