When I saw the name Anax I thought I was going to be in for a rough ride. It meant I approached the puzzle with caution taking ages over each clue, trying to wring the meaning out of each word to identify the definition and potential wordplay indicators.
Solving got off to a flying start with 12D Rhinoceros delivering lots of juicy first letters, but only 2 of those lights bore fruit on first reading their clues. Then 17D Raphael fell and provided a couple more crossers and 25A Solve became apparent, and the others in that bottom-left corner gradually became clear, including the excellent 3D Distant Relative – my clue of the grid for the apt anagram.
Getting the other long answer at 6D opened up the right-hand side of the puzzle and most other lights were filled when their crossing letters helped identify elements of wordplay or definition in the clue.
There remained 8 unanswered including that bunch in the top left. 1A resisted until I finally got 1D Race to get the initial R, but even so I struggled to convince myself it is Round trip until the U was confirmd at 2D.
Final answer: 22D Hype. Why are hidden clues so misleading sometimes? Now I know the answer it seems so simple! Mind you that is a lovely clue.
There are still a few clues where I am unclear of the wordplay: 1A, 10A, 23A
No theme that I can discern. (Braces self to be proved wrong.)
In conclusion a typical quite hard Prize puzzle. Thanks Anax.
I hope everybody has a good time in Cambridge today. Sorry I can’t be there.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ROUND TRIP | Tour that starts and finishes in a capital? (5,4) Penultimate answer entered (with 2D) purely from the crossing letters. I cannot understand what the clue is getting at here. Def. is either just tour or the whole thing is a CD, but what is the capital? |
| 6 | THRUM | Play time reduced in corporation (5) H[ou]R (time – reduced) in TUM (corporation) |
| 9 | CHAOS | Being short, decided to eat a dog’s dinner (5) A eaten by CHOS[e] (decided, short) |
| 10 | MARKED MAN | One may be blown away by the offer (6,3) Another of the last few solved purely from the crossing letters and an assumption on the definition (underlined). What is the offer? |
| 11 | IMPACT ADHESIVE | Bond creator has acted out parts I’m positive I have (6,8) (has acted)* AInd: out, inside I’M P[ositive] and I’VE. I don’t think I have seen “positive” for single letter P before. Reasonably clear though. |
| 13 | HEARTS | Pick up edges of this suit (6) HEAR (pick up) T[hi]S |
| 14 | ASSIGNOR | A legal party behind unfinished bypass (8) ASS (behind) IGNOR[e] bypass – unfinished. Not sure I like the Americanism used without indication |
| 16 | NORSE GOD | Retired old magistrates right about Thor, say (5,3) DOGE’S R ON all rev. First across clue in the blog that I solved on first attempt, helped hugely by having the leading N from 12D |
| 18 | RAMBLE | Walk, run, walk (6) R[un] AMBLE |
| 21 | COPS AND ROBBERS | Sponsor: Dear BBC, broadcast this game (4,3,7) (Sponsor: Dear BBC)* AInd broadcast. Another early success from the very clear anagram indicator and first letter, and fiddling on a notepad for a minute or three. |
| 23 | REANIMATE | Save one’s friend on purpose? Not so (9) REA[so]N (purpose, not so) I MATE (one’s friend). Wordplay gives an answer that fits, but I do not know how Save = Reanimate definition-wise |
| 24 | IVORY | Green growth covering gold key? (5) OR in IVY. Key of piano – thankfully not necessary these days. |
| 25 | SOLVE | Crack very visible in bottom (5) V[ery] in SOLE. Sole for bottom (of shoe I presume). Solved this one quickly due to same answer with very similar wordplay in a recent Guardian grid. |
| 26 | ESTAFETTE | Courier felt left out in big car (9) FE[l]T in ESTATE. I had to check this word |
| Down | ||
| 1 | RACE | Prepare to lose top people (4) [b]RACE Brace as in “brace yourself” when preparing for something seems a bit weak – maybe there is another ”prepare” word that gets its top lost |
| 2 | URAEMIA | River in Arab region, level rising – a bloody waste! (7) R[iver] in U.A.E then AIM< (level, rising – not sure about that) Unsurprisingly, another of the last few entered. I had the idea that the answer would be something to do with blood or bodily fluids and was looking for words including e.g. “Haem”, so this one did not get resolved till also getting 1A and almost resolving the wordplay |
| 3 | DISTANT RELATIVE | A letter and visit, possibly, from family? Only just (7,8) (A LETTER AND VISIT)* AInd: possibly. What a surprisingly apt anagram! |
| 4 | REMOTE | Distant meteor explodes (6) METEOR* AInd: explodes. Surprisingly simple for Anax. Almost an old chestnut |
| 5 | PARADISE | Nirvana single’s used in show (8) I’S (single’s) in PARADE (show) |
| 6 | THE PELICAN BRIEF | Perhaps shoplifter admits peril can be misshapen book (3,7,5) (PERIL CAN BE)* AInd: misshapen, inside THIEF (shoplifter, by example). Excellent film too. |
| 7 | RAMPION | Butter’s very good on salad ingredient (7) RAM (butter) PI (very good) ON (get link). Solved purely from wordplay. Turns out this plant’s leaves can be used for salad. |
| 8 | MONDEGREEN | Second class news covering result of flawed hearing? (10) MO (second) DEGREE (class) inside N and N (news) My own personal mondegreen was in the tiny tot’s prayer is was taught to recite which had the line “Pity my simplicity”. I thought this was “Pity mice in Plicity”. The idea of pitying mice fitted in with “gentle Jesus meek and mild”. After some years I wondered about this place called Plicity. I see Richard Herring has made a whole stand-up out of his similar experience: “Lord of the Dance Settee” |
| 12 | RHINOCEROS | Thick-skinned type in his corner, worried about nothing (10) (HIS CORNER + O (nothing))* AInd: Worried. First answer delivering lots of lovely first letters. I see a lot of reports online and in the press this week about the West African Black Rhino becoming extinct. Hunted to extinction for its horn. Shame on our species. In fact this particular species of rhino has been extinct since 2011. It appears this all arose because Ricky Gervais tweeted about the fact and people, including several daily papers, promulgated it as if it was recent news. Fact checking news stories now seems to be a thing of the past in the gutter press. |
| 15 | ROAD RAGE | A threat to drivers, a nuisance with deer crossing (4,4) A DRAG (a nuisance) inside ROE (deer) |
| 17 | RAPHAEL | Artist bound over, having framed husband, another artist (7) R.A. (artist) H[usband] inside LEAP< (bound, over) |
| 19 | BURN-OUT | Exhaustion from binge drinking where tea might be available (4-3) URN (tea etc.) in BOUT (binge drinking) |
| 20 | COGENT | Powerful businessman? (6) CO GENT (company gentleman = businessman) |
| 22 | HYPE | Why people will have plug fitted (4) Hidden in wHY PEople &Lit, I think. LOI. Laughed out loud when I finally spotted it. |
10ac is, I think, a cryptic definition, the offer in this case being the killer, someone who offs.
Many thanks for the excellent blog, beermagnet. For 1a, if a journey isn’t a round trip you’d be going from A to B. A round trip would only have ‘A’ (capital). It’s a groaner, I know.
BTW there is a ghost theme, one for discovery by PS3 driving game fans, of which fifteensquared must have many thousands…
We read 23ac using animate = bring to life so reanimate would be bring back to life, hence saving someone’s life.
We had no idea that there was a theme but given Anax’s comment, we are not surprised. As he says they are for discovery by PS3 fans, we’ll wait for one of them to do so!
Thanks Anax and beermagnet.
Gaufrid – I have been unable to download the Indie puzzle via Puzzle Solver for the last three days. Are you aware of anything that could cause this? Thanks.
Andy B @ #4: This could be same as trouble I had during the week with new versions of Chrome and/or Java.
As this is a general issue I will put a comment in General Discussion on this point.
I have given up trying to spot the ghost theme.
I have never played a PS3 – I’m still happily playing Super Mario Kart on the N64 here, and have yet to finish.
Another typically hard Anax puzzle IMHO, and I needed aids at the end to get MONDEGREEN. I saw how the wordplay worked as soon as I realised what the answer was going to be, but the checkers weren’t helpful enough for me to see the “degree” element beforehand. I had some of the same queries as beermagnet and I’m not a gamer so the theme, whatever it is, went over my head completely. Thanks to beermagnet@5 for his help.
Thanks, Anax and beermagnet. I couldn’t parse REANIMATE, but it seems so obvious now.
Have to hold my hands up and admit to being a gamer, although the PS3 hasn’t been switched on for a while.
19/5 BURNOUT PARADISE was the last in a long series of Burnout games. It differed from its predecessors by being an open world game, so one could drive around freely or take part in any number of challenges. It also took the franchise online – previous games were PS2 – allowing several hundred other challenges with fellow players.
10 MARKED MAN sets the task of surviving a race or a set amount of time without being taken down.
21 COPS AND ROBBERS is an online game based on grabbing a hoard of stolen gold. Cops try to take it to one location, Robbers to another.
1d RACE needs no explanation.
15 ROAD RAGE is a race where the task is to take down a set number of AI opponents along the way.
Hope everyone enjoyed Cambridge today. Sorry I couldn’t make it, but had a band gig last night and daddy/daughter time this evening and tomorrow, so no time to make the journey.