A Puzzle by ALP
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
As usual, the setter will be delighted to receive feedback from you, the solvers. We do ask that you remember that for most setters this is a new experience, so please only offer constructive criticism.
A review by Prolixic follows:
The good news is that many of the rough edges in ALP’s first Rookie crossword have been eliminated in this crossword. The bad news is that if anything, this was more complex that his first crossword. I think the comment I made on the first crossword applies equally here: “I think that there was too much over engineering of the clues that unnecessarily complicated the clues. When many of the solvers are having to reveal letters to get to the end of the crossword and I am having to make far too many guesses as to what the setter meant in the clue, it’s a good indication that things need to be simplified a bit.” The commentometer reads as 1.5/29 or 5.2%.
Across
1a & 7d. TV star‘s back on radio, axed after “diarrhoeic verbosity” broadcast (8)
VICTORIA DERBYSHIRE: An anagram (broadcast) of DIARRHOEIC VERBOSITY after removing (axed) the O (back on radio).
5a Spooner’s tight squeeze? (6)
CUDDLE: Cryptic definition of a lover’s embrace.
10a Douches! (that is for a bunch of people I hate) (7)
ENEMIES: Another word for douches with the A replaced by IE (that is).
11a Are French & Saunders finally taking my lead in theatre company? (7)
ESCORTS: The two-letter French verb and the final letter of Saunders include (taking) a three-letter word meaning my and the first letter (lead in) of theatre.
12a Stiff dies oddly and doctor’s other half means to keep body parts (12)
FORMALDEHYDE: A six-letter word meaning stiff or proper followed by the odd letters in dies and the four-letter name of Dr Jekyll’s alter-ego.
15a Cheap trick by no-mark cracks me up: idiotic in the extreme (8)
ECONOMIC: A three-letter word meaning trick, the NO from the clue and the abbreviation for mark all inside a reversal (up) of the ME from the clue and then followed by the outer letters (in extreme) of idiotic. Perhaps “up” for a reversal in an across clue does not work.
16a Penniless, stole and stole (6)
INCHED: A seven-letter word meaning stole without the initial P (penniless).
18a Beauty leaves us in time, right? (6)
AVENGE: The name of the goddess of beauty without (leaves) the US inside a three-letter word for time.
20a How to get on as a Bond villain? (6,2)
DOCTOR NO: A reverse anagram clue that would result in the answer on.
23a Hooch short, local inn runs dry (3-9)
NON-ALCOHOLIC: An anagram (runs) of HOOCH LOCAL INN after removing the final letter (short) in LOCAL.
26a Pret’s bolognese contains flipping seafood! (7)
LOBSTER: The answer is hidden (contains) and reversed (flipping) inside the first two words of the clue.
27a Supermarket Romeo’s content to leave wife for bird (7)
SPARROW: The four-letter name of a supermarket followed by the outer letters (content to leave) of Romeo and the abbreviation for wife.
28a If it mostly has 8 letters, sometimes 9 and never 5, what’s the question? (6)
ELEVEN: From the examples in the clue, the number of letters in “the question”.
29a G7’s initial stand to secure votes against Russia got rid of this (8)
GLASNOST: The initial letter of G7s followed by a four-letter word meaning stand including (to secure) a three-letter word for votes against.
Down
1d Challenge a partner’s opinion (4)
VIEW: A three-letter word meaning to challenge followed by the abbreviation for wife (a partner).
2d He cuts the heads off chicken and fish (4)
CHEF: The HE from the clue inside (cuts) the initial letters (heads off) of chicken and fish.
3d Flower one found on Wimbledon Common? (7)
ORINOCO: Double definition of a river (flower) and the name of a Womble (one found on Wimbledon Common).
4d That’s Sleepless in Seattle’s best dressed man in Dior’s Essentials (8)
INSOMNIA: I can see two possible ways to get to the solution, neither of which work with the cryptic grammar of the clue. The first is the IN from the clue followed by the first letter (best) of Seattle and an anagram (dressed) of MAN IO (Dior’s essential) which leaves the second IN unaccounted for. The other is an anagram (dressed) of S (Seattle’s best) MAN IN IO (Dior’s essentials), but this places the anagram indicator in the middle of the letters to be rearranged, which does not work. I suspect that I may be missing something obvious here.
6d Dirty old man’s brother starts to annoy niece (7)
UNCLEAN: The name of a relative who would be your father’s brother followed by the initial letters (starts) to the final two words of the clue.
7d see 1a (10)
8d Hot toddies fed session in Wales (10)
EISTEDDFOD: An anagram (hot) of TODDIES FED.
9d Open Country‘s use for listeners? (5)
WEALD: A homophone (for listeners) of wield (use).
13d Magic beans in fairy tale gifted Jack with a golden haul (3,7)
BEN AINSLIE: An anagram (magic) of BEANS IN followed by a three-letter word for fairy tale.
14d Submissive nurse from Richmond ready to be dominated by top Tory (10)
GOVERNABLE: The two-letter abbreviation of an American (from Richmond) registered nurse and a four-letter word meaning ready or capable underneath (dominated by) the four-letter name of a top Tory cabinet minister.
17d Huge reduction needed in fossil fuel (8)
COLOSSAL: A four-letter word for a reduction in a four-letter word for a fossil fuel. Try to avoid repeating wordplay indicators. Using in for a container was used previously in 18a.
19d Miss Marple’s last case of theft basically appears a piece of cake (7)
GALETTE: A three-letter word for a girl (miss) followed by the last letter of Marple, the outer letters (case) of theft and the middle letter (basically) of appears. The words “a piece of” are padding for the surface reading, which should be avoided.
21d You might make green curry with these caught Aussie killers (7)
TAIPANS: A homophone (caught) of THAI PANS.
22d What apology? (5)
SORRY: Double definition.
24d Writer changed middle’s beginning to end in style (4)
BRIO: A four-letter word for a type of pen with the middle letters reversed.
25d Having to return Marbles is a blow (4)
SWAT: A reversal (to return) of a four-letter word for marbles.
I had to work very hard to achieve a completed grid. Mr CS had washed up my mug and cereal bowl before I’d solved just fourteen clues. I will admit to getting help from Crossword Solver and then I had to reveal letters to be able to finish.
I have question marks by several clues that I can’t parse. I really liked 20a and 3d. 13d was very good but I did need to dredge the ‘gifted Jack’ from the memory banks once I’d got a couple of checking letters.
Thanks ALP, and in advance to Prolixic
Just looking at the finished grid, I’ve removed the ? from 5a as I’ve just seen the sneaky bit of misleading – very clever
Phew. That was actually the one that worried me the most. I’m not quite sure whether to be mortified or secretly pleased that you, of all people, found this tough. Actually, I do. Tis the former, definitely. But I am pleased about 5a. Thank you Sue – sorry to have ruined your breakfast. Good to hear that Mr CS does the washing up, though!
22d, ALP, this was way too hard for me – far tougher than your Rookie Corner debut, which I found tough but solvable. I threw the towel today after struggling to answer 10 clues, although I can say those were all very good!
I need to lie down now. Please dial down the difficulty next time.
Hi RD, I know it is the form only to respond when it’s all done and dusted but I was never one to conform and I did want to apologise for necessitating a lie-down. I did try to listen and learn from last time but I’ve clearly misjudged the difficulty again. Sorry about that but huge thanks for giving it a crack. Good man.
Thanks for your reply, ALP. I think you mentioned last time that your wife is your test solver. If she managed to solve this one she deserves out utmost respect! Or perhaps (dangerously) she knows how you think!
Ha! That’s pretty much exactly what she said!! You’ve made her day.
Having read the first two comments before I started on this I approached it with some hesitation. I really enjoyed the struggle (and a struggle it was). I managed three quarters ok (aided by an inspired guess for the 1/7d anagram) but came up short in the SW corner and ended up revealing two letters to enable me to finish.
There are some cracking clues here with some brilliant misdirections (I particulary liked 18a, 20a and 13d amongst those). I also ticked 5a, 11a, 12a and 6d.
I still have no idea how 28a works.
Many thanks to APL for a top-notch Toughie with some superb surfaces (but perhaps be a bit more merciful next time?).
Gazza, that is one of the very few I can help with. How many letters has “the question”?
Ah! Thanks, RD.
That’s incredibly generous of you Gazza, thank you. Lovely comments, hugely appreciated. But, yes, I will try to be less mean next time!
Welcome back, ALP.
I agree with the consensus already emerging, you dialled up the difficulty this time rather than moderated it, which was a pity. There were some terrific clues on show, but the hardness of the struggle reduced the enjoyment for me. Anyone who manages to solve the puzzle without any reveals deserves huge praise. If several of our most adept solvers such as CS, RD and Gazza found this extremely tough, then that surely should tell you something. I think the 1a/7d combo suitably sums up the puzzle for me – in the first part of the clue you have a queen or station or state or plum etc. and in the second part of the clue you have a county (very good wordplay material for a setter), but the choice was made to go for a far more complex construction. Overall, there seemed little to fault technically, but I would offer a word of caution regarding the verbosity (thankfully not “diarrhoeic verbosity”!) applicable to certain clues. The likes of Django/Bluth can often get away with “clues that tell a story” but it’s good discipline for a would-be setter to aim for shorter, snappier alternatives, wherever possible. My podium consists of 16a, 20a and 27a, with 23a just behind.
Many thanks, ALP, but next time please aim for something rather more solver-friendly, please.
Huge thanks for this, Silvanus. As you rightly say, when the expert likes of CS, Gazza and RD – and even you, it seems! – find it tough, clearly summat is out of whack. It certainly wasn’t my intention to be so chewy but I plainly got it wrong. I will very much take this on board, ta. I’m delighted, though, that you found “little to fault technically”. That cheers me enormously. Onwards and upwards.
Big Dave would tell you that we aren’t experts, just experienced
Had to use quite a lot of guesswork and a few reveals to complete this, which I’m sure is not the way it should be. Saddest thing for me is that even with filled grid in front of me there are still a couple of parsings that I can’t manage.
Clues that I particularly enjoyed are 5,16,20&27a plus 6,9,22&25d. No doubt those were the easiest ones!
Many thanks, ALP, but I do wish you’d ease back a little.
I am truly sad to make you sad, Jane. I promise to dial it back. I feel even more of a heel knowing that I will almost certainly post some jangly music tomorrow to upset you even more. Having said that, I remain DETERMINED to rustle up a tune that you like at some point!
Saw your name & thought I’ll have to give a go though with some trepidation having sort of glanced at the comments re the degree of difficulty. Suffice to say my head hurts having completed the top half. No letter reveal yet but the south looks much harder & is sparsely populated at close of play. To be continued the morrow. Loved 1a/7d (great fodder spot/surface reference to 5Live I assume),3d & 20a. Very enjoyable ALP albeit undoubtedly above my pay grade.
Oh dear, sorry, Huntsman. Casualties across the board – a ruined breakfast, an enforced lie-down, unbearable sadness and now a broken head to boot! I only went in hard because I know how smart you all are, but I clearly went overboard. Sincere apologies. But huge thanks for your typically charming words. Means a lot.
Well, I for one am just glad you didn’t use Serengeti 🤣
A tough rookie cookie, but didn’t fare too badly, bowed out with six to get having revealed four cells after a post-beer brick wall. Some good clues in here:
10a – an actual LOL
20a – very clever
6d – elephant hide slipper candidate 🤯💥
Other ticks for 23a, 26a, 28a. You also got a 👍 from my mother and cryptic mentor for 19d when she confirmed my lego was indeed a cake.
Small points to note, I wasn’t sure what Richmond was doing in 14d, and 13d I felt was too convoluted. Agree with Silvanus it takes more than two to Django (puzzles that is). Personally not a fan of long clues but that’s only me, many love them. A smattering of easier constructions for your choicest gags would’ve given a more generous foothold.
Nice one though ALP 🍻
Indeed, no American plain in sight, AB! That’s brilliant about your mother/mentor. Made me chuckle. The Richmond was only inserted to try and please RD (because of the US nurse – well that failed!). As for 13d, you great, big meanie! But ta lots, chief. You must be up again soon, no?
Aha, I didn’t think any further afield than Kew Gardens 😂🤦 I didn’t even realise RN was an Americanism – worth it to stay in 🐰’s good books though. Oh and I liked the Womble clue as well, much more fun than Enya!
I meant to get back to you last night as I know what an owl you are. But I was absorbed in trying, and failing, to find a suitable Dury track and a non-sweary Withnail clip. I was very tickled to see you agreeing with Silvanus – you were quite cheeky to him last time, I seem to remember! But you are both, of course, annoyingly right. Pithy just ain’t my middle name..
Hehe! Maybe I’ll see if I can transfer some of my pith off 😅
For Dury, you can never go wrong with Razzle in my Pocket but you’d probably get in trouble.
Oh, while waiting for Prolixic, I was looking at the clues I got wrong or didn’t get. There’s a potential double solution for 25d, I’d entered STUN=blow for marbles=nuts backwards. It’s really hard to spot those in advance so that’s where test solvers can be useful (i.e., us 😁)
Marbles and nuts probably aren’t even valid synonyms outside my weird noggin, mind
Ha! Surely you’ve got to LOSE your marbles to be nuts? But I do agree, a crack test solver is worth their weight in gold. And I did bring in a big gun for this one. I won’t embarrass him by naming the splendid fellow but he did his absolute level best to rein me. Obviously, I still went rogue on at least a couple!
And now reading other comments I see the intention behind Richmond, and while it’s certainly legitimate I think it’s too vague to be fair, given the Richmonds oop north and dahn sarf. Maybe a nurse from Virginia instead?
I just saw this. Yes, that was a tad mean/arch and I knew that might get me in trouble. But I just chose Richmond because Gove is a Surrey MP and it made me laugh! There’s a lesson for me in there somewhere..
Nobody needs that image at lunchtime 🤢🤮
A tough, tough grid, ALP, and one I only managed to complete with several reveals. Some brilliant clueing and red herrings, but I felt the general tenor was that it wasn’t terribly sporting – the odds were too much in favour of the setter winning. I’m still unclear as to the parsing of 4d, also 14d – what has “from Richmond” got to do with it?
I know you like to tell a story, but I found too many of the clues overly padded even though this often resulted in great surface reads, eg 29a, 13d. 20a – are you really “doctoring” no? 27a – isn’t Spar more of a cornershop / convenience store than a supermarket? 2d – not sure the crossword grammar works : surely ‘he’ cuts/separates the heads from chicken and fish, rather than taking similes of chicken/fish and then removing the first letters, which is what the clue appears to instruct? 18d – is the answer really a “session”? 9d – Galette is a “round, flat, sweet or savoury cake” (BRB), not a “piece of” cake, but you needed that for the surface read. I thought 21a rather vague, and the answer to 25d made no sense until I looked up ‘taw’ – that’s a new one to me.
OTOH … some super clues. Podium had quite a few contenders (5a, 10a, 23a, 26a 3d), including some for the precise instructions despite their verbosity (11a, 12a, 29a).
Well done indeed and thank you for the challenge, ALP, just please dial down the toughness a little next time! Thank you also in advance to Prolixic.
Thank you for this Mustafa. I can’t disagree with a single one of your points. Certainly, you are not alone in questioning Spar, the “doctored” no and the (Welsh for) session. I clearly need to work on my verbosity, and much else. Sincere thanks for this. Invaluable and detailed. And spot on!
Many thanks to Prolixic. Delighted (very generous score, thank you – what a relief after my last, entirely justified 29.3!) to have knocked off some rough edges, but apologies for the complexity/verbosity etc. And you didn’t miss a trick in 4d. I was going for the former of your two methods (using “in”, yet again, as a container). I wasn’t happy with its clunky construction then and I’m even less happy with it now, as I hadn’t even clocked the repetitive “ins”. Thank you for your, as ever, great advice. I will pay great heed and, hopefully, come back better, leaner … and gentler. Sincere thanks to you, and to all.
Well done on a great score! 👏👏 Looking at the parsing of clues I couldn’t get last night, I’m now wondering what the problem was (18a, 29a, 9d, 18d).
Thanks Prolixic for successfully straightening and sorting our student setter’s synapses 😉
Cheers, AB! Yes, very pleased with that. Anything close to ten would have been a boon, to be honest, so to make single figures was a lovely surprise.
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic. It came as something of a relief to read that it wasn’t a straightforward task for you either!
Nearly but threw in the towel 2 shy of completion having used 1 letter reveal & sought Prolixic’s help. Rather wish I’d just slept on them (13&21d) as may have twigged ‘em on my own eventually – I knew the sailor but hadn’t twigged Jack context & can’t believe I missed the homophone indicator. There were a few not fully parsed though – 4d a definition bung in, Richmond went over my head & 28a was a complete bung in.
I rather enjoyed the struggle though wouldn’t usually stick at a puzzle for so long.
Thanks for the excellent review.
Christmas cracker jokes analogy ALP
Solvers have to get it and then go Aha! or groan, but solvers have to be able to reason how it works, and that they have the correct answer
Try less complications, more simple wordplay in the surface
Hello everybody
Hello stranger (with or without an extraneous ess _ see yesterday’s back pager) come back more often we miss you
Oh, and thank you to the Groom as ever ;O)