A Puzzle by Mysterion
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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:
Welcome to Mysterion. Although there were some good ideas on show, overall a lot more attention to detail is required to avoid obvious errors. The commentometer reads as 8/33 or 24.2%
Across
1a A strike in metropopolis could be a disaster (8)
CALAMITY: The A from the clue and a three-letter word meaning strike or hit inside a four-letter word for a metropolis. Please run your clues through a spell checker before submitting. It would have picked up the typo in the clue. Particularly unfortunate as it is the first clue the solver will usually attempt.
5a Walked and a doctor went first (6)
AMBLED: The A from the clue followed by a two-letter abbreviation for a doctor and a three-letter word meaning went first.
19a Storage for trophy table (8)
CUPBOARD: A three-letter word for a trophy followed by a five-letter word for a table. Whilst you can have wordplay for definition, you cannot have definition for wordplay as the structure of the clue. Watch the numbering of the clues. This is not 19a!
10a Investigates hold-up during exercises (6)
PROBES: A three-letter word for meaning hold-up or forcibly take inside (during) a three-letter word for exercises. I don’t think that making the abbreviation for exercises into a plural works.
12a Join short course (4)
LINK: A five-letter word for a golf course with the final letter removed (short).
13a Shopper becoming possessive? (10)
PURCHASING: What a shopper is doing when acquiring something (becoming possessive).
15a Guess there’s one male in crude demesne (5 8)
ROUGH ESTIMATE: A five-letter word meaning crude followed by a six-letter word for a demesne into which is added the letter representing one and the abbreviation for male. The enumeration here should be (5,8) as also in 19a.
19a Doll’s jumbo hobby item (5 8)
MODEL AIRCRAFT: A five-letter word for a doll and an eight-letter word for the type of vehicle of which a jumbo jet is an example. As jumbo is a definition by example, ideally this should be indicated. Maybe “possibly jumbo”.
23a Overhaul city’s tax charge (10)
RENOVATION: A four-letter name of a US city followed by the abbreviation for Value Added Tax and a three-letter word for a charged particle. As there is a difference between a charge and an ion, I don’t think that charge on its own is sufficient.
25a Clever, the French sailor’s first (4)
ABLE: The French masculine singular for the with the abbreviation for Able Seaman (sailor) before it (first).
28a Origin of soothing air (6)
CRADLE: Where you might hear a lullaby sung? I don’t think that this cryptic definition works.
29a Facing work on river location (8)
OPPOSITE: A two-letter abbreviation for work followed by a two-letter name of an Italian river and a four-letter word for a location.
30a Mesh with female’s bottom (6)
NETHER: A three-letter word for a mesh followed by a three-letter word for a female.
31a Affiliate only 40% with Feds – inside for a bit! (8)
FRAGMENT: The first four letters (40%) of a ten-letter word meaning affiliate includes (inside) a phrase 1,3 for Federal agents.
Down
1d Goose‘s laugh (6)
CACKLE: Double definition of the sound made by a goose and a raucous laugh. I don’t think that goose on its own works to indicate the sound made by a goose.
2d Found in bed, risen wearing nothing from toe to head (5)
LUPIN: A two-letter word meaning risen or awake has a reversal (from toe to head) of a three-letter word meaning nothing around it (wearing).
3d Lash on Dart maybe (4)
MOOR: The eight-letter name of a SW national park area without the Dart from the clue. Whilst I can see the intention behind the clue, the wordplay does not work. Dart on its own is not the solution.
4d Completed drilling (7)
THROUGH: Cryptic definition of what you would be if something is completed or your have completed drilling.
6d Airman loses direction, crashes into black vehicle (5)
MARIA: An anagram (crashes) of AIRMAN after removing the abbreviation for North (loses direction).
7d Oil crab until cooked (9)
LUBRICANT: An anagram (cooked) of CRAB UNTIL.
8d Resigned to work as an inventor (8)
DESIGNER: An anagram (to work) of REDESIGNED. Three anagrams in a row makes the crossword feel unbalanced.
11d Turns book (4)
ACTS: Double definition, the second being a book of the New Testament.
14d Rod’s port? (4)
HULL: Definition of a port that shares a name with the owner of Emu.
15d Turned and possibly superfluous (9)
REDUNDANT: An anagram (possibly) of TURNED AND.
16d A blow may thicken it (3)
EAR: Cryptic definition of a part of the body that may thicken if struck. Care has to be taken with cryptic definitions as LIP would be an equally valid solution to this clue.
17d Confession of a ME coward? (4)
IRAN: Split 1,3 might described what a coward may do if faced with a dangerous situation. I don’t think that any part of the clue or the clue as a whole defines the solution required.
18d Yank, and a nice arm gets dislocated (8)
AMERICAN: An anagram (gets dislocated) of A NICE ARM.
20d Little thanks after ten (4)
IOTA: A two-letter word meaning thanks after a visual representation of the number 10 in letters.
21d Joint for each aircraft (7)
CHOPPER: A four-letter word for a joint of meat followed by a three-letter word meaning for each.
22d I’m in the money – a bond (6)
CEMENT: A two-letter word meaning I’m inside a four-letter word for American coinage. I don’t think that I’m is synonymous with the two-letter word required in the solution.
24d Rate one hopes to get for money (5)
VALUE: Double definition.
26d Partner‘s not well in prison (5)
BRIDE: An nine-letter name of an old prison without the WELL from the clue.
27d Desire to be stretched (4)
LONG: Double definition.
I’m sorry to say that I get a 404 error message when I try to open the puzzle.
Welcome to Rookie Corner Mysterion. Quite enjoyable but a little extra care required on proof reading with the typo (extra ‘op’) in 1a and the mis-numbering of 9a. Enumeration on multi-word answers, such as 15a, is usually (5,8).
I am not sure that doll is a synonym of the first word of 19a.
Smiles for 15a, 29a, 14d, and 26d.
Thanks and thanks in advance to Prolixic.
Welcome Mysterion. Good start. Many nice clues and overall, enjoyable. Had to look up a couple of the shorter words.
Some repeated indicators. Eg:- 5a and 25a. In 6d, I thought “losing” works better than “loses”.
In 10a, the hyphenated word is usually the noun while the intended word is a verb
9a – Definition for Wordplay is usually considered not kosher.
22d. Not sure if I’m can be ME.
1d. Doesn’t the word refer to the collective noun or can it be used in the singular ?
Ticks for 30a, 4D, 15d, 27d.
Avtaar, “gaggle” is the collective noun for geese (when they are on the ground). Even so, I don’t think 1d works.
Nothing to do with where the geese are. According to the BRB, the answer is a raucous laugh or the loud noise made by geese.
Jose, you have misunderstood the point I was making to Avtaar, which wasn’t meant to be a direct reference to the clue/answer. He seemed to be implying that 1d was a collective noun for geese, so I, possibly incorrectly, assumed he was actually thinking of gaggle (which, in any event, only applies when the geese are on the ground).
Thanks Jose. I was wrong in confusing cackle with gaggle. Sorry Mysterion .
RD. No, I didn’t misunderstand your helpful explanation made to Avtaar. I merely (and helpfully) gave my parsing of the clue because in your last sentence you commented that you didn’t think it works.
Welcome to Rookie Corner, Mysterion, with a promising debut which was good fun to solve but with a few rough edges.
Senf is right about proof-reading. Such oversights can detract from the solver’s perception of the puzzle.
A few points of detail from me:
9a – I believe that definition for wordplay is frowned upon.
10a – I don’t think you can sensibly make a plural out of PE.
23a – An ion is a charged particle, not a charge.
28a – This doesn’t quite work for me.
4d – I’m probably missing something but I can’t see the connection between “drilling” and the answer.
17d – For the surface reading, this should say “an” not “a”. This could have been avoided by putting ME in full.
22d – “I” is not interchangeable with “me”.
26d was my favourite.
Well done and thank you, Mysterion. Please pay heed to Prolixic’s wise words as well as the various comments posted here and hurry back with another submission.
RD, 4d. Are you considering this a double-definition? As a cryptic definition, once you have “completed drilling” you are “the answer” (to the other side).
Thanks, Jose. Yes, I was wrongly assuming this was meant to be a DD, but I can see now that it does work as a CD.
RD, 23a. Just an incidental observation that some readers might find mildly interesting. You are right about ions and charge in the clue to trigger “ion” in the answer isn’t strictly correct, but I’ve seen it used many times in cryptics (especially in the 80s and 90s). Not sure what the current DT’s stance on it is. I did a bit of digging.
DT 26004, back in October 2009, had this clue:
16d Relinquishing tax charge (7) (CESSION)
The reviewer, Tilsit, didn’t like either. But maybe it is allowable?
Welcome to Rookie Corner, Mysterion.
There are some neat ideas here but I felt too many of the clues fell into the ‘nearly but not quite’ category.
My favourite clue was 26d.
Do take into account Prolixic’s advice – I look forward to your next puzzle.
Welcome to Rookie Corner Mysterion
My thoughts on your puzzle match those of Gazza
Thanks to you and, in advance, to Prolixic
Welcome, Mysterion.
Yes, plenty of good ideas on show that didn’t always translate into satisfactory clues, so I’d echo the “nearly but not quite” summary made earlier. Whilst none of the surface readings were completely nonsensical, quite a few were less than convincing or strained, so I would definitely say that is an area to which you need to pay particular heed.
The puzzle was enjoyable to solve, free from obscurities and the clues were generally very concise, so ticks for all those important criteria.
Many thanks, Mysterion.
I enjoyed this puzzle, Mysterion, thank you. Yes, some surfaces could do with work, and the clues against which I had specific questions have been noted above, but I appreciated the brevity of the clues and that it was possible to see where you were going with the ideas therein, and the whole grid was very accessible. Very much look forward to your next puzzle!
Many thanks also in advance to Prolixic
Thanks for a most enjoyable solve, Mysterion; I thought 17D was particularly clever. I look forward to your next offering and I appreciate all the effort that went into this puzzle.
I was at the Royal Albert Hall last night so the review will follow later this evening.
We enjoyed your puzzle, thank you, Mysterion. We still need Prolixic’s review to explain a couple of answers. The ‘s’ at the end of 10a made us query our answer for a while – but it had to be the word we had. We also queried ‘joint’ in 21d and we can’t parse 26d, sadly. Favourite was 15a. Thanks in advance to Prolixic.
Welcome, Mysterion. I’m another who’s in the ‘nearly but not quite’ camp where several of your clues are concerned. The shame is that some of them could have been fixed very easily, such as 9a where a slight change in word order would have done the trick.
My personal favourite was the possessive shopper with the imprisoned partner a close second.
Pay careful attention to what Prolixic and other experts have to say, watch out for typos and tidy up those surfaces then your next submission should see a low score on the commentometer!
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic, hope you enjoyed your evening at the Albert Hall.