A Puzzle by duncanjwitham
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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:
Another impressive crossword from duncanjwitham. All the comments are minor ones intended to provide smooth the few rough edges. The commentometer reads as 2.5 / 28 or 8.9%
Across
1a A vicar, ill-disposed to delicacy (6)
CAVIAR: An anagram (ill-disposed) of AVICAR. As the anagram involves only moving the letter to the front, maybe a different type of wordplay would have been better.
4a Mysterious European, Cantona for one, embracing boozer (8)
ESOTERIC: The abbreviation for European and the first name of the footballer Cantona around (embracing) a three-letter word for a person who boozes.
9a Return weapon and receive bit of gold (6)
NUGGET: Reverse (return) a three-letter word for a weapon and follow with a three-letter word meaning receive.
10a Crazy German bolted before entering action (8)
DERANGED: The single-letter abbreviation for German with a three-letter word meaning bolted before it with all of these letters inside (entering) a four-letter word for an action.
12a Reducing gravity on earth makes ears droop here (4)
LOBE: A five-letter word for the shape of the earth without (reducing) the abbreviation for gravity. Reducing … on does not quite work as a deletion indicator. Perhaps Earth with reduced gravity… would work better.
13a Spontaneously removed part of shirt (3-3-4)
OFF-THE-CUFF: A three-letter word for removed followed by a phrase for part of a shirt at the end of the sleeve.
15a Leaving island, navigate troubled spot you can see from here (7, 5)
VANTAGE POINT: An anagram (troubled) of NAVIGATE after removing (leaving) the abbreviation for island followed by a five-letter word for a spot.
18a Care for old rogue with drug dependency (12)
PROTECTORATE: A seven-letter word meaning care for followed by the abbreviation for old, a three-letter word for a rogue and the abbreviation for ecstasy.
21a Soldiers that drop in standard when taking march (10)
PARATROOPS: A three-letter word meaning standard followed by a two-letter word meaning when that includes (taking) a five-letter word meaning march.
22a Boss helps to avoid pitch slip-ups? (4)
STUD: Double definition, the second being anti-slip devices on, say, football boots.
24a Small booty, perhaps in need of wiping? (8)
SPILLAGE: The abbreviation for small followed by a seven-letter word meaning booty. Perhaps it needs wiping would be better.
25a Festival started late after second sleep (6)
SIESTA: A six-letter word for a festival without the first letter (started late) after the abbreviation for second.
26a Lack of fight by outspoken urban area (8)
SPARSITY: A four-letter word meaning to fight followed by a homophone of city (urban area).
27a Regularly taken chair lift to seize (6)
HIJACK: The even letters (regularly taken) letters in chair followed by a four-letter word meaning to lift.
Down
1d Depressed having left private meeting (8)
CONCLAVE: A seven-letter word meaning dented or depressed includes (having) the abbreviation for left. Having is a very weak containment indicator and is best avoided.
2d Start to vigilantly film spy grabbing Range Rover (8)
VAGABOND: The first letter (start) of vigilantly and the name of 007 (film spy) include (grabbing) a three-letter word for a cooking range.
3d Help a follower in Greece cycling (4)
ABET: The second letter of the Greek alphabet (a follower in Greece) with the letters cycled around.
5d Ghost mostly focus of short range optical instrument (12)
SPECTROSCOPE: A seven-letter word for a ghost with the final letter removed (mostly) followed by the middle letter (focus) of short and a five-letter word meaning range.
6d Group of workers ration nude swapping (5, 5)
TRADE UNION: An anagram (swapping) of RATION NUDE.
7d Precision equipment owned by us (6)
RIGOUR: A three-letter word for equipment followed by a three-letter word meaning owned by us.
8d Hoax? International banks to finally organise rules (6)
CODIFY: A three-letter word meaning hoax followed by the abbreviation for international and the outer letters (banks) of finally.
11d Secondary consideration of thug: threat of being beaten up (12)
AFTERTHOUGHT: An anagram (beaten up) of THUS THREAT OF.
14d Fun at first, light-hearted stories become lies (5, 5)
FAIRY TALES: The initial letter (at first) of fun followed by a four-letter word meaning light-heated and a five-letter word for stories. Perhaps too much of an overlap between the stories and the solution. Also, the clue resolves to wordplay become definition, when it should be becoming definition.
16d Debut from the continent, opening with cool piece of unconventional music (8)
FANTASIA: The initial letter (debut from) of the followed by the name of a continent all preceded by (opening with) a three-letter word meaning cool.
17d Price ultimately paid adding defender prompted reactions (8)
FEEDBACK: A three-letter word meaning price followed by the final letter (ultimately) of paid and (adding) a four-letter word for a defender on a football pitch.
19d Spouse works and works (6)
OPUSES: An anagram (works) of SPOUSE.
20d Some yarn I carry for medicinal use? (6)
ARNICA: The answer is hidden (some) in the second to fourth words of the clue. Perhaps “, it’s for medicinal use” would be better than the vaguer “for medicinal use”.
23d Sounds great if turned up? (2-2)
HI-FI: A homophone (sounds) of high (great) followed by a reversal (turned) of the IF from the clue.
A competently put together set of clues that were a pleasure to solve. The SE quadrant took longest to sort out but that could have been just us.
18d our favourite.
Thanks duncanjwitham.
Another very pleasant and enjoyable end to my cruciverbaling weekend from this setter.
Smiles for 4a, 13a, 15a, 2d, and 16d.
Thanks duncanjwitham and thanks in advance to Prolixic
What a splendid RC puzzle! It was a delight to solve with ticks all over my page.
Very well done and thank you, Duncan. Please keep them coming.
An enjoyable breakfast solve – and the 2Ks, it wasn’t just you with the SE Corner
Thanks to Duncan and, in advance, to Prolixic
Very enjoyable – many thanks to Duncan.
My printout is covered in ticks including 4a, 18a, 8d and 16d.
More like this please.
Oh! What a lovely puzzle with plenty of excellent clues! It was a circular trip and clockwise finish, seriatim, from SW to NW to NE and finally to SE. There were too many clues that I liked in this puzzle, such as 4a, 9a, 12a, 13a, 15a, 18a, 25a, 26a, 1d, 8d, 11d, 14d, 16d, 17d and 19d. I am also pretty sure that the commentometer will read an exemplary very low score. Today, my office being closed due to celebration of ‘Rakhi Purnima’ (sisters tying ‘rakhi’ on the wrist of their brothers and brothers giving gifts to their sisters), I took to solving this puzzle that was really entertaining. Thanks to duncanjwitham and also thanks in advance to Prolixic for his review.
Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all your lovely comments. I’m glad you all enjoyed it.
Thanks in advance to Prolixic too.
A lovely puzzle. Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.
Many thanks Duncan & as RD says keep ‘em coming.
Another nicely pitched puzzle from this setter – great example for other Rookies to follow. Top clues for me were 18a plus 16&17d
Well done, Duncan, I doubt that the commentometer will be unduly troubled.
Hello again Duncan,
A very good puzzle indeed, of which you can feel justifiably proud.
Just a few niggles for me; I’m not a fan of “having” as a containment indicator (1d), some editors don’t like it either! “Stories” in 14d seems too similar to the definition, in my opinion, and I think 20d would be better with “it’s” or “that’s” introducing the definition. I have plenty of ticks on my printed page, with 2d, 8d, 16d and 23d vying for podium places.
Many thanks for an excellent RC submission!
What a super puzzle, thank you so much Duncan, and well done indeed. I should not have been in the least upset to find this on the back page, an absolute cracker from start to finish. Ticks everywhere, so shall limit to highlights of 4a, 18a, 26a, 2d, 3d & 16d.
Thanks also in advance to Prolixic, who I suspect will have a light time of it!
Thanks for the review Prolixic, and likewise for the comments Silvanus. I’ll bear all that in mind for the next one.
What an excellent Rookie offering!
18a was my favourite, followed closely by 4a, 3d, the delightful 16d, and 17d. I may add that I did find some clues quite tough but succeeded in parsing all.
Many thanks and a very big ‘well done’ to duncanjwitham.
Much appreciation to Prolixic for the reveiw.
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic. One question, if I may – in 12a we are surely not just reducing gravity, but doing away with it altogether?
It’s a fair point, and I did agonize over it while setting.
Ultimately, my thought process was that LOBE has less ‘G’s than GLOBE, so there’s a reduced amount of gravity there. And given that we do talk about gravity in those kind of terms in the real world (with G’s being a physical quantity you can experience more or less of), I personally think it’s okay. I’m not sure I would use that construction elsewhere – I wouldn’t have used something like “reduced A’s in ALONE” to make LONE, for example.
The other element (and part of the reason I was agonizing over it) is that while something like “No gravity on earth makes ears droop there” might be better in cryptic terms, the surface reading is nonsense from a physics point of view, because your ears wouldn’t really droop at all if there was no gravity. Maybe that doesn’t really matter, I suppose.
Late to the party, but what a cracker!
Would be happy to see a puzzle like this in the DT, let alone the NTSPP.
I’ll be watching out for your next.