A Puzzle by Gencycou
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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 Gencycou with their debut crossword. Having looked on line, I cannot see their crosswords published on other amateur sites so I am presuming that our new setter is cutting their teeth with the first crossword that they have posted. There were a lot of rough edges in this crossword and a lot of attention to the basic rules of clue construction is required. This is to be expected with a new setter. Since Jeemz was kind enough to share his own experience, the lesson is not to be discouraged. Jeemz made steady progress as puzzles were submitted and reviewed and he is now a regular setter in the Not The Saturday Prize Puzzle slot. Silvanus, one of the early Rookies, is now a setter of the Telegraph Toughie and appears in the Independent too. In the case of this crossword, the commentometer is 10/28 or 35.7%.
Across
1a The sport body’s heads were robust, I hear, and commendably (8)
FAMOUSLY: The abbreviation for Football Association (The sport’s body’s) before (heads) and homophone (I hear) of muscly. A few points to note here. First, the football association is a sport’s body not the sport’s body. Where possible, try to omit unneeded articles, whether definite or indefinite (see also 5a). The homophone is just about acceptable. It depends on whether you include the EL sound at the end of muscly rather than L on its own. More importantly, in this clue the use of the word “were” is not needed in the cryptic grammar of the clue. I am less concerned about the definition as in the sense of praiseworthy or notably, it leads you to the solution.
5a Teetotal grabs a stinger – one always ends up crying (6)
SOBBER: A five-letter word for teetotal includes (grabs) the letter B (a stinger). There is an issue here that two-steps are required to get to the letter required – a stinger is a bee and bee is the phonetic spelling of B. Teetotal swallows bee – one always ends up crying would have worked.
9a Article opens with greying queen in pub (3,3,3)
THE OLD VIC: The definite article before (opens) a three-letter word meaning greying or aged and the diminutive form of an old Queen. A better definition here would be theatre rather than a vague pub name.
11a I lust polished Republican (5)
TULSI: An anagram (polished) of I LUST. As the Republican in question is Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, perhaps not as obscure as some have suggested.
12a Raving unloosened with dose – you thought about it! (4,4,6)
USED ONES NOODLE: An anagram (raving) of UNLOOSENED DOSE.
14a Concession to Iran undone for Italian outfit (7)
SOPRANI: A three-letter word for a concession followed by an anagram (undone) of IRAN. Having three anagrams in three successive clues is not good practice, even if one of them is partial. The three dictionaries I consulted do not give the definition as a meaning of the solution.
16a Thanks back near tree in the dark (2,5)
AT NIGHT: A reversal (back) of a two-letter word meaning thanks followed by a four-letter word meaning near and a homophone of TEA (tree). As with 5a, getting from tree to tea to the letter T is too many steps for the solver.
17a Lucky with sonar, Olly! (2,1,4)
ON A ROLL: The answer is hidden in the final two words of the clue. There needs to be a hidden word indicator. With on its own is not sufficient.
19a Decorate Moroccan city near Newcastle (7)
FESTOON: The three-letter name of a city in Morocco followed by an informal way of describing Newcastle.
21a Gold equals earth? (8,6)
TREASURE ISLAND: An eight-letter word describing gold, a two-letter word meaning equals and a four-letter word meaning earth. Whilst there is wordplay in the clue, there is no definition (I don’t think that the entire clue works as an &Lit definition).
24a Icon shows girl and Gencycou drinking orange juice (5)
EMOJI: A two-letter girl’s name and the single letter representing the setter (Gencycou) includes (drinking) the abbreviation for orange juice (given in the OED but not Chambers or Collins). The clue breaks down to Definition shows Wordplay. This is the wrong way round. The definition is shown by the wordplay.
25a First Lady conquers Puerto Rican city, gushing (9)
EMANATIVE: The name of the first woman in the bible includes (conquers) a six-letter name of a small city in Puerto Rico. The name of the 23rd largest city in the country is a little too obscure.
26a Youngster says you’re primarily short (6)
TEENSY: A four-letter word for a youngster followed by the initial letters (primarily) of says you’re.
27a Freight comes in time but it moves at slow pace (8)
ESCARGOT: A five-letter word for freight inside (comes in) the abbreviation for Eastern Standard Time. An indication that the time zone is American is required.
Down
1d Party cheese sliced at the end – drug added (4)
FETE: The name of a Greek cheese without the final letter (sliced at the end) includes (added) the abbreviation for ecstasy.
2d Touch and eat? Joins together (5,2)
MEETS UP: A four-letter word meaning touch and a three-letter word meaning eat. As the first part of the wordplay is very closely related with the solution, the clue is not ideal.
3d United Nations directed without direction (5)
UNLED: The abbreviation for United Nations followed by a three-letter word meaning directed.
4d Giant having a good time? (6,2,5)
LIVING IT LARGE: Cryptic definition.
6d Confident spending (9)
OUTGOINGS: Double definition. This clue does not work as the meaning for confident does not require the S at the end that is required for the definition of spending.
7d Breed in papal edict, God turns (7)
BULLDOG: A four-letter word for a papal edict followed by a reversal (turns) of the GOD from the clue.
8d Sound of alcohol rock’s a gem (10)
RHINESTONE: A homophone (sound) of wine followed by a five-letter word for a rock. Unlike 1a, where I think that the homophone just about works, I don’t think that the homophone works here.
10d Being the reason the centre flips before the weekend chill times (6,7)
CASUAL FRIDAYS: A six-letter word meaning being the reason with the middle two letters reversed (the centre flips) followed by the day (in the plural) that comes before the weekend. Try to ensure that the surface reading (how the clue reads as a sentence in its own right) makes some sort of sense.
13d Like A Version cover of ‘Blokes and Testosterone’ mix (10)
ASSORTMENT: A two-letter word meaning like followed by a four-letter word meaning a version above (cover of) a three-letter word meaning blokes and (I presume) an abbreviation of testosterone. I cannot find any reference in the main UK dictionaries for T being an abbreviation of testosterone. For the cryptic reading of the clue to work, you need covering rather than “cover of”.
15d ‘Instruments‘ article: ‘Cut semolina dish with jerks’ (9)
ACOUSTICS: The indefinite article followed by a semolina dish with half of the word removed followed by a four-letter word meaning jerks. You should only use cut to indicate the deletion of the last letter. Here, you need to remove four-letters. Another clue where the surface reading does not make much sense.
18d Inspire a few to become inspirational (7)
AWESOME: A three-letter word meaning inspire followed by a four-letter word meaning a few.
20d Piggy bank money’s lost its crown, but crown remains! (7)
OINKING: A four-letter word for money with its first letter removed (lost its crown) followed by a person who wears a crown. You should not define the sound an animal makes simply be reference to the animal itself.
22d Lord Lieutenant straddling some mother’s fluffy pack animal (5)
LLAMA: The abbreviation for Lord Lieutenant followed by a one-letter word meaning some and a two-letter word for a mother.
23d Pizzazz ultimately created in essence (4)
ZEST: The final letter (ultimately) of pizzazz followed by the abbreviation for established (created).
Welcome to Rookie Corner Gencycou
It took me a long time to get a completed grid and I had to reveal letters to get my last solution. I am sad to say that, had I not had to wait in for DPD to collect a parcel, I might well have given up fairly early on in the solving process.
I have several question marks by clues I don’t quite understand, and notes about a missing homophone indicator, the need for some American GK, 27a needs the word American before the ‘time’, and one ‘wrong tense’ but I know listing my thoughts in full will cause Prolixic extra work, so I’ll leave it for him to sort out
Thanks Gencycou – please take notes of the comments you will receive here and Prolixic’s review and come back with something more solver-friendly next time. Thanks in advance to Prolixic
Thanks for taking the time to solve this – and sorry if it was a pain!
Fair point on adding ‘American’ or similar to 27ac. I’ll review others’ comments to produce a slicker crossword next time.
Welcome to the blog
Welcome to Rookie Corner, Gencycou. I am sorry to say that I have had to throw in the towel after stuttering to complete about a third of this. The old adage is that a crossword is a battle between setter and solver which the solver eventually wins. I was never going to win this one without spending far too long on it.
I have comments on many of the clues that I did solve:
– 1a. I don’t think that the answer is a synonym of “commendably”. (Also the homophone doesn’t work for me but perhaps it does for you, so you could argue that “I hear” will cover this).
– 5a. If I am parsing this correctly, you need a homophone indicator – e.g. “stinger, we hear”.
– 9a. Is there a famous pub with this name? “Theatre” would be a better definition.
– 11a. This is obviously an anagram and, with the checking letters in place, “Tulsi” is the only possibility, which turns out to be the first name of an obscure American politician!
– 16a. If I am parsing this correctly, T is not a valid abbreviation to clue “tree”.
– 3d. The wordplay and definition are “same-sidey” both being derived from the same word.
– 6d. I took this to be a double definition but “confident” only leads to the singular form of the answer.
– 8d. Bizarre surface.
Well done on compiling a cryptic crossword. It’s certainly a very difficult task. Please pay heed to Prolixic’s wise words, and try to make your next submission more solver friendly.
Thanks for the feedback here! These are all fair comments and useful to hear. (But in 5ac, I used ‘stinger’ to indicate ‘bee’ or ‘B’.)
I’ll hopefully be back with something better next time!
Thanks for commenting, Gencycou, and for taking my comments on board.
I don’t much like the device of using names for letters, e.g. bee, see, etc, but generally they are accepted by editors. However, in this case, I think it’s a step too far to find a synonym and then convert that to a letter. Let’s see what Prolixic thinks tomorrow.
Hello Gencycou!
Well done in daring to share your first puzzle here – I do still remember that feeling of trepidation when waiting to see some feedback!
I did finish it – I couldn’t resist the challenge- but did need to double-check 1a and 2d in Chambers just in case there were alternative words I’d missed. I still can’t parse 1a – it’s either an accent thing or I’ve missed something (usually the latter).
Feedback from others here already is very sound and I won’t repeat those. As you set more you’ll find there are often at least two layers of extra subtlety in clues that one might miss when first setting. My early approach to setting was: (a) always ensure that all my definitions are accurate (whilst doing my best to make them misleading); (b) always ensure my wordplay is accurate, using recognised conventions throughout. As you gain confidence you can start to riff more on those!
Prolixic’s analysis tomorrow will be invaluable to you – I recommend you study it well. Wishing you all the best on your setting journey!
Tim/Encota
Thanks, Tim. It’s a first attempt so I knew there’d be at least a few bloopers!
On the 1a homophone, it should be ‘mously’ from ‘muscly’. But others have already commented that it doesn’t quite work, so not your fault in this case. Thanks again.
Well done, Gencycou, on sticking you head above the parapet.
I did get a full grid but needed to check some of the GK (11a, if I understand it correctly, is an extremely obscure bit of GK for those of us on this side of the pond).
My favourite clue was 4d.
As others have said do take notice of Prolixic’s advice and return with a more user-friendly puzzle.
Thanks, Gazza. It appears that I overestimated the fame of that politician haha.
Welcome Gencycou,
Well done on submitting your first puzzle to Rookie Corner. Exactly ten years ago yesterday, I was in the same position as you!
I’m sorry to say that, mainly because many of the usual cryptic crossword rules and conventions were either not observed or were only loosely observed, I found it an uphill task to solve the puzzle and I sought electronic assistance to fill the grid, I have a plethora of crosses and question marks on my printed page that it would be futile to list, but suffice to say that it would be almost impossible for a second puzzle of yours not to be an improvement on this one. I just hope that Prolixic’s Commentometer doesn’t blow a fuse with the extra demands placed on it this week.
The detailed feedback you’ll receive from the review will be invaluable, but can I urge you to download and digest Prolixic’s guide (you can find it on the Rookie Corner Home Page) as this should clarify what is and isn’t considered acceptable when setting a puzzle.
Thank you, Gencycou.
Thanks, silvanus. Happy setting anniversary!
I’ll take a look at Prolixic’s guide to spare the Commentometer in future (but it’s always good to test the limits haha).
Congrats on your first puzzle, Gencycou. I did manage to complete it, with a few reveals at the end, but it was a bit of a struggle. I won’t repeat the points that others have raised, so I’ll just say that I liked 26a and 4d. There were plenty of other clues (21a, 27a, 1d, 2d, 13d amongst them) that had good ideas in them, but needed a little bit more polish, I think.
Thanks, and in advance to Prolixic.
Thanks – sounds like you weren’t the only one to struggle here, but it’s useful to hear how a crossword is actually received by others. I’ll take on board the feedback above and from Prolixic to craft something better and fairer for next time.
Welcome, and congratulations on compiling your debut BD-RC cryptic. It is a ‘commendable’ (though not famous!) feat and I admire anyone who puts their neck on the block to invite criticism of their efforts: well done.
Not quite completed as I had to reveal 25a / 23d, and gosh, that was different! Written by an American presumably, possibly with an American audience in mind – nothing intrinsically wrong with that, after all The Times has been going that way with its main puzzle for quite a while, now. However I felt some of the required American GK – both indicated and unindicated – was rather too much for a UK solver, from the obscure politician to the even less heard of ‘city’ (small town, more like) in Puerto Rico. I felt some of the answers and phrases were somewhat strange, or strained, or just not in sufficiently common use (eg 9a, 12a, 10d) to appear in a UK puzzle. Too much “green paint” for me.
It’s one thing to test the boundaries as a new setter, but to test them one first needs to know, understand, and master those limits: they have evolved for a reason! Prolixic’s comments are going to be invaluable and I can only echo the various comments above.
Thank you for putting us to your challenge, Gencycou, and I do look forward to your next crossword. Many thanks too, in advance, to Prolixic.
Thanks, Mustafa. I think that’s a fair assessment and aligns with what others have said above.
(PS – British!)
Welcome to the Corner, Gencycou, it’s always nice to see a newcomer raising his head above the parapet.
Sadly, I have to report that I didn’t get very far with this under my own steam and eventually revealed the answers in order to find out where I’d been going wrong. To be honest, I’m not sure that it was me who was going wrong in many cases but I’ll leave it to Prolixic to analyse the puzzle in depth for you.
Please do bring us more puzzles but perhaps read some of the excellent publications out there before constructing your next one.
Thanks, Jane, and will do.
Welcome to Rookie Corner Gencycou and congratulations on compiling this puzzle. Like others, I confess to finding it a struggle and needing several reveals to make progress. There are a number I don’t quite understand so I look forward to reading Prolixic’s review. I did think there were a number of good ideas in the cluing but reckon your execution does need some fine tuning. I know my own first submission here fell well short of the level I’d hoped for! The advice of those here plus, most importantly, Prolixiic’s guide that Silvanus mentioned, can help enormously. (It’s found at the bottom of the Rookie Corner Index page if you didn’t know!) I look forward to trying your next crossword.
Thanks, Jeemz!
Thanks, Prolixic, for your review and encouraging words. I think I now know how to make the next crossword better, so hopefully I’ll be back in Rookie Corner in the near future. Thanks again to everyone else who took the time to test this crossword.
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic, plenty for our setter to read and inwardly digest before he braves ‘the den’ again!