A Puzzle by Rahmat Ali
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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.
Welcome back in very quick order to Rahmet Ali. The reason for this is that the Rookie Corner cupboard is now empty. If anyone has puzzles ready to submit, please send them through BD [NO SPACE HERE] SUBMISSIONS AT OUTLOOK DOT COM. Crosswords should be standard 15 by 15 grids (not barred puzzles) and should not have been published elsewhere.
On to today’s crossword. This is a marked improvement on Rahmat’s offering last week. I think that the suspicion that last week’s crossword was rushed to completion without due attention to the clues has been borne out by this crossword, which was much more assured in its approach.
There were a handful of rough edges. I think that overall attention needs to be given to the surface readings of the clues though they were not as bad as some and nothing so dire that I have commented on them. The other point is a matter of the setter’s style. Trying to create a pangram has resulted in quite a few unusual words. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this but it feels as though Rahmat has been forced into including them to maintain the pangram rather than having a good idea for a clue for a less common word.
The commentometer reads as 2.5/28 or 8.9%.
Across
1a Aussie tall thin fellows’ ears, practically (10)
CORNSTALKS: Double definition, the second being the principal part (practically) of a cereal crop.
6a Primarily, is Sri Lanka entirely a land surrounded by water? (4)
ISLE: The initial letters (primarily) of the second to fifth words of the clue.
10a Drink taking seaman back to dance (5)
RUMBA: A three-letter alcoholic drink followed by a reversal (back) of the abbreviation for able seaman.
11a Crazy macho’s first person to enjoy suffering from pain (9)
MASOCHIST: An anagram (crazy) of MACHO followed by the letters representing 1st.
12a Settled score with English journalist after endless dance party (7)
AVENGED: Three letter abbreviation for English and the abbreviation for editor (journalist) after the middle letters (endless) of a four-letter word for a dance party.
13a Fruit from a very old company without advertisement? (7)
AVOCADO: The A from the clue followed by the abbreviations for very and old and then the abbreviation for a company around (without) the abbreviation for an advertisement.
14a Violations of the Second Commandment inside inoperative cruisers, reportedly (4,8)
IDOL WORSHIPS: A homophone (reportedly) of IDLE (inoperative) WARSHIPS (cruisers). Lots to say about this clue! First, to maintain the link between the solution and the definition, it would need to be violates the second commandment. Secondly, in would be better than inside as the link word and finally, the homophone for the second word does not work as the word in the clue gives an AW sound whilst the word in the solution require an “ER” sound.
18a Reveal British girl tonight, anyhow (5,2,5)
BRING TO LIGHT: The abbreviation for British followed by an anagram (anyhow) of GIRL TONIGHT.
21a Holy scriptures carried by silent performers (7)
QUINTET: The abbreviation for New Testament (holy scriptures) inside (carried by) a five-letter word meaning silent.
23a Going round American doctor attached to current hospital department (7)
AMBIENT: The single letter abbreviation for American and a two-letter abbreviation for doctor followed by the abbreviations for current and a hospital department.
24a Renovated portico is displaying same properties irrespective of direction (9)
ISOTROPIC: An anagram (renovated) of PORTICO IS.
25a Allocate everyone books? (5)
ALLOT: A three-letter word meaning everyone followed by the abbreviation for Old Testament (books).
26a Ex-Prime Minister returns with small sweet potatoes? (4)
YAMS: The three-letter surname of a former prime minister reversed (returns) followed by the abbreviation for small.
27a Imitative newspaper boss? (4,6)
COPY EDITOR: Mild cryptic definition.
Down
1d Sensual Romeo entering artificial watercourse (6)
CARNAL: The letter represented by Romeo in the NATO phonetic alphabet inside (entering) a five-letter word for an artificial watercourse.
2d Drive black aero-engine (6)
RAMJET: A three-letter word meaning drive followed by a three-letter word for black.
3d Unkempt Conservative bothers to intervene? That’s an unlikely, exaggerated tale (6-3,5)
SHAGGY-DOG STORY: A six-letter word meaning unkempt and a four-letter word for Conservative includes (to intervene) a four-letter word meaning bothers.
4d Animal in middle of farm infuriated ailing duck (9)
ARMADILLO: The middle-letters of farm followed by a three-letter word meaning infuriated, a three-letter word meaning infuriated and the letter representing zero or a duck.
5d In Pavlovsk a shanty offering porridge (5)
KASHA: The answer is hidden in the second to fourth words of the clue.
7d Mistakenly heard that woman takes along hunters (8)
SHIKARIS: A homophone (mistakenly heard) of SHE (that woman) CARRYS (takes along).
8d Turned out, former spouse seen beside resort, unexpected (8)
EXTRORSE: A two-letter word for a former spouse followed by an anagram (unexpected) of RESORT. I think that the anagram indicator would be better as unexpectedly.
9d Grandmasters facing each other thus applying in all cases (6,3,5)
ACROSS THE BOARD: Double definition.
15d Government by a few rich? Go lay off (9)
OLIGARCHY: An anagram (off) of RICH GO LAY.
16d University, by accepting my resignation letter, showed pervasiveness (8)
UBIQUITY: The abbreviation for university followed by the BY from the clue inside which (accepting) you add a phrase (1,4) meaning my resignation letter. Perhaps my indication of resignation would be better than resignation letter as we want the contents of the letter, not the letter itself.
17d Bone that is in good shape? (8)
PISIFORM: The IS from the clue inside (in) a two-letter word meaning good and a four-letter word meaning shape. I think that for the cryptic grammar to work correctly, you should omit the “that”.
19d It’s criminal to laze enthusiast (6)
ZEALOT: An anagram (it’s criminal) of TO LAZE.
20d One who affirms an ancient Greek coin (6)
STATER: Double definition.
22d Blood group no body can refuse (4,1)
TYPE O: Cryptic definition of the blood group that can be used universally in blood transfusions regardless of the blood group of the recipient.
It’s a good thing we had our reference books to hand as there were several answers that we needed to check along the way, but they were all there and tended to add to the enjoyment we got from unpicking this pangram. We’ll go with 1a as our favourite as we learnt something new about our closest neighbours.
Thanks Rahmat Ali.
Thank you so much, 2Kiwis, for liking my puzzle. After Prolixic’s review, I now realise that I should try to avoid unusual or less common words while creating a puzzle so that the solvers would find it interesting.
Thank you Rahmat Ali. Like the 2Kiwis we needed our reference books and we learnt new words, just hope we remember them! We can’t parse the first three letters of the second word in 14a and the first part of 17d so we await Prolixic’s review. As always, we look forward to your next puzzle.
Hilton,
– I took the second word of 14a to be a homophone of “were ships”.
– The first half of 17d is “is” inserted in a two letter synonym for “good”.
RD – I took it as being idle (idol) for inoperative, and warships (worships) for cruisers.
I considered that, MG, but as it was such a poor homophone, I decided “idle were ships” sounded better even though nonsensical! But you are probably right.
Thank you so much, Hilton, for liking my puzzle. I have already sent my next puzzle and hope it will be a better one.
Hello again, Rahmat Ali. I have been thinking for some time about what to post today. Prior to your previous submission a week ago you appeared to have made very good progress. I think we were all hoping that last week’s submission was a one-off produced quickly for the celebration of a specific occasion.
However, in my opinion, today’s pangram suffers similarly with several obscure solutions and unconvincing surface reads.
I will leave Prolixic to deal with the detailed analysis and just mention a few things:
1a – what purpose is “practically” serving?
7d – I have no idea how this obscure answer should be pronounced, so cannot judge if the homophone works.
17d – “That” seems unnecessary.
22d – this clue seems barely cryptic.
You have the potential to produce enjoyable crosswords, but you need to dial back on the obscurities (abandoning your passion for pangrams may help!) and keep working on polishing your surfaces.
Many thanks, Rahmat Ali, and thanks in advance to Prolixic.
Thank you so much, Rabbit Dave, for your kind comment that I have appeared to have made very good progress and I note to avoid obscurities and keep working on better surface reads inasmuch as to try to create a puzzle with common and usual words to make it more interesting for the solvers. After sending the puzzle, I realised that ‘that’ was redundant in 17d. For 22d, I thought that ‘nobody’ to refuse would definitely mean of the blood to be universally accepted, or received by all human beings, but to use ‘no body’ would be better for that would mean of the blood that cannot be refused by any human body. Once again, thank you for the overall comments that I take as a great learning.
I can’t recall a Rookie Corner setter ever appearing two weeks in succession, but it may well not be unprecedented. Welcome back, Rahmat Ali.
I enjoyed this more than last week’s puzzle but the same issues seemed to recur, i.e. several unconvincing surfaces (especially 15d and 19d) and quite a few obscurities to fill the grid. “Laze” is an intransitive verb so its transitive use in 19d really jars. I can’t really see how 22d is at all cryptic. It was a pity that all of the answer to 25a is actually present in the first word of the clue. My top three clues were 3d (impossible not to think of BoJo), 4d and 17d.
Many thanks, RA.
Thank you so much, silvanus, for finding this puzzle more enjoyable than the one of the last week and I note to keep a check on obscurities and unconvincing surface reads. Thank you also for the overall comments that I take as a great learning.
Hi Rahmat Ali, thank you for the lunchtime challenge with what was very clearly a puzzle you had had much more time to prepare and polish than the last one! It was much better, IMO, and more coherent.
That said, I think you really do need to work hard on your “surface readings” – too many read in a very stilted fashion, or made little sense to me, namely 1a, 6a, 11a, 14a, 24a, 1d, 8d, 15d, 16d, 19d.
I do wonder whether you found yourself painted into a corner with a few clues (eg 7d, 8d, 17d) – some very obscure answers indeed!
There was a very little repetition (eg NT in 21a and OT only a few clues later in 25a), and to me at least the homophone in 14a just doesn’t work: worship is not pronounced in the same way as warship, which is a shame because the clue had a lot of promise. I’m also uncertain that “idol worships” can be used to mean “violations”.
But these are all small points really: it was an enjoyable puzzle, and to me at least showed you are “back on track”. Highlights for me were 3d, 4d & 21a. As ever, take heed of Prolixic’s advice and I look forward to your next crossword!
Thank you Rahmat, and in advance also to Prolixic
Thank you so much, Mustafa G, for finding this puzzle more polish than the previous one and also serving as a good lunchtime challenge. You are right about the obscurities of 7d, 8d and 17d. Thank you, however, for the overall comments that I take as a great learning.
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic. I did eventually manage to tackle this although my printer is ‘on the blink’ and I finished up with four partial copies which I had to cobble together. Have to say that I think our setter is doing himself a disservice by insisting on producing pangrams – the obscure words that forces him to use can get more than a little tiring. The other big problem is his lack of attention to surface reads which is quite off-putting to someone like me for whom they are very important. I do hope we can look forward to him improving those elements.
Thank you so much, jane, for your overall comments that I take as a great learning. I think even if I am creating a pangram, it should have the usual and common words that will make the puzzle more enjoyable and entertaining. Incidentally, the birthday puzzle was not a pangram, but still there were more errors and the commentometer reading was too high. The only consolation was that it was created in a very short time.
Finally, my sincere thanks to Prolixic for his noteworthy review and final feedback to this puzzle which, indeed, is a great learning for me. Next, I was very much surprised to see my two puzzles published in succession and further noting that the RC cupboard was empty, I started to compile another puzzle immediately after completing a review for the DT. Although this was also done in a very short time, but I had tried my best to go through my puzzle over and over again and hope that it would be a bit more entertaining.