A Puzzle by Lestrade
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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 to Lestrade with a crossword appropriately themed in relation to a number of solutions to his or her fictional police inspector. There were no major issues with the clues and there is a clear grasp of the basics of clue construction though with some minor issues to watch in future crosswords. Eight anagrams and four homophones is on the high side (though as today’s back page crossword, you sometimes see more anagrams even in nationally published crosswords). The commentometer reads as 4/32 or 12.5%
Across
8a Here‘s a suggestion (4)
CLUE: Double definition of what you are reading (here) and a hint or suggestion.
9a Anger-crazed group (5)
RANGE: An anagram (crazed) of ANGER.
10a Aurora is French, say (4)
DAWN: Double definition, the second being the star of the Vicar of Dibley.
11a Stick where? Billboard! (6)
ADHERE: How you might fancifully refer to the location of an advert on a billboard.
12a Fake broadcast to challenge the weakest (8)
FAINTEST: A homophone (broadcast) of feign (fake) followed by a four-letter word for a challenge.
13a Little devil spends a penny next to sign for hoaxer (8)
IMPOSTER: A three-letter word for a little devil without the last letter (spends a penny) followed by a six-letter word for a sign.
15a In this way, at this place, a brief farewell (6)
HEREBY: A four-letter word meaning at this place followed by a three-letter word meaning farewell without the last letter (a brief).
17a Protestantism is confused without Rosin’s endeavour (7)
ATTEMPT: An anagram (is confused) of PROTESTANTISM after removing (without) the letters is ROSINS. Where the letters to be removed are not in the same order, it is better to give a secondary anagram indicator to show this.
19a Atrocious pot odour giving away nothing for quitter (7)
DROPOUT: An anagram (atrocious) of POT ODOUR after removing (giving away) a letter representing nothing.
22a Catch the lady, in common parlance, officer? (6)
COPPER: How colloquially one might say COP (catch) HER (the lady).
24a Complicated sign use around student’s disagreeable appearance (8)
UGLINESS: An anagram (complicated) of SIGN USE around the abbreviation for student.
26a Prepare, permit: cuff (8)
BRACELET: A five-letter word meaning to prepare followed by a three-letter word meaning permit.
28a Spooner’s ale arriving soon – it’s close at hand (6)
NEARBY: A Spoonerism of BEER (ale) NIGH (arriving soon).
30a View broadcast location (4)
SITE: A homophone (broadcast) of SIGHT (view). Do not repeat wordplay indicators. Broadcast was used to indicate a homophone in 12a.
31a Reformed crook made out in cybersex conference (2-3)
EX-CON: The answer is hidden (made out in) the final two words of the clue.
32a Second and third of major carotids a little bit open (4)
AJAR: The second and third letters of each of major and carotids. I think you need something to indicate that the second and third letters of both words are required. Compare this construction with 5d where tips of A and B works. Similarly, half A and B works.
Down
1d Fuzz soft on top of lodestone (4)
PLOD: The musical abbreviation for soft followed by the first three letters (top) of lodestone. You should restrict constructions like top to the first letter only, not a random number of letters.
2d Weaver of legend, to write, to escape (8)
PENELOPE: A three-letter word meaning to write followed by a five-letter word meaning to escape.
3d Check king in a break (6)
ARREST: The abbreviation for king inside the A from the clue and a four-letter word for a break.
4d Regular mess in forum (7)
UNIFORM: An anagram (mess) of IN FORUM.
5d Make sense of recipe cooked with tips of dill and horseradish (8)
DECIPHER: An anagram (cooked) of RECIPE D H (tips – first letters – of dill and horseradish).
6d Proofreader tried redraft with love (6)
EDITOR: An anagram (redraft) of TRIED O (love). Try to avoid repeating clue types across more than two successive clues. The anagrams in a row makes the clues seem unbalanced.
7d Couples primarily think wedding or sex (4)
TWOS: The initial letters (primarily) of the final four words of the clue.
14d Saw in half mother and Tony (5)
MOTTO: The first halves (in half) of MOTHER and TONY.
16d Low mood music (5)
BLUES: Double definition.
18d Soldier has Welsh sound with the Spanish alongside (8)
PARALLEL: A four-letter word for a soldier, one of the Welsh sounds and the Spanish for the. I am not sure that Welsh sound is sufficient to indicate the letters required.
20d Blurred DNA a crap carrier for police (8)
PANDACAR: An anagram (blurred of DNA A CRAP). The enumeration here should be 5,3.
21d Fair play – sounds like that’s the way it’s going to be? (7)
JUSTICE: A homophone (sounds like) of JUST IS (that’s the way it’s going to be).
23d Wrinkle gives Shakespeare’s merry wanderer pause (6)
PUCKER: A four-letter name of a character in A Midsummer’s Night Dream and a two-letter word expressing a hesitation. The wordplay can give you the definition but the definition does not give you the wordplay.
25d Nil gin drunk for something silver, maybe (6)
LINING: An anagram (drunk) of NIL GIN.
27d Artist to identify Sally (4)
RAID: The abbreviation for an artist and a two-letter word meaning to identify.
29d Scribe attempts to hide rhythm (4)
BEAT: The answer is hidden (to hide) in the first two words of the clue.
An enjoyable solve for us that all went together without any major log jams.
Thanks Lestrade.
Thanks Lestrade – an enjoyable conclusion to the end of my weekend of cruciverbalism.
For me the application of ‘second and third of’ cannot apply to both Major and Carotids. Similarly, using ‘top’ for the first three letters of Lodestone does not ‘work.’ I wonder if the experts will agree with me.
Smiles for 11a, 26a, 14d, and 16d.
Thanks again and thanks in advance to Prolixic.
Thank you to Lestrade for a nice breakfast time solve. I agree with Senf about the first three letters of lodestone not being the ‘top’. The enumeration for 20d should be 5,3 not 8. Someone will probably tell you that you need another indicator to tell you that ROSIN isn’t in that order in the anagram fodder, but you have to look very carefully to notice this so I don’t think it is a major problem
Thanks in advance to Prolixic
Welcome to Rookie Corner, Lestrade, with a promising debut puzzle which was good fun to solve.
I agree with Senf about 32a & 1d, and with CS about 17a & 20d. In addition, I have some other comments on which I will await Prolixic’s verdicts with interest:
– 19a. Does the clue need to specify that just one instance of nothing is removed?
– 4d. Is “mess in” a valid anagram indicator?
– 14d. Should this say “Saw in half both mother and Tony”?
– 18d. Is “Welsh sound” an acceptable way to clue LL?
Although many of your surface readings are fine, a few don’t make much sense (e.g. 19a). It’s not the highest priority when starting to set cryptic puzzles but something for you to consider for the future.
Very well done and thank you, Lestrade. Thanks too in advance to Prolixic.
A fun puzzle which I enjoyed a lot – many thanks to Lodestone.
Top clues for me were 11a, 28a and 16d.
Thank you very much for the kind welcome and feedback everyone.
I’m kicking myself on the enumeration for 20d cryptic sue – I swear I’d spotted that and changed it, but clearly not! Sorry!
Everyone’s points are really helpful. I certainly see what you mean about 32a Senf (and maybe it’s a similar point to the one Rabbit Dave raises on 14d) – that’s actually the clue I probably fiddled with the most, trying ‘a little bit of’ too, but that didn’t seem specific enough. Back to the drawing board on that one perhaps.
On 4d it’s just ‘mess’ that’s the indicator (the ‘in’ is part of the anagram itself), if that makes a difference there.
Very nice to learn which clues people enjoyed too. Thanks again – much appreciated.
Les
Welcome to the blog, Lestrade and thanks for the entertaining puzzle.
Nothing wrong with 4d – good clue. Mess works fine as an anagram indicator if you read it as an imperative verb. And it doesn’t matter that it is a noun in the surface reading of the clue – it’s a neat trick that many of the best setters use.
I agree with Silvanus on the plus points – your clues are nicely pithy and not trying too hard to be difficult. Repetition of indicators is slightly inelegant but only really a problem because it makes it too easy for solvers as they become familiar with the devices you use. Solvers like to be kept on their toes!
Surfaces will improve with practice, so keep at it. As a beginner, it’s good to focus on ensuring your cryptic grammar is sound, but as Silvanus says, surfaces are important. As you will have learnt from the Boatman course, the real benefit of smooth, plausible surfaces is that it makes clues trickier (in a fair way) because solvers can’t see the joins. In some of your clues, the way they break down is perhaps a little obvious on first reading. This is not really a problem as long as the clues are sound, but the ideal is for solvers to be puzzled at first but then enjoy that satisfying penny drop moment when they twig what’s going on.
Thank you for this Widdersbel. Your comments on surfaces are especially helpful – you put it very well – and I appreciate the encouragement too.
I agree with crypticsue that the five letters excluded by the anagram indicator isn’t in the same order as mentioned in the clue of 17a and that the enumeration for 20d that is a Nepali origin should be 5,3 instead of 8. Rabbit Dave has rightly clarified that the word ‘both’ should have been in 14d to consider both the persons. For 4d, I think if mess has to be used as an anagram indicator, the phrase ‘in a mess’ sounds better; though here the anagram fodder is ‘in forum’. Anagrams in full or part have been repeated in consecutive clues of 4d, 5d and 6d. There are also repetitions of words like broadcast, little, sign, way though I presume these are minor issues. I like 13a, 15a, 24a, 26a, 28a, 2d, 23d and 27d. It was, however, a pleasure to solve your debut puzzle, Lestrade. Looking forward to solving your next puzzle.
Thanks for the puzzle Lestrade, I enjoyed solving it.
My favourites were 13a, 2d and 27d. There was plenty else to like too.
I won’t repeat other comments, but the slight overuse of anagrams stood out to me too (especially the 3 in a row that Rahmat Ali mentioned).
Like “mess”, I’m not entirely convinced by “redraft” as an anagram indicator.
A couple of the homophones didn’t quite work for me either – 21d in particular. I know it can be a bit accent-dependant, but the second half of the answer just doesn’t sound the same to me.
Thanks again, and in advance to Prolixic.
Welcome to Rookie Corner, Lestrade.
As RD says, perhaps surface readings are not the top priority for a debutant, but I think they should certainly not be overlooked and I felt several were very unconvincing. Whilst repetition of individual words is commonplace in puzzles, repetition of indicators ought to be avoided, here “broadcast” was used twice as a homophone indicator. 23d is a “definition gives wordplay” construction, i.e. the wrong way round. I felt 8a was a very weak start – the first Across clue should ideally be one to set the tone for the others that follow. Eight anagrams and four homophones meant that more than one third of the solutions were derived from just two types of clue.
Plus points: the clues were not wordy, there were no obscure solutions and the cryptic grammar and constructions were not that bad overall for a debut puzzle. The surface readings would be the area where I’d expect to see most improvement in any follow-up puzzle.
Many thanks, Lestrade.
Thank you Silvanus. Would you mind clarifying what didn’t work for you on 8a? I understand that you didn’t like it but I’m not sure if that was because of the surface, or something else about the clue, and it would be helpful to know. Many thanks indeed.
Hi,
I felt 8a was weak because double definitions ought to have separate meanings ideally. In this case the two definitions were far too similar, in my opinion. I hope that helps.
Ah, thank you – yes it does. I’d thought the same of an earlier iteration and tried to solve that by changing to the published one,
but perhaps should have gone back to the drawing board. Thank you for clarifying.
Welcome to the Corner, Lestrode. I did enjoy solving this although there were certainly some issues as others have already mentioned and I couldn’t help wondering whether a few of the clues made perfect sense in your head but didn’t translate onto paper very well. Top clues for me were 11&28a plus 16d. Shame about 23d being wrongly constructed as the idea behind it was very good.
Please take careful note of all the advice from Prolixic and other experts and bring us another puzzle very soon.
Given the setter’s pseudonym, I am surprised that nobody has commented on the number of police related solutions and references in the clues.
Thank you very much for the review Prolixic – it’s greatly appreciated, really clear and helpful. Thank you also for commenting on the theme. (I wondered if perhaps they were verboten on Rookie Corner for some reason and everyone was just too polite to mention it.)
Thank you too to all who have commented and given your thoughts on a debut puzzle – it’s been very useful and I appreciate it.
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic. Looks as though Lestrade is off to a good start – hope he can keep up the good work.