A Puzzle by Ferret
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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 Ferret with their first Rookie crossword. Judging by the quality of the clues, this is not their first foray into the arcane art of setting a cryptic crossword. Overall, there was a good variety of clues and wordplay devices. Most of the comments below are technical issues that are often found in early crosswords and that can easily be eliminated. The commentometer reads as 5.5 / 32 or 17.2%
Across
1a Porridge? Served moist with cinnamon topping (6)
SITCOM: An anagram (served) of MOIST C (cinnamon topping).
4a Like Archimedes, he can barely run (8)
STREAKER: Cryptic definition.
10a Incite anger over unfinished revolution (9)
ENCOURAGE: A six-letter word meaning anger around (over) a four-letter word for a revolution with the final letter removed (unfinished).
11a Dropping arm, caught a duck (5)
GUANO: A three-letter word for an arm or weapon includes (caught) the A from the clue followed by the letter representing a duck. To maintain the cryptic grammar in the clue, catches would be better than caught.
12a Blush, quiet place to skate topless (4)
PINK: The musical abbreviation for quiet followed by a four-letter word for a place to skate without the first letter (topless). Best practice is not to repeat wordplay indicators. Topping in 1a and Topless in this clue are too similar.
13a £1000 is within time to bring honour (10)
AGGRANDISE: A five-letter word for £1000 and the IS from the clue inside (within) a three-letter word for a period of time.
15a I’m out of numerical processing power? (7)
NUCLEAR: An anagram (processing) of NUMERICAL without (out) the letters IM. Where the letters to be removed are not in the same order as given in the clue, a subsidiary anagram indicator should be provided, though this rule is often ignored where there are only a few letters to be removed.
16a Highlight price increase (6)
MARKUP: Double definition. The dictionary gives the enumeration as (4,2), not (6).
19a Shut novel about the French detective (6)
SLEUTH: An anagram (novel) of SHUT around (about) the French masculine singular for the.
21a Tracked endless river catching fishy (7)
TRODDEN: A five-letter name of a major UK river without the last letter (endless) includes (catching) a three-letter word meaning fishy or strange.
23a Cryptically apt choreography (3,7)
TAP DANCING: A reverse anagram where an arrangement of the letters APT and a suitable anagram indicator give a form of choreography.
25a Middle of the road for Cherry? (4)
TREE: The middle letters of a six letter word for a road.
27a Paint head of Indian mammal? (5)
COATI: A four-letter word for a layer of paint followed by the first letter (head) of Indian.
28a Mitigation from sailor at leaving top off the glue (9)
ABATEMENT: The abbreviation for able seaman and the AT from the clue followed by six-letter word for glue without the initial letter (top off). Another repetition of top to indicate the first letter.
29a Toasted end slice, jammed (8)
SILENCED: An anagram (toasted) of END SLICE.
30a Sent Mum to cafe counter (6)
MAILED: A two-letter word for a mum followed by reversal (counter) of a four-letter word for a café. The word to be reversed is not a café. Also, a reversal of this form should be on the counter.
Down
1d Wide turn to go around little Golf (8)
SWEEPING: A four-letter word meaning turn around a three-letter word meaning little followed by the letter represented by Golf in the NATO phonetic alphabet.
2d Complicated latch, nice action (9)
TECHNICAL: An anagram (action) of LATCH NICE. I don’t think that action works as an anagram indicator. As a noun, it could not be used as an anagram indication and as a verb it is a transitive verb meaning that it would need to go before the letters to be rearranged and, even then, it does not really indicate a movement of the letters.
3d A burden we pay for (4)
ONUS: A phrase (2,2) meaning we pay for.
5d Idea that he or Emily holds (7)
THEOREM: The answer is hidden (holds) in the second to fifth words of the clue.
6d Drive overthrow of Heath to get to the source of power (6,4)
ENGINE ROOM: A six-letter word meaning drive followed by a reversal (overthrow) of a four-letter word for a heath. Perhaps there is too much similarity between the use of drive in the clue and in the solution. I am not convinced that drive is a synonym for the first word of the solution in any event. Whilst Chambers gives the enumeration as 6-4, both Collins and the OED support (6,4) as the enumeration.
7d Green startup initiator we hear (5)
KHAKI: A homophone (we hear) of car key (startup initiator).
8d Island garden group pens poetry (6)
RHODES: The abbreviation for Royal Horticultural Society (garden group) around (pens) a three-letter word of poetry.
9d DJ swapped over in ‘Mick the Knife‘ (6)
DAGGER: The surname of the Rolling Stone’s Mick with the J swapped for a D.
14d Control urogenital disorder (10)
REGULATION: An anagram (disorder) of urogenital. I don’t think that disorder works as an anagram indicator. As a noun, it could not be used as an anagram indication and as a verb it is a transitive verb meaning that it would need to go before the letters to be rearranged.
17d Discount two European articles then turn in (9)
UNDERSELL: The French for a and the German for the (two European articles) followed by a four-letter word meaning to turn in or betray.
18d Transmitted trendy social media stream holding court (8)
INFECTED: A two-letter word meaning trendy followed by a four-letter word for a social media stream around (holding) the abbreviation for court. As holds has been used in the sense of a hidden word containment, a different word for containment should be used here.
20d Measure this place, concealing 100 volunteers (7)
HECTARE: A four-letter word meaning this place around (concealing) the Roman numeral for 100 and the abbreviation for the former volunteer reserve force now known as Army Reserve.
21d Protection money that needs no introduction (3,3)
TIN HAT: A three-letter word for money followed by the THAT from the clue without the first letter (needs no introduction).
22d Model employed by footwear stores (6)
STOCKS: The original model Ford car inside (employed by) a five-letter word for items that may be worn on the feet.
24d Fruit, starter of little gem (5)
PEARL: A four-letter word for a type of fruit followed by the first letter (starter) of little.
26d Fellow overate greek food (4)
FETA: The abbreviation for fellow followed by a reversal (over) of ate. Some editors would require an indicator that overate has to be split into over ate. Greek is a proper noun so should be capitalised.
That had us working hard but we did manage to get everything with some great penny-drop moments along the way. One of these was 9d so we’ll make that our favourite.
Thanks Ferret.
Thank you so much for taking the trouble to solve my first effort and for the lovely comments. I was a little worried that 9d might have pushed the boundaries a bit too far, so really pleased that you liked it! Best wishes from a bright and sunny day in the UK.
Welcome to the blog (and Rookie Corner)
Welcome to Rookie Corner Ferret and thank you for an enjoyable end to my weekend of cruciverbalism.
There seemed to be a few rough edges that will need to be smoothed off. In particular, I am not sure that overate in 26a can be used as a combined reversal indicator and what has to be reversed, and, there probably needs to be an indicator in 15a that the letters to be removed from numerical are not adjacent within it.
Smiles for 11a, 21a, 1d, and 20d.
Thanks again and thanks in advance for the wisdom of Prolixic.
Thanks Senf for taking the trouble to solve and feedback. Really pleased you enjoyed it and your comments are really helpful. I particularly need to be careful about that issue in 15a, something I hadn’t thought carefully enough about! Have a great week.
Welcome to Rookie Corner, Ferret, with what I thought was a very promising debut which was fun to solve.
I only have a few very minor comments:
15a – You need to include a second anagram indicator to show that the letters IM to be removed from the anagram fodder appear in a different order.
16a – According to the BRB, the enumeration should be (4-2).
21a – Using the childish term for fish makes the surface intrusive.
6d – According to the BRB, the enumeration should be (6-4).
26d – Some editors won’t allow the lift and separate device; and Greek should be capitalised.
Well done, Ferret, and many thanks. Thanks too to Prolixic.
in 21a, surely the word at the end of the clue has nothing whatsoever to do with matters piscatorial? It is a synonym for the word you have to insert in the ‘endless’ river, which I think works well with the surface reaading
CS, “fishy” is absolutely fine as part of the wordplay where its synonym as an adjective is inserted into a truncated river.
However, the only way I can make any sense out of the surface reading of the clue is if it is being used to mean “fish”. How are you interpreting the surface?
Thanks so much Rabbit Dave for the time and the comments. Make perfect sense and really useful to help me tighten up in future.
Best wishes and have a great week!
A very enjoyable breakfast time solve – I particularly liked 23a and 9d. I agree with others about 26d. My only other thought was that in 30a the required word isn’t a cafe,
Thanks Ferret – take note of Prolixic’s review and the thoughts of others and return soon with another crossword
Thank you crypticsue for taking the time to solve and comment, it’s really appreciated. Agree with your comment on 30a – ‘shop’ would have been better!
Will certainly be taking all the comments on board and hopefully will learn and improve.
Have a great week!
Welcome to Ferret who’s given us an entertaining puzzle.
I agree with CS that the required place in 30a isn’t a cafe.
I particularly liked 11a (for the disguised definition), the clever 23a and 9d (which made me laugh).
Thanks Gazza for your time and comments, I really appreciate the feedback. Definitely agree that Mum should have gone to the shop and not the cafe!!!
TBH, I expected some issues with 9d – I thought I’d stretched it to the limit on that one, but it seems to have gone down quite well so I’m quite pleased.
Have a great week!
Thanks for the puzzle Ferret, I enjoyed it. Favourites for me were 23a, 28a and 1d.
I agree with what others have said about 30a and 26d.
Thanks again, and in advance to Prolixic.
I really enjoyed this puzzle and thought it an excellent debut. I agree that cafe should be shop or similar and about greek/Greek, which I assume was a mere typo. There’s some fine clues and my favourite was 11a; I always assumed that the answer is a mass noun and not used in the singular. There’s probably a few minor technical issues that P will reference but overall: well done!
Thanks Jose for taking the trouble to solve and feedback. I’m buzzing from all these comments and feeling very encouraged to try to push on and improve!
Thanks for having a crack at it and taking the trouble to feedback, I really appreciate it.
30a is so obvious now you (and others) have pointed it out, just didn’t see it at the time. Must try to learn to see things from the solvers point of view.
Welcome, Ferret.
I tend to concur with previous comments regarding the things that aren’t quite right/don’t quite work, but, overall, this was a better-than-average debut, in my opinion. It was certainly enjoyable to solve.
I’d be very interested to see a follow-up puzzle which I would expect to have fewer issues, but do watch things like wrong enumerations, as they can be easily overlooked.
Congratulations and thanks, Ferret.
A massive thank you to you all, especially to Prolixic for the invaluable comments. You’ve given me lots of encouragement and some fantastic advice that I hope will help make me a better setter. I will start trying to put it into practice on the next one right away.
See you all again soon