A Puzzle by Maitresse
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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 very good crossword from Maitresse with a good variety of wordplay ideas and well disguised definitions. There was less general knowledge required to solve this crossword. However, as with the first crossword, there was too much repetition of wordplay indicators forming the larger part of the commentometer score of 2/29 or 6.9%
Across
8a “No drug smuggling!” scold youth (6)
NONAGE: The NO from the clue and the abbreviation for ecstasy (drug) includes (smuggling) a three-letter word meaning to scold or berate.
9a Those who put up with voters switching left to right (8)
ERECTORS: An eight-letter word for voters with the L (left) changed to R (right).
10a You see through it – for example, involving the old girl (8)
EYEGLASS: The abbreviation for “for example” includes (involving) the two-letter old word for the followed by a four-letter word for a girl.
11a Novelist‘s charge for golf played without iron (6)
GREENE: A phrase 5, 3 for the charge made to play a round of golf without the chemical symbol for iron.
12a Making crispy mutton? Down the hatch with it! (9,3)
BATTERING RAM: Covering mutton in a crispy coating might define something used to break down an entrance or hatch.
14a Lack of soil east of Land’s End (6)
DEARTH: A five letter word for soil after (east of) the final letter (end) of Land.
16a Aussie native in action – caught out behind wicket (6)
WOMBAT: A six-letter word for military action without (out) the abbreviation for caught after (behind) the abbreviation for wicket.
19a Suing eco firm – messed up order badly (12)
MISCONFIGURE: An anagram (messed up) of SUING ECO FIRM.
22a Japan’s small growth in those starting blogs on “nonsensical” starsigns – Gemini, for example (6)
BONSAI: The initial letters (those starting) of the seventh to tenth words of the clue followed by the abbreviation for the type of computer system / program of which Gemini is an example.
23a Adam’s rib formed women on tap? (8)
BARMAIDS: An anagram (formed) of ADAMS RIB.
24a Spouse’s first menage a trois – I left for squeeze, fatally (8)
STRANGLE: The initial letter (first) of spouse followed by an eight-letter word for a menage a trois without (left) the letter I.
25a Goalless draw’s first after rushed Salah’s return (6)
RANDOM: The initial letter (first) of draw after a three-letter word meaning rushed followed by a reversal (return) of the first name of the athlete Salah. Try to avoid repeating wordplay indicators. First was used in the previous clue.
Down
1d Spooner’s opiate escapade in cheap pad (4,5)
COPY PAPER: A Spoonerism of POPPY (opiate) CAPER (escapade).
2d Such amusement from The Gruffalo somehow? Leave off! (8)
LAUGHTER: An anagram (somehow) of THE GRUFFALO after removing (leave) the letters in OFF. Best practice is to provide a secondary anagram indicator when the letters to be removed are not in the order given in the clue. Left and leave as wordplay deletion indicators from the same root word and so count as repetition.
3d Romantic exploits? Possible leads – refresh Match again… (6)
REPAIR: The initial letters (lead) of the first three word of the clue followed by a three-letter word meaning refresh.
4d Exercises like a nut on vacation? Poor man! (7)
PEASANT: The abbreviation for physical exercise followed by a two-letter word meaning like, the A from the clue and the outer letters (on vacation) of NUT.
5d Box plot, perhaps (8)
HEDGEROW: Cryptic definition of what may box in a plot of land.
6d Revised a term’s course (6)
STREAM: An anagram (revised) of A TERMS.
7d Mal and Art beaten, leaving Deep Blue number one (5)
URINE: An anagram (beaten) of MAL ART removed from (leaving) an eleven-letter word for a deep blue colour. Another case of repeating wordplay indicators. Leave was used in 2d and the closely related left in 24a.
13d You can’t have beef with this? (6,3)
SACRED COW: Cryptic definition of the type of animal whose meat could not be eaten on religious grounds.
15d Police lead has picked up detective’s companion (8)
HASTINGS: The lead singer of the Police inside (picked up) the HAS from the clue.
17d Pain in my ears – I say! (8)
MIGRAINE: A homophone (I say) of MY GRAIN (ears of wheat).
18d Lard initially sinking in batter pudding (7)
COBBLER: A seven-letter word meaning batter or hit with the L (lard initially) moving down (sinking).
19d Victim is happy concealing accident (6)
MISHAP: The answer is hidden (concealing) in the first three words of the clue.
20d One summoned to court losing head in Further Education outcry (6)
FURORE: A person (one of twelve) who may be summoned to court without the initial letter (losing head) inside (in) the abbreviation for Further Education.
21d Vessel used in tarot ritual at regular intervals (5)
AORTA: The even letters (at regular intervals) in the fourth and fifth words of the clue.
Thanks Maitresse. I enjoyed this a lot (more than today’s back-pager to be honest).
Some of the clues push the envelope somewhat (and I can’t parse 17d although the answer is obvious from the checkers) but there are some great ideas on show.
I particularly liked 8a, 11a, 12a, 16a, 18d and 20d.
More like this please.
I’ve just worked out 17d.
Hello again, Maitresse. I enjoyed your first puzzle and I liked this one even more!
My personal preference would be to include the accents in “ménage à trois” in 24a, but many others probably won’t mind these omissions.
In 2d, I don’t think that amusement is synonymous with the answer, and you should also have a secondary anagram indicator to indicate that the letters “off” are to be removed from the anagram fodder in a different order.
The only way I can parse 5d requires “police lead” to mean “sting”, which doesn’t seem quite right to me. Perhaps “police operation” would have been better?
With lots to like, 11a was my favourite.
Very well done and thank you, Maitresse. Please keep them coming! Thanks too in advance to Prolixic.
Some of us with IT phobia wouldn’t even be able to sort out how to include accents!
If on a computer, it’s often easiest just to search the web for a word that includes the accented character you want, then copy and paste. For instance, start to type ‘Beyo’ into Google and it offers to complete as ‘Beyoncé’. Agree to that, and you’ve got a page with an é on it.
On a tablet or smartphone, pressing and holding a letter often pops up a palette of variations with different diacritics. So if you press and hold the e on the touchscreen keyboard, you then get a choice of é, ê, è, ë, ē, and the like.
On a PC with a numeric keypad at the side many accencts and other special characters can be obtained by holding down the ‘alt’ key while typing a number. For instance typing 130 while holding down ‘alt’ gives you ‘é’ and ‘alt’ + 171 gives you ‘½’. But this only works with a side keypad, not with the numbers across the top of the keyboard. Lists of codes can be found, for example at https://www.alt-codes.net/
Sorry for my typo. I meant 15d not 5d.
‘police lead’ – think Roxanne
Oh yes, of course. That’s very clever particularly with the nicely disguised capital P.
Thanks, Rags
Thanks for the puzzle Maitresse, I enjoyed it. Favourites for me were 10a, 13a and 16a, but I had ticks all over.
Thanks again, and in advance to Prolixic.
Welcome back, Maitresse.
I thought this was a much more polished puzzle than your last one, which is always good to see.
Very little to fault technically, but the use of a past tense (“picked up”) for the containment indicator in 15d did grate a little (I agree with RD’s points on that one too), and there was a repetition of “left”/”leaving” as deletion indicators. My favourite clue was 18d.
Well done on the improvement shown and many thanks, Maitresse.
Thanks for the puzzle Maitresse – we did need IT assistance to complete it and we look forward to the review tomorrow to explain one or two of the answers. (Where Gazza puts lots of ticks we put question marks!!) We look forward to your next one.
I needed to reveal several answers to fill the grid and await Prolixic’s words of wisdom to sort out some of the answers. Perhaps you’re just out of my league, Maitresse, but I enjoyed the battle.
Some really great clues here to make an enjoyable challenge, and quite a few wrong trees for barking up – for instance in 12ac I was convinced for ages that ‘down the hatch’ indicated some sort of rum before the penny dropped. Judging by this offering I don’t think it’ll be long before we see you in the NTSPP slot.
Surprisingly for me, no-one has yet mentioned 7d either positively or negatively. I still have no idea how this works.
Looking forward to the review from Prolixic to put me out of my misery.
Nevertheless, a very enjoyable puzzle from Maîtresse. (Not sure that a circumflex is necessary, but …)
7d Deep Blue is ultramarine
Thanks, Gazza!
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic, and for sorting out the couple of bits of parsing that had eluded me. Maitresse has certainly done well with this one but I expect she will soon be out of my league!
Thanks very much to Prolixic for the review and to everyone else for their comments – I’m really pleased to hear this puzzle went down well and showed signs of improvement from my first. Thanks for the pointers about repetition – I think that crept in as I made a few final tweaks. As that absent acute accent would say if it were here – onwards and upwards!