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.
This was a much more impressive outing from Rahmat Ali with only a few minor points to note in the cluing. Keep up the progress. The commentometer reads as 2.5 / 27 or 9.3%.
Across
1a 80% of their candles fixed for ornamental lighting fixtures (11)
CHANDELIERS: An anagram (fixed) of HEIR (80% or four-fifths of their) CANDLES.
7a Language originally speakers with African heritage instinctively learning it (7)
SWAHILI: The initial letters (originally) of the final seven words of the clue.
8a Away from light and misguided? (3-4)
OFF-BEAM: A three-letter word meaning away from followed by a four-letter word for light.
10a &18. Refrain featuring crown descendant? (8)
ROCKABYE BABY: Cryptic definition of a nursery rhyme featuring a cradle that falls from a tree when the bough breaks. I am not convinced that this works as a cryptic definition as it was the bough the broke, not the top of the tree or its crown.
11a Way things stand now at ISIS revolting (2,2,2)
AS IT IS: An anagram (revolting) of AT ISIS.
13a Excellent railway, well-ventilated (4)
AIRY: A two-letter word meaning excellent followed by the abbreviation for railway.
14a Cross-trains to skip one metre (10)
TRANSVERSE: The TRAINS from the clue without (to skip) the letter meaning one followed by a five letter-word for lines that have a metre. Avoid linking the definition to part of the wordplay with a hyphen.
16a Give up on how to describe 24 hours? (4,2,1,3)
CALL IT A DAY: Double definition.
18a See 10a
21a Preserve record before impasse (3-3)
LOG-JAM: A three-letter word meaning preserve with a three-letter word for a record before it.
22a Two-pronged offer to hospital department has the French backing (8)
BIDENTAL: A three-letter word for a bid followed by a three-letter abbreviation for a hospital department and a reversal (backing) of the French feminine singular form of the.
24a Behave wearing hat of a sensitive kind! (7)
TACTILE: A three-letter word meaning behave inside (wearing) a four-letter word for a hat.
25a English friend welcoming question with even distribution (7)
EQUALLY: The abbreviation for English and four-letter word for a friend include (welcoming) a two-letter abbreviation for question.
26a Auntie longs to order Norway lobster (11)
LANGOUSTINE: An anagram (to order) of AUNTIE LONGS.
Down
1d Author has tea with Romeo going around urban church (7)
CHAUCER: A three-letter word for tea and the letter represented by Romeo in the NATO phonetic alphabet include (going around) the abbreviations for urban and church. I cannot find any authority in the main dictionaries for U being an abbreviation for urban.
2d Beast in Turkmenistan I maltreated (6)
ANIMAL: The answer is hidden (in) by the final three words of the clue.
3d Sustenance of char, supported by money (5,5)
DAILY BREAD: A five-letter word for a cleaner or char above (supported by) a five-letter slang word for money.
4d Also-ran in eastern country (4)
LAOS: An anagram (ran) of ALSO. Ran in the past tense does not work very well as an anagram indicator. Also, anagrams of four-letter words are not really much of a challenge for the solver.
5d Very loud American setter embraced by first woman is overenthusiastic (8)
EFFUSIVE: The musical abbreviation for very loud, a two-letter abbreviation for American and the single letter representing the setter all inside (embraced by) the name of the first woman in the bible.
6d More sugary pudding given to former monarch (7)
SWEETER: A five-letter word for a pudding followed by the regnal cipher of the former queen of England.
7d Stellar icon surprising Knight of the Round Table (3,8)
SIR LANCELOT: An anagram (surprising) of STELLAR ICON. Given the position of the anagram indicator, surprisingly would work better than surprising.
9d Shiftless, drifting girl to perform in medieval drama on Christ? (7,4)
MYSTERY PLAY: A seven-letter slang word for a shiftless drifting girl followed by a four-letter word meaning to perform.
12d Apprehension and nuance intermittently as I approach headland (10)
UNEASINESS: The even letters (intermittently) of nuance followed by the AS I from the clue and a four-letter word for a headland.
15d Obsessive idea about emotional arrest of personality (8)
FIXATION: Double definition.
17d Soldier visiting public-house? That’s reasonable! (7)
LOGICAL: The two-letter abbreviation for an American soldier inside (visiting) a five-letter word for a public house.
19d Plant one in ablest fashion (7)
ASTILBE: The letter representing one inside an anagram (fashion) of ABLEST.
20d Oddly ignored, my new hound bit Menuhin (6)
YEHUDI: The even letters (oddly ignored) of the third to sixth words of the clue.
23d Prize Rolex conceals nothing (4)
ZERO: The answer is hidden (conceals) in the first two words of the clue.
Yet another delightful pangram from this setter. We pick 1d and 8a as our favourites.
Thanks Rhamat Ali.
Thank you so much once again, 2Kiwis, for enjoying solving my puzzle.
Thank you, Rahmat, for entertaining me through the night when sleep eluded me! Most enjoyable. I liked 1d too.
Thank you so much once again, jan, for finding my puzzle entertaining and enjoyable.
We enjoyed it also, Rahmat, many thanks. Several favourites but we’ll go for 1d and 16a. We look forward to seeing your next one soon.
Thank you so much once again, Hilton, for enjoying solving my puzzle. Looking forward to sending one soon to RC.
An enjoyable puzzle with mostly fine clues, but there’s a couple I can’t parse fully even though I’ve solved them. Just a couple of minor things to mention. 1a: I may be missing something but I can’t get 11/12 or (using “of”) 11/14 to equate to 80%. I’ll keep musing about that one. 20d: I think the definition is too obvious/apparent (especially for my generation). I’d have gone for violinist or old violinist to make it a bit more challenging. Favourite: 5d.
Jose, for 1a, it’s 80% of “their”.
Of course it is – thank you. Never got round to musing about it – been in my shed ever since, refurbishing/repainting the old weathervane that my dad made in the 1980s. Where’s all the regular commentors on here today?
Thank you so much once again, Jose, for finding my puzzle enjoyable.
I found this pangram most entertaining, Rahmat Ali.
I have many ticks on my printout, including: 1d, 3d, 4d, 5d, 15d and 20d; 10/18a, 14a and 16a. Of these, 1d and 10/18a are top of my podium.
Incidentally, as well as being a superb violinst, 20d was also very much into yoga (shades of DG!).
Many thanks for your most enjoyable pangram, Rahmat Ali.
I’m looking forward very much to Prolixic’s analysis of this puzzle. It is always most interesting to read his assessment.
Thank you so much once again, Catnap, for finding my pangram puzzle most entertaining and most enjoyable.
Exceptional work by Rahmat. The way each clue is crafted shows deep thought and creativity. Solving this puzzle was not just fun but also a great mental workout. Truly admire the consistency and innovation in every crossword. Eagerly waiting for the next one. Thank you
Thank you so much once again, Arka, for finding my puzzle an exceptional work as also for your other very kind comments.
A rare foray into the Corner for me. Nicely clued & a perfect quick pre lights out solve before I 16a. The plant (either unfamiliar or forgotten) last in & a bit of a ponder but fortunately there were few options left from the checkers & fodder. 22a needed post solve confirmation too.
Thanks Rahmat – pleased to see it’s got the 👍
Thank you so much once again, Huntsman, for finding my puzzle nicely clued as also for other kind comments.
Many appreciative thanks for your excellent review Prolixic. I’ve much enjoyed reading through it.
Re 10/18: I am interested to see that you are ‘not convinced that ‘Rockabye Baby’ ‘works as a cryptic definition as it was the bough the broke, not the top of the tree or its crown’.
This was one of my favourite clues! I think I may have read too much into it…
I understood the clue to be a reference to the whole of the nursery rhyme and its believed allusion to James II and his succession, i.e. the ‘crown descendant’.
To make the clue work as a cryptic definition, how should it be worded?
Thank you, Rahmat, it was a truly impressive puzzle. 20d was my most favourite clue. Looking forward to solving your next puzzle.
Thank you so much, Aftab Alam, for finding my puzzle truly impressive. Looking forward to sending one soon to RC.
My sincere thanks to Prolixic for his excellent review which is always a great learning for me. This time, ‘Avoid linking the definition to part of the wordplay with a hyphen’ has obviously come to me as a new lesson. However, I would like to add that although U singly is not an abbreviation for urban in the main dictionaries, I had used it on the basis of UDC standing for Urban District Council, on the lines of O being often used as an abbreviation for old as OT in Old Testament and both of these are in BRB.
Where a letter is used in a longer abbreviation, you cannot use this in the way that you did. Old is given as a separate abbreviation so can be used, not simply because it appears in OT (Old Testament). If you take the abbreviation RAF, you can use R for Royal as this is listed as a separate abbreviation in Collins and F can also be used as this is listed separately. However, you cannot use Air to indicate the letter A. In your example of UDC, U is not listed as an abbreviation for Urban so you cannot use this.