A Puzzle by Osmanthus
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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 tour de force from Osmanthus that cuts short their days in the Rookie Corner. Apart from one minor comment on 15d, this was perfectly executed. The commentometer reads as 0.5/28 or 1.8%.
Across
1a Archduke and last of Romanovs met to break bread in Berlin once (8,4)
DEUTSCHE MARK: An anagram (to break) of ARCHDUKE S (last of Romanovs) MET.
8a Modern, occasionally bleak work of fiction (7)
NOVELLA: A five-letter word meaning modern followed by the even letters (occasionally) of bleak.
9a Mostly vulgar nonsense I put forward expecting a rise (7)
BULLISH: An eight-letter vulgar word for nonsense with the final letter removed (mostly) and the letter I moved forward).
11a Draw out picked up criminal (7)
ILLICIT: A homophone (picked up) of elicit (draw out).
12a Attempt to deceive with salesman’s patter? (3,2,2)
TRY IT ON: Double definition.
13a It seems that bins aren’t in use (5)
APPLY: Remove (bins) the ARENT from a ten-letter word meaning it seems that.
14a Wonka’s back opening confectioner’s plant (5,4)
ROWAN TREE: The final letter (back) of Wonka inside (opening) the name of a noted confectioner who founded a confectionary company.
16a Ingredient of aphrodisiac cola deserves awards (9)
ACCOLADES: The answer is hidden (ingredient of) in the third to fifth words of the clue.
19a Wise guys drop case of explosives (5)
SAGES: A three-letter word meaning drop followed by the outer letters (case) of explosives.
21a Gag strikes student as funny (7)
STRANGE: An eight-letter word meaning gag without (strikes) the abbreviation for learner (student).
23a Cup for acrobat (7)
TUMBLER: Double definition.
24a Criticised how the turkey was done? (7)
ROASTED: Double definition.
25a Tabloid lying about Casablanca proprietor’s club finally accepting women (7)
GARRICK: A reversal (lying about) of a three-letter word for a tabloid paper followed by the four-letter name of the owner of the bar in the film Casablanca.
26a Terribly bland pig and duck sausage (5,7)
BLACK PUDDING: An anagram (terribly) of BLAND PIG DUCK.
Down
1d Mature daughter quietly accepts incomplete qualification being held back (7)
DEVELOP: The abbreviations for daughter and quietly include (accepts) a reversal (being held back) of a phrase (1-6) of the predecessor to GCSEs (qualification) with the final letter removed (incomplete).
2d Leaders in US not yet taking chance to get tough? (7)
UNLUCKY: The initial letters (leaders) of US not yet include a four-letter word for chance.
3d Tired of the darts, sweetheart? Awfully! (9)
SHATTERED: An anagram (awfully) of THE DARTS E (the middle letter heart of sweet).
4d Sailor in hospital having thing for sister’s outfit (5)
HABIT: The abbreviation for able seaman (sailor) inside (in) the abbreviation for hospital and a two-letter word for thing.
5d Colonial city guarded by native of Mesoamerica (7)
MALAYAN: The abbreviation for Los Angeles (city) inside (guarded by) a five-letter word for a native of Mesoamerica.
6d Have fun with French king’s bird chasing tail (7)
ROISTER: A four-letter (3’1) word meaning French king’s followed by a four-letter word name of a seabird with the final letter (tail) removed (chasing).
7d This might prevent mascara stain somehow (12)
ANTIMACASSAR: An anagram (somehow) of MASCARA STAIN.
10d Protest desperately urges rethink (6,6)
HUNGER STRIKE: An anagram (desperately) of URGES RETHINK.
15d Really want American takeaway food when cycling with wife (4,2,3)
WISH TO GOD: Cycle the words in TO GO DISH (American takeaway food) after the abbreviation for wife. Perhaps some indication that the abbreviation for wife come first would be better.
17d Shorten veil length for knight (7)
CURTAIL: A seven-letter word for a veil with the final L (length) replace by the abbreviation for knight.
18d Nutter could be in a cult (7)
LUNATIC: An anagram (could be) of IN A CULT.
19d Foreign fighters extracted from Haiti? A rum assignation in retrospect (7)
SAMURAI: The answer is hidden (extracted from) and reversed (in retrospect) in the fifth to eighth words of the clue.
20d Irksome girl, Heather (7)
GALLING: A three-letter word for a girl followed by a four-letter word for heather.
22d Finish menu’s centrepiece before party (3,2)
END UP: The middle letter (centrepiece) of menu followed by the abbreviation for a political party in Northern Ireland.
We thought that this was a very good puzzle indeed. Quality clues throughout with a good level of difficulty and a real pleasure to solve. 9a 14a and 25a on our medal podium with the gold going to 25a.
Thanks and well done Osmanthus.
Just been doing some fine parsing and decided that if the ” in” was changed to “for ” in 13a we’d have a flawless puzzle.
(But then again we might have missed something.)
2Ks, 13a seems fine to me (in fact one of my top picks). The wordplay is brilliant, the surface is superb, and the cryptic grammar is wordplay in definition.
I bet we weren’t the only ones who, when we first looked at 15d thought, “Oh dear. An indirect anagram!”
Welcome back to Rookie Corner, Osmanthus, with a very impressive puzzle. I really enjoyed the solve, which was challenging in parts but great fun from start to finish. There were also lovely smooth surfaces throughout, which was the icing on the cake.
I expect I am missing something, but I can’t quite unravel the parsing for 15d. All the elements are there: “TO GO”, “DISH” and “W” but I can’t unearth the instruction in the clue to get them in the right order. TOGODISH cycling leads to ISHTOGOD but how does the W end up in first place? Could you simply add “first” to the end of the clue?
I had a lot of ticks on my page with 1a, 13a, 21a, 25a, 17d, 20d & 22d earning double ticks.
Many thanks, Osmanthus, and very well done. I anticipate a low commentometer score. More like this please!
P.S. I’ve just noticed that I double-ticked 2d too.
I think 15a would be better with “after” or “following” replacing “with” or by changing the clue to read ” Really want wife to get American takeaway food when cycling”.
A really good entertaining puzzle with smooth surfaces throughout – many thanks to Osmanthus.
I’m impressed that the anagram clues (which so often jar) all seemed very natural.
I particularly liked 1a, 9a (worthy of the Private Eye crossword), 13a, 2d and 7d.
More like this would be extremely welcome.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!
Welcome back, Osmanthus. Your debut puzzle last September was very good indeed, but this one surpasses it. In my opinion it is as good a crossword as I have seen in Rookie Corner for a long, long time.
As RD says, the excellence of the surface readings certainly is the icing on the cake, but the wordplay is highly impressive too with precise and faultless cryptic grammar. I have given double ticks to two clues, 13a and 4d, the former being possibly the best clue I’ve seen anywhere for quite a while. Single ticks were also awarded to 1a, 12a, 14a, 25a, 1d, 2d, 10d and 22d.. My only slight reservation concerns the definition for 9a, at the very least I think it deserves a question mark at the end.
Fantastic stuff, Osmanthus, many congratulations and very well done. You won’t be in Rookie Corner much longer, I suspect.
Hard to follow Silvanus! Suffice it to say we really enjoyed your puzzle, Osmanthus. Many thanks. Favourite was 10d. We look forward to your next one.
I always have a quick glance at the comments before deciding whether to tackle the submission & having seen them couldn’t not have a bash. Well deserved praise for an extremely accomplished & very enjoyable puzzle. Ticks aplenty – 1,9&13a plus 1,2,7,10&18d particular likes. Hard to pick out a fav but I loved 9a.
Many thanks & well done Osmanthus.
Well … I’m a bit lost for words! Thank you all for doing the puzzle and leaving such encouraging comments. And of course special thanks to Prolixic for the analysis. Despite the reading on the commentometer, there were one or two things I wasn’t completely convinced of myself, so it was nice to have those validated.
15d: ‘with wife’ was a compromise. I originally had something like ‘south of Wyoming’s capital’ but changed it because I thought the clue might end up overly long and I didn’t want to use another first letter indicator. I guess clues like this one where letters are cycled are confusing enough without the solver also having to work out where any extra letters might go. Noted.
Anyway, thanks all again, and hopefully see you soon!
My friend, Huntsman, advised me to have a go at this and I am so glad that I did.
It was very, very good.
I only have eight clues without ticks and whilst I understand that this is only your second puzzle in Rookie Corner, there must surely be other puzzles of yours lurking elsewhere?
More of the same please, but I suspect that your days in Rookie Corner are numbered.
Thanks Shabbo. I’m flattered, but no … the 2 Rookie Corners are all there is so far.