A Puzzle by Dabrite
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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 review by the director of the department for eternal optimism (looking for improvements in setters) follows though I think I may have to rename the department to the department of lost causes if there is no improvement in Dabrite’s crosswords. This week the commentometer remains at a dizzyingly high figure given the number of crosswords that have been reviewed. Dabrite really needs to read and take on board the comments not just in the main reviews that I provide but from the consistent feedback from the blog members that over nine crosswords have remained consistent in the areas where improvement is needed. The commentometer reads as 7.5/30 or 25%.
Across
9a Old South American welcoming First Lady screamed to be embraced (9)
INCLASPED: The name of an old South American includes (welcoming) the first letter of lady followed by a four-letter word meaning screamed or went quickly. First lady does not mean the first letter of lady.
10a Japanese geek’s sure to invest – thanks to university (5)
OTAKU: A two-letter word meaning sure includes (to invest) a two-letter word meaning thanks followed by the first letter of university.
11a Yank is one in debt (5)
HOICK: The letter represented by one in a four-letter word meaning debt.
12a Shepherd hut is open for facing a challenging predicament (2,3,4)
IN THE SOUP: An anagram (shepherd) of HUT IS OPEN.
13a Cry about toilet paper in field event (4,3)
SHOT PUT: A five-letter word meaning cry or yell around the initial letters of toilet paper. As TP is not an abbreviation recognised in the main dictionaries for toilet paper, you need an initial letter indicator.
14a Projectile weapon alien tampered with to seize victory in pursuit of justice (7)
JAVELIN: An anagram (tampered with) of ALIEN includes (to seize) the abbreviation for victory all after the abbreviation for justice.
17a Much for a dictator to appropriate (5)
ALLOT: A homophone (for a dictator) of a lot (much).
19a Hard-line Conservative dull and uninteresting (3)
DRY: Double definition.
20a See 27 (5)
21a Block movable panel used as a fence to overcome difficulty (7)
HURDLES: Collectively what each of a block, a moveable panel used as fence and to overcome difficulty mean.
22a &25. Q + M = 400m (7-4)
QUARTER MILE: The solution, if each word was abbreviated would give 400m. The solution is approximately 400m and this should be indicated.
24a Bambi given black eye by rodent with impressive leaping ability (4,5)
DEER MOUSE: The animal of which Bambi is an example followed by a five-letter word for a black eye. The construction wordplay by definition does not really work.
26a Latvian in a bad way after losing, cheers up forging tool (5)
ANVIL: Remove (after losing) a reversal (up) of a two-letter word meaning cheers from LATVIAN and make an anagram (in a bad way) of the remaining letters. Up does not really work as a reversal indicator in an across clue.
28a Navy destroyer first to leave rocky islands for ropey old port (5)
SISAL: Remove (to leave) the abbreviation for Navy and the first letter of destroyer from ISLANDS and make an anagram (rocky) of the remaining letters. As with 9a, destroyer first does not mean the first letter of destroyer. To compound the offence, it is also a repetition of a wordplay indicator that should be avoided.
29a Barking Tech lad working in sporting goods retail store (9)
DECATHLON: An anagram (barking) of TECH LAD followed by a two-letter word meaning working. Try to avoid having three anagram clues in a row. It makes the puzzle seem unbalanced.
Down
1d &8. Here a successful flop will leave you in trouble? (4,4)
HIGH JUMP: Double definition, by reference to the sports event, and the second what you might face if in trouble.
2d Australia rejected going after second Greek character not of sound mind (6)
SCHIZO: A reversal (rejected) of a two-letter word for Australia after the abbreviation for second and a three-letter word for a letter the Greek alphabet.
3d Pa said, “Talk about a book by one of the Marx brothers!” (3,7)
DAS KAPITAL: An anagram (about) of PA SAID TALK.
4d Small to medium burst of intense activity (6)
SPRINT: The abbreviation for small followed by a medium used by the press.
5d Theme from Beethoven’s 9th poem for author of Born Free? (3,2,3)
ODE TO JOY: Read one way this could be a lyric poem addressed to Ms Adamson by her first name (the author of Born Free).
6d &8. Donald Tusk perhaps given a start by this event (4,4)
POLE JUMP: The nationality of Donald Tusk followed by another word for start. The solution is wrong. It is not an event. The correct solution would be require vault.
7d China loves coverage of key city in Silicon Valley (4,4)
PALO ALTO: A three-letter word for a friend (china) followed by two letters O (loves) around (coverage) a key on a computer keyboard. I think for the cryptic grammar to work, it should be “loves covering”, though even then covering as a containment indicator does not really work in a down clue.
8d See 1, 6 (4)
13d Jimmy Riddle’s stroke (5)
SLASH: Double definition, the first being Cockney rhyming slang.
15d Rivals at US organisation for painting, sculpting, photography, &c (6,4)
VISUAL ARTS: An anagram (organization) of RIVALS AT US. Try to avoid using nouns such as organization as an anagram indicator.
16d Woman abandoning Sheridan written up as Rock Bottom (5)
NADIR: Remove (abandoning) a three-letter word for a woman from the Sheridan in the clue and reverse the remaining letters (written up). There is a repetition of up as a reversal indicator (see 26a).
18d Liberal bestowal of gifts with Conservative can be graceless (8)
LARGESSE: An anagram (liberal) of the solution with the abbreviation for Conservative could result in the word graceless. In other words, remove the C from graceless and make an anagram of the remaining letters to get the solution. I think that the liberal in the clue is doing double duty as an anagram indicator and part of the solution. This should be avoided.
19d Advise not to badmouth one of Britpop’s Big Four to the audience (8)
DISSUADE: A homophone (to the audience) of DISS (badmouth) SUEDE (one of the big four Britpop bands).
22d Satisfy crush (6)
QUENCH: Double definition.
23d Said to think much of dropping ecstasy in Commonwealth country (6)
TUVALU: A homophone (said) of TO followed by a five-letter word meaning to thing much of after removing (dropping) the abbreviation for ecstacy.
24d Small amount of Morse code? (4)
DASH: Cryptic definition.
25d &1 .You have to be this and bonkers to join the club? (4,4)
MILE HIGH: Cryptic definition of where you would be if enjoying some carnal activity in an aircraft.
27d &20. Cavalier sold wrong claymore (9) (4)
LONG SWORD: An anagram (cavalier of SOLD WRONG). There is no reference to the solution in the main UK dictionaries.
The good news, Dabrite, is that I actually managed to complete this themed puzzle with only one clue (28a) unparsed. However, as has been said before, many of your clues are sound but some are unnecessarily convoluted which detracts from a pleasurable solve. It’s obviously your choice, but I’m disappointed that you never interact with the people commenting on your puzzles in Rookie Corner.
My specific comments today are:
9a – First Lady doesn’t mean L. I also can’t find any reference to “screamed” being synonymous with “sped”.
10a – I’ve never heard of the answer but it was fairly clued.
12a – “Shepherd ” is a creative anagram indicator.
13a – TP does not appear in Chambers as an abbreviation for “toilet paper”.
21a – I don’t think I’ve ever come across the device of having multiple single definitions being used to give a plural answer. It seems to me to be OK, but I’ll be interested to learn Prolixic’s take on this.
22/25 – The answer is not precisely the same as 400m.
24a – I’ve never heard of the black eye before, but the answer is reasonably obvious.
28a – Although the definition “old port” leads to the answer, I can’t fathom the wordplay.
18d – I’m not convinced that “can be” is a valid anagram indicator.
27/20 – The two word answer is not a valid phrase and the enumeration is a typo.
Assuming you submit another Rookie Corner puzzle, Dabrite, I will try one last time to tackle it in the hope that you can take on board the concerns and build on your undoubted ability to formulate good cryptic clues.
Thanks in advance to Prolixic.
28a is a subtractive anagram.
So it is! Many thanks, Gazza.
That means “ropey” is surplus to requirements. Presumably the setter was trying to help, but this extra word actually makes it harder to parse.
The typo in 27d is on me. Dabrite submits his puzzles as multiple files that require considerable manual assembly to create the electronic format we use on the site. He had the 27/20 answer enumerated as a single 9-letter word split across two grid entries. I missed the (4) that appeared when implementing the linked clues.
Thanks for the interesting puzzle, Dabrite. I agree with RD that some of the clues are too convoluted and I suspect that getting all the themed answers into the grid forced you into using some obscure words (e.g. the Japanese geek and the old port).
I did enjoy solving the puzzle and my favourite clue (because it made me laugh) was 25/1d.
Had it not been for the helpful theme, I think this Dabrite crossword would have been as tricky as previous crosswords by this setter
I did like 5d and 25d/1d, the latter making me, as well as Gazza, laugh
Thanks Dabrite, please keep trying to be friendlier, and in advance to Prolixic
Thanks for the challenge Dabrite but I had to retire hurt, late on my Sunday evening, with eight in the W incomplete. For some reason, Mr K had set the publishing time for 2:00am (9:00pm on Sunday evening my time) rather than the usual Midnight.
Smiles for 12a (especially the anagram indicator), 5d, and 24d.
Thanks again and thanks in advance to Prolixic.
By my reckoning this is Dabrite’s ninth Rookie Corner submission, with none of the previous eight having had a Commentometer score below 10%. In fact five puzzles have had a score of over 20%. I remember saying three years ago that the obscurities, over-reliance on anagrams and somewhat wordy surfaces didn’t help the setter and those aspects were present yet again today. As RD rightly says, it is disappointing that Dabrite chooses not to engage with commenters let alone thank Prolixic for his reviews, so I’m left wondering whether the setter actually wishes to improve significantly or even bothers to take on board the flaws in his/her puzzles as they seem to be repeated with great regularity. After nine puzzles, a Rookie setter should not still be using “First Lady” to clue “L”, or including “wordplay by definition” constructions like 24a, for example.
The frustrating thing for me is that there are plenty of good ideas in evidence but, more often than not, they are let down by a wrong choice of clue construction and/or poor execution. The theme made solving this puzzle rather less difficult than several of Dabrite’s previous ones, which was the only saving grace.
I’ll follow the sentiments expressed in RD’s final paragraph too. Thanks, Dabrite.
Like Senf we retired hurt and looked up the answers to the clues we couldn’t solve. We look forward to Prolixic’s explanations tomorrow. Thank you in advance for those.