A Puzzle by Wilman
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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.
I know Wilman was apologetic about this crossword, but there is very little, if anything to apologise about.Ā There are some very good clues and a clever Nina with the chemical symbols for the opening elements of the periodic table around the perimeter.Ā The commentometer is a respectable 2 / 30 or 6.7%.
Across
8aĀ Race in dodgy cars where mum is second (2,4)
LE MANS: A six-letter word for a dodgy car with the two-letters meaning second replaced by a two-letter word meaning mum.Ā I think that the instructions in the clue are the wrong way around.
9aĀ A young at heart Roman God’s ally returning to replace the narrative (5,3)
AUDIO DUB: The A from the clue followed by the middle letter (at heart) of young, the Italian word (Roman) for God and a reversal (returning) of a three-letter for an ally.
10aĀ Carbon dated monster’s home, making distanceĀ (8)
COLDNESS: The chemical symbol for carbon followed by a three-letter word meaning dated and the place where a Scottish monster has its home.
11aĀ Reported working close together (2,4)
EN BLOC: A homophone (reported) of ON (working) BLOCK (close).
12aĀ Frenchman who penned animals as Nantes is crumbling (5-5)
SAINT-SAENS: An anagram (crumbling) of AS NANTES IS.
16aĀ Check on insurance in recession (4)
REIN: A two-letter word meaning on followed by a reversal (in recession) of the abbreviation for National Insurance.
17aĀ Lots of elements make up this edible apricot salad (8,5)
PERIODIC TABLE: An anagram (salad) of EDIBLE APRICOT.
20aĀ Pair of aces making a boat? (4)
PROA: A three-letter word for an ace or expert followed by the abbreviation for ace.
22aĀ Chairman admits to revolting in Brazilian state (4,6)
MATO GROSSO: The name of the Chinese chairman around (admits) the TO from the clue and a five-letter word meaning revolting.
24aĀ Keys allow entering space station (6)
ISLETS: A three-letter word meaning allow inside (entering) the abbreviation for the Internation Space Station.Ā The ISS is a space station, so I think that the wordplay is OK in the same way that broadcaster could be used to indicate BBC.
26aĀ Prevent staff being absent (5,3)
STAVE OFF: What you might say if the musical staff was removed from the score.
28aĀ Regenerate vital sea water (8)
SALIVATE: An anagram (regenerate) of VITAL SEA.
29aĀ Where Head of Security interrupts one causing death in a cell? (6)
PRISON: The first letter (head) of security in (interrupt) a five-letter word for a protein implicated in the death of cells.
Down
1dĀ Lead that woman to love (4)
HERO: A three-letter word for that woman followed by the letter representing love.
2dĀ Setter runs after prey around burrow (8)
HARDENER: The abbreviation for runs after a four-letter word for a prey animal around a three-letter word for a burrow.
3dĀ Hidden in Worcestershire’s compounds (6)
ESTERS: The answer is hidden in the third word of the clue.
4dĀ Dogs’ scientific facilities (4)
LABS: Double definition.
5dĀ Lied about being unemployed (4)
IDLE: An anagram (about) of LIED.Ā Anagrams of just four letters are not much of a challenge for the solver.
6dĀ Honour among thieves briefly lifted up in plane (6)
BOMBER: The abbreviation for one of the honours bestowed by the monarch in (among) a reversal (lifted up) of a four-letter word meaning thieves or steals without the last letter (briefly).
7dĀ Those who praise use glories liberally (10)
EULOGISERS: An anagram (liberally) of USE GLORIES.
13dĀ Areas lupus affected normally (2,3,5)
AS PER USUAL: An anagram (affected) of AREAS LUPUS.
14dĀ Exposed bigots live (5)
EXIST: A seven-letter word for some bigots without the first and last letters.
15dĀ Oddly sweaty kit (3)
SET: The odd letters in sweaty.
18dĀ PIN entered one position back into electrical unit (3)
OHM: The letters preceding each of the letters (one position back) in PIN.
19dĀ Made comfortable writer with no money? (6-2)
BROKEN-IN: A five-letter word meaning having no money followed by the surname of the author whose first name is AnaĆÆs.
21dĀ Am I initially afraid to embrace the Spanish girl? (6)
AMELIA: The AM I from the clue and the first letter (initially) of afraid around (to embrace) the Spanish word for the.
23dĀ Grandpa ain’t got no date, but doubly quiet with brandy (6)
GRAPPA: Remove (aināt got) the abbreviation for no date from grandpa and double the abbreviation for quiet in that word.
25dĀ Estrange prime characters of just men (4)
STAG: The second, third, fifth and seventh (prime characters) in the first word of the clue. Ā Try to avoid using wordplay of definition.
26dĀ Root, and what’s above it (4)
STEM: Double definition.
27dĀ Ice drift changes direction at last (4)
FLOE: Ā A four-letter word meaning drift with the final letter changed to another point of compass (changes direction at last).
Advance apologies for what is a more unpolished puzzle that I chucked in to avoid another empty week (though Burrows filled that void anyway). The grid isnāt great, 9a is in OED, but not Chambers or Collins, and a couple of others are in Collins, but not Chambers. Iād imagine the clues are a little more rough-around-the-edges and there might be some repetition of indicators.
Comments are always very appreciated, though, and Iām grateful to everyone who takes the time to give it a go!
We did get a completed grid and enjoyed the process. Along the way we found several places where the cryptic grammar did not seem to work but will leave those for others to point out. Lots of ticks on our sheets but we’ll go with 11a as favourite.
Thanks Wilman.
Somewhat more challenging than your previous puzzles. Thank you for your ‘admission’ above. I did have to do some letter reveals and checking as I went along to get across the finishing line. There are some parsings that elude me so I will await the wisdom of Prolixic.
Smiles for 11a, 17a, 24a, and 4d.
Thanks for the challenge and thanks in advance to Prolixic.
Hello again,Wilman. When I saw that you had set this puzzle and given how much I had enjoyed your previous submission, I was very much looking forward to the solve. Sadly, I ended up disappointed for the reasons you have explained in your opening comment. Although I understand your well-intentioned wish to prevent an empty week in Rookie Corner, I would far rather have waited for a fully refined submission in order to track your hopefully continuous improvement on the way to promotion to the NTSPP slot.
Despite a few warts, it was good to see that there was a lot of good stuff on show too.
Although I feel sure I’ve entered the right solutions, I can’t fully parse four answers. I also have a few random comments:
9a – this seems to require “Dio” to be a Roman God but I can’t find any justification for this.
24a – I can’t find any reference to SS as an abbreviation for “space station” (or even S for both “space” and “station”).
28a – for me, the answer is a bit of a stretch using the definition “water”.
18d – it’s very inventive but I’m not sure that it quite works.
Thank you for your good intentions, Wilman. I look forward to your next submission.
Thanks RD (and 2Kiwis and Senf). Apologies if it wasnāt up to scratch, but thank you for sharing your thoughts.
For 9a Dio is the Italian word for God, maybe a GK stretch?
24a refers to the ISS, International Space Station, although perhaps I shouldāve had the word international in the clue.
The 4th verbal definition of water in Chambers gives 28a, and in my eyes Chambers can never do wrong!
I concur 18d might have been trying to be cleverer than it is.
Thanks to all so far whoāve left comments!
Thanks very much for your prompt response, Wilman.
9a – I was fixated on “Roman” referring to the ancient gods and in Latin “deus” means “god”. I didn’t consider your nicely disguised use of Roman to refer to modern day Italian.
24a – it’s a golden rule that you can’t split abbreviations, so, for example, although RN = Royal Navy, R can’t be used for Royal. (N for Navy is however OK in its own right).
28a – I’m a great fan of Chambers, but I still think this is a bit of a stretch. Can you suggest a sentence which makes sense with a direct substitution of “water” and “salivate”? For me, it’s close but no cigar!
28a. To me the synonym is pretty straightforward: The aroma from the kitchen immediately caused my my mouth water/salivate.
28a. To me the synonym is pretty straightforward: The aroma from the kitchen immediately caused my mouth to water/salivate.
*Re-posted without typos!
That works for me (without the typos!). Thanks, Jose. I wonder how I couldn’t see that? š¤
Probably the same reason I can’t post a simple comment without typos even though I thought I checked it properly – we’re getting old!
Thanks for stepping up to the plate with another Rookie puzzle, Wilman.
In spite of your opening comment I didn’t think there was too much wrong with this and it has some very good clues.
I particularly liked 10a, 22a, 1d, 6d and 19d.
Many thanks, Wilman – keep up the good work.
What Gazza said @ 5
Thank you for your puzzle, Wilman. We started well but needed a few reveals to complete the crossword. Favourites are 17a, 10a and 28a. We look forward to your next one and to Prolixicās review tomorrow.
Thank you all for commenting so far! I always enjoy both the kind and constructive comments.
Apologies again for the grid, this is due to the Nina (see 17a and the perimeter), and I wasnāt going to submit because of some of the dodgy words, but given the circumstances I thought I would. The clues too were written a short while ago so are not quite as smooth as Iād like them.
Thank you all once again for taking the time to share your thoughts, and Iāll await Prolixās verdict with anticipation.
Good morning, Wilman. I owe you an apology for believing you.
Your original comment, which I read before solving the puzzle, reminds me of Mrs RD who, having cooked a beautiful meal, tells guests what is wrong with it before they start eating!
As someone with a degree in chemistry, I am kicking myself for not spotting the Nina (even with the helpful pointer of 17a), which is all the more impressive as the elements appear in order.
Not only did I miss the Italian god and fail to understand the synonym for water, but I also had a blind spot about the ISS!
This was clearly a fine puzzle. Very well done!
Thank you once again for all your kind comments, and especially so to Prolixic (spelt correctly this time I hope). Iām glad the puzzle was a good level and with few errors – I was just worried as Iād not looked at the clues properly for a while.
I never know which way round a substitution should go LEMONS where MA is MO feels right to me, but also a bit wrong at the same time. I think the word āisā should be ābecomingā or similar.
I hoped the adjectival stag would mean āof just menā meaning thereās no link word in 25d but that may not be the case.
Thank you to Prolixic for the thorough dissection and to all other commenters! I do hope to be back.