A Puzzle by Buddy
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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 Prolixic follows:
What a delightful crossword from Buddy. There were a few clues where editors would differ on the acceptability of the wordplay but (as usual when reviewing) I note these but don’t mark the setter down for using constructions where practice differs. The commentometer reads as 2/31 or 6.5%.
Across
1a Naval operation’s beginning around legendary island (6)
AVALON: An anagram (around) of NAVAL O (operation’s beginning).
4a Uneven progress, reportedly (6)
COARSE: A homophone (reportedly) of course (progress).
8a Minor celebrity is a pest (7)
BLISTER: Split the solution 1-6, and you have a description of a minor celebrity.
9a File captured during revolution in Zaire is so damaging (7)
DOSSIER: The answer is hidden (captured) and reversed (during revolution) in the final four words of the clue.
11a Bones openly scorns Starfleet Academy leaders (4)
OSSA: The initial letters (leaders) of the middle four words of the clue. Leaders on its own does not always indicate the initial letters. Picking up on previous discussions, Starfleet leader or Academy leader would be accepted as it means leader of Starfleet or leader of an academy. The same does not work with openly leader or scorns leader as it does not mean leader of the openly or leader of scorns. Nevertheless, some editors will allow this type of construction.
12a Ratify Democratic reform (5)
AMEND: A four-letter word meaning ratify followed by the abbreviation for Democratic.
13a European capital suggests two-state solution (4)
RIGA: The state abbreviations for Rhode Island and Georgia.
14a Tedium of Rouen nuit? (5)
ENNUI: The answer is hidden (of) in the final two words of the clue.
15a Getting hot right away from running (8)
STEAMING: Remove (away) the abbreviation for right from a nine-letter word meaning running.
17a Career women leaving West Point, exhilarated (4,2,2)
STEP ON IT: Remove (leaving) the abbreviation for women from WEST POINT and make an anagram (exhilarated) from the remaining letters.
19a Brush off first sign of collapsing peso (5)
COPSE: An anagram (off) of C (first sign of collapsing) PESO. As an anagram indicator, off works better after the letters to be rearranged.
21a Reserve bishop, advance two knights (4)
BANK: The abbreviations for bishop, advance and two abbreviation for knight.
22a Get irate when a clue like this has no answer (5)
CROSS: Remove (has no) the abbreviation for answer from a description of the direction of this clue.
23a Costly for German empire to lose Eastern Front (4)
RICH: A five-letter description of the German empire without (to lose) the first letter (front) of eastern. I don’t really like front on its own to indicate the first letter of a word as X front does not mean the front of X. However, some editors will accept this. The construction definition for wordplay does not work.
25a Perhaps read excerpt from Letters to Machiavelli (7)
STOMACH: The answer is hidden in (excerpt from) the final three words of the clue.
26a It may be John Lennon tune – Amsterdam, perhaps? (7)
AIRPORT: A three-letter word for a tune and a four-letter word description of a maritime city such as Amsterdam.
27a Refusal of joint call from the Rev. Spooner (6)
DENIAL: A Spoonerism of KNEE (joint) DIAL (call).
28a At the table, full, eating second portion of dessert (6)
SEATED: A five-letter word meaning fulling includes (eating) the second letter of dessert.
Down
1d Book of maps for a northbound sailor (5)
ATLAS: The A from the clue followed by a reversal (northbound) of a four-letter word for a sailor. The construction definition for wordplay does not work.
2d Give up absinth? Hard to quit for a drunk (7)
ABSTAIN: An anagram (drunk) of ABSINTH with the H replaced by an A (hard to quit for a).
3d Mission: Start to overthrow a country after navy withdraws (9)
OPERATION: The first letter (start) to overthrow followed by a three-letter word meaning A and six-letter word meaning a country with the initial letter N (navy) removed (withdrawn).
5d Ancient poet claims prose, at heart, is elliptical (5)
OVOID: The four letter name of an ancient poet includes (claims) the middle letter (at heart) of prose.
6d Stump orator could be raving atop this? (7)
ROSTRUM: A compound anagram where an anagram (raving) of ATOP and the solution makes STUMP ORATOR.
7d Come together in space above church for Advent (9)
EMERGENCE: A five-letter meaning come together inside a two letter word for a printer’s space followed by a two-letter abbreviation for church.
10d Thrill in a Stones re-mix (9)
SENSATION: An anagram (re-mix) of IN A STONES. As noun, some editors will not allow re-mix as an anagram indicator. As a transitive verb it would need to come before the letters to be rearranged.
14d Selected region in River Dee (9)
EXTRACTED: A five-letter word for a region or area of land inside a three-letter name of a river all followed by the letter D.
16d Dissolute exes’ vices are over the top (9)
EXCESSIVE: An anagram (dissolute) of EXES VICES. The construction of the clue resolves to wordplay are definition which does not work grammatically.
18d Old soldier suffering kleptomania loses a lot, tragically (7)
PIKEMAN: An anagram (suffering) of KLEPTOMANIA after removing an anagram (tragically) of A LOT.
20d Protection for fighter has standard athletic fit (7)
PARAPET: A three-letter word for standard followed by the abbreviation for athletic and a three-letter word for a fit or strop.
22d Choice of an oddly light brown colour (5)
COCOA: The odd letters of the first three words of the clue.
24d Was concerned about article regarding Germany (5)
CARED: A single-letter abbreviation meaning about, the indefinite article, a two-letter word meaning about and the IVR for Germany.
An enjoyable solve for us with our favourite clues being the compound anagram ones, but lots of other ticks too.
Thanks Buddy.
Very enjoyable and a pleasant end to my Sunday evening cruciverbalism. A few parsings that elude me for which I will await the wisdom of Prolixic.
Smiles for 13a, 15a, 26a, and 20d.
Thanks Buddy and thanks in advance to Prolixic.
Hello Buddy! A good quality puzzle – well done. Here are perhaps a few areas where you might benefit from concentrating:
Some editors feel that using note=one of A,B,C,D,E,F,G is too wide-ranging, so I am not sure whether they’d be entirely happy with the wordplay here. It works well, nonetheless, so I may be being too picky here!
– a few of the definitions feel a little ‘loose’
– there were more ‘hiddens’ than most editors would be happy with. This might suggest that you double-check the range of clue types you have used. The guide Prolixic wrote on this several years back is always a useful one, if you don’t use it already
– 13a’s 2-state solution jarred slightly with me, given there are (at least) 50*49 options
Overall, very enjoyable!!
Welcome back to Rookie Corner, Buddy, with an excellent puzzle which was a real pleasure to solve.
I did get held up with 7d for a while because of the ambiguity of 13a. Originally, I had very confidently entered ROME (Romania – Maine).
Other than that my only concern was the American use of “amen” in 12a. I am particularly biased against that usage having worked for an American company for many years when one of my colleagues used that word every time he wanted to agree with what someone had said. Collins online agrees with me that this is an American expression, but Chambers gets you off the hook! (In any event, I remember that you are American
)
“Read” in 25a was a new meaning for me.
Very well done, Buddy, and thanks for the fun. I anticipate a very good commentometer score for this one. Thanks too in advance to Prolixic.
Thank you to Buddy for an enjoyable accompaniment to my breakfast. Everything flowed nicely in most of the crossword, the NE corner taking quite a long time to solve
Thanks in advance to Prolixic
A top-notch puzzle which I enjoyed solving – thanks to Buddy.
The anagram count at 8 is a little on the high side and 3 hidden answers may be excessive (although the Telegraph would presumably be happy with this because there are also 3 in today’s back-pager).
The 25a ‘read’ was a new meaning for me for which I had to consult the BRB.
I have a lot of ticks including 13a, 22a, 26a and 6d.
More like this would be very welcome.
Welcome back, Buddy.
This was a very good puzzle indeed, I think RD is spot on when he predicts a low Commentometer score. I tend to agree with Encota about a few of the definitions being a little “loose” but my only other concern was checking that “N” appears in Chambers as an abbreviation for “navy” – it does! For 12a, the Telegraph accepts “D” for “Democrat” but not for “Democratic”; Chambers permits both. I’m not a huge fan of nounal anagram indicators placed after the anagram fodder (as in 10d), some editors will not countenance this. Your surfaces once again are pretty sound. My top three clues are 22a, 6d and 22d.
Very well done and congratulations on another excellent RC submission. Many thanks, Buddy.
I really enjoyed your puzzle, Buddy, thank you. Happily straightforward, very polished and I echo comments above expecting a very low ‘adverse score’. I didn’t have an issue with the two states – I can recall various Times clues over the last year or so that have also required two states, the abbreviations being so useful! My own bugbear concerns anagrams and I feel that if 6, 7 or more anagrams are permitted in a puzzle then why not allow 2, 3 or more lurkers, DDs, cryptics, etc? Then again, I’m not in the editor’s hot seat, and I don’t make the rules! For me the highlights were 11a, 13a, 26a, 7d and 16d.
Thank you again, and in advance also to Prolixic
Welcome back, Buddy, and with another very competent puzzle. I note that you included one of those proXimal favourites, a subtractive anagram, which invariably cause me grief – perfectly legitimate but an absolute nightmare at times. 25a used an uncommon definition which I didn’t really care for but, there again, it seems to be quite legitimate.
Top clue for me was the glorious 7d with other mentions going to 23&26a plus 6&7d.
Well done, Buddy, you appear to have got the measure of this compiling lark!
Thanks all for the comments and feedback. Regarding clue types, I tend to view a “straight anagram” as in 10d as different from a subtractive or composite anagram; likewise a hidden and reverse hidden are distinct. This is of course an entirely self-serving interpretation of the situation!
For those unfamiliar with the entire Lennon songbook; Amsterdam appears on John and Yoko’s Wedding Album. Whether it can be considered a “tune” is a matter of opinion. I am also glad no one complained about the Star Trek reference.
It’s eclipse day in my hemisphere!
Thanks Buddy, good stuff. Faves include 8a, 15a, 25a (a new meaning for me!), 26a, 28a, 6d, 22d & 24d. Minor quibblet with 1d’s “for” being wrong way round. Personally I’m not keen on nounal anagrinds (10d) or letter selections without possession (11a, 23a) but some seem to accept them; 19a I think works but would prefer the “off” to appear at the end where it’d feel more natural as anagram indicator, perhaps (giving C+PESO*, rather than *C/PESO)? But tiny points in a fun solve, thanks again!
It was certainly enjoyable, in part because I managed to solve it – which is far from guaranteed. Particularly liked 22a, 10d, 18d.
13a seems fair to me. Though there are a lot of possible state combinations, the list of possible answers is very short even without checking letters.
My slight concern is that even with the answers in place and everything checking out OK, there are 6 clues I still can’t parse and I’ll have to come back tomorrow for the review. That’s on top of a few where I got lucky identifying the definition and fitted a synonym to the letters. I feel as though I’ve cheated. Makes up for all those occasions when I couldn’t even get started I suppose.
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic. I guess I should admit that I didn’t look for a compound anagram in 6d – the answer just seemed obvious!