A Puzzle by Dynamite
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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.
Welcome to Dynamite with their debut Rookie crossword. Despite the crossword being on a 13 by 13 grid, there were still 26 clues which you see in some 15 by 15 grids, so solvers should not have felt too short-changed by the smaller grid size.
I think that there could have been greater variety in the type of clue used. Seven clues (27%) required the use of initial or final letters. This was far too many. To add to the problems, many of the initial or final letter indicator were used incorrectly. This accounts for the greater part of the commentometer reads of 9/26 or 34.6%
Across
1a Enforce outcome (6)
EFFECT: Double definition.
5a A rag coat? (6)
DUSTER: Double definition. The second definition is American usage so this should be indicated in the clue.
8a Messily eats up, devouring prime lamb; stomach throbs (8)
PULSATES: An anagram (messily) of EATS UP around (devouring) the first letters of lamb and stomach. Prime on its own does not indicate the initial letters of two words. For a single word, you would need prime example of…The use of singular first or last letter indicators where the first or last letters of two words are required in the solution is a recurrent feature in this crossword and needs to be addressed in future ones.
9a Follow primary order: Ban English youths (4)
OBEY: The initial letters (primary) of the final four words of the clue. A second clue where the initial letter indicator does not work. For a single word, you would need primarily, not primary. In addition, primary on its own does not indicate the initial letters of two or more words. Follow order: Ban English Youths primarily would work.
10a Bring about darkness, blotting out good light (4)
THIN: A reversal (bring about) of five-letter word for darkness from which you remove (blotting out) the abbreviation for good.
11a Perhaps Dr. Lecter is able to bite, you say? (8)
CANNIBAL: A homophone (you say) of CAN (is able to) NIBBLE (bite).
12a Paramecium almost out of control, starting to expand beyond interior of lab (6)
AMOEBA: A four-letter word meaning out of control with the final letter removed (almost) followed by the first letters (starting to) of expand and beyond followed by the middle letter (interior) of lad. For the cryptic grammar to work, you need starts to as there are two words from which the initial letters are required.
14a Disgust at disemboweled foe overcomes Italian (6)
ENMITY: A five-letter word for a foe with the middle letter removed (disembowelled) around (overcomes) the abbreviation for Italian. For a UK crossword, you should use British spellings of words such as disembowelled.
16a Theatre closing early, new worker is listless (8)
STAGNANT: A five-letter word for the theatre with the final letter removed (closing early) followed by the abbreviation for new and a three-letter word for a worker insect.
18a Content of notes thought through in exam (4)
TEST: The answer is hidden (content of) in the third and fourth words of the clue. The through is padding in the clue as it is not required for the wordplay or the solution.
20a Request for core to be removed from sliced apple (4)
PLEA: An anagram (sliced) of APPLE after removing the middle letter (cored). The word order in the clue suggests that you make the anagram first and then remove the middle letter. Perhaps cored and sliced apple would be better. For as link word requires wordplay for solution. Solution for wordplay does not work.
21a Ending of James Bond steals heart of fans: “After you, M.” (8)
THOUSAND: The final letters (ending) of James and Bond around (steals) the middle letters (heart) of fans all after a four-letter word for the old form of you. Ending of only indicates the ending of one word. You would need endings of… to indicate the ending of two or more words.
23a Emperor‘s first kid raised poorly, has no drive (6)
KAISER: The first letter of kid followed by an anagram (poorly) of RAISED after removing (has no) the abbreviation for drive. First on its own does not indicate the first letter. You need first of…D for drive is given as an abbreviation in the OED so is acceptable.
24a Deny it is in Northern Irish county (6)
DISOWN: The IS from the clue inside (in) a four-letter name of a Northern Irish county. The it in the clue is padding and does not form part of the definition or the solution.
Down
2d A set of diamonds, for example, is the result of female getting rich (5)
FLUSH: The abbreviation for female followed by a four-letter word meaning rich.
3d Conclusion to soiree disappoints; séance lacks a spirit (7)
ESSENCE: The final letters (conclusion to) of soiree disappoints followed by the séance from the clue after removing (lacks) the letter a. As there are two final letters, conclusion to does not work as it indicates only one final letter.
4d Count for baby (3)
TOT: Double definition.
5d Pan dirty, prompts deep clean (9)
DISINFECT: A three-letter word meaning pan or criticise followed by a six-letter word meaning to dirty.
6d One chases small pig in game from Japan (5)
SHOGI: The letter representing one after (chasing) the abbreviation for small and a three-letter word for a pig.
7d Obscured glee, keen on avoiding fondant fancy (7)
ELEGANT: An anagram (obscured) of GLEE followed by the fondant from the clue after removing (avoiding) a four-letter word meaning keen on. The clue does not quite work because keen on gives the synonym “fond of” to be removed.
11d Eccentric person has integrity (9)
CHARACTER: Double definition. I think that integrity is an example of the solution so a definition by example indicator, such as a question mark, would be appropriate here
13d Bookworm buried in Emma ’til dawn (7)
MATILDA: The answer is hidden (buried) in the final three words of the clue.
15d I’m struggling with beginning to teach older sister division (7)
MITOSIS: A reversal (struggling) of IM followed by the initial letters (beginning to) of teach and older followed by a three-letter diminutive form of sister. For the cryptic grammar to work, you need beginnings to as there are two words where the initial letters are required.
17d Mardi Gras showgoer smuggles weed (5)
GRASS: The answer is hidden (smuggles) in the second and third words of the clue. I have two issues with this clue. The first is that “Mardi” is a padding word. It is not required as part of the wordplay or the solution. You should avoid using padding words. The second, is that hidden word clues should, ideally, not begin or end at a word boundary.
19d Potency of exotic wines (5)
SINEW: An anagram (exotic) of WINES.
22d Traditional starters of lean duck (3)
OLD: The initial letters (starters) of the final three words of the clue. The cryptic grammar requires starter of… However, for the wordplay to work, of is then doing double duty.
It might be a smaller grid than we are used to but it still took us quite a long time to get everything sorted. A couple of definitions that didn’t quite ring true for us but still gettable. Our last in and the one we’ll nominate for favourite is 21a.
Thanks Dynamite.
Welcome to Rookie Corner Dynamite and thank you for an enjoyable end to my weekend of cruciverbalism. It was only when I was preparing to comment that I realised that you had used a 13 x 13 grid rather than a standard 15 x 15 grid for a cryptic crossword.
A couple of comments, I am sure others will have more:
23a – Other than in the context of automatic car transmissions, I can find no ‘approval’ for D being an abbreviation for Drive.
17d – A lurker cannot start with the first letter of an ‘interior’ word of the phrase but this might come under the ‘get out of jail free card’ of ‘some editor’s will allow.’
Smiles for 5a, 24a, 11d, and 13d.
Thanks again and thanks in advance to Prolixic.
For Drive = D, why do you want a second context in addition to automatic cars? It’s in The OED, with citations from 1948 to 2013. It also passes the ‘Would a new crossword solver recognize this abbreviation from everyday life?’ test.
‘no ‘approval’ for D being an abbreviation for Drive’ = not in the BRB.
Welcome to Rookie Corner, Dynamite.
I’m sorry to say that my page has scribbles by over half of the clues. In particular, there are eight occurrences of instructions to use a single letter from the start or end of a word (or series of words). In every case, I don’t think that those indicators have been used correctly, e.g.: “ending” in 21a refers to two words, and “starters” in 22d should have been “starters of” (which wouldn’t have worked anyway because of the need to repeat “of”.)
The coat in 5a is American which needs to be indicated in a British puzzle. Also, you have used the American spelling of disembowelled in 14a.
If I have parsed 10a correctly, it is an indirect anagram of “night” with the G removed, which is strictly forbidden.
20a doesn’t work for me as the core needs to be removed from “apple” before it is sliced.
In 7d, “keen on” = “fond of” not “fond”.
Well done, Dynamite, on composing a cryptic puzzle. It is no easy task. If you heed the comments here, particularly those of Prolixic, I feel sure you can come back with a much improved puzzle next time.
RD, 10a. Isn’t it a reversal (bring about) of a synonym of darkness with the G(ood) removed (blotting out)?
Jose, that makes sense. I thought “bring about” was a dodgy anagram indicator!
Welcome to Rookie Corner with what I found quite a difficult crossword, in fact it was only looking at RD’s comments that helped me finish. My favourite clue was 13d
Thanks Dynamite and, in advance, to Prolixic
Welcome to Rookie Corner, Dynamite and thanks for quite a tricky puzzle.
I finished the puzzle and It was only when I read 2Kiwis’ comment that I realised that we had a smaller than usual grid.
The clues I liked best were 10a, 16a and 1d.
Thank you, Dynamite. We didn’t notice the grid was smaller. There are a couple that we can’t parse so we look forward to Prolixic’s review tomorrow. Favourites were 10a and 1d. We look forward to your next puzzle.
Welcome to The Corner, Dynamite, and thank you for sticking your head above the parapet. Like RD, I had a lot of scribbles on my sheet so would suggest that you take full advantage of the words of wisdom from Prolixic and our other experts on here. I did rather like 11&13d which suggest that you have some good ideas but do be careful when it comes to the over-use of first and last letters and what you are asking the solver to do with them.
Hope to see you back again, showing much improvement.
Thanks for the puzzle Dynamite, I enjoyed it. I didn’t find it too tricky in the end, despite a couple of loose synonyms and bits of cryptic grammar. Favourites for me were 11a, 16a and 13d.
Thanks again, and in advance to Prolixic.
Welcome, Dynamite.
Like RD and Jane, I had countless annotations on my printed sheet, mostly crosses or question marks, I regret to say.
I agree that you’ve certainly overdone the use of initial and final letters and, where you have used those devices, there were numerous instances where they don’t quite work technically. Senf is right, lurkers/hiddens should always straddle several words or be contained fully within one, unlike 17d. 5d means to remove dirt, so having “dirty” as part of the wordplay isn’t ideal. 21a struck me as a good idea on paper, but one that ought to have been substituted with something much better. I can imagine that it appealed to you, but never be afraid to “murder your darlings” if they can be improved.
After digesting Prolixic’s review, you’ll have a much better idea of where liberties have been taken with crossword conventions and I’m sure you’ll produce a much better product next time. Many thanks, Dynamite.
Hello Dynamite, welcome, and thank you for the challenge – I enjoyed completing it but know you will do much better given time. Always impressed that anyone can put together a full cryptic and then have the courage to pop their head over the parapet, so to speak.
Unlike some of those above I did notice being short-changed as soon as I picked up the print-out: very definitely missing 56 little black and white squares. My comments have already been said above – much repetitive use of initial/final letters & full-/semi-acrostics and, while it doesn’t really bother me, the Americanisms in 5a and 14a (which I imagine may also not find favour with some editors, it being rather gruesome), & the unused Mardi in 17d.
On the other hand many very good surface reads and 6d made me laugh out loud – it’s my COTD, with 15d and 11a runners-up.
Many thanks, and I do look forward to your next – 15 x 15! – puzzle.
Thanks for the feedback all, and to Prolixic for the review. Upon reflection I definitely agree with what’s been said, particularly Silvanus’ advice on “killing your darlings”. I definitely think I was too keen to force some clues into the final puzzle that I was particularly proud of (most of which seemed to get positive responses, which is nice!) which has resulted in a lot of subpar crossing clues that have impacted the overall end result.
It’s definitely been a humbling experience to present to Rookie Corner, but I’m very grateful for all the feedback which has been immensely useful. I clearly haven’t mastered the basics as well as I’d thought. Hopefully you’ll all try out my next crossword, and enjoy it more!
Welcome to the blog
Many thanks for the review, Prolixic. Looks as though many of Dynamite’s problems concern his penchant for using first and last letters and doing so incorrectly. I hope he will brush up on his skills in that area and also introduce a wider variety of clue types in his next puzzle.