A Puzzle by Scintilla
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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 back to Scintilla. I think that the commentometer shows that they were experimenting with this crossword. In particular, the number of verbal phrases used to define nouns and the use of first letter indicators that were not grammatically correct upped the score to 9.5 / 28 or 33.9%.
Across
1a Passionate redhead embraced by lusty cavalier (6)
SULTRY: The first letter (head) of red inside (embraced by) an anagram (cavalier) of LUSTY. Not all editors will accept constructions such as redhead to indicate the initial letter of red.
5a Full of spirit, fashionable (almost gaudy), kind at first (8)
HIPFLASK: A three-letter word meaning fashionable followed by a five-letter word meaning gaudy with the final letter removed (almost) and the first letter of kind. The correct enumeration is 3,5. Perhaps “One full of spirit” would be a better definition to identity the item. Verbal phrases to define nouns are best avoided.
9a Snake whispering desires for ritual cleansing (8)
ASPERGES: A three-letter name of a snake followed by a homophone (whispering) of urges (desires).
10a An unfinished task keeps you from moving on (6)
ANCHOR: The AN from the clue followed by a five-letter word for a task with the final letter removed (unfinished). Again, this is a verbal phrase used to define a noun. Perhaps it keeps you from moving on.
11a Girl, student, and heartless uncle join together (4)
GLUE: The abbreviations for girl and student followed by the outer letters (heartless) of uncle. The main dictionaries do not give G as the abbreviation for girl.
12a Use 11 to make these unfortunate outcomes (6,4)
STICKY ENDS: Cryptic definition.
13a In case of emergency, group endlessly supplies refreshing drink (3,3)
ICE TEA: The abbreviation for in case of emergency followed by a four-letter word for a group with the final letter removed (endlessly).
14a Called out hello, followed by a long sentence in extravagant style (4,4)
HIGH LIFE: A homophone (called out) of HI (hello) followed by a four-letter word for a long prison sentence.
16a Surrounded by death, in possession of secret (8)
ENCLOSED: A three-letter word for death includes (in possession of) a five-letter word for secret.
19a Without key, retired fella not allowed inside (6)
ATONAL: The answer is hidden (inside) and reversed (retired) in the fourth to sixth words of the clue.
21a Preservative found in excellent tart filled with limitless jam (6,4)
ACETIC ACID: A three-letter word meaning excellent and a four-letter word meaning tart includes (filled with) a five-letter word meaning jam without the outer letters (limitless).
23a Kid ducks into first floor library entrance (4)
FOOL: Two letters representing zero or duck inside (into) the first letter of library and the first letter (entrance) of library. First library does not mean first floor does not mean the first letter of floor. For library entrance to work as an initial letter indicator, it would need to be library’s entrance. First has been repeated as an initial letter indicator. Try to avoid this form of repletion.
24a Home Office leading others in reading, writing and arithmetic, causing intense dismay (6)
HORROR: The abbreviation for Home Office followed by the first letter (leading) of others inside (in) the abbreviations for reading, writing and artithmetic. Leading others does not mean the first letter of others.
25a Plain friend alongside quiet sort of seaman (8)
PALPABLE: A three-letter word for a friend followed by the abbreviation for quiet and a four-letter word for a type of seaman.
26a Is Ryan as weird as someone from Mesopotania? (8)
ASSYRIAN: An anagram (weird) of IS RYAN AS. Watch for spellings in clues. This should be Mesopotamia.
27a Unassuming fashion model holding saucepan lid (6)
MODEST: A four-letter word for fashion and a type of model Ford car includes (holding) the first letter (lid) of saucepan. For the initial letter indicator to work it would need to be saucepan’s lid.
Down
2d Unaffected, because of Confucius’ lesson, surprisingly (15)
UNSELFCONSCIOUS: An anagram (surprisingly) of CONFUCIUS LESSON.
3d The rate is incorrect on that account (7)
THEREAT: An anagram (incorrect) of THE RATE. An anagram that requires only one letter to be moved should be avoided.
4d Maybe Tito and Tesla vs you gals is crazy… (9)
YUGOSLAVS: An anagram (crazy) of VS YOU GALS. Three anagram clues in a row should be avoided. Also, Tesla was Serbian, not a Yugoslavian.
5d Skittish, as his hand is clutching drug (7)
HASHISH: The answer is hidden (clutching) in the first four words of the clue.
6d Exercise programme given brief affirmation (5)
PLANK: A four-letter word for a programme followed by the last letter (brief) of OK (affirmation). Brief means to remove the final letter of a word, not to use the final letter.
7d Milky fluid is blue following reported deficiency (7)
LACTEAL: A homophone (reported) of LACK (deficiency) followed by a four-letter word for a shade of blue. The answer is an adjective but has been defined as a noun.
8d Imminent peril from Moscow Lords deaf to change (5,2,8)
SWORD OF DAMOCLES: An anagram (to change) of MOSCOW LORDS DEAF.
15d Thousand pounds put down, winning all the tricks (5,4)
GRAND SLAM: A five-letter word for a thousand pounds followed by a four-letter word meaning to put down forcibly.
17d Perversely guilty over resitance to way of celebrating (7)
LITURGY: An anagram (perversely) of GUILTY around (over) the abbreviation for resistance. Another spelling error with resitance. In a down clue A over B means A followed by B not A around B.
18d Evade questions, knock back shot – will surely get struck down (7)
DUCKPIN: A four-letter word meaning evade followed by a reversal (knock back) of a three-letter word for a shot of alcohol. Another verbal phrase to define a noun that should be avoided.
20d Casual love with very loud man (7)
OFFHAND: The letter representing zero or love followed by the abbreviation for very loud and a four-letter word for a workman.
22d First signs of corruption observed: Russian Government injecting dog (5)
CORGI: The initial letters (first signs) of the fourth to eighth words of the clue. Another repetition of first as an initial letter indicator.
Plenty to keep us smiling here with our top clue being 21a.
Thanks Scintilla.
Thank you!
Welcome back to Rookie Corner, Scintilla, with another accomplished puzzle which was great fun to solve.
I have only very minor comments:
– Stylistically it is probably better to avoid having three consecutive anagrams as in 2d, 3d & 4d.
– There are three instances of first letter indicators about which I am unsure: first floor; library entrance; and leading others. Let’s see what Prolixic has to say about these.
– 11a. I can’t find any justification for G = girl. “Good” would have worked.
– 6d. If I am parsing this correctly, I don’t think “brief affirmation” (= brief OK) is sufficient to define K.
– 17d. Typo!
This was really well done, Scintilla, and many thanks for the fun. I look forward very much to your next submission.
Thank you RD, now you’ve pointed it out, I’m not sure why I didn’t use good instead of girl! Good spot on the typo, I thought I’d fixed that but obviously not.
K on its own is a brief acknowledgement — used in messages by those for whom typing ‘OK’ is too much.
Oxford has it, definition 3·5: “[informal] OK: ‘K, I’m back’”.
Obviously its etymology is being a brief version of ‘OK’, but that’s already part of it; it doesn’t require the solver to interpret ‘brief’ as a modifier and do their own abbreviating.
I’m not a fan of its use, but it’s probably known by more people than many of the abbreviations that do appear in crosswords, and it’s the kind of thing we’re going to have to accept if crosswords are going to attract new generations of solvers.
Thanks Smylers, as a mum of 20 something sons, this is what I had in mind. I figured using ‘brief’ affirmation gave the older solvers more of a chance to get it. It’s an interesting dilemma that many cluers will start to face – how do we make cryptics accessible to a new generation without alienating life long solvers?
Wow, that’s a lot of sons! Nearly two cricket teams…?
Anyway, I’m with you and Smylers on this topic, with 5 grandchildren I’m used to hearing abbreviated spoken English – which is not to say I particularly like it, but hey!
Haha! No, thank goodness only two sons, that’s plenty
Enjoyable, thanks for the teaser Scintilla
Not convinced the answer fits the definition given for 5a ‘one may be full of spirit…’?
Thanks LbR – I like your suggestion for 5a
Very enjoyable, thank you Scintilla. Favourites were 5a, 12a, 14a, 23a. We look forward to your next one and thanks in advance to Prolixic.
Thank you!
Welcome back, Scintilla.
I felt this puzzle contained more flaws than your last one, which is not the direction in which to be going! Cryptically, “first floor” does not mean F, “library entrance” does not mean E, “saucepan lid” does not mean S – to have two of these in the same clue was especially unfortunate, and “first” had already been used (correctly) in 5a anyway. “Brief affirmation” in 6d doesn’t work either. Like LbR, I don’t think that the definition in 5a leads the solver to a noun and the same applies to 10a and arguably 18d too. Tesla was an ethnic Serb who became a US citizen nearly thirty years before Yugoslavia was created, so I think to call him a Yugoslavian is something of a stretch. The surface of 9a seemed rather unconvincing. Best clue for me was 21a.
Although I enjoyed solving the puzzle, the niggles outlined above did jar somewhat. Thank you, Scintilla.
Thanks for the feedback Silvanus, much appreciated. I obviously need to work on my letter selection techniques!
I wanted to try out some different ways to write definitions in this grid, so I guess it was more experimental than the last and more prone to mistakes. That being the case, I’ll accept it having more flaws than my last as part of the up and downs of learning a new craft and strive for better next time.
Thanks again for the constructive comments.
This puzzle provided a good opportunity to sit outside on a warm, sunny Kent afternoon (in shorts!) and enjoy a cool beer whilst solving – so it was always going to be enjoyable
Like others have mentioned, some of the wordplay/abbreviations employed for single letters did not sit comfortably; although I did like the ‘redhead’ lift-and-separate one, so 1a was awarded an Across podium spot alongside 10 & 27, with 8, 15 & 20 on my Down podium. I hadn’t come across the ‘ritual cleansing’ before, but still managed to figure out the likely homophone intended and then discover the word in my dictionary. The 18d skittle was a novelty too, but the wordplay was accessible. I made the same note as LbR regarding 5a – perhaps just adding ‘Being… ‘ at the start of the clue may have sufficed.
Overall, I thought this was your best RC puzzle so far and was fun to solve, despite the ‘flaws’ silvanus described. If it was experimental, then keep experimenting and I’m sure any ‘flaws’ will soon dwindle away.
Thank you Spartacus, I’m so pleased you enjoyed the puzzle. I’ll keep chipping away at the problem areas and hopefully sculpt something both fun and grammatically correct in the future!
A big thank you to Prolixic for the break down of feedback. It’s so helpful to have analysis that helps me to make progress but also recognises the need to experiment. I’ll get there eventually!