Typically elegant puzzle from Gridman. There is a good mix of clue types, but he seems to have favoured anagrams. Because some of them appear in clusters, it felt like there were more than the actual 10.
ACROSS
1 Full of energy, Andy runs to take voice booster (7) DYNAMIC ANDY* + MIC
5 Reputed Rex leaves dirty commission (6) DEPUTE
9 One tired gets forty of them on the sly (5) WINKS (CD)
10 From where one may pick up the paper on the way (4-5) NEWS-STAND (E)
11 Blink badly over time at a smudge on paper (7) INKBLOT BLINK* + O + T
12 Lamenting, for example, bursting into essayist with college head (7) ELEGIAC EL(EG)IA + C
Doctor, he has a terrible peanut elegy
13 Drink to father without publicity (5) TODDY TO + D
14 Ma'm, Albert has recipe for ingredient in porter (5,4) AMBER,MALT (MA'M ALBERT)*
16 Hearing aid lost on terrace (3,6) EAR, CORNET (ON TERRACE)*
19 Blow to one's foremost zest for life (5) GUSTO GUST + O
21 Crush with work on the rotary, perhaps (7) OPPRESS OP + PRESS
23 See, old devil throws out learner in bloom (7) LOBELIA LO + BELIA
25 In Shimla this is wielded as elsewhere by the police (5) LATHI (T)
26 A big wave, on top of that (2,4) AS,WELL A + SWELL
27 Swears hotel's within audible range (7) EARSHOT (T)
DOWN
1 Where the dentist works in low spirits (4,2,3,5) DOWN, IN, THE,MOUTH (DD)
2 The French refusal to second child for a kind of tiles (3-4) NON-SKID NON + S + KID
3 This might cost a batsman his wicket (7) MISPLAY (CD)
4 Check prisoners' coach (9) CONSTRAIN CONS + TRAIN
5 Act smart-alecky without one to look for water (5) DOWSE DO + W
6 Gone to a different rue for a scientist (7) PASTEUR PAST + RUE*
7 Raita Poles cooked for bygone sovereign (7) TSARINA (RAITA + NS)*
8 Actualities don realised as school head (14) EDUCATIONALIST (ACTUALITIES DON)* Very smooth. My CoD
15 Domineering woman's weapon (6-3) BATTLE-AXE (DD)
17 Royal woman of rank sending man out to check (7) REPRESS R + E
18 Cow beyond a washhouse's limits (7) OVERAWE OVER + A + W
19 A turkey he eats hastily (7) GOBBLER (DD)
20 Mark, it may be on a flower (7) SPLOTCH (CD)
22 Bone in basket, we hear (5) SKULL (~SCULL) This one is a little odd in the sense Chambers lists skull itself as a shallow basket for fish etc, so the homophone might be redundant
Thanks Bhavan.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't do the CW today as there is no HINDU at the house where I am at Trichur and the CW app doesn't show the grid :-(
Loved the peanut elegy ! An elegant pun.
ReplyDeleteIn the cw, lobed the Russian salad
Alec Robins in Teach Yourself Books: Crosswords writes: "Since variety should always be the clue-writer's aim, he must not be seduced by the attractiveness of anagrams into indulging in a surfeit of them in any one set of clues. In a typical crossword of 28 or 30 clues, four full anagrams and perhaps two or three part-anagrams should be regarded as maximum."
ReplyDeleteAs per my assessment, this crossword has four whole anagrams (14a, 16a, 24a and 8d).
Part anagrams are three in number (1a, 11a 6d).
Well, there are some more: 5a is an anagram after a deletion. 7d is an anagram where two letter components are derived for the anagram fodder.
Thus, the number of whole anagrams is within limits. The part-anagrams are five but even there some variety exists as indicated above.
The contiguity of whole anagrams in 14a and 16a is unfortunate.
Alec Robins further writes: "...nor need the clue-writer feel any sense of guilt if from time to time he exceeds the suggested optimum, especially if he considers that an extra anagram either makes for a neater clue, or avoids a particularly tortuous one, or is in some way of greater help to the solver. Nevertheless, since there is no doubt that anagrams have a habit of being over-represented in some crosswords, some restraint in their use ought to be kept constantly in mind."
I will leave it to the judgement of the solvers whether anagrams are over-represented in this crossword. I don't think even Bhavan thinks so because he has mentioned in the preamble that there is a good mix of clue types.
did not notice the surfeit or bunching of anagrams despite being a bit elegiac to anagrams
ReplyDelete