The news in clues
Perhaps it’s a blessing that the American president gets his information about the world from his associates’ extremist sites rather than from professionals. The negative stuff gets him all grouchy, potentially nukey-grouchy, and if he were to work his way through the papers whose approval he craves, we can only guess what his response would be to his coverage on the crossword pages.
We recently looked at an example from the American cryptic scene; in similar spirit is a recent Independent puzzle by Knut, which looked at such quirks of the new administration as ...
2d VAT-free Atlantic trade is something offered by the White House (11,4)
[ anagram (‘trade’) of VATFREEATLANTIC ]
... the ALTERNATIVE FACT and the never-sober ...
4d/19d According to Spooner, more suitable material for the president’s policy platform? (7,4)
[ spoonerism of synonym for ‘suitable’ and a type of material ]
[ spoonerism of ‘fitter tweed’ ]
... TWITTER FEED.
Cluing coincidence
Knut’s puzzle also referenced ...
20d/23d Diana Ross reportedly arrested on a bench in DC? (7,5)
[ description of D Ross + soundalike for synonym of ‘arrested’ ]
[ SUPREME + soundalike for ‘caught’ ]
... the SUPREME COURT via one-time Supreme Diana Ross, who then had a chart re-entry in Hoskins’ puzzle:
5d Drink most of wine with yours truly and Diana Ross? (7)
[ synonym for ‘drink’ + ‘most of’ letters in type of wine + synonym for ‘yours truly’ ]
[ SUP + RE + ME ]
Such echoes are part of the fun of the crossword world, and for beginners (solvers and setters alike), it’s instructive to watch how similar devices are used in different puzzles. Here’s a recent pair of examples from Tyrus (known locally as Vlad) ...
18d A shot on table, drunkard finally gathered (7)
[ A + type of snooker shot + last letter (‘finally’) of DRUNKARD ]
[ A + MASSÉ + D ]
... and from an anonymous Times setter ...
2d A trick shot on area of snooker table gets built up (7)
[ A + type of snooker shot + name of area of snooker table ]
[ A + MASSÉ + D ]
... both getting to AMASSED, the former disguising the snooker and the latter revelling in it, both to delightful effect. The MASSÉ is that shot where the cue is almost vertical and the cue ball swerves madly:
It’s from the not-so-little family of words related to MACE that also contains the obsolete heavy billiards cue the MAST, croquet’s MALLET, rugby’s MAUL – and, getting more aggressive, the subject of our next challenge. Reader, how would you clue MACHETE?
Cluing competition
Thanks for your clues for GENTEEL. I see that the primes are back, in Harlobarlo’s dimly topical “In their prime, ageing Tories eerily become well-mannered”!
Of the surfaces, I especially enjoyed the amount packed in to Middlebro’s “Aristocratic spy loses head to topless avenger” and Alberyalbery’s scurrilously unwarranted “Cultured heads of Guardian’s editorial news take exceptionally extended lunch-breaks”.
The runners-up are, from the distaff, Catarella’s poignant “Like girls after finishing school showing intelligence – getting little support before long” and, from the datstaff, Lizard’s “Characters from Eton College are trained to be so urbane and cool”; the winner is Steveran’s surrealistic “Civil partnership of man and fish”. Kludos to Steveran; please leave this fortnight’s entries and your pick of the broadsheet cryptics below.
Clue of the fortnight
We missed football from our mace-related sports above, but here it is in a puzzle from Tramp (Meet the Setter) with a pleasingly executed (non-soccer) theme ...
7d John Barnes finally up front — English Liverpool player dribbled (8)
[ synonym for ‘John’ preceded by (‘up front’) last letter (‘finally’) of BARNES, then abbrev. for ‘English’ + nickname for Liverpool player ]
[ LAV preceded by S, then E + RED ]
... where it’s impossible to avoid the metaphorical sense of “dribbled” for a while before seeing that it also literally means SLAVERED. Drool.
If you missed last week’s post, which was published at an unusual time, it is an interview with a new, and effectively fictional, setter. Normal service is now resumed.
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