Introduction
I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.
Solution to Today's Puzzle
Falcon's experience
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Legend:
█ - solved without assistance
█ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools
█ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools
█ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools
█ - solved but without fully parsing the clue
█ - yet to be solved
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| Symbols and Markup Conventions | |
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| Click here for further explanation and usage examples of the symbols and markup conventions used on this blog. | |
Across
| 1a | Knocking // so long, sailor turned back (3-1-3) |
RAT-A-TAT — reversal (turned back) of TA-TA (so long; informal British farewell) + TAR (sailor)
| 5a | Fitting // a buttress with rings (7) |
A|PROP|OS — A (†) + PROP (buttress) + OS ([letters shaped like] rings)
| 9a | Baddies twisted reality TV // without holding back (15) |
DEMONS|TRATIVELY* — DEMONS (baddies) + anagram of (twisted) REALITY TV
| 10a | Copy name and number /part of/ an Italian chain (8) |
APE|N|NINE — APE (copy) + N(ame) + NINE (number)
The Apennines[5] are a mountain range running 1,400 km (880 miles) down the length of Italy, from the north-west to the southern tip of the peninsula.
| 11a | Lug accommodated by tavern // locally (2,4) |
IN (TOW)N — TOW (lug) contained in (accommodated by) INN (tavern)
| 13a | In the dense grass, awful // trouble seeing (15) |
NEARSIGHTEDNESS* — anagram of (awful) IN THE DENSE GRASS
| 15a | Names // wrongly tied in with lies about article (15) |
IDENTI*|FIC(A)TIONS — anagram of (wrongly) TIED IN + FICTIONS (lies) containing (about) A ([indefinite] article)
| 19a | One neat // county of Northern Ireland (6) |
AN|TRIM — AN (one) + TRIM (neat)
| 20a | Carrying a pack, serve a drink // lover (8) |
P(A|RAM)OUR — POUR (serve a drink) containing (carrying) {A (†) + RAM (pack)}
| 23a | Copernican system // revamped “tin icicle” theory (15) |
HELIOCENTRICITY* — anagram of (revamped) TIN ICICLE THEORY
Nicolaus Copernicus[5] (1473–1543) was a Polish astronomer; Latinized name of Mikołaj Kopernik. He proposed a model of the solar system in which the planets orbited in perfect circles around the sun, and his work ultimately led to the overthrow of the established geocentric cosmology.
| 24a | Divine // cathedral city’s name for a Scotsman (7) |
ELY|S|IAN — ELY (cathedral city [in England]) + S ('s) + IAN (name for a Scotsman; common male name in Scotland)
| 25a | Going back, informs immortal // Sirius (3,4) |
{DOG STAR}< — reversal of (going back) {RATS (informs) + GOD (immortal; used as a noun)}
Down
| 1d | Blushing Green Knight // sketched from the top (7) |
RED|RAW|N — RED (blushing) + RAW (green; inexperienced) + N ([chess notation for] knight)
| 2d | Paint valets with count // in a moody way (15) |
TEMPERA|MEN|TALLY — TEMPERA (paint) + MEN (valets) + (with) TALLY (count)
Man[5] is a dated term for a manservant or valet ⇒
get me a cocktail, my man.
| 3d | People renting // temporary shelters around North America (7) |
TE(N|A)NTS — TENTS (temporary shelters) containing (around) {N(orth) A(merica)}
| 4d | Note bronze // giant (5) |
TI|TAN — TI (note; in tonic sol-fa, the seventh note of a major scale) + TAN (bronze)
| 5d | Open // a glass container (4) |
A|JAR — A (†) + JAR (glass container)
| 6d | Stood as champion // fell for the audience (7) |
REIGNED~ — sounds like (for the audience) RAINED (fell)
| 7d | Philosopher // playing theme song in loop (15) |
PHENOMENOLOGIST* — anagram of (playing) THEME SONG IN LOOP
Phenomenology[14] is a branch of philosophy which deals with consciousness, thought, and experience.
| 8d | Tells all about a buddy’s final // words of wisdom (7) |
S(A|Y)INGS — SINGS (tells all; informs) containing (about) {A (†) + Y (buddY's final [letter])}
| 12d | Scratch, with twitch // of the ear (4) |
O|TIC — O (scratch; in certain card games, a score of zero) + (with) TIC (twitch)
| 14d | Present // soldier on foot (4) |
GI|FT — GI ([US] soldier) + (on) FT (foot)
| 15d | Scottish work // inside of big moving vehicle with garden tool (7) |
I|VAN|HOE — I (inside [middle letter] of bIg) + VAN (moving vehicle) + (with) HOE (garden tool)
Ivanhoe[7] is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott* published in 1820 and set in 12th-century England.
* It is a 'Scottish work" because it was written by Scott
| 16d | Stumble upon oil-crazy // Libyan city (7) |
TRIP|OLI* — TRIP (stumble) preceding (upon in a down clue) an anagram of (crazy) OIL
| 17d | Playfully mocking, // gets in a buggy (7) |
TEASING* — anagram of (buggy) GETS IN A
| 18d | Second appeal, // mister? (7) |
S|PRAYER — S(econd) + PRAYER (appeal)
| 21d | New cadet // appeared on stage (5) |
ACTED* — anagram of (new) CADET
| 22d | Study engaging a // campus official (4) |
DE(A)N — DEN (study) containing (engaging) A (†)
Epilogue
The Latin word for fifteen is quindecim. A body consisting of fifteen members is a quindecemvirate, each member of whom is a quindecemvir. Using a bit of cryptic licence I have described this puzzle as being quindecemvirous* (a possibly newly-coined word) which I presume to mean having fifteen members.* a word which notably contains fifteen letters
Key to Reference Sources:
[1] - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
[2] - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
[3] - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
[4] - TheFreeDictionarycom (Collins English Dictionary)
[5] - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (Oxford Dictionary of English)
[6] - Lexico (formerly Oxford Dictionaries Online) (Oxford Advanced American Dictionary)
[7] - Wikipedia
[8] - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
[9] - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)
[15] - CollinsDictionary.com (Penguin Random House LLC/HarperCollins Publishers Ltd )
Signing off for today — Falcon
Greetings all from sunny and warm NYC.
ReplyDeleteOh so many 15 letter entries! Does that mean so fewer black squares? I don’t know. Perhaps a constructor among us can comment. In any event this C&R offering goes non-stop, top to bottom and side to side.
Favorite was 12d, short as it was. Also enjoyed the wordplay of 5a.
Thanks for the post, Falcon.
Enjoy your weekend everyone. Stay safe.
Richard
Good morning, Richard - was wondering if you had any hints for 10a? I think I have all the down letters right though I guessed at 1d as I don't know how the answer fits. I obviously don't know my Green Knights! But assuming that answer is correct, I can see how 10a can be lifted from the clue, but when I checked Google as my very last step, I found no such word, which wasn't surprising. Any thoughts? Thanks, Heather
Delete(Sorry - I deleted my comment as I didn't make it a reply)
For starters, the definition is at the end. Then just work through the rest, step by step.
DeleteFor 1d, the definition is also at the end. Then each of the three words at the beginning provides a part of the answer.
DeleteIt's a good thing I can laugh at myself. Nothing like a capital letter to make one look the fool. As for the "chain", we won't even diagnose that disconnected synapse. Hopefully it means I will do better next time. Thank YOU!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, everyone. It's a beautiful day here north of Toronto.
ReplyDeleteAs you can see from my exchange with Richard, I had a few challenges (ahem) and certainly found all the long words intimidating when starting. Overall, I enjoyed the puzzle. Favourites included the elusive 10a, as well as 12d, and 15a - I so wanted it to be an anagram even when one of the letters obviously didn't fit.
Have a nice weekend, everyone. Thanks to C&R for the workout, and to you, Falcon, for posting. Glad you seemed to have a nice time in the woods. I am assuming those were gypsy moth caterpillars you encountered. Better you than me! Best to all, Heather
Yes, they are gypsy moth caterpillars. The good news is they will soon turn into pupae. The bad news is that it then will not be long until we are overwhelmed with moths.
DeleteI feel like I'm 15 again! A great puzzle for the quindecim amoung us.
ReplyDeleteNeeded help to decode all the long anagrams. LOI was 20a once I got the checking letters.
I am truly amazed C&R were able to fit in all these long words in.
Have a great weekend everyone! and thanks for the post, Falcon.
A very good morning from a windy Winnipeg.
ReplyDeleteThat was fun and not as challenging as last week.
A comment on the grid - because of the four long Acrosses we have, as I describe in another place, an assymetric 28 clues (12 Across and 16 Down). Because of the long Acrosses it does, in part, lead to fewer 'black squares' but, I don't consider that it detracts from the quality of the puzzle and the enjoyment it provides.
I liked 15a, 24a, and 3d.
Thanks as always to C&R and Falcon.
Hello Falcon and friends,
ReplyDeleteHad to do some major quindenary conceptualizing today but overall very solvable. Liked 18d even though I have seen it many times before. Also liked the fact that 15a was not a complete anagram. Last one in was 6d.
Thank you for posting Falcon. Have a nice weekend everyone!
Cheers,
MG
Boy! I found that a real workout, tapping the corners of my brain. LOI 7d. Found 10a awkward, somehow.
ReplyDeleteAnyone have any ideas on a theme here?
ReplyDelete15 letter words.
DeleteHi all from Vancouver. I enjoy your comments and am grateful as always to Falcon for the posts. I usually enjoy drawing out my puzzling over the whole weekend but this time whipped through and finished this afternoon. Those 15 letter words really helped to set the frame.
ReplyDeleteBTW this is Gillian but for some reason the comment section insists on my old website Identification
ReplyDeleteRegarding the relation between clue length and number of black squares.
ReplyDeleteI think the fewest black squares would occur in a puzzle with sixteen 15-letter solutions (eight across and eight down). I've never seen one, but it would not surprise me to learn that a setter has produced one. Such a puzzle would have 49 black squares. This puzzle has 59 black squares, so just ten more than the minimum.
Hi Falcon! I have never worried about how many black squares there are in a puzzle. Now - why do cryptics use the alternating black and white square approach vs ordinary crosswords which pack a bunch of words into a space, that might be more interesting - you cannot solve a cryptic by doing only the across or down clues.
DeleteAnd you might want to put in a reversal indicator into 25a.
Thanks for pointing out the missing reversal indicator.
DeleteThe question of the number of black squares was raised by Heather. You are quite correct that ordinary crossword puzzles pack more words into the puzzle. I suppose one reason that cryptic crosswords don't do this is that the amount of time required to compose a cryptic clue far exceeds that required to grab a synonym from a thesaurus. I'm sure it would be an extremely onerous exercise to write cryptic clues for every entry in a regular crossword puzzle.