The first time I climbed Mt Gower on Lord Howe Island I shared the experience with a number of people including an editor of a newspaper for seniors. It’s a long, guided walk, taking most of a day, so you can find out a lot about your fellow climbers if you want to. I was particularly interested in the editor’s views on the puzzles in his paper as I am always on the lookout for an opportunity to peddle my wares. He revealed to me a stark reality: he had no idea about the quality of the puzzles he ran or whether the readers of his paper liked them. He said there was almost no feedback, and if there was, it was due to a mistake or a disagreement about an answer. From week to week most articles elicit some reader responses, but crosswords didn’t register. He felt frustrated by the lack of information and could do nothing except stick with what he had. This demonstrates how important it is to speak up when a crossword isn’t good, or the crossword in your local paper changes and it isn’t up to scratch or you think the crossword should be better. Figures vary, but it’s generally accepted that for every single person who complains there are at least 25 who want to but don’t complain (and businesses know this) – that means your complaint carries a lot of weight.
As feedback is minimal (thanks to those who do take the time, BTW), when something goes wrong in the production of a crossword (like missing clues, wrong clues, wrong solution etc), publishers get to find out some information about how many and who are doing the crossword, and generally complainers supply extra feedback as well which is almost always positive for the setter. So while the publisher hates a crossword production error, the setter doesn’t mind it happening on a rare occasion.
Across | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
1 | ANCESTRY | |
Form of crest accepted by any family (8) | Anagram of CREST inside ANY | |
5 | RADARS | |
Tracking devices, ones not needed in organised air-raids (6) | Anagram of AIRRAIDS minus I+I | |
9 | COMBO | |
Groom character fronting outstanding jazz band (5) | COMB + (O)UTSTANDING | |
10 | CANDIDATE | |
Campaigner put an end to meeting about identification (9) | CAN + (DATE outside ID) | |
12 | OUTFACE | |
Brave one started with cooked tofu (7) | ACE with anagram of TOFU at the front | |
13 | TRAINEE | |
Learner driver’s aid checking wet weather (7) | TEE outside RAIN | |
14 | ALTO | |
High elements of dial tone (4) | diAL TOne | |
15 | SIDE-STEP | |
Bypass is going back next to street cutting through complex (4-4) | IS reversed + (ST inside DEEP) | |
19 | ELEVATOR | |
A lever twisted around to lift (8) | Anagram of A LEVER outside TO | |
20 | SHOE | |
Ring concealed by the woman’s trainer, for example (4) | O inside SHE | |
23 | PRETEND | |
Imagine page ten printed in colour (7) | P + (TEN inside RED) | |
24 | REFOCUS | |
Head of finance in course worked to regain concentration (7) | (F)INANCE inside anagram of COURSE | |
25 | VICARIOUS | |
A star’s last part supported by bad acting (9) | [A + STA(R)] inside VICIOUS | |
26 | SCOLD | |
Rebuke leader of sect lacking warmth (5) | (S)ECT + COLD | |
27 | TIERED | |
Secure wine in racks, say (6) | TIE + RED | |
28 | GOATSKIN | |
Hide togas soiled with blood (8) | Anagram of TOGAS + KIN | |
Down | Answers and Clues | Explanations |
1 | ANCHORAGE | |
Silver collected in an ordinary task is a source of security (9) | AG inside (AN + CHORE) | |
2 | COME TO THE RESCUE | |
High flyer and cute heroes arranged help urgently (4,2,3,6) | COMET + anagram of CUTE HEROES | |
3 | SLOGAN | |
Work hard on an advertising jingle (6) | SLOG + AN | |
4 | ROCKET | |
One’s fired up by music set starting late (6) | ROCK + S(ET) | |
6 | AGITATED | |
Antique inscribed with “thanks” in Italian caused a stir (8) | AGED outside (TA inside IT) | |
7 | AGAINST THE CLOCK | |
This gate can strangely shut under pressure (7,3,5) | Anagram of THIS GATE CAN + LOCK | |
8 | SIEGE | |
Military blockade is set back, say, close to fence (5) | IS reversed + EG + FENC(E) | |
11 | NITWIT | |
Fool turned in dope (6) | IN reversed + TWIT | |
16 | PRESSED ON | |
Detective entering response incorrectly kept going (7,2) | D inside anagram of RESPONSE | |
17 | CAREFREE | |
A game official taken captive by Indian is irresponsible (8) | (A + REF) inside CREE | |
18 | HOODOO | |
Gangster loves bad luck? (6) | HOOD + (O+O) | |
21 | PRESTO | |
Professional, holding set, moved around very quickly (6) | PRO outside anagram of SET | |
22 | OFFSET | |
Compensate for efforts sabotaged right away (6) | Anagram of EFFORTS minus R | |
23 | PIVOT | |
Turn around planter containing ivy mostly (5) | POT outside (IV)Y |
Speaking of production errors: Shouldn’t 10ac be “…put an end TO meeting…”? The surface of your clues is always so seamless that the odd typo like this really stands out to me — and the other 25 solvers who can’t be bothered complaining.
This was another enjoyable one — especially 5ac, 13ac, 27ac, 28ac, 8dn, 11dn and 18dn.
Indeed. Thanks. I reckon I’ve read through that clue (and every other clue in the crossword) about a dozen times and not seen the mistake. It seems so obvious yet my brain clearly read over it making assumptions in the process. Just goes to show how valuable even one checker would be.
The error has been fixed in the online version, PDF version and the solution.
Thanks
David