i Cryptic Crossword 3100 Hypnos
January 14, 2021
A fairly gentle puzzle from Hypnos eases us towards the end of the week. It’s an IoS reprint, as expected, with little I suspect that will have held up older hands. A desperate type is usually DAN, I’ve finally started to remember that LEG is “on”, and African countries seem to be invariably MALI. On the other hand I completely forgot the French commune needed for 11ac, and got hung up on PRIME (even though nine most definitely isn’t!) in the wordplay for 8d, and so failed miserably to parse either properly. Which just goes to show that knowing all the usual crosswordese isn’t always enough to help you on days when you’re sort of operating on autopilot. But was it a good puzzle? Yes, thoroughly so, enjoyed throughout.
First in 24d where I started, last in the foreign port with too many syllables, finish time comfortably under par for the i.
COD? I’ll go with 29ac – “Gang in bad condition with end prominent in book (4,4)”.
To September 2016 for all the answers and parsing of the clues:
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2016/09/18/independent-on-sunday-1387-by-hypnos/
Borodin
batarde
Saboteur
Denzo
flashling
jonofwales
Cornick
sprouthater
uiytjhgmj
willow1235
idothei 
Yes, somewhat easier than average and some satisfying moments such as realising that DEPRECATE worked, and that nine was PRE-TEN. Some definitions were slightly stretched, but “Country, say” for MUSIC doesn’t take to long to drop.
On the other hand, MARY BERRY crossed my mind at 16D, but believing she had something to do with cooking but nothing to do with a place near Los Angeles, I didn’t put her in, so DNF. I’m thinking of submitting a complaint for that clue to the Solvers’ Protection Society, but suspect I’ll be alone!
Overall 👍
Great fun. Some really good imaginitive definitions, especially EGG CUP. I couldn’t parse NAIVETE, even though once I’d looked at the explanation on 225 I’m sure I’ve come across it before. Last in was MOBY-DICK. Another enjoyable crossword that was all over far too quickly.
Oh. There I was finding it harder than average.
Only to discover others thought it easier than average. Okay.
Also, we failed to finish it because we could not parse EPIPHANY or NAÏVETÉ.
My husband and I did it together today, and he provided more answers than usual – I guess he was on the same wavelength as Hypnos. As for me – I’d probably have only achieved half-finished if by myself. What makes it an easier crossword for others, I wonder?
Quite liked it. No complaints.
MOBY DICK must be deceptively hard, since I wasn’t the only one who struggled with it, yet it seems obvious when you have the answer – which makes it a good clue in my opinion. Like Denzo, I liked eventually realising that pre ten was nine. But my favourite was LEGHORN, for its construction.
Maybe I should try a bottom-up approach to crossword-solving like Jon; I habitually start in the NW and today that was by far the trickiest corner for me. I spent far too long trying to get a foothold before deciding to look elsewhere.
That said, there was lots to enjoy, EGG CUP and LEGHORN being amongst my favourites. I failed to parse NAÏVETÉ and LEEWAY (I’m not familiar with Spike Lee), also DEPRECATE, this because on reading the clue I completely failed to see the “I” and read it as an exclamation mark. Doh!
LOI was DISMAY.
Never heard of Spike, and thought it was Ang Lee!
I found the NW corner easiest, both 1A and 10A coming quickly.
We all get there by different strategies. At one time, having the G in 5A, I thought EGG was the support (as in football supporters egging on their team). So I got that by a real fluke.
I had a tougher time than the rest of you, and needed a bit of a jump-start in the second half (mostly in the left-hand half). DISMAY I suspected early on but wasn’t sure about, so it became my LOI too, after DELUSORY at the end. I couldn’t parse NAIVETE either (reading the ‘about’ as a container indication rather than a reversal).
Thanks Andy for my haiku-competition prize, which turned up today. I can confirm that the volumes contained within are indeed all ones that I *haven’t* already got. 🙂
🙂
Yep, that was nice. Nothing to set the world alight, but an enjoyable little divertissement nonetheless. Of course that note in 1d got a “tsk”, but everything else was jolly. However, my friend Colonel Pedant wishes me to point out that 29ac ought to be hyphenated and not two words.
My turn to be grumpy today. For some reason I never seem to get on the Hypnos wavelength, and I had a rare DNF with a few down the left hand side leaving me nonplussed and lacking sufficient enthusiasm to persevere.
I found this very difficult and quite vague, but I did eventually finish, and did manage to understand all the parsing in the end. A bit of an endurance test overall, though.
I don’t think I can have done this one back in the day – nothing rang a bell and I found it on the hard side. However, having sharpened my wits on Rodriguez and Julius (in the Indy and FT) I didn’t have too much trouble.
I thought of Mike rather than Spike in 2dn. Favourites were DEPRECATE and EPIPHANY.