Stats The puzzle page was loaded nearly 400 times. 71 visitors had a go at it and 31 solvers managed to complete and submit the grid. Of those who submitted, only 24 managed to get the maximum possible score of 184.
Toryish?<<< Click Here for the Puzzle Post
Here is the solution grid:
Annotations (Across)
1 Unclued, ref preamble
LIQUID –
6 Unclued, ref preamble
HISTORY –
11 Chinks in ten cars needing repair (8)
CRANNIES (T)en
(IN TEN CARS – T)*; def: chinks
13 Discover Hess leading donkey in an exhausted state (5,3)
SMOKE
OUT (H)ess S(ess) MOKE(donkey) OUT(in an exhausted state); def:discover
14 Abandoned a largely new idea of a summit in Crete (6)
IDAEAN id(E)a
(A NEw IDEA – E)*; def: of a summit in Crete
15 Stun parting friend with manuscript showing songs of praise (6)
PSALMS s(T)un
S(sun) inside PAL(friend) MS(manuscript); def: songs of praise
16 Starting off and following the minister (4)
TEND t(H)e aND after TE; def: minister
18 Cut out neat river locks (6)
DELETE ne(A)t
DEE(river) outside LET(net); def: cut out
19 Left in time for fair (5)
BLOND ti(M)e
L(left) inside BOND(tie); def: fair
21 One scoring century twice over here (7)
NOTCHER her(E)
rev. of C,TON(century, twice) + HER; def: one scoring
23 Wild ass, about to get sold, runs (6)
ONAGER (S)old
ON(about) AGE(to get old) R(runs); def: wild ass
24 Wild grass in the middle on wicket laid needing to be cut (3-3)
WAY-OUT la(I)d
W(wicket) A(grAss) YOUTh; def: wild
26 Snag when leaving hotel with Madame Bovary, say, before
midday (3,4)
ACK EMMA (S)nag
hACK(nag) EMMA(character, MB); def: before midday
27 Mojo back on becoming humble (5)
LOWER mo(J)o
LOW(moo) rev of RE(on); def: humble
29 Musk, essentially voicing amusement, hoards (6)
UPLAYS v(O)icing
mUSk outside PLAY(amusement); def: hoards
32 Cry of pain from some possibly helps (4)
YELP (H)elps
HIPS; def: cry of pain
34 Communist entertaining religious education arena to study again
(6)
REREAD are(N)a
RED(communist) outside RE(religious edn) A(area); def: study
again
36 Swallow best gin on the rocks (6)
INGEST (B)est
(BEST GIN – B)*; def: swallow
38 Bounce around, pass on daughter’s ailment (4,4)
HEAD COLD
bo(U)nce HEAD(bonce) outside D(daughter) COL(pass); def: ailment
39 Rates of withdrawn, limited edition tennis shorts? (8)
DESERVES sho(R)ts
rev of ED(edition, ltd.) SERVES(tennis shots); def: rates
40 Track ‘sugar’ sent in Scandinavian floor mats (3,4)
RYA RUGS se(N)t
RY(track, ie railway) (SUGAR)*; def: scandinavian floor mats
41 Supply sliders for lazy fellows (6)
IDLERS slider(S)
(SLIDERS-S)*; def: lazy fellows
Annotations (Down)
2 Frail suspect broken by identification of part of the eye (6)
IRIDAL (F)rail
ID(identification) inside (FRAIL-F)*; def: of part of the eye
3 Qatari worker checking a subterranean irrigation channel (5)
QANAT qatar(I)
Q(Qatar) ANT(worker) outside A; def: subterranean…..channel
4 Sand dune wavy on crest? (4)
UNDE sa(N)d DUNE*; def: wavy on crest
5 Damn it, end dancing together! (2,6)
IN TANDEM en(D)
(DAMN IT END-D)*; def: together
6 Camped Huns flee, ripping the rope’s ends as per Will (6,7)
HEMPEN CAUDLES
(F)lee (CAMPED HUNS FLEE-F)*; def: the rope’s ends (Shakesp.)
7 Japanese deer selection in teriyaki ostentatious in retrospect (4)
SIKA (O)stentatious
HIPS in reverse; def: Japanese deer
8 Cape in statue displaying an element of blood (1-4)
T-CELL stat(U)e
C(cape) inside TELL(state); def: an element of blood
9 Stir up our brats (street dogs) (5)
ROUST b(R)ats
OUR* ST(street); def: stir up
10 ‘Rabbit’ for Scot coming from treaty in terror (6)
YATTER (T)error
(TREATY)*; def: rabbit (Scots)
11 Coot, old, worn by mass for Christmas (6)
CRIMBO co(O)t
M(mass) inside CRIB(cot) O(old); def: Christmas
12 Sewed clothes tipped over edge in one way or another (7)
SOMEHOW se(W)ed
SOW(seed) outside rev. O(over) HEM(edge); def:in one…..another
17 Student digs Dante’s headless shapes (5)
DORMS da(N)te
D(date) fORMS(shapes); def: student digs
18 Free from waster securing nothing with bridal gift (5)
DOWRY wa(S)ter
DRY(free from water) outside O(nothing) W(with); def: bridal gift
20 Dolt assuming kale root is a piece of foliage (3-4)
OAK-LEAF ro(O)t
OAF(dolt) outside KALE*; def: a piece of foliage
22 Skilled line editor tackling book (8)
TALENTED li(N)e
TALE(lie) ED(editor) outside NT(book); def: skilled
25 Rugby Union breaking preposterous silence tends to twist facts (6)
TRUTHS (T)ends
RU(Rugby Union) inside rev of SH(silence) TwisT; def: facts
26 Creator’s ache beginning to upset Norse god (6)
AUTHOR ac(H)e
A(ace) U(beginning to upset) THOR(Norse god); def: creator
28 Oddly eerie boxing when not so tough (6)
EASIER eeri(E)
(EERIE-E)* outside AS(when); def: not so tough
30 Petition started admitted by college president in America (5)
PREXY sta(R)ted
PREY(~pray, petition) outside X(by); def: college president (Am)
31 Amateur doctor flipping, mien denoting passion for American (5)
ARDOR m(I)en
A(amateur) rev of DR(doctor) OR(men); def: passion (Am)
33 Wind up exercise with verve right away (5)
PEEVE (V)erve
PE(exercise) ErVE; def: wind up
35 Colour of wine at least supported by vintage (4)
ECRU l(E)ast
E(wine at last) CRU(vintage); def: colour
37 Ruler in private starting to love maiden (4)
GIRL rule(R)
R(rule) inside GI(private) L(starting to love); def: maiden
Bonus Questions: The theme revolves round the River Thames which has played an important role historically in many ways and frequently referred to as ‘Liquid History’, coming from the popular phrase ‘The Thames is Liquid History’. The unclued entries are Liquid and History, and the title Toryish? suggests a reverse anagram of the couplet.
Extra letters from clues provided the following:
1) First three words of the saying: “The Thames Is”
2) The author of the saying: “John Burns”, an English trade unionist and politician who subsequently
became an MP and minister. He coined the phrase in response to an American disparaging the Thames
in a comparison with the Mississippi
3) Instruction to solvers: “Find Four Towns On The River”. Cells highlighted in yellow in the grid show
the names of four popular towns, ie Oxford, Reading, Marlow and (of course) London, along the Thames
Scorecard
| Participant | Grid Score | Bonus | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al Sanders | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Anand Ranganathan | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Anirudh Sahni | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Arvind Kannabiran | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Ashit Hegde | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Glee | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Irwin Appel | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Keith Williams | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Lakshmi Prakash | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Madhup Tewari | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Max Jackson | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Mohsin Ahmed | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Mona Sogal | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Narayanan Rangamani | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Nicholas Loader | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Prakash Arumugam | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Ramki Krishnan | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Samit Kallianpur | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Satyen Nabar | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| sree sree | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Supriya Mithal | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Tejas Siddharth | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Venkatesan P. | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Venkatraghavan S. | 169 | 15 | 184 |
| Ganesh Nayak | 168 | 15 | 183 |
| Himanshu Rajurkar | 168 | 15 | 183 |
| Ian VanderSchee | 167 | 15 | 182 |
| Sohil Bhagat | 165 | 15 | 180 |
| Madhusudan H | 162 | 15 | 177 |
| Arvind Ramaswamy | 163 | 9 | 172 |
| Rathnakumar V | 158 | 8 | 166 |
Congrats to the 24 solvers who maxed the score and to every one who participated. Very well tried.
Grid Rating: The puzzle got an excellent score of 8.81. It got 12 perfect 10s. The minimum score was 1.
Favorite Clues: The Top 3 clues were
One scoring century twice over here (7) with 8 Votes,
Chinks in ten cars needing repair (8) and Left in time for fair (5) with 7 votes each.
Here’s the feedback from our solvers
| Comments / Feedback on the puzzle – Please provide specific com |
|---|
| Another complex and perfectly crafted offering from Bingo. Not quite as hard as his puzzles here last year. |
| Very very tough grid as expected |
| An absolute masterpiece! What a clever puzzle! Bingo does it again! |
| Brilliant stuff! Great fun. Always a pleasure to grapple with Bhala’s mind. |
| Brilliant effort |
| Wow , very challenging concept,grid ,clues but equally fun and satisfying to Crack. |
| A tough grid with nice clues and great concept |
| What more to say? Always a pleasure solving a Bingo grid. |
| Brilliant, as usual. It’s a full package – you start off on the clues to a point where it’s difficult to proceed, then work on the metas, find the a-ha moments and get back to the clues – it then becomes a romp to the end, and you’re all the more knowledgeable and grateful for it! |
| Mindblowing, hard to imagine the effort put in to create so many links to the theme. Simply great |
| I love it when I see the instructions and think, “Well this is impossible,” but then the setter does a fantastic job of allowing less knowledgeable people to fill in the blanks (literally) by providing so many hints to solve the puzzle, the sequence of removed letters, and the endgame. Some might complain about the overuse of lesser-used words, but I like how they expand my vocabulary. Brilliantly constructed! |
| Wow, this was tough. Had to guess a few words at the end, but this was a fun puzzle to attempt. Fantastic job coming up with this! |
| enjoyable puzzle, took a lot less time than i expected. took me a while to understand the instructions completely, but that’s my problem not yours. |
| that was fun. thanks again bingo |
| Another brilliant puzzle, More enjoyable because it was a bit easier than his usual puzzles (fortunately) |
| Although a Londoner I wasn’t aware of this politician, traveller and historian of the City. Yet another _Great Man_ with feet of clay. |
| Loved it! |
| Love the grid and the deviousness of the wordplay |
| Yet another brilliantly designed puzzle by Bingo. Great cruciverbalist! |
| Challenging one, as is to be expected from Bingo. Loved the way letters were dropped from the surface to completely change the parsing of the clue! As usual, annotating the clue took much longer than finding the answer itself. The rare and obscure words were a pain – but I guess they were required to make the bonus words fit. |
| Very nice! Enjoyed solving it. Bit easier than the last one. Some definitions were unbelievably sneaky, ‘student digs’, for instance. |
| Expectedly very challenging and made lot of assumptions while solving. Every right answer is an aha moment … |
| Fun, although a few too many obscure entries for my taste |
| Generally nice puzzle – some rather odd synonym choices at times and one or two odd constructs were the main clue quibbles. I’m always concerned when the preamble turns into a bit of an essay, but that may have been necessary to make the puzzle fair for the wide-ranging audience here. |
| Nice barred puzzle |
| challenging puzzle…liked the endgame |
| DIFFERENT |
| Of course, the following is all just my opinion. This was much more achievable than previous puzzles by Bingo. I enjoyed it more overall. Even though the short term thrill of something like Zero Sum is undeniable. Surfaces on average seem to have improved too. Chinks is okay, discover and abandoned are great, stun is a bit unusual, starting should be ‘starting off to…’, cut makes no sense, left is great, one is okay, wild is brilliant, snag is a bit vague, mojo is great, musk makes no sense, cry is … sadistic haha? communist makes no sense, swallow is okay, as I’ll note later unde is only found in MW it seems so perhaps ‘down’ for ingest as only found in MW is okay also? Anyway, should be bouncing or passing unfortunately, love rates, track is great, supply is, ironically, a bit of a lazy anagram, great surface though, frail is a bit unusual, Qatari is excellent, sand is okay, damn doesn’t quite work – should be finish or end this etc., camped makes no sense, japanese is okay, Cape is a bit unusual, I don’t understand stir, rabbit makes no sense, coot – should be worm out sorry, sewed makes no sense, student – shapes is weird sorry, free makes no sense, dolt is great, skilled is excellent, Rugby is unusual as is creator and oddly, petition – started is unusual, amateur makes no sense, wind up is okay, colour makes no sense, ruler is excellent. Wordplay is mostly really good with the exception of the questionable ‘preposterous’ as a reversal indicator. Lots of clever defs too: such as Chinks, discover, of a summit in Crete, one scoring, before midday, student digs, wind up, and many more, some quite questionable defs though such as ‘wavy on crest’ – source? and the def for hempen caudles – why ‘ends’? Sone clues, and I’m guilty of this too, seemed overly wordy. Bonus was fantastic. Beautifully constructed. Maybe a little harder would be good but then I complained it was too hard last time haha. Amazing to fit all those letters together and add all the extras. Ignoring some surfaces and defs, it was a really fun and very challenging exercise 😀 |
| Tough, but good fun! |
| Very tough, |
| Semma Comedy 🙁 |
Thanks to “Bingo” for a mind-blowing, intense and entertaining puzzle. I started off with absolutely no knowledge of what to expect and was pleasantly surprised when I could unravel the puzzle after several hours of intense brain wracking. Thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to what else Bingo comes up with next time.
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