Clues by Carpathian and Grid by Patch
Theme: Mrs Beeton (d. February 1865) and one of her recipes
Winner: Andrew Wyss of Leeds
Review of the February 2025 3D crossword
This is the first review I have written for a puzzle by Carpathian and what a pleasure the solving experience proved to be. Looking up the setter’s biography, I note that Carpathian is both relatively young (hurrah) and female (hurrah) and a primary school teacher (hurrah). She sets puzzles for both the Guardian and the Independent (as Vigo). In a Guardian’s ‘Meet the Setter’ series interview, Carpathian was asked “what goes through a solver’s mind when he or she sees that it’s a Carpathian puzzle?” Her reply was: “‘Maybe I’ll finish this one’ or ‘this will be quick’, depending on how experienced they are.”
Her comments sum up why, with Patch’s support in filling the grid with lots of thematic elements, this proved to be a perfect February puzzle: accessible, entertaining, relatively straightforward and, as the copious ingredients emerged in those clues with no definition, delectable. On the whole, the thematic clueing was characterised by its brevity and its friendliness: helpful anagrams soon identified RASPBERRY JAM, LEMON RIND and SPONGE CAKE, and I smiled at the cleverness in the clues for BRANDY, CUSTARD and SHERRY (just how much booze is there in this confection?). It was clear by now that we were dealing with a delicious trifle, which led quickly to Mrs Beeton, confirmed by the pink cells and the beets in the background photograph – more smiles.
Amongst the non-thematic entries, crossing RATAFIA with the rhyming MAFIA was neat, and where the more uncommon entries were concerned – MCRAE (anagram of ‘cream’, i.e. ‘whipped cream’, the ninth trifle ingredient referred to in the preamble), the spelling of YODLE, REATA, PARAMO, and CARAFFE – the precise wording of the clues left the solver in no doubt as to the correct solution. The last of these, the French painter, took some finding in Google, which insisted that this must be a misspelling of carafe, but, once again, Frank Paul came to the rescue with his inspired drawing (GIRL is to GIRAFFE as CARL is to …).
As I have said in previous reviews, one of the delights of the 3D puzzle series is the encouragement to research vaguely familiar themes in more detail, and this was no exception. The trifle recipe appears in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, a tome of over 1100 pages and 900 recipes, which was published in 1861, when the author was just 25 years old. The modern reader may be amused to discover that, notwithstanding the opulence of the trifle, the recipe concludes with the words: “may be garnished with strips of bright currant jelly, crystallised sweetmeats, or flowers.” Isabella Beeton is indeed a fascinating character but her entry in Wikipedia is a sobering reflection on the lot of many women in Victorian Britain: the eldest of seventeen children herself, Isabella died of puerperal fever following the birth of her third child at the age of 28.
In conclusion, a big thank you to both Carpathian and Patch for this mouthwatering gem of a puzzle.
KM
Grid solution
Visual clue
This month’s clue is a visual word analogy. A girl and a giraffe are compared with a character from the Simpsons (Carl Carlson) and the solution. To get giraffe from girl, drop the L and add AFFE. Do the same with Carl to get:
GIRL is to GIRAFFE as CARL is to CARAFFE
Background image
The backdrop to this month’s puzzle is a photo of beetroot on a wooden table (CC0 1.0 licence). Or as our American solvers might say, “beet on table”.
Clues and explanations
Thematic solutions are indicated with an asterisk.
| Day | Solution | Clue | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AMDRAM | 8d In the morning shot unpaid performance (6) | AM (in the morning) DRAM (shot) |
| 2 | ARACHNE | 20ba Spider-woman can hear strangely (7) | CANHEAR* (strange) |
| 3 | BRANDY* | 3aw,11d-2 Trademark on bottom of crockery (6) | BRAND (trademark) Y (bottom of crockery) |
| 4 | BRECON | 27up Piece of catacomb reconstructed somewhere in Wales (6) | Town in Waleshidden |
| 5 | BUSMAN | 3d Conductor born to American mother taking note (6) | B (born) US (American) MA (mother) N (note) |
| 6 | CARAFFE | 7ba-2,6d French artist putting flyers in small restaurant (7) | RAF (flyers) in CAFÉ (small restaurant) |
| 7 | CUSHY | 18to Easy throw by copper (5) | CU (copper) SHY (throw) |
| 8 | CUSTARD* | 16ac Jack maybe crossing posh street (7) | CARD (jack maybe) around U (posh) ST (street) |
| 9 | DYNAMO | 11d Director returning manifold to old machine (6) | D (director) MANY< (returning manifold) ) O (old) |
| 10 | KETCH | 23to Draw missing prow for sailing vessel (5) | (s)KETCH (draw missing prow) |
| 11 | LEMON RIND* | 26up,1aw-4 Rearrange dorm linen (5,4) | Anagram (rearrange) |
| 12 | MACAROON* | 13up-2,8ba A vehicle found in satellite (8) | A CAR (vehicle) in MOON (satellite) |
| 13 | MAFIA | 24to Criminals try holding soccer bosses back (5) | AIM (try) around FA (football association) all reversed (back) |
| 14 | MAKE MORE | 22ac,25to-2 Increase production of mineral aggregate after brand misorders initially (4,4) | MAKE (brand) M (misorders initially) ORE (mineral aggregate) |
| 15 | MCRAE* | 22to Heads of motorsport circuit rewarded an exceptional British rally driver (5) | acrostic |
| 16 | NEARS | 19to Approaches new organs (5) | N (new) EARS (organs) |
| 17 | OCCUR | 14aw Chance relating to us involving cricket club (5) | OUR (relating to us) around CC (cricket club) |
| 18 | ODYSSEY | 14ac Epic poem of old days missing a positive reflection (7) | O (old) DYS (days missing a) YES< (positive reflection) |
| 19 | ON-SITE | 5d Individual embracing model at the scene (2-4) | ONE (individual) around SIT (model) |
| 20 | PAGODAS | 9ac Upset over passage turning into temples (7) | SAD (upset) O (over) GAP (passage) all reversed (turning) |
| 21 | PARAMO | 9d Lover missing old city in South American tundra (6) | PARAMO(ur) (lover mssing old city) |
| 22 | RASPBERRY JAM* | 1ac,4d Pam involved with Jerry’s Bar (9,3) | PAMJERRYSBAR* (out of place) |
| 23 | RATAFIA* | 21ac Traitor with a fine idea initially advanced (7) | RAT (traitor) F (fine) I (idea initially) A (advanced) |
| 24 | REATA | 25to Capture a tabby? Not all required lasso (5) | hidden |
| 25 | RECENSE | 17ac Make a critical review about including strange scene (7) | RE (about) around SCENE* (strange) |
| 26 | ROADS | 4aw Ways heads of rail organisations always deliver successfully (5) | Initial letters |
| 27 | SCYTHE | 2d Cutting instrument that woman holds in crypt regularly (6) | SHE (that woman) around CYT (crypt regularly) |
| 28 | SHERRY* | 12d Small red fruit with tip removed (6) | S (small) © HERRY (red fruit with tip removed) |
| 29 | SPONGE CAKE* | 2aw,10d Keep congas moving (6,4) | KEEPCONGAS* (moving) |
| 30 | YODLE | 15aw Sing variable verse about left (5) | Y (variable) ODE (verse) around L (left) |
| Easter egg | MRS BEETON | Name in pink cells (3,6) | |
| Easter egg | TRIFLE | Something delightfully thematic (6) |
Solvers’ comments
A very tasty confection! [NI]
Another very enjoyable challenge, containing a few words which stretched my knowledge. [MH]
Very enjoyable as usual👌 Surprised you didn’t ask for the one other answer (Day 15) MCRAE, which is an anagram of the thematic ‘CREAM’😀 [MN]
A mouthwatering concoction that really took the biscuit. [J&JH]
Fairly gentle, even with the complication of the undefined answers. For anyone wanting the full recipe, look at https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10136/pg10136-images.html and search for “make a trifle”. 6 Caraffe appears in wikip, but not in their list of french artists. 30 I’ve never seen yodel spelled this way before, though Chambers is happy with it. [MJ]
Much more than a trifle enjoyable 🙂 [RE]
Sunday breakfast fulfilled Mrs Beeton’s requirements: well fed, albeit with granola, warmed by February sun and, nothing better – a very fine 3D crossword. The moral and physical welfare of mankind depends largely on its breakfast, yet many of those upon whom the responsibility of providing it rests do not realise how far-reaching may be the effects of a good or bad meal. A being well fed and warmed is naturally on better terms with himself and his surroundings than one whose mind and body are being taxed by the discomfort and annoyance of badly cooked or insufficient food. [DR]
A delightful puzzle, with the pioneer nicely hinted in the cover photo. Despite the clue for YODLE being clear, my muscle memory (having never seen that spelling before) put YODEL in the grid, which held us up with day 25. D’oh, as Carl Carlson’s friend (thank you Frank Paul – one of my favourite picture clues for quite some time) would say. Some nice clueing, and I particularly liked Colin McRae being exceptional. Plus a name check for another compiler, tick! New words again, more for me than my better half 🙂 Thank you very much, Carpathian and Patch. [CW]
Delicious! [JT]
I need to look up why this complicated dessert is called a “trifle”… [NY]
Interesting theme nicely delivered. Clear clueing with only a few words that were new to me. [JP]
Excellent puzzle, but made me hungry! [RG]
I thought this was fairly easy, I even got the picture clue for once. We might have to actually make something delightfully thematic after this. [SB]
That was a bit of fun. [BB]
Enjoyed solving it. [LA]
A sweet recipe for lots of fun! Delicious! A few unfamiliar words, names and spellings meant some research was required and this meant it was a challenging but ultimately very satisfying crossword. Many thanks to Carpathian and Patch. [JA]
Enjoyed it! [JC]
Delicious [RP]
A tasty puzzle! Thanks to Carpathian and Patch. [RS]
Delightfully toothsome. [EF]
Very enjoyable lovely theme. I’d never heard of Caraffe, so as they say every day is a school day. Thanks to Carpathian and Patch. [GW]
Delicious! [TH]
Not too challenging, although a few unfamiliar words (RECENSE, PARAMO, RATAFIA) and I hadn’t seen that spelling of yodel / YODLE before. The picture clue was the most straightforward I can remember, which is ironic cos I’d not heard of the composer it was referencing, but it made sense when I got it. Enjoyable, thanks to Carpathian and Patch [JC]
Lovely! Fancy a trifle now but the shop’s shut. Thanks to Carpy for the sweet course. [SC]
A nice solve with excellent theme. Several new words, but all well clued to only had to look up to confirm. Caraffe was not straightforward to confirm in Wikipedia 😎 [DM]
Enjoyed learning more about Mrs. Beeton! Paramo and recense new to me, as is the alternate spelling of yodel. Thank you Carpathian and Patch. [JS]
Yummy [KPH]
We had great fun with this one, though now I want dessert. I am also embarrassed to say that the band Paramore has apparently completely screwed up my spelling, so I took an embarrassingly long time to work out our last remaining answer! [AH]
Lovely puzzle, thanks [MD]
I got really stuck with the name in rhe pink cells. I looked on here and could see it was 3,6 and that helped a lot! Overall I really enjoyed this puzzle. It wasn’t as difficult as others so I just had lots of fun! [HM]
GREATFUN [GON]
Enjoyable puzzle though I had a lot of difficulty getting the required name from the letters in the pink cells. [KD]
A delightful puzzle – made me quite nostalgic for the days of sherry trifle as a standard dessert! [JB]
After missing the Caesar cipher component of January’s visual clue by a country mile, I was ecstatic to immediately solve the visual clue this month (even if it was substantially more straightforward… though that might be the North American bias of immediately recognizing Carl from The Simpsons?). A lot of REALLY satisfying ‘aha!’ moments for me as I slooooowly get better at parsing cryptic clues — thanks, Carpathian & Patch! [MS]
Lovely puzzle. Glad of hints and tips for Day 21. Loved especially clues for Days 1, 3 and 16, and the picture of beets. All very witty. [NB]
Nice to have something ‘domestic’ for a change – and food is always a winner in my book!! [SF]
Food yummy my favourite. Loved the puzzle. [JM]
Yummy. Held up a bit by mis-spelling YODLE thanks to the delivery company, but twigged what was going on soon enough. [PA]
A real treat of a puzzle, for which I have the original recipe! It is definitely something for which I would want to follow the instruction on day 14. [SB]
A delightful 3D puzzle, celebrating that brilliant culinary pioneer. An edition of her book on ‘household management’ has been in my family for a few generations. As always, I enjoyed solving a puzzle in this format, and I had to get most of the thematic answers before I pinned down the actual theme. [AB]
Very tasty! It was so interesting reading about Mrs B’s life, which I was not aware of. [MS]
An enjoyable solve with some new words, which of course, I will promptly forget! Luckily my son was here to identify Carl for me! [SB]
Delightful puzzle – right level of challenge and fun for me. Many thanks! [BS]
As expected from Carpathian, straight-down-the-line fair clues. Mrs Beeton’s book deserves a little exploring – she included lots of other people’s recipes, but there’s no doubt that it was extraordinarily influential. She had four children who survived – and she died at the remarkably young age of 28! [HS]
Couple of unknown words and an unusal spelling. Overall enjoyed this. [JC]
Yummy! For both puzzle and theme. [MM]
Delicious! [AB]
A delightful puzzle! Thanks to Carpathian and Patch. Was the picture of the beetroot a red- (or purple-) herring, or an allusion to Mrs Beet-root?… [MC]
Great level of challenge here. Loved the approach to the theming with the scattered clues, although I don’t think I’ve ever eaten such an elaborate trifle in my life. [BR]
Really enjoyed this one, loved the theme! [AJ]