Clues by Amoeba and Grid by Calluna
Theme: Pottery
The winner of the September Extra puzzle is Sheila Gammon of Northumberland.
Review of the September Extra 2024 3D crossword
An extra busy grid for this Extra puzzle at 7 x 5 x 7 and 39 entries. Some of the thematic entries are wordplay only, and many of those are named for places, so this could be a bit tricky.
Not many strange words in the fill, though DISPARK seemed an odd choice. All the words, even the proper(ish) ones are in Chambers, though you may have to add “ware”, “china” or similar to find the thematic entries.
Cluing is pretty straightforward, but there are some cute ones here. I liked “country club” for UN. I had to check the name of Arsenal’s manager, but I’ll remember it now. 25’s LEAR NER(D) made me chuckle.
The theme words are all types of pottery, many named for their place of origin. This opened the door to clue MEISSEN using “Nessie” spelled backward (rather than as an anagram of “nemesis” which is the more usual clue, I think).
The shaded squares spell PORCELAIN and KAOLIN, bringing everything together and getting down to its essence.
With a lot of thematic content and solid cluing, this puzzle is a fine ceramic piece to add to your china cabinet.
ab
Grid solution
Clues and explanations
Thematic solutions are indicated with an asterisk.
| Day | Solution | Direction, Clue, Count | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ADDRESS | 22up Speak to that man not in bearskin? (7) | {he}ADDRESS |
| 2 | ANTHILL | 8d Where workers might be found after government’s banned all-night shifts (7) | (ALLNIgHT)* – G |
| 3 | ATTIC* | 22aw Web discovered in loft (5) | {l}ATTIC{e} Attic red and black figures are an iconic part of Ancient Greek pottery |
| 4 | AVIATES | 11ba Flies salivate uncontrollably, not close to meal (7) | SA{l}IVATE |
| 5 | AXIAL | 14to Part of hoax I alleged to be pivotal (5) | {ho}AXIAL{leged} |
| 6 | BISCUIT* | 3d Maybe Cracker Barrel is originally charged under international treaty (7) | B+IS+C~+U~+I~+T~ Biscuit (also known as bisque) refers to any pottery that has been fired in a kiln without a ceramic glaze. |
| 7 | BISECTS | 2ba Cuts through nonsense surrounding newspaper’s shocking treatment (7) | (IS+ECT) in BS (nonsense) |
| 8 | BODINGS | 2d Concerning signs in toilets about noise (7) | BO(DIN)GS |
| 9 | BRISTOL* | 3ac City reduced charge following religious ceremony (7) | BRIS+TOL{l} Bristol porcelain was made in Bristol by several companies in the 18th and 19th centuries. |
| 10 | BULGE | 2aw Swelling ultimately turning blue, oddly (5) | (~G+BLUE*) |
| 11 | CELADON* | 27ac Maybe Guinness sent back — whiskey’s missing from drink (7) | ALEC<+DO{w}N Celadon is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware, and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was first used on greenware, but later used on other porcelains. |
| 12 | CERAMIC* | 7d Caught tailless rodents after a long time (7) | C+ERA+MIC{e} |
| 13 | CHATEAU | 1d Twice leaves posh mansion (7) | CHA+TEA+U |
| 14 | CHINA* | 1aw Try to knock out a mate of the Krays? (5) | CHIN+A Chinese porcelain was also called “China” in Western countries. “China” has become the common word for “porcelain” in English. |
| 15 | CRACKLE* | 7ac Laugh over photographer’s last series of snaps (7) | C(~R)ACKLE Crackle glaze is type of ceramic glaze that is intentionally crazed. |
| 16 | CUBES | 7to Dice and sticks entertaining boy at first (5) | CU(B)ES |
| 17 | DELFT* | 28to Bayern’s XI in deep trouble initially (5) | D(ELF)T elf=11 in German Tin-glazed earthenware made in Delft since the 17th century, typically having blue decoration on a white ground. |
| 18 | DISPARK | 28up Throw open detective’s position (7) | DIS+PARK |
| 19 | DRESDEN* | 16ac Doctor needs to be punished (7) | DR+NEEDS* Dresden refers to an artistic movement within porcelain making, rather than a particular manufacturer. In 1883, the now-famous blue crown Dresden mark was registered, and the Dresden style was created. |
| 20 | DRIPS | 18aw Ducks eating river weeds (5) | D(R)IPS |
| 21 | EMOJI | 17aw Iconic bit of text? (5) | cd |
| 22 | ENABLED | 10ac Authorised nurse, retired, inserting line (7) | EN+AB(L)ED |
| 23 | INTROIT | 4d A daughter gives up on tradition, changing anthem (7) | TR{ad}ITION* The anthem sung at the beginning of Mass. |
| 24 | KITES | 9to Film involves extremely intelligent birds (5) | K(I~T)ES |
| 25 | LEARNER | 6d Student’s perhaps a big fan of Shakespearean king exiling daughter (7) | LEAR+NER{d} |
| 26 | MEISSEN* | 20ac Mark return of mythical beast (7) | M+NESSIE< Meissen porcelain, also called Dresden porcelain or porcelaine de Saxe, German hard-paste, or true, porcelain produced at the Meissen factory, near Dresden. |
| 27 | NINON | 21to Fabric taken in, only to an extent (5) | {take}N IN ON{ly} |
| 28 | NONUPLE | 29up Not a single university place fills nine times (7) | NON(U+PL)E |
| 29 | PLAID | 15to Pattern still out of copyright (5) | PLA{c)ID |
| 30 | PLASTER MOULD* | 15ba,20to Final parts for every module briefly revised (7,5) | P(LAST)ER+MODUL{e}* |
| 31 | RASSE | 12to Civet occasionally roars and snake loses heart (5) | R{o}A{r}S+S~E |
| 32 | SATSUMA* | 25ba Something you have to do when turning orange (7) | A+MUST+AS< Satsuma pottery was made in or around Satsuma in southern Japan in the late 19th century through to the early 1920s. |
| 33 | SIREN | 25aw Attractive singer of Father and Son’s outro? (5) | SIRE+~N |
| 34 | TETRA | 13to Arsenal’s manager nearly rejected fish (5) | ARTET{a}< |
| 35 | TITULAR | 26ac Formal ritual runs on time (7) | RITUAL* after T |
| 36 | TODDLES | 24up In retirement, disheartened Scouse lieutenant drinks rum and walks unsteadily (7) | S~E+LT around ODD |
| 37 | TRIVIAL | 5d In Yorkshire, the match opened by India is meaningless (7) | T+RIV(I)AL |
| 38 | UNTIL | 23aw Before, you discussed books with international student (5) | hom U+NT+I+L |
| 39 | UTOPIAN | 19ac Perfect renovation of patio transfixes country club (7) | PATIO* inside UN |
| Required | PORCELAIN | Product (9) | |
| Required | KAOLIN | Primitive form (6) |
Solvers’ comments
Hopefully smashed it! [RP]
A very enjoyable puzzle. Some nice clueing and a neat theme. DISPARK (what a great word) and CELADON were new to me. We couldn’t parse ADDRESS so that’s something to look forward to in the November newsletter. Thanks Amoeba (a good first outing) and Calluna. [CW]
Nicely crafted puzzle to potter over. [NI]
A delightful little extra, that I suspect I may well need before the year is out! [MS]
Nice extra puzzle [MD]
Very enjoyable, with many fun clues. 😀 [MN]
Good fun. Many thanks to the compilers. [AH]
I really enjoyed doing it .Thank you [LA]
A bonus treat! Heaven on a plate, if you’ll pardon the allusion!!!! Thanks so much to Amoeba and Calluna. Not easy but most enjoyable. Still not sure I got it all. But I had fun! I thought 20ac (Day 26) MEISSEN was particularly clever. [JA]
After a narrow fail last month, I was pleased to get back on track with this elegant offering. The image gave enough of a clue that I wasn’t struggling in the dark for too long. Momentarily discomforted by clue 18 – I had P R and E still to fit into PORCELAIN, but couldn’t see how DIS*A*K could make a sensible word using them. Who knew? [PA]
VERY educational as well as being great fun. x [RE]
Guessed the theme straight away thanks to the preamble and the artwork, which made things a bit easier. Very enjoyable as ever. Thanks Amoeba. [SC]
An enjoyable debut from Amoeba, ably abetted by Calluna. Not too hard – more like a freshly-thrown pot than a fully-baked Le Creuset – but very enjoyable. The MEISSEN/Nessie reversal was worth the entry fee alone! [MC]
An enjoyable puzzle throughout, with an original theme, which opened up for me with DELFT. Thanks to Amoeba and Calluna for creating this ‘extra’ puzzle in the calendar. [AB]
Enjoyable, good level of clues – not too easy, but could not parse ‘TRIVIAL’, ‘ATTIC’ or ‘ADDRESS’. some words were new to me – CELADON, DISPARK, INTROIT, NONUPLE – but gettable from word play. Thanks to Amoeba and Calluna. [JC]
To my knowledge this is my first puzzle from Amoeba and I thoroughly enjoyed it, with my favorite mix of unfamiliar words, new facts, and nicely misdirecting but not indecipherable (!) clues. I laughed out loud when the penny dropped at the use of “country club” in 39. Thanks very much to Aomeba and Calluna! [JS]
Interesting puzzle with good thematic content. Nice clueing. [JP]
Nice thematic. Before solving I thought of butterfly and cocoon; maybe next time? 18 a new word for me. 3 puzzling. [MJ]
Getting this in early despite quite a few question marks, to clear time for October puzzle! If it’s correct I can stop worrying about the question marks – but I have answers that I find very convincing for days 21 and 22 but they are not in the right order alphabetically! Delightful theme and many enjoyable pithy clues. [EF]
Meissen easy! [DR]
Really nice puzzle, solved at a leisurely pace. Took me a time to discern the theme and then things fell into place. Makes a change from going at a puzzle like a bull in a china shop! Thanks. [JT]
Nice to have an unusual subject. [PD]
A well-crafted puzzle, as elegant as its subject matter. [SB]
Slow start until we got the theme, but then suddenly lots fell into place. Good clues, not too many obscure words. [J&JH]
Thanks to Amoeba and Calluna for an interesting and at times tricky puzzle. It was fun spotting the various thematic items! [RS]
An enjoyable extra. I’m still looking for a few of the thematic items with definitions though! [JB]
Enjoyed the challenge on a completely new theme! [SF]
Very enjoyable and lovely theme, though I didn’t get all the thematic references. A great extra puzzle. [BS]
A good work out. Let us think I have put it in correctly. [RG]
Really enjoyed it. [SG]
Lovely economical clueing. [JG]