The winner of the July puzzle is Dannish Babar of Derby.
Quite a poignant photograph this month: while it may indicate 'stump', for me there is the thought of one cut down in his prime. For the great slow left-armer Hedley Verity, hero of this incredible 10 for 10 against Nottinghamshire, and of 15 wickets at Lord's two years later to beat Australia, died a hero's death at Anzio on the last day of another July, that of 1943.
Poignant, but also amazingly coincidental in a month when two more Yorkshiremen (helped of course by a couple of Lancastrians and a Kiwi) have been making England once more a power in world cricket. Is Soup clairvoyant?
Ten for ten! Two great achievements. Those of us who know the excellent monthly magazine 1Across, which Araucaria founded and which Soup edits, were already aware that he is a highly original and ingenious setter. But what has he managed here? To think of the theme, then find ten words of the right lengths, in which R may be altered to W without losing the sense or creating a nonsensical clue might rightly be counted a very tough task. If anyone was to pull that off, it would be Soup, who among other accomplishments, I believe keeps a list of words which remain real words when put through a 'Caesar shift' cipher. And then he has also made a grid without a single snake or bar. When you consider the feat of making every clue relevant to cricket, it's a minor miracle.
My favourite clue in the whole thing is the unassuming Day 36 TRILL/TWILL. It hinges on the double meaning of 'caps' as both headgear and a way of presenting initial letters. Acrostic clues of this type are very difficult to disguise – some solvers wage war against the over-used word 'initially' – but the way to disguise anything is to make it look natural. Caps can of course be worn back on the head, or even turned round in a way I associate with Lleyton Hewitt the tennis-player. Cloth caps are easily associated with the North of England, and thus with Lancashire. The solver is invited to imagine Lancashire League cricketers – for shame! – turning up to a game in such apparel. A clue that paints a picture in that way is so effective.
Another clue I particularly liked was that for TRICE/TWICE. I suppose Soup must have spotted the anagram potential of 'playing cricket' very early on, but he did well to keep it for this plausible story about catches dropped off the former England captain.
Other clues which show the smooth technique which can defeat the solver are those for GOSPELS and ARMILLA. We – loving the game as we do (don't we?) – are so deeply plunged in cricket and its lore at this point that it is difficult to stand back and see that the definitions are 'they chronicle' and 'bracelet' respectively: the clues seem to be leading us towards finer points of training and technique. Interesting that Armillaria mellitus, the underground horror so dreaded by gardeners, is thus a 'bracelet', not a 'bootlace' fungus. Who knew?
Another thing which was educational for me was day 38's WEST END as the location of the Ageas Bowl. And I nearly despaired over OSCAR, taking ages to remember that a Beamer is also a car from Southern Germany. I liked Day 18's LACTATE, but I suspect Soup may have been frustrated when he decided he really did have to put that comma in and not just leave it looking like a double-dashed parenthesis. A less scrupulous setter (I can think of some) might have just warned us about lapses in punctuation and left us to flounder. It's still a lovely clue, tea and 'drinks' being such important parts of a summer day's cricket.
Do I have a quibble anywhere? Possibly. I was a bit perplexed by M as 'grand' on Day 31. I know a 'grand' is a thousand pounds, but can it be a thousand of anything else?
Would I have worked out the cryptic drawing clue if I hadn't had the advantage of knowing of the record beforehand? Not sure. I thought it might be one of Frank Paul's easier clues, but the 'leave' part of it is quite devilish.
This puzzle may have its detractors, and I will be very kind to them. Not loving cricket must be quite a heavy cross to bear. I can't think of any other reason for not enjoying such a clever and innovative puzzle.
AGC
Grid Solution
July 2022 solution continued ...
See the full list of solutions and explanations and solvers' comments on our website. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
