A note from the Membership Secretary
On Wednesday the moon put out the light, the birds altered their plans, and the Society placed two clues beneath the event as though it had arranged the whole thing.
It had not. The Committee asked me to make that point particularly clear.
What the Society did arrange was a Crossing for the occasion, with the answers kept back until today. If you have carried them since Wednesday, you may now check your work. If you have not, the full explanation is below, and nobody in the parlour will think less of you. Dr Quire took the second hint herself.
Mr Peregrine Fitch, Membership Secretary
The Crossing, as posed
Two clues, one shared letter. Six letters across and five down. They meet at the third letter of the across answer and the fourth letter of the down answer.
1 across (6). Racoon, disturbed, seen only at totality
1 down (5). Some plum brandy in the moon's deepest shadow
The workings follow. Look away now if you would rather keep the eclipse a little longer.
The workings
1 across. Racoon, disturbed, seen only at totality (6)
The answer is CORONA.
The honest part is "seen only at totality". The sun's corona is its pale, outer atmosphere, normally lost in the glare. During a total eclipse the moon covers the bright disc and the corona appears around it. It is the white halo people cross countries to stand beneath for a few minutes.
The disguised part is an anagram. "Disturbed" is the signal, and RACOON is the material. The single C spelling is accepted British English, and all six letters are present:
RACOON, disturbed, becomes CORONA.
The surface is doing more than making a pleasing picture. Animals really do alter their behaviour in the false night of totality. A disturbed racoon is not merely plausible on eclipse day, it is almost documentary.
1 down. Some plum brandy in the moon's deepest shadow (5)
The answer is UMBRA.
The definition is "the moon's deepest shadow". The umbra is the cone in which the sun is completely hidden. Where that cone touches the Earth, the eclipse is total. Everyone outside it receives only part of the performance.
The wordplay is already printed in the clue. "Some" tells you to look inside what follows. Run the two words together:
plUM BRAndy
UMBRA sits across the join, consecutive and undisturbed. The surface offers a hip flask at an eclipse gathering while the answer waits inside the drink. Dr Quire considers this efficient hospitality.
And the crossing
The R in CORONA is the R in UMBRA. Solve the halo and it gives you a foothold in the shadow. Solve the shadow first and it returns the favour. That small exchange is why the Society sets two clues rather than leaving either one to face the dark alone.
The Doorkeeper's Question, answered
Last Sunday's Dispatch asked:
Some evening in Naples, the drink (3)
The answer is GIN.
"Some" is the hidden-word signal. Put evening beside Naples and the answer appears at the join: eveninG INaples. The definition is "the drink". Three letters, all accounted for, with no need to trouble the bar.
This week's Doorkeeper's Question
One small thing to carry until next Sunday:
Fish distraction (7)
The answer appears in the next Dispatch. The Doorkeeper reads everything and confirms nothing.
The Society of Crossed Words publishes a daily crossing for those beginning, and a course in four volumes for those continuing.
societyofcrossedwords.com