SINGAPORE – This week’s ST×NLB Crossword was constructed by my puzzle co-editor, Assistant Editor Rei Kurohi, who is part of a team of 40 volunteers from both organisations. Here’s her message to solvers:
When I first learned of the existence of sake LEES (5A) many years ago, I chuckled and said to myself, “Haha, like the two Prime Ministers!” Now, I get to inflict that joke on all of you. I hope you enjoy this week’s jumbo puzzle, stuffed full of allusions and a clue list that my colleague in charge of the print layout described as “super long, please trim the text as much as possible”.
Weaving together references to mediaeval legend, Russian literature, and Greek myth and poetry, this week’s puzzle may appeal especially to the lettered crowd. But for those of us who might benefit from a crash course in literature and classics, let’s break down a few of these references.
MERLIN (15A) is the legendary [Wizard adviser to King Arthur]. Although now inseparable from the familiar tales of Camelot, the magician was not part of the earliest Arthurian stories. The Merlin we know emerged largely from the work of 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose Historia Regum Britanniae drew on earlier Welsh legends and introduced the prophecies of Merlin. The story of the prophetic sorcerer and royal adviser would subsequently be retold in countless books, films and television series.
Another character who has enjoyed a substantial cultural afterlife is ICARUS (28A), known to have flown too close to the sun in Greek myth. Imprisoned on Crete, Icarus escaped with wings fashioned from feathers and wax by his father, the master craftsman Daedalus. He was warned neither to fly too low, where sea spray might weigh down the wings, nor too high, where the sun would melt them. When Icarus failed to heed his father’s warning and continued to soar upwards, the wax indeed began to melt, and the intemperate boy plunged into the sea. His name has since become a byword for ambition carried perilously too far.
Speaking of which, it is also the SEA (30D) which Homer describes as wine-dark in The Odyssey. The phrase is translated from the recurring Greek epithet “oinops pontos”, whose precise sense has inspired generations of scholarly debate over whether Homer was evoking the sea’s colour, darkness, gleam, or shifting surface. Some scholars regard it chiefly as a literary flourish of no particular significance, chosen more for its poetic and metrical usefulness than for any exact shade it might describe.
From ancient epics, we proceed to late-19th-century Russian ennui. Uncle VANYA (10D) is Anton Chekhov’s play about a country estate populated by characters troubled by regret and unrequited affections. Vanya is a familiar form of Ivan, the given name of its disillusioned title character, Ivan Voynitsky. Like much of Chekhov, the play demonstrates that very little needs to happen externally for quite a lot to be happening inside everyone.
Former bus conductor Foo Ah Boon holding a ticket punch, a tool he first used in 1968. When The Sidaislers sang “You could take a little trip around Singapore town in the Singapore city bus”, they probably imagined a bus like this.
PHOTO: TNP FILE
Amid all these literary references, I must admit that I momentarily assumed the line “To see the sunrise on a faraway ISLE (8D), turning darkness into light” had also been excerpted from some classic I was unfamiliar with, until the iconic tune of Singapore Town began piping up from a long-dormant recess of my brain. First performed by local singing group The Sidaislers in 1967, the song was itself adapted from one about Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Having completed that whistle-stop tour from Camelot to Crete and the Russian countryside, let’s return to references a little closer to home.
9A. RESERVED SEATS are [Front-row spots at a getai show, say]. At getai performances held during the Hungry Ghost Festival, the front row is traditionally left vacant for visiting spirits, while living spectators sit a respectful distance behind. First-time attendees delighted to find an unobstructed front-row view should therefore resist the temptation to “upgrade” themselves.
21A. The CHINGAY PARADE is the [Annual street procession with floats and costumes]. Singapore’s modern Chingay began as a Chinese New Year street parade in 1973, although such processions have a much longer local history. Accounts of Chingay-like festivities here stretch back to the 19th century. Once centred on Chinese folk performances, the event has evolved into a multicultural spectacle of illuminated floats, dancers and other performers.
Kampong Glam’s 19th-century shophouses have been turned into boutiques, textile stores and trendy cafes and restaurants.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
38A. Kampong GLAM is the [neighbourhood with many fab boutiques, appropriately]. The district may be among Singapore’s most fashionable enclaves today, but its name is commonly thought to derive from the gelam tree which once grew abundantly in the area, and whose timber was used for boat-making and firewood. Another theory links the name to the Orang Gelam, who were among the communities living there. Either way, with its vibrant street art, boutique shops and buzzy cafes, the term “glam” certainly feels apt for the area nowadays.
Book recommendations
Let the week’s clues inspire your next read, courtesy of NLB. Follow the links to borrow.
39A. “The most dramatic instances of directed behavior change and ‘mind control’ are not the consequence of exotic forms of influence, such as HYPNOSIS, psychotropic drugs, or ‘brainwashing,’ but rather the systematic manipulation of the most mundane aspects of human nature over time in confining settings.” — The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip G. Zimbardo
14D. “Our brains are not evolved for this world of plenty. As Dr Tom Finucane, who studies diabetes in the setting of chronic sedentary feeding, said, ‘We are CACTI in the rain forest.’ And like cacti adapted to an arid climate, we are drowning in dopamine.” — Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance In The Age Of Indulgence by Anna Lembke
17D. “Most people are only as NEEDY as their unmet needs.” — Attached: The New Science Of Adult Attachment And How It Can Help You Find—And Keep—Love by Amir Levine
Across
1. Like infant formula, often (8): POWDERED
5. Sake by-product, or two past PMs (4): LEES
9. Front-row spots at a getai show, say (8,5): RESERVED SEATS
13. Nosy? (5): NASAL
14. Relative who might be removed (6): COUSIN
15. Wizard adviser to King Arthur (6): MERLIN
18. Dec 31, for short (3): NYE
20. Before (3): PRE
21. Annual street procession with floats and costumes (7,6): CHINGAY PARADE
26. Tic-___-toe (3): TAC
27. German one (3): EIN
28. He flew too close to the sun (6): ICARUS
31. In a polite way (6): NICELY
33. What birds and squids have in common (5): BEAKS
35. Unscripted Q&A format popularised on Reddit (3,2,8): ASK ME ANYTHING
38. Kampong ____ (neighbourhood with many fab boutiques, appropriately) (4): GLAM
39. Suggestible state, perhaps induced by a swinging pocket watch (8): HYPNOSIS
Down
1. Golfer’s concern (3): PAR
2. Chinese martial arts (5): WUSHU
3. Getting paid (7): EARNING
4. Former partners (4): EXES
6. Period or property agency (3): ERA
7. Delivery method for OTPs, often (3): SMS
8. “To see the sunrise on a faraway ____, turning darkness into light” (4): ISLE
10. Uncle _____ (Anton Chekhov play) (5): VANYA
11. Marina Barrage, for one (3): DAM
12. Second follower (5): THIRD
14. Prickly plants (5): CACTI
16. Legal document for designating decision-makers (3): LPA
17. Impoverished (5): NEEDY
19. Covet (3): EYE
22. Breaks (into), digitally (5): HACKS
23. Passport issuer (3): ICA
24. Fifth digit (5): PINKY
25. Actress Jennifer, of Friends fame (7): ANISTON
29. Grab rival before 2018 (4): UBER
30. What Homer describes as wine-dark in The Odyssey (3): SEA
32. Makes changes before publishing (5): EDITS
34. HK celeb Lau or US artist Warhol (4): ANDY
35. NDP month, for short (3): AUG
36. Korean car brand or kid, colloquially (3): KIA
37. Driver’s navigational aid (3): GPS
If you have any feedback, feel free to write to us at stgames@sph.com.sg. See you next week!
