Guardian 24,309 – Brendan : “Don’t bring me down”
Posted by neildubya on February 12th, 2008
I don’t have a lot of time this morning, so it was convenient that I got most of this quite quickly.
Lots of long solutions, with lots of falling, dropping and coming to earth.
To reduce The Guardian’s carbon footprint and save ink, setters should endeavour to reduce the number of black squares in their puzzles. Discuss.
ACROSS
8 CH-EERIER
9 Omitted on purpose
10 A(PA)CHE
11 VEHICLES – double meaning of “something you dissolve an active ingredient in” and “travel machines”
12 Omitted on purpose and it wasn’t really much of a challenge was it ?
13 HIT THE ROOF – Not M. Thatcher, just any thatcher
15 HYGIENE – (H EYEING)*
16 FIR(CON)E
18 ou(TRAGED I ANS)were – i.e the opposite of “comedians”
19 BOOK – as in the biblical book of Job
20 AP(PRO-V)AL – note : PRO-V is supporting + V(ery) – not anything to do with shampoo
22 Didn’t get it in time – anyone ?
23 METEOR – (REMOTE)*
24 NET WORTH – (THE TOWN)* + R
DOWN
1 THE PENNY DROPPED – Clever. Nothing to do with the period known as Epiphany – this refers to epiphanies in general.
2 DESCENDING ORDER – groan !
3 GIVE THE NOD – (HEED VOTING)*
4 Omitted on purpose – simple double definition
5 POOH – The famous bear. And to pooh-pooh is to ridicule
6 REACH ROCK BOTTOM – a rock is a diamond, “Nick in play” is “Bottom”. Less sure about why “reach” is “pass”
7 COME DOWN TO EARTH – reference to a fox “going to earth”
14 HAIR SHIRTS – (IRISH TRASH)* worn during Lent or other period of sorrow
17 FAL-LING – the river Fal runs through Fal-mouth and a Ling is every setter’s best fish
21 Didn’t get it in time – do help me out
February 12th, 2008 at 10:59 am
21D is VERB : To best [someone] is not very different in meaning from to worst. This was the last I got only after a fair bit of thought and only because the best/worst equivalent meanings has come up elsewhere recently.
22A IN-TRAY : Work to be done – not sure of the carrier reference.
What is ink made of?
February 12th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Pass = Reach maybe in the sense of reaching the finishing line? A bit tenuous…
February 12th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I think for in-tray, the carrier reference is as simple as a tray you would carry drinks on?
February 12th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
always nice to see OREGON getting its moment on the world stage (my parents live there!)
February 12th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Re: 7D – it’s not just a reference to a fox “going to earth” – an earth is another word for a fox’s den or lair – so “foxhole” and “earth” are pretty much synonyms.
February 12th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Im drawing a complete blank on 4D for some reason. Im guessing it is one of those ones that is just gonna annoy me all day. Does anyone want to give me a hint?
February 12th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Michael Newton
February 12th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Ah! Thank you Beermagnet. I knew that as soon as I saw a hint I would kick myself
Thanks very much for that 
February 12th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I think REACH=PASS is common usage, as in ‘could you reach me that tray, please’ – it may be colloquial, and I’m not sure if it’s supported by the dictionary, but clear enough (once I’d realised it wasn’t TOUCH ROCK BOTTOM, that is!)
February 12th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
17 down “River fish moving under 4″
17 is vertically under 4; ergo, falling under gravity