This caused me some trouble with two clues solved but unexplained.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 9 | NORWEGIAN: anagram of WEARING NO |
| 10 | ANNIE: hidden in bemoAN NIEtzsche |
| 11 | CAPTAIN: A P (a page) in anagram of ACT I + N (opening night) |
| 12 | HADDOCK: HAD on the DOCK |
| 13 | SNOWY: reversed and hidden in easilY WON Second |
| 14 | BARNACLES: anagram of CLEAN BRAS |
| 16 | VIRGINIA CREEPER: VIRGIN (uncorrupted) + I A (one article) + CREEPER (brothel creepers were a fashionable type of shoe in the rockabilly 1950’s |
| 19 | ROTAVATES: breaks ground, but the cryptic? |
| 23 | HIRSUTE: anagram of HER SUIT, and also a homophone |
| 25 | NULLIFIES: anagram of FUN IE (that is) and SILL (silly without y, the unkonwn) |
| Down | |
| 1 | KNOCKS OVER: |
| 2 | TRAPDOOR: reverse of ROOD (cross) PART (section) |
| 3 | LEGACY: EG in LACY (sounds like lacey) |
| 4 | JINN: J (judge) + INN |
| 5 | ON THE ROCKS: as in whiskey, barnacles and a place to get wrecked |
| 6 | LAID BARE: BAR in anagram of IDEAL |
| 7 | IN GOAL: IN + anagram of A LOG |
| 8 | WEEK: creation takes place in a week according to Genesis 1; also WEE K (baby grand) |
| 14 | BLISTERING: anagram of TIRES in BLING |
| 15 | STRIPTEASE: TEASE (guy, as in joe) after STRIP |
| 17 | INVOLVED: double definition |
| 18 | POP MUSIC: based on the presumption that a father disapproves of the musical taste of his child |
| 20 | TINTIN: Tintin lives with Captain Haddock at Marlinspike Hall; he has a dog called Snowy. So far so good, but the cryptic? |
| 21,24 | MARLIN SPIKE: MARLINS PIKE; a marlin spike is used to separate strands of rope |
| 22 | DOSH: DOS (parties) + H |
19ac: SET-AV[i]ATOR reversed
I couldn’t unpack 20dn, either, but thought the theme quite amusing, with the blistering barnacles as well.
Thanks for 9ac: I could see it must be NORWEGIAN but didn’t spot the anagrind.
20d ‘singsong oddly enough’ is SnSn, ie Tintin.
20dn: that’s brilliant! I’d thought it might be alternate letters but would never have got to ‘TIN’. [touche for yesterday, Colin: it was my Science that was not very good! I knew stannum was tin but think I thought the symbol was ST]
18dn I think is an &lit, with wordplay = “some bars” = MUSIC “looked down on by” = under, “old man” = “POP”.
Did you mean to omit the explanation of 1dn? Anyway, it’s S + V-O rev in KNOCKER. I’m not sure what the Guardian Women’s page (does it still exist?) would have to say about that…
I thought the misdirection in 7dn was clever – I was trying to justify ON FIRE or similar for a while before I got it.
I was very impressed with this one!
19 ac is set aviator – I returning
Can anyone explain 3d to me please.
3D Legacy: Definition is “something left behind”; EG is “say”, which is “in” “sort of underwear” LACY. It is confusing because it has what is being inserted specified after the first part.
Thanks, Beermagnet. That’s exactly what I was confused about. He must be a libertarian!
Thanks, Colin, for explaining 20dn. I spotted a song included in ‘BelgiAN THEMe’, but eventually the crossing letters gave me the correct Belgian theme.
I finished this but I sometimes think that clues generally are getting too elaborate so that I put in two answers here without being able to summon the enthusiasm to work out the cryptology. Is that a defect in me or the setter? Did anyone work out Tintin from the cryptic clue (sn sn) before finding the solution from the other clues first?
I enjoyed this on the whole, but have to agree I also couldn’t find the enthusiasm to work out “Tintin” and “Rotovates”; however, I thought “Hirsute” was too obvious to be the answer, so left it out, which didn’t help in completing the bottom corner.
I got CAPTAIN and then HADDOCK, which led me to TINTIN – and, no, I couldn’t see the cryptic clue either. But a thematic crossword can become too easy if the keyword is too straightforwardly clued. I forgive Puck for this one – there are so many really good, imaginative clues with excellent (though highly misleading) surface readings in this puzzle. “Muff’ as an anagrind is wonderful.
Could someone please explain the ones I still don’t get?
1d – How do you get KNOCKER from Bristol?
7d – What is the def? I can’t get from “keeping alight” to IN GOAL.
1d – Diagacht is a man of the church and so probably hesitated to explain this one!
Think Cockney rhyming slang for Bristol City…
7d – “Keeping” is the solution indicator i.e. what a goal-keeper does. IN (alight) + anagram of A LOG
Nobody has given the answer to 22 across. I got Dangler but don’t totally understand the loose swinger.