Some great clues here. Very entertaining but not easy.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CYBORG: CrY (losing R) + BORG (tennis player) |
| 4,23 | CANDLELIGHT: CAN + L (last letter of girL) in DELIGHT |
| 9 | TABU: TAB + U (universal – cinema rating) |
| 10 | GREY MATTER: &Lit |
| 12 | OLIVE OIL: is this simply a double definition? |
| 13 | ODOURLESS: anagram of EUROS SOLD |
| 15 | WING: N (first letter of nestle) in WIG (rug) |
| 16,21 | PLAY WITH FIRE: Prometheus is famous for giving the gift of fire to mankind (and for that trick with his liver!) |
| 17 | SURROGATE: (TAG OR) reversed in SURE |
| 22 | SALMON: M (mullet primarily, first letter) in SALON |
| 24,2 | PROMETHEUS BOUND: anagram of PONDEROUS THE BUM |
| 25 | GAPE: G (good) + APE |
| 26 | OODLES: pOODLES without the ‘p’ |
| 27 | FACTOR: ACT in FOR (supporting) |
| Down | |
| 1 | CHANTED: anagram of TEN in CHAD |
| 3 | RAG DOLL: anagram of DOG in RALL (rallentando, getting slower gradually) |
| 5 | ARMPIT: TIP M (male) RA (artist, Royal Academy) |
| 6 | DITHERING: ID (reversed) THE RING |
| 7 | EVENING: salmon chanted EVENING, a song from the Muppets (a play on Some Enchanted Evening) |
| 8 | LEMON SQUEEZER: LEMON + SQUEEZER |
| 14 | UNASHAMED: anagram of MEAN SADHU |
| 16 | PRIOR TO: R (right) + I (one) in PORT (left) + O (roundabout) |
| 18 | ROSS SEA: SS in ROSE + A, a bay in the Southern Ocean in Antarica |
| 19 | TROOPER: O in REPORT (reversed) |
| 20 | TIPTOE: PTO (please turn over) in TIE (as in FA cup draw) |
12 is a tad more than a DD, hence ‘talk about’ in the clue. Popeye’s girl friend’s surname was Oyl.
12ac – Popeye’s girlfriend is actually Olive OYL , hence the “Talk about”.
Thank you, Diagacht, for the explanation of 7dn, which I couldn’t see.
12ac: All I can add is that Popeye’s girlfriend was Olive OYL, hence ‘talk about’.
Congrats, Conrad, on winning the typing race!
Alternatively:
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Sam and Janet.
Sam and Janet who?
Sam and Janet evening…
Thanks Eileen. It was a fluke. You are the guvnor.
Andrew beat me to the old knock knock joke which I must admit made me graff (groan/laff) when I got 7D…
So what’s with the Prometheus Bound and Greek tragedy then? Obviously I managed to look op Prometheus cos of the fire thing but what’s the ‘bound’ bit? I usually like Paul because his stuff is contemporary and doesn’t usually need a “classical education” to solve (mutter, mutter, grumble, grumble). I’ll let him off for once for the laugh I got from 7D and the slight smirk from 10A.
Prometheus was “bound” to a rock as punishment for stealing fire from Zeus and giving it to mortals. An eagle then ate his liver every day only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day. Ugh – Sounds offal to me!
‘Prometheus bound’ is a Greek tragedy attributed to the dramatist, Aeschylus.
Thanks, Eileen – I guessed ‘Prometheus Bound’ must be a Greek Tragedy but didn’t get confirmation from my Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. It did explain the Prometheus fable, and also the following, not strictly relevant…
“Promethean. Capable of producing fire. A somewhat dangerous match invented in 1828 was known as a Promethean. It consisted of a small glass bulb containing sulphuric acid, the outside being coated with potassium chlorate, sugar, and gum surrounded by a paper wrapping… When the glass was bitten with the teeth the chlorate fired the paper.” Blimey!
As you say, Muck, Blimey! Far safer to rub two sticks together!
Thanks for the offal pun, Frances, 😉
Paul missed (?) a link in 11ac – the priestess mentioned there is a character in Prometheus Bound.
Nice succinct blog, diagacht.
Fun crossword, as always from Paul, but much more straightforward than usual (I thought) – quite a lot of obvious anagrams and none of the complex charade clues with brilliant misleading surface readings which he is so good at. I knew of PROMETHEUS BOUND, which did help…