Well, here goes with my first blog. I picked up my Independent with some trepidation but as soon as I turned to The Inquisitor and saw that it was by Phi, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I find Phi’s cluing to be reasonably fair most of the time and this was no exception. I was also all geared up for some July 4th US Independence theme but ’twas not to be.
According to the preamble: A number of answers 12 and in doing so provide a definition of 12. Numbers in brackets do not always refer to clue answers.
Several of the across answers that bordered the left edge or right edge were too long for their grid space thus causing them to HANGOVER the grid (effectively losing their first or last letter, as appropriate.)
The excess letters to the left spelled out THE WRATH and the excess letters to the right spelled out OF GRAPES thus THE WRATH OF GRAPES which I’m sure many of us have experienced as a result of the EXCESS the night before.
Solving time: 90 minutes
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | First | Answer | Last | Wordplay |
| 1 | DAEDAL | LA (US city)+DEAD (absolutely) (all reversed: backing) |
||
| 5 | EVER S | O | E(nergy)+VERSO (left hand page) |
|
| 9 | T | RUMP | RUM inside TP (township) |
|
| 10 | ONESEL | F | ON (acceptable)+FEELS (anag, anagrind:odd) |
|
| 11 | H | ORSESHOE | (gardene)RS inside HOES (tools)+HOE (extra one!) |
|
| 13 | ROADSHOW | A inside RODS (poles)+HOW (question) |
||
| 14 | E | GMONT | EG (say)+N(ew) inside MOT (French for word: word in Paris.) Egmont, opus 84, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I’ll have forgotten that next week 😉 |
|
| 15 | STUN | G | NUT (devotee) inside GS (G&S) (reversed) |
|
| 17 | W | ORRIT | OR (gold) inside WRIT (legal document) |
|
| 19 | GLOAT | (ow)L inside GO AT (attack.) This one had me baffled for ages as I knew it had to be GLOAT but I couldn’t see how GOAT represented “attack”- d’oh! |
||
| 20 | OTAGO | TAG (name) inside OO (rings.) OTAGO is a region in the south of the south island of New Zealand. Anywhere near where Phi lives? I don’t know. |
||
| 22 | FUREU | R | FUR (hide)+RUE (reversed.) Apparently a French word for extravagant admiration |
|
| 23 | R | USHY | RUSH (sudden flow)+Y (unknown.) RUSHY=made of rushes |
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| 24 | LAPUT | A | A+PUT (position) inside LA (the French.) LAPUTA: a flying island in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, inhabited by people who engage in ridiculous projects. |
|
| 26 | A | CID FREAK | CID (police)+Following inside AREA (sector) +K(ing). ACID FREAK: a person who takes LSD habitually. |
|
| 28 | TURNIP TO | P | NIP (smart) inside POT (prize)+RUT (furrow) (reversed.) TURNIP TOP: the green sprout of a turnip in its second year, used as a vegetable. |
|
| 29 | T | OSSING | SOT (a drunk) (reversed)+SING (to give voice) |
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| 30 | HEIN | E | EIN (one in German) inside HE (fellow.) Heinrich HEINE: German poet |
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| 31 | H | OTTED | (po)TTE(ry) inside HOD (trough.) HOTTED: informal word for heated |
|
| 32 | DEPRES | S | EP (extreme pressure) inside DRESS (bandage) |
| Down | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Answer | Wordplay |
| 1 | DRONGO CUCKOO | Anagram (anagrind: flying) NO GOOD ROC (d)UCK (losing head) |
| 2 | AURUM | U(ranium) x2 (repeatedly) inside ARM (inlet.) AURUM: the Latin word for gold. Confused me for a little while because I thought the leading AU was gold |
| 3 | EMSWORTH | Anagram (anagrind: out) THROWS ME. Lord EMSWORTH is a recurring character in PG Wodehouse’s Blanding’s stories who breeds pigs. Having never read any Wodehouse, I don’t know if the dotty refers to the pigs’ markings or the fact that EMSWORTH was absent-minded (or both.) |
| 4 | ASSOTT | ASS (fool)+OTT (excessive.) ASSOTT: Spenserian adjective for infatuated |
| 5 | ENODAL | LAD(r)ONE (heartless and reversed) |
| 6 | ESTH | Hidden: likES THis |
| 7 | REROUTE | OUT (way of escape) inside RE (soldiers) x2 |
| 8 | SLOW NEUTRONS | S(pecial)+LOW (subdued)+T(ime) inside NEURONS |
| 12 | HANGOVER | (unclued) |
| 16 | TAR PAPER | REP (salesman)+ A PRAT (fool) (all reversed) |
| 18 | ROSIEST | OS (outsize: unusually large)+I inside REST (others) |
| 21 | GERUND | GER(man)+UND (and in German) |
| 22 | FLANGE | L(ine) inside FANGE(d) |
| 25 | UNTIE | (mo)UNTIE (reputedly successful policeman) without MO (moment: second) |
| 27 | DUST | Hidden: avoideD US Temporarily |
Ken – Welcome to Inquisitor blogging and thanks for your very clear exposition of the clues!
A pleasant puzzle by Phi, as ever. I think Phi always has at least one New Zealand reference within his clues and answers with Otago being the example this time. I did wonder if the DRONGO-CUCKOO was native to New Zealand as Phi had given us quite a catalogue of New Zealand birds in other puzzles in the past, but I discover it is an Asian bird.
I started off down the left hand side of the crossword, so as I solved the first few clues I wondered if we were going to omit the letter O, or omit the second letter of some across clues, but finally I realised that we were doing something with the first letter of left hand acrosses and the last letter of right hand acrosses. HANGOVER dropped out soon after. It was quite late on before I noticed THE WRATH OF GRAPES was appearing with its links to EXCESS and HANGOVER.
Thanks Duncan,
Apologies to everyone for the dodgy spacing in the explanation part but it was me against OpenOffice and HTML and in panicking because time was against me, I settled for what you see.
Note to self: must try harder.
I also wondered if DRONGO-CUCKOO was a NZ reference since DRONGO is an Antipodean slang word.
I don’t see anything wrong with your layout – it clearly demonstrates how the puzzle worked 🙂 I enjoyed this one, and continue to be amazed by Phi’s output.