*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1/5 | All Over The Shop: (Has to help)* around lover. |
| 10 | Emit: Time<. |
| 11 | Feet of Clay: CD/DD referring to Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) who claimed to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”. |
| 12 | En Bloc: (Nobel C[eremony])*. |
| 13 | Trapezia: Trap (=catch) + hom of easier. |
| 14 | Promising: Prom is in G. |
| 16 | Osier: Rosie with the R cycling to the end. Ref to Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee. |
| 18 | Spate: Sp + ate. |
| 20 | Bowstring: (Wrong bits)*. |
| 24 | Catacomb: Tom (Cruise) around ac(count) in cab. |
| 25 | Raceme: Race + me. I was helped a lot with this by the fact that it came up in another Indy puzzle recently. |
| 27 | At Long Last: CD – I think the idea is that size 16s would be huge shoes, so a cobbler would need a very long last. |
| 28 | Erne: Hidden in her nest. Erne is one of those words I’d never have known but for the regularity with which it comes up in crosswords. |
| 29 | Referee: Re (=on) + E (Ecstasy) in free. |
| 30 | Whistle: Whist + le (the in Paris). Rhyming slang for whistle and flute = suit. |
| Down | |
| 2 | Laminar: (R + animal)<. |
| 3 | Octal: O (=nil) + initial letters of “cup thrashing at Lazio” (full backs sent off = all the back letters removed). Def = “based on eight”. |
| 4 | Effaces: Closing letter of “the” + F F + aces. F is short for fighter in the names of planes like F-15. |
| 6 | Hookah: Ho + OK + a h(ot). Def=pipe. |
| 7 | Successor: S[prout] + crocuses*. |
| 8 | Opaline: Op + ale around in. |
| 9 | Melton Mowbray: O in (women try lamb)*. |
| 14 | Pas: Pa + s(on). |
| 15 | Methadone: Met + had one. |
| 17 | Rag: DD referring to Scott Joplin, the “King of Ragtime”. |
| 19 | Piastre: Rats* in pie. |
| 21 | Scratch: S[heep] + r in catch. |
| 22 | Nominal: (Lion man)*. |
| 23 | Tongue: DD. Oxfords are shoes and a tongue is part of a shoe. |
| 26 | Chess: CD (checkmate). |
Very enjoyable. I enjoyed FEET OF CLAY and AT LONG LAST, and also the definition ‘one after another’ for SUCCESSOR. It reminded me of the line from The History Boys: “History – it’s just one F___ thing after another!”
Thanks for blogging, Neal. Very sound and entertaining puzzle: got quite a few on my first run through, but then struggled before finishing the last ones, especially OCTAL despite having all the crossing letters.
I know what you mean about ERNE – for me, ADIT and EWER also fall into that category. And thanks for explaining about Oxfords.
Mick, your reminder about The History Boys quote made me smile – Kathryn and I have watched it about a million times but still laugh at that bit. My own personal favourite quote from it is Posner’s self-effacing description of his religion, his size, his sexual orientation and his place of birth. Probably best not to share it here, but aficionados of the film will know which bit I’m referring to. An Alan Bennett-themed puzzle sometime soon would get my vote.
Liked WHISTLE and PROMISING in particular, but can’t see why ‘for catcher’ is a homophone indicator in 13ac if someone could oblige.
I thought this was rather less tricky than usual for Tees but no less enjoyable for that. I liked 13, 20 and 30ac and 15 and 21dn particularly – and the reference to our local delicacy in 9dn!
Re 13ac: K’s D, I didn’t quite catch what you said 🙂 – but loved the reminder of ‘the History Boys’!
Thank you, Eileen, another one to put in the solving memory bank. Is there no end to these setters’ wiles?
Found this a mixture of quite easy and quite hard, with REFEREE being my last answer. V minor point on PIASTRE, I think it’s (rats)* in PIE. Re query on the homophone I think CATCH would mean to hear.
I thought ‘for catcher’ was an Italian bread.
Sorry about that.
I thought this was Tees on top form, AT LONG LAST and MELTON MOWBRAY being my favourites.
confused myself for a while on laminar, kept seeing lamia as the monster and r. Laughed at feet of clay which I liked.
Perhaps there is a clue for FOCACCIA involving young Mr. Caulfield, Eimi! Had time to do this one today as well as Rufus in the Guardian, and struck by the stylistic differences. I thought bothe were very good puzzles, but I think I prefer the more involved tricks of Tees. Favourite clue, for the image conjured, was MELTON MOWBRAY.
Walruss, one Morph clue to FOCACCIA was indeed:
“Australian quits UN food body over what’s said (in book) to be in the rye bread”
(see blog attached)
http://fifteensquared.net/2008/09/15/independent-no-6838-by-morph/
Most kind, all. Many thanks, esp for the excellent blog.
I enjoyed this a lot.Thought there was some very crafty clueing with a few tricks I’d not come across before – cycling(considered ‘eisor’ as the answer for a while);full backs sent off/Lazio – misdirected me to thinking of some soccer reference.6 down was very well disguised and 11 + 27 across were brilliant clues!
Got all but 5 clues on bottom half.29 and 30a being two I would never have solved.