An interesting themed puzzle today, with the themed items generally forming part of the wordplay rather than the answers themselves. This made it a bit trickier than other themed puzzles where you can find yourself looking for themed entries without necessarily following the wordplay.
We have one or two minor quibbles over the choice of words in some of the clues, which we feel could be improved without loss of surface reading, but overall, a good Tuesday work-out for our Wedding Anniversary!!
| Across | ||
| 7 | He’s crazy about gold – it can become addictive | |
| HORSE | Anagram of HE’S (anagrind is ‘crazy’) around OR (gold) = We’re unhappy about the use of the words ‘can become addictive’ – horse is a slang term for heroin, which is highly addictive. In its more familiar meaning, it is the theme for the puzzle | |
| 8 | 7’s inside attending to liqueur | |
| AMARETTO | MARE (a horse – see 7ac) inside AT (attending) + TO = liqueur | |
| 10 | Website beginning to excite 7 | |
| EBAY | E (beginning or first letter of ‘excite’) + BAY (a horse – see 7ac) = website | |
| 11 | Setter, here in recent times, stamps territory | |
| PHILATELY | PHI (one of the Indy’s regular crossword setters) + LATELY (in recent times) = stamps territory, or stamp-collecting | |
| 12 | 7 with high tone, singing metal | |
| COBALT | COB (a horse – see 7ac) + ALT (a high tone in singing, or music generally) = metal | |
| 14 | Loudly assertive do-gooder with 7 religious books | |
| STRIDENT | ST (saint – or ‘do-gooder’) + RIDE (horse – see 7ac) + NT (New Testament – religious books) = loudly assertive | |
| 16 | 7s collect old press secretary where Chequers is located | |
| BUCKINGHAMSHIRE | BUCK and SHIRE (horses – see 7ac) around, or ‘collected’ by INGHAM (Sir Bernard Ingham, press secretary to Margaret Thatcher) = where Chequers is located | |
| 19 | Sextet turned lively when journalist left type of supplement? | |
| VITAMIN A | VI (roman numerals for six, or sextet) + ANIMAT(ed) (lively, without ‘ed’ or editor – journalist) reversed, or ‘turned’ = type of supplement. | |
| 21 | Name derived from 7 in middle of demo | |
| EPONYM | PONY (a horse – see 7ac) in (d)EM(o) – the middle letters of demo = name | |
| 22 | Aerial competition, from 7, held by Southern fighter pilot | |
| SPACE RACE | PACER (a horse – see 7ac) in or ‘held by’ S (southern) ACE (fighter pilot) = ‘aerial competition’, although if we’re being pedantic, ‘aerial’ relates to ‘air’ and ‘space’ is beyond the atmosphere, where there is no air | |
| 24 | Around 7, English and Yankee like an omelette | |
| EGGY | GG (horse – see 7ac) in E (English) and Y (yankee, as in the International Telegraph Alphabet) = like an omelette | |
| 26 | Tripe unknown in butcher’s window | |
| BULL’S-EYE | BULL (tripe, as in rubbish) + Y (unknown) in SEE (butcher’s, as in Cockney rhyming slang – butcher’s hook – look) = type of circular window | |
| 27 | Group of 7 express disapproval | |
| GROAN | G (group, as in G5 etc) + ROAN (a horse – see 7ac) = express disapproval | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Fish and chips primarily the focal point | |
| CHUB | C (first or ‘primary’ letter of chips) + HUB (focal point) = fish | |
| 2 | Bird gets fruit below 7 kilo | |
| GREY HAWK | HAW (fruit) below, or after GREY (a horse – see 7ac) + K (kilo) = bird | |
| 3 | Babe making big exhibition in the street | |
| SEXPOT | EXPO (big exhibition) in ST (street) = babe | |
| 4 | Equestrian worker drawn by one artist | |
| DALI | LAD (equestrian worker, as in stable lad) reversed, or ‘drawn’ + I (one) = artist | |
| 5 | Footnote? | |
| LEGEND | Cryptic definition – a foot is at the end of a leg, or a leg-end, and a legend can be explanatory words, or a footnote, in a reference book or similar document | |
| 6 | Prop’s the latest to kiss Scottish flower | |
| STAY | S (last or ‘latest’ letter of kiss) + TAY (Scottish river or ‘flower’, as in something that flows) = prop | |
| 9 | There’s confusion among characters from 7, filling in annual return before noon | |
| ANAGRAM | NAG (a horse – see 7ac) in, or ‘filling’ AR (annual return) + AM (before noon) = ‘confusion among characters’ | |
| 13 | Revolutionary company with intermittently built in windows | |
| OCULI | CO (company) reversed, or ‘revolutionary’ + alternate or ‘intermittent’ letters of bUiLt-In = windows | |
| 14 | Children surrounded by stolen goods, arrested, sound unstressed | |
| SCHWA | CH (children) in or ‘surrounded by’ SWA(g) (stolen goods without the last letter, or ‘arrested’) = an unstressed sound | |
| 15 | Drawer, being in pine, upset obsessive | |
| NERDY | DR (drawer) in YEN (pine) all reversed or ‘upset’ = obsessive | |
| 17 | Simplicity shown by top-class doctor for 7s etc in north-east | |
| NAIVETE | A1 (top-class) VET (doctor fro horses – see 7ac) in NE (north-east) = simplicity | |
| 18 | Enthralled by topless chef in riotous hen do | |
| HOOKED ON | (c)OOK (chef with first letter omitted, or ‘topless’) in an anagram of HEN DO (anagrind is ‘riotous’) = enthralled by | |
| 20 | Sort of land 7 on the French | |
| ARABLE | ARAB (a horse –see 7ac) + LE (‘the’ in French) = sort of land | |
| 21 | Zip code finally applied to work unit in US state | |
| ENERGY | E (last or final letter of code) + ERG (work unit) in NY (New York – US state) = zip | |
| 22 | 10 avoided workshop 7 | |
| STUD | STUD(io) (workshop without the ‘i’ & ‘o’ or ten in numerals) = a horse – see 7ac | |
| 23 | Plant some of 22 across | |
| ACER | Hidden in, or ‘some of’ (sp)ACE R(ace) (answer to 22ac) = plant | |
| 25 | Colt perhaps falls on rear in Thirsk – it’s sludgy stuff | |
| GUNK | GUN (a colt is a sort of gun) + last letter or ‘rear’ of (Thirs)K = sludgy stuff | |
Thanks Bertandjoyce, and Scorpion.
‘Can be addictive’ seems fine to me. While it can be highly addictive it is frequently administered in hospitals without leading to addiction (I have had it several times and not felt any cravings).
I had more of a problem with ‘see’ as a noun (26a) and yen as a verb (or pine as a noun) (15d) – their obscurity seeming almost unfair. But I love learning new words and meanings and enjoyed the crossword a lot.
Happy Anniversary B&J. I found this one quite tough going in places but got there in the end. Thanks to you and Scorpion too.
Thanks for a fine blog.
I prefer this kind of theme, where you’re not just looking for ‘five of x’ or ‘six of y’. The gateway clue was straightforward, which I appreciated, and thereafter it was good fun to think a bit laterally about the ‘horse’ meanings.
I liked SCHWA – it’s that funny unstressed sound at the end of words like ‘father’ (unless you’re rhotic, and let’s not go there …) And LEGEND was good too.
I have mentioned it before, so at the risk of boring people, I think it’s unfair to include other setters’ names in clues. Everyone who blogs here knows that PHI gives us the Friday puzzle, but I’m guessing that for most of the Indy solving population, the setter’s name means nothing (sorry, boys and girls).
Happy Anniversary, both, and to continue the theme, don’t get too frisky tonight …
Thanks to Scorpion.
Having never touched the stuff in or out of hospital, we take your point dialrib@1 about ‘can be addictive’ and stand corrected – apologies to Scorpion!
Thanks to crypticsue and K’s D for their congratulations – we hardly ever celebrate – mostly forgetting when it is – but last year’s was fairly memorable in more ways than one! We don’t think we will be tempting providence this year by booking another expensive celebratory event!
K’sD – we would normally take your point about including setter’s names but we felt that the definition was so obvious on this occasion that it was OK.
Well, at least it’s not an adjectival phrase defining a noun, like wot you get in some other dailies. Occasionally.
Good puzzle I think, with a tricky thematic device handled very well.
I got a bit held up when I convinced myself that 21 down might be emerge, even though it didn’t make much sense as a definition. That’s the problem with state abbreviations – it’s basically any two letters and ME for Maine seemed every bit as good as NY. Other than that, I enjoyed this one and didn’t have a lot of quibbles, except that I’d never heard of bull’s eye as a type of window and didn’t easily find it in any dictionaries. I got 7 across immediately, which helped, but it was still tricky to think of all the different short words for horse that could possibly be used in the answers.
Got the theme very quickly, so much so I was convinced I was wrong. It was only then getting 24ac that assured me I was right the first time.
But then I found it a bit of a struggle and 2dn and 22dn both eluded me. I’d never heard of a “grey hawk” and couldn’t find it in Chambers. There does seem to be a bird called a “grayback” but I couldn’t fit that in with the rest of the clue.
Did like 9dn.
Got 11a straight away but it got me nowhere 🙂