Our turn for another Dac to blog so no complaints about the surface reading of the clues! A good solid enjoyable puzzle as far as we were concerned with a touch of nostalgia in 14ac! Our only quibble is with the definition in 7d although Dac has included a ‘?’ at the end, perhaps suggesting a dubious meaning.
When we saw a few of the less common letters turning up, we did wonder whether we were in for a pangram but it isn’t!
| Across | ||
| 1 | US entrepreneur beginning to get worried, swamped by demands for payment | |
| BILL GATES | Initial letter or ‘beginning ‘ of G(et) + ATE (worried) inside or ‘swamped by’ BILLS (demands for payment) = US entrepreneur | |
| 6 | Hits he released as singer | |
| BASS | BAS(he)S (hits with ‘he’ omitted or ‘released’) = singer | |
| 8 | Comfortable, with arms folded? | |
| SNUG | GUNS (arms) reversed or ‘folded’ = comfortable | |
| 9 | A space like this can accommodate a new garden plant | |
| AGAPANTHUS | A GAP (space) + THUS (like this) outside or ‘accommodating’ A + N (new) = garden plant | |
| 10 | From newspaper, curiously insightful comment | |
| APERCU | Hidden in (newsp)APER CU(riously) = insightful comment | |
| 11 | Ultimately enjoyed sail away to island’s capital | |
| DJIBOUTI | Last or ‘ultimate’ letter of enjoyeD + JIB (sail) + OUT (away) + I (island) = capital of Republic of Djibouti. According to an NBC commentator on the Olympics (US View Indy 30/7/12), Djibouti’s name ‘sounds funny’. Perhaps not as bad though as Australia being described as a ‘former penal colony’ or ‘joking’ about Idi Amin when the Ugandan team arrived at the Olympic ceremony. To make matters even worse (if it could get worse!) the NBC website described Australia as ‘located in central Europe, bordered to the north by Germany and the Czech Republic, [and] to the west by Switzerland. The website has been updated now but the original incorrect version can still be seen on a blog that we found when ‘googling’! | |
| 12 | Stirring carol I caught during afternoon broadcast | |
| PROCLAIM | Anagram of CAROL I (anagrind is ‘stirring’) inside or ‘during’ PM (afternoon) = broadcast | |
| 14 | Percussion items Herb Alpert originally introduced in top-selling recordings | |
| HI HATS | First or ‘original’ letters of Herb Alpert inside or ‘introduced’ into HITS (top-selling recordings) = percussion items. If you really want, you can listen to one of Herb Alpert’s well-known hits ‘Spanish Flea’ here! | |
| 16 | No time to enter flower show | |
| DENOTE | NO + T (time) to ‘enter’ or go inside DEE (flower, as in river) = show | |
| 17 | Former Tory MP’s husband a poet? | |
| HAMILTON | H (husband) + A + MILTON (poet) = Former Tory MP. If you are not sure which one, we are very sorry but we refuse to include a link and give this person any more publicity! Unless we can send him an invoice. | |
| 18 | Film director keeps moving about aimlessly, having abandoned western | |
| ANDERSON | (w)ANDERS ON (‘keeps moving about aimlessly’) without, or ‘abandoning’ W (western) = Film director Lindsay Anderson | |
| 20 | Former top player, a heel? | |
| LEGEND | The heel is at the ‘end of the leg’ = former top player. We seem to remember a similar clue appearing recently but it could have been in ‘Another Place’. Or maybe we are imagining it. At our age we’re not sure which! | |
| 22 | Completely rejected by speaker | |
| THROUGHOUT | Sounds like ‘THREW OUT’ (rejected) when spoken = completely | |
| 23 | Top primate stands near cross | |
| APEX | APE (primate) + X (cross) = top | |
| 24 | Double top for a start leads to triumph | |
| TWIN | Initial letter, or ‘start’ of Top at the beginning or ‘leading’ + WIN (triumph) = double | |
| 25 | Speak on behalf of traveller with grudge | |
| REPRESENT | REP (traveller) + RESENT (grudge) = speak on behalf of | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | French leader and British one keeping away from each other? | |
| BONAPARTE | B (British) ONE around or ‘keeping’ APART (‘away from’) = French Leader | |
| 2 | Drink consumed in village restaurant | |
| LAGER | Hidden within or ‘consumed in’ (vil)LAGE R(estaurant) = drink | |
| 3 | Old lady argues belligerently with adult – sweetener needed | |
| GRANULATED SUGAR | GRAN (old lady) + anagram of ARGUES and ADULT (anagrind is ‘beligerently’) = sweetener | |
| 4 | Trams do circulate in former Russian state | |
| TSARDOM | Anagram of TRAMS DO (anagrind is ‘circulate’) = former Russian state | |
| 5 | Cooked pastie he smelt? No, an egg-based dish | |
| SPANISH OMELETTE | Anagram of PASTIE HE SMELT NO (anagrind is ‘cooked’) = egg-based dish | |
| 6 | Promise of marriage between Elizabeth and Henry? Rubbish! | |
| BETROTHAL | BET (Elizabeth) + HAL (Henry) around or ‘between’ ROT (rubbish) = promise of marriage | |
| 7 | Without question, a day to house-sit? | |
| SQUAT | SAT (short form of Saturday, ‘a day’) outside or ‘without’ QU (question) = house-sit. The clue ends with a ‘?’. The definition in Chambers for house-sit’ states, ‘look after a house while the owner is away or on holiday’ but squat is ‘to occupy an unoccupied building without legal right’. | |
| 13 | Wrapping up songs, entertainer’s to stop broadcasting | |
| CLOSE DOWN | ODES (songs) reversed or ‘up’ inside or ‘wrapped’ by CLOWN (entertainer) = to stop broadcasting | |
| 15 | Try catching wild rhino – most problematic | |
| THORNIEST | TEST (try) outside or ‘catching’ an anagram of RHINO (anagrind is ‘wild’) = most problematic | |
| 17 | Bear turning up round enclosure where poultry are kept | |
| HEN COOP | POOH (bear, as in Winnie the Pooh) reversed or ‘turning up’ round ENC (enclosure) = where poultry are kept | |
| 19 | Talent, say? Absolutely not in America | |
| NOHOW | Sounds like KNOW HOW (talent) = absolutely not. The clue uses ‘in America’ in the definition part. Chambers just says that it is an informal adverb although elsewhere we found that it originated from America. | |
| 21 | To eat constantly gives you runs – look out! | |
| GRAZE | GAZE (look) ‘outside’ R (runs) = to eat constantly | |
Thanks, Bert and Joyce for the timely blog, and Dac.
I have no problem with squat = sit without recourse to the secondary senses of occupying a house. I don’t know what Chambers or Collins say, though, as I don’t use post-war dictionaries. They all seem riddled with errors.
Thanks Bertandjoyce also Dac. As a gran (Al is short for Alice and I’m 73 years young) I really liked the long answer GRANulated sugar and the other longer answers that were in there. A really great link in there also to Herb Alpert’s Spanish Flea (nostalgic for me too}. What with Spanish Omelette and Spanish Flea I’m itching for something to eat now! Thanks again to all.
Ian SW3 @ 1 it’s the inclusion of ‘house’ within the definition that we were worried about.
Al Dente @2 we were slightly concerned about how the ‘younger gran’ may feel about being called ‘old’ until we checked with Chambers. As to eating Spanish fleas – we’re not sure what nationality the ants are at Nomu that are being eaten at the moment in London but we think we’d prefer to stick to a vegetarian option!
I took “house” to indicate inclusion (i.e., rendering the rather poetic word order more normally, “day to house question a = sit”)
It’s Wednesday and Dac, so I expected some lovely smooth surfaces and wasn’t disappointed – for example 8a, 6d, 15d and 21d.
14a reminded me of a comment by Frank Muir or Denis Norden (I can’t recall which) to the effect that a hi-hat is like the poetry of Mallarmé – one cymbal piled on top of another (think homophone).
Thanks, Dac and B&J.
Hi allan_c. It was Denis Norden. Reference BIKWIL: quintessential quirky quotes,issue 18 March 2000; schwa puns. Other good ones in there too.
Thanks, Al Dente. As you say, other good ones in there too. For anyone else interested, go to http://www.bikwil.com/Vintage18/Quirky-Quotes.html – and there are links to more.
I would imagine the question-mark is there to allow some width in the meaning of house-sit. I really felt it was okay. Also, it’s got to be QU with A in SAT, for the simplest parsing I can see! ‘House’ would definitely not be an containing indicator for me.
Many thanks to smoothy Dac, and to Bert & Joyce for their great blog. The nostalgic stuff was…. interesting?
Rowly.
Many thanks, B&J, for the blog – thoroughly enjoyable puzzle from Dac. Favourite clues, Bonaparte and bethrothal. No problem here with SQUAT with the definition a little cryptic (as indicated by the “?”, I thought) tho a wordplay element is provided also to help the solver.
Thanks, both.
Lovely midweek puzzle from Dac. Plenty of elegant clueing as always; I too liked BETROTHAL and thought SQUAT was fine with the question mark at the end of the clue.
Thanks to the setter too.
Does ‘know-how’ = talent? I’m not sure I would assimilate the two?
Apart from that – the standard Dac smoothness and fairness.
Thanks both!
In the end, 6ac and 7dn defeated me.
I wonder if 18ac refers to Lindsay Anderson or Wes Anderson, director of The Royal Tenenbaums among others, and probably better known today.