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Radian has given us a pleasant crossword today themed largely around 16ac, which is connected with many of the clues. I have my doubts about 15dn, although perhaps I have it quite wrong and will be corrected.
Sorry this is a bit late — unaccountable computer problems which caused me to have to start again.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 9 | A(B JE)CTION — ‘French writer’ is ‘Je’, ‘I’ in French — ‘abjection’ is not a familiar word but is obvious enough from ‘abject’ |
| 10 | P(RID)E |
| 11 | TIBBLES — (blue bits – u)* |
| 12 | HACKBUT — (back)* in hut — a hackbut is an arquebus, so there you are |
| 13 | ERUPT — {h}er{e} (put)* — one doesn’t usually think of a canine erupting, but I suppose that when a canine tooth is growing it breaks out through the skin |
| 14 | CATALYSIS — (Italy’s)* in cas{e}, although some might say that Italy’s collapse was (Italy)* |
| 16 | RAIN CATS AND DOGS — (contains rags Dad)* — fortunately this clue, the basis for so many others, is easy enough and came quickly |
| 19 | DE(C)ATH LON{don} |
| 21 | stART USing — hidden rev. |
| 22 | WILD DOG — (l (odd)rev.) in wig |
| 23 | PERSIAN — (ep)rev. (Iran’s)* |
| 24 | LAIKA — “like a” — Laika was the Soviet dog which was sent into space |
| 25 | EDUCATION — Ducati in (one)* |
| Down | |
| 1 | CATTLE GRID — (girl acted t{in})* |
| 2 | DJ 1(BOUT)1 — a DJ [disc jockey] spins records |
| 3 | OCELOT — I’m not sure about this: it seems to be (cat loose – SA)*, but if this is so then where is the definition? — perhaps it’s meant to be an &lit., in which case the definition seems a bit odd: does an ocelot really avoid South American capitals? [Wild cat loose avoiding South American capitals] |
| 4 | KITS — the offspring of an ocelot, skit with the first letter moved to the finish |
| 5 | ON THE TRAIN — ((one that)* in) round r{ed} |
| 6 | S(PECK)LED |
| 7 | NI (M) BUS — are Ulster and Northern Ireland the same? |
| 8 | PELT — 2 defs |
| 14 | CAT(A LOGUE)S — Christopher Logue |
| 15 | S(US(T)AIN)ING — but it should be, insofar as anything ‘should be’ in crosswords, Bolt not bolt — hard no doubt to get the clue so that ‘Bolt’ is the first word, but it should have been managed [Inform about tension in bolt and bearing] |
| 17 | CUT A{ND} DEAL |
| 18 | OSTEITIS — (toe’s)* it is, where ‘yes’ = ‘it is’, I suppose where the two are alternative responses to a question |
| 20 | C OLLIE — Oliver Hardy |
| 21 | SER{engeti} VAL{ley} — although usually ‘start’ indicates the first letter of a word |
| 22 | WOLF — 2 defs |
| 23 | POUR — 2 defs |
“Are Ulster and Northern Ireland the same?” Strictly speaking, no – but the terms are commonly interchangeable, and not only in Crosswordland.
And I agree with you about 15dn – we had the same point raised the other day over jaguar/Jaguar.
But a well-crafted crossword and a satisfying workout. Despite the quibble my CoD has to be NIMBUS.
Thanks, Radian and John.
Signal failure on the commute this morning – for an hour. So 5d raised a wry smile….. Gave me a chance to finish it though
Re 7d – for the record, Radian lives in Northern Ireland…
Thanks Radian for a puzzle with much to enjoy – and a highly topical theme given current UK weather – and John for the blog. I did not get 4dn and got the spelling wrong at 24ac.
12ac: An obscure word to me, but very precisely clued so that the answer could not be anything else once the checked letters were in place.
1dn: Lovely defintion.
14dn: I would prefer “including” to “include” in this clue. This is a point I have made on previous occasions: the cryptic indication is perfectly all right in itself as a complete clause, but does not sit comfortably after the linking word “of”, which (in my view) needs to be followed by a noun phrase.
15dn: I share the concerns about the lower-case “bolt”.
20dn: This clue succeeds where 15dn fails in getting a natural capital on the word “Hardy”.
21dn: Maybe “start” in the singular only indicates the first letter, but it works all right in the plural for one or more letters of the two words.
Correction to 4: Yet again, I have missed out the second I in “definition” – and almost did it again typing the correction.
While I am back in, I was happy with 3dn as an incomplete “& lit” – the wordplay genuinely uses the whole clue even if the definition does not.
A lovely puzzle. I’m sure I’ve seen the CATS AND DOGS theme done before, but this was nonetheless most enjoyable.
I was happy enough with ERUPT; in fact I thought is was a nice piece of misdirection given the theme. CATALYSIS was my other favourite clue.
And indeed, NI and Ulster are not the same, except in a colloquial sense, I suppose; but as Thomas says, the setter lives in Northern Ireland, so if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.
We enjoyed the theme and happy with ERUPT especially given the theme.
We also had an incorrect spelling for 24ac!
Thanks to Radian and John!
More about Ulster. Collins gives two meanings – “(1) a province and former kingdom of N Ireland … partitioned in 1921, six counties forming Northern Ireland and three counties joining the Republic of Ireland. (2) an informal name for Northern Ireland.”
It is perhaps implicit to the introduction to the blog and to the comments, but, just in case anyone did not notice, five “non-cat-related” answers included the letters CAT in their correct order. This aided solving.