As we have come to expect from a Thursday puzzle, parts of this were quite tricky. However, when the pennies finally dropped for some of the more difficult clues, we weren’t always that impressed. Perhaps we just weren’t in the right frame of mind, but they just didn’t quite click with us.
However, the surfaces were generally good, and there weren’t any words we hadn’t come across before – just some rather unusual uses and combinations of some familiar words.
| Across | ||
| 1 | Not quiet, insignificant and stupid….like TOWIE star? | |
| OXYMORONIC | ||
| 6 | Ring put back | |
| DIAL | LAID (put) reversed or ‘back’ | |
| 10 | Expect a load of talk | |
| AWAIT | Sounds like (‘of talk’) A WEIGHT | |
| 11 | Maybe Tiger’s ploy: saving energy for course | |
| CATTERICK | CAT (tiger, maybe) + TRICK (ploy) round or ‘saving’ E (energy) | |
| 12 | Former pupil’s further remark | |
| OBSERVE | OB (old boy – former pupil) + SERVE (further) – we had to check this in Chambers, but it’s there! | |
| 13 | Intend to wear torn clothes | |
| RAIMENT | AIM (intend) in or ‘wearing’ RENT (torn) | |
| 14 | Man’s a bit fat – Calorie reduction needed | |
| HUBBY | ||
| 16 | Tube chaos wants sorting – get in contact! | |
| TOUCH BASE | Anagram of TUBE CHAOS (anagrind is ‘wants sorting’) | |
| 18 | I reply briefly to Italian nationals | |
| ROMANIANS | I ANS (answer, or ‘reply briefly’) after ROMAN (Italian) | |
| 20 | House to rent – rejected alternative accommodation | |
| HOTEL | HO (house) + LET (rent) reversed or ‘rejected’ | |
| 21 | Shot dead – current government tactic? | |
| LATE CUT | LATE (dead) + CUT (current government tactic) Not being big sports fans, we assume that this is a shot in cricket, but it’s not in Chambers, so we can’t be sure! | |
| 23 | Place poles awkwardly in hold | |
| ENCLASP | Anagram of PLACE and N & S (poles) – anagrind is ‘awkwardly’ | |
| 25 | I have to mend set – difficult receiving America | |
| NEEDS MUST | Anagram of MEND SET (anagrind is ‘difficult’) round or ‘receiving’ US (America) | |
| 26 | You go on them at start of evening free | |
| LOOSE | LOOS (the ultimate in toilet humour – things you ‘go’ on) + E (start of Evening) | |
| 27 | Agent asked 40 per cent commission | |
| TASK | Hidden in the clue – four out of the ten letters in ‘agenT ASKed’ | |
| 28 | Changing direction to actor grabbing boob – men! | |
| OTHER RANKS | TO reversed or ‘changing direction’ + HANKS (actor) round or ‘grabbing’ ERR (boob) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | ‘Magic throne flying round’ – patient finally divorced from reality | |
| ON ANOTHER PLANET | Anagram of THRONE (anagrind is ‘magic’) with ON A PLANE (flying) round + T (last or final letter of patienT) | |
| 2 | Poet, one still without direction | |
| YEATS | A (one) with YET (still) outside or ‘without’ + S (south – direction) | |
| 3 | Solicitor getting head down (man’s finished work) | |
| OUT-TRAY | TOUT (solicitor, with first letter or ‘head’ moved to the end) + RAY (man) | |
| 4 | Chelsea, besides dropping Torres, disciplined some players | |
| ORCHESTRA | Anagram of CH(else)A TORRES without ELSE (besides) – anagrind is ‘disciplined’ | |
| 5 | Season hasn’t started for former CL winners | |
| INTER | ||
| 7 | Travelling by train I mixed with 10 | |
| ITINERANT | Anagram of TRAIN I and TEN (anagrind is ‘mixed’) | |
| 8 | Fancy Perth – places running out very quickly | |
| LIKE THE CLAPPERS | LIKE (fancy) + anagram of PERTH PLACES (anagrind is ‘running out’) | |
| 9 | Thing made of iron – it’s hard | |
| FETISH | FE (iron) + TIS (it’s) + H (hard). ‘Made of’ is there to indicate that it needs some rearranging! | |
| 15 | Bad suggestions must be new Queen’s | |
| BUM STEERS | Anagram of MUST BE (anagrind is ‘new’) + ER’S (queen’s) | |
| 17 | ‘Sun’ attacked European supporting PM – ‘Pull out!’ | |
| UNSHEATHE | Anagram of SUN (anagrind is ‘attacked’) + E (European) after or ‘supporting’ HEATH (PM as in Edward Heath) | |
| 19 | Set up home by the Seine – it’s most delightful | |
| NICEST | IN (home) reversed or ‘set up’ + C’EST (‘it’s’ in French, or ‘by the Seine’) | |
| 20 | Male office worker raises a thousand – he’s not 8 | |
| HECKLER | HE (male) + CLERK (office worker) with K – a thousand – moved forward, or ‘raised’ (in a down clue). Presumably if you are not a ‘clapper’ you may well be a ‘heckler’! | |
| 22 | Drive out of 20A in confidence | |
| TRUST | T |
|
| 24 | Deck of cards inside on ground | |
| ADORN | Anagram of inside letters of cARDs and ON (anagrind is ‘ground’). A good bit of misdirection here we thought! | |
Tks, B&J. In 9D I think ‘made of’ is a link between answer and wordplay (tis = it’s as you say).
I don’t think Tyrus is being elitist at 1 across B&J. It seems to me that to suggest tripe can have stars is a contradiction in terms, like military intelligence, which IMHO is fair comment.
Some great stuff here Mr T.
nmsindy@1 That was Bert’s interpretation when he wrote the blog but then Joyce changed it when she checked it through!
As with other Tyrus puzzles I found this difficult, but I managed to finish it without aids. I didn’t bother to unpick the wordplay for ON ANOTHER PLANET or LIKE THE CLAPPERS, although they were both good clues. OTHER RANKS was my LOI after I finally saw how ADORN worked. I thought the clue for ORCHESTRA was excellent, and TASK was clever for the way the hidden answer was clued.
After the last couple of Tyrus toughies, this was for me at least much less taxing (except 1ac which made no sense whatsoever!).
21a certainly is a cricket shot. Thanks for the blog B&J I’d never have got 1ac without you & Tyrus for a fine puzzle.
I fell at the last on this one – I had the crossing 24d and 28a left, but was fixated for a while on 28a being STEER something, and I eventually cheated a bit on 24d; then 28a fell into place. Maybe a break and return would’ve done the trick.
Thanks for the blog – I couldn’t parse 24d which I though highly devious (nothing wrong with that).
I liked 27a; I spotted the 40% device but I was trying to derive a four letter word for agent from the ten letter “commission”, rather than a four letter word for commission from “agent asked”. If that was a deliberate misdirection by Tyrus, then he got me. If it wasn’t a fiendish misdirection, I suppose I’m just a muppet. Makes it more interesting than a write-in, anyway.
Thanks for puzzle and blog.
Wonderful puzzle as we’ve come to expect from Tyrus. My faves are 4d, 5d, 9d, 16, 26a, 25a, 14a, 3d and 17d.
Thank goodness that we are in the minority about this puzzle!
Many thanks for the blog and comments.
Re 1 across Conrad@2 is perfectly correct. Surely the word ‘star’ has now been totally debased.
Thanks B&J. Being a lark rather than an owl, I’m often First Responder, but I wanted to wait to see what others thought today before commenting.
I got there in the end, which is not something that happens always with Tyrus’ puzzles. There was some good stuff in here, as others have mentioned. TOWIE meant nothing, so I had to seek help online to sort that one out and in the end had to resort to a wordsearch to get going in that quadrant. ORCHESTRA was good, now you’ve explained it (and no CARTHORSE) but as I’ve said before, there’s far too much footie in the Indy crosswords …
Tyrus is definitely one of the harder setters in the Indy, together with Nimrod and Anax (where are they these days, btw?) So for me, just managing one of this setter’s puzzles is the pleasure, ‘cos it shows I must be getting a bit better at this cruciverbal malarkey. Until his next one, at least. Thank you to him for today’s offering.
Was really bamboozled by 22D – being of a certain age the only thing I could think of was Trust House Forte and that didn’t work. But it stuck until I read B&J’s explanation. Unlike most I LOVED 1A and fully understood it once my other half explained what TOWIE was. I still have an old fashioned aversion to non explicit anagrams (24D), but it was such a neat clue I forgive Tyros. Much enjoyment.