It’s been a while since it last fell to me to blog a Punk, so I was relishing the challenge of solving and then blogging this one – while at the same time wondering if I’d get the puzzle finished in time to write a complete blog!
A quick perusal of the clues revealed than a number of them consisted of just one letter accompanied by a question mark. I wondered if these letters might be the beginning, middle or end letters of longer words or phrases, and when I saw that APPLE CORE seemed to fit 25, I realised I was on to something. I worked out the rest of them in some cases on the basis of letters already entered in the grid, and in other cases by trying to see what other expressions with top/bottom, back/front, etc could be slotted into the grid.
They say that brevity is the soul of wit, and I rather enjoyed this minimalist approach to clueing, although some may argue that solvers could have been given a bit more help with these clues, e.g. (not too obvious) straight definitions. On the other hand, I found the non-themed clues in the puzzle more accessible than average for Punk, which gave plenty of intersecting letters for the themed clues.
My clues of the day, apart from the themed ones, would have to be 7, for its well hidden definition, and 19, for its smooth surface and saucy wordplay. The rhyme in 14 was also clever spot.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | |
| 08 – INFERNO | Non-fire? Hardly!
*(NON-FIRE); “hardly” is anagram indicator; & lit. |
| 09 – ICED TEA | I surrender, welcoming assailant finally with a drink
{<assailan>T in [I + CEDE (=surrender)]} + A; “finally” means last letter only |
| 11 – THETA | Greek character, one picked up in an American ban shortly?
THE TA<b> (=one picked up in an American bar, i.e. to pick up the tab = to pay the bill; “shortly” means last letter dropped) |
| 12 – KEYSTROKE | “Action that’s pressing” important English city to cross over river
KEY (=important) + [R (=river) in STOKE (=English city)]; whimsical definition, referring to typing on keyboard |
| 13 – SLOTH | Opening hospital, one’s slow
SLOT (=opening) + H (=hospital) |
| 14 – OBSCENE | One admits a degree course ultimately is more than a degree coarse!
[BSc (=a degree) + <cours>E (“ultimately” means last letter only)] in ONE |
| 17 – DIDEROT | Philosopher some untutored idiot? Quite the reverse
Reversed (“quite the reverse”) and hidden (“some”) in “untuTORED IDiot”; the reference is to French philosopher Denis Diderot (1713-84) |
| 18 – ERASMUS | Humanist recalling the work of a mathematician after some years
ERAS (=some years) + MUS (SUM=work of a mathematician; “recalling” indicates reversal); the reference is to Dutch humanist thinker Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) |
| 21 – PLUMMET | Drop purple coppers
PLUM (=purple, i.e. choice, fine) + MET (=coppers, i.e. the Metropolitan Police) |
| 23 – TODAY | Teddy boy hairstyle in play now
DA (=teddy boy hairstyle, i.e. duck’s arse) in TOY (=play) |
| 25 – APPLE CORE | P?
P is core, i.e. middle letter, of “ap-P-le” |
| 27 – ONION | Bulb emitting light, one working
ON (=emitting light) + I (=one) + ON (=working) |
| 29 – KNESSET | Nazis infiltrating joint, little time for parliament
[SS (=Nazis) in KNEE (=joint)] + T (=time; “little” indicates abbreviation) |
| 30 – ROSEHIP | Fruit grew with it
ROSE (=grew) + HIP (=with it, i.e. trendy) |
| Down | |
| 03 – BREATHER | Break // lung // or liver?
Triple definition, with “liver” meaning one who lives and breathes |
| 04 – ROCK BOTTOM | K?
K is bottom, i.e. lowest letter of a vertical entry, of “roc-K” |
| 05/06 – CITY CENTRE | IT?
IT is centre, i.e. central letters, of “c-IT-y” |
| 07 – AT HOME | In a book, Hemingway’s initial inscribed
H<emingway> (“initial” means first letter only) in [A + TOME (=book)] |
| 10 – APEX | Top secret forest dweller?
APE X (=forest dweller, X = secret, i.e. one who’s identity is not revealed, cf. Mr X) |
| 13 – SODA | Ground above a pressurised liquid
SOD (=ground, i.e. turf) + A |
| 15 – SWEETHEART | E?
E is heart, i.e. middle letter of, “sw-E-et” |
| 16 – ASHY | Grey gives a toss
A + SHY (=toss, i.e. throw) |
| 19 – ART HOUSE | Independent cinema gets you in the end
THOU (=you) in ARSE (=the end) |
| 20 – MIDNIGHT | G?
G is mid, i.e. central letter, of “ni-G-ht” |
| 21/1 – PEPPERMINT | Sweet riddle, perfect
PEPPER (=riddle, e.g. with bullets, mistakes, as a verb) + MINT (=perfect, as in mint condition) |
| 22 – UNEASY | Anxious and difficult?
UN-EASY (=difficult, i.e. not easy) |
| 24/02 – BACK OF BEYOND | D?
D is the back, i.e. last letter, of “beyon-D” |
| 26 – OATH | Promise of art, the odd parts
Odd letters only (“odd parts”) of “O<f> A<r>T <t>H<e>” |
| 28 – NOPE | One ‘P’ to apply? I don’t think so!
*(ONE P); “to apply” is anagram indicator |
I loved this puzzle, it was so clever! I got in via CITY CENTRE and I liked all the clues that were clued with a single letter or two letters (IT) as well as 7d, 9a, 21a, 21/1, 3d, 18a.
Thanks, RatkojaRiku. I needed your help to parse 11a, 19d, 27a, 23a.
I understand your parsing of 18a, but I parsed it as ERA (= some years) + reversal of SUMS. I think either way works, but let me know if I’m wrong.
Thanks, RR. I did have a slight eyebrow-raising moment when I first scanned the clues, but once I’d got MIDNIGHT, it became clear what we were looking for. I agree with you – much of the rest of the crossword was pretty accessible, giving you some crossers for the single letter clues.
ART HOUSE was funny, and I parsed ERASMUS like Michelle; but your way works too.
Bravo, Punk.
MIDNIGHT was my way into the themed clues, and SWEETHEART was the last of them to go in. My LOI was APEX and made me smile after I finally saw it. A very enjoyable puzzle overall.
I parsed ERASMUS the same way as RatkojaRiku, but as has been said either way works. To be honest I didn’t spend much time looking at the wordplay because whenever I see “humanist” in the clue for a 7-letter answer ERASMUS is almost always a write-in.
I thought this was a brilliant reversal – we spend ages counting our ways through words like SWEETHEART to make sure we have the correct letter – and I loved all the themed clues. Thanks to Punk for the pun and RR for the explanations.
Thanks, RR, for several parsings I couldn’t get, notablt THETA and ART HOUSE (perhaps I should have got that, knowing who the setter was).
The first two sinlge letter clues I got were BACK OF BEYOND and ROCK BOTTOM which initially led me to think they might all refer to extremities so it was a little while before I realised what was afoot. Quite ingenious – thanks, Punk.
Bit chestnutty thjis onme seemed, to me, but I suppose clicjhe really is name of Punk’ s game today! I’d seen then all before I think, but some other goodf stuff.
Cheers
Rowly.
Thank you RR.
I disagree with the notion of needing more help – this unfolded at a pleasing pace, with the single letter clues biding their time for helpful crossers. Like Allan @ 5 the way in for me was BACK OF BEYOND. I couldn’t shake off the conviction at first that there was a top and bottom nina – MOB RULE at the top – and I was off into blind alleys involving the Mafia as a possible link. My last was the IT clue with its misleading Internet and sex appeal connotations. Nice head slap for the PDM there.
If the single letter clues weren’t old chestnuts this might have been unsolvable. an unusual idea for a theme but fair enough. Thanks Punk and RR.
The single letter clues may have been old chestnuts for some of you but I’d never seen them before and got them relatively easily once the penny had dropped (via MIDNIGHT in my case).
As some might know (including Punk himself), I am not very keen on this kind of “device” (where there’s no definition).
But having so many of them in one puzzle, well, that makes a real difference.
It becomes a theme on its own – and one I/we really enjoyed.
This was a real fun puzzle.
One that must have been on Punk’s list for a long time.
A couple of years ago, in one of his crossword ‘lectures’, he asked the audience what they thought of a clue like “B? (6,6)”.
[answer on demand :)]
Wouldn’t it be even more fun to compile a crossword in which all the letters of the alphabet are included. That’s probably not possible in a 15×15 grid but what about a Jumbo?
Y for ‘Happy Ending’ wasn’t there today.
Nor J for ‘jumpstart’.
There’s so much potential.
Not a hard crossword.
But really enjoyable and one that Paul addicts shouldn’t overlook.
Many thanks to RR and our setter.
A is for ‘orses.
Great fun although it took us a while to find our way into the single letter clues. ROCK BOTTOM was our first one in once we had the crossing letters for the second word.
We also needed your blog RR for theta and art house, although both are fairly clued. It must be late! so thanks for the help.
Thanks also to Punk for an original (to us) themed puzzle.
We are still puzzling over B?. Maybe it will come to us in our dreams!!
Paul, I’m afraid I don’t get it (but it could be the wine).
Answer on demand, too?
By the way, M for Maidenhead would not be included in the alphabetical.
Sorry, Arachne :).
Bertandjoyce, B = bottle opener.
Many thanks, we were trying to think of something rude!
‘D’ coulld be!
We loved this crossword. BACK OF BEYOND was our way into it and we solved it in the car returning from a trip to the very back of beyond (Unst on Shetland). We thought it was great fun and beautifully set.