It is Thursday today, a slot that is traditionally occupied by any one of a pool of compilers, and this time it is occupied by Anax.
Whenever you see a crossword signed Anax, you know that you have a challenge in store as a solver/blogger, and you can be equally sure that there will be a huge amount of entertainment to be had. Today’s Anax lives up to its setter’s reputation on both counts – a real treat!
I found the inter-related clues quite tricky to crack and then to explain, and I hope that I got there in the end. I am not totally sure of my parsing of 21 and 22, so I would be keen to hear how other solvers interpreted these clues. The science behind 7 and 24 was also new to me, but I solved the clues from the wordplay and feel that I have verified them to my satisfaction via Google.
My clues of the day have to be 10, once I had cracked it, for its sheer flair AND 2, for its smooth surface and unexpected definition. And who could resist the humour in 6 and 8?! More of the same, please!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | GUMSHOE | Detective repelled attack, the girl grabbing nothing
GUM (MUG=attack; “repelled” indicates reversal) + [O (=nothing) in SHE (=girl)]; a gumshoe is a detective or policeman (US slang) |
| 05 | MISTERM | Give wrong name to male after male title
MISTER (=male title) + M (=male) |
| 09 | OUSEL | As vehicle exits roundabout it goes flying
<car>OUSEL (=roundabout); “as vehicle (=car) exits” means the letters “car” are dropped; an ousel is a bird, hence “it goes flying” |
| 10 | DAPPEREST | 6 14 22 14 = (once numbers replaced by grid entries) Speed trap turned out best turned out
*(SPEED TRAP); the first “turned out” is the anagram indicator |
| 11 | FEATURES EDITOR | Refuse to read it out for journalist
*(REFUSE TO READ IT); “out” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | ODONTOID | Like a tooth – strange to bite down on one
[ONTO (=down on) + I (=one)] in ODD (=strange) |
| 15 | ORSINO | Shakespearean duke: “O! Romeo’s in love”
O + R (=Romeo, in radio telecommunications)’S + IN + O (=love, i.e. zero in e.g. tennis); Duke Orsino appears in Twelfth Night |
| 17 | TASERS | Paralysing arms while breaking the arms, oddly.
AS (=while) in T<h>E<a>R<m>S (“oddly” means odd letters only are used) |
| 18 | FLIPPANT | Cheeky attitude gets censure in paper
[LIP (=attitude) + PAN (=censure, as a verb)] in FT (=paper) |
| 20 | AN IDEAL HUSBAND | A Danish Blue spread with production around The Chilterns?
*(A DANISH BLUE) + AND; “spread” is the anagram indicator; An Ideal Husband is an 1895 play by Oscar Wilde in which two of the characters are Sir Robert and Lady Chiltern |
| 23 | LONDON EYE | See name over the old Ferris wheel
LO (=see) + N (=name) + DONE (=over) + YE (=the old, i.e. an old word for the) |
| 24 | SPIKE | Unexpected amount of juice – // add something to it
Double definition: (a) SPIKE is a very brief, potentially damaging surge of power on an electric circuit, hence “unexpected amount of juice” AND (to) SPIKE is to add e.g. a drug to a drink, to lace, hence “to add something to it, i.e. juice”; “juice” thus does double duty in the clue |
| 25 | RE-ENTRY | First to abandon environmental test of concern to NASA?
<g>REEN (=environmental; “first to abandon” means first letter is dropped) + TRY (=test) |
| 26 | TEMPEST | Side will drop a troublemaker, the tosser!
TE<a>M (=side; “will drop a” means letter “a” is dropped) + PEST (=troublemaker); a tempest, storm is a “tosser” of e.g. boats at sea |
| Down | ||
| 01 | GOON | Be 8 24? = (once numbers replaced by grid entries) Be motormouth Spike?
GO ON (about something) (=be a motormouth); the reference is to Spike Milligan, one of the Goons from the BBC radio comedy The Goon Show |
| 02 | MASTER OF SCIENCE | Forensics team struggles when removed from case, one learned
*(FORENSICS TEAM) + C<as>E (“when (=as) removed” means letters “as” are dropped); “struggles” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | HOLST | Vacation time for staff writer
HOLS (=vacation) + T (=time); the cryptic definition is “staff writer”, i.e. a composer writing on a musical staff, referring here to English composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934) |
| 04 | ENDERMIC | Disease that’s absorbed right through the skin
R (=right) in ENDEMIC (=disease; here as a noun) |
| 05 | MOPISH | Diminutive girl is opening pub that’s low on spirits
MO (=diminutive girl, i.e. diminutive form of Maureen) + [IS in PH (=pub)] |
| 06 | SPEED TRAP | It records bad driving, which is serious in areas to the north
DEEP (=serious, of e.g. of crisis) in PARTS (=areas); “to the north” indicates vertical reversal |
| 07 | ELECTRICAL NOISE | 24 may make this earth collieries can’t shift?
E (=earth) + *(COLLIERIES CAN’T); a spike (=entry at 24) or surge in electricity supply can produce electrical noise in e.g. household appliances |
| 08 | MOTORMOUTH | 6? = (once number is replaced by grid entry) Speed trap?
Cryptic definition: a “speed trap” would be a non-stop, fast speaker, hence motormouth |
| 12 | FOOTBALLER | As Spooner would say, just a horse no longer going forward?
Spoonerism of “but (=just) + faller (=horse no longer going); a forward is a member of a football team |
| 14 | TURNED OUT | Become // emptied
Double definition; (has) become = (has) turned out, as in What has become of him? = How has he turned out? |
| 16 | FLAUBERT | Digs occupied by extremely famous French author
ÜBER (=extremely, as a prefix, as in Übermensch) in FLAT (=digs); the reference is to French novelist Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) |
| 19 | SLEEPY | Quiet spot around 24
LEE (=Spike, i.e. entry at 24, the US actor/director Spike Lee) in SPY (=spot, i.e. catch sight of) |
| 21 | BOSOM | Heart’s set upon catching and then mounting
SO (=and then) in MOB; “mounting” indicates vertical reversal |
| 22 | BEST | 12 21? = (once numbers replaced by grid entries) Footballer // bosom?
Double definition: George Best (1946-2005) was a Man U and NI footballer AND bosom can attributively mean best in the expression bosom buddy/pal |
I think your parsing of 21 and 22 is spot on.
No arguments with any of the cluing but this was hard work and wasn’t a lot of fun.
Yes RR, I agree with your parsing of 21dn and 22dn.
12d – I didn’t know Spooner was from ‘oop north’, rhyming but with foot. Turns out he wasn’t 🙂 Agree with Andy B @2, a bit of a slog, and ended up pressing reveal letter a bit too often
An Anax I actually finished (now there’s a rare day) – I also finished his alter ego in today’s DT Toughie so I must be on his wavelength today.
Agree with the 21 and 22 parsing by RR – thanks for the explanations – and thanks to Anax too.
See the Nina? Apologies in advance for my clumsy description, but 4th last row, last 4 non- contiguous letters and 2nd last row, first 4 non-contiguous letters. At heart, naughty but nice.
Brain hurts now, more scribbles around the paper than for all of last week. Thanks for some explanations RR eg Chilterns which was lost on me and Anax for the torture.
Couldn’t quite finish without aids. 10A amazingly clever – too clever for me. Agree the purported Spoonerism in 12D is a stretch too far unless it involves something I can’t see.
Awestruck thanks to Anax and RatkojaRiku.
I liked 6d, 23a, 2d, 9a, 2a and my favourites were 15a ORSINO & 16d FLAUBERT.
New for me were Detective GUMSHOE, ‘tosser’ = TEMPEST or storm, ODONTOID, OUSEL.
Thanks Anax and RatkojaRiku. I needed your help to parse 25a, 5d.
@ CS Elkamere was a comparitive doddle. Big bro Anax much the meaner twin.
Lots of wordfinder help needed here – and the blog to parse many of the answers. Thought some of the clues were a bit recherché, e.g AN IDEAL HUSBAND if one wasn’t too familiar with Wilde’s oeuvre – although that was one of the easier ones for me.
Couldn’t parse 22dn; the best (pun unintentional) I could come up with was to wonder if ‘George Best’ was rhyming slang for ‘chest’ (= bosom).
Anyway, thanks Anax and RatkojaRiku.
Not as tough as yesterday, if that’s not damning with faint praise. Needed to do a number of word searches, and just couldn’t get 1ac, 21dn and 24ac. Couldn’t parse a lot, too, so thanks for the help there. No, that Spoonerism just didn’t work for my cockney accent.
Thanks for your comments everyone and to RR for a super blog.
Ed knows best! Eimi didn’t need any changes from the submitted puzzle but did mention that the Spoonerism might raise eyebrows, but we went for it anyway. “BUT FALLER” – “FOOT BALLER”… close enough for this neck of the woods, but I appreciate it’s not universal.