I was really floundering with this grid from Bradman – probably one of the longest times I have spent on an FT puzzle, peppered with words I didn’t know as well (e.g. 14ac, 10d). After some hard work, nearly all of the grid fell in place barring 20ac and 17d which I have had difficulty solving/parsing (and subsequently helped out by Gaufrid). Overall, a very enjoyable treat for the mind.
Across | ||
1 | PIQUET | Card game – what they have in Paris in den (6) |
QUE (“what” in French) in PIT (den) | ||
4 | CACTUS | Plant copper on front of street outside a court (6) |
CU (copper) on front of S (street) outside A CT (a court) | ||
8 | STEALTH | Keep quiet when catching bird – time for sneaky movement (7) |
SH (Keep quiet) catching [TEAL (bird) T (time)] | ||
9 | PHOENIX | Spooner’s joint repair as a symbol of new life (7) |
Spoonerism of KNEE (joint) FIX (repair) | ||
11 | CHARGE HAND | Cleaner good, what? And a supervisor of others working (6-4) |
CHAR (Cleaner – charwoman) G (good) EH (expression to mean what?) AND – deputy to a foreman in a factory | ||
12 | TOFU | Component of feast of unusual food (4) |
Hidden in “..feasT OF Unusual..” | ||
13 | FITCH | Sexually attractive companion in fur (5) |
FIT (Slang for Sexually attractive – said of the opposite sex) CH (companion – Reference to Order of the Companions of Honor) | ||
14 | BOWERING | Enclosing people in general in dull environment (8) |
WE (people in general) in BORING (dull) | ||
16 | PROMETAL | Concert with others producing some hard stuff (8) |
PROM (Concert) ET AL (others) – a type of cast iron | ||
18 | EDGAR | King by the grace of God wanting external attention (5) |
DG (grace of God – from latin Dei Gratia) in EAR (attention) | ||
20 | VAIN | Report of mood being thoughtless (4) |
Sounds like vein (mood) | ||
21 | PAYING BACK | Retaliating against what could be seen in campaign, I yapped (6,4) |
reverse, hidden in campaiGN I YAPped – some would say this is a Guardianesque clue? | ||
23 | CHORIZO | After endless tedious work one gets cross – let’s have a sausage! (7) |
CHORe (endless tedious work) I (one) ZO (cross, referring to the tibetan animal which is a cross of yak and common cattle) | ||
24 | IGNITED | Bad editing will get one fired up (7) |
Anagram of EDITING | ||
25 | REDRAW | Design again seen to be bloody crude (6) |
Charade of RED (bloody) RAW (crude) | ||
26 | STASIS | Secret police’s state of equilibrium (6) |
STASI (Secret police in East Germany) S (‘s) | ||
Down | ||
1 | PITCH | Quiet yearning to settle (5) |
P (quiet) ITCH (yearning) – used as in pitch a tent | ||
2 | QUADRAT | Rodent burrowing under courtyard in ecologically significant area (7) |
RAT (Rodent) under QUAD (courtyard – quadrangle) | ||
3 | ENTRECHAT | Leap from the trance revitalised (9) |
Anagram of THE TRANCE, meaning a leap in ballet | ||
5 | APHID | Wasp, regularly concealed pest (5) |
wAsP (regularly – even letters) HID (concealed) | ||
6 | TWEETER | Bird that’s quaint over terrace, one sending messages (7) |
TWEE (quaint) over TER (terrace) – multiple references in the clue : bird = tweeter; one sending messages (on twitter) is also called a tweeter; the logo of twitter is a bird (that tweets) | ||
7 | STIFFENER | Drink as a loosener-up? Anything but (9) |
cd – strong alocoholic drink / meaning the opposite of loosener (anything but) | ||
10 | JAMBALAYA | A stew of lamb stuffed into a bird, a WI dish? (9) |
Anagram of LAMB in A JAY (a bird) A – Never heard of this one before. | ||
13 | FORGATHER | Assemble soldiers leaving finally to be hugged by the old man (9) |
OR (soliders, Other Rank) G (leaving finally) in FATHER (old man) | ||
15 | WEEKNIGHT | Little man like Tony Robinson gets an evening between Monday and Friday (9) |
WEE (Little) KNIGHT (man like Tony Robinson – knighted) | ||
17 | MANFRED | Poem with lots of hairy stuff entertaining father (7) |
MANED (lots of hairy stuff) entertaining FR (father) – Reference to the poem by the same name | ||
19 | GUBBINS | Catch insect flying up in gadget (7) |
GUB (bug – insect flying up) BINS (snib – catch, flying up) – referring to a small gadget. | ||
21 | PIZZA | Italian square dishing out a type of food you’d expect there? (5) |
PIaZZA (City square in Italy, dishing out ‘a’) | ||
22 | CO EDS | American schoolgirls who work together on a magazine maybe?(2-3) |
dd |
*anagram
Thanks Bradman for a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle and Turbolegs for the blog. Suspecting the pangram helped with 9ac and 20ac as I still needed a V and and X.
Thanks for a great blog, Turbolegs; I like the underlined definitions.
Although there were some unusual words, I found that Bradman’s meticulous clues
made them all quite accessible – even JAMBALAYA with its hint of ‘Jam and Jerusalem’.
I missed the pangram (as usual) but I enjoyed the PHOENIX Spoonerism.
Homophones can be contentious but here, VAIN was clear and unambiguous.
An enjoyable work-out. Thanks, Bradman.
Thanks Turbolegs and Bradman,
A lovely crossword and comprehensive blog.
I wasn’t sure whether to enter “hotch” or “fitch for a while. VAIN was my last-in, when I finally twigged the word-play.
I’ve had a really successful week with all the cryptics, with two exceptions. The first was the Don’s supposedly easy Quixote on Monday and the other was this fiendish Bradman. The Don does use a wider range of vocabulary than most other setters. He usually, but not always, compensates for this with clear wordplay. Fitch, prometal, quadrat and snib were all new to me but eminently gettable. Others, such as Edgar and Manfred, I arrived at because of Puccini’s opera and Tchaikovsky’s symphony. Ultimately this was a pleasant ego-stroking solve for me as I was able to arrive at a complete solution containing lots of words that I did not know. I totally understand if other solvers find it frustrating.
It is still a daily, though, and not one from good ole Azed. I thought this one had too many tough words, I must say!
Probably posting too late for anyone to notice, but…
Turbolegs, if you have never had JAMBALAYA, you’re missing out! I also recommend crawfish etouffe.
BTW, I’m tempted to think Bradman hadn’t heard of it either, as he defined it as a “WI dish.” Last time I checked, Louisiana wasn’t in the West Indies. (I suspect Bradman saw “Creole” in Chambers or Collins and took for granted that it referred to some WI variety of Creole. But it refers to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Creole_cuisine.)
Hi Keeper
With a question mark, “WI dish?”, I assume Bradman is referring to The Women’s Institute here.
The Organisation is often summarised as ‘Jam and Jerusalem’.
Echoes of Dundee … the city of “jute, jam and journalism”!
Mike
Hi Keeper,
While the name Jambalaya itself sounds quite intriguing, my vegetarian inclinations would prevent me from savoring the same. I did look the dish up though – fancy !!
Regards,
TL