First Indy Prize blog of the year brings me a Tyrus that is maybe not as hard as a traditional Tyrus puzzle.
Solving this was quite fun, the answers falling in gradually, and a final tough little one to chew over a while (24D)
But I fear it’s going to happen again isn’t it – I’m going the declare the grid has no theme or Nina then someone will point it out. It feels like something is going on here with the longer answers – several phrases alluding to schooldays – Homework. Chalk. Speech. Math(s) – not enough really
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1/13 | THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK | Petty claim over minor production failure? (3,3,3,2,8) Dennis the Menace’s blatant fib – or maybe not, as he never even pretended to do any homework. Mind you that dog of his could eat anything. Oh dear I’m waffling already. Hrrrumph. Nice CD which had me baffled (despite getting 18 earlier qv) until I had most of the crossing letters of HOMEWORK then the significance of minor = child was realised. |
| 6 | INCAN | Royal-Family member‘s doing time (5) In Can (=prison) thus “doing time” |
| 9 | PERMATANNED | Brown always criticised – maybe Team Blair ultimately involved (11) PANNED (criticised) around (TEAM [blai]R)* AInd: involved. Marked down as “Top clue!” for the surface reading and related answer – in fact best clue I’ve seen for ages |
| 10/14 | NOT BY A LONG CHALK | Nowhere near prepared, Ann and Holly got back (3,2,1,4,5) (ANN HOLLY GOT BACK)* AInd: Prepared. I got this early on, but not without having a pencil’n’paper fiddle with the letters for a while till Chalk appeared |
| 11 | SUNK | Paper Kelvin ruined (4) SUN (Paper (possibly)) K[elvin] SI unit of temperature. Another cracking surface (Ref Kelvin McKenzie – former Ed of the S). First clue answered. |
| 12 | MODIGLIANI | Artist (old one) aiming high (10) (OLD I (one) AIMING)* AInd: high. The preantepenultimate clue I solved here. (That’s enough clue solving order – Ed.) |
| 18 | YOU DO THE MATH | Not a case of ‘1A,13’? Go figure! (3,2,3,4) Double Def with a call out to a (for me) more difficult answer. A few crossing letters and the “Go figure!” exhortation led me to it. Opportunity to suggest a tune – at least listen to the free sample on amazon |
| 21 | IN THE MONEY | Flush trouble, he cryptically suggests (2,3,5) OK – I have the primary definition as Flush, but I am missing the wordplay of the final 85% of the clue. <later> Aha! it’s that Yorkshireman who’s gone to Russia; HE inside T’ROUBLE (the money) <update> No Yorkshire accent indicated or needed. It’s ROUBLE in T-HE. See comments |
| 23 | DEEP | Did a 15 on return – hard to understand (4) PEED< a 15 is a Number One. Puerile. (Heh, heh) |
| 25 | HOS | American sex workers not all present (3) Surprising answer and definition however clear makes me wonder if we can really get away with this sort of thing these days. I still cannot see what is “not all present” HOS is not all HOSE and I often get socks as a present – is that it? It is also not all GHOST and that is a present, no sorry, presence. Whatever it is it’s not all there, or maybe neither of THOSE. <update> It’s HOS[t] present=host verbally (See comment 1) |
| 26 | ON CLOUD NINE | Dress undone – Colin delighted (2,5,4) (UNDONE COLIN)* AInd: Dress in the verbal sense |
| 27 | SLACK | A quarter want to skive (5) S (a quarter – South) LACK (want) |
| 28 | EVERY INCH | Awfully nice trips round harbour? Absolutely! (5,4) (NICE)* AInd: awfully, around VERY, then H[arbour] |
| Down | ||
| 1 | TYPIST | Key worker from SE Asia under the influence of 20 (6) Homophone: “Thai Pissed”. Homophone Ind: of speech (via 20) |
| 2 | ERRANT | Turned on by passionate words? Wrong! (6) RE< (on, turned) RANT (passionate) |
| 3 | OMAN | In from another state (4) Hidden in frOM ANother |
| 4 | AYATOLLAH | Iranian leader (it’s rather surprising) cheers you up (9) HALLO (it’s rather surprising – as said in a Leslie Phillips manner) TA (cheers) YA (you) all reversed. All wordplay elements are rather informal, even slangy. |
| 5 | ENNUI | ‘Odgson’s reported Arsenal star showing tiredness (5) Homophone “‘Enry” for Thierry Henry as said by Roy Hodgson in a semi-cockney manner, or even better “‘Enwy” if said by a posh cockney, i.e. one who can’t say his Rs. Does Mr Hodgson sound like that? |
| 6 | INDELICATE | Screwing client? Idea’s tasteless (10) (CLIENT IDEA)* AInd: Screwing |
| 7 | CINNABAR | ‘Red’ names US agency’s about to ban (8) NN (Names) inside CIA (US agency) BAR (to ban) |
| 8 | NITPICKS | Quibbles over groundbreakers raising money (8) TIN< (money – raised) over PICKS (groundbreakers). Does the over work? I can understand the desire to get “Quibbles over” into the clue. I was unsure about the wordplay when I got it quite early on and that has left me feeling like I’m missing something (probably a comma). |
| 15 | NUMBER ONE | Cut yourself (6,3) Terse Doube Definition. A seriously short scalping by a barber with the clippers on the “Number 1” setting, and a colloquial reference to oneself as in “Looking after Number One” |
| 16 | BY RIGHTS | Legitimately in clear – Why a little sad? (2,6) Y (why ?) inside BRIGHT (clear) S[ad]. <update> Y=Why from textspeak |
| 17 | PUT TO SEA | Step out after work – first start on the drink (3,2,3) (STEP OUT)* AInd: (after?) work, then A (first) |
| 19 | BENIGN | Kind of government welcomed by country (6) G[overnment] inside BENIN (country) not the empire famous for its bronzes, that was along the coast a bit (know your West African states’ history) |
| 20 | SPEECH | Letter delivered to school address (6) PEE (Letter – the letter P) inside (delivered to) SCH (school) |
| 22 | ON CUE | A copper intervenes at the right moment (2,3) ONE (A) with CU (copper) inside it (intervenes) |
| 24 | G’DAY | Aussie opener close to protesting against light (4) [protestin]G DAY (light). Last answer I entered after staring at -D-Y for a very long time |
Thanks beermagnet and Tyrus,
I can’t see a theme either, although there are quite a few sayings/cliches.
HOS(t) – “present” as a verb.
Thank you to setter & blogger.
Very enjoyable. I particularly liked 1/13 and in a different way 21 was also satisfying once I’d cottoned on. I agree, 9 was an excellent clue which eventually repaid an hour or so’s searching for inspiration!
I found this puzzle very chewy and was pleased to be able to finish it without resort to aids.
1ac/13dn was my LOI and I needed all the checkers to see it. I knew it was a CD but I thought it was referring to sterility (minor production failure). I had solved 18ac earlier from the “go figure” definition and I forgot to correlate the two clues. I also got BY RIGHTS from the definition alone so thanks for parsing it. It took me way too long to see PUT TO SEA and SLACK.
I agree that the clue for PERMATANNED was absolutely top quality.
Ah! Thanks Muffyword – to host/to present, like a host/presenter of a game show – why couldn’t I see that?
Thanks Tyrus for an enjoyable puzzle and beermagnet for the blog.
21ac: I think this is ROUBLE in THE to give TROUBLE HE.
16dn: Can anyone find a respectable source for “why” as the name of the letter Y? I can only find “wye” in Chambers 2011. Alternatively, can the clue be parsed in a different way?
A comment on 5dn. Roy Hodgson certainly speaks with a “lazy R” sound, so I think that part of the clue works. However, to get the right vowels and stress on the final syllable, it is necessary to attempt the name Henry in a French accent. Therefore the H is already silent and (in my view) there is no need for an additional indication of that.
My first encounter with Tyrus, and a very enjoyable one. Thanks to beermagnet for the blog.
Pelham Barton @ 5
I hope someone comes up with a good source for why = Y. I’ve often wanted to use this when trying my hand at writing clues but (unfortunately) have never been able to find any encouragement.
Perhaps just citing Tyrus as my authority will do? 🙂
Thank you, beermagnet, for blogging. Not sure about your ‘not as hard as usual Tyrus’ thinking: this took me a good while to finally pin down. But it was a fine wee puzzle.
PERMATANNED was indeed a brilliant clue, and I also liked ENNUI (yes, Roy has a cockneyish accent and has a form of rhotacism, where the r’s come out as w’s, so if you know all that it will make you smile). But he speaks a number of European languages very well, so don’t knock the bloke.
‘Why’ for ‘Y’. Why not? Y r u reticent to accept this usage? Text users aren’t.
Good puzzle, thank you to Tyrus.
Thanks Beermagnet and Tyrus. Another great puzzle. Favourite clues were PERMATANNED, ENNUI, INDELICATE and the long ones. Good fun.
Pelham old chap –
I completely agree with you about 5ac. I have never heard the ‘H’ of Thierry Henry pronounced (not even by English commentators/footballers/fans) so the full use of Hodgson’s surname would have been preferable. Oddly, though, using ‘Odgson may have assisted my brain in finding solution instantly!?
Ooops! I meant 5dn of course. And wasn’t it a beautiful clue…….
I hadn’t noticed beermagnet’s explanation of 21ac in his blog due to my habit of only reading details in a blog when I’m not sure of the parsing of a particular clue. I agree with Pelham Barton@5’s parsing of it.
Kathryn’s Dad @ 8
Of course. Why do I always forget the language of texts? Thanks.
I might even get round to sending a text myself one day. That’s after I’ve bought the mobile phone, of course 🙂
K’s Dad@8 and ns @13: It is of course a matter of opinion, but my preference is that anything based on text message conventions should have an appropriate indication. As always, I have no quarrel with those who think differently.
For 21 IN THE MONEY I now agree with Pelham Barton (and Andy B) – ROUBLE in THE – there is no indication in the clue for a dialect accent to be used – I was just happy to finally see Rouble in the clue just before committing the blog.
KD is right to cite txtspk for the Why=Y question. This has surely been current long enough now to have entered the “crossword standards”.
I should make clear, I did not wish to imply that this was not a hard puzzle. I don’t think I have ever finished a weekday Tyrus, and I’m sure I would not have finished this without the extra weekend time (and impetus for being on blogging duty). So finally finishing it makes it feel easier than most of his others.
Thanks to beermagnet for the blog and to others for their comments.
PB – think you’re right about 5dn.