This was a tough grid for a Friday and required several attempts before the grid began to show a semblance of respectability. I still didn’t have enough time to finish and needed Gaufrid’s help to chip in the missing clues. (see entries in red)
| Across | ||
| 1 | MUSKEG | Marsh deer, say (6) |
| MUSK (deer) EG (say) | ||
| 4 | CASHMERE | Nancy’s Mum needs money in advance for expensive fabric (8) |
| Need help with parsing here, (Is CA related to Nancy) – SH (Mum) M (Money) ERE (in advance) CASH (money) MERE (Nancy’s Mum {mother in French}) | ||
| 9 | CRADLE | The first to decide Clare is off her rocker? (6) |
| Anagram of D (first to Decide) CLARE | ||
| 10 | OPERATIC | Viewer takes a long time giving description of Lulu? (8) |
| OPTIC (viewer) takes in ERA (long time) | ||
| 12 | RUSE | A deception fraudster used regularly (4) |
| fRaUdStEr (regularly – even characters) | ||
| 13 | CADRE | Run into rebel activist group (5) |
| R (run) in [Jack] CADE (rebel) | ||
| 14 | See 17 | |
| 17, 14 | THOSE WERE THE DAYS | How Doris and Robin may be remembered? Ah, happy times! (5,4,3,4) |
| [Thought this was a great clue – At least for me, because the solution didnt occur to me immediately and came through as a flash of inspired solving]. Reference to Doris Day (Actress) and Sir Robin Day (British Commentator). | ||
| 20 | SHOSTAKOVICH | Composer Khachaturian’s first five so-Soviet works repelling European? (12) |
| Anagram of KHACH (Khachaturian’s first five) SO SOVIeT (repelling European). I had to use help of the internet here to get the solution – what I learnt from wiki is that Dmitri Shostakovich and Aram Khachaturian were two of the three titans of Soviet music. Not too fond of this clue – definitely not for the layman to even come close to solving. | ||
| 23 | HOAX | Husband gets one involved in neat trick (4) |
| Parsing help please H (husband) O (One) AX (Neat)? H (husband) A (one) in OX (neat) | ||
| 24 | BOSCH | A painter? Utter nonsense! (5) |
| homophone (utter) of ‘bosh’ (nonsense) | ||
| 25 | DATE | Daughter’s a mischief-maker, see (4) |
| D (daughter) ATE (mischief-maker) | ||
| 28 | TITMOUSE | One can fly out – times will vary (8) |
| Anagram of OUT TIMES | ||
| 29 | PORTER | Ponder about end of Nat King Cole (6) |
| PORE (ponder) around [na]T R (king) | ||
| 30 | PARODIST | One makes fun of standard poet (8) |
| PAR (standard) ODIST (poet – writer of odes) | ||
| 31 | HOARSE | Husky’s an animal to pull vehicle around Arctic, chiefly (6) |
| HORSE (animal to pull vehicle) around A (Arctic chiefly) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MACERATE | Club price is steep (8) |
| MACE (club) RATE (price) – in this clue, means soften, by steeping in liquid. | ||
| 2 | SNAPSHOT | Before burnng bridges, put up picture (8) |
| SPANS (bridges) reversed (put up) HOT (burning) | ||
| 3 | ELLA | She turns up in several legends (4) |
| Hidden (in reverse, turns up) in severAL LEgends | ||
| 5 | APPURTENANCE | A punter can purchase vacuous fashion accessory (12) |
| Anagram (fashion) of A PUNTER CAN PE (PurchasE vacuous, i.e. first and last letters). I can’t remember if I have ever seen this word being used except in the “A” word list of Barons for GMAT ! 🙂 | ||
| 6 | HERB | Basil Brush at last meets royal? Bravo! (4) |
| H (Brush at last) ER (Royal) B (Bravo – Nato alphabet) | ||
| 7 | ENTRAP | Catch business associate coming up short (6) |
| Reverse of PARTNEr (business associate minus last letter – coming up short) | ||
| 8 | I’ll enter plea, not wanting second bit of jury duty (6) | |
| Double definition? I in EXC |
||
| 11 | SAFE AS HOUSES | Peter remains with core of personnel – employment’s not threatened at all (4,2,6) |
| SAFE (peter) ASH (remains) [pers]O[nnel] USE’S (employment’s) | ||
| 15 | LETHE | After half a pill he attains oblivion (5) |
| [tab]LET (half a pill) HE | ||
| 16 | PHLOX | One that’s planted in crowd’s picked up on the mike (5) |
| homophone (picked up on the mike) of ‘flocks’ (crowds) | ||
| 18 | PILASTER | Smear’s written about head of industry in column (8) |
| PLASTER (Smear) written about I (Head of Industry) | ||
| 19 | SHOETREE | To her, see, exercising is what keeps loafer in shape (8) |
| Anagram of TO HER SEE – a device put inside a shoe (loafer) to retain its shape | ||
| 21 | SHUT UP | Can it close completely? (4,2) |
| Double definition – “Can it” means to put a lid on it i.e. stop talking. | ||
| 22 | FACTOR | Agent will be fine with Guinness, say (6) |
| F (Fine) ACTOR (Sir Alec Guinness being the reference) | ||
| 26 | FOOD | Initially lost temper, pursuing origin of Friar Tuck (4) |
| F[riar] (origin of friar) [m]OOD (initially lost temper) | ||
| 27 | BOZO | American guy carries little weight – he’s a bit dim (4) |
| BO (american guy?) carries OZ (Ounce) | ||
Thanks Turbolegs and Alberich,
I also found this testing. I thought I had managed to complete it, but now see that 26 down was not “fold”. I forgot to go back and parse that one, because I spent so long working out MUSKEG and PORTER.
I thought it was a really good puzzle, and, for me, SHOSTAKOVICH is not that obscure – a mainstream composer.
PILASTER was my favourite.
Thanks a ton to Gaufrid for stepping in for me.
Hi Muffyword – I concur that Pilaster was a good clue. Ref Shostakovich, just put it down to my worldly ignorance. Not that much of a music guy.
One of the trickiest puzzles today but the only one I really had trouble with was 1a (if you don’t count trying to work out how to spell Shostakovich!)
Thanks to Alberich, Turbolegs and Gaufrid.
Many thanks to all concerned — a beautifully crafted endurance test, and very wicked.
A good work-out from Alberich.
My favourite clue was 17,14A followed closely by 21D which was very succinct.
27D Bo is given in Chambers as a US slang form of address for a man – I must say that I have only ever come across it in crosswords.
Thanks also to Turbolegs and Gaufrid
Thanks Turbolegs, actually I didn’t find this puzzle as tricky as others. I know Alberich’s style quite well and know what to expect, which helps.
I started this crossword in bed last night and finished it this morning while having my daily muesli breakfast.
Finished it? Um, not really. Couldn’t find 16d. Was almost sure that it had to be SHOOT but couldn’t make the homophone work.
Anyway, many thanks for your very nice blog (which, indeed, shows more than a little similarity with the ones that I write (and, btw, Jane Teather’s too)).
Apart from praising Alberich for writing an outstanding crossword, I also came here to tell you that I have noticed that so far every single one of your blogs you started with saying something about the grid. Apparently that is really important to you. I agree that it is nice when it’s pleasing to the eye, but in the end I am someone who can’t be bothered at all. It’s all about the cluing.
Which was excellent today.
For me the highlights were 24ac (BOSCH), 31ac (HOARSE) and above all SNAPSHOT (2d) with its “burning bridges” in the Lift & Separate category.
Sil @6,
I assumed Turbolegs was using “grid” as a term for “crossword”.
Hi Sil – Thanks for the comment. I was also hoping to force fit “Shoot” somehow before figuring out it couldn’t be it.
When I write “grid”, I am referring to the puzzle itself / the complete set of clues. This one was indeed a great workout – I wish I had a bit more time, a bit more knowledge and a bit more of Gaufrid’s brain.
Also – Thanks Muffy@7 !!