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I had to attempt this puzzle in 2 parts – once at the start of the day and again, after I had finished at work. Unfortunately, I still havent been able to successfully get around a couple of clues, the answers for which I am sure are quite easy to crack. Nevertheless, what I indeed managed to solve was very enjoyable and was taxing just to the right extent. 18ac and 17d are to be finished.
Apologies for not finishing this before putting it up (would love to have been able to spend more time on this before blogging the complete puzzle but wont be near a computer for another three hours).
| Across | ||
| 1 | UNFLINCHING | Firm even ruins affair with internal measure (11) |
| UN (even rUiNs) FLING (affair) containing INCH (with internal measure) | ||
| 7 | See 15 | |
| 9 | PARMA | Standard reflecting wave of radio ham (5) |
| PAR (Standard) MA (reflecting wave of radio i.e. AM in reverse) | ||
| 10 | TUILERIES | Goes round unopened craft gardens (9) |
| TRIES (goes) around gUILE (unopened craft) | ||
| 11 | CATACOMBS | Tom first searches Chambers for “dead” (9) |
| CAT (Tom) A (first) COMBS (searches) – nice misdirection Chambers. | ||
| 12, 23 | TAKEN APART | Dismantled what actor had done (5,5) |
| What actor had done – Taken a part | ||
| 13 | EMERSON | Individualist individual lost his head embracing Gaff (7) |
| pERSON (individul lost his head) embracing ME (Gaff, setter of the puzzle) | ||
| 15, 7 | TRAM CAR | Papist separately boards river, road and rail transport (7) |
| R, C (Papist, Roman Catholic) separately – boards TAMAR (River) to give TRAM CAR – a tram travels on rails on a road. | ||
| 18 | JEWS | People who only buy the first part of the book (4) |
| A reference to one of the pictures (one rich one poor) and in the clue a reference to the OT but not the NT being relevant to their faith – Thanks JSM (see #1 below) | ||
| 20 | MYELOMA | Growth of marrow mole may disturb (7) |
| Anagram of MOLE MAY | ||
| 23 | See 12 | |
| 24 | OLD CASTLE | Aged keep producing toad cells (3,6) |
| Anagram of TOAD CELLS | ||
| 26 | TAKE TURNS | Share abstract performances (4,5) |
| TAKE (abstract) TURNS (performances) | ||
| 27 | GNOME | Small Swiss 4? (5) |
| <4ac is city man i.e. banker> Refers to the phrase “Gnomes of Zurich” coined by Harold Wilson in 1956 – see the bottom of the wiki link here. | ||
| 28 | EAT | Consume a lot of produce from 21 (3) |
| Cryptic clue | ||
| 29 | RUDDY HEADED | Ginger-hued, dead dry, frizzy (5-6) |
| Anagram of HUED DEAD DRY | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | UNPICKED | Lost the thread and stupidly cued pink (8) |
| Anagram of CUED PINK | ||
| 2 | FIRST TEE | Where drivers may have top start (5,3) |
| Cryptic clue, reference to golf | ||
| 3 | ISAAC | Infant son Abraham almost ceremonially tops (5) |
| First letters (tops) of “Infant Son Abraham Almost Ceremonially” – Infant son does double duty here | ||
| 4 | CITY MAN | Crocodile making a change to it is a banker (4,3) |
| C(a)YMAN (Crocodile) changing ‘a’ to ‘IT’. | ||
| 5 | IS IT SET | Question about jelly one poses to alien (2,2,3) |
| Charade of I (one) SITS (poses) ET (aien) | ||
| 6 | GREAT GATE | Large entry from target age range (5,4) |
| Anagram of TARGET AGE | ||
| 7 | CHICKS | American girls have come out of their shells (6) |
| Cryptic definition – slang for girls | ||
| 8 | RESENT | Begrudge what was done to lost email (6) |
| What was done to lost email: Re-Sent | ||
| 14 | SPECTATOR | Nearly turn up with mushrooms for fan (9) |
| CEPS (mushrooms) ROTATe (nearly turn) – all reversed (up) | ||
| 16 | FOOTHOLD | Purchase of old hot concoction (8) |
| Anagram of OF OLD HOT | ||
| 17 | LAKE MEAD |
Make mistake in first place held back by Hoover (4,4) |
| Anagram of MAKE (mistake) in LEAD (first place) – Lake Mead is held back by Hoover dam. Thanks JSM (See #1 below) | ||
| 19 | SCOURED | Searched South Yorkshire river beset by fish (7) |
| S (South) URE (Yorkshire river) inside COD (fish, beset by) | ||
| 20 | MODESTY | Creator of paintings in a gallery over your initial reserve (7) |
| 21, 22 | CATTLE MARKET | Where one may bid for raised stakes, we hear (6,6) |
| Cryptic clue – Stakes sounds like Steaks, raised here stands for grown/nurtured – Cattle Market refers to the Metropolitan Cattle Market. See wiki here. | ||
| 25 | ANGLE | Fish fork (5) |
| Double definition | ||
*anagram
Hi TL – good effort – it wasn’t easy.
18a is JEWS – a reference to one of the pictures (one rich one poor) and in the clue a reference to the OT but not the NT being relevant to their faith.
17d is LAKE MEAD – which is “held back” by the Hoover dam.
The bigger quest for me is to find the 13th thematic reference. I have 12 and one slight suspicion.
All in all a neat puzzle. Prolly a bit easier than the average Gaffster – until the tough bit that is.
@swag
13 17(part1) and 9 (sounds like) can’t be a coincidence, surely?
@b #2
It’s intentional.
EL & P did an album of most of the themed piece.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictures_at_an_Exhibition_%28album%29
@B #2 – I think you just gave me my 13th. I’d counted the other two but not that one.
Phew – closure.
@swag
ach so!….too good for me. I’m smarter than the average Bär, but apparently not smart enough.
Thanks Turbolegs
20dn is MODEST (creator of paintings in a gallery {the forename of the composer whose anniversary it is today}) Y[our].
For those who are puzzled by the preamble, help can be found here.
Thanks Turbolegs, good effort on the blog.
Has anyone found a reference to Baba Yaga’s Hut in here?
I was in two minds about this one. As I was solving the puzzle I thought it felt a bit strained and the theme was getting in the way of the puzzle. On the other hand there is a lot of stuff hidden in here an I enjoyed tracking it down, so that makes up for it.
I enjoyed this more than today’s other cryptics – took me a while to spot the theme – I had got the Emerson and Parma’ long before I found the Lake – but the remainder of the theme took a while to sort out – silly really as I went to a concert last year where everything played related to today’s anniversary work.
Thanks to Gaff and Turbolegs.
I believe 28 is not a pure cryptic clue as “produce from a cattle market (21, 22)” is “meat”. Thus “a lot” of meat is “eat”, i.e. meat minus the leading “m”.
Thanks all for the help .. not my best effort. Nevertheless, experiences like this keep the interest alive. I will be back for more. 🙂
Is 18a not GENS – being French for people and short for 1st book GENesiS?