HURRY UP, says (new?) solver Moordon. Hang about, I haven’t even started! Will this rush prove rash?
I’ve had problems with some of the puzzles published either side of this one – puzzles that had various tricksy changes that were required before an answer could be entered, and which left me with a blank grid for some extended period. So I was glad that this puzzle ‘only’ required me to solve clues in order to populate (most of) the grid.
Solving enough of these and in the right places gave _KATE_ON as one of the unclued entries. It didn’t take a skilful leap (of the type that we shall see in a moment) to figure out that the phrase to be entered was GET ONE’S SKATES ON which, of course, means to HURRY UP.
In fact, I had worked out the group of four interlocking unclued entries in the SW before this. In any case, solving one set helped with the solution to the other.
[EDITED – see Jaguar’s comment below]
Some of the remaining lights are (italicised) skating moves and people associated with them:
AXEL PAULSEN
ULRICH SALCHOW
Two more are skating moves:
MOHAWK
CHOCTAW
The final pair GUSTAVE – LUTZ is a conundrum. The skater in question’s surname was LUSSI, and the LUTZ jump is most commonly claimed to be named after ALOIS LUTZ. Nevertheless, there are claims knocking about the internet that LUSSI is the inventor and source of the name.
Notation
old-style bars = definition
(AIR) = charade definition
[Order] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
POSSET* = anagram
< = reversal
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 5 | ESTOPS | [Order] POSSET* in old-style bars (6) |
| 11 | SKATOLE | Fetid stuff LEAKSTO* [ground] |
| 12 | SANITARIA | <{AIR (Display) A (one’s) TIN money, AS (for instance),} [over] in hospitals (9) |
| 13 | RAY | Look for skate! (3) |
| 14 | STIR | <RITS (Glaswegian scratches) [back] in jail (4) |
| 15 | ELATE | E [European’s first], <{ET AL} (and the rest) [from the east] cheer (5) |
| 16 | DOHS | Notes <SHOD (with trainers) [returned] (4) |
| 17 | MARS | Iron R (rule) [in] MA (Massachusetts) S (succeeded) (4) |
| 19 | STEVENS | Local voices T (tense) [during] SEVENS (competition at Twickenham, perhaps?) (7) |
| 20 | AVERS | Maintains OVERS (deliveries) [with A (one) for O (nothing)] (5) |
| 21 | ASTONE | Earlier shock of LAST ONE (final unit) [getting L (left) out] (6) |
| 24 | PARE | Cut PEAR (fruit), [so to speak] (4) |
| 26 | HOUSE | HO (Stop) USE (employment) for domestic (5) |
| 28 | GAR | This fish [together with B (bass) makes GARB (an appearance)] (3) |
| 29 | LOR | LORY (Parrot) [losing tail] gives expression of surprise (3) |
| 30 | RODIN | French sculptor and BORODIN (Russian composer) [ignoring] B (British) O (circle) (5) |
| 31 | NOEL | NO EL [This shows how ELAN makes AN] entertaining season (4) |
| 32 | PRIMUS | Cooking stove for presiding bishop (6) |
| 34 | TRIAS | RIA (Valley) in <ST (stone) [recalled] a prehistoric period (5) |
| 36 | JOUK | [Opening with] Javed, Oxford University Knight gets duck in Perth (4) |
| 37 | ACES | A |
| 39 | USHER | One puts you in our place? GUSHER (Well), [not G (good)] (5) |
| 40 | ABLE | Clever L (lecturer) [in] ABE (Lincoln?) (4) |
| 41 | BOD | ChubBODdly [employs] this person (3) |
| 42 | PINEAPPLE | Fruit IN [boring] PE (exercises) APPLE (taken by Jonathan)? (9) |
| 43 | TOOTHY | Pleasant TOOT (blast on horn) [starts to] Humour You (6) |
| 44 | SKIDPAN | [With S (son) moving up front], KIDS (children) PAN (face) slippery surface (7) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | PLASMA | Type of screen in PL (place) on A SMALL (Mini) [with no LL (lines) showing] (6) |
| 2 | TZARS | TARS (Sailors) [restricting] Z (zone) for unusually powerful rulers (5) |
| 3 | OWNERS | DOWNERS [Unopened] (depressants) for captains of warships (6) |
| 4 | ESTATE | Rank and E [rilE finally] STATE (set forth) (6) |
| 6 | STILES | [Club] LISTS* [including] E (English) upright members (6) |
| 7 | TOAD | Person who’s hateful TO (before) and AD (after date) (4) |
| 8 | PEAHEN | HE (Man) [in] PEAN (exultation) for a female strutter (6) |
| 9 | SHYSTERS | Disreputable lawyers [wrongly] STRESS* [framing] [case of HeresY] (8) |
| 10 | OILSEED | |
| 13 | ROSOGLIO | Cordial {GIRL O (over) and O (over)}* [again] SO [involved] (8) |
| 18 | REPRISED | <DESIRER (One wishing) [to keep] P (pressure) [up] performed again (8) |
| 22 | TEE | Mark [what This begins with] (3) |
| 23 | ALPHABET | [Nearly] ALL (everyone) [ordered] THEBAP* for a kind of soup (8) |
| 25 | ARM | Escort’s offering A (one) RM ( room) (3) |
| 26 | HIGH SEAS | International waters in HIGH SEASON (peak tourist period)? [Not ON] (8, two words) |
| 27 | UNSWEPT | Not having been cleared, UN (a French) S (soprano) WEPT (cried) (7) |
| 33 | ROCOCO | Extravagant CO CO (companies) [supporting] RO (Romania) (6) |
| 34 | TORPID | Oxford crew [rowing] in PORTSAID [but SA (it)’s forbidden] (6) |
| 35 | SKEELY | K (Kelvin) [interrupting] SEELY (foolish) Scottish expert (6) |
| 36 | JALAP | <[Set up] {PAL (chum) with A J (joint)} and a purgative drug (5) |
| 38 | SPOT | Awkward situation S (is) PORT (left) [R (right) away] (4) |
There were a couple of Moordon puzzles last year, about the Widdicombe Fair, and another one where the perimeter was made of a chain of compound words (I think). I also think that one half of Moordon was Alan Donovan, Syd Lexis, who died recently.
Their offering here was rather gentle, I thought, and hopefully a good puzzle to attract newcomers or relative newcomers to the EV. Nothing too intimidating. I found that the top left corner was probably the toughest to break into, at least in part because the Internet offers a different origin of the name “Lutz” from Chambers (Alois LUTZ rather than Gustave LUSSI). Still, there’s no ambiguity as to what is required, as of course Chambers is the reference. Let’s hope that no-one got stuck on that bit.
Thanks, Jaguar – both for the clarification re the setter and reminding me of the Lussi/Lutz issue..
I’m not sure why the time between solving and blogging had wiped that difficulty from my mind.