You never quite know who’ you’ll have to pit your wits against on a Tuesday, and this week it fell to me to do battle with Hob!
This was exactly the kind of crossword that I enjoy solving, where the theme is based on the different meanings a (common) word can have. Today’s gateway clue at 14/23 gave us two such words for the price of one, and these then reappeared in various guises throughout the puzzle. Thus, the theme is inherently lexical, relying as much on knowledge of language than of a particular theme, although geography came in handy for the various ports here. And even if the gateway clue surrendered itself fairly easily, there was still plenty for the solver to get his teeth into.
I think that I have done justice to the parsing, perhaps with the exception of 20A, where confirmation or otherwise from fellow solvers would be appreciated.
It is not easy to pick out and clues-of-the-day today, as I enjoyed this puzzle as a whole. If pushed, I thought the construction of 2 was a great spot by Hob, and I liked the & lit. at 3.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in double-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 07 | ROSTOCK | Run over to 14 23
R (=run, i.e. in cricket) + O (=over, also in cricket) + STOCK (=entry at 14); Rostock is a port (=entry at 23) in Northern Germany |
| 08 | GLASGOW | Schooner perhaps shortly to travel to western 23
GLAS<s> (=schooner, perhaps; “shortly” means last letter dropped) + GO (=travel) + W (=western); Glasgow is a port (=entry at 23) in Scotland |
| 09 | ASTI | Drink the last vestiges of one’s 23 in first-class
<one’>S <por>T (“last vestiges” means last letter of each only in A1 (=first-class) |
| 10 | CROSSBEAM | X-ray? Structurally, it goes from one side to the other
CROSS (=X, as on ballot paper) + BEAM (=ray, e.g. of light) |
| 12 | SWINE | Card-playing foursome has one in 14
I (=one) in S W N E (=card-playing foursome, i.e. four players in bridge); swine are (live)stock (=entry at 14) |
| 13 | PLUMPEST | Fattest fruit fly?
PLUM (=fruit) + PEST (=fly) |
| 15 | LEFT | Extended opening for Latvian 23
“Left” is the extended form of L, the first letter (“opening”) of Latvian; port (=entry at 23) is the left side of a ship |
| 16 | TUNIS | Vessel is in African 23
TUN (=vessel) + IS; Tunis is a port (=entry at 23) in Tunisia |
| 17 | FLOW | What 1D might do, after following stream
F (=following) + LOW (=what cows – entry at 1D – might do) |
| 18 | SPARSEST | Thinnest fly half, back on stewed rasps
*(RASPS) + EST (TSE<tse>=fly; “half” means 3 of 6 letters only are used; “back” indicates reversal); “stewed” is anagram indicator |
| 20 | SHOCK | Jar that might be 12A’s second drink
S (=second) + HOCK (=drink, i.e. wine); like “swine” (entry at 12A), the solution is made up of S + (TYPE OF) WINE; to jar is to shock, jolt |
| 21 | MACEDONIA | Country club has no idea about ecstasy being dropped
MACE (=club, i.e. weapon) + *(NO ID<e>A); “ecstasy (=E)” being dropped” means letter “e” dropped from anagram indicated by “about” |
| 22 | TAPE | Content to beat a personal record
Hidden (“content to”, i.e. contained within) “beaT A PErsonal” |
| 24 | BUFFALO | North American 14 // 23
Buffalo are North American (live)stock (=entry at 14) AND Buffalo is a port (=entry at 23) in NY State |
| 25 | LE HAVRE | Latin Quarter by river in 14 23
L (=Latin) + E (=Quarter, i.e. compass bearing) + [R (=river) in HAVE (in) (=stock, i.e. of shop); Le Havre is a port (=entry at 23) in Northern France |
| Down | ||
| 01 | COWS | 14 23, say
Homophone (“say”) of “Cowes” (=port, i.e. entry at 23) i.e. on Isle of Wight; cows are (live)stock, entry at 14 |
| 02 | ETHICIST | Expert in moral conduct – and this is in three different languages
ET (=and, in French) + HIC (=this, in Latin) + IST (=is, in Germany), hence 3 languages are used |
| 03 | ICICLE | One initially cascading, left in frozen state
I (=one) + C<ascading> (“initially” means first letter only) + [L (=left) in ICE (=frozen state)]; & lit. |
| 04 | ALYSSUMS | Plants sons in mental institutions after second and fourth swap places
S (=sons) in ALYSUMS (ASYLUMS=mental institutions; “after second and fourth swap places” means the second letter “s” changes places with the fourth letter “l”) |
| 05 | ASLEEP | Out with a dancer
A + SLEEP (=dancer, i.e. British ballet dancer Wayne Sleep) |
| 06 | BOOM | Bra’s first to have lifted low bust? On the contrary
B<ra> (“first” means first letter only) + OOM (MOO=low, i.e. of cattle; “lifted” indicates vertical reversal); boom is the opposite of bust in the expression boom and bust |
| 11 | ORPINGTON | Chicken cooked in gin (no 23?)
*(GIN NO PORT (=entry at 23)); “cooked” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | SHEEP | 14 a novel kind of record
SHE (=a novel, i.e. by H Rider Haggard) + EP (=kind of record); sheep are (live)stock (=entry at 14) |
| 14/23 | STOCKPORT | One thing bars and offies must do in a NW town
Bars and offies (=off-licences) must stock, i.e. have in stock, the fortified wine port! |
| 16 | TRENDILY | How to appear in Vogue? Aim to be in soft felt hat (not black)
END (=aim) in TRIL<b>Y (=soft felt hat; “not black (=B)” means letter “b” is dropped) |
| 17 | FRONT MAN | Seaside prom piece for lead singer?
FRONT (=seaside prom, as in to stroll along the front) + MAN (=piece, as in chess) |
| 19 | RECIFE | Fierce winds around South American 23
*(FIERCE); “winds”, i.e. turns, is anagram indicator; Recife is a port (=entry at 23) in Brazil |
| 20 | SHARES | In Bangladesh, a respectable partner for 14s
Hidden (“in”) in “BangladeSH A RESpectable”; the reference is to the expression stocks and shares |
| 21 | MAUL | Handle roughly 1,050 gold blocks
AU (=gold, i.e. chemical formula) in ML (=1,050, in Roman numerals) |
I thought I should post at least one more message, if only to say thanks to allan_c and Kathryn’s Dad for their welcoming responses to my first ever message yesterday.
I enjoyed this puzzle. I liked the theme words and how cleverly they were used throughout the puzzle.
As far as 20a goes, are we getting one definition and two (equivalent) bits of wordplay: “like 12a” = S+WINE = S+HOCK; “second drink” = S+HOCK? I think I’m saying I agree with RatkojaRiku (and thanks for the blog, by the way).
Thanks RR and Hob. Good job, both! 20a is really very neat – COD? I missed the S-WINE = S-HOCK to begin with.
A very enjoyable puzzle. I got the 14/23 gateway answer straight away but there were enough variations in the themed clues to keep me on my toes. LEFT was my LOI after TAPE, and it took me longer than it should have done to see FRONT MAN.
Thanks RR, this was harder to finish off than the “other place” for me with a curiously similar theme.
Fantastic variations on a theme of Stock/Port.
Not been in the UK for a while and every town I could think of even vaguely near the NW seemed to have nine letters, so took a while. Very diverting, with the use of varied meanings for both 14 & 23. Couldn’t parse my last in, LEFT. Particularly liked ETHICIST and ORPINGTON.
Thanks to Hob and RatkojaRiku.
Quite a tricky one with two themes (stock and ports) running simultaneously. Some nice misdirections, too: who else first thought of Riga (Latvian port) for 15ac and wondered how on earth it fitted the rest of the clue?
Thanks, Hob and RR.
Thanks, RR, for the blog.
I’m really sorry not to have had time to do this puzzle today – as a retired person, I was busy entertaining a friend to coffee and then going out to lunch – as it seems I missed a treat. But I pretty well always read the Indy blogs, anyway, because they’re usually entertaining and, anyway, I don’t like to miss anything entirely.
Several remarkable coincidences today: Philistine’s puzzle in the Guardian has a similar theme and, as Sil points out over there, LE HAVRE appears in that, too. Not only that, but, in a Philistine puzzle that I blogged some months ago, I was flummoxed by ‘Games of shaven swine? (5)’for SPORT – a very ingenious clue type, I thought, that I didn’t remember meeting before – and here it appears again, in SHOCK.
[And Magwitch’s puzzle in the FT last week had ‘Jar of spawn? (5)’ for SHOCK. Even more spooky, Sil, if you’re still hovering. 😉 ]
We were up on our knowledge of chickens (11d) thanks to a recent Inquisitor puzzle which opened up the theme fairly quickly.
Lots to enjoy and a variety of ingenious links to the two theme words as others have said already.
We couldn’t parse 15ac so thanks to RR for the blog.
Welcome to eghjam as well. We read your comments yesterday – it reminded us that we were once lurkers too!
Thanks Hob for the enjoyment this evening!
Thought of LEFT for 15A, but couldn’t parse it. Then recalled that most Latvians are LETTs, which is extended LET or opening (sort of).
Point is that Hob could have use Londoner, Lithuanian, Luxemburger, Libyan or whatever. Why Latvian?