Thanks to Scorpion for an an enjoyable solve today!
When we saw that it was Scorpion we were on the lookout for a theme but we still missed it until we guessed 28ac. We found 12 linked clues in total. 7 ac (in Iceland), 10ac, 11ac, 14ac, 15ac, 18ac, 26ac, 30ac, 1d (the 1946 film noir), 5d, 22d (1986 film by David Lynch) and 24d. Quite an achievement!
Many thanks in particular from Joyce who wrote up the blog today. When she was very young, she enjoyed the various ‘plays’ that she took part in with her older brother and cousin. Today, she was reminded of the time when she was instructed to shout ‘Blue Murder” by her fellow ‘actors’ as the cue for them appearing in her cousin’s dining room where she was currently standing. When she actually cried, “Blue murder” she was very confused when they opened the door and collapsed on the floor in hysterics!
| Across | ||
| 7 | Body of water in the past overrun by sole mostly | |
| LAGOON | AGO (in the past) Inside or ‘overrun by’ LON |
|
| 8 | Coastal region enlightened the foremost of travellers speaking | |
| LITTORAL | LIT (enlightened) + T (first letter or ‘foremost’ of Travellers) + ORAL (speaking) | |
| 10 | Section of drive perhaps following trail | |
| FLAG | F (following) + LAG (trail) | |
| 11 | Take to the street around mid-morning? It’s what a cleaner may do | |
| RINSE | RISE (take to the street) around N (middle letter in morNing) | |
| 12 | Wallbanger on ice which has you flat on your back? | |
| LUGE | You have to imagine that you are on a tray for this one descending an icy track – not a sport that has ever tempted Joyce who is writing up the blog this time! | |
| 13 | Rotten person misdirected small swimmer at Gala perhaps | |
| BAD APPLE | DAB (small swimmer) reversed or ‘misdirected’ + APPLE (Gala is a type of apple) | |
| 14 | Avidly consume wine and spirit in retirement | |
| MURDER | RED (wine) + RUM (spirit) reversed or ‘in retirement’. One of favourite clues today – I wonder why? | |
| 15 | Supermarket’s outside Paris according to Cockney wanting cheese? | |
| STILTON | ST (first and last letter or ‘outside’ of SupermarkeT) +’ILTON (how a Cockney may say Paris Hilton) | |
| 18 | John finally settled in base, made ready for action | |
| BLOODED | LOO + D (final letter of settleD) inside BED (base) | |
| 21 | Friend opposed to overpowering constant note | |
| QUAVER | QUA |
|
| 23 | People hearing opera periodically re-enacted on German estate, say | |
| AUDIENCE | rEeNaCtEd (alternate letters or ‘periodically) on AUDI (German estate car perhaps?) | |
| 26 | Bowling erratic line and length, openers given warning | |
| BELL | B (bowling) + E L L (openers in Erratic Line Length) | |
| 27 | French woman keeps reading, for example, new series of kid’s books | |
| MR MEN | MME (French woman) around or ‘keeping’ R (reading, for example, as in the three Rs) + N (new) | |
| 28 | Some here go along with this blasted shouting | |
| BLUE | It took us a while to sort this one out. We completed the puzzle on line and ended up using the reveal button. We thought it may be BLUE as it sounds like BLEW (blasted) if you shouted it! It wasn’t until we had it checked that Bert suddenly realised what the hidden theme was! | |
| 29 | Enjoy getting thousand pounds in contest by no means over | |
| BE KEEN ON | K (thousand pounds) in BEE (contest) + NONE (by no means) reversed or ‘over’ | |
| 30 | One’s drunk from the French dry earlier with bad smell | |
| BOTTLE | LE (French for the) + TT (dry) with BO (bad smell) at the start or ‘earlier’ | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Artist describes tip to sketch a flower | |
| DAHLIA | DALI (artist) around or ‘describing’ H (tip to sketcH) + A | |
| 2 | Lecturer with unusual laugh snorted on extended journey | |
| LONG HAUL | L (Lecturer) + an anagram of LAUGH around or ‘snorting’ ON | |
| 3 | Catch Romeo finally leaving lover in opposite direction | |
| ENTRAP | PARTNE |
|
| 4 | Comprehensive surprisingly taken with outsiders from borstal | |
| BLANKET | Anagram of TAKEN and first and last letters or ‘outsiders’ from BorstaL (anagrind is ‘surprisingly”) | |
| 5 | Depression starts to lessen after resizing bust | |
| COLLAR | COL (depression) with L A R (starts to Lessen After Resizing) | |
| 6 | Worry about key Frenchman getting disease | |
| GANGRENE | NAG (worry) reversed or ‘about’ + G (key) + RENE (Frenchman) | |
| 9 | Hot lady’s stifled by onset of travel sickness | |
| THERMAL | HER (lady’s) inside or ‘stifled by’ T (first letter or ‘onset’ of Travel) + MAL (sickness) | |
| 16 | Ancient character, with little energy entering incline becomes tense | |
| TAUTENED | TAU (ancient character) + E (energy) inside TEND (incline). We wondered why ‘ancient’ was included in the clue though. | |
| 17 | Classical art graduate’s inside playing chap performing in gig? | |
| OARSMAN | ARS (Latin for art) + MA (graduate) inside ON (playing). Joyce thinks that Bert must be mellowing in his old age as he did not make any comments on her lack of Latin when she had to have the parsing explained! | |
| 19 | Dental problem needing brace in public is a source of embarrassment | |
| OVERBITE | BI (pair) inside OVERT (public) + E (first letter or ‘source’ of Embarrassment) | |
| 20 | Shrub calamitous girl carries back to hers over motorway | |
| JASMINE | JANE (as in Calamity Jane) around or ‘carrying’ S (last letter or ‘back’ of herS) + MI (motorway) | |
| 22 | Money abroad raised to examine fabric | |
| VELVET | LEV (currency abroad) raised + VET (examine) | |
| 24 | Long distance runner partial to one bun a day when building up | |
| DANUBE | Hidden (‘partial’) and reversed or ‘building up’ within the clue – onE A BUN A Day | |
| 25 | Ally excited to be entertained by old King | |
| COUPLE | UP (excited) inside or ‘entertained by’ COLE (old King) | |
Merci bien mes braves. The second stretchy one this week in the Indy. (What on earth will Thursday be like?)
As you say, quite and achievement. (btw I include the blog in that statement.)
I found this puzzle tricky but got there in the end. QUAVER was my LOI from the definition alone so thanks for that B&J. Having said that, I should have seen the wordplay because I walk past a Friends Meeting House almost every day. When I had just the L checker for 22dn I was only able to think of “velcro” and “velour” for quite a while, both of which were obviously unparsable. The BE KEEN ON and OARSMAN crossers also took a while to tease out. I only noticed the theme once I got BLUE, and I thought Scorpion did well to include so many themed answers.
I agree that Scorpion has done well to include so many themed answers, but this solver gave up half way through because it was the grid from hell and impenetrable. His fellow compilers will no doubt be thinking how clever it was, but the idea for setters of daily cryptics is to lose gracefully.
When he saw the grid, Bert said – Kathryn’s Dad is not going to like this grid!
I am two things: grumpy and predictable. Must book in for therapy.
Was rather glad I was blogging Chifonie rather than this today when I tried to do this over lunch. Screaming “blue murder” indeed 🙂
Thanks to BnJ and Scorpion.
Thanks to setter and bloggers,
Phew! Really hard going for the second day in a row. Like Conrad Cork@1, I approach the Thursday offering with some trepidation. Lots of excellent clues – 12a & 21a were my favourites. I second the comments regarding the quality of the blog.
Hope tomorrow is a bit more gentle.
Very hard, but largely enjoyable. I wondered if ‘opera’ in 23ac was anything but padding to help the surface. And I wasn’t comfortable with gangrene being a disease, but Chambers calls a disease a disorder so I suppose that’s OK then.
A real stinker. Yesterday’s was child’s play in comparison. Gave up with about half still to do.
Despite me not finding LUGE (oh, those cryptic definitions) and COLLAR I can’t say this was a struggle similar to yesterday’s.
I enjoyed this very much (unlike Kairos’ puzzle in which the southern half was left almost completely blank).
Thanks B&J for explaining QUAVER which I didn’t understand. There are so many constants in the world, aren’t there?
The only time I did something with my eyebrows was at 19d. I didn’t see the relevance of the word “is” in the clue. But afters several re-readings I think one can justify it.
My BLUE-penny-dropping moment came near the end of the puzzle which felt like a bonus – a welcome bonus.
And there’s one more: 20d (Blue Jasmine, last year’s Woody Allen film).
Some are looking forward to this Thursday (see posts 1 and 7) and some will indeed be surprised – especially solvers from the other place.
Mnay thanks to Scorpion.
I was wondering in which way Joyce equated ‘bust’ with ‘collar’. Was it as in a police ‘bust’ or ‘arrest’ or ‘collar’. Alternatively, was it ‘collar’ à la ‘collétage’ and thence ‘bust’? Or was she, as I was, thinking of both?
I also noted Joyce reports an omission in Bert’s parsing of ‘ars’……now what was that? Mmm… missing…..parsing…..ars…. Ping! Got it!
Enjoyed your blog. Many thanks and, belatedly, to Scorpion for a scrumptious puzzle.
(Incidentally, I counted 14 solutions which can be sensibly preceded by ‘blue’!)
A complete waste of time for the general readership of the i in 2018. Again , why oh why do it ????