Scorpion has the honour of occupying the Tuesday slot this week.
The Tuesday puzzle often involves a theme or a Nina, I have spotted two potentials themes. Firstly, eight entries contain double letters – was this deliberate or purely coincidental, I wonder? Secondly, are more probably, there are quite a few words in today’s grid here that are taken from Swedish (9, 13, 25) and Norwegian (6, 8, 12A, 17, 18, 22, 24), and then there’s also “Finn” and “sauna”, giving the puzzle something of a Nordic flavour; furthermore, the origin of “angst” can be traced back to Danish as well as to German!
I found this one fairly challenging, and although I solved ten or so clues on first reading, there were many I needed to come back to and work away at. In the end, I was left with 5, 8A and 11, with 8A being the very last one in, when I vaguely recalled that Cortina was a ski resort and SKIS was one of the four-letter words that I had listed as being possible solutions. I would be keen to hear what other solvers think of my parsing of 11 (charged?) and 19 (old?).
My favourite clues today were 3, for its originality and smooth surface; 8A, for its misdirection; 23A, for its well-hidden definition; and 14, for raising a smile.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 06 | SLALOMING | Doing a zigzag line in most of Shropshire pottery
[L (=line) in SALO<p> (=Shropshire; “most of” means last letter dropped] + MING (=pottery) |
| 08 | SKIS | Gear used in Cortina that negotiates steep hill?
Cryptic definition: the Cortina in question is not the Ford Cortina car, but the Italian ski resort Cortina d’Ampezzo |
| 09 | TUNGSTEN | Metal barrel opening in Gatling gun
TUN (=barrel, cask) + G<atling> (“opening in” means first letter only) + STEN (=gun) |
| 10 | SAUNA | Place to chill? Yes and no
Cryptically, a sauna is a place to chill out, relax, despite being so hot! |
| 11 | NEWTON | Cold-blooded thing charged, given amount of force
NEWT (=cold-blooded thing) + ON (=charged, loaded); the newton is a derived SI unit of force |
| 12 | BRISLING | Bass, served with wine, missing tail of the fish
B (=bass) + RI<e>SLING (=wine; “missing tail – i.e. last letter – of the” means letter “e” is dropped) |
| 13 | SMORGASBORD | Storage space’s back, old fuel company removing a mixed bag
SMOR (ROM’s=(computer) storage space’s; “back” indicates reversal) + GAS BO<a>RD (=old fuel company; “removing a” means letter “a” dropped); from the Swedish term for a buffet-style meal, a smörgåsbord now refers to any varied selection from which one can pick and choose |
| 18 | QUISLING | Parisian who succeeded with girl initially after rejecting love rat
QUI (=Parisian who, i.e. the French word for who) + S (=succeeded) + LIN (NIL=love, nothing; “after rejecting” indicates reversal) + G<irl> (“initially” means first letter only); quisling is a “rat” in the sense of traitor, turncoat |
| 20 | NICKEL | English coin, changing hands, becomes this foreign one
NICKE-R (=English coin, a pound sterling); “changing hands” means R (=right) is replaced by L (=left) |
| 22 | KRILL | Seafarers in midst of bankrupt state
<ban>KR<upt> (“in midst of” means middle letters only) + ILL (=state, i.e. Illinois); cryptically, as marine organisms, krill are “seafarers” |
| 23 | BEAR ARMS | Serve woman after getting attention in pub
[EAR (=attention, as in to have someone’s ear) in BAR (=pub)] + MS (=woman) |
| 24 | FLOE | Father, lingering outside earlier, heads mass frozen
F<ather> L<ingering> O<utside> E<arlier>; “heads” means initial letters only |
| 25 | OMBUDSMAN | Judge’s male friends visiting Gulf State
[M (=male) + BUDS (=friend)] in OMAN (=Gulf State) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | ASSUMED | Imbecile getting university degree that’s bogus
ASS (=imbecile) + U (=university) + M Ed (=degree, i.e. Master of Education) |
| 02 | SOFTENER | Agent for washers frequently seen in residence writing up
OFTEN (=frequently) in SER (RES=residence; “writing up” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 03 | FINN | European providing rolling news
FI (IF=providing; “rolling” indicates reversal) + N N (2 x N=new) |
| 04 | AGASSI | Ex-sportsman’s depression returned during lawsuit regularly
GAS (SAG=depression; “returned” indicates reversal) in <l>A<w>S<u>I<t> (“regularly” means alternate letters only); the reference is to US tennis player Andre Agassi (1970-) |
| 05 | SIXAINE | After reflecting, fixed line that is besetting new piece of poetry
SIXA (AXIS=fixed line; “after reflecting” indicates reversal) + [N (=new) in I.E. (=that is)]; a sixaine is a stanza of six lines |
| 07 | ANGST | Tropical fishes, as temperature drops, stress
T-ANGS (=tropical fishes, sea-surgeons); “temperature (=T) drops” means letter “t” moves to end of word |
| 08 | SCULLER | Aquatic traveller downsized workroom
SCULLER<y> (=workroom; “downsized” means last letter dropped |
| 12 | BRAGG | Broadcaster upset costume designers essentially
BRAG (GARB=costume; “upset” indicates vertical reversal) + <desi>G<ners> (“essentially” means middle letter only); the reference is to UK broadcaster Melvyn Bragg (1939-) |
| 14 | MISSILE | Winner of Manx beauty contest reportedly a bombshell?
Homophone (“reportedly”) of “Miss Isle (of Man)” (=winner of Manx beauty contest) |
| 15 | BAND-AIDS | Some dressing restriction by parents inhibits one
BAN (=restriction) + [I (=one) in DADS (=parents)] |
| 16 | CUCKOLD | Copper emotional about grand chap who’s been deceived
CU (=copper) + [K (=grand, i.e. 1000) in COLD (=unemotional)] |
| 17 | LEMMING | Idiotic adherent’s fruit dropping on Lib Dem MP
LEM<on> (=fruit; “dropping on” means letters “on” are dropped) + MING (=Lib Dem MP, i.e. Ming Campbell) |
| 19 | IGLOOS | Very old soldier seen in retirement homes
SO (=very) + OL’ (=old) + GI (=soldier); “seen in retirement” indicates reversal |
| 21 | CHARM | Cath’s outside branch entrance
C<at>H (“outside” means first and last letters only) + ARM (=branch) |
| 23 | BABY | “Love x” seals first two letters
A B (=first two letters, i.e. of alphabet) in BY (=x, as in 6m x/by 3m) |
Too hard for me, this one.Much more at home with Tramp.For me, Scorpion is the most tricky of the Indy setters.
Thanks for blog and parsing.
I also found this too hard. Having completed the NW corner quite quickly I then gazed, unhappily, at the rest of it. Zilch. However , I always feel better about things when I find there are words I have never heard of in the answers, eg 5D, 12A. I did, however, parse 11A as you did RR, but can’t comment on 19D, as I still don’t get it.
Thanks for the blog, and also (I think) for the puzzle.
Yes RR, I agree with your parsing of the ON in NEWTON and the OL in IGLOOS. Doesn’t mean we’re right though. I really struggled with this one and was defeated by the SKIS/SIXAINE crossers, although in retrospect I should have got both of them.
Much too hard for me today. Gave up once I realised that there wasn’t a nina in the outer letters to help me.
Thanks for the blog.
Another to give up here, I think the obscure answers pushed this into unreasonable. Well done cracking this RR.
This was so far off my wavelength it was scary! In the end I decided to make free with the “Reveal Letter” button online, and treat it as an educational exercise.
I think the problem was that every clue needed you to have several crossers in…but as all clues were equally obscure, it was impossible to get a decent foot in the door. Normally a crossword has a mixture of difficulties, so the harder ones become clear as the crossers gradually go in.
Anyway, it’s my fault – not the crossword’s – and a lot of the clues were retrospectively satisfying! I can see that the genius solvers must enjoy having something like this to stretch them.
20 mins staring blankly at the grid before the first one came to me (NEWTON). Several lengthy visits back during the day and I eventually finished a Brisling short of completion, which gave me more pleasure than finishing many others has done. This was tough, tough, tough. A major workout. Well done RR and Scorpion.
Thanks RR and Scorpion. I was defeated by the 5d/8a crossers, like Andy B@3. I agree that SIXAINE is perfectly gettable, and precisely clued, but I think SKIS is not up to this setter’s usual standard – which is difficult but interesting, entertaining, even satisfying.
And another one defeated here. At my first attempt I got 9ac, and that was it. Came back to it later and struggled to get a handful of answers, mostly in the top left, and several I thought were just wild guesses. Seems to me the clues I did get required an extra level of devious thinking that I was having trouble doing.
Quite the reverse for me – I put 8a in straight away and then stared blankly at the rest for a long time, eventually getting about 2/3rds through (with a little help!).There are some I would never have got and |i still struggle, as others, with ‘ol’ for old without any qualification.
And another abandon…
Great to have some abstruse words but this was too far for me.
Thanks RR and that must have been hard work for scorpion too ?
I enjoyed this challenge! I got only 3d on the first read and then nothing for a while but it was slowly revealed starting in the SE and then working anticlockwise. I needed a lot of help though but thought all the clues were ok if you knew where to start unpicking them.
Thanks both
Defeated here. Had never heard of Cortina as a ski resort and thought it was about mushrooms; nor of a sixaine. Went to a list of Lib Dem MPs and entered HEMMINGS without knowing how it worked, not really ever having thought of lemmings as idiotic adherents.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen so many reporting they’ve been defeated by an Indie daily.
Oh no! If editor sees this, please ignore all the above. Not really…..but here’s one solver who really enjoyed this. And how pleasant that it WASN’T too easy. I’ve definitely come across harder puzzles quite regularly in the Indy and Guardian. I think that this was one of those (inevitable) statistical irregularities where those who solved successfully happened not to post.
I thoroughly enjoyed it – thanks to Scorpion and RR
I came back to this this morning, but had to give up. I did get SKIS, but only because Cortina rang a vague bell; apart from that, the NE corner was, for me, impenetrable, and when I finally used Reveal I understood why. Yes, there were some enjoyable clues along the way (favourites were 23a and 14), but either the setter deliberately aimed the puzzle at a tiny percentage of regular solvers, or is trying to be too smart for the target market.
Took me 3 days of occasional glancing, to be left without ‘skis’ or a ‘sixaine’. Grammatically, ‘skis’ is wrong (or functionally: the plural ‘skis’ don’t easily become the singular ‘gear’; without that, they have to take a plural ‘negotiate’).
Didn’t like ‘ol’ in ‘igloos’ and had assumed that ‘LGI’ was a version of the US military term; if you choose to take ‘GI’ as ‘General Infantry’ the L could be ‘Light’ or if you think it’s ‘Government Issue’ it could be anything.