This is only the third Knut puzzle in the Indy and as it was Thursday, we expected a challenge. There was some very clever and inventive clueing but also a few others that felt a bit ‘clunky’ or didn’t quite work in our opinion. Also, there were quite a few words that needed their definition checking before we were happy with the parsing.
There was a ghost theme that thankfully we noticed fairly early on – we’d have taken a lot longer otherwise. The ‘facial-hair’ theme reminded us of when we were in Juneau and saw some of the contestants who had been at THIS championship in Anchorage. They were very proud of their facial hair and willingly agreed to a photograph.
Apologies
We incorrectly numbered the clues and left out the clue and answer for 15d. The grid that we use is difficult to add to so please see our comment @3 for the missing information!
| Across | ||
| 1 | Lewis arrests only female sex workers | |
| CALL GIRLS | CS (as in CS Lewis) around or ‘arresting’ ALL GIRL (only female) | |
| 6 | Known for theatre, Stratford customers pleased by 1A | |
| JOHNS | A double definition with a reference to Stratford Johns who some may remember from ‘Z cars’ and ‘Softly Softly’ | |
| 9 | Rarefied atmosphere in which Lord Lucan mixed? | |
| THIN AIR | We think this must be a play on the fact that Lord Lucan seemed to disappear into THIN AIR. We were not that impressed by this clue and not sure why ‘mixed’ is there. Perhaps someone can help. | |
| 10 | Washington: capital city famous for its competitive culture | |
| OLYMPIA | Another double definition – Olympia is the capital of Washington state and, in ancient Greece, was the site of the original Olympic games | |
| 11 | Hospital doctor, English, working around farm building | |
| HOG-PEN | H (hospital) + GP (doctor) E (English) with ON (working) around the outside | |
| 12 | Move about Yorkshire town | |
| RESETTLE | RE (about) SETTLE (Yorkshire town) | |
| 14 | Approve fashionable content one’s reported from 11 | |
| OINK | OK (approve) with IN (fashionable) inside or as ‘content’. The oink refers to the hogs in the pen at 11ac. | |
| 16 | Space travel shifted second to sixth from third Dan Dare story, perhaps | |
| COMIC STRIP | COSMIC TRIP (space travel) with S (second) moving to sixth place. | |
| 19 | Knitwear Cristiano Ronaldo modelled is a complete disaster | |
| TRAIN WRECK | This was our LOI and we’re still not sure how many people refer to Cristiano Ronaldo as CR. However, the parsing is an anagram of KNITWEAR and CR with ‘modelled’ as the anagrind. | |
| 22 | Gaia’s daughter? Bit of an airhead | |
| RHEA | Hidden in the clue aiRHEAd | |
| 25 | Hatton Garden bypass? | |
| RING ROAD | A double definition using the fact that Hatton Garden is famous for jewellery. | |
| 26 | Obama’s returned without King, one formerly worshipped in Egypt | |
| SCARAB | BARAC |
|
| 28 | Nazi atrocity in Dunkirk is most bizarre | |
| ZANIEST | An anagram of NAZI (anagrind is ‘atrocity) + EST (how one would say ‘is’ in Dunkirk) | |
| 29 | Pause ordered as a 27? | |
| CAESURA | An anagram of AS A ECRU (the answer to 27d) – anagrind is ‘ordered’ | |
| 30 | Game eleven out of practice | |
| RUSTY | RU (game) + STY (another word for hog-pen – 11ac) | |
| 31 | Parliamentarian not suffering dolichocephaly | |
| ROUNDHEAD | We had to look up ‘dolichocephaly’ in Chambers as we were attempting to open up the SE corner when we were stuck. We noticed that it may have had something to do with head but that was as far as it went. For those of you who still don’t know it relates to people with long heads. | |
| Down | ||
| 1/25 | Slasher’s frenzied, endless attack hurt Zorro | |
| CUT-THROAT RAZOR | An anagram of ATTAC |
|
| 2 | Not leaving futon; it’s somewhat early in Ginza | |
| LYING IN | Hidden within the clue, or ‘somewhat’ earLY IN GINza | |
| 3 | Something clipped Nanny McPhee’s vowels? | |
| GOATEE | If we hadn’t have sorted out the hidden theme we’d have taken a lot longer to solve this one. It’s GOAT (nanny) and EE (the only vowels in McPhee) | |
| 4 | Bloody excellent | |
| RARE | Double definition | |
| 5 | Reinforced yearning for spiritual home of 7 | |
| SHOREDITCH | SHORED (reinforced) ITCH (yearning). We were not aware that Shoreditch was considered to be the ‘home of the hipsters’. THIS recent article in the Indy makes mention of extravagant facial hair too. | |
| 6 | Thoroughly miserable, Popeye’s girl is introduced to black and white cat | |
| JOYLESS | As soon as we read this clue we thought of Postman Pat and his cat. However, we’d forgotten how Popeye’s girlfriend was written. It’s JESS (Postman Pat’s black and white cat) around OYL (Popeye’s girlfriend Olive). For a bit of nostalgia listen to THIS. The series was a great favourite in our household – one of our son’s parties was themed around the cartoon characters which Bert drew using icing pens on the cakes made by Joyce! | |
| 7 | A cult figure here in Vienna accepts call from attention seeker | |
| HIPSTER | HIER (here as written in Vienna) around PST (call from someone who wants to attract your attention) | |
| 8 | Connery’s Bar? It’s for those over 18 | |
| SHAVE | A play on the way that Sean Connery may pronounce SAVE (bar). Again, we needed the ghost theme to help solve this one. Doesn’t anyone under the age of 18 shave? Thanks to Muffyword@1 for a much better parsing. We meant to mention it this morning but we were in a rush! | |
| 13 | Spooner’s exhortation for extra effort and greater speed – it needs plenty of canvas | |
| FOUR MASTER | A spoonerism on MORE FASTER (exhortation for increased effort and extra speed) | |
| 17 | Jack Straw stripped off | |
| TAR | An anagram of |
|
| 18 | Escort’s front brake-pad failed –it’s time to get rid of the full set | |
| PEAK BEARD | We guessed this one from the parsing and the ghost theme but as it wasn’t in Chambers it required a google search to confirm it. It’s an anagram of E (first letter or ‘front’ in Escort) + BRAKE PAD (anagrind is ‘failed’). For many years, Bert sported a very large moustache – he cannot remember why! | |
| 20 | Poor Gok Wan’s not all right, hiding away in shades | |
| AWNINGS | An anagram of G |
|
| 21 | School for young railwaymen setting points on track | |
| NURSERY | NUR (Railwaymen) S E (points) on RY (track) | |
| 23 | Shaggy recorded her ensemble | |
| HIRSUTE | Sounds like or ‘recorded’ HER SUIT (ensemble) | |
| 24 | A drinking session once a preliminary to getting completely plastered? | |
| SCREED | Double definition although we did not know that SCREED was once a term to describe a drinking session | |
| 25 | See 1d | |
| 27 | Brussels accepts credit for raw material | |
| ECRU | EU (Brussels) around or ‘accepting’ CR (credit) | |
Thanks Bertandjoyce and Knut,
I found this tougher than the previous Knuts, and thought it was pretty good.
Re SHAVE, I took 18 to refer to the answer to 18d rather than the age of adulthood.
I too thought this an odd mixture of clueing. Forgetting my myths, I wrote in Thea – The A – for Gaia’s daughter. I didn’t understand the clue for 8D at all, and just guessed the right answer.
Blog a bit awry? I have “koi” at 15D.
Thanks Emrys – we missed out the clue for 15d and FOUR MASTER is the answer for 13d!
We are out now but when we are home at lunchtime we wil amend the blog.
Our apologies. In the meantime we pased KOI as an anagram of OINK (14ac) without N (nitrogen). The clue was: Pondlife recycled 14 needing nitrogen.
I found some of this tricky and it took me ages to see SHAVE, especially as it didn’t have the most helpful of checkers. I agree with Muffyword that the second part of the clue refers to 18dn.
I sailed through this at the start, possibly because I’ve had a beard since I was 17, but then got stuck in the top right corner. The linked clues at 5dn and 7dn required aids to get, and I didn’t know my state capitals. (And I’m planning a trip to Washington state this summer, but not to Olympia.)
Several I couldn’t fully parse, especially 24dn, so thanks for the explanations.
Oh, and I wonder if 1/25 was obvious to me because I saw Sweeny Todd on Monday.
Thanks for all the comments – we have amended the blog to reflect the much better parsing for 18 – Thanks Muffyword!
There is also a porcine mini theme, is Knut trying to say bearded folks resemble pigs? 🙂 must remember to have a shave before Cambridge.
Thanks Knut and Bertandjoyce. This was fun and the blog helpful, especially at 6a and at 5d, 6d and 18d.
At the bottom of the puzzle there is GIT (col 4) and SOW (col 6 up) and, chance perhaps, OGRE (line 4).
Thanks for the blog.
Re: Cristiano Ronaldo – CR7 is his ‘brand’ for eg underwear – which he models – making the clue surface cleverer & IMO certainly enough to justify CR for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Chambers does have ‘a beard’ under ‘peak’, though not the phrase ‘peak beard’ – but that was sufficient for me.
Thanks Shikasta. We are not into football so had no idea about CR. We had to search ‘peak beard’ and came up with a number of references in the media from last year.
cookie@8 –
Hallo! and thanks for the eye-ache. My poor old orbits; I think you meant Row 14 rather than line 4 for your ‘ogre’ and I just couldn’t find it for looking! There is, of course, a far more obvious Nina (for cookie’s eyes only!)
B and J – Rather you than me! Hearty congratulations. I had no idea that Shoreditch is renowned for hipsters (nor yet hairy faces!) – I thought they were jazzists from decades back. As for the obsolete meaning of SCREED – well! I’ve never heard of PEAK BEARD and agree with you on THIN AIR (how does “mixed” work?) Though I liked some clues (particularly enjoyed COMIC STRIP), found the puzzle a little 6 Down I’m afraid. Still, on visiting your blog, I was cheered up by your thoughtful link to dear old Popeye (that’s what I call nostalgia) only to be crestfallen to come across a modern interloper. Not my day….
In all seriousness, I am grateful to Knut for a welcome diversion on this drizzly Good Friday morning. And must again thank you both (B and J) for your continued kind industry. It is appreciated.
Happy Easter!
Did this in the pub after work yesterday – found it tough but very entertaining. Last in was SHAVE, which amused me.
Thanks to Knut, B&J
B and J (et any al) – In case you missed the final dénouement of Dac’s April fool puzzle (and timing and content of your post there implies you did) another visit strongly advised. It took John H to reveal a second (and cracking) hidden secret! You’ll love it….
Many thanks William F P – for anyone else reading this blog it is definitely worth revisiting Dac’s puzzle.