- *=anagram
- [] = removed e.g. char[m]=char
- ()=abbreviation e.g. A(mpere)=a
- Hom. = homophone
A well constructed and on the whole precisely clued puzzle, 4 being the only one you might slightly question because of the double duty use of the definition. There were some excellent clues, 15 being my pick.
| Across | |||
| 1. | One overseeing area where Jesus once rested (7) | ||
| Manager | A(rea) in manger | ||
| 5. | Solidified material after fire’s curtailed (6) | ||
| Pumice | I think this is just a CD referring to the way pumice is formed from rapidly cooling molten rock. | ||
| 8. | Stupid me – this screw mangled adjustable controls (6,8) | ||
| Dimmer Switches | Dim + (me this screw)* | ||
| 10. | Reportedly, harsh jumper’s made from animal product (9) | ||
| Horsehair | Hom of hoarse + hare | ||
| 11. | High, continued demand for product in Denmark (5) | ||
| Drunk | Run(=continued demand as in a run on something) in Dk | ||
| 12. | Poirot heartlessly arrests that girl in French ball (6) | ||
| Pellet | P[oiro]t around elle | ||
| 14. | Frank’s initially ignored outdated foreign bread (8) | ||
| Ostmarks | [P]ostmarks – ostmarks were the currency of the old East Germany | ||
| 16. | Opponents go after two Greek characters eating new snack food (8) | ||
| Munchies | ES (bridge opponents) after Mu + chi around n(ew) | ||
| 18. | Three females embracing a journalist messed about (6) | ||
| Faffed | 3 Fs around a + ed | ||
| 22. | European city on island – address for woman (5) | ||
| Reims | Re(=on) + i + MS | ||
| 23. | Mechanical tool biker fabricated (9) | ||
| Robotlike | (Tool biker)* | ||
| 25. | New career low, Tory conceals capital in Swiss pottery brand (5,9) | ||
| Royal Worcester | (Career low Tory)* around S[wiss] | ||
| 26. | Without glasses – not content, feel for pen (6) | ||
| Pigsty | G[lasse]s in pity | ||
| 27. | Quietly covered up by marine, wine is spiked (7) | ||
| Speared | P in sea + red | ||
Down |
|||
| 1. | Nameless guards cool in centre of vessel (7) | ||
| Midship | Mi[n]ds + hip(=cool) | ||
| 2. | Lure man after shaking figure (7) | ||
| Numeral | (Lure man)* | ||
| 3. | Literally, beginning to go south – European birds (5) | ||
| Geese | Gee, written version of the letter G + S + E | ||
| 4. | Forever a scallywag? Just a bit (6) | ||
| Rascal | Hidden in foreveR A SCALlywag. Not entirely sure about the def for this one – maybe you could interpret it as a sort of &lit | ||
| 5. | Sort of superior, leader of site for nun, essentially (8) | ||
| Prioress | * of superior with s(ite) replacing [n]u[n] | ||
| 6. | After casing area, Scottish engineer set up excellent plant (9) | ||
| Macadamia | McAdam, the originator of tarmac, around a(rea) + AI<. | ||
| 7. | With another, this man on board gets a country house (7) | ||
| Chequer | Sort of CD saying that two chequers gives you Chequers, the PM’s country residence | ||
| 9. | Heavens! You don’t want English sports equipment (4) | ||
| Skis | Ski[e]s | ||
| 13. | Welsh girl’s supporting sibling’s son shunning outsiders for book (9) | ||
| Ephesians | Sian’s after [n]ephe[w] | ||
| 15. | Split before end of drama on Channel 4 (8) | ||
| Tearaway | Tear + [dram]a + way(=channel) – a brilliantly concealed reference to clue 4 | ||
| 16. | Second group of sailors giving time of day to poet (4) | ||
| Morn | Mo + RN | ||
| 17. | One Python character brought up swallows originally of African place (7) | ||
| Nairobi | (I Brian)< round o[f] | ||
| 19. | Fellow with issue makes us quiver (7) | ||
| Flitter | F(ellow) + litter | ||
| 20. | Documentary evidence about leopard regularly finding shade (4,3) | ||
| Deep red | Deed around even letters of leopard. Not sure how much this is used as a colour, but it is the English translation of the excellent Dario Argento film, Profondo Rosso. | ||
| 21. | Axes, bats or bombs? (6) | ||
| Aborts | (Bats or)* | ||
| 24. | Article on Middle East topic (5) | ||
| Theme | The on M(iddle) E(ast) | ||
Wordplay at 5ac is PUM[p] + ICE, making it an & lit. (as are 4 and 5dn).
Perfect Monday puzzle – enjoyed the clever Holy Grail swallow ref at 17dn.
Not entirely happy about the parsing of PUMICE, either as a CD or PUM[p]+ICE. ‘Pump’ is hardly a synonym for ‘fire’ unless by implication as a verb it refers to firing a pump-action gun. Neither Chambers (1998) nor Collins (2006) gives that as a specific meaning.
Couldn’t get 3dn except from crossing letters and even then it could have been GEESE or GREBE, neither of which I could parse. I was trying to find a word meaning ‘literally’ with its first letter moved south (i.e. down) followed by E.
Thanks, though, eXternal and NealH
Count me as another who isn’t happy with either explanation of PUMICE, although I biffed the answer correctly. This was definitely a lot trickier than the other puzzles I did today, and I finished in the SW with TEARAWAY after PIGSTY.
Like Allan, I still can’t get PUMICE to work, despite Richard’s parsing.
Good puzzle from eXternal. The Channel 4 clue was very good; less keen on OSTMARKS, since it’s a bit obscure.
Thanks to S&B.
Thank you eXternal and NeilH for an enjoyble puzzle and a helpful blog.
Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus gives ‘pump’ and ‘fire’ as synonyms for ‘shoot’…
typo 9d, Skis not Skies.
Recent editions of Chambers give ‘pump’ as a transitive verb meaning “to fire (bullets, etc) rapidly and repeatedly.”
Good fun, also couldn’t parse PUMICE, or the clever TEARAWAY, so thanks to NealH, and “biffed” (learned from Andy B) PIGSTY.
16A is (Mu + chi around n) + ES.
Thanks to eXternal and NealH
Thanks, Cookie and Richard, for enlightenment about ‘pump’. One of the great things about this site is the way we can learn from each other.
Re: PUMICE, I’m ok with “pump” for “fire curtailed” and “ice” for “solidified material”, but as an &lit it is a strange one, IMHO, because the use of curtailed in the surface reading seems clumsy.
Must admit I could not immediately parse pumice but a & lit can do that so well played eX. A fair mix of impossible to see without crossing help and easy. Thanks Neal and eX for a fine Monday run out. Think Eimi has put paid to Monday being easy.
Is the Indy trying to get harder?
Even if I live with PUM for “fire curtailed”, is “solidified material” really an acceptable definition for ice? – as a scientist I feel that definition could refer to absolutely any solid, and water is the last thing I’d think of as material. Having said that I was quite happy with the whole clue making PUMICE, and there was nothing else it could be. Thanks to setter and blogger.
Although pump and fire are synonyms for shoot as mentioned , I felt the words were better related by their use in the phrase ” I am all pumped/fired up”. I liked this clue.