Klingsor has provided us with our cruciverbal workout this Thursday.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, finding it medium-to-hard on the difficulty scale and definitely a puzzle that I had to chip away at, with very few write-ins. There was plenty of surface misdirection here (“rock” in 1A; “tug” in 8; “range” in 22, etc), which for me is always one of the hallmarks of a good cryptic clue.
I think that I have managed to parse all the clues to my satisfaction, perhaps with the exception of 24. I was also not that familiar with “subtly” in 11 as an anagram indicator. My favourite clues today were the & lits at 6 and 21 (assuming that they are & lits, since whenever I use the term someone tends to take issue with it), both for smoothness of surface; and 9, for sheer ingenuity in managing to integrate both G(ordon) Brown and E(d) Balls into one clue! Now that the latter is no longer a sitting MP, perhaps he will figure less and less in our daily puzzles, despite having such a compiler-friendly name!?
Curiously, 13 could also have been PENDECAGON, since a “pen” is a female swan, although this word for a 15-sided geometrical figure does not appear in my version of Chambers.
(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | MR BIG | Important person backing rock and roll music originally
GIB (=rock, i.e. Gibraltar) + R<oll> M<usic> (“initially” means first letters only); “backing” indicates reversal |
| 04 | ANIMOSITY | One man playing with new “iToys” causes bad feeling
*(I (=one) + MAN) + *(ITOYS); “playing” and “new” are anagram indicators |
| 09 | LEG BREAKS | Releases classified information about G. Brown following E. Balls
[E + G + BR (=brown)] in LEAKS (=releases classified information) |
| 10 | ONION | Against current acting head
ON (=against) + I (=current, in physics) + ON (=acting, i.e. on stage); onion is a slang word for the head |
| 11 | ENLIGHTENMENT | Subtly gentle hint securing people’s understanding
MEN (=people) in *(GENTLE HINT); “subtly” is anagram indicator |
| 14 | NECK | Send back all you know about cold front
C (=cold) in NEK (KEN=all you know; “send back” indicates reversal); “front” is cheek, lip, impudence, hence “(brass) neck” |
| 15 | OBLITERATE | Set fire to Eastern desert in order to destroy completely
[LIT (=set fire to, torched) + E (=Eastern) + RAT (=desert, abandon)] in OBE (=Order (of British Empire) |
| 18 | UNRELIEVED | Relentless bombing run I led around nightfall
EVE (=nightfall) in *(RUN I LED); “bombing” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | HAND | Give // employee // a round of applause
Triple definition: to “hand” something to someone is to “give”; a farm hand; the speaker always gets a big hand from the audience |
| 21 | UNSYMPATHETIC | Principally showing pity, humanity, etc? Wrong!
*(S<howing> P<ity> (“principally” means first letter only) + HUMANITY ETC); “wrong” is anagram indicator; & lit. |
| 24 | RHINE | Downpour in East End creates river
“rain” (=downpour) is pronounced as “Rhine” (=river) in the East End of London! |
| 25 | OXIDISING | Getting rusty and not winning first off involves team heading for Division One
[XI (=team, i.e. eleven) + D<ivision> (“heading for” means first letter only) + I (=one)] in <l>OSING (=not winning; “first off” means first letter dropped) |
| 27 | TURNSTILE | Go by steps, finding gate
TURN (=go, attempt) + STILE (=steps, i.e. to get over fence) |
| 28 | PYLON | One supports current transportation system?
Cryptic definition: “current” here refers to electricity |
| Down | ||
| 01 | MILLENNIUM | Works roughly nine months after university? A lot longer than that!
MILL (=works, factory) + *(NINE) + U (=university) + M (=months); “roughly” is anagram indicator |
| 02 | BUG | Tap providing running water in Ukraine?
To “tap” (a phone) is to “bug” one; the River Bug flows through Ukraine, Poland and Belarus, hence “providing running water in Ukraine” |
| 03 | GARAGE | Tease about taking a long time to put car away
GAR (RAG=tease, kid; “about” indicates reversal) + AGE (=a long time) |
| 04 | ADAPTABLE | Compliant board’s supporting promotion apparently
AD (=promotion, i.e. advert) + AP (=apparently) + TABLE (=board) |
| 05 | IBSEN | Timeless children’s writer backs playwright
NESBI<t> (=children’s writer; “time (=T) –less” means letter “t” is dropped); “backs” indicates reversal; the references are to English children’s author Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) and Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) |
| 06 | ODOMETER | It represents distance ultimately motored
*(<distanc>E + MOTORED); “ultimately” means last letter only; “it represents” is anagram indicator; & lit. |
| 07 | IDIOT SAVANT | It covers points about one acting vehicle for Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man?
{[I (=one) in DOTS (=points)] + A (=acting, in abbreviations) + VAN (=vehicle)} in IT |
| 08 | YANK | Gas engulfs Navy tug
N (=Navy, as in RN) in YAK (=gas, talk idly) |
| 12 | LE CORBUSIER | Architect left Green River with more work to do
L (=left) + ECO (=Green, environmental) + R (=river) + BUSIER (=with more work to do); the reference is to Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965) |
| 13 | HENDECAGON | Female’s back after a month with new figure
HEN (=female) + DEC (=a month, i.e. December) + AGO (=back, as in 5 years back) + N (=new); a hendecagon is a geometric figure with eleven sides and angles |
| 16 | ITERATIVE | Repeating ascending musical notes
EVITA (=musical) + RE TI (=notes, in music); “ascending” indicates vertical reversal |
| 17 | FLASHERS | Fine people whipping perverts
F (=fine) + LASHERS (=people whipping) |
| 20 | SHRIMP | Puny person has stint changing taps?
S-C-RIMP (=stint, i.e. scrimp and scrape); “changing taps” means letter “C” (=cold, on tap) is replaced by “H” (=hot, on tap) |
| 22 | MAORI | Antipodean range rising over island
MAOR (ROAM=range, rove; “rising” indicates vertical reversal) + I (=island) |
| 23 | GRIT | Bottle of good Orvieto oddly ignored
G (=good) + <o>R<v>I<e>T (“oddly ignored” means all odd letters are dropped); “grit” is “bottle”, nerve |
| 26 | ILL | First wanting some medicine, being this?
<p>ILL (=some medicine); “first wanting” means first letter is missing |
Klingsor’s aren’t the easiest of puzzles, but usually solvable even if one can’t always parse the answers – as was the case here. Although having seen the blog some of the parsing was fairly obvious. Too many great clues to nominate a CoD but LEG BREAKS, IDIOT SAVANT and LE CORBUSIER would be in the running.
Thanks, Klingsor and RatkojaRiku
I confess I biffed IDIOT SAVANT and didn’t bother to try and parse it, so thanks for that RR. HENDECAGON was my LOI from the wordplay after HAND, where it had taken me far to long to recognise the clue as a triple definition. I didn’t consider “pendecagon” and a little research after seeing RR’s comment showed me that it doesn’t appear in any online dictionary that OneLook searches with the exception of Wordnik. However, further research showed that it appears in the online OED which I can access via my library account, so it is indeed a valid alternative, albeit a rare one.
Thought I’d try Independent instead of “I”. As usual struggled.Having said that I got about half but having never heard of 7d ,13d.I did quite well.I put in 1dstraightaway not fully understanding the clue.9a was a great clue but I didn’t get it! River Bug?? 10a never heard of onion as head.very difficult clue.Liked 11a
Once you’ve heard about the River Bug, though, you never forget it. Like King Zog.
Definitely tough! Would never have got 13dn without an e-search and I guessed BEG for 2dn, thinking “tap” in the sense of ask for money.
Incidentally, 28ac. I worked 30 years in the electricity supply industry and in the National Grid and before that the CEGB, we were told never to call them pylons. They were towers.