Solved this one quickly enough but I am having trouble explaining some of the clues – any help appreciated. Thanks Hamilton.
| Across | ||
| 1, 29 | ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE |
28 warns of total despair at what you have in store today! (7,4,3,2,3,5,4)
Dante’s Inferno obviously, but the rest? No idea! |
| 10 | MODEL |
Song in musical drained of style (5)
ODE (song) in MusicaL (drained, no insides) |
| 11 | CONSOLING |
Cheering those who are anti- polluting (I’m not included) (9)
CONS (those who are anti) with OiLING (polluting) missing I |
| 12 | CLEANSE |
Sterilise with chlorine solution, protected by European statute ultimately (7)
CL (chlorine, chem symbol) ANS (answer, solution) in (protected by) E (European) and statutE (ultimate letter of) – I liked “chlorine solution” very much! |
| 13 | ELEMENT |
A small amount found in electric kettle (7)
double definition |
| 14 | SALAD |
These days, she’s first to make cold dish (5)
AD (now, these days) following (…is first) SAL (she, a girl ?). I’m not sure about this, sal=she seems a bit tenouous. There is also the phrase ‘salad days’ but I can’t make anything out of that. |
| 16 | TIMESHARE |
He merits a fresh holiday home (9)
(HE MERITS A)* anagram=fresh |
| 19 | NEWSSTAND |
Directions to place where organs are sold? (9)
N E W and S (directions) with STAND (to place) |
| 20 | REINS |
Allegedly is in charge of the brakes (5)
sounds like (allegedly) “reigns” (is in charge of) |
| 22 | SKEWERS |
London gardens beset with rain; not how to get things for the barbecue (7)
KEW (Kew Gardens) inside (beset with) ShowERS (rain) missing (not) HOW |
| 25 | NEWSMAN |
Broadcaster and keeper of the 19 (7)
19 is newstand |
| 27 | GODPARENT |
One admits to caring to get pardon certified (9)
(GET PARDON)* anagram=certified, mad – I’m not sure what ‘admits’ means here |
| 28 | DANTE |
Writer’s level of proficiency is almost 10! (5)
DAN (level of proficiency) has TEn (almost) |
| 29 |
See 1
|
|
| Down | ||
| 2 | BEDFELLOW |
Have sex with companion and colleague (9)
BED (have sex with) FELLOW (companion) |
| 3 | NYLON |
Nice refusal to accommodate odd Yale fabric is artificial (5)
NON (refusal in French, as spoken in Nice) containing (to accommodate) YaLe (odd parts of) |
| 4 | ORCHESTRA |
Her co-star jostled with a number of players (9)
anagram (jostled) of HER CO-STAR |
| 5 | HINGE |
Going in watching everyone in the joint (5)
found inside (going in) watcHING Everyone |
| 6 | PROFESSOR |
One who’s for, not against, telling tales (9)
to profess can be to “claim, often insincerely”, so a professor might not be against telling tales. A CONfessor is someone who owns up and is against telling tales, so a PROfessor (for PRO replacing against CON) is someone who does tells tales. Thanks to turbolegs for this explanation. |
| 7 | ABIDE |
Put up with housing proposal in uneven area (5)
BID (proposal) in (housing…in) ArEa (missing even letters) |
| 8 | LEGATEE |
Gale is blowing, so support beneficiary (7)
GALE* anagram=blowing (or maybe ‘is blowing so’ ? ) with TEE (support) |
| 9 | SMOCKS |
Soon start to make fun of son’s shifts (6)
Soon (start of) MOCK (to make fun of) S (son) |
| 15 | DESPERADO |
Criminal is anxious to replace note for work (9)
DESPERAte (anxious) with TE (note, of scale) replaced by DO (work) |
| 17 | MIDINETTE |
Parisian shop girl, small thing, to eat in with model (9)
MITE (small thing) containing (…in) DINE (to eat) with T (model, Ford) – so called because they filled the cafes when the shops closed for lunch at midi (midday) |
| 18 | ASIA MINOR |
Romania is discovered not so far from here! (4,5)
(ROMANIA IS)* anagram=discovered – an area not far from Romania |
| 19 | NOSEGAY |
Posy recalled times with nothing in US city (7)
AGES (times) with O (nothing) reversed (recalled) in NY (US city) |
| 21 | SUNBED |
Girl students took up with lounger (6)
DEB (girl) with NUS (National Union of Students) all reversed (took up) |
| 23 | ENDOW |
Leave in the company of drunken dowager (5)
found inside (in the company of) drunkEN DOWager |
| 24 | SHEEN |
The brilliance of Martin and Michael? (5)
actors Martin Sheen and Michael Sheen |
| 26 | WIDTH |
Await data he must select evenly from left to right (5)
aWaIt DaT He (even selection from) |
definitions underlined
I assumed it was a topical reference to todays heateave! Perhaps inserted by the editor.
Thanks Hamilton and PeeDee
The temperature is forecast to reach 20 degrees celcius today here in Perth (Scotland). It has not got there so far but I’m not abandoning hope yet…
Doesn’t the “all” in Dante’s phrase relate to “hope” and not “ye” ? I thought the translation was “abandon all hope, ye who enter here”
Thanks Peedee for the blog ! And Hamilton for a really neat challenge – loved it !!
My 2c on some of the clues Peedee ..
1A – I think that a cryptic innuendo for us solvers .. we enter the puzzle through 1A (as the opening clue). Thats what we have in store today (the rest of the puzzle).
11A – I parsed that as CON + SOiLING rather than CONS + OiLING ; Dont think OiLING is polluting…
14A – Not an uncommon clue, I always read SAL (as a girl reference) to be short for SALLY.
27A – “admits” used in the context of allowed entry, voluntary as the act is (of becoming a godparent)
6D – I parsed it as CONFESSOR (someone telling tales – but in the sense of owning up) with the CON replaced by PRO.
Cheers
TL
My take on 6d
To profess is to to claim something, especially when it is not true.
So a ‘professor’ is obviously one who is for making claims that are not true, viz., telling tales.
‘[N]ot against’ is used merely for emphasis. It accentuates ‘for’ (pro).
baerchen @3 – I think you are right there. A quick trawl of Wikipedia suggests that Hamilton is using the popular translation but not a very accurate one.
Thanks PeeDee.
baerchen is correct about the Dante phrase: the original has Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate: “abandon all hope, you who enter [here]”. However, I think the version in the puzzle is a fairly common mistranslation, perhaps because it reads more smoothly. This page suggests it originates from an 1814 translation that has “All hope abandon ye who enter here”.
I like Turbolegs’s explanation of PROFESSOR.
Turbolegs – for 11ac I think CONS need to be plural as the clue says “those who are anti” rather than “one who is anti”
Thanks Hamilton and PeeDee
In catch up mode on a lazy (and cold) Saturday in Melbourne (where our maximum temperature didn’t get to double figures 🙁 ).
Liked this but had some of the same queries as PeeDee – the long one at 1a (maybe TL has captured the intention though). Think that TL also nails the PROFESSOR clue as well. Finished with ELEMENT, REINS and SUNBED as the last few in.
Have recently bought “La Divina Commedia” and look forward to the challenge of finally reading it !