An enjoyable mix of references from Tyrus – ranging from classical mythology to Disney via the Book of Genesis, Ealing Studios, contemporary UK politics and the England cricket team – with a touch of euphemistic innuendo to spice it up!
I couldn’t see any obvious theme or Nina in the end, and I wouldn’t say this was the hardest of recent prize puzzles, but one just has to immerse oneself in a number of luxurious surface readings – starting straight from the off at 1A, with a play on the recent shenanigans with the England cricket team and Kevin Pietersen; and continuing at 11A – where the clue is a wonderful mini-synopsis of the film plot! I’m sure others will have their own favourites…
So…those references?:
- Classical mythology – the Fury MEGAERA
- Book of Genesis – the ‘gardeners’ ADAM AND EVE
- Ealing Studios – THE LADYKILLERS
- UK Politics – (Grant) SHAPPS
- England cricket team – KP not getting PICKed
- Disney’s ICE SHOW in ‘Frozen‘
And the euphemism/innuendo? ‘Union activity’ for KNOCKING OFF (TIME), the ‘male’ getting into the women’s quarters in HAREM, and the politician having a ‘frisky encounter’ with an ‘unmarried bird in’ EU ROMP/EURO MP! Ooo-errr-missus….
All in all, an enjoyable romp of a puzzle in itself, and a pleasure to blog – my thanks to Tyrus…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | PICK | Rejected batsman bags century against India – what do selectors do? (4) | what do (sporting team) selectors do? / P_K (KP, Kevin Pietersen, cricket batsman recently ‘rejected’ by England selectors) around (bagging) C (century) + I (India) |
|
| 4A | MAKE IT STOP | Made mistake getting revolutionary drug – I can’t take any more (4,2,4) | I can’t take it any more! / MAKE IT S (anag, i.e. made, of MISTAKE) + TOP (pot, or drug, revolutionary) |
|
| 9A | LEONARDO | Sign on – one way to feed artist (8) | artist (L da Vinci) / LE_O (sign, of the Zodiac) around (fed by) ON + A (one) + RD (road, way) |
|
| 10A | SHAPPS | Grant the politician has misused with assistant initially (6) | Grant, the (Tory) politician / SHA (anag, i.e. misused, of HAS) plus PPS (Parliamentary Private Secretary, an MP acting as a minister’s assistant, ‘initially’) |
|
| 11A | THE LADYKILLERS | Really like endless deaths, bar one perhaps, in film (3,11) | (classic) film / anag, i.e. perhaps, of REALLY LIKE + DE(A)TH(S) (endless, and barring A – one) |
|
| 12A | TWEEDS | Country clothes precious to police officer out of uniform (6) | country clothes / TWEE (precious) + DS (detective sergeant, plainclothes police officer) |
|
| 14A | NONSENSE | Pants, new ones, worn at various points (8) | pants / N (new) + ONSE (anag, i.e. worn, of ONES) + NSE (north, south and east, various points – of the compass) |
|
| 16A | CASTRATO | He won’t reproduce form at start of Royal Ascot (8) | he won’t reproduce (biologically) / anag, i.e. form, of AT + R (start of Royal) + ASCOT |
|
| 18A | EURO MP | Politician having frisky encounter with unmarried bird (4,2) | Politician / E(M)U (bird, without M – i.e. un-married) + ROMP (frisky encounter) |
|
| 20A | NO HARD FEELINGS | Conciliatory words after spasm of anger’s held in (2,4,8) | Conciliatory words / anag, i.e. spasm, of OF ANGERS HELD IN |
|
| 23A | EXARCH | Old Henry accommodates a Catholic bishop (6) | bishop / EX (old, former) + H (Henry), around (accommodating) A + RC (Roman Catholic) |
|
| 24A | INDIGOES | Plants turn into papers (ours) (8) | Plants / INDI_ES (plural of Indy, this newspaper, i.e. ‘ours’!) around GO (try) |
|
| 25A | ADAM AND EVE | Gardeners resolved to dig? No time left (4,3,3) | (the original) gardeners (biblically) / ADAMAN(T) (resolved, determined) + DE(L)VE (dig) – with no T (time) or L (left) |
|
| 26A | DEAD | Very late (4) | double defn. / dead can mean very – ‘dead set on’; and also late – as in ‘expired’ |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | ICE SHOW | Hail Queen leaving Frozen performance? (3,4) | ‘frozen’ performance / ICE SHOW(ER) – hail(storm), minus ER (queen, leaving) |
|
| 3D | KINDLIEST | Extremely nice family stories in case of doubt (9) | Extremely nice / KIN (family) + D_T (outer letters, or ‘case’, of DoubT) around LIES (stories) |
|
| 4A | MIRED | Stuck up ladder impatience shows (5) | Stuck / reversed hidden word (i.e. ‘up’ and ‘shows’) in ‘ladDER IMpatience’ |
|
| 5D | KNOCKING-OFF TIME | Union activity’s going to spell termination of employment (8-3,4) | termination of employment / KNOCKING OFF (‘union’ activity, hanky-panky!) + TIME (spell) |
|
| 6D | INSOLENCE | Seen Colin’s bruised lip? (9) | lip / anag, i.e. bruised, of SEEN COLIN |
|
| 7A | SHAME | False hope at the end – that’s sad (5) | that’s sad / SHAM (false) + E (end letter of hopE) |
|
| 8A | OPPOSES | Isn’t backing attitudes at work (7) | Isn’t backing / OP (work, opus) + POSES (attitudes) |
|
| 13D | SEA URCHIN | Prickly type upsetting China? Sure (3,6) | Prickly type / anag, i.e. upsetting, of CHINA SURE |
|
| 15D | EARWIGGED | Listened secretly as barrister mentioned this place in Bow earlier (9) | Listened secretly / EAR (homophone, i.e. mentioned, of ‘ere’, or ‘here’, this place, dropping the ‘h’, as a cockney might do in Bow) + WIGGED (as a barrister) |
|
| 17D | ANNEXED | Joined Times – want to frame following article (7) | Joined / AN (indefinite article) + NE_ED (want) framing X (times by, maths) |
|
| 19D | MEGAERA | Fury – big-time (7) | Fury (Greek mythology) / MEGA (big) + ERA (time) |
|
| 21D | HAREM | Hurry – male in women’s quarters! (5) | women’s quarters / HARE (hurry) + M (male) |
|
| 22D | ENDUE | Supply nurse’s expected (5) | Supply / EN (enrolled nurse) + DUE (expected) |
|
a lovely blog; the pleasure shines through and I felt just the same myself when I did this excellent puzzle. Thanks to mc_r and to Tyrus
My feelings exactly, baerchen. You’ve said it all about the puzzle, mc_r, [except the wordplay for 10ac.]
Many thanks to Tyrus for a most enjoyable Saturday solve.
Thanks to Eileen and baerchen for your kind words…not sure what happened to 10A but have updated!
In fact, if the anagram indicator for 10A had been, say, ‘misbehaved’, it could have been another innuendo clue – with a Government minister ‘misbehaving’ with their PPS (not that I am implying Mr Shapps would ever do so!)
Smashing crossword. Nice blog.
An ecstatic, festal masterclass in surface construction!
(…and blog construction)
Many thanks to both.
Splendid crossword, as others said.
I’m really getting into Tyrus’ style (which wasn’t always the case).
I failed on two clues:
18ac (EURO MP) for which I fully put the blame on myself, and
10ac (SHAPPS) which is nearly impossible for someone from abroad like me (the SHA-bit was clear though).
Thank you, mc_rapper for a fine blog and for explaining how ADAM AND EVE (25ac) worked – I didn’t see it, but very cleverly done.
Many thanks to Tyrus.
Thank you Tyrus for a most enjoyable puzzle, and mc-rapper67 for a very helpful blog.
Kevin Pietersen and Grant Shapps were unknown to me, but the solutions to the clues were clear all the same.
I wrote in THE LADYKILLERS having researched the Ealing Studios films the other day, so Ealing studios catching my eye when I was checking the blog to Phi’s Friday puzzle did not bother me. However, I know this can annoy some people – agreed most will have had the opportunity to do the puzzle last Saturday, but I am sure quite a few will be solving it today.
It has just occurred to me, LEONARDO da Vinci has not been referenced, an impossible task I guess with a polymath…
What more can one say but thanks, Tyrus and mc_rapper67!
Many thanks to mc_r for the excellent blog and to all others for their comments.
Informative resolution. Thanks for sharing.