(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) A slow start, but it worked out okay in the end. Thanks to Paul. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Damn brilliant? (7)
FLAMING : Double defn: 1st: An intensifier, as in “a damn good pianist”.
5 Award lower degree after third from London? (7)
DIPLOMA : DIP(to lower;to drop) + [ MA(abbrev. for for a Master of Arts degree) placed after(after) the 1st two letters(out of six) of(third from) “London “].
Defn: … from an academic institution.
9 Given support as in difficulties, evidently distressing on every front (5)
AIDED : The 1st letters, respectively, of(… on every front) “as in difficulties, evidently distressing “.
10 Pose altered wearing absurd theatrical make-up (4,5)
NOSE PUTTY : Anagram of(… altered) POSE contained in(wearing) NUTTY(absurd).
Defn: … to alter the shape of the nose.
11 Responsible adult resentful – minding hell for the most part? (10)
BABYSITTER : BITTER(resentful) containing(minding) “abyss”(hell, where evil spirits dwell) minus its last letter(for the most part).
Defn: … minding one that could be hell to mind.
12,24 Possibly a Christmas cracker to pull thus contains letters on a pencil in red, say? (8)
WISHBONE : [ SO(thus;in this manner, as in “do it thus”) containing(contains) HB(the letters on a lead pencil, signifying that the lead is medium hard) ] contained in(in) WINE(a type of which;say is a red).
Defn: That which resembles a Christmas cracker when pulled, ie. splits into 2 uneven parts. (I couldn’t find a Christmas cracker that was called a wishbone.)
14 A lifesaver, as bloom catches showers (5,7)
BRAIN SURGEON : BURGEON(to bloom;to flourish) containing(catches) RAINS(showers).
18 A sucker, one who is no longer in love with farming? (9,3)
EXTRACTOR FAN : EX-(prefix signifying “no longer”;once) [TRACTOR FAN](cryptically, one who loves farming, tractor and all).
Defn: … of gases.
21 Embarrassing defeat, as swimmer drops head (4)
ROUT : “trout”(a piscine swimmer) minus its 1st letter(drops head).
22 Wild thing joining clubs as a swinger? (5,5)
TIGER WOODS : TIGER(a wild beast) plus(joining) WOODS(type of clubs to be found in a golfer’s hands).
Defn: …, professionally, on the golf course, and off it too.
25 See 3
26 Spraying of tear gas ultimately a shocking police tactic? (5)
TASER : Anagram of(Spraying of) [TEAR + the last letter of(… ultimately) “gas “].
27 That will teach you maths, other examples to some extent (2,5)
SO THERE : Hidden in(… to some extent) “maths, other examples “.
Answer: An expression indicating something is being done against someone else’s wishes, as in “I’m not doing it, so there!”. If the latter was meant as a punishment, then “that will teach you” could convey the same intent.
28 Shock provided inside nappy material (7)
TERRIFY : IF(provided;in such a case) contained in(inside) TERRY(a woven cotton fabric used for nappies;diapers, and towels).
Down
1 Overweight insect embodying a pair of insects, might you say? (6)
FLABBY : FLY(an insect) containing(embodying) [A + B,B(the pronunciation of which;might you say, is “bee,bee”;a pair of insects) ].
2 Nerves, small quantity within muscles (6)
ABDABS : DAB(a small quantity, say, of paint) contained in(within) ABS(short for the abdominal muscles).
Answer: Extreme anxiety, cf. the heebie-jeebies.
3,25 Guardian spies (no lie) out to steal Times leader – that’s corporate skulduggery (10,9)
INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE : Anagram of(… out) GUARDIAN SPIES (NO LIE) containing(to steal) the 1st letter of(… leader) “Times “. I guess it could also happen amongst newspapers, too.
4 Bloke biting tail of huge, agile carnivore (5)
GENET : GENT(a bloke) containing(biting) the last letter of(tail of) “huge “.
5 More compact packing is preferable, primarily, for pharmacist (9)
DISPENSER : DENSER(more compact;more squeezed into a smaller volume) containing(packing) [IS + the 1st letter of(…, primarily) “preferable “].
Defn: … or one who dispenses pharmaceuticals.
6 Innocent, possibly, as a satirist (4)
POPE : Double defn: 1st: The Roman Catholic leader, a number of whom;possibly, were titled Innocent; and 2nd: Alexander, 18th century English poet famous for his satirical verse.
7 Stranger diet, sour balls (8)
OUTSIDER : Anagram of(… balls up) DIET, SOUR.
8 All the possibilities in a US state, fine and good (8)
ANYTHING : A + NY(abbrev. for New York, the US state) + THIN(fine;of very small thickness) plus(and) G(abbrev. for “good”).
13 Just about survive seeing nurse possibly pocketing wad, unexpectedly (5,5)
TREAD WATER : TREATER(how one might;possibly, describe a hospital nurse) containing(pocketing) anagram of(…, unexpectedly) WAD.
Defn: Just keeping one’s head above water, spending effort but achieving little or no progress.
15 Frightfully nice trait is involved (9)
INTRICATE : Anagram of(Frightfully) NICE TRAIT.
16 Unblinking female lacking features on the head? (8)
FEARLESS : F(abbrev. for “female”) + EARLESS(without;lacking the hearing organs located on the head).
17 Group claiming tycoon is a harlot (8)
STRUMPET : SET(a group of similar things) containing(claiming) TRUMP(Donald, American tycoon)
Answer: I guess his detractors might call him that.
19 Capital once cut, reported shortly as showing little growth (6)
BONSAI : Homophone of(…, reported) [“Bonn”(once capital of Germany) + “scythe”(to cut with a, well, scythe)] minus the last phoneme(shortly).
20 Item no longer in pubs, hard to lose – is lost! (6)
ASTRAY : “ashtray”(an item no longer seen in pubs since the smoking ban) minus(… to lose) “h”(abbrev. for “hard”).
23 Occurrence where detainee finally gets let out (5)
EVENT : The last letter of(… finally) “detainee ” plus(gets) VENT(to let out gases and liquids).
24 See 12
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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle.
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)
1) is Daryl Hannah in Splash – maybe in her presence Tom Hank’s character found it easier to TREAD WATER?
3) is a scene from Blazing Saddles – a reference to a synonym for FLAMING maybe.
5) is (I think) some truffles. No idea how that links to anything.
6) is a classic sunburst Gibson Les Paul – favoured by one of the guitarists from WISHBONE Ash (I forget which).
The gentlemen in 8) are Panthers – again, I can’t find a link, apart from the tenuous reference to carnivores in the clue for GENET.
Pic 5, truffles have a smell, NOSE, and are found underground beneath trees, in WOODS; better get the obvious out of the way after last quiz’s ‘chopSTICKS’!
Mitz, brilliant, perhaps GENET and Panthers are ‘related’ in that both are referred to as cats.
Pic 5, truffles act on the BRAIN like magic mushrooms, psilocybine being converted within the body to psilocine.
Pic 7, jet fans are used as EXTRACTOR FANS in underground car parks etc.
Mitz, of course, both panthers and TIGERs are cats, but perhaps too obvious.
Two oblique longshots, but Blazing Saddles starred (and the picture shows) Cleavon Little, a link to BONSAI? And the only thing I know about electric guitars is that they were invented (unfortunately) by Les Paul, a reference to our setter? Both suggestions seem too far out of the box, but some of the quiz answers of late have seemed as devious.
Pic #2 has balconies; Jean GENET wrote a play called “The balcony”?
…..also a play called “The blacks” (Pic 8?)
..also (from Wikipedia):
Two of Genet’s poems, “The Man Sentenced to Death” and “The Fisherman of the Suquet” were adapted, respectively, as “The Man Condemned to Death” and “The Thief and the Night” and set to music for the album Feasting with Panthers, released in 2011 by Marc Almond and Michael Cashmore. Both poems were adapted and translated by Jeremy Reed.
Pic 6, how about STRUM for that guitar, horrible electric thing.
muffin, you’re right – Jean GENET wrote the play “The Balcony”.
Pic1 It’s Daryl Hannah – the sea creature was only one of the roles she played
Pic3 That’s a particular scene from Blazing Saddles
Pic5 Fresh truffles
Pic6 A Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar (I could have shown you a violin instead)
Pic7 That particular airline
Pic8 The different pieces have been mentioned – just have to put them together.
Pic #4 are mini desserts – BONSAI ones perhaps?
Pic 3 are they singing “I get a kick out of you”?
Daryl Hannah was in the POPE of GReenwich village.
Muffin @13, those desserts don’t look so mini to me, one would certainly get FLABBY eating one or two.
Well done with the Jean GENET references, here I am in France and he did not even come to mind.
muffin, yes they’re singing “I get a kick out of you” – getting there.
The original first line was:
“Some get a kick from cocaine”
Is “nose putty” a slang term for cocaine?
muffin, Daryl Hannah was in The POPE of Greenwich Village, but the answer I’m thinking of isn’t part of a movie title.
You needn’t have to go into the lyrics for the answer to pic3.
I’ve to go out shortly, scchua. Thanks for this – I’ll check the answers later.
Pic 3, Blazing Saddles quote “We’ll make Rock Ridge think it’s a chicken that got caught in a TRACTOR’s nuts”.
Pic 5, oaks can be pruned to BONSAI size to grow truffles, an Italian technique.
Of course, BONSAI probably have to have mycorrhizal fungi to thrive, e.g. truffle mycelia.
The Cole Porter musical ANYTHING goes features the song they are singing in pic 3
Yes, Shirl, it was from ANYTHING Goes.
Pic 1 Daryl Hannah was “Roxanne” in a film where Steve Martin had a false nose – NOSE PUTTY?
Pic 7: something to do with the GENET being native to the Iberian peninsula?
There are the two poets Pope and Spenser in the answers, but I see no tie ins with the picture quiz…
Right again, Shirl. Daryl Hannah was Roxanne, wooed by a modern day Cyrano de Bergerac, Steve Martin with a lot of NOSE PUTTY.
Pic4 There is a dessert called a DIPLOMAt pudding
Pic5 Truffles are ROUTed (or rooted) from the ground by pigs (and now, trained dogs too) using their snouts
Pic6 Those line on the guitar top are called FLAMes, a characteristic of FLAMed maple wood
Pic7 The IATA code for Iberia Airlines is IB, which is also the abbreviation for the International Baccalaureate DIPLOMA for sixth-formers
Pic8 Jean GENET, French activist, gave support to the Black Panthers, American activists.
Thanks very much, scchua.
Thanks Scchua. Too late now to suggest for pic 5 the Beatles lyric “But you’ll have to have them all pulled out, After the Savoy truffle” by a dentist, perhaps an EXTRACTOR FAN
Thanks scchua for all the fun, one of my sons has the IB, and I know DIPLOMAt pudding, so am annoyed with myself…