Bonxie returns for the third time this year after a rather barren couple of years.
Some nice stuff with a few pencil chewing, head scratchers, not overly convinced by a couple of them but some very nicely done stuff. Can’t see any more than a straight crossword without theme or other setter devices.
Across
[UP CARPET]* unravelled. Nice simple clue to get us going giving me a flashback to Carry on Cleo
NOV(emeber) & ICE (to kill)
C(aught) & SEVERAL* out
EVER in R, B, possible &lit actually
[RADIO LED NHS]* reformed, I liked the surface reading
SHE & L(eft) & F (loud musically)
FE (iron) in STONKER all reversed backed
U(niform) & ROLO (a chocolate covered toffee – who would you give your last one to?) & GIST (substance)
Cryptic definition range=mountains
TRENCH (pit) & E.R. & MAN (king is a man in chess), not really a term I’m au fait with.
Well, hmm I guess atonic means without stress (accent) and relaxed is also without stress but are they equivalents? Not really convinced. A & TONIC (a pick me up)
DENE (a valley) in DRUB reversed
THE MED(iterranean) is a popular destination for us Sun starved Brits
A & S.S. & ESSES – S bends are winding turns
Down
As in a type of rogue in a novel – like the setter Picaroon – it’s CARES (charges like wards of court) in PIQUE (to kindle interest). Nice surface alluding to electronic books
NO MEN just women inside a mobile PHONE*
Sounds like REVIEW
UNREST (disorder) & RAINED (precipitated)
O(ld) & KEY (clue) repeated with D(iamonds) inserted
IDE (a chub like fish that’s a crossword favourite) & A
Banker=River, hidden in spiELBErg
NTSC (the U.S. equivalent of the PAL TV standard) inside TALE (report) & OUTS (reveals)
[SECOND MINT]* is crunched
SEDAN (chair, a litter is a similar thing) & ALPS (mounts) reversed up after E(nglish)
[BE FIRST TO]* compounded
E(nrolled) N(urse) & DUE
FORE (golf(links) warning) & CAST (players)
Thanks for the blog, flashling – especially the parsing of 11dn, which was way beyond my ken.
I really enjoyed this puzzle and particularly liked the construction of 1 and 18ac and 4 and 14dn, although there were lovely clues throughout.
Many thanks to Bonxie – please come back soon!
Thanks Bonxie and flashling. That was enjoyable without being too time-consuming.
I think ATONIC (24)works in its medical meaning of ‘without tone’, i.e. un-tensed, without muscle tone. A muscle is in a tonic state when contracted, so atonic is the opposite.
Thank you, flashling, really enjoyed this.
I usually struggle more with this setter, and I can’t decide if Bonxie has refined his style or I’m more on to his wave length.
Much to admire in the surfaces, including UROLOGIST, TRENCHERMAN, & YODEL, all topped off by the superb ESPLANADES & FROSTBITE.
Wasn’t sure about EN for ‘nurse’…I thought it was SEN (or SRN). Perhaps it’s changed since my day.
TALENT SCOUTS was so well-clued that one was only left with NTSC which revealed itself via Mr Google as National Television System Committee.
More please, Bonxie.
Nice week, all.
Thanks Bonxie and flashling. I grumbled about the last Bonxie being too hard for me, but I thought this one was great. It’s full of beautifully misleading surfaces, but the grid is helpful and there are plenty of entry points.
Thanks flashling. This was a tale of two velocities, the first half fast, the second not – due to some clever clues like 11D and 16D with its neat anagram, and last in THEMED which threw me. Nice one Bonxie.
Thanks Bonxie and flashling.
Glad flashling found PAPER CUT a good start, I hate those cuts, then we get ICE = ‘to kill’, then the meat CLEAVER, then a nasty REVERB in the ear, luckily the NHS takes over next…
In fact I enjoyed the puzzle, but had to post-parse REEF KNOTS, PICARESQUE and TALENT SCOUTS.
RHODE ISLAND, THEMED, PHENOMENON and ESPLANADES were great.
Didnt the acronym in 11 refer to Never Twice the Same Colour?
Thanks Bonxie and flashling.
I thought this was relatively straightforward for a Bonxie too, and enjoyed it very much.
Because of its variability, NTSC is also known as Never Twice (the) Same Colour.
@William, I did TALENT SCOUTS the other way about as I knew NTSC, put it where it fitted the crossers and then worked out the rest.
I didn’t know ATONIC but it had to be that, and I remembered that the Ide’s native habitat is the crossword clue! Thanks Bonxie for a very enjoyable solve.
Sorry copmus, you must have posted while I was typing – slowed down by a paper cut at the tip of my middle finger this morning!
NTSC =Never Twice the Same Color
SECAM (French tv standard) = Systeme Europeanne Contre les AMericans
PAL (German/British standard) = Peace At Last
copmus @7
I think you have the right tense (although “color” might be more suitable). With the transition to digital, NTSC can produce an excellent and stable picture. Like gladys @9, I started out with NTSC, and wondered for a moment how that could possibly be fitted into anything.
I enjoyed this crossword, with its scattering of Quiptic-style clues giving an easy entry to the more cleverly constructed ones. Thanks to Bonxie and flashling.
Really enjoyed this. I liked “wound up” in 1a, the “sweet substance” in 18a, and “sing at the top of one’s range (19a). Didn’t know the US video system but the answer was clear enough. Thought “German banker” might have been slightly less obvious in 8d.
Many thanks Bonxie and flashling
A great crossword, only 21 stumped me.
Shirl @11, I first heard those terms from an EBU broadcasting engineer many moons ago. You don’t work in the business by any chance?
PS: My favourite mis-defined acronym was for the old SABENA airline: Such A Bad Experience, Never Again.
Roderick @14: you remind me of the Caribbean airline LIAT (Luggage In Another Town).
Roderick @ 14
I’m with you on SABENA: I had to fly with them six or more times a year between 1997 and 2002, and the vegetarian evening meal didn’t change once during that time.
I often have trouble with this setter but this was much more straightforward than usual with the exception of TALENT SCOUTS which I couldn’t parse and was my LOI. For some reason,which I now don’t understand, I’d answered as TALENT SCORES which slowed me down rather.
But, despite this frustration, I rather enjoyed this puzzle.
Thanks Bonxie.
Thanks Bonxie & flashling.
Interesting puzzle with good cluing. TRENCHERMAN sounds like a road digger to me and ENDUE was another unknown.
I did like the PAPER CUT, REEF KNOTS, PHENOMENON & ESPLANADES.
Really good puzzle – ESPLANADES was brilliant, CLEAVERS was very clever, and there were plenty of other good ones and some great misdirection. Many thanks to Bonxie and flashling.
Really enjoyed this puzzle – thanks Bonxie! Lots of terrific clues. My favourites surfaces were 19a and 13d, possibly because I like hill-walking and mints.
Thanks to flashling for the blog.
I’d never finished a Bonxie puzzle before, so was pleased to finish this one. Picaroon still eludes me, but I’ll get him next time!
I couldn’t get on to the setter’s wavelength for quite a while so this took much longer than it should have. Still, some v. good clues including 17a, the parsing of which I couldn’t work out, 20a, 1d, 4d and 11d. Like molonglo @5 THEMED was my LOI. Nice to see IDE making an appearance again.
A good mid-week challenge. Thanks to Bonxie and flashling.
{Roderick @14: yes – for about 40 years!}
I’m more than happy to go with the flow today – a good puzzle from Bonxie, with a higher proportion than yesterday of clues that needed to be solved after making a guess or two at the answer. Just as enjoyable nevertheless, if not more so.
Thanks Bonxie and flashling
I too enjoyed this but found it easier than a typical Bonxie (if there is such a thing). Favourite was PHENOMENON.
Two questions: is U for Uniform OK – I don’t think I’ve seen it?
Unless I’m missing something, I’m not convinced about DRUB = CLUB. Yes, you could drub someone by clubbing them, but there are other ways that don’t involve violence!
@Muffin from Chambers 2014:
Uniform or uniform /??ni-förm/
noun
(in international radio communication) a code word for the letter u
…and
drub (dr?b)
vb (tr) , drubs, drubbing or drubbed
1. to beat as with a stick; cudgel; club
(Collins)
It took less than 5 seconds to Google that.
Muffin @24 Your question prompted me to check here and I didn’t realise there were accepted codes for things other than the primary letters.
Thanks to Bonxie and flashling. I had trouble parsing REEF KNOTS because “stonker” was new to me, as was “dene” in BURDENED and the “en” in ENDUE, but I did get through and enjoyed the process.
Good to see Bonxie again. Not his most difficult, but still plenty to chew on. TRENCHERMAN was new to me but clearly clued. ENDUE last in. Liked REEF KNOTS and PHENOMENON.
Thanks to Bonxie and flashling
I think Bonxie must be a Collins fan, since the more obscure words follow its definitions pretty closely:
trencherman: 1. a person who enjoys food; hearty eater
dene: (British) a valley, esp one that is narrow and wooded
endue: 1. (usually followed by with) to invest or provide, as with some quality or trait
stonker: 1. (slang) a thing that is large, impressive, or amazing
I don’t have my BRB handy, but its online incarnation doesn’t match up nearly as well.
Well spotted, Cyborg (@30).
I have both Collins and Chambers at home and for general use prefer the Collins for both its arrangement of words and the order of definitions. Apparently Chambers is the one that is a kind of de facto reference for puzzles, quite apart from Chambers’ status as publisher of the official word list for Scrabble (which I think it still has).
Fine puzzle and blog, Bonxie and flashling.
I got stuck at 2d trying to make it work with “hen” as “only women admitted.” I’ve never heard of “stonker” (17a), though the cluing made it workable.
“Endue” was a new one, and I keep forgetting the British acronym for nurse (ours is RN, for “registered nurse”).
A sedan or a litter isn’t any old chair, it’s one with two poles extended fore and aft that four people carry on their shoulders. Hasn’t been used for centuries that I know of.
This American has never heard of NTSC (11d), though as a New Englander, I should be ashamed of taking so long to get 12a Rhode Island. For acronyms, though, I submit the one for the Canadian railroad line Prince George and Edmonton or PGE — known to the tolerant as Prince George Eventually and to the less so as Past God’s Endurance.
Thanks flashling and herb. (I didn’t Google “drub” as I thought I knew what it meant!)
THEMED does not mean involving a particular ACTIVITY but, as the word suggests, a particular THEME or topic. In A SEAFOOD-THEMED restaurant is seafood an ACTIVITY?! I think not.
Good point (Crossbencher @34).
I was slow to get this one, and perhaps now I see why. THEMED obviously refers to a common theme or subject running through everything ‘themed’, and my reading of both Collins and Chambers does not support ‘activity’ in this sense. If ‘activity’ is meant to be an example of a theme it is not indicated.
In an otherwise good puzzle (which I have already praised and praise again), this does taste just a little bit off.
THEMED was my last one in, a long way after everything else. I’d even tried that well-known resort of THESEA but it just wouldn’t google.
Liked the puzzle – a bit more of a challenge than Mon and Tues.
Not bad at all. 10 I would not say is &lit. The iron-backed one I do not think can suggest that all the items are backwards, it really leads to STONKEFER! Cf 14d which is very good.
I enjoyed most of this!
HH
And 19a doesn’t work – you don’t have to be at the top of the range to yodel, just within it. Otherwise all yodelling would be restricted to the peak of Mont Blanc. Peevish comment made to confirm the overall excellence of the crossword.
Interesting conjunction in 1d that PICA has allusion to TYPE as in font.
P.G.Wodehouse refers to trencherman regularly.
Thanks to flashling & Bonxie for excellent puzzle.
Van Winkle (@38).
I first thought Bonxie was referring to the pitch of the singing: yodelling means changing register while singing, rapidly at times, the use of the higher register (top of the range?) being characteristic. I now think both meanings of range were intended in a clue that is quite clever except for the phrase you pointed out (‘top of the range’).
Thanks to Bonxie and flashling. This was a good workout. LOI was THEMED. Count me as another
American who hadn’t heard of the NTSC.
Cheers…
Interesting that Americans hadn’t heard of NTSC – we had to be more careful over here, for fear of buying videos (later DVDs) that wouldn’t play on our systems; presumably the PAL versions simply weren’t offered in the US?
A pleasant crossword which was not as difficult as a Bonxie of old but at least it was more of a challenge than the first two we had this week.
I did indeed notice the flaws that have already pointed out and feel that perhaps these should have been picked up prior to publication!
In slight defense of 26A, I assumed it was trying to be semi &lit and that the definition was nearly the whole clue. i.e. “Popular holiday involving a particular activity”. However there was no question mark and the inclusion of “destination” ruins it. So it doesn’t work at all!
Thanks to flashling and Bonxie
Thanks Bonxie and flashing
Did this one on the day and only got to check it off on the weekend. Found it a slightly more gentle offering than normal for this setter but with the characteristic misdirection still requiring close attention.
There were three that I couldn’t parse correctly UROLOGIST (had forgotten about the ROLO sweets and certainly the advertising campaign), REEF KNOTS (hadn’t heard of STONKER as meaning something good) and TALENT SCOUTS (not knowing the NTSC system made it difficult to put the rest together).
Finished down the bottom with BURDENED (where I had to look up the DRUB synonym for ‘to club’), ENDUE (was aware of SEN as the state enrolled nurse, but not just the EN) and the very clever THEMED as the last one.
Maybe not as hard, but every bit as enjoyable as ever from this setter.
Thanks flashling and Bronxie.
Hmmm……
I was defeated by TALENT SCOUT and ENDUE and found a few of the clues a bit iffy. For instance is KEY really equivalent to CLUE in 6dn and shouldn’t ‘king’ in 20 be accompanied by a say or maybe? And shouldn’t TRENCHER-MAN be hyphenated?
But then some exceptionally good clues such as 17ac and 18ac.
So neither great nor terrible.
It’s probably a wavelength thing I suppose.