Fairly straightforward fare from Tyrus this week, if that is a fair summary? Some crisp clueing and nice surface readings, and no hidden tricks or themes…as far as I could tell anyway!
An enjoyable solve, maybe not as mind-stretching as some Saturday Prize puzzles, but fun to solve – and blog.
A couple of Premiership football-ish references – with Pellegrini (Manchester City manager) possibly being sacked in 20A (although it seems another ‘special one’ manager is closer to the exit door this week?), and to Manchester United fans having to accept in 6D that Manchester City did better than them last year – is Tyrus maybe a Man City fan who wants Pellegrini sacked and enjoyed finishing above the Reds last year?
I enjoyed the description of Ken, Barbie’s male ‘friend’ as a ‘toy boy’! And 26A was clever – ‘Has he ‘E’s?’. Eee by gum, ‘e has!
LOI was 2D – HOOFPRINT – it had to be that from the definition and crossing letters, but I wasn’t aware that ‘Barb’ could mean a horse, so a bit of reference needed there.
So, thanks to Tyrus, and hopefully I have it all down correctly below…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | THE SQUARE ROOT OF | Ooh! A last request for old Dicky produces absolutely zilch (3,6,4,2) | absolutely zilch / anag (i.e. dicky) of OOH A LAST REQUEST FOR OLD |
|
| 9A | SOD ALL | See 1 (3,3) | see 1 / see 1 |
|
| 10A | BACKDOOR | Secret support by party rank and file (8) | secret / BACK (support) + DO (party) + OR (Other Ranks, rank & file) |
|
| 11A | SPRINTER | He shifts second piece of computer hardware (8) | he shifts (moves fast) / AS (second) + PRINTER (piece of computer hardware) |
|
| 12A | VANISH | Go like an old Dormobile? (6) | &lit-ish double defn / VANISH can be to disappear, or ‘go’; and an old Dormobile, shaped like a van, might be VAN-ISH |
|
| 13A | TIN GOD | Petty dictator can leave department (3,3) | petty dictator / TIN (can) + GO (leave) + D (department) |
|
| 15A | AEROLITH | Meteorite that’s landed – hear nothing new about it (8) | meteorite / AERO_H (anag, i.e. new, of HEAR + O – zero, nothing), around LIT (landed) |
|
| 17A | STAR TREK | Begin to face disaster in chat show (4,4) | (TV) show / START (begin) + REK (homophone, i.e. ‘in chat’, of ‘wreck’, disaster) |
|
| 20A | DISPEL | Sacked? Is Pellegrini about to drive away? (6) | drive away / hidden word, i.e. about, in ‘sackeD IS PELlegrini’ |
|
| 22A | POETIC | US writer ‘put it about’ – see, that’s beautifully expressed (6) | beautifully expressed / POE (Edgar Allan Poe, American writer) + TI (it, about) + C (see) |
|
| 24A | TRAIPSED | Did tramp depart with ‘is bundle? (8) | did tramp / anag, i.e. bundle, of DEPART + IS |
|
| 26A | HASHEESH | Does he stock ecstasy tablets, heroin or a different drug? (8) | a different drug (from those already mentioned) / HAS HE ES (does he have Es, ecstasy tablets?) + H (heroin) |
|
| 27A | DIEPPE | Pass degree course in French town (6) | French town / DIE (pass away) + PPE (Philosophy, Politics & Economics, degree course)) |
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| 28A | GIRD UP ONES LOINS | Beginning to get frisky in pool (I undress and prepare for action) (4,2,4,5) | prepare for action / G (beginning to Get) + anag, i.e. frisky, of IN POOL I UNDRESS |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | HOOFPRINT | Depression caused by barb? (9) | depression (in the ground) / cryptic definition? A ‘Barb’ is a type of horse, which might make a depression in the ground with its hoof. |
|
| 3D | SLAVING | Carol keeps John working hard (7) | working hard / S_ING (carol) around (keeping) LAV (toilet, john) |
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| 4D | UNLIT | One’s left in dark (5) | dark / UN_IT (one) with L (left) in |
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| 5D | ROBERTA | She makes a mint after promotion (7) | she (girl’s name) / A + TREBOR (brand of mint sweet, in UK at least) – all reversed, or promoted. |
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| 6D | RECOVERED | United fan accepts City finished better (9) | better (from illness) / R_ED (Manchester United fans are referred to as ‘Reds’) around (accepting) EC (postcode of the City of London) + OVER (finished) |
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| 7D | ORDINAL | Number nine originally wearing gold ring (7) | number / OR (heraldry, golden) + DI_AL (ring), around (wearing) N (original letter of Nine) |
|
| 8D | OBOES | Touring Ohio, a lot of very fat musicians (5) | musicians / OB_ES(E) (a lot of obese, or very fat) around (touring) O (Ohio) |
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| 14D | DIRT CHEAP | A bargain – had to cut price drastically (4,5) | a bargain / anag, i.e. drastically, of HAD + T(O) (to, cut short) + PRICE |
|
| 16D | THEREUPON | True? Phone to find out immediately (9) | immediately / anag, i.e. to find ‘out’, of TRUE PHONE |
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| 18D | RETCHED | Poor women invisible and gagged (7) | gagged / (W)RETCHED (poor) losing W (Women, invisible) |
|
| 19D | KITCHEN | Toy boy outside Long Room (7) | room / K_EN (Barbie’s male doll friend, Ken, could be described as a ‘toy boy’!) around ITCH (long, for) |
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| 21D | SUPREMO | Top guy in sport’s promotion English (7) | top guy / SU_MO (sport) around PR (Public Relations, promotion) + E (English) |
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| 23D | OMANI | Statesman soon gets upset (5) | statesman (native of the state of Oman) / OMANI (someone from Oman) could be IN A MO (soon) ‘upset’ |
|
| 25D | AIDES | One day they’ll help (5) | they’ll help / A (one) + IDES (day, in the Roman calendar) |
|
another lovely puzzle from Tyrus, 6d is a belter (a neutral writes)
thanks to Tyrus and mc_r
Agree with baerchen that 6d is a cracker but thoroughly mauled on others,I sort of guessed 8d but wasnt bonkers about it,18 bowled me middle stump. Completely out of my depth on 15 and parsing of 5( I do remember trebor mints but they were delivered on a tea tray today)
Brought me down to earth after completing Puck in the Graun- just as I predicted.
Tout a fait mon truc (if Jim the Great will pardon my French).
Made my day, did this. Many thanks Tyrus you old master, and also to mc_rapper67 for such a comprehensive and thorough blog.
This slowly yielded though I was struggling for a start. Some great clues – I liked BACKDOOR, VANISH, AEROLITH, HASHEESH and OMANI in particular. The anagrams were a bit tricky including THEREUPON which I didn’t spot and was almost my LOI. I also couldn’t figure out the wordplay for HOOFPRINT, ROBERTA and SUPREMO.
Overall a good Sunday (for me) solve. I look forward very much to Tyrus’ next offering.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
A fine puzzle. There seems to have been a pattern in recent Saturday prize crosswords of being relatively easy at the top and getting progressively harder as we work down the grid.
Many excellent and well disguised clues, most of which have already been mentioned. 17A – STAR TREK – was another that I rather enjoyed.
Lovely puzzle. Lots of super clues. 6d my favourite.
Thanks to mc_ for the fine blog and to others for their comments.
Thanks for all the various comments – seems to have been a well received puzzle, and nice of Tyrus to pop by…bit like having a visit from the headmaster when the setter comes in and comments!…