Just the type of crossword we love. Three cheers for Alberich!
This was as near perfect as can be, as far as we’re concerned. A mental challenge, not an exercise in looking things up. All that are needed to solve it are a biro and a brain. There are no obscure words or arcane knowledge involved, just some wicked (but absolutely fair) invitations to leap to the wrong conclusion, perfectly clued, with a leavening of simple, straightforward clues to encourage the solver to keep at it. Favourites for us were 1, 13 and 23.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FOR THE CHOP |
Keep quiet, after reflection, about husband about to be sacked (3,3,4)
FORT (in the sense of citadel or keep, part of a castle), ECHO (reflection of sound) P, the musical direction for quiet, surrounding (about) H for husband. A super clue – most people (we’re among them) would initially think of keep as a verb and the words reflection and about misdirect the solver in multiple ways. |
| 7 | REST |
Snooker player may need this break (4)
A double definition. A rest is the device a player rests the end of his cue on in order to reach an otherwise inaccessible ball, and a rest is a respite. |
| 9 | CENT |
Sound ecstatic to get some bread (4)
A homophome of sent (very much a sixties word). Bread is used in the slang sense of money. |
| 10 | COVER GIRLS |
Charlie is very good, mixing with right role models? (5,5)
An anagram (mixing) of C for Charlie (phonetic alphabet) plus IS plus VG plus R for right plus ROLE |
| 11 | STIR UP |
Encourage support when losing heart (4,2)
STIRRUP minus its central letter (heart) |
| 12 | ARTISTIC |
Stylish vehicle’s parked outside institute on street (8)
ARTIC (a familiar shortening of articulated lorry) surrounding I for institute on ST for street |
| 13 | SPORADIC |
Occasional yield’s returned, investing 500 in capital (8)
A reversal of CROPS (yield’s) surrounding (investing – very neat) D (Roman numeral representing 500) inserted into AI (excellent, or capital) |
| 15 | OMEN |
Sign describing hen party? (4)
Zero men would describe a hen party |
| 17 | WAND |
Stick with worker that lacks aspiration (4)
W for with plus AND (hand, or worker, minus h, the aspirate) |
| 19 | ENORMITY |
More tiny misbehaving? Quite the opposite (8)
An anagram of more tiny. |
| 22 | HATE MAIL |
Worried, getting protection after Henry’s death threats? (4,4)
H for Henry followed by ATE (worried, as a past tense verb) and MAIL, a form of protection worn in combat in the past |
| 23 | GUTTER |
Threaten to go out on t’pull when returning (6)
RE (on, or about) plus T plus TUG (pull), all reversed (returning) |
| 25 | TENDERFOOT |
Offer to pay for inexperienced person (10)
TENDER (offer) plus FOOT (pay, or foot the bill). |
| 26 | YETI |
Still one creature of dubious existence (4)
YET (still) plis I, the Roman numeral representing one |
| 27 | WEED |
Go Dutch? That’s namby-pamby (4)
WEE (to go (to the toilet)) plus D for Dutch. |
| 28 | PIED A TERRE |
See inside Frenchman’s second home? (4-1-5)
DATE (see – in the sense of what used to be called courting) inside PIERRE, a french male given name. |
| Down | ||
| 2 | OVERTOP |
Surpass theatre work in public? (7)
OP is a commonly used shortening of operation, which usually takes place in an operating theatre. An OVERT OP is an OP in public |
| 3 | TATER |
Rubbish monarch? King Edward, for one (5)
TAT (rubbish) plus ER, the British monarch. King Edward is a common variety of potato, or tater informally. We think this is called a definition by example by those who bother about such things. |
| 4 | ESCAPADE |
Lark lands regularly, interrupting flight (8)
A and D, the even-numbered ketters of lands, inserted into (interrupting) ESCAPE, or flight. |
| 5 | HAVE A SCREW LOOSE |
Serve aloo with cashew nuts? You have to be crazy! (4,1,5,5)
An anagram (nuts) of SERVE ALOO with CASHEW. Not very PC these days, it seems, but clever. |
| 6 | PIRATE |
Silver perhaps is very good value (6)
PI (slang for very good to the point of being sanctimonious) plus RATE used as a verb – eg I don’t rate his chances very highly. Long John Silver is probably the most famous fictional pirate. |
| 7 | RAINSTORM |
Dress in smart clothing or it’ll be a dampener (9)
Dress (arrange) IN SMART surrounding (clothing) OR. |
| 8 | SALTIRE |
Anger shown after seaman gets cross (7)
SALT (a sailor) plus IRE (anger). |
| 14 | RED HEADED |
Ginger Rogers initially heeded advice, abandoning bad habit when dancing (3-6)
R, the initial letter of Rogers (Rogers initially) plus an anagram (when dancing) of HEEDED and AD (advice minus (abandoning) vice, or bad habit). Sorry about the typo in the grid and thanks to Mark for pointing it out. Perhaps we were having a Rab C Nesbitt moment. |
| 16 | GOLGOTHA |
Gaol’s rebuilt around barbarian crucifixion site (8)
GOTH is the barbarian. It is surrounded by GOLA, an anagram (rebuilt) of gaol |
| 18 | ACADEME |
Some deemed a campus set back scholarly world (7)
Included in (some is the indicator) the second, third anf fourth words of the clue, reversed (set back) |
| 20 | TWEETER |
Hesitate to include Welsh speaker’s part (7)
TEETER or hesitate, with W for Welsh inserted or included. Tweeters, woofers and variants on them are combined into composite loudspeakers |
| 21 | SATRAP |
Governer wants Gin and It first of all (6)
SA (sex appeal, or IT, as in the old film) plus TRAP, of which a gin is a particular type. |
| 24 | THYME |
What’s used to flavour porridge, we’re told (5)
THYME is a homophone of time, or porridge, both terms being criminal argot for a prison sentence |
Thanks Alberich and David & Linda.
I echo your sentiments; very good crossword with usual precise cluing.
I think I had forgotten the verbal sense of GUTTER and had trouble parsing SPORADIC, which in retrospect was a great clue. I smiled at WEED and liked OVERTOP & RAINSTORM.
Thanks for the solutions David and Linda. I found this one very tough. Just by the way, the answer is typoed in both the grid and below for 14D. Should be RED-HEADED as per your explanation.
That ‘sent’ equals ‘ecstatic’ (9A) is a new to me. I’m also still not clear why ‘ate’ equals ‘worried’ (22A) or ‘gutter’ equals ‘threaten to go out’ (23A).
Mark@2 Thanks for the heads-up on the typo. We’ll have a go at correcting the grid but it’s uncharted territory for us so the result may be unpredictable.
There’s no shame in finding this crossword tough. It was a good workout.
Sent, meaning delighted or thrilled was very much a 1960s term. “You send me” was Sam Cooke’s debut single and a big hit.
On ate for worried, think bother or concern, as in “what’s eating you?”
As for gutter, candles always gutter in ghost stories just before they go out. There’s a poem by Kipling called The Gift of the Sea where “the candle guttered low”. Look it up sometime if you really want to depress yourself!
Thanks for the blog.
This was certainly better than yesterday’s FT.
15ac made me smile, and 28 is brilliant.
On the other hand, I still don’t understand 23, have never heard the word tenderfoot, and always cringe when I see ‘sa’ clued as ‘it’.
Hi Mabel
Collins dictionary defines gutter as “verb (intransitive) (of a flame) to flicker and be about to go out”
Tenderfoot is more American English than British English, but quite common nevertheless.
Thanks David & Linda and Alberich.
Enjoyable as ever from this setter and – as you say – nice to have one where digital aids were not required.
3,9 & 11 took a while to complete. I had TATTY in mind for a while but didn’t enter it (thankfully) until I had STIR(R)UP.
Then I remembered the less usual TATER – most memorable from the old joke about a young Jersey Royal who wanted to marry David Coleman – her parents said “you can’t marry him, he’s just a common tater”.
Hamish that is so bad that it’s brilliant.
Thanks Alberich and D&L
Late to this one and happy that I finally got to it. It took most of the day on and off to get it finished. As has been stated, a lot of very good clues and a wonderful sleight of hand with the nuances of words to throw one down a completely wrong track.
Finished with the unusual definition of SENT, the cleverly masked PIRATE and the innocuous-looking, but far from it, ARTISTIC (always have trouble with the ARTIC truck for some reason).
Liked most of the clues … much better than the poster jokes !! 🙂