Another really super puzzle from Redhsank, and quite tricky too. Thank you Redshank.
| Across | ||
| 1 | EISENHOWER |
In general, nowhere is safe ultimately at sea (10)
anagram (at sea) of NOWHERE IS safE (ultimate letter of) |
| 7 | LOCK |
Forward at Twickenham barges in there (4)
definition and cryptic definition – a lock on a canal |
| 9 | AGIN |
It’s not for out-of-court battle (4)
AGINcourt (battle) missing COURT |
| 10 | GASTRONOMY |
Cook should study this golf course (10)
G (golf, phonetic alphabet) with ASTRONOMY (course, at university perhaps) |
| 11 | BODICE |
Basque queen once forfeited acres (6)
BOaDICEa (queen, once) missing A A (acre, twice) |
| 12 | INSTANCE |
Fashionable attitude, for example (8)
IN (fashionable) and STANCE (attitude) |
| 13 | SPARRING |
Jump over a rope at first, doing this in gym (8)
SPRING (jump) contains (over) A Rope (first letter of) |
| 15 | ELLS |
South African driver absorbs large amounts of material (4)
Ernie ELS (South African golfer, driver) contains L (large) |
| 17 | FLOP |
Turkey’s force cut (4)
F (force) and LOP (cut) |
| 19 | PUNCTURE |
Painting I replaced with one of Renoir’s in flat (8)
PiCTURE (painting) with UN (one in French, for Renoir) replacing I |
| 22 | DISRAELI |
PM’s edited diaries about Peel finally (8)
DIARIES* anagram=edited containing peeL (final letter of) |
| 23 | POLISH |
Finish investing last of 5 in Victoria (6)
LI (£1, Libra I last part of 5dn) in POSH (Posh Spice, Victoria Beckham) |
| 25 | BLOODHOUND |
Holmes to initiate subject of one of his cases (10)
BLOOD (to initiate) and HOUND (The Hound of the Baskervilles, one of his cases) |
| 26 | NUTS |
Crazy students flood West End (4)
NUS (National Union of Students) contain (flood, go over) wesT (end letter of) |
| 27 | SWAY |
State curbs Welsh leader’s power (4)
SAY (state) contains (curbs) Welsh (leading letter of) |
| 28 | REDISCOVER |
Turn up again in middle of street party extremely cut (10)
stREet (middle letters of) DISCO (party) VERy (extremely, cut short) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | IN-GROUP |
Stylish mature wife’s left clique (2-5)
IN (stylish) than GROw UP (mature) missing W (wife) |
| 3 | ENNUI |
In most of the night in Paris? That’s tedious (5)
EN (in) and NUIt (night, most of) both in French (in Paris) |
| 4 | HYGIENIC |
Drugged girl caught in charge of antiseptic (8)
HYGIEN sounds like (caught) “high Jean” (drugged girl) then IC (in charge) |
| 5 | WASHING-UP LIQUID |
Distraught WI’s hang-up: £51 for cleaner? (7-2,6)
(WI’S HANG-UP)* anagram=distraught then LI (51, Roman numerals) QUID (£) |
| 6 | RAREST |
It’s very hard to get collar right at the front (6)
ARREST (collar) with the letter R (right) moving to the front |
| 7 | LAND AGENT |
Steward left with a bloke (4,5)
L (left) AND (with) A GENT (bloke) – this coud also have been PORT (left) AGENT |
| 8 | COMICAL |
Funny bug coated in black stuff (7)
MIC (microphone, bug) inside COAL (black stuff) |
| 14 | REPERTORY |
Golfer hires pro, eliminating error in skill set (9)
RORY (Rory McIlroy, golfer) contains (hires, takes on) ExPERT (pro) missing X (cross symbol, indicating error) – not being a golfer I had not heard of Rory McIlroy but presumeably among golfers he is famous enough to be known by his first name only |
| 16 | IN SPADES |
Wearing suit? Emphatically so (2,6)
definition and cryptic definition |
| 18 | LAID LOW |
Bedridden chap lacking iron receives help (4,3)
feLLOW (cap) missing FE (iron) contains AID (help) |
| 20 | ROSETTE |
Badminton prize does restrict allotted time (7)
ROE (deer, does perhaps) contains SET (allotted time) – a prize at a horse trial |
| 21 | MENHIR |
Big stone pieces in this spot, so I’m told (6)
sounds like (so I’m told) “men here” pieces (chessmen) in this spot |
| 24 | LINGO |
Some spell in Gordonstoun, some can’t (5)
found in the middle of spelL IN GOurdonstoun – I think the definition is “some cant” meaning “some slang”. Dropping apostrophes seems fair enough in wordplay, but in a definition? Shouldn’t a definition actually mean what it says? Maybe I have got this clue all wrong. |
definitions are underlined
Yes a bit of a struggle this one. I completed all clues correctly but could not parse 4d despite seeing the homophone ‘high’ so thanks for the explanation Peedee.
I liked the mini golf theme of 10ac, 15ac, 14d, and 18d. I believe Ike was quite a fan of golf too….
I also felt 24d was a trifle unfair although the hidden answer was easy enough to spot. And like Peedee I could not quite ‘get’ the working of 23ac.
But great fun all told. Thanks muchly.
Great puzzle-thanks for blog
Beaten by FLOP, REPETORY MENHIR
Thanks, PeeDee.
`Really super … and quite tricky too’ – an admirable summing-up, I think. I needed your help for parsing REPERTORY [I think the golfer is well-enough known – 95 weeks as world number one, etc [Wikipedia] – even I had heard of him] and was hoping for enlightenment re POLISH!
I had ticks against PUNCTURE, NUTS, WASHING-UP LIQUID and LAID LOW – and I’ll add one for REPERTORY now.
Huge fan of Redshank that I am, I’m afraid I have to agree with you re LINGO, if that’s the correct parsing – and I can’t see another one.
Many thanks to Redshank for another most enjoyable challenge.
Re “LI” in 23 across, POLISH, perhaps it’s L (abbrev.) = “libra” or “pound”, written as £ when it’s the pound sterling. So LI could be read as £1, or “1 quid”, which is the end of 5 down.
Re: 23 Down. I read this as LI (for 51, which the last bit of 5 down’s wordplay) within (invested in) Posh aka Victoria Beckham when she was in the Spice Girls.
Thanks Redshank and PeeDee
16dn: I took this as a charade of IN (Wearing) + SPADES (suit, with the question mark to indicate the deinition by example). I am genuinely unsure whether this counts as a true difference from PeeDee’s reading or not.
… and of course I meant “definition” not “deinition”.
Thanks to Tom_I for explaining 23 across.
Pelham @7 – I wondered the same and decided that even if it is different it doesn’t matter anyway.
Eileen @3 – I am glad you thought it a good one too. I like just about every puzzle I do, so I am not the best person to judge these things. In fact I can’t remember solving a puzzle I didn’t enjoy.
Thanks Redshank and PeeDee
Bit of a struggle this one … but not in a bad way. A couple that I couldn’t fully parse – had the DISCO part of 28a, but not the RE or VER bits and missed the L1 part of 23a.
Seemed to be a lot of other clues in which the parsing was much more challenging than getting the actual answer – in particular 11a, 15a, 19a, 4d, 7d, 14d and 20d. LINGO was an interesting take on the use of punctuation as a misdirection device with the definition.
Finished with ROSETTE (a bit of a stretch to have a little known venue of a sport that had a rosette as a part of the award), POLISH (tricky with the LI part) and BODICE (obscure definition and clever extractions from the queen).
I don’t know how I forgot to say that I loved the Basque queen!
Thanks PeeDee and Redshank.
Some really creative clueing here including PUNCTURE, POLISH and LAID LOW and I needed your help to parse REPERTORY.
Took an age to get FLOP.
Redshank is definitely growing on me.