We were really excited by the prospect of a Donk puzzle today, but although we enjoyed the solve we had hoped for more of his ‘risqué’ clues which usually raise a smile in the Bert and Joyce household. 24d came close but maybe he has been told to calm things down a bit!
We’re not totally convinced by our parsing of 26ac, however, 1d was very crafty – thanks Donk
Sorry Donk, we wanted more ‘Donk-y’ clues and we missed one! Thanks to Gaufrid for the explanation at 26ac. How did we miss it?
| Across | ||
| 1 | Showing lover I care, men go nuts (10) | |
| CINEMAGOER | An anagram of I CARE MEN GO – anagrind is ‘nuts’ | |
| 6 | Horse’s price and bet on it makes you sick (4) | |
| SPEW | SP (starting price – odds on a horse at the start of a race) EW (each-way – a type of bet) | |
| 10 | Chairman defends cycling holiday – he really knows his stuff! (7) | |
| MAESTRO | MAO (Chairman) round or ‘defending’ REST (holiday) with the first letter moved to last, or ‘cycling’ | |
| 11 | Biggest bouncer is ripping you off (7) | |
| ROOKING | ROO (kangaroo – a ‘bouncer’) KING (‘biggest’ of the ‘bouncers’) | |
| 12 | Risky option, spread on a roll’s soft spot (3-2-7) | |
| ALL-OR-NOTHING | An anagram of ON A ROLL – anagrind is ‘spread’ + THING (soft spot) | |
| 15 | Treat sea water and supply deltas (6) | |
| DESALT | An anagram of DELTAS –anagrind is ‘supply” – ‘in a supple way’ | |
| 17 | Works on best clothes (8) | |
| REFINERY | RE (on) FINERY (best clothes) | |
| 19 | Fan of diversity to vote for one conservative over another (8) | |
| ECLECTIC | ELECT (vote for) I (one) C (conservative) round or ‘over’ C (another conservative) | |
| 20 | Donk pushed girl with Tristan (6) | |
| ISOLDE | I (Donk – the setter) SOLD E (‘pushed’ ecstacy) | |
| 22 | Maybe makes Oxford qualities surface (12) | |
| COBBLESTONES | COBBLES (makes shoes, of which an Oxford is an example) TONES (qualities) | |
| 26 | When one can no longer see satellite show behind schedule (7) | |
| MOONSET | ||
| 27 | Traders shifting mascara vandalise boxes (7) | |
| CARAVAN | Hidden or ‘boxed’ in ‘masCARA VANdalise’. Thanks Eileen. | |
| 28 | Joy to get going about 50 (4) | |
| GLEE | GEE (get going) round L (50) | |
| 29 | Not reflecting my scream, it’s fantastic (10) | |
| ASYMMETRIC | An anagram of MY SCREAM IT |
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | Appropriate, what finishes off John Does? (10) | |
| COMMANDEER | COMMA (,) N (last letter or ‘finish’ of ‘John’) DEER (does) | |
| 2 | Gets to arch without point (10) | |
| NEEDLESSLY | NEEDLES (gets to) SLY (arch) | |
| 3 | Fell over close to buffet car (5) | |
| MOTOR | MOOR (fell) round or ’over’ T – last letter or ‘close’ of buffet | |
| 4 | Huge number try trademark climbs (6) | |
| GOOGOL | GO (try) + LOGO (trademark) reversed or ‘climbing’ | |
| 5 | One hearing those people’s current uprising is more crude (8) | |
| EARTHIER | EAR (‘one hearing’) + THEIR (those people’s) with the ‘I’ (current) moved forward or ‘uprising’ in a down clue | |
| 7 | Fussy groom scratching bottom (4) | |
| PRIM | PRIM |
|
| 8 | With time, you might make it as a worker (4) | |
| WAGE | W (with) AGE (time) | |
| 9 | See 25 | |
| 13 | Gracious when, at first, young swimmer’s keeping score (4,1,5) | |
| WELL I NEVER | W (first letter of ‘when’) ELVER (young swimmer) round or ‘keeping’ LINE (score) | |
| 14 | Why person I capture holds fast (10) | |
| HYPERSONIC | Hidden or ‘held’ in ‘wHY PERSON I Capture’ | |
| 16 | Sport LAX badge at terminal (8) | |
| LACROSSE | LA CROSS (X) + E (last or ‘terminal’ letter of ‘badge’) | |
| 18 | Condition of drunk at bedside, taking off drag (8) | |
| DIABETES | An anagram of AT BEDSI |
|
| 21 | Kit for PC essentially skewered opening of bookies (somewhere to punt) (6) | |
| WEBCAM | WE (middle or ‘essential’ letters of ‘skewered’) B (first letter or ‘opening’ of ‘bookies’) CAM (river in Cambridge, renowned for punts) | |
| 23 | On the tours of Trinity (5) | |
| THREE | RE (on) with THE around or ‘touring’ | |
| 24 | Bob’s face (having pleasured himself?) (4) | |
| SMUG | S (bob – shilling) MUG (face) | |
| 25/9 | He comes out in rash just outside London (4,8) | |
| HOME COUNTIES | An anagram of HE COMES OUT IN – anagrind is ‘rash’ | |
Thanks B&J
For 26ac try – MOON (show behind) SET (schedule).
Thanks for a great blog, B and J.
I really enjoyed this and had several chortles along the way.
I wasn’t, this time, misled by ‘Does’ in 1d, which earned one of my ticks, but being too much on the look-out for previous traps can lead you astray. Amazingly, REFINERY was one of my last in, because I was expecting ‘clothes’ to be a containment indicator rather than, er, clothes.
Nutmeg had ‘scratched bottom’ in the puzzle I blogged two days ago, so I had a smile at that. I am absolutely sure [now] that your parsing is the right one but I got the answer via PRIM[p] – Chambers has primp = preen and preen = groom. [There’s more than one way to skin a rabbit, as my dad used to say!]
Super clues throughout but my top favourites were 22 and 23ac and 1,2 and 25/9dn.
I think ‘shifting’ is part of the definition in 27ac.
Many thank, as ever, to Donk for the fun.
another wonderful puzzle from Donk, not his hardest I thought, with 1a and 1d just brilliant. My first thought on looking at the grid, with its somewhat isolated NE and SW corners, was that it must be that way for some devious reason, but I can’t see anything.
Thanks to D, B&J
Thumbs up from me too.
There appears to be an extra S in your anagram fodder for 29a. I think the anagrind is “is fantastic”.
Missed the comma in 1d and, like Eileen, I also reached the answer for 7d via primp.
A most enjoyable solve.Thanks to setter and bloggers.
Nice puzzle; I got more of it out than usual for Donk. Thanks to both.
Hard going but definitely worth persevering with. Missed some of the cleverer word play such as for COMMANDEER and MOONSET but lots of clues which were very satisfying to have finally solved including CINEMAGOER (liked the ‘Showing lover’), REFINERY, NEEDLESSLY, SMUG and even HYPERSONIC which took me ages to spot.
A big thanks to Donk and to B&J.
I don’t think I can have been on Donk’s wavelength today – too much help required and even then there were lots of parsings I couldn’t see.
@2Eileen: Interested in your expression about more than one way – in my case it’s to skin a cat. But “Skin a rabbit!” is what we used to say to our children – and now to our grandchildren – when helping them pull jumpers off over their heads. We’ll have to compare notes at the next S&B.
But thanks to Donk, anyway, and of course to B&J.
Hi allan_c @8
I was getting confused. You’re right, it was ‘skin a cat’ – and we used to say ‘skin a rabbit’ in the same context as you, obviously more often, like practically every night, which must be why that came more readily to mind this morning.
All very entertaining – I struggled in places especially with ROOKING and WAGE, both of which are obvious in retrospect. A top class puzzle full of devious misdirection.
Thanks to Donk, Bert & Joyce
Many thanks to B&J for the super review, and to everyone who took the time to comment.
All the very best,
Donk