(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) Thanks to Sayang for a not-too-difficult puzzle. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1,4 Our melodic dish cooked with salt (6,8)
SODIUM CHLORIDE : Anagram of(… cooked) OUR MELODIC DISH.
9 Did not start credible sanction (6)
ENABLE : “tenable”(credible;viable) minus its 1st letter(Did not start …).
10 Tease apprentice, maniac for snack food (8)
HAZELNUT : HAZE(in N. American usage, to subject newcomers to ridicule or abuse, a cruel version of the British ragging or teasing) + L(plate displayed by a learner or apprentice driver) + NUT(a maniac;one who is mentally disturbed).
12 Flunkey returned spoils (4)
LOOT : Reversal of(… returned) TOOL(a flunkey;a pawn).
13 Beat with stick initially (5)
BASTE : Anagram of(Beat) [BEAT plus(with) the 1st letter of(… initially) “stick ” ].
Through the process of elimination, I think this is the answer, in which case, “beat” is definition, anagram indicator and fodder all at once. But I’m not sure.
14 J.B. Ranson stocking some roughage (4)
BRAN : Hidden in(… stocking) “B. Ranson “.
17 Military tribunal punished matriculator (5,7)
COURT MARTIAL : Anagram of(punished) MATRICULATOR.
20 Transit stop is area with car and van being damaged (12)
CARAVANSERAI : Anagram of(… being damaged) [IS AREA plus(with) CAR plus(and) VAN].
Defn: … for caravans along trade routes in central and western Asia.
23 The burden old star rejected (4)
ONUS : O(abbrev. for “old”) + reversal of(… rejected) SUN(the star in our planetary system).
24 At the end of day, to stare and gape is awkward (5)
GAWKY : The last letter of(the end of) “day ” placed after(At) GAWK(to stare and gape).
25 First person to be upset during party protest (4)
DEMO : Reversal of(… to be upset) ME(first person pronoun) contained in(during) DO(a party;a social function).
28 More than half reached the age of consent (8)
MAJORITY : Double defn.
I think there is a slight discrepancy between the 2nd definition and answer. The former commonly refers to the age at which one is considered legally competent to consent to sexual acts, whereas the age of majority is the age at which one is legally an adult and is no longer the responsibility of one’s parents or guardians. Of course, there could be some legal jurisdictions where the 2 coincide.
29 Look at husband in admonition to grow up (6)
BEHOLD : H(abbrev. for “husband”) contained in(in) [BE OLD!](possibly said as an admonition to grow up).
30,31 Heckling pack or sneerers at this part of Hyde Park (8,6)
SPEAKERS CORNER : Anagram of(Heckling) PACK OR SNEERERS.
Defn: … where one might find speakers and their hacklers and sneerers.
Down
1,21 This sleuth, he’ll shock Morse electrifyingly (8,6)
SHERLOCK HOLMES : Anagram of(… electrifyingly) HE’LL SHOCK MORSE.
2 The stuff of a play (8)
DIALOGUE : Cryptic defn: That which is the essential part;stuff of a dramatic play.
3 Horrible fruit caught (4)
UGLY : Homophone of(… caught, aurally) “ugli”(a citrus fruit from the Caribbean).
5 Vital malfunctions disrupted hackers at Tate endlessly (5,7)
HEART ATTACKS : Anagram of(disrupted) [ HACKERS AT + “Tate” minus its last letter(endlessly) ].
6 No Turkish man will toe the line (4)
OBEY : O(letter representing 0;nothing;no) + BEY(a title of address for a Turkish man, corresponding to “Mr.”).
7 Pay no attention to soldier upset about having to accept a negative answer (6)
IGNORE : [ Reversal of(… upset) GI(a US soldier) + RE(about;with reference to) ] containing(having to accept) NO(a negative answer).
8,19 Denigrator dies from alimentary ailment (6,8)
EATING DISORDER : Anagram of(… from?) DENIGRATOR DIES.
11 Totally bonkers as Alice discovered (3,2,1,6)
MAD AS A HATTER : Cryptic defn: … in Wonderland.
15 Reference book a sailor returned (5)
ATLAS : A + reversal of(… returned) SALT(a sailor … especially a seasoned one).
16 Light wood used in herbal salon (5)
BALSA : Hidden in(in) “herbal salon“.
18 Not a slave delivered without charge up-front (8)
FREEBORN : BORN(delivered from a mother’s womb) placed below(… up-front) FREE(without charge).
19 See 8 down
21 See 1 down
22 Base evacuated to accommodate Jack in a French extreme jumping sport (6)
BUNJEE : “Base ” minus its inner letters(evacuated) containing(to accommodate) [ J(abbrev. for “Jack” in a pack of playing cards) contained in(in) UNE(French for “a”) ].
I can only find “bungee” or “bungy”, not “bunjee” in the references (though there could be one out there that I haven’t found).
26 Streaker getting arse kicked violently during trip (4)
TREK : Anagram of(… violently) [ “Streaker ” minus(getting … kicked) “arse ” ].
27 Star lover whose lamp went out tragically (4)
HERO : Double defn: 2nd: In Greek mythology, the priestess lover of Leander, the latter losing his way and drowning in a storm when the lamp she lit to guide him was blown out by the wind.
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
Thanks Sayang and schuss
Started off with three of the four long words around the outside of the puzzle and thought that it was going to be a write-in crossword – fortunately it hardened up a bit.
A typical Sayang puzzle, where it was a fine balance between brilliant and really bad. No better example than with my last one in, BASTE, which I thought was very lame when I, like scchua, through a process of elimination arrived at the answer… and thought whaaaa! But on looking at it again with the triple function of ‘beat’ – it is nearly genius !
Again with HERO … where until I saw what was happening, thought that the clue was very weak – but turns into a very good double definition.
HAZE was a totally new term in the context of tease and I also could not find the BUNJEE version of the extreme sport.
Thanks scchua and Sayang. Enjoyed this, mostly. I think you must be right about BASTE but I don’t really think the clue works. 1d was a goodie!
Thanks, scchua. I don’t like BASTE (far-fetched) or DIALOGUE (lame). BUNJEE is one of 6 alternatives offered by Chambers. Curate’s egg: some very good indeed. Thanks as usual, Sayang.
I have not finished yet, but could BASTE be a double definition, BASTE = beat, BASTE = stick initially, i.e. to tack pieces of material together?
From Chambers
baste3
vt to beat with a stick.
[Prob connected with ON beysta, Dan b\:oste to beat] b\-asting n.
13 Beat with stick initially (5)
Thanks Sayang and scchua.
I really enjoyed this crossword, but will have to think further about BASTE, Bruce@aus @1 seems to have got somewhere with it, but for the moment I still prefer my own “parsing”. HAZELNUT, LOOT, CARAVANSERAI, ONUS, OBEY, ATLAS and many other were great clues.
Sayang@5: I don’t think anyone has a problem with the definition of BASTE (beat with a stick) – it’s more to do with how the word play works. If it’s supposed to be an anagram of BEAT and S(tick), where’s the indicator? I can only make sense of it if BEAT is doing triple duty (as brucew@aus suggests). Seems dodgy to me!
Take 2 on BASTE. I hadn’t checked Cookie’s suggestion (@4). The notion of basting as tacking material together is new to me. The dd idea sort of works – but it now seems as though “stick” is doing double duty. Has something gone slightly awry in the editing process?
Cookie@6 and mike@7 … can’t claim the glory of the triple duty of ‘Beat’ – scchua called this out in the blog.
MikeC @8, with the double definition ‘stick’ is not doing double duty, BASTE and ‘beat’ are synonyms.
The COED gives baste 3 v.tr. beat soundly; thrash.
brucew@aus @9, yes, scchua parsed BASTE but was not certain, you were be convinced his parsing was correct, and it seems to be what Sayang intended.
Cookie@10, “not sure” was my gentle way of saying that it sounded iffy to me, as in “not sure it works”.
scchua @11, I had twigged on to your diplomacy…
Thank you again Sayang and scchua.
Thanks Sayang and scchua.
I had a big cross against BASTE but I think that Sayang and you have explained it fine above – i.e. BEAT is dong triple duty as definition, anagram indicator and anagram fodder.
I’m not so convinced about GAWKY at 24 which does seem weak and does ‘snack’ actually add anything to the clue for 10?
Overall, this just seems a mixed bag with some elements of brilliance and some of laziness – including the long anagrams which came all too quickly.
I finished in the NW where I was not convinced about DIALOGUE (“stuff” – really?) until I had the crossers.