An enjoyable and diverting puzzle from Klingsor this week – no fancy theme or Nina, as far as I can see anyway!
Some nice clue surfaces and a wide variety of clueing devices kept me honest right to the end – LOI was 9A DOT, which was well hidden below the surface reading! 12A cunningly used the number 8 to make me try and connect it to clue number 8…which worked for a good while!
Favourite was probably INDEFATIGABLE – wonderful anagram and indicator – followed closely by the clever double ANAGRAM at 19D, and the homophone of seek ’em/CAECUM…and many more…including Fred ASTAIRE as a dancing artiste at 2D.
All-in-all reasonably challenging, as a Saturday Prize puzzle should be, and many thanks to Klingsor.
(NB. I will be travelling most of the day on Saturday 20th, after a week of 3D on 13A – and being partially 11D, FAT, IDLE & DRUNK – when this is published, so may be slow to respond to any comments/corrections below, but any feedback most welcome, as ever!)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | DIATRIBE | Raving tirade, one containing bitterness principally? (8) | CD (cryptic definition) – raving tirade / anag (i.e. raving) of TIRADE + I (one) + B (principal letter of Bitterness) |
|
| 5A | CAECUM | Look for ’em, reportedly showing some guts (6) | some guts (part of the alimentary canal) / homophone – CAECUM sounds like SEEK (look for) ‘EM (contraction of them) |
|
| 9A | DOT | Caught, oddly, around cover point (3) | point / reversed/hidden word (i.e. ‘around’ and ‘cover’) in ‘caughT ODdly’ |
|
| 10A | CASTIGATION | One’s charged a Top Gear character coming in for severe criticism (11) | severe criticism / C_ATION (something that is electronically charged) around A + STIG (the Stig, a character from UK TV show ‘Top Gear’) |
|
| 12A | WHITE GOODS | 8 arranged cracking deals, perhaps, for kitchen equipment (5,5) | kitchen equipment (dishwasher, washing machine, fridge, etc.) / W_OODS (deal, a type of wood, pluralised) around HITE G (anag, i.e. arranged, of the number EIGHT, or 8, nothing to do with clue number 8!) |
|
| 13A | SKIS | Hides, avoiding National’s runners (4) | runners / SKI(N)S (hides, or skins, without N – national) |
|
| 15A | SEPTET | Music group’s Let it Be embodying old record (6) | music group / S_TET (latin, restore some text after deleting, or ‘let it be’) around (embodying) EP (extended play – old, i.e vinyl, record) |
|
| 16A | FLOUNCE | Dejected, kicking out at cat to show annoyance (7) | show annoyance (flounce out) / FL(AT) (dejected, kicking out AT) + OUNCE (type of wild cat) |
|
| 18A | LEAD OFF | Start trouble among the French forces (4,3) | start / LE (the, definite article in Frence) + FF (F – force – pluralised), around ADO (trouble) |
|
| 20A | TATTOO | Do needlework? Make lace as well (6) | do needlework / TAT (make lace) + TOO (as well) |
|
| 23A | GEAR | Kit that’s good for women in sport (4) | kit (or equipment) / (W)EAR (sport, as in clothing) with G (good) replacing (for) W (women) |
|
| 24A | GEOGRAPHER | Ptolemy, say, composed page or sheet regularly in Greek (10) | Ptolemy, say / G_R (Gr, abbreviation for Greek) around EOGRAPHE (anagram, i.e. composed, of PAGE + OR + HE, regular letters of sHeEt) |
|
| 26A | ABRACADABRA | One supports imprisoning a villain it’s said for a spell (11) | it’s said for a (magic) spell / A (one) + BR_A + BRA (supports), around (imprisoning) A CAD (a villain) |
|
| 27A | LET | Bad service left expat gutted (3) | bad (or unlucky) service (in e.g. tennis) / L (left) +ET (outer letters of ExpaT, once the ‘guts’ have been removed) |
|
| 28A | DUMBER | Dye’s original pigment is less bright (6) | is less bright/ D (first, or original, letter of Dye) + UMBER (pigment or colour) |
|
| 29A | DEAD LOSS | Be first to sleep with leaders in trade? A useless venture (4,4) | a useless venture / A Spoonerism that doesn’t refer to Spooner – LEAD (be first) + DOSS (to sleep) – ‘trading’ first letters |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | DO DOWN | Belittle cook’s daughter, getting personal (2,4) | belittle / DO (cook) + D (daughter) + OWN (personal) |
|
| 2D | ASTAIRE | Artiste, for a time active dancing? (7) | CD (cryptic definition) – Artiste, dancing) / anag (i.e. dancing) of AR(T)ISTE with A (active) for T (one of the Ts, or Time) |
|
| 3D | RECREATION | Helping to keep order – that’s endless fun (10) | fun / R_ATION (helping, or food) around (keeping) (D)ECRE(E) (order, without end letters) |
|
| 4D | BOSWORTH FIELD | Battle of wits bolder husband fights (8,5) | battle / anagram (i.e. fights) of OF WITS BOLDER + H (husband) |
|
| 6D | ALAS | Unfortunately dish is served up incomplete (4) | unfortunately / SALA(D) (dish) incomplete and served ‘up’ |
|
| 7D | CHICKEN | Stylish fellow’s a wimp (7) | a wimp / CHIC (stylish) + KEN (fellow, man’s name) |
|
| 8D | MINISTER | I can be found in church (8) | Another CD! / MINISTER = I ‘found in’ MINSTER (church) |
|
| 11D | INDEFATIGABLE | Never tiring of being a fat, idle drunk (13) | never tiring of / anag, i.e drunk, of BEING A FAT IDLE |
|
| 14D | CONTRABAND | Prohibited group of rebels? (10) | prohibited / a group (BAND) of rebels (e.g. Contras) could be a CONTRA BAND |
|
| 17D | SLUGGARD | Inactive sort to gulp and puff going uphill (8) | inactive sort / SLUG (gulp down, of a drink) + GARD (DRAG, or puff, on a cigarette, goung uphill) |
|
| 19D | ANAGRAM | Her vet Betsy is one of the very best (7) | charade? / HER VET BETSY is indeed an anagram of THE VERY BEST! |
|
| 21D | OTHELLO | Play a game (7) | double defn. / Shakespearean play and board game |
|
| 22D | GRATIS | Rex, impressed by piece, is complimentary (6) | complimentary / G_AT (Gatling gun, ‘piece’, or weapon) around (impressing) R (Rex), plus IS |
|
| 25D | ACHE | Gas bill’s first to hurt (4) | to hurt / AC (account, or bill/tab) + HE (He, helium, gas) |
|
Yes, good standard for a Saturday with not many really easy ones. A few new words / terms such as DO DOWN and OTHELLO as a board game. It’s been a while since I’ve seen ‘GAT’ for a ‘piece’ and I spent too long going through all the chess pieces before I twigged. I liked ABRACADABRA, FLOUNCE, ANAGRAM and the ‘hidden’ Spoonerism of DEAD LOSS. No comparative necessary – I missed DUMBER, substituting that well known dye ‘IMMER’ instead.
Thank you to Klingsor and mc_rapper67.
Well, I found this one quite hard, and needed the blog to explain seven answers that I’d guessed but couldn’t parse. It didn’t help that I’d mis-spelled CAECUM as COECUM until I checked the spelling, consequently my LOI was ALAS. Thanks Klingsor and mc_rapper.
Thanks Klingsor and mc_rapper.
As well as the one noted by wordplodder@1, there are (at least) two other traps for the unwary here.
23ac: I put GOAD here. I am happy with woad=kit, but goad=sport is more tenuous. The best I can get from Chambers 2014 is “incite” or “provoke” for goad, and “make fun of” or “trifle with” for sport. Is that close enough? Probably not.
15ac: This one I would say is technically ambiguous, although SEPTET is clearly a better answer than SEXTET. However, I think “old record” can clue EX, if it is interpreted as “a record of the fact that one is talking about the previous, rather than the current, holder of some position”.
A most enjoyable puzzle, challenging but ultimately satisfying (although I also appear not to be able to spell CAECUM).
I went down a different wrong track with 23A, trying to work out how wolf could equate to kit – they are definitely cubs, not kits, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise. I did eventually get there, but it still took me faaar to long to spot ANAGRAM at 19D, my LOI. I smiled … eventually.
I was also scratching my head over 15A – I couldn’t work out how the ‘old’ fitted in to the parsing. It was a sobering moment when I realised that EPs can now validly be described as ‘old’ records :(.