I’ve not come across Gila much before but this was a solid offering which was generally at the easier end of the spectrum. Not sure if the name refers to the Gila monster, a type of lizard – perhaps the compiler will enlighten us.
There was perhaps a slight overuse of the alternate letters idea, sometimes clued with things like “often”, which I personally find a bit unconvincing. I was also dubious about 14 and I can’t work out the parsing of 28.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SOLIDS | Very plain dish, oddly missing food (6) |
| So(=very) + even letters of plain dish | ||
| 4 | BARBARIC | Tastelessly ornate bric-a-brac mostly gets recycled (8) |
| (Bric a brac)* | ||
| 9 | AUGUST | Majestic part of the summer? (6) |
| DD (month of August) | ||
| 10 | ALFRESCO | A large picture painted on a wall outside (8) |
| A l(arge) + fresco | ||
| 12 | LISTENED | Registered nurse entered and paid attention (8) |
| Listed around EN | ||
| 13 | MIDRIB | Note flying creature circling part of a leaf (6) |
| Mi + bird< | ||
| 15 | WHISTLERS MOTHER | Famous painting is worth less with the rim torn (9,6) |
| (Worth less + the rim)* | ||
| 17 | GASTROENTERITIS | It’s a virus, so re-treating it’s complicated (15) |
| (So re-treating its) | ||
| 21 | MODEST | Way, way humble (6) |
| Mode + st(reet) | ||
| 23 | BALLYHOO | Second-rate friend who discussed creating a fuss (8) |
| B + ally + hom of who | ||
| 25 | HACKLING | Using a comb is challenging (8) |
| DD – a couple of slightly arcane defs. I suppose the second one is to do with hackles being up. | ||
| 26 | PAPIST | Bothersome photographer is caught finally following a church leader (6) |
| Pap(arazzi) + is + [caugh]t | ||
| 27 | ENFEEBLE | Make weak, occasionally mean complaint about the French (8) |
| Even letters of mean + beef< + le. | ||
| 28 | INDEED | Truly, how can the end become detailed? (6) |
| Can’t quite work this one out. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHALLOW | Everyone involved in entertainment is superficial (7) |
| All in show | ||
| 2 | LOGISTICS | The process of managing to record one’s sudden movements (9) |
| Log is tics | ||
| 3 | DESSERT | Leave, having eaten the last bit of Christmas pudding (7) |
| Desert arount [Christma]s | ||
| 5 | ABLE | Amateur ballet often displaying skill (4) |
| A(mateur) + odd letters of ballet. I can’t say often used like that is my favourite construction. | ||
| 6 | BURRITO | Food in Central America is boxed – unless refrigerated at first – or it decomposes (7) |
| Initial letters of Boxed unless refrigerated + (or it)* | ||
| 7 | RISER | Vertical pipe is positioned in the centre of storeroom (5) |
| Is in middle three letters of stoRERoom | ||
| 8 | CLOBBER | Clothes and belt (7) |
| DD – belt in the sense of hit someone | ||
| 11 | FEVERED | Always supplied sandwiches hot (7) |
| Fed around ever | ||
| 14 | ASHTRAY | A drunken ramble ends here? (7) |
| CD – I think it supposed to be a drunken rendering of “astray”. Nice idea but I feel it lacks a proper definition. Nothing really points you towards ashtray as an object and ashtray as a drunken version of astray isn’t a proper word. See comments below for a better explanation. | ||
| 16 | HITCHHIKE | Prior to an increase in prices, say, children under 8 travel for free (9) |
| Hit (from clobber at clue 8) + ch + hike. | ||
| 17 | GUMSHOE | Detailed mugshot snapped by Eastern US cop (7) |
| (Mugsho[t])* + E | ||
| 18 | RESOLVE | Decide to do this crossword again (7) |
| DD – Re-solve | ||
| 19 | RELEARN | (Real ner[d])* endlessly turning to study once again (7) |
| (Real nerd)* | ||
| 20 | SPOTTED | Identified a type of owl (7) |
| DD | ||
| 22 | DECAF | Met up for coffee (5) |
| Faced< | ||
| 24 | ANIL | Colour of a duck? (4) |
| A + nil | ||
*anagram
28 Tail, the end, is IN DEED.
14 ends are dog-ends.
Agree with NealH about frequent removal etc of letters. Generally quite interesting. Welcome to Gila.
4A is (bric-a-bra{c})*.
25A I had as HECKLING (see definition of heck in relation to comb).
14D agree with Sidey, definition is “ends here” ie (or eg) cigarette ends.
19D is (real ner{d})*.
Still don’t see 28A.
Thanks to Gila and NealH.
Thanks Sidey, I think I finally see it now – you can make detailed by putting end(=tail) in deed. Thanks also for explaining ashtray – obviously my lack of smoking knowledge let me down there.
Thanks, Neal, for blogging.
Not sure about ‘easier end of the spectrum’ though. I did finish it eventually, apart from 11dn. ?E?E?E? is not much help to a solver of my ability. I found it tricky in lots of places. I put it down to ‘new setter, get used to his/her style’ when I was solving it; but having seen the blog and comments so far, there are some bits I’m not keen on.
GASTROENTERITIS is an illness, not a virus. HACKLING is pretty obscure. But I liked the surface for 10ac and 21ac, and 26ac raised a smile.
I see that Gila has been setting for Enigmatic Variations and the Inquisitor, but it seems like this is his or her first contribution to the Indy. So welcome to our (daily cryptic, hint hint) world.
And thanks to sidey for explaining INDEED, but like gwep, I still don’t see it.
I too had ‘hackling’, but the online app insisted on ‘heckling’. It turns out ‘heckle’ is a variant of ‘hackle’ in the comb sense, and admittedly (slightly) more satisfactory in the ‘challenging’ sense.
I took it that 14d was a place where you put ends, namely fag-ends.
Chambers has HECKLE as “to comb out (flax or hemp fibres)” as the first meaning, followed by the more usually understood meaning, which it labels as “originally Scots”.
A nice daily cryptic debut from Gila. My only grumble is 11dn – less than 50% checking, all E’s.
Thanks, Gila and NealH
Enjoyed this, and like others needed the blog to explain 28ac, so thanks for that.
K’s D @5 – gastroenteritis can certainly be caused by virus, as anyone who’s had the misfortune to be hit by norovirus can testify.
Thanks to setter and blogger. Nice start to the week.
Welcome to Gila on his Indy cryptic debut. I look forward to seeing further puzzles.
Geebs, that is exactly my point. I know that GASTROENTERITIS can be caused by a virus, or indeed by a bacterium. But being caused by a virus does not make it the illness itself. I still think that this is loose clueing.
K’s D at #10 Collins has VIRUS as “a disease caused by a virus”
Many thanks to NealH for the blog and to everyone for their comments.
This is indeed the first ‘normal’ daily cryptic I’ve had published, and certainly the first one in which there aren’t some devious extra/hidden/misprint shenanigans going on in the clues, so it’s good to get any and all feedback on the level of difficulty, style, etc.
Most things have been covered in the comments above. I was thinking in terms of stand-up comedy for heckling=challenging, though that is maybe a bit of a stretch. Chambers also has the informal use of virus as an illness caused by the same. INDEED was possibly a bit obscure, but I like solving those kind of clues (whatever they’re called!), so thought why not.
Both the slight overuse of the often/occasionally/regularly idea and unfriendly checking in 11D will be duly noted if, fingers crossed, we meet again
Thanks again
Gila*
* the pseudonym is nothing more untoward than a reversal of first name and first letter of surname. Innit!
Don’t go to gastropubs is all I can advise.
Slipped up with teal for the duck.
You and me both, Ken: that meant I couldn’t make head nor tail of 25a. The rest of it was fine though 🙂