I had in my mind that I had blogged one of Vigo’s previous puzzles in the Indy, but it turns out that I haven’t. So this is our first date. On the whole, I enjoyed her company and solving her puzzle; but there were a few where I wasn’t convinced, and my last two or three in took me the longest time. More importantly, as I keep saying, what did you think?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
6 Rebuild ruins in the Home Counties for star’s first appearance of the day
SUNRISE
An insertion of (RUINS)* in SE or South-East, setterspeak for the ‘Home Counties’.
7 Provide European with gag
EQUIP
A charade of E and QUIP.
9 Film abuse in Hollywood
HAZE
I didn’t like this at all. Firstly, ?A?E is not much help. Secondly, ‘film’ for HAZE is not a great synonym. Thirdly, the definition is pretty obscure: yes, the surface is telling us that it’s American English, and Collins gives ‘to subject (fellow students) to ridicule or abuse’, but since I don’t live in America this was new to me. It’s a dd.
10 Temptress to rage and club furry mammal
VAMPIRE BAT
A charade of VAMP, IRE and BAT. Have seen this recently somewhere else, but I can’t remember where. Some pedants (not me, obviously) would say that ‘furry’ is redundant, since all mammals are furry/hairy (yes, even whales and dolphins). Cue biological debate.
11 A golfer is upset about start of previous game
LEAPFROG
(A GOLFER P)* for the children’s game.
13 Retro Fairy King embraces without thinking
REFLEX
Took me ages to see this, and it’s not my favourite clue. It’s ELF reversed (‘retro fairy’) in REX. But in our house, an ELF is not a ‘fairy’. An ELF is a small, ugly-looking male creature with big ears; a fairy is a small, delicate, female creature. It’s not the TOOTH ELF who puts a pound coin under children’s pillows, is it?
15 A great number say missing beast
LION
L[EG]ION
17 Race to reach Italian border exhausts front runners
TRIBE
Clever clue and good surface. The first letters of To Reach Italian Border Exhausts.
18 Wildfowl dropping odd bits onto statue
IDOL
The even letters of wIlDfOwL.
19 Rubbish spread over alien sun
JETSAM
An insertion of ET and S in JAM. Not to be confused with FLOTSAM.
20 Bearing designs affected tension
EDGINESS
A charade of E for East or ‘bearing’ and (DESIGNS)*
23 Man ruined by queen’s uncle
PAWNBROKER
A charade of PAWN for the chess ‘man’, BROKE and R for Regina or ‘queen’. ‘Uncle’ is a slang word for PAWNBROKER.
26 Material of special kind
SILK
A charade of S for ‘special’ and ILK for ‘kind’. ILK originally had a specific meaning in Scottish to indicate that someone was the laird of that area of land, but the meaning that Vigo is indicating here is pretty well accepted now, I think.
27 Fly back over the steps
TANGO
A reversal of GNAT and O.
28 The French road race ditches on and off support for climbers
LATTICE
A charade of LA for one of the words for ‘the’ in French, TT for the ‘road race’ on the Isle of Man and ICE for the even letters of dItChEs.
Down
1 Boxers possibly step and run about
UNDERPANTS
(STEP AND RUN)*
2 Knight accepting nothing, wanting nothing for something precious
SILVER
An insertion of L[O]VE in SIR. The removal indicator is ‘wanting’, or ‘lacking’.
3 Broadcast live with a mike
BEAM
A charade of BE for ‘live’, A and M for ‘mike’ in the phonetic alphabet. Most writers, I think, would write MIC for a ‘microphone’, but Vigo’s version is in dictionaries as an alternative.
4 Delve about in waste matter to unearth ancestral line
PEDIGREE
An insertion of DIG for ‘delve’ and RE for ‘about’ in PEE, which is most certainly ‘waste matter’.
5 100% leather upholstery covers from bottom up
PURE
Hidden reversed in leathER UPholstery.
6 12 fish
SKATE
12 is GLIDE, so it’s a synonym of that and a dd.
8 Identify stench that’s part of drug trial?
PLACEBO
A charade of PLACE and BO for body odour.
12 Leader ditches uniform for liberal way to move
GLIDE
GUIDE for ‘leader’ with the U replaced by L for ‘liberal’. More phonetic alphabet stuff.
14 Quaker’s joint alliance
FRIENDSHIP
A charade of FRIENDS and HIP, referencing the fact that Quakers are members of the Religious Society of Friends.
16 Ballpark popular with former player
INEXACT
A charade of IN, and EX-ACT.
17 Male gets gold to propel ship into the future
TOMORROW
A charade of TOM for a ‘male’ cat, OR for ‘gold’ and ROW.
21 Go around empty gallery at speed
GYRATE
A charade of GY for the outside letters of ‘gallery’ and RATE for ‘speed’.
22 Work out alone outside entrance to velodrome
SOLVE
An insertion of V for the first letter of ‘velodrome’ in SOLE.
24 Relation leaders of National Assembly never anticipated
NANA
The first letters of National Assembly Never Anticipated give you your Gran, Granny, Grandma, Nain if you’re Welsh, or NANA.
25 Vegetable ingredient in cock-a-leekie
KALE
Hidden in cocK A LEekie.
Many thanks to Vigo for the Monday puzzle.
Thanks Pierre and Vigo.
I took M for Mike in the Nato alphabet, and used the Z as the missing letter letter in the alphabet to get HAZE.
Thanks Vigo & Pierre.
Entertaining puzzle with good surfaces, as ever. The BRB has elf=fairy, so I guess it’s kosher. I didn’t particularly like HAZE either, although it’s good to learn new things.
I liked EDGINESS and UNDERPANTS.
The date on the printed version is still a century out.
I like Vigo’s puzzles very much, and this was another good one; albeit a bit tougher than her previous efforts, or at least that’s how it struck me.
I also finished up with HAZE and would never have got it, I don’t think, without having twigged the Z-short-of-a-pangram situation. The grid seems to scream Nina but I can’t see anything spesh.
I’ve just booked flights and accommodation for the York gig in October – very excited about that.
many thanks to Vigo and Pierre
baerchen@4 – there isn’t a Nina but there is a ghost theme!
@cs
…buffering..buffering..
nope; sitting here in my 5 26 2 1 getting nowhere fast.
Help.
Thanks Pierre.
Each to their own, I guess. HAZE was my LOI and I mentally applauded it, and my other favourite clue was REFLEX, which you also hated.
As someone who likes setting ghost-themed puzzles, I’m very pleased that this achieved the main objective of a ghost-themed puzzle: I have no clue as to what the theme is, but I still enjoyed the puzzle greatly.
Brava, Vigo!
Hate is a strong word, Alchemi. Especially in current circumstances, and given what is going on in the House of Commons as I write, I didn’t much appreciate your comment. What I said was that it wasn’t a favourite clue. This is a crossword: a harmless pastime in a crazy world. Hate doesn’t come into it.
And you all have bagged the wrong blogger when it comes to teasing out ghost themes. Cryptic Sue will enlighten us in due course, no doubt.
@Pierre. Sorry about the OTT language. You’re absolutely right.
But it’s clear that you didn’t think much of those clues – and I can understand why – whereas I thought them excellent because I like that sort of thing. I also liked TOMORROW a lot, because I spent a long time barking up the wrong tree (and thinking it was using a device I detest) before the PDM.
Cryptic Sue is being far too generous in calling a ghost theme here. There are 12 words all from the same source but, as the source is the names of ringtones my new phone came with, I’m not sure if theme would be the right. I just thought it was an interesting collection of words. (My last puzzle included 9 BlackBerry ring tones as a tribute to my outgoing phone).
In case anyone is interested the Windows 10 ringtones are (in no particular order): pure, silk, lattice, glide, sunrise, haze, tribe, friendship, nana, silver, skate and tomorrow. (I have gone for classic).
Thanks to Pierre for the blog and to everyone who has taken the time to solve and comment.
As far as haze goes I do watch a lot of American television where hazing seems to be a leading cause of non-accidental death and injury among fraternity and sorority pledges (pledging for a sorority/fraternity would appear to carry similar risks to those associated with living in the Midsomer region) so perhaps my (misplaced?) confidence in the double definition is a tribute to my low-brow taste in entertainment.
Victoria
PS. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the Windows 10 phone
Oh, that’s a theme all right. As CS can attest, I’ve used even flimsier themes. I’m just pleased there was absolutely no hope of me getting it.
My vote goes that that should not be called a ghost theme.
This crossword resurfaced in today’s “i”, and it was for HAZE (surprise, surprise) that I sought a little help here. Thanks for that. Incidentally, I have a feeling that Windows 10 phones are a thing of the past.