I was surprised not to find myself on familiar territory today, having expected to have Dac’s latest puzzle to solve and blog this Wednesday. As it was, today provided me with my first opportunity to blog a puzzle set by Kairos.
I found this quite a challenge, perhaps in part because of my relative lack of familiarity with Kairos’ output. The grid is one of those in which the first letter of many entries is unchecked, which makes it tougher for the solver to fill. On the other hand, when I was about half-way through the puzzle, I realised that we were in Nina territory, since the perimeter spells out “WELCOME TO MY GRANDSON, BABY REGAN”. Spotting the hidden message actually helped me to fill in the first or last letter of some of the last few solution words.
I found one or two solutions quite tricky to parse – 26, 31 … – although I think that I got there in the end. L (=pound) for sovereign in 8 came as something of a surprise, as opposed to the usual R (=rex, regina). I have amended the blog at 31 having read the comments from fellow solvers.
My clues of the day were 15, for its “capital investment” and 19, for its “imaginatively take off”.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 08 | NICELY | Subtly kill sovereign in East Coast city
[ICE (=kill) + L (=sovereign, i.e. pound)] in NY (=East Coast city) |
| 09 | AFFLUENT | A fellow’s smooth and rich
A + F (=fellow) + FLUENT (=smooth) |
| 10 | ADMIRERS | Maybe girlfriends dream fancifully about Irish sons
[IR (=Irish) in *(DREAM)] + S (=sons); “fancifully” is anagram indicator |
| 11 | AKIMBO | Crooked board member’s involved in first-rate business deal
K (=board member, i.e. king in chess) in [A1 (=first-rate) + MBO (=business deal, i.e. management buyout)] |
| 12 | EON | Void in space and time
O (=void, i.e. nothing) in EN (=space, in printing) |
| 13 | GIN RUMMY | Good lord follows drinks with game
GIN RUM (=drinks) + MY (=good lord, i.e. exclamation) |
| 15 | DIADEM | Capital investment in medical assistance rejected
MED (=medical) + AID (=assistance); “rejected” indicates reversal; cryptically, as an ornament for the head, a diadem could be described as a “capital investment” |
| 16 | ELOPING | Running off with online journal containing access code
PIN (=access code, e.g. for bank account) in [E- (=online, i.e. electronic, as in e-commerce) + LOG (=journal)] |
| 19 | UNWEARY | Imaginatively take off year with undiminished energy
UN-WEAR (=imaginatively take off, i.e. undress, defined cryptically) + Y (=year) |
| 23 | RAFTER | Supporter // of Thor Heyerdahl?
The Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl who sailed the Pacific on his Kon-tiki raft could be described as a “rafter” |
| 25 | INFRA-DIG | Half finish a grid (cryptic) – that’s unbecoming
*(FIN<ish> + A GRID); “half” means three out of six letters only are used; “cryptic” is anagram indicator |
| 28 | SAC | S<e>A<r>C<h>; “regularly” means alternate letters only are used |
| 29 | YUPPIE | Confusion follows American’s agreement with up-and-coming businessman
YUP (=American’s agreement, i.e. an Americanism for yes) + PIE (=confusion); a yuppie is a young urban professional |
| 30 | ARRANGER | Producer’s resentment about return of a bishop
[RRA (A + RR (=bishop, i.e. right reverend); “return” indicates reversal)] in ANGER (=resentment) |
| 31 | BLOOMERS | Mistakes Bond’s boss for Q’s predecessor in Hollywood’s output?
BLOO-P-ERS (=mistakes, in films); “Bond’s boss (=M, in James Bond films) for Q’s predecessor (=P, in Roman alphabet)” means letter “m” replaces letter “p”; the reference is to Paul Hollywood, one of the baker-judges in BBC1’s The Great British Bake Off, the bloomers here being loaves |
| 32 | TRIVIA | Group of three almost consuming four trifles
IV (=four, in Roman numerals) in TRIA<d> (=group of three; “almost” means last letter dropped) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | WINDMILL | West Indian works underneath water pump?
W (=West) + IND (=Indian) + MILL (=works) |
| 02 | EERIER | Stranger more than happy to be without central heating
<ch>EERIER (=more than happy); “without central heating (=CH)” means letters “ch” are dropped |
| 03 | LYCEUM | Theatre // school
Double definition; the lyceum is a place devoted to literary studies, hence “school” |
| 04 | CAT’S-EYE | Reflective device disturbed Yeats in church
*(YEATS) in CE (=church, i.e. Church of England); “disturbed” is anagram indicator |
| 05 | OFF AND ON | Switch positions every now and then
A light switch can either be in the off position or the on position |
| 06 | MUTILATE | Butcher’s tailless dog is dead
MUT<t> (=dog; “tailless” means last letter dropped) + I<s> (again, “tailless”) + LATE (=dead, deceased) |
| 07 | ENABLE | Quarter-back practised to get permit
EN (NE=quarter, i.e. point of the compass; “back” indicates reversal) + ABLE (=practised, skilled); here, “permit”, allow is used as a verb |
| 14 | UZI | Weapon turned up in seizure
Reversed (“up”) and hidden (“in”) in “seIZUre”; a uzi is an Israeli submachine-gun |
| 17 | PUT-UP JOB | Dishonest scheme – it may require DIY?
Cryptically, putting up a shelf in DIY could be described is a “put-up job” |
| 18 | NORSEMEN | Riders heading off after Pole and Scandinavians
N (=Pole, i.e. North) + <h>ORSEMEN (=riders; “heading off” means first letter dropped) |
| 20 | WAR | Clash with a queen
W (=with) + A + R (=queen, i.e. regina) |
| 21 | REINED IN | Checked sound of noisy shower?
Sound (“homophone”) of “rain (=shower) + din (=noisy)” |
| 22 | PICASSO | Picture with bottom of artist
PIC (=picture) + ASS (=bottom, buttocks) + O’ (=of) |
| 24 | AQUILA | A feather trimmed on American eagle
A + QUIL<l> (=feather; “trimmed” means last letter dropped) + A (=American) |
| 26 | FIRSTS | Honours seen in one hand in two
R (=one hand, i.e. R for right) in FISTS (=two (hands)) |
| 27 | AENEID | I need a translated classical book
*(I NEED A); “translated” is anagram indicator; the reference is to Virgil’s Aeneid |
I think the ‘Hollywood output’ in 31 in fact refers to loaves (bloomers) possibly produced by Paul Hollywood of “Bake Off” fame, which makes it even cleverer.
Good puzzle, sweet Nina, and thanks to to both.
congratulations!
Thanks for the blog RR and we think Grant Baynham is correct about BLOOMERS. We couldn’t really make sense of it.
The NINA certainly helped at the end. Congratulations to the family.
Thanks to Kairos.
Well, I got there in the end, no thanks to the website which THEY’VE MESSED UP AGAIN! It just would not accept any input, and the print facility has reverted to a grid with no blocked squares. So I had to create a suitable grid on a spreadsheet and check my entries now and then with the reveal facility. What a shambles! OK, they’ve fixed the century date error, but is that any big deal?
So I’m not in the mood to make any comment on the content, except the usual thanks to setter and blogger.
I enjoyed this very much. Lovely Nina, and what a delightful welcome for Baby Regan! Warmest congratulations.
Like allan_c, I’m having a spot of bother with the website. As I prefer to do my puzzles on paper, I have tried printing the grid both as a blank and with my [non-existent] entries. Occasionally it prints correctly. This time, however, I ended up doing a ‘skeleton’ puzzle,and filling in the blocks myself — which was, incidentally, quite interesting.
Many thanks to Kairos and Ratkojariku.
Catnap @5: It is possible to print the grid ‘properly’ but you have to take a screen shot (via the PrtSc key) of the grid with grey blocks that appears when you start the print process, and then marry it up with the printout of the clues. A bit fiddly but there are ways to do it.
allan_c @ 6: Thank you so much for that info. That’s very kind of you. I shall certainly have a go.
My thanks to RatkojaRiku for unraveling the clues and bonus points to Grant for spotting the reference to Paul Hollywood’s bloomers.
Congratulations to those who endured the vagaries of the website and still managed to solve the crossword.