One the day of the Brexit, if Wanderer was the setter, the solver/blogger could be aptly described as Flounderer.
Epic struggle against an unusual crossword from Wanderer whose puzzles usually have me get to the finish line with a sense of exhilaration. God freed me in nothing less than 4 clues (Gaufrid – pun intended!!).
FF:7 DD: 10+
| Across | ||
| 1 | SAFARI | Read briefly about remote expedition (6) |
| SAId (read, briefly) about FAR (remote) | ||
| 4 | OBSTACLE | A lobster caught for supper, ultimately cooked in bar (8) |
| A LOBSTEC* (C – [caught] replacing R – [suppeR ultimatel]) | ||
| 9 | INRUSH | Quick move to forward at Liverpool, not Arsenal first (6) |
| Ian RUSH (forward at liverpool, without ‘A’ – first letter of Arsenal) | ||
| 10 | FINAGLER | One who wangles a bit of fish by name-dropping fisherman (8) |
| FIN (bit of fish) AnGLER (fisherman name-dropping i.e. without ‘N’) | ||
| 11 | PACKET | Prepare for trip to film old mailboat (6) |
| PACK (prepare for trip) ET (film, speilberg’s classic) | ||
| 12 | RESEARCH | See char swimming around River Test? (8) |
| SEE CHAR* around R (river) | ||
| 13 | RAY | Man who shot Kennedy? Gunner, that was (3) |
| cryptic reference to RAY KENNEDY, former footballer of Arsenal (gunners) – unusual clue for wanderer, impossible to get from deconstructing the clue. | ||
| 14 | NESTLE | Snuggle up, dressed in finest leather (6) |
| hidden in “…fiNEST LEather” | ||
| 17 | SEAFOOD | Stupid oaf into deer over shellfish? (7) |
| OAF* in SEOD (deer = DOES, reversed) | ||
| 21 | DEVOUR | Swallow overdue? Somehow that’s missing the point (6) |
| OVERDUe* (without a point i.e. without ‘E’, east on a compass) | ||
| 25 | DAB | Digital radio expert (3) |
| double def | ||
| 26 | PORTICOS | Left one function, having covered entrances via a number of columns (8) |
| PORT (left) I (one) COS (function, trignometry) | ||
| 27 | TOM TOM | Part of rhythm section from Cats (3-3) |
| cat = TOM. cats = TOM TOM. | ||
| 28 | ROUGHAGE | Scrambled egg with ham, almost our best provider of bulk to diet? (8) |
| EGG HAm (almost) OUR* | ||
| 29 | BAZAAR | Pub holds back a plan to locate street market (6) |
| BAR (pub) holds back [A AZ (plan to locate, refererring to AZ maps)] | ||
| 30 | LITERARY | Learned when playing Lear, one tragedy that’s not aged (8) |
| Anagram of LEAR I (one) TRagedY (without characters of AGED) | ||
| 31 | CRUDDY | Caught fish, unknown, of poor quality (6) |
| C (caught) RUDD (fish) Y (unknown, algebra) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHIPPING | Eg Fleet Street’s first to cheer game’s first half (8) |
| S (Street’s first) HIP (cheer) PING (game’s first half, ping pong) | ||
| 2 | FORECAST | Predict different score, after no hesitation (8) |
| SCORE AFTer* (no hesitation i.e. without ‘ER’) | ||
| 3 | RESPELLS | Makes which witch say what she does for failing charm? (8) |
| cryptic clue | ||
| 5 | BAILEY | Court photographer (6) |
| double def, second referring to David Bailey | ||
| 6 | THAMES | Current actor in rising TV shows (6) |
| HAM (actor) in TES (TV = SET, reversed) | ||
| 7 | CELERY | Reportedly like the wine store’s sticky stuff? (6) |
| cryptic clue referring to CELERY STICKS. Parsed as sounding like CELLAR-Y (~wine store) | ||
| 8 | EARTHY | Blue planet, ultimately very blue (6) |
| EARTH (blue planet) Y (ultimately verY) | ||
| 12 | RAFFIAS | Doomed affairs seen in palms (7) |
| AFFAIRS* | ||
| 15 | EEL | Slippery character of the elusive type (3) |
| hidden in “..thE ELusive..” | ||
| 16 | COD | One way of paying for fish (3) |
| COD is abbreviation for Cash-On-Delivery (one way of paying) | ||
| 18 | DEBONAIR | Carefree female “coming out” during broadcast (8) |
| DEB (female) ON AIR (~ coming out, broadcast) | ||
| 19 | PORTLAND | West Coast city in wine country (8) |
| PORT (wine) LAND (country) – capital of oregon | ||
| 20 | CROMARTY | Ross’s partner gets carry-out with Tom (8) |
| CARRY TOM* | ||
| 22 | SPIRAL | Girl entertains couple without a corkscrew (6) |
| SAL (girl) containing PaIR (couple, without A) | ||
| 23 | PROUST | Novelist in drunken stupor (6) |
| STUPOR* | ||
| 24 | FISHER | First Sea Lord cut present support for capital of Faroe Islands (6) |
| HERe (present, cut) supporting [ F (capital of Faroe) IS (islands) ] | ||
| 25 | DOGGER | One closely following actor astride horse, say (6) |
| DOER (actor) around GG (sounds like gee gee, horse) | ||
*anagram
1d and 2d are significant..
Indeed Andrew. Bailey, Thames, Fisher, Dogger, Portland and Cromarty are all UK shipping zones. Finagler, almost too, and Faroe (s) gets a mention in 24d. Very fishy puzzle with Ray, Cod, Dab and Eel surrounding the central offering of Seafood.
A tasty morsel for us to devour that doesn’t cost a packet!
Another fish is rudd in 31ac
A small quibble – Salem is the capital of Oregon
In 13 across, “Man who shot” defines Man Ray, the photographer, so it was possible to solve the clue without knowledge of the Arsenal footballer Ray Kennedy.
Thanks Turbolegs and Wanderer.
Fisher was the first First Sea Lord appointed in 1903.
James Earl Ray shot Martin Luther King.
Portland is also the name of an East Coast City (in Maine).
Layer upon Layer.
Fun.
Thanks Wanderer and Turbolegs
A tough puzzle, especially in the parsing of some of the footballers and other gentlemen (FISHER and RAY) – needed help from here to parse all three of those clues. Managed to chase down David BAILEY and knew Marcel PROUST.
Did not see either of the themes even after noticing a couple of fish in the short answers.
Thought that there was clever construction in a good number of the clues throughout. Finished up with ROUGHAGE, FISHER and RAY as the last few in.