A quick solve this morning with plenty of familiar crossword constructions.
I’ve made the explanations fairly full and probably over-full for the last Down clue. All feedback welcome.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FOREGO | Sacrifice made in the interest of self-esteem? (6) |
| A play on ‘for ego.’ I did the Down clues first today, which made FARAGE look tempting… | ||
| 4 | RESPIGHI | He did noted work on the fountains of Rome (8) |
| Otto Respighi (1879-1936)’s symphonic poem Fontane di Roma was first conducted in 1918 by Toscanini. | ||
| 9 | SPIRAL | It goes round but doesn’t join up (6) |
| A cryptic description. | ||
| 10 | ABSINTHE | This bean is used to make a liqueur (8) |
| Anagram of THIS BEAN gives ABSINTHE, which proverbially makes the heart grow fonder. | ||
| 11 | LADDIE | Scots youth I’d lead out (6) |
| Anag of I’D LEAD | ||
| 12 | RESOLUTE | Determined to give poor Rose an instrument (8) |
| Anag. (‘poor’) of ROSE, then LUTE. | ||
| 13 | GEM | Margaret turned to stone (3) |
| MEG (short for Margaret) reversed. | ||
| 14 | EXODUS | Big racial issue? (6) |
| Cryptic for the going out of (inter alia) the Israelites from Egypt. | ||
| 17 | SEA ROOM | Space for some oar movement (3-4) |
| Anag. of SOME OAR, plus a pleasing ‘&lit’, i.e. a whole clue definition. | ||
| 21 | PIRATE | Not a good sailor (6) |
| Whole clue charade. | ||
| 25 | ASH | Remains in a silent order (3) |
| A + SH (for ‘be quiet’, an order to be silent). | ||
| 26 | ANALYSIS | Using any sails in storm demonstrates determination (8) |
| Anag. (‘using… in storm’) of ANY SAILS. | ||
| 27 | STUDIO | I ring the boss before arriving at workplace (6) |
| I + O (‘ring’) with STUD (‘boss’) before them both. | ||
| 28 | DRAMATIC | Most people want to take part in such society (8) |
| Indicating that people joining an Am. Dram. Soc. usually wish to be on stage, poor loves. | ||
| 29 | BIREME | Did the crew of this ship get two bank holidays? (6) |
| Whole clue charade to give a ship with two banks of oars. Given that the oarsmen were typically slaves, the answer to the clue’s question is “No.” The pension scheme was rubbish, too. | ||
| 30 | ROADSIGN | It’s an indication for drivers, by the way (4,4) |
| Whole clue charade, ‘way’ = ‘road’. | ||
| 31 | ALMOST | Nearly, but not quite all, the majority (6) |
| ALL without its last letter + MOST. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FUSILIER | Universal rifle is adjusted for infantyman (8) |
| U (for ‘Universal’ in British film classification) + RIFLE IS, all anagrammed (‘adjusted’). | ||
| 2 | RAINDROP | Soldiers parachuting – a bit of a shower (8) |
| RA (Royal Artillery) in DROP & cryptic def. | ||
| 3 | GRACIOUS | Cigar-ring drifting over America? Goodness! (8) |
| Anagram (‘drifting’) of CIGAR + O (‘ring’, again) above – ‘over’: this is a Down clue – US, for America, obvs. | ||
| 5 | EMBLEM | Business logo, perhaps, some deem blemished (6) |
| Inclusion (‘some’) in deeEM BLEMished. | ||
| 6 | POISON | I snoop around to discover a cause of death (6) |
| Anag. (‘around’) of I SNOOP. | ||
| 7 | GET OUT | An expulsion order (3,3) |
| Whole clue charade. | ||
| 8 | IBEXES | Wild kids grow up to be adults like these (6) |
| Same again. | ||
| 12 | REGRESS | To retire may be the right way out (7) |
| R (for ‘right’) on EGRESS | ||
| 15 | SET | Ready for collection (3) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 16 | TOP | Toy revolver (3) |
| Double (and whole clue) definition. | ||
| 18 | MISTRIAL | Nasty blow including one in case of injustice (8) |
|
I (‘one’) included in MISTRAL, the seasonal north-easterly wind of S. France. |
||
| 19 | SAN DIEGO | Agonised after explosion in US port (3,5) |
| Anag. (‘explosion’) of AGONISED. | ||
| 20 | REDOLENT | Strongly reminiscent of European river rising fast (8) |
| The river is the ODER, reversed (‘rising’ in this Down clue), followed by LENT, the Christian 40-day fast. | ||
| 22 | WANDER | Make Andrew go astray (6) |
| Anag. (‘make’) of ANDREW. | ||
| 23 | BANANA | Two articles supporting embargo for fruit (6) |
| AN x 2, under (‘supporting’ in Down clue) BAN, for ’embargo’. | ||
| 24 | BYPASS | Go over someone’s head, being close to exam success (2-4) |
| BY (‘close to’) + PASS. | ||
| 25 | AIRING | Giving publicity to a famous violin piece (6) |
| Charade on ‘Air in G’ but… It isn’t called that. Just to be picky, the ‘Air on the G string’ – I presume that’s what Dante meant – wasn’t written and isn’t generally played in the key of G. J.S. Bach wrote it in D major and it was transposed into C by August Wilhemj so that he could play it in on a single (G) string of his violin. Jacques Loussier plays his jazz version in that key of C major. Excuse me, I need a small cigar. Cue music… |
||
*anagram
Whoops. The two ‘articles’ in 23d are AN & A, not 2xAN. I’d amend the blog but the fat pluggy-in chap’s gone silly again so it’s quicker this way.
Thanks. I do enjoy a crossword that I can solve, defeated only by bireme, exodus and the parsing of airing. It’s very peaceful in this strand of the site. If Dante had used his alter ego your excellent blog would have had two dozen comments, including several complaints about the grid.
Thanks Grant and Dante.
Appropriately made my life Hell!
Cancelled and delayed trains on Friday night with only the Monday Rufus and the Tuesday Dante printed out to do.
And the grid makes this a game of four halves.
All done but not much to inspire I’m afraid to say other than I learnt about RESPIGHI by googling ‘the fountains of Rome”.
Keep taking the pills Hamish!
Thanks Dante and Grant
Just catching up on some old puzzles from when I took a break mid last year … nice to see an informative and amusing blog ! 🙂
Had to go googling for RESPIGHI and after listening to the YouTube version of the piece in question, decided not to listen to any more – plebeian tastes that I have ! Further to that, I had no hope of parsing 25d – being blissfully ignorant of the J S Bach “Air in G”.
The rest of the puzzle was pretty straightforward although protracted across an hour by engaging in conversation over breakfast at the same time.