I’ve given up on saying that the Monday puzzle in the Indy is no longer ‘the easy one’. It was, but it isn’t any more. Fair play. I found this pretty hard, and with some meaningless surfaces, but then I’m more keen on meaningful surfaces than some other folk. What did you think?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 After review of command, man broadcasting is happy
WALKING ON AIR
A reversal of LAW, followed by KING for the chess ‘man’ and ON AIR, for ‘broadcasting’.
8 Reduce a part of the nose
ABRIDGE
A charade of A BRIDGE.
9 Getting involved in disputes, stop troublemakers
ROWDIES
An insertion of DIE in ROWS.
11 Snobby model wearing hat back to front
ELITIST
An insertion of SIT for ‘model’ in the sense of ‘pose’ in TILE for a slang word for ‘hat’, all reversed (‘back to front’).
12 Something like an owl on son’s arm
SHOOTER
This seems to be S plus HOOTER, but why ‘something like an owl’ is HOOTER, I’m not sure. Wouldn’t ‘owl’ on its own have done?
13 Bailiff‘s about late in the day
REEVE
An old word for ‘bailiff’ is RE for ‘about’ and EVE for ‘late in the day’.
14 Revised role, cinch to record
CHRONICLE
(ROLE CINCH)*
16 Partially rigid house’s one with worn-out exterior
SEMISOLID
A charade of SEMI’S for ‘house’s’ and I in OLD.
19 Prompt to receive posh noble
PROUD
An insertion of U in PROD.
21 Do read mobile containing one sent message
RADIOED
An insertion of I in (DO READ)*
23 Less awkward if back girdled in advance, before run
COMFIER
An insertion of IF reversed in COME for ‘advance’ before R for a cricket ‘run’.
24 Add to rum order of general
ENLARGE
(GENERAL)* with ‘rum order of’ as the anagrind.
25 I head around Rhode Island from peninsula
IBERIAN
A charade of I and RI in BEAN as a slang word for ‘head’.
26 Small hero nervous of big dragons
FRODO BAGGINS
I didn’t warm to this puzzle much, but this was my favourite. It’s (OF BIG DRAGONS)* with ‘nervous’ as the anagrind. Shall I call it an &lit? I’ll leave that to you, because then you’ll get the grief when it turns out not to be. The answer is one of the protagonists in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. He was a Hobbit, so he was small; he was a hero because he helped (with others) to overcome lots of bigger creatures, including Smaug, the dragon. I could have made that up. Those who are bigger fans of The Lord of the Rings will tell me. Or maybe he just got frightened by Smaug.
Down
1 Opposing sides on island in aftermath becoming hostile
WARLIKE
An insertion of RL for ‘opposing sides’ and I in WAKE for ‘aftermath’.
2 Antagonist facetiously called judge 500 things, but not Ms
LUDDITE
Protagonists, antagonists … It’s LUD, normally found in M’LUD when addressing a judge, plus D for the Roman numeral for 500, plus ITE[MS]. Pretty meaningless surface.
3 Nice lad struggling with it getting no different
IDENTICAL
(NICE LAD IT)*
4 Prepares good flyers, apart from heading
GIRDS
G plus [B]IRDS. Mainly heard in the expression ‘gird one’s loins’.
5 Understood beef said to be fresh cut
NEW-MOWN
Again, for me, a pretty meaningless surface reading. A homophone of KNEW and MOAN for ‘understood’ and ‘beef’.
6 Regularly ignored disdain of jerk being foolish
IDIOTIC
The even letters of ‘disdain of’ plus TIC.
7 Animals here perhaps go quietly with shyness
GAME PRESERVE
‘Go perhaps’ is the (board) GAME, then you need P for the musical term piano for ‘quietly’, and then RESERVE for ‘shyness’.
10 Yielding resistance in uncontrollable dinner urges
SURRENDERING
An insertion of R for ‘resistance’ in (DINNER URGES)*
15 Preparing beetroot before serving
REDACTING
A verb possibly more widely known these days, since things like the Chilcot report. It’s RED plus ACTING in the sense of ‘acting leader of the Labour Party’.
17 Standardised drum rearranged with most of load
MODULAR
I guess that this surface is referring to washing machines. It’s (DRUM LOA[D])*
18 Searched and searched, getting primarily rushed for time
SCOURED
The setter is asking you to put R for the first letter of ‘rushed’ into SCOU[T]ED for ‘searched’.
19 Ancient city‘s millions held by second religious leader?
POMPEII
The ‘second religious leader’, if you were Catholic, would be POPE II. Put M for ‘millions’ in that, and you’ve got the ‘ancient city’ that is preserved today because the lava came down the mountain so quickly.
20 Old kit is full of new germs
ORIGINS
A charade of O for ‘old’, RIG for ‘kit’ and an insertion of N for ‘new’ in IS.
22 Nerd heads for dictionary with competition coming up
DWEEB
An American English word is a charade of D and W for the first two letters of ‘dictionary’ and ‘with’ and a reversal of BEE for an American English word for ‘competition’ (think SPELLING BEE) reversed.
Many thanks to eXternal for the start to the Indy week.
Don’t want you to feel lonely Pierre, so hello from me.
And thanks to eXternal for a nice chewy start to the week.
Well, I found this a fairly gentle start to the week – more like the Mondays of old. It certainly wasn’t a doddle but it all came together in about three or four passes. Not being into Tolkien I puzzled a bit over 26ac but checking letters soon pointed me in the right direction. Nothing stands out as an obvious CoD – just all good sound stuff.
Thanks, eXternal and Pierre.
Great blog Pierre-agree entirely-curates egg!
Nearly put BILBO BAGGINS in for 26ac, as it was he who came up against Smaug in The Hobbit, but I couldn’t parse it. His nephew Frodo is in LotR, but doesn’t meet any dragons, that I recall.
&lits don’t have dragons.
I’m ashamed to admit that when I met eXternal at a recent gathering I couldn’t recall having done one of his puzzles, so I was pleased to get an opportunity to put that right. I felt this was mostly fairly gentle, with a lot of anagrams, but there were some nice clues. ELITIST was last in after LUDDITE. Ticked POMPEII and NEW MOON
Thanks to eXternal and Pierre
I think, Pierre, you’re a bit too harsh when criticising eXternal’s surfaces.
The vast majority of it is (but who am I?) proper English.
Some clues are, indeed, in that sense under par (like 13ac, 24ac, 17d or one you mentioned, 5d).
Not all setters have Arachnic qualities or the imagination of John Halpern.
While, the surfaces were in my opinion OK, they were not very ‘exciting’.
Do they have to be?
For me, it means that I find it hard to get into a crossword.
But once the ball started rolling, it was fine.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this crossword.
And to paraphrase Paul B @5: &lits don’t have definitions.
No &lit.
Pierre, thanks for the blog (one of many, it seems).
And thanks to eXternal who’s less around here nowadays than a while ago.
Good puzzle.
It’s a bit late so the quickest thing to say (or type) is that we would agree with Sil’s comments.
Thanks Pierre for your efforts and eXternal for the puzzle.
26 would be a better &lit if the answer was Bilbo Baggins, hero of the Hobbit (the only book where Smaug appears) rather than Frodo, who doesn’t encounter any dragons at all.
There seems to be confusion on 26a. I read half of “The Hobbit” before deciding that Tolkein was not for me, but vaguely remebered a Baggins. This is not an &lit, the definition is “small hero” and “dragons” only part of the anagram fodder. So it is irrelevant whether Frodo met any dragons, but the anagram fodder probably subtly helped to steer mw in Tolkein’s direction. An elegant clue.