Chestnuts, anyone?
Typical Rufus fare with lots of cryptic and double definitions. A mild start to the week.
Thanks, Rufus.
| Across | ||
| 1 | OVERHEAD CHARGES | Business expenses liable to cause a storm? (8,7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 9 | TARANTULA | Jack upsets aunt with the French spider (9) |
| TAR + *(aunt) + LA | ||
| 10 | CORFU | Island for outcast in Copperbelt (5) |
| *(for) in a belt of CU | ||
| 11 | PLEADED | Begged for petrol, initially, containing additive (7) |
| P(etrol) + LEADED | ||
| 12 | STUDIED | Read without spontaneity (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | ELI | Declaim regularly, being a priest (3) |
| (d)E(c)L(a)I(m) | ||
| 14 | FORAGER | He searches for another gear (7) |
| FOR + *(gear) | ||
| 17 | CATCH ON | Understand and win popularity (5,2) |
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | HIDEOUS | Frightful house — I’d move (7) |
| *(house i’d) | ||
| 22 | ABRIDGE | Shorten a river crossing (7) |
| A BRIDGE | ||
| 24 | URN | High-class navy vessel (3) |
| U + R.N. | ||
| 25 | WICKETS | Gates secured by catches? (7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 26 | EXPLOIT | Stunt of former pilot in a spin (7) |
| EX + *(pilot) | ||
| 28 | RAILS | They fly or take a train (5) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 29 | ECONOMISE | Useless advice! (9) |
| Instruction to USE LESS | ||
| 30 | DENTAL TREATMENT | Result of not passing an oral examination? (6,9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ON TOP OF THE WORLD | Feeling extremely happy, having reached the North Pole? (2,3,2,3,5) |
| Double definition, one mildly cryptic | ||
| 2 | EERIE | Strange oriental lake (5) |
| E + ERIE | ||
| 3 | HANGDOG | Ashamed to kill one’s best friend (7) |
| HANG + DOG
Is a DOG not more usually MAN’S BEST FRIEND? |
||
| 4 | ASUNDER | Apart and sure to be different (7) |
| *(and sure) | ||
| 5 | CLASSIC | Form shown by Olympic finalists in big race (7) |
| CLASS + (olymp)IC | ||
| 6 | ACCOUNT | Bill is an aristocrat, we hear (7) |
| Homophone of A COUNT | ||
| 7 | GARNISHED | Dressed for dinner, perhaps? (9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 8 | SOUND INVESTMENT | Money well spent on hearing aids? (5,10) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 15 | REDACTION | Revised version of a Communist battle (9) |
| RED ACTION | ||
| 16 | EMU | One getting a lot of runs in Australia (3) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 18 | ALB | A pound for a white dress (3) |
| A LB | ||
| 20 | OVERSEA | Supervise, we hear, somewhere abroad (7) |
| Homophone of OVERSEE | ||
| 21 | SUSPECT | Dubious character? (7) |
| Supposed to be cryptic definition, but closer to a straight definition, in my opinion | ||
| 22 | ANEMONE | New name given to a single bloom (7) |
| *(name) + ONE | ||
| 23 | RAPPORT | Relationship hit by drink (7) |
| RAP + PORT | ||
| 27 | OLIVE | The girl with nothing to exist for? (5) |
| O + LIVE | ||
*anagram
All fine and dandy in Rufusian style, except that with 29a I missed Useless = use less, so couldn’t parse it. Thanks to Rufus and loonapick.
I loved the pun in 29a when I finally saw it – my LOI and favourite. Interestingly, it came to me while I was watching the TV news, having left the Rufus with that one still to solve. The brain is amazing the way it continues to work even when one is not actually sitting with the puzzle. This also often happens if I leave clues unsolved overnight.
Mostly happy with the solve but I was a bit “iffy” about the homophone, “OVERSEA” 20d. Must say I have only seen it spelt as “overseaS”.
Thanks to Rufus and loonapick.
Thanks Rufus and loonapick
Typical Rufus. EMU was a cryptic definition so loose as to be merely an allusion; GARNISHED wasn’t much better. I did like ECONOMISE and SOUND INVESTMENT.
Thanks to Rufus and Loonapick. Glad to have the parsing of use less/economise which I missed.
Did anyone else put ALI in at 16 down? He got a lot of runs for England this week (probably long after the crossword was compiled, though), and his name is hidden in Australia, so a perfectly plausible answer. Anyway, it held me up long enough to come second in our daily marital contest.
That’s twice recently we have had that user friendly grid, which is also rotationally symmetrical. Given past castigations of certain grids, possibly we should say thank you, for the sake of balance.
Thank you Rufus and loonapick.
Our favourite was PLEADED and also enjoyed SOUND INVESTMENT.
For anybody else using the android app and finding it won’t download today’s puzzle, I have provided feedback and they are aware of the problem and working you fix it. I don’t know if this affects Apple devices.
I couldn’t parse ECONOMISE(LOI) either but it had to be right and, now I
see it , I think it rather good. The rest was very straightforward but quite
entertaining. I liked SOUND INVESTMENT and OVERHEAD CHARGES.
Thanks Rufus.
Thank you Rufus and loonapick.
I have not been solving crosswords for long, so chestnuts do not bother me, they seem more like silver nutmegs… which reminds me of “OVERSEA”…
Julie @2, the contents of Year Book Australia, 2006, frequently mention OVERSEA imports and OVERSEA trade.
I wrote in OVERSEE (lightly) first, as like others I had not come across the -A word. No trouble though changing it when the crosser demanded.
Took a while getting last in STUDIED. Why? Because it’s a Rufus dd, that’s why.
The clue for RAILS would read better and be more appropriate as
They can fly or take a train.
Although rails (the birds) can fly, they rarely do.
Can’t think of much to say about this one – all pleasant enough but very straightforward.
Thanks to Rufus and loonapick
Thanks to Rufus and loonapick. I did manage to parse ECONOMISE but needed all the crossers to get GARNISHED (my last in) and was puzzled by the non-bird part of RAILS.
Thanks all
Not much to comment on but I really enjoyed “economise”.
First time I’ve seen Rufus use the lift and separate device, and twice! (10a and 29a). I’m impressed he’s so avant garde.
I really enjoy Rufus puzzles. I like double definitions that have a surface (else they fail, I think)
Many thanks Rufus and loonapick
Derek@5
Aren’t all grids rotationally symmetrical? That is necessary in order to be visually pleasing. This grid has 4-fold symmetry rather than just 2-fold, which I am guessing is what you are referring to.
Actually it also has mm symmetry (mirror-mirror)
No it doesn’t, sorry.
Overseas is a funny word, implying more than one sea
A typical Monday Rufus offering, which I enjoyed as usual. My favourite was ECONOMISE, but I liked DENTAL TREATMENT too (not a statement I often make). EMU puzzled me, as I felt there must be something more to it which I was missing.
Thanks, Rufus and loonapick.
Thanks to Rufus and loonapick.
Julie in Australia@2: yes, it always amazes me how clues that are impenetrable today will just leap from the back of the brain tomorrow; shows the merit of sleeping on complex issues in life I suppose.
Had a short-term example with ECONOMISE (LOI) when I got all the way from A to W for the second letter before the entire thing clicked.
19a appears verbatim in today’s Rufus telegraph puzzle
Enjoyed the crossword; but I’m a bit surprised that “useless/use less” is new to so many people. Not to emphasise my grey hairs, but I’d have classed that as a reliable standby – like clueing”bra” with “supporter” , say, or “flower” to clue “river”. Interesting.
10a: “Outcast” seems well dodgy as an anagrind to me.
This was such a fun crossword – I really enjoyed it. It was a great start to my day and put me in a very good mood!
My favourites were TARANTULA, SOUND INVESTMENT, ON TOP OF THE WORLD, RAPPORT, ECONOMISE.
I had trouble fully parsing 10a (did not realise that FOR was anagram fodder), 4d, 16d.
New word for me was ALB. I also discovered that ORF is a word though I could not relate it to 10a!
Thank you Rufus and loonapick.
Thanks Rufus and loonapick.
Chestnuts indeed.
But does an EMU really run much? OVERSEA really? And REDACTED is surely not the same as revised.
But then again, 1ac was really very clever with the allusion to thunder and lightning.
So always worthwhile.
Thanks Rufus and loonapick
Maybe because its Christmas time, but the chestnuts were quite palatable here !!!
Quite a straightforward puzzle but it did take a little longer than usual for this setter for some reason. Struggled with fully understanding EMU – its a fast running bird, but don’t see why it would be making a lot or runs. Also had a problem with OVERSEA with no S – just haven’t seen that. Minor issues as neither of them stopped me from deriving the answer.
Finshed in the SW corner with RAILS and REDACTION being the last couple in.