Daedalus is still a comparatively new setter in the Indy, and he’s had to put up with me blogging the majority of the ones he’s offered us so far. Regulars will know that he’s not turning into one of my favourite setters, and it’s not fair to him that I keep going on about it; so I’ve offered you a basic blog here so that you can say what you thought of it. And some comments would be nice – we don’t seem to get many these days on the IoS.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 With generous spirit not present, heartless? I am
BIGOT
A charade of BIG and O[U]T.
4 Now and then, when I relax, a call for help goes round
SOMETIMES
ME TIME inserted in SOS.
9 Unpaid team at European shows
AMATEUR
Hidden in teAM AT EURopean.
10 Ogre’s followed by kinsman hiding every large hammer
TROUNCE
TRO[LL] plus UNC[L]E.
11 Some food in front of us but no tea, you say? Shameful!
DISHONOURABLE
DISH ON OUR [T]ABLE
13 What follows search for fleece, according to storyteller?
SEQUEL
I assume this is a homophone of SEEK WOOL.
15 Whether he is an insect or a great beast
BEHEMOTH
BE + HE + MOTH
17 Dislike a translation
AVERSION
A + VERSION
18 Outlaw skirts humble dwelling in Himalayan kingdom
BHUTAN
An insertion of HUT in BAN.
20 I sit in the box I built and I show off
EXHIBITIONIST
(I SIT IN THE BOX I)*
23 Decay in support for adminstrator
TRUSTEE
An insertion of RUST in TEE.
24 I start to go in – or am I folding?
ORIGAMI
I plus G in OR AM I.
25 Caribbean stew for Spooner’s philosopher doggie, perhaps
PEPPER POT
A Spoonerism of POPPER PET, referencing Karl POPPER.
26 Cor anglais finally beginning to entertain ninnies
GREEK GEESE
I think it has to be this, because it’s the only word that fits, but I haven’t a Scooby about the definition or the parsing. Edit: Thanks to Paul A for the correct solution and the parsing.
Down
1 Bishop aroused rising censure with small biscuit
BRANDY SNAP
A charade of B, RANDY, S and PAN reversed.
2 Novelist who wrote The Rat is a Rat
GRASS
A dd, referencing Günter GRASS, the German author who wrote The Rat.
3 Wind swept with hot breath round Eastern establishment
THE POWERS THAT BE
An insertion of E in (SWEPT HOT BREATH)* with ‘wind’ as the anagrind.
4 After a fashion show’s over, Russian tries on Finn’s tops
SORT OF
The first letters of Show’s Over Russian Tries On Finn
5 Supply real item for equipment
MATERIEL
(REAL ITEM)* with ‘supply’ as the anagrind.
6 Help with problems when hard foreign currency’s first invested in area of London
TROUBLESHOOTING
An insertion of ROUBLES and H in TOOTING.
7 For heaven’s sake go away and find something to eat
MANGETOUT
A charade of MAN and GET OUT.
8 Famous crisis when Greek god goes north
SUEZ
A reversal of ZEUS.
12 Poor king, poor king, reflect carefully!
THINK, THINK THINK TWICE
THIN + K twice.
14 Act out of turn with question before EU judge, interrupting EU legislator
QUEUE JUMP
A charade of QU, EU and J inserted into EU MP.
16 Loud English pub hustled pair off
DOUBLE UP
(LOUD E PUB)*
19 No more than half the air temperature
AT MOST
ATMOS[PHERE] plus T.
21 One traveller from the east seen in portrait
IMAGE
A charade of I plus MAGE, which is the singular of MAGI.
22 On the predecessors of Q
ATOP
A TO P are the letters coming before Q.
Many thanks to Daedalus for this morning’s puzzle.
26ac is GEE (cor) + anglaiS + Entertain, giving GEESE (ninnies).
I liked this, esp the long anagrams. 20ac my COD.
A pangram too.
I struggled with the SE corner because I also had THINK THINK for 12 down at first. Although it still didn’t help with 26 across once I tried THINK TWICE. Thanks Paul A @1 for parsing it.
Actually I struggled to parse a lot of clues, but I put it down to my own lack of concentration, as they now all seem perfectly reasonable and sound. I particularly liked BEHEMOTH and DISHONOURABLE, and now that I’ve seen the explanation, MANGETOUT.
Thanks Daedalus and Pierre.
Just because there are not many IoS posts does not mean you are not read. So thanks for your blogging efforts!
I found this a bit of a chore and thought the Spoonerised clue a bit weak. Pepper Pot does not seem to be specific to the Caribbean. Wikipedia’s list of stews only gives Philadelphia Pepperpot which is itself of Dutch (deutsch) origin.
Just a minor quibble. Keep up the good work both.
Not sure if I can recall so testing a Sunday puzzle. Took several goes to complete. MANGETOUT funny and a great spot, also liked the construction of BEHEMOTH and DISHONOURABLE.
Thanks to Daedalus and Pierre.
Two comments have been lost on this post because they were added during the move to a new server (I did request no comments between 2pm and 4pm for this very reason). Fortunately I had the foresight to take a copy of each before they were lost:
nmsindy said at 2:19 pm
Collins has PEPPER POT as a Caribbean stew, so I think that’s OK. Not that I’ve had it myself.
WordPlodder said at 2:21 pm
Not a Sunday walk in the park and I enjoyed this. I liked the Spoonerism, even if the ‘Caribbean’ designation turns out not to be strictly accurate. BRANDY SNAP and the ‘hiding every large’ device in TROUNCE were also good.
Thanks to Pierre for the blog and to Daedalus – I look forward to your next puzzle.
Sorry about that, Gaufrid, you had indeed made that request.
Failed on 1ac and hence on 2dn. Oddly enough, I thought of BIGOT and rejected it because I couldn’t see how to parse it, also having got it into my head that ‘not present’ must be ‘absent’ and the answer would be B–AT. Eventually settled for ‘beast’ as an anagram of ‘absent’ without the N, reading ‘with generous spirit’ as both an anagrind and an indication that ‘heartless’ meant only that one of the internal letters was dropped, not the middle one. Very involved and I wasn’t really convinced. And not knowing who wrote ‘The Rat’ I stuck in ADAMS for 2dn even though it didn’t make sense.
But the rest was all pretty straightforward. MANGETOUT was my LOI – I was just about to resort to a wordfinder when I saw it. CoD, though was BEHEMOTH.
Thanks, Daedalus and Pierre.
Thanks, Pierre and everyone. The favourites some have mentioned were pretty much my favourites too – it doesn’t always work out like that.