Alchemi gives us a topical offering today.
Unless you have been hiding away in some CATACOMBS [25 across] for months, nay years, you will be aware that the American Presidential election is taking place today. Alchemi is certainly aware of it and has packed a lot of relevant material into rows 5, 7,9 and 11 of the grid. With a bit of lateral thinking one or two of the other entries could be considered relevant as well.
There is one entry that I can’t parse completely. I get the ‘upturned barrel’ bit of TWIN-TUB at 20 down but I don’t get the ‘very little water a component’ bit. I look forward be told what I am missing.
Once the theme became apparent, the thematic clues fell very quickly.
You got your money’s worth today with 34 grid entries from 33 clues.
I liked the clue for CATACOMBS with its container and contents within an additional outer container.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
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1
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Putin sat around getting clothes (8)
|
Anagram of (around) PUTIN SAT PANTSUIT* |
PANTSUIT (a woman’s suit of trousers and a jacket; clothes)
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5
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Understood this classical style of architecture (6)
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GOT (understood) + HIC (Latin [classical] for ‘this’)
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GOTHIC (style of architecture)
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10
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One who has a question like knight I don’t really know (5)
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AS (like) + K (knight) + ER (expression of hesitation, perhaps because one doesn’t know what to say)
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ASKER (one who poses a question)
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11
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Vegetation Venus possibly freezes evenly (5,4)
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PLANET (Venus is a PLANET) + REE (letters 2, 4 and 6 [evenly] of FREEZES) PLANE TREE |
PLANE TREE (example of vegetation)
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12 / 13
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Small mountain lion can try frantically to be a candidate (7,7)
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HILL (small mountain) + an anagram of (frantically) LION CAN TRY HILL ARY CLINTON* |
HILLARY CLINTON (Democratic Presidential candidate in today’s American election)
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14
|
Cattle mob a candidate (5)
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KINE (cattle) containing (mob) A K (A) INE |
KAINE (reference Tim KAINE, American attorney and politician who is HILLARY CLINTON‘s running mate and Democratic candidate for the Vice Presidency)
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15
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It’s one man going round St Paul’s area (9)
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Anagram of (going round) IT’S ONE MAN MINNESOTA* |
MINNESOTA (St Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of MINNESOTA)
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17
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Millions do not start to appreciate change candidate (4,5)
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M (millions) + LIKE (appreciate) excluding the first letter (do not start) L + PENCE (small change) M IKE PENCE |
MIKE PENCE (MIKE PENCE, current Governor of Indiana who is Donald TRUMP‘s running mate and Republican candidate for the Vice Presidency)
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20
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Candidate finally hit bottom (5)
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T (last letter of [finally] HIT) + RUMP (buttocks; bottom)
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TRUMP (reference Donald TRUMP, Republican presidential candidate in today’s American election)
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22
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What the candidates are doing on the trot (7)
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RUNNING (candidates ‘run’ for election)
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RUNNING (if people are on the trot, they are indulging in a form of RUNNING) double definition
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23
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Laugh about George Bush on campaign battlefront (7)
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TITTER (laugh) containing (about) W (reference George W Bush, former President of the United States) T (W) ITTER |
TWITTER ,(both candidates campaign teams having been making significant use of TWITTER to put forward their own views and rubbish their opponents character, acts and views during the American election campaign)
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25
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Underground places for Mexican food in the morning featured by broadcaster (9)
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TACO (in Mexican cooking, a very thin rolled pancake with a meat filling, usually fried crisp) contained in (in) AM (ante meridiem; morning) with that container and contents itself contained in (featured by) CBS (Columbia Broadcast System, a major American broadcaster) C (A (TACO) M) BS |
CATACOMBS (subterranean excavations used as burial places; underground caverns)
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26
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Volunteers working inside left, having a key (5)
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(ON [working] contained in [inside] TA [Territorial Army; volunteers]) + L (left) T (ON) A L |
TONAL (according to a musical key)
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27
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Despicable person going round clubs is bigoted (6)
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RAT (despicable person) containing (going round) (C [clubs in cards] + IS) RA (C IS) T |
RACIST (example of bigoted person)
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28
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Michelle and Barack Obama initially impressed by policy for hairstyle (9)
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MBO (first letters of [initially] each of MICHELLE, BARACK and OBAMA) contained in (impressed by) COVER (reference the COVER provided by an insurance policy) CO (MBO) VER |
COMBOVER (defined by Chambers as a vain attempt to make the most of one’s dwindling resources of hair; hairstyle)
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| Down | |||
|
1
|
Small green thing with taps giving product of Georgia (5)
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PEA (small green vegetable) + C (cold tap) + H (hot tap)
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PEACH (there is a PEACH County in the American State of Georgia and PEACHes are a major product of the State’s agriculture)
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2
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"5 cents," I said, "for Rimsky-Korsakov?" (7)
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NIKOLAI (sounds like [said] NICKEL [American 5 cents coin] + I)
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NIKOLAI (reference NIKOLAI Rimsky-Korsakov 1844 – 1908], Russian composer)
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3
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Certain to include note about plane (7)
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SURE (certain) containing (to include) (FA [note of the tonic sol-fa] + C [circa; about]) SUR (FA C) E |
SURFACE (a SURFACE is a flat 2-dimensional geometric figure; plane)
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4
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Intimate spotted losing head (5)
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PIMPLY (spotted) excluding the first letter (losing head) P
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IMPLY (intimate)
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6
|
Former unit gets money to stop Bond (3-4)
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ONE (unit) + (M [money] contained in [to stop] TIE [bond]) ONE TI (M) E |
ONE TIME (former)
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7
|
Shakespearean short speech is under an hour (7)
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H (hour) + ORATION (speech) excluding the final letter (short) N
|
HORATIO (character in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet)
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8
|
Scandal-free family welcomes European (5)
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CLAN (family) containing E (European) CL (E) AN |
CLEAN (scandal-free)
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9
|
Being immunised against snacks, essentially, confused niece (8)
|
V (versus; against) + AC (central letters [essentially] of SNACKS) + an anagram of (confused) NIECE V AC CINEE* |
VACCINEE (person [being] immunised)
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14
|
North Korean sound equipment goes belly-up without echo (3)
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MIKE (microphone; sound equipment) excluding (without) E (Echo is the International Radio Communication code for the letter E) reversed (goes up; down clue) KIM< |
KIM (a very common name in North Korea)
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15
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Quiet performance keeps queen out of terrible danger in psyop (4,4)
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MIME (play without dialogue; quiet performance) containing (keeps) an anagram of (terrible) DANGER excluding (out) ER (Elizabeth Regina; queen) MI (ND GA*) ME |
MIND GAME (physcological operation [military actions designed to influence the perceptions and attitudes of individuals, groups, and foreign government]; psyop)
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16
|
Old man crossed line climbing mountain (3)
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(PA [father; old man] containing [crossed] L [line]) all reversed (climbing; down clue) (A (L) P)< |
ALP (mountain)
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18
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Family name turned up in motion (7)
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KIN (people belonging to the same family) + CITE (name) reversed (turned up; down clue) KIN ETIC< |
KINETIC (relating to motion)
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19
|
Royalty is nosey about North Carolina (7)
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PRIES (is nosey) containing (about) NC (North Carolina) PRI (NC) ES |
PRINCES (non-reigning male members of a royal or imperial family; royalty)
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20
|
Upturned barrel containing very little water a component of washing machine (4-3)
|
BUTT (a large cask of varying capacity; barrel) reversed (upturned ; down clue) containing (containing) ? – and here I’m afraid I can’t offer any interpretation of the clue. I can’t see a relationship between WIN and ‘very little water a component of’ T (WIN) TUB< |
TWIN TUB (type of washing machine with separate drums for washing and spin-drying) I think the definition is just ‘washing machine’ rather than ‘a component of washing machine’ |
|
21
|
Actor is not bothered bathed in special lighting effect (7)
|
An anagram of (bothered) IS NOT contained in (bathed in) UV (ultra-violet [beyond the violet end of the visible spectrum, of wavelength between approximately 400 and 10 nanometres; relating to, or using, radiations of wavelengths less than those of visible light]; special lighting effect) U (STINO*) V |
USTINOV (reference Peter USTINOV [1921 – 2004], English actor, writer, dramatist etc)
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22
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Luxury car carries one track competitor (5)
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RR (Rolls Royce; luxury car) containing (carries) ACE [one] R (ACE) R |
RACER (runner; track competitor)
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23
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Retailer group backing senior officer (5)
|
SET (group) reversed (backing) + CO (Commanding Officer; senior officer) TES< CO |
TESCO (major retailer [and bank])
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24
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Queen possibly to regret having bottom grabbed by both hands (5)
|
RUE (regret) with the last letter (bottom letter in a down entry) E contained in (grabbed by] (L [left {hand}] + R [right {hand}] giving both hands) RU L (E) R |
RULER (the Queen is a RULER)
|
Yes, maybe an obvious theme to have, but I enjoyed this, especially PANTSUIT (not a great look in my very inexpert view) and COMBOVER. For my sins I didn’t know either of the VP candidates (v. bad) so learnt a bit too. Just a suggestion for 20 – ? W (very little (=only first letter of) water) + IN (a component of).
Thanks to Duncan and Alchemi.
Very enjoyable, thanks to Alchemist and Duncan.
Thematically, 1ac is a well-known favourite attire of 12/13ac.
20ac must be close to &lit, no ?
Sorry. *Alchemi*
I blame autocorrect.
@Geebs re 20ac. Not quite an &lit no. Semi-&lit maybe. But how about:
Far-right anti-democrat grabbing fanny in the US!
Thanks Duncan, and Wordplodder has correctly parsed 20d. RACIST and COMBOVER were intended as references to the orange thing, and the TACO in the catacombs was an allusion to the incident when a Hispanic For Trump said that if they didn’t build the wall, there would be a taco truck on every corner, which didn’t seem like all that bad an idea to Hillary’s supporters.
I don’t suppose the “win” in 20D could be Win{dermere}? It certainly qualifies as very little of the source word if so.