As…
…usual for a Qaos puzzle, there is a [somewhat] hidden theme – Fred and Wilma FLINT STONE [wiki] live in BEDROCK, have a daughter called PEBBLES and a pet DINOSAUR, and are neighbours with BARNEY and BETTY RUBBLE. Fred also works for Mr SLATE.
20dn was a new word, and favourites were 16dn and 23dn/29ac. Thanks, Qaos
| Across | ||
| 1 | NATURE | Kind mother? (6) |
| =”Kind”=type or category; =Mother Nature | ||
| 4 | PEBBLES | Exercise books lose one 11s (7) |
| =STONEs. P[hysical] E[ducation]=”Exercise”, plus B[i]BLES=”books” losing i=”one” | ||
| 9 | DINOSAURS | Do Russian rebels become old-fashioned types? (9) |
| (Do Russian)* | ||
| 10 | RUMBA | After drink, sailor twirls to dance (5) |
| RUM=”drink”, plus A[ble]-B[odied seaman]=”sailor” reversed/”twirls” | ||
| 11 | STONE | Stoke-on-Trent’s code is a gem (5) |
| I think this refers to a post “code” of ST 1 or ST ONE for Stoke-on-Trent | ||
| 12 | BREAD TREE | Plant on which money might grow? (5,4) |
| a play on BREAD=”money” | ||
| 13 | SMARTIE | Clever person — Sting, that is (7) |
| SMART=”Sting”, plus I.E.=”that is” | ||
| 15 | SQUASH | US fruit drink (6) |
| double definition | ||
| 17 | STADIA | Grounds for first divorce? I traded in sober adult (6) |
| STAID=”sober” plus A[dult], in which the “first” letter of “D[ivorce]” and “I” have “traded” places | ||
| 19 | BEDROCK | Foundation of plot 11 (7) |
| BED=”plot” plus ROCK=STONE | ||
| 22 | INCUBATOR | It can help one get a start in life (9) |
| cryptic definition | ||
| 24 | REIGN | Rule, which comes from above, they say (5) |
| homophone/”they say” of: ‘rain’ which comes from above | ||
| 26 | FLINT | 11‘s fine dressing (5) |
| =STONE. F[ine] plus LINT=linen for “dressing” wounds | ||
| 27 | STEVEDORE | Docker does exert, working shifts 10 to 5 (9) |
| (does eXert)*, with X=10 shifting to V=5 in Roman numerals | ||
| 28 | LEG BYES | Spooner to ask for stories as extras (3,4) |
| =extra runs in cricket. Spoonerism of ‘beg lies’=”ask for stories” | ||
| 29 | See 23 | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | NUDISTS | When they’re busy, they’ve nothing on (7) |
| cryptic definition I think – not sure on the use of “busy” | ||
| 2 | TANGO | Drink made from brown leaves? Not half! (5) |
| TAN=”brown”; plus GO[es]=”leaves” but without its second half | ||
| 3 | RESPECTED | Took time out squeezing muscle to be admired (9) |
| RESTED=”Took time out”, around PEC[toral]=”muscle” | ||
| 4 | POSTERS | Questions about IT? No one notices (7) |
| POSERS=”Questions”, around IT minus I=”No one” | ||
| 5 | BORED | Not interested in meals being delivered? (5) |
| homophone/”being delivered” of: ‘board’=”meals” as in ‘bed and board’ | ||
| 6 | LAMBRUSCO | Sparkling wine for meat course, almost cooked (9) |
| LAMB=”meat”, plus (cours[e])* | ||
| 7 | SLATES | Criticises 11s (6) |
| double definition | ||
| 8 | RUBBLE | Utter problem — there’s no time for pieces of 11 (6) |
| =”pieces of STONE”. Homophone/”Utter” of: ‘trouble’=”problem”, without the t[ime] | ||
| 14 | ATTACKING | Fighting animal volunteers upset leader (9) |
| CAT=”animal”, plus T[erritorial] A[rmy]=”volunteers” all reversed/”upset”, plus KING=”leader” | ||
| 16 | UNDERWEAR | Foreign articles close to home in war briefs, perhaps (9) |
| UN and DER are French and German articles in the grammatical sense; plus [hom]E in WAR | ||
| 18 | ATTESTS | Declares at cricket matches (7) |
| AT plus TESTS=”cricket matches” | ||
| 19 | BARNEY | Quarrel breaking out nearby (6) |
| (nearby)* | ||
| 20 | KANTELE | German philosopher covers the Spanish, English or Finnish instrument (7) |
| =a Finnish zither. KANT=”German philosopher”, plus EL=”the [in] Spanish” plus E[nglish] | ||
| 21 | SINFUL | Enough to get you drunk: no end of drink — is that morally wrong? (6) |
| 23, 29 | BETTY GRABLE | ’40s actress is teetotal and fit, eating yogurt regularly (5,6) |
| BE=”is”, plus T[ee]T[otal], plus ABLE=”fit”, around regular letters of Y[o]G[u]R[t] | ||
| 25 | INORB | Encircle part of Britain or Belgium (5) |
| hidden in [Brita]IN OR B[elgium] | ||
Thanks, manehi.
I thought this was rather easier than usual for Qaos but no less enjoyable for that. Again, I agree with your favourites, with the addition of STEVEDORE – I like the ‘working shifts’.
I was puzzled by 1dn, too – perhaps ‘Even when they’re busy…’ might make more sense: I don’t know.
In 21dn, I think the expression is ‘skinful’. 😉
Many thanks to Qaos for the fun.
Thank you manehi and Qaos
I thought 21 referred to s(k)inful. But also couldn’t understand “busy” in 1
Thanks Qaos and manehi
Not Qaos at his best, I thought. I agree about NUDISTS (I tried ECDYSES first, hoping that it was a valid alternative for ECDYSIASTS or “strippers”! – it isn’t!). Also surprising to see a tradename in TANGO.
I took far longer than usual to finish, partly because it was difficult, but more because of the blind alleys I went up. I was convinced that 12 had to be some sort of MINT; later I had POSTITS for 4d (works very nearly as well as POSTERS.) SLATES was my way into the surface theme.
Some parsing failures too – STADIA (unsurprising, having read your explantion, manehi), and PEBBLES (I took BB to be the books, so couldn’t explain the LES).
New words were KANTELE and INORB, but these were fairly clued. I didn’t like the clue for RUBBLE though – it’s OK to use a homophone, but I think it’s going a bit far to remove a letter from it’ especially as ROUBLE isn’t a homophone for RUBBLE.
I’m surprised that I haven’t come across the lovely anagram for DINOSAURS before – by far my favourite clue.
Haha, thanks Eileen and Potterer – I still like sinkful 😉
So did I, manehi – certainly enough to make you drunk!
Thanks for blog-I missed all those fine points of the theme.
A couple of contrived clues here which I thought were taking liberties even if they were easily getable . Eg the two already mentioned RUBBLE and STADIA.
Muffin @ 3 re 8 down: I don’t any reason to object to the wordplay. Isn’t the point that if you utter the required synonym for ‘problem’, it sounds like the non-word ‘trubble’? Maybe English would be the tiniest bit easier to spell if that were how we wrote ‘trouble’
Thanks both, particularly for the parsing of STADIA.
I thought 1d referred to busy=active, ie. normally they are clothed, but when they are active nudists they aren’t.
Epeolater @8
I wouldn’t have had a problem with 8d if the word was spelled “trubble”, but something seems wrong with T ROUBLE giving RUBBLE.
Thanks for unravelling 17a, manehi, and your innocent sinkful made me smile.
Spectacularly failed to spot the glaring theme as I so often do. I think the alarming regularity of this failure must be a character flaw of some sort. Perhaps it’s linked to my inability to find things…my wife complains that “I just don’t look”. Well, I do, but my mental picture differs somehow from the target object. It doesn’t wash with HER, however.
Didn’t feel this was up there with Qaos’s best, I have to say.
I ticked STEVEDORE, POSTERS, & LAMBRUSCO but rather too many others had a strained feel.
I do hope the setter will drop in and explain what he had in mind with his busy NUDISTS; and I was a bit dubious about BE = IS. I suppose one could say, “the engineer that he be/is” but only one of those is correct. No doubt someone will dig up a better equivalence.
A pleasing distraction from what I’m supposed to be doing, however, so thanks for that, Qaos.
Nice week, all.
Thanks Qaos and manehi.
Not quite as Qaotic as normal but enjoyable, nonetheless. I of course missed the theme entirely.
I didn’t like the ‘covers’ in 20; I don’t see how that works as a linker. I think the trade name drink in 2 will keep some of our overseas solvers guessing.
Thank you Qaos and manehi.
Great fun with the Flintstones, but manehi stole the show with his “sinkful”!
I have no trouble with 1d, I think it’s rather good, I interpreted it in relation to “Are you busy at the moment”, “No, I’ve nothing on”, but nudists even when they are busy have nothing on.
Mostly enjoyable, but spolt a little for me be the 2 non-cryptic definitions at 22 and 1D. I really do not believe that this sort of clue has any place in a daily crytic puzzle.
This was enjoyable and would have been even more so if I had managed to spot the Flintstones theme – so obvious in retrospect!
I hadn’t heard of INORB or KANTELE but managed to work them out. 22a was very Rufus-ish!
Like others I was puzzled by 1d, but after reflection this is what I think Qaos had in mind. (And it might have worked better with “active” rather than “busy”.) Nudists presumably are not naked all the time, but when they’re active, or practising, they have nothing on. Does that make sense?
JimS@15 – that’s what I was trying to say @9!
Years ago a short comic recitation went round about a man pouring his whisky stock down the sink, bottle by bottle, “except for one glass, which I drank”. As his speech becomes more incoherent, he ends up saying he drank “a sinkful”.
Shirl – apologies! I totally missed your earlier comment. As well as missing the theme of the puzzle. I obviously need to wake up this morning.
I think Cookie @13 has nailed the nudists.
re 1d, having “nothing on” can also mean having no engagements to keep…
Ah, William has twigged.
Cookie – yes I totally agree that there is the intended contrast between “busy” and having “nothing on” (no engagements) in the surface of the clue. But I think people were wondering whether “busy” served any further purpose in the wordplay.
Jim @22, it is a cryptic definition, and “busy” is vital to give a hint to the answer, when you are busy you have something on…
This was good fun even though, like William and others, I failed to spot the theme. I noticed FLINT and STONE (among my first few in), but as I know nothing about the Flintstones I wasn’t looking for a theme.
I had doubts about a few clues, including 1d NUDISTS (surely it should begin “Even…”?), 20d KANTELE (‘covers’?), 17a STADIA (‘traded’?) and 2d TANGO (a trade name), but otherwise I enjoyed the experience. I didn’t know INORB, BREAD TREE or KANTELE, but these were gettable and I’ve learned something – even a bit about the Flintstones that I shall probably forget!
Thanks to both Qaos and manehi.
Found this theme more obvious than usual for Qaos, but this was still entertaining. For me most of the problems were in the NE corner, with SQUASH last in after POSTERS.
Thanks to Qaos and manehi
I like Cookie’s explanation of NUDISTS – I think that works.
Thanks Qaos and manehi.
Found this difficult to start – just managed 3/11 of a clue on the first run through, but it was enough to get me going on a slow, steady entry of the remainder. (The YGR of BETTY GRABLE – the BETT ABLE came much later)
Because there was a key word (11a)I supposed wrongly that Qaos had omitted a theme this time.
Like William@11 and others I completely missed the theme, but ’twas ever thus. Cookie’s explanation of 1d is probably correct, but it still doesn’t add up to a very satisfying clue. Favourites were BETTY GRABLE, SINFUL, LEG BYES and LAMBRUSCO. Thanks to Qaos and manehi.
muffin @26
Yes, it does work, and I was too hasty in saying earlier that I was doubtful about the clue to 1d NUDISTS. When non-nudists are busy they have something on, whereas when nudists are busy they have nothing on. (That’s the only distinction that matters here – not that between the times that nudists wear clothes and don’t wear clothes.)
As William said, Cookie has nailed the nudists(!), so credit to her.
A gentle stroll in the Tenerife sun. Never heard of the Finnish instrument but with crossers what else could it be! And muffin, doesn’t ‘utter’ mean sound like, rather than spelled like? Thanks to everyone.
Thanks to Qaos and manehi. For the second day in a row from the US I managed to get STONE via a postal code and was proud of myself for getting LEG BYES not from my knowledge of cricket terms but, to my surprise, from the Spoonerism. I did not know BARNEY = quarrel in slang (though the “nearby” anagram was clear) as were the clues for INORB and KANTELE. I needed help parsing STADIA and took a while getting the Bread in BREAD TREE. A challenge FOR ME.
I didn’t like NUDISTS at first but Cookie has nailed it I think. Seems so obvious now. I’ve never heard of KANTELE but the philosopher had to be Kant;never heard of INORB either but it’s rather nice. No, I didn’t see the theme,annoyingly enough,but BARNEY should have given me a nudge. Mind you, I haven’t seen the Flintstones for years!
Liked SMARTIE.
Thanks Qaos.
I got as far as STONE for the theme, but didn’t make the next step to the cartoon. I did recognize all the names once manehi pointed out the theme, so I must have seen it at some point, but I can’t think when. The parsing of PEBBLES escaped me too — I did put the word in, since pebbles are stones, but didn’t know why.
I had heard of KANTELE from a song in an old youth group book.
I liked POSTERS for its amusing surface and DINOSAURS for the delightful anagram.
Thanks Qaos and manehi.
KANTELE and INORB new to me and I had to look up the former. I liked ATTESTS and SINFUL.
As everyone now seems to agree Cookie really nailed those NUDISTS! Pleasingly I had that straight away and it was my first one in.
Did this early this morning, but have only got around to posting. Found it to be an enjoyable challenge, so thank you Qaos. I wondered about 1d at first too, but agree with the previous explanatory posts; “kantele” was a new word for me but it was very fairly clued – will try to remember it!
As to the theme, I missed it as usual. Silly of me really, as my first thought when I saw “bedrock” was “The Flintstones” – then I completely forgot about it, despite having no trouble with the thematic answers! Thank you for pointing it out in your excellent blog, manehi.
For those who are curious (wake up at the back there..!) ST1 is the postcode for the city centre and surrounds. By lucky hap, the village of Stone lies just outside Stoke-on-Trent. In ST15. I shall be setting questions on this tomorrow.
Afternoon all – many thanks for all the comments and to manehi for the blog. Glad you managed to see past the “obvious” 11 theme to the ghost one below. I think this grid also makes for an easier puzzle with so many good crossing letters.
Funny how 1 dn has generated so much strife (over on the Guardian page too). The original was “Busy or not, they’ve nothing on” but it wasn’t as fair, since nudists don’t have to be nude ALL the time. It’s hard to get the balance just right for this type of jokey/pun clue. Makes you appreciate Rufus’ smooth skill with these types of clue all the more. And just to confirm, Cookie @13 has indeed parsed it as I intended.
Best wishes,
Qaos.
I really enjoyed this. Favourite clue today was SINFUL and I also enjoyed the homophone and spoonerism. I made a slow start but once I got the STONES keyword a series of other clues fell rapidly. Thanks to manehi and Qaos.
An enjoyable and straightforward solve. The ‘joke’ in 1dn was clear – and enjoyed. My favourite (and sorry, muffin, that I disagree with you) was RUBBLE.
Qaos remains a firm favourite.
Thanks to him and blogger.
Qaos @ 9: Probably too late for an answer but I’m not sure what you mean by the ghost one (theme) below.
I get the Flintstones but is there another one with NUDISTS, NATURE [ists] and [no] UNDERWEAR ? Or is that just coincidence and I’m being silly!
Oops! That’s supposed to be Qaos @ 37
Pex @40, the obvious theme was STONES, the ghost theme “The Flintstones”.
By the way, I think you may have frightened a regular contributor off this site – your post on Qaos 27,019
“Nice to see some new names (to me) amongst the blogs today and less of some daily commenters listing their progress through the xword.”
Thanks Cookie and I take your other point. I had noticed but put it down to coincidence. Hmm
Cookie
If the regular contributor is who I think it is, I hope the contributions will start flowing again becasue I enjoy them.
This is not, by the way, a sideswipe at pex, who, as he says, did not see any connection and surely did not intend anything to happen.
As I commented on the Anniversary page (1 November), I enjoy reading the blogs on this site for all the right reasons, including “the range of opinions” and “the grown-up exchange of views”.
I enjoy your contributions, by the way, especially when they touch on anything French, German or Swiss German.
Alan B, I have been in touch with Gaufrid, and we have come to the conclusion that in the summer of the Antipodes several contributors do not do the crosswords…
Cookie
Thanks – what an interesting observation! Incidentally, I stop doing the Guardian crosswords, and temporarily stop contributing to this site, on my frequent trips to Australia.
If the bread tree is Artocarpus altilis, I’d always heard and seen it called the breadfruit tree. So there I was wondering whether 12a was BIRCH TREE or BEECH TREE (I found a Beech Tree finance firm), and either way 5d was B_R_H. “Being delivered” could be BIRTH, but how could “Not interested in meals” clue that?
Further, “slate” for “criticize” is new to me.