An enjoyable crossword from Crosophile today: not too difficult for a Thursday, it seemed to me.
With the Q and all those Zs it looked like a pangram. But it was nowhere near to being one, several letters missing.
Whether it was anything else, who knows?
Definitions underlined, in maroon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COCOA | Drink and drug producer takes a bit of opium (5) |
| coc(o{pium})a | ||
| 4 | MEZZANINE | The setter, two zulus (adult) and a cardinal – it might be between the first and second (9) |
| me Z Z A nine [a cardinal number]— I’m not sure why ‘(adult)’, since Zulu is the word for z in the international radio alphabet, nothing to do with adult, so the word ‘adult’ is there to provide the a; but this job is perfectly well done by the word ‘a’ — I can’t see the need for the adult | ||
| 9 | DANDELION | Daniel Defoe wastes the enemy – ‘Fierce beast’ is a weed (9) |
| Dan De{foe} lion | ||
| 10 | TASTE | To give a shock takes time? – Smack! (5) |
| tas(t)e — tase isn’t in Chambers (as a back-formation from taser, presumably) but it is in Collins as slang | ||
| 11 | NINETTE | E.g. de Valois shows us one, the opposite of gross, with ten dancing around (7) |
| (1 net) in (ten)* — ref Dame Ninette de Valois | ||
| 12 | NINEPIN | I get knocked down by one in news deal when cycling (7) |
| n(1)n (pine cycling, i.e. with its e at the front) — news is the plural of new [n] | ||
| 13 | ASSETS | When groups come together in capital (6) |
| as sets | ||
| 15 | ISLANDER | False witness statement: “Man restricted my movements”? (8) |
| “I slander” — if the Isle of Man is restricting my movements then I am confined to the Isle of Man and so an islander — I think; not sure about why it’s ‘restricted’ not ‘restricts’ | ||
| 17 | PENNINES | Coppers surround northern mountain range (8) |
| penni(n)es | ||
| 19 | PEDANT | I like to pick a rabbit say and put in for boiling (6) |
| pe((and)*)t — I like to pick holes in things | ||
| 23 | SPARKLE | Say ‘Boom’! – a setback for moose in animation (7) |
| spar (elk)rev. | ||
| 24 | QUININE | Ingredient of tonic wine, one of five used in place of whiskey (7) |
| quin replacing the w in wine, the w being whiskey (international radio alphabet again) | ||
| 26 | EXERT | Specialist after releasing pressure put in effort (5) |
| ex{p}ert | ||
| 27 | ORATORIOS | Musically presented stories or airs too ornate (9) |
| (or airs too)* | ||
| 28 | SATURNINE | Chiefly sad or solemn in nature perhaps? (9) |
| s (in nature)*, the s being either chiefly sad or chiefly solemn — &lit. | ||
| 29 | SKEIN | Birds in flight seen from base in hide (5) |
| sk(e)in | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CADENZA | Dance crazes going to extremes over virtuoso passage (7) |
| (Dance)* (AZ)rev. | ||
| 2 | CANINES | Dogs inside – sticks outside (7) |
| can(in)es | ||
| 3 | ALERT | Arsenal gutted – Everton’s midfield is on the ball (5) |
| A{rsena}l {Ev}ert{on} | ||
| 4 | MAIDEN | Blokes crowd round to help girl (6) |
| m(aid)en | ||
| 5 | ZANINESS | Unstable Nazi stands on head – this is crazy stuff (8) |
| (Nazi)* ness | ||
| 6 | ATTENUATE | To become thin you had a latish breakfast according to text? (9) |
| at ten U ate, U being textspeak for you | ||
| 7 | INSIPID | One new sample of tea perhaps needs identification – flavourless (7) |
| 1 n sip ID | ||
| 8 | ELEANOR | English bank as an alternative for Roosevelt say? (7) |
| E lean or | ||
| 14 | TRICKSTER | Con man rooks with tickets for wrestling (9) |
| (R R tickets)* | ||
| 16 | PEPERONI | Open pie cooked with last of ginger and spicy sausage (8) |
| (Open pie {ginge}r)* | ||
| 17 | POSSESS | Have sons got into groups of friends? (7) |
| posse(s)s | ||
| 18 | NEAREST | Serious knight getting promoted to head is most miserly (7) |
| Earnest with its n put at the front | ||
| 20 | ASININE | Idiotic lapse by current head of nursing in A&E (7) |
| A(sin I n{ursing})E | ||
| 21 | TREASON | Corrupt senator’s crime? (7) |
| (senator)* — semi-&lit. | ||
| 22 | SQUARE | Maybe 9 section acting as flipping emergency room (6) |
| s qua (ER)rev. — 9 is a square number like 16, 25, 36 etc. | ||
| 25 | ICONS | One scam succeeded showing pictures linked to apps (5) |
| 1 con s | ||
*anagram
Yes, enjoyable enough and not as difficult as some Thursdays are. Don’t know what ‘adult’ is doing in 4a either. Anyone have any idea what the 9xNINE mean?
Thanks to Crosophile and John
LOI PEDANT, couldn’t see it for ages. Some pretty contrived surfaces, 4A, 9, 23 for example. Wordplay led to the solutions OK, but try the sentences in conversation.
11A is (1 net) in ten*.
Mystified by @1Wordplodder’s question.
Thanks to Crosophile and John.
gwep @2, re WordPlodder’s question @1: NINE is spelt out nine times in the grid, within various solutions. I can’t work out if there’s more to it than that.
Thanks for the blog, John.
And well spotted, WordPlodder and Tom_I. It was my 81st Crosophile puzzle – which would probably be my 100th if we only had nine digits on our hands! 😀 – so I thought I’d celebrate it.
Advice for gwep: NEVER, EVER try to work crossword clues verbatim into your conversations! 🙂
Thanks Crosophile. That clears it up then – a century to the base nine of course. Well worth celebrating. I look forward to 10xTEN for your hundredth.
Got everything except 19ac – but how does ‘for boiling’ come into it?
Allan, I think ‘for boiling’ is (part of) the anagram indicator.
Thanks Gwep @2 re. 11ac. Blog corrected.
I like the 9 nines. Nice.
I forgot to add, regarding the adult at 4Ac, I didn’t really feel that cardinal = nine whereas ‘a cardinal’ could be nine. I’m probably being over fastidious. 🙂