Tougher than the average Tuesday with some challenging multiple wordplays and a theme thrown in for fun.
I’ve highlighted the themed words I know but there may be others to be found by bigger fans than me. Quite a work-out today: thanks to Goliath, enjoyed it a lot.
| Across | ||
| 1 | RESURFACE | Employer backs right side to rise once more (9) |
| USER (’employer’) reversed, then R (‘right’) + FACE | ||
| 6 | DOGS | Chases sausages when hot (4) |
| Double definition. ‘Hot dogs’, of course. | ||
| 8 | ABSORBED | Took in a graduate for an alternative place to sleep (8) |
| A+BS (US version of BSc)+OR (‘alternative’)+BED. | ||
| 9 | OHIOAN | I’m surprised contents of Dior bag end in Buckeye (6) |
| OH (‘I’m surprised!)+IO+A+N (central ‘contents’ of dIOr, bAg and eNd). Guess you just have to know a Buckeye is a citizen of Ohio. | ||
| 10 | PLURAL | More than one almost tempt friend to come round (6) |
| LURe (‘tempt’, almost) in PAL. | ||
| 11 | NAUSEATE | Revolt in Gaza Netanyahu finally settled? Not quite (8) |
| Last letters (‘finally’) of iN, gazA and netannyahU + SEATEd (‘settled’, incomplete). | ||
| 12 | OBSESS | Have a preoccupation to back some bosses bothering other bosses (6) |
| Double wordplay: it’s a reveresed inclusion in boSSES BOthering, and then an anagram (‘other’) of that second BOSSES. I think. | ||
| 15 | ETERNITY | Ever-changing tiny tree (8) |
| Anagram (‘changing’) of TINY TREE. | ||
| 16 | SATURDAY | State restricting a motion for the Sabbath (8) |
| SAY (‘state’) around A TURD. Lovely in its way. | ||
| 19 | TUDORS | House in which you sleep in Paris (6) |
|
‘Tu dors’ = ‘you sleep’ en Francais. |
||
| 21 | SKELETAL | Only half of sketch left? Talent is wasted (8) |
| Half each of SKEtch, LEft and TALent. | ||
| 22 | BEADLE | Official could be desirable? No sir! (6) |
| Anagram (‘could be’) of DESIRABLE minus its SIR. | ||
| 24 | STUCCO | To begin with, on clean cuts, put round plaster (6) |
| First letters of On Clean then CUTS, all reversed. | ||
| 25 | SAWHORSE | Like to come back to hospital having inferior outside support (8) |
| AS (‘like’) reversed, then H for ‘hospital’ with ‘WORSE’ outside it. | ||
| 26 | ORGY | Minority group holds back party (4) |
| Reversed inclusion in minoritY GROup. | ||
| 27 | SUCKED DRY | Were pants not wet, we’d have left with nothing (6,3) |
| SUCKED (‘were pants’) + DRY. More whimsical scatology. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | REBEL | Maverick’s trembling heart in dance (5) |
| B (=’heart’ of ‘tremBling’) in REEL (‘dance’). | ||
| 2 | SCOURGE | This courgette contains a pest (7) |
| Inclusion in thiS COURGEtte. | ||
| 3 | REBEL | Rise up out of a single berth (5) |
| Another reversed inclusion in (‘up, out of’) singLE BERth. | ||
| 4 | ANDANTE | Slowly, an Italian poet also bet a tanned complexion may be at an end (7) |
|
A tour-de-force quadruple wordplay. 1) AN+DANTE, 2) AND+ANTE, 3) anagram (‘complexion’) of TANNED and 4) another anagram (‘may be’) of AT AN END. I’ve seen a few of these multiple chaps in the Guardian recently. I like ’em. |
||
| 5 | EMOLUMENT | European starts to leave union in a very short while – for a fee (9) |
| E (‘European’) + ‘starts’ of Leave and Union in MOMENT. | ||
| 6 | DRIVE-IN | Place where film shows doctor starting to inject blood vessel (5- 2) |
| DR + I for ‘inject’ + VEIN. | ||
| 7 | GIANT STAR | Mira may be putting Goliath and his ilk on pitch (5,4) |
| Nice example of non-appearance by setter. Goliath here is just yer biblical GIANT pluralised, followed by TAR (‘pitch’). Mira is a red giant star in the constellation of the Whale. | ||
| 13 | BLACK STAR | Want first of several tequilas in pub, matter of theory (5,4) |
|
LACK (‘want’) + firat letters of Several Tequilas, all in BAR for the theoretical black star, bit like a black hole but more starry, apparently. |
||
| 14 | SEDITIOUS | Is outside agitating and rabble- rousing (9) |
| Anagram (‘agitating’) of IS OUTSIDE. | ||
| 17 | UNLUCKY | A French girl covering weekend as 13, supposedly (7) |
| UN (‘a’ in French) + LUCY around K (end of ‘week’). | ||
| 18 | YOLK SAC | Mother shunned mayo: badly lacks some egg (4,3) |
|
maYO (without MA, mother) then anagram (‘badly’) of LACKS. |
||
| 20 | DIAMOND | A card for Neil’s sixtieth (7) |
| Triple definition: a card, the singer Neil diamond and an anniversary. | ||
| 22 | BOWIE | Weapon that’s commemorated here (5) |
| Today’s theme word: double definition of the Bowie knife and the late DB. | ||
| 23 | LUSTY | Out of practice on changing sides, becomes passionate (5) |
| Swap R for L in RUSTY (‘out of practice’). | ||
*anagram
The first of two David Bowie themed crosswords for the day. My knowledge in the area is er… somewhat lacking so the theme wasn’t really a help for this crossword at least, though was for the Guardian one. I was therefore slowed up by the double REBEL for 1d and 3d and entered ‘resurrect’ for 1a (no, I had no idea how ‘rect’=’side’ either) but then things fell into place. I liked the TUDORS clue and the naughty but nice SATURDAY but the highlight was definitely the novel quadruple wordplay for ANDANTE.
Thanks to Goliath and Grant.
An excellent challenge.
I completely missed the theme till the very end – so much so that BOWIE was my LOI and I had a mental note to complain about the repeated REBEL! Duh!
Thanks to Goliath and Grant for further clarity.
I started this earlier than his Philistine puzzle so with no instructions, I was puzzled by the double REBEL(they were early entries)-but it all became clear.
And I think there were only a couple of shared answers in the two oeuvres.
This took a bit longer than the other.I, too, rather liked Andante.
Found a few rather tuff to parse.. thanks for helping out.. and yes andante was brilliant clue
I’d categorise this setter’s clues as “low grade ore.” You need to process a lot of material to get what you seek.
To Sasquach @5…
‘Low grade ore’ sounds a bit put-down-ish. Interesing metaphor. Yours implies that, say, the Sun cryptic is ‘high grade ore’, its nuggets lying around just waiting to be picked up off the ground. Give me, by contrast, an hour or so with a fine sieve and a fast-flowing stream of confusion that yields regular but still surprising sparkles of gold-dust. That’s why we do this stuff…
I could write a (separate) comment here but I prefer to refer [gosh, that rhymes] to my post @54 in today’s Guardian (Philistine) blog.
Sasquach (I’d categorise this setter’s clues as “low grade ore.” You need to process a lot of material to get what you seek):
This setter is different but has a few ‘trademark’ devices – and they were all there today.
Multiple fodders, additional wordplay etc.
Thanks Grant.
Thanks Goliath and Grant
One that I did near publication date but a house move has delayed the checking and posting of it. Completely missed the theme and will put the occupation of the house move as the reason for not even noticing the double REBEL in the solutions.
Full of his wide repertoire of word play tricks and that quadruple play with ANDANTE was brilliant. The clever halving of the ‘sketch left talent’ to generate SKELETAL was also very good. New astronomical learning with Mira, the GIANT STAR, and the BLACK STAR theory.
Finished with SUCKED DRY which I couldn’t parse properly and still don’t see the SUCKED part of it – being post-move thicker than usual.