A nice solid cryptic offering from Klingsor here – with some interesting surface readings and mis-directions…
No obvious theme or nina that I could see. There seems to be a higher than ‘average’ number of phrases – TOUCH-AND-GO, PIPPED AT THE POST, GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS, OFF THE AIR, but these don’t seem to be linked in any way.
Mis-directions: 12A seems to suggest Richard Wagner with the reference to the ‘Ring’, when the composer is really Borodin. And 25 uses Oklahoma in a hidden word phrase leading to a city in Nebraska!
Surface readings: 4A paints a grim picture of someone swimming in a sewer to ‘go through the motions’, and 8D evokes drunken students trashing a HALL OF RESIDENCE in a rag week prank…27A with a persistent salesman on the threshold…I’m sure others will have their own favourites.
LOI was CLAD at 24D…for some reason I had a bit of a mental block on finding CL as the gas.
Thanks to Klingsor for a pleasant – but overall not too challenging – solve.
(One I couldn’t explain at 14A – ‘laugh, back’ seems to imply RIOT becoming TIOR in FORTIORI, but RIOT back becomes TOIR – unless I am missing something more subtle?!…)
Update – see comment 8 below from Indy editor, that 14A was a mistake that slipped through, rather than some particularly clever or subtle parsing!)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | PUT-UP | Do in young boxer? That’s planned beforehand (3-2) | that’s planned beforehand (e.g. a put-up job) / P_UP (young boxer, puppy) around UT (musical note, ‘do’, or doh) |
|
| 4A | GO THROUGH | & 5 Make half-hearted attempt to swim in sewer? (2,7,3,7) | make half-hearted attempt / &lit-ish double def’n:…if you swim in a sewer you might be going through the (other peoples’) ‘motions’! |
|
| 9A | POLONAISE | Traveller leads Ines a merry dance (9) | dance / POLO (Marco Polo, Middle Aged traveller!) + NAISE (anag, i.e. merry, of INES A) |
|
| 10A | PEARL | Maybe conference call finally produces something of value (5) | something of value / PEAR (maybe Conference, a type of pear) + L (final letter of calL) |
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| 11A | EASTER | A problem, delaying time for festival (6) | (originally religious, now ‘choc-commercial!) festival / ( |
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| 12A | BORODINO | He composed Ring, creating conflict (8) | conflict (battle in Napoleonic Wars) / BORODIN (composer) + O (ring) |
|
| 14A | A FORTIORI | Possibly for a laugh, back independent or for a stronger reason (1,8) | for a stronger reason / A FOR (anag, i.e. possibly, of FOR A) + TIOR (not sure, is this supposed to be RIOT – laugh – back?) + I (Independent) |
|
| 16A | FLOOR | John conceals one in tree stump (5) | stump (as in perplex) / F( |
|
| 17A | TIFFS | Mother’s abandoning dogs as pets (5) | pets (as in sulks or huffs) / ( |
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| 19A | CONSENSUS | Reportedly count on firm securing new agreement (9) | agreement / CO (company, form) + N (new) + SENSUS (homophone, i.e. reportedly – sounds like CENSUS, count) |
|
| 21A | ETHEREAL | Present cracking weird tale that’s unearthly (8) | unearthly / ET_AL (anag, i.e. weird, of TALE) around (cracked by) HERE (present) |
|
| 22A | TABARD | Tunic’s flap almost turned grey (6) | tunic / TA( |
|
| 25A | OMAHA | City in Oklahoma? Hardly! (5) | city (actually in Nebraska!) / hidden word in ‘OklahOMA HArdly’ |
|
| 26A | DALMATIAN | One’s spotted wagging tail and guarding master (9) | one’s spotted / DAL_TIAN (anag, i.e. wagging, of TAIL AND) around guarding) MA (Master of Arts) |
|
| 27A | THRESHOLD | Doorstep salesmen initially persist they’re heartless to start with (9) | doorstep / THRE (Th |
|
| 28A | EMOTE | Aloof, not the first to show strong feelings (5) | show stong feelings / ( |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | PIPPED AT THE POST | Seeded player’s first love set that put off getting narrowly beaten (6,2,3,4) | narrowly beaten / PIPPED (seeded) + AT THE POST (anag, i.e. off, of P (first letter of Player) + O (love) + SET THAT) |
|
| 2D | TELLS | Real ales regularly served? Above all temperature counts (5) | counts / T (temperature) above ELLS (regular letters of ‘rEaL aLeS’) |
|
| 3D | PUNGENT | Sarcastic joke by nice chap (7) | sarcastic / PUN (joke) + GENT (nice chap) |
|
| 4D | GRIP | Complain when terminal’s lost bag (4) | bag / GRIP( |
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| 5D | THE MOTIONS | See 4 Across (3, 7) | see 4A / see 4A |
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| 6D | REPROOF | Carpeting is semi-fire resistant (7) | carpeting / RE (half, or semi, of |
|
| 7D | UNANIMOUS | United, in sum, on a move? (9) | united / CD, or ‘United’ doing double duty? anag, i.e. move, of U (united) + IN SUM ON A |
|
| 8D | HALL OF RESIDENCE | Not good college friend has trashed his accommodation? (4,2,9) | accomodation / anag, i.e. trashed, of COLLE( |
|
| 13D | TOUCH AND GO | You see pronounced assistance stops African country reaching critical situation (5,3,2) | reaching critical situation / TO_GO (African cointry), around (stopped by) UC (homophones, i.e. pronounced, of ‘you’ and ‘see’) plus HAND (assistance) |
|
| 15D | OFF THE AIR | Not wanting a certain song that’s not on the radio (3,3,3) | not on the radio / OFF (not wanting) + THE AIR (a specific song) |
|
| 18D | SURPASS | Find out engaging right secretary is better (7) | better / SU_S (find out) around (engaging) R (right) + PA’S (secretary’s) |
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| 20D | EMANATE | Over drug, rising reputation’s at issue (7) | issue / EMAN (name, or reputation, rising) + AT + E (drug, ecstasy) |
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| 23D | AMIGO | Is your setter ready, mate? (5) | mate / AM + I + GO (is your setter ready to go?) |
|
| 24D | CLAD | Gas bill is covered (4) | covered / CL (chlorine, gas) + AD (bill, advert) |
|
Thanks Klingsor and mcr. I think you are right about 14ac. I put it in without noticing that the reversal does not work.
I would take 7dn as a complete “& lit” clue. I do not think it is too much of a stretch to say that every word is relevant to the definition.
Agree with PB on both points.
Excellent stuff, I thought. A goldilocks-zone puzzle with lots of nice clues (4/5 being my fave, obvs) and surfaces. Couldn’t see how 14a works so probably a very rare blip for this setter, though wouldn’t be surprised if there is a parse for it. Many thanks to the MC for the blog and to Klingsor for a really satisfying puzzle pitched perfectly for my solving abilitites.
I too got 14ac without bothering to parse it in detail. A parse that might work is to substitute ‘riot’ for ‘laugh’ in the anagram fodder and then add ‘i’ at the end for ‘back independent’ – but it’s not really satisfactory and almost amounts to sharp practice so more likely to be a slip that escaped both setter’s and editor’s notice.
Otherwise, an enjoyable puzzle with some great clues, although I thought 4/5 more in Punk’s style than Klingsor’s. CLAD was my LOI, too, though I was hung up on the bill being AC rather than AD.
Sorry, forgot to add thanks to setter and blogger.
Incidentally, with reference to 4/5, there’s a story about Oliver St. John Gogarty, the original for Buck Mulligan in Ulysses, that when he was captured during the Irish Civil War he escaped a firing squad by swimming in the Liffey through a sewage outlet, which he later described as “Going through the motions”.
Just completed the puzzle this morning. An enjoyable solve – 4/5 was our favourite for the laugh we had when we solved it.
Thanks for your thoughts about 14ac – we had similar concerns although we didn’t spend long on it as we now have the IQ to complete!
Thanks to S&B.
mea culpa re:14Ac, I should have spotted it – reading backwards doesn’t come easy to us westerners
Thanks for all the comments/feedback, especially eimi for clearing up (or, rather, fessing up to!) the confusion on 14A.
Sounds like all commenters enjoyed this puzzle…particularly 4/5!