Tyrus seems to appear less frequently than of old. I have both tackled and blogged a fair few in the Saturday slot, and I generally find his puzzles harder than most. This time, I think I spooked myself and began to lose confidence after getting very little reward for my early efforts.
After initially patting myself on the back for getting 12A Amphibia as the First One In after spotting the anagram indicator and fodder and not giving up fiddling with the letters too soon (as I might have done on my daily commute). I only got another 5 answers on the first pass – one of which proved to be wrong. This made me think the puzzle was a going to be a real challenge. The rest of the solve took a fair while culminating in recourse to Google to confirm the main answer. Of course, as usual, in retrospect, looking back at the answers you wonder what was the problem …
… nicely misleading clues, that’s what!
Is there a theme? I can’t any more football answers besides the main WSC answer and Everton, and I can’t see anything else going on.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1/4/10 | WHEN SATURDAY COMES | Friend with space for magazine? (4,8,5) I had all crossing letters bar the D of 7D before deciding the answer just had to be what it was, but at that time I had no idea what part of the clue was wordplay or definition or how it works. It took googling the phrase to discover the footie magazine (WSC website) (Wiki: When Saturday Comes). Which leaves “Friend with space” for the wordplay … which took till doing this blog to spot that Friend written with a space in the middle = Fri End = When Friday ends Saturday comes ! |
| 11 | ABUTTING | Touching? One still can have a little grope (8) A (one) BUT (still) TIN (can) G[rope] (a little grope). Yes. Well. An allusion to D.Trump’s frankly criminal behaviour I assume. |
| 12 | AMPHIBIA | A bad habit I’m keeping quiet – no time for animals (8) A, then (HABIT I’M P (quiet) – T[ime])* AInd: bad. First one In |
| 13 | AGREED | Yes, it’s a sin (6) A GREED (sin) |
| 14 | INSTIL | Implant isn’t working – not finished unfortunately (6) (ISN’T)* AInd: working, IL[l] (unfortunately, not finished) |
| 15 | THEORISE | Not those snaring men, I suppose (8) THESE (not those) around OR (men) and I |
| 17 | SCREAMER | Noisy lover is briefly on top, then on back (8) ‘S (is briefly) CREAM (top) RE< (on, back). Penultimate answered – I found this very difficult to deduce |
| 20 | CUSTER | General loss of libido initially in group (6) CLUSTER – L[ibido]. |
| 22 | PASTEL | Drawing up as telephone rings (6) Hidden in uP AS TELephone |
| 24 | FRILLIES | Girls run in underwear (8) R[un] inside FILLIES |
| 25 | BROUHAHA | Fuss picking up drink – it’s a joke! (8) Homophone “Brew” Indicator: picking up, then HA HA (it’s a joke!) |
| 26 | ELIOT | Writer‘s online work reviewed (5) E-TOIL (online work) with TOIL reversed |
| 27 | DEPOSITS | Top sides changed places (8) (TOP SIDES)* AInd: changed |
| 28/2 | GENE HACKMAN | Cast make change with new actor (4,7) (MAKE CHANGE N[ew])* AInd: cast. The answer that got me going again after a period of nothing once I’d sorted out which part of the clue was anagram indicator and which fodder. |
| Down | ||
| 3 | NYMPHETTE | Heartless man, the type to upset Lolita (9) (M[a]N THE TYPE)* AInd: upset |
| 5 | AS A MATTER OF FACT | ‘Really unfortunate’ – team star describing a poor performance (2,1,6,2,4) (TEAM STAR)* AInd: unfortunate, around (describing) A, then OFF ACT (poor performance). |
| 6 | ULULATE | Howl – American singer flipped over note (7) (A[merican] LULU)< , TE (note). Not an American singer, but A[merican] then a [Scottish] singer. |
| 7 | DETER | German‘s not one to put off (5) DIETER – I |
| 8 | YANKEES | Any trouble, hunt for uppity Northerners (7) ANY* AInd: trouble, SEEK< |
| 9 | ISABEL | She lives with murder victim (6) IS (lives) ABEL (murder victim) |
| 16 | RESOLVING | Deciding what you’re doing about leads (9) RE (about), then SOLVING (what you’re doing – I was, slowly) |
| 18 | CHARRED | Wander up country without getting burnt (7) ERR< (wander, up) inside CHAD (country) Last One In but pretty obvious when the first letter arrived |
| 19 | MULLAHS | Letter will upset learned Muslims (7) MU (letter) SHALL< (will, up) |
| 20 | CRIPES | I’m dismayed Papa is shouting out (6) CRIES around P (Nato alphabet Papa). An exclamation common in the pages of the Beano c.1970 but not in real life. |
| 21 | EVERTON | Playing most of time in school team (7) VER somehow inside ETON (school). I had the answer in as the team and Eton as the school early on, but this was the last bit of wordplay I unpicked: To get VER from “Playing most of the time” we use V[ersus] (Playing) then ER[a] (time, shortened) |
| 23 | THUMP | Hit town on hunch (5) T[own] HUMP |
Thanks beermagnet and salutations Tyrus. A joy from end to end.
Didn’t know and couldn’t parse 1,4,10, even though the answer was obvious. Had to come here to parse the ‘ver’ bit of Everton (again even though the answer was obvious). And I have led too sheltered a life to know that a screamer is a noisy lover. 🙁
Reading through the clues post-solve, I am left, as I always am with Jim the Great’s efforts, in awe at the ingenuity and variety of his cluing, and the wonderful surfaces. I owe that man a drink!
Thanks beermagnet for saving me a sleepless night trying to parse 1/4/10.Re 17a er..no comment!
Great puzzle.
Actually there is a track on the Stones’ Goat head Soup called Star Star and there is a verse with an ending that refs 17.Ribauld indeed.Not my fave Stones album, I might say.
I can’t remember ever finishing a Tyrus puzzle so quickly yet being so much in the dark about some of the parsing so many thanks to beermagnet for lighting the way.
Great stuff
Excellent stuff from Tyrus with the usual concise, funny and clever clues with lots of misdirection. I found this one easier than last time out and was pleased with myself on completing in around 70mins. Of course, it wasn’t without its solving ups and downs and I chucked in a few from the crossers, but my probs were mostly self-made due to spelling ‘Abel’ as ‘Able’ – doh! Anyhoo, this was pretty much a perfect Saturday puzzle for me and so, with too many great clues to choose a fave from, I’ll just say thanks to Tyrus for a top puzzle and cheers to BM for the enlightenment of the parsage wot I missed.
Too much of a slog to be really enjoyable, and in the end I had to make a couple of guesses to finish it, which both turned out to be wrong.
Incidentally, I was so confident that the answer to 6dn was going to be GINSBERG that I was halfway through entering it before I realised it was one letter too long.
Many thanks to beermagnet for the blog and to others for their comments.
Great puzzle and blog. I particularly liked GENE HACKMAN and, being a Toffee, EVERTON.
Very late to the party having been away Saturday to Monday without internet access but I printed the puzzle before I left. I found it a real struggle, finishing it about 1.30 am Sunday. I’d never heard of WSC and couldn’t make head or tail of the clue – it was simply that nothing else that made any sort of sense would fit, and for a long time I was fixated on the idea that the third word of 1/4/10 had to be ‘Times’ until i got 28/2.
Thanks, Tyrus and beermagnet