A really challenging puzzle from Wanderer this Friday – remarkable diversity in the type of clues meant several pleasant moments of pulling my hair out.
FF: 8 DD:10
| Across | ||
| 1 | DAYBOOK | Where transactions might appear as odd bits of debt written out in full (7) |
| DeBt (odd bits), written out in full i.e. D – Day, B- Book | ||
| 5 | MEMORY | Some prompting needed for this, perhaps (6) |
| cryptic clue; referring to “pROMpting” (some) – Read Only Memory. | ||
| 8, 9 | TROUBLE IN STORE | Problems going forward, with no tries as a result? (7,2,5) |
| crptic clue, ‘NO TRIES’ can be clued as ‘trouble in store’ with trouble being the anagrind. | ||
| 11 | ERNST | Artist from postmodern state (5) |
| hidden in “..postmodERN STate” | ||
| 12 | JITTERBUG | Series of steps coming out of Spooner’s freezing cold prison (9) |
| spoonerism of BITTER (freezing cold) JUG (prison) | ||
| 13 | OVERTURE | Reverse cut by English opener? (8) |
| OVERTURn (reverse, cut) E (english) | ||
| 15 | OFFSET | Compensate for TV not working (6) |
| cryptic clue; TV not working = OFF SET | ||
| 17 | SAMOSA | Indian food initially served in state in South Pacific (6) |
| S (initially Served) in SAMOA (state in south pacific) | ||
| 19 | BALLYHOO | Dance with lout, without a fuss (8) |
| BALL (dance) YaHOO (lout, without ‘A’) | ||
| 22 | ASTRAKHAN | Car with common Asian name in Russian city (9) |
| ASTRA (car, opel/vauxhall) KHAN (common asian name) | ||
| 23 | BUDGE | Move that’s a bit of a bloomer, say, on reflection (5) |
| BUD (bit of a bloomer) GE (say = EG, reversed) | ||
| 24, 25 | LEAVE WELL ALONE | Go and fit a large unit, and don’t touch the water supply! (5,4,5) |
| LEAVE (go) WELL (fit) A L (large) ONE (unit) | ||
| 26 | PEWTER | It’s safe having tungsten in an alloy (6) |
| PETER (safe) containing W (tungsten, chemical symbol for wolfram) | ||
| 27 | AROUSAL | American adult into a sort of oral stimulation (7) |
| [US (american) A (adult) ] in ORAL* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DOTHEBOYS HALL | School party has got excited during hot belly-dancing (9,4) |
| DO (party) [HAS HOT BELLY]* | ||
| 2 | YAOUNDE | Over a year rearing daughter in a foreign capital (7) |
| YAO [ O (over) A Y (year), reversed ] [D (daughted) in UNE (a, foreign, french)] | ||
| 3 | ORBIT | Travel round ring road’s first part (5) |
| O (ring) R (Road’s first) BIT (part) | ||
| 4 | KNEE-JERK | Unconsciously reactive idiot, following bender (4-4) |
| JERK (idiot) after KNEE (bender) | ||
| 5 | MINUTE | A record from the ‘60s (6) |
| cryptic clue; 60s (seconds) is a minute. | ||
| 6 | MASTERFUL | Like imam that’s authoritative expert (9) |
| double def | ||
| 7 | RHOMBUS | Figure doctor in audience cut and run first (7) |
| [MB (doctor) in HOUSe (audience, cut) ] with R (run) at first | ||
| 10 | EIGHTSOME REEL | Dance numbers by REM and ELO, playing around Spain (9,4) |
| EIGHTS (numbers) [ REM ELO* around E (spain, espana) ] | ||
| 14 | TESTAMENT | Will people dressed in poor taste follow leading model? (9) |
| [MEN (people) in TASTE*] after T (model, car from ford) | ||
| 16 | MAGNOLIA | Old woman in gaol, turning a pale creamy-white colour (8) |
| MA (old woman) followed by IN GOAL* | ||
| 18 | METHANE | Neat production, as Macbeth himself might have admitted? (7) |
| cryptic clue; neat here refers to an ox or cow. macbeth could admite ” ME THANE”, thane meaning tenant of the crown. | ||
| 20 | HIDEOUS | Ugly hairdo, when uneven? Redo cut so just even (7) |
| HaIrDo (without even letters) followed by rEdO cUt So (even letters) | ||
| 21 | SHOWER | Bath’s alternative bunch of incompetents? (6) |
| double def | ||
| 23 | BRAVO | First on buzzer? Well done! (5) |
| B (first on Buzzer) – phonetic code is BRAVO | ||
*anagram
For 6D, I thought the intention might have been that “Imam” is full of (i.e. contains) MA, master of arts, and so is masterful.
Thanks TL & Wanderer.
good spot deke @1. There had to be more to this than a dd.
Very very hard. For me.
Very tricky, but enjoyable nonetheless. I think the hardest Wanderer I have attempted. Many thanks to him for the challenge!
I parsed 6D in the same way as deke @1: iMAm is full of a master.
It probably doesn’t make much difference, but I parsed 1D as DO + [HAS* inside (“during”) HOTBELLY*] – “got excited” and “dancing” as the two distinct anagrinds.
Thanks Wanderer and Turbolegs
Found this quite tough, taking three sittings to get it out, and still missed both hidden internal definitions of ROM (5a) and MA (6d). Did get the related logic with the D(ay) B(ook) at 1a and the B(ravo) at 23d – but not without getting the answer first and working backwards.
A lot of interesting cryptic thinking required throughout to get to the end of what was the best puzzle of the week for me.
Finally finished in the NW corner with DAYBOOK and DOTHEBOYS HALL (from one of the Dickens books that I haven’t read) as the last couple in.
It vertainly was tough – but reasonbly doable as the crossers emerged.
1a I just biffed (the rest I got – some after quite a stare) so thanks for the explanation.
Thanks also for the blog in general – and to the setter for a good and eventually rewarding tussle.