Well that was a fun weekend, I did wonder whether I’d actually be able to blog today.
You’re probably aware of the recent NHS IT troubles, well I’ve been rather busy fixing things, so this blog is bit hurried. I found this quite tricky for a Monday puzzle, but that could just be my fried brain. Can’t see much of a theme unless Daedalus has been to a palatial B&B in Norwich recently. However it is a pangram.
I was sorry to miss out on the Notttingham S&B on Saturday, hope a convivial time was had by all.
Thanks Daedalus for a welcome relief.
Across
1 Magnificent pals ate it all, except the last scraps (8)
PALATIAL
Take away the last letters of PAL(s) AT(e) I(t) AL(l)
7 Learned rude king elbows out queen (7)
BOOKISH
It’s BOORISH (rude) with R for Queen replaced by K for King
9 Gadgets communicate with it but old hotel gets confused (9)
BLUETOOTH
Most folks nowadays will have some Bluetooth devices, [BUT O(ld) HOTEL]* confused
10 One providing backing with no force beneath (5)
UNDER
F(orce) removed from (f)UNDER
11 Bit by bit while recalling tit, perhaps with grit, dull piece of s*** (2,5,3,5)
IN DRIBS AND DRABS
IN (while) & BIRD (tit maybe) reversed – recalled & SAND (grit) & DRAB (dull) & a bit of S(***)
12 Eastern town (and not that from which husband’s gone missing) (7)
NORWICH
NOR (not that) & H(usband) removed from W(h)ICH
14 We’re beaten – in fact I’m panicking (7)
TIMPANI
Hidden answer clued by IN, nicely done for a hidden I thought.
17 Sack with crack fixed room with morning snack? (3,3,9)
BED AND BREAKFAST
BED (sack) & AND (with) & BREAK (crack) & FAST (fixed)
20 Apply for release, with royal taking place of politician (5)
EXERT
R for Royal replacing M.P. in EXEMPT (release)
21 One vessel’s ready for losing battle (1,4,4)
A MUGS GAME
A (one) & MUG (vessel, pot) & ‘S & GAME=ready, Not at all obvious to me this one, with 19d taking a while to spot this was a tricky little corner
22 Where does engineer go for dip? Answer! (7)
RESPOND
The engineer might well go to the R(oyal) E(ngineer)’S POND
23 Clergyman always needs to tear about (8)
REVEREND
EVER (always) in REND (tear)
Down
1 Short request to play Scotsman’s part is common (8)
PLEBEIAN
A short PLE(a) to BE IAN (the proverbial crosswordese Scotsman)
2 It’s often clear who in Paris is wearing hat (6)
LIQUID
QUI (who in French, where’s Pierre when you need him, probably gallivanting around at the Presidential do yesterday) inside LID for hat
3 Taking every tip to zip at the zip, I kip in a dip (8)
TZATZIKI
Greek stuff I can’t spell so thankfullly Daedalus helps by making it the first letter (tip) of the clue words
4 In every case, chart doors and base all out of place (6,3,5)
ACROSS THE BOARD
[CHART DOORS BASE]* out of place
5 Short sporting American and German making merry (6)
JOCUND
A short JOC(k) – American College sportsmen & UND ( German for AND)
6 What’s repeated about sun god (6)
CHORUS
C(irca) & HORUS (Sun God most famous for appearing in Only Connect)
7 Old-fashioned butcher vied frantically with hen (6,3,5)
BEHIND THE CURVE
[BUTCHER VIED HEN]* frantically
8 State where huntress’s heart belongs (7)
INDIANA
DIANA is the goddess of hunting so the heart would be IN DIANA
13 Correct about what to wear (7)
REDRESS
RE (about) & DRESS (what you should wear)
15 As ruse might do, to be certain? (4,4)
MAKE SURE
An anagram of RUSE could MAKE SURE
16 I printed blurrily in bold (8)
INTREPID
A blurred [I PRINTED]*
17 Tired round-the-world traveller Nellie given attention (6)
BLEARY
Nellie BLY was a journalist who went round the world in not 80 but 72 days woth EAR for attention inserted
18 Someone else proceeding with idea (6)
NOTION
Someone else would be NOT I & ON (preceeding)
19 A motley sounding group of tribes (6)
APACHE
A & sounds like patchy. The apache weren’t a tribe as such but the tribes collectively
I felt that this seemed easy for a Daedalus until I hit the NE quarter. I took more time to get 7a, 5d and 6d than the rest put together. Thanks to Daedalus and flashling.
I flew through most of this but then got totally held up on 6down. Partly the problem was that I’d convinced myself that the answer was a god and also that I’m used to Ra rather than Horus as being the sun god (never watched Only Connect). Like Flashing, I’m rather glad that the clue for 3 down spelt out the word. If it’d had been a homophone, I’d have been totally lost.
Very enjoyable stuff from Daedalus as usual. Defo the easiest of his I’ve done so far, but with a sting in the tail as the last 6 took a while, and then the last 2 (6d &17d) finally beat me. Lots of interesting clueing and fun some fun surfaces so thanks to The Mazeman for a nice puzzle and to The Flash for getting out the blog in the face of international IT disasters.
I too got held up in the NE quarter having only cursorily read the clue to 7ac and bunged in ERUDITE without thinking how to parse (RUDE)* plus I,T and E. It was only when the penny dropped that 7dn could only be BEHIND THE CURVE (an expresssion I didn’t know) that I sorted things out. Doh!
And I should have read the clue to 3dn more carefully instead of googling for something that sounded vaguely like ‘tatsaki’. Doh, again!
Bonus points to Daedalus for the rhyming clues – most ingenious.
Thanks, Daedalus and flashling.
Quite a tough one I thought, and like allan_c I did myself no favours by piling in with ERUDITE early doors. I suspected it must be a pangram though as it’s a fairly odd-looking grid with lots of double unches, and this certainly helped in the tricky corners.
Some very neat clues. I enjoyed DRIBS AND DRABS and APACHE.
Thanks to D for a fun start to the week and F for the write-up
Harder start to the week than usual but the rhyming triplets or whatever they’re called were a lovely touch from a setter who hasn’t had the best reception in these parts.
TZATZIKI I knew how to spell because I managed it in Scrabble once. Shame one of the Z’s was a blank. Thanks to S&B
Special mention for the “rhyming triplets”. Great stuff.
Thanks to Daedalus and flashling.
Thoroughly enjoyed this so thanks to setter and blogger. Amazed nobody has taken either of them to task for downgrading Norwich from city to town, as if their team missing out on the play-offs wasn’t bad enough!
Thanks to all for comments, and to Flashing for a fine blog (and even more for helping get the NHS up and running again!). Glad the rhymes were appreciated. Some of the clues just seemed to want to come out like that.