Hypnos and I haven’t met for ages and this pleasant simple crossword shows that he hasn’t lost anything. Nothing much to say really: just a whole lot of sound and very satisfactory clues. The Wednesday standard set by Dac is being maintained.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
I have a feeling that Hypnos doesn’t do Ninas, so I haven’t looked very hard. But nothing stands out, and if I’d been more assiduous then perhaps it wouldn’t have stood out anyway.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ALSATIAN | It could be barking at animals with minute gone (8) |
| (at animals – m)*, &lit., although I can’t see how an alsatian barking with a minute gone is anything natural. May be missing something. | ||
| 5 | GAMBOL | Frolic to take a punt, we’re told (6) |
| “gamble” | ||
| 9 | FANATICAL | Very zealous supporter in charge in a short discussion (9) |
| fan (a t(i/c)al{k}) | ||
| 11 | AWFUL | Hideous Welsh sport largely set in a lake (5) |
| A (W fu{n}) L | ||
| 12 | NOTEPAD | Pedant troubled about circle, a recourse for writers (7) |
| (pedant)* round o | ||
| 13 | IRONIST | Actor touring India and Thailand, one using words incongruously (7) |
| Iron(I)s T — although I’m not absolutely sure about ‘incongruously’, which doesn’t seem to describe the speech of an ironist — ref Jeremy Irons | ||
| 14 | TIME-HONOURED | Long-respected king, say, entertained by US magazine editor (4-8) |
| (Time (honour) ed) — Time is the American magazine and a king is an honour card | ||
| 18 | CLAPPERBOARD | PR place moved by executives – it’s used by directors? (12) |
| (PR place)* board — the directors are not the executives referred to in the clue, but film directors | ||
| 21 | INFERNO | Deduce refusal in hellish location (7) |
| infer no | ||
| 22 | ETHANOL | Intoxicant consumed by Gareth, an Olympian (7) |
| Hidden in GarETH AN OLympian | ||
| 24 | PIANO | Incredible number seen by a limited number – a grand? (5) |
| pi a no. — ‘incredible’ isn’t the first adjective I’d have used in connection with pi, since it’s perfectly credible, simply rather special, but I suppose in the sense ‘amazing’ it’s OK | ||
| 25 | EXTROVERT | Former car in Manx event, one given to company? (9) |
| ex T(Rover)T | ||
| 26 | EGRESS | Exit say with lock not opening (6) |
| eg {t}ress | ||
| 27 | HEN-HUSSY | Interfering male, man given hour on American ship in New York (3-5) |
| he N(h USS)Y — not a term I knew, but straightforward enough from the wordplay and checkers | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | AFFINITY | A fine fellow in European country dismissing a large attraction (8) |
| a f F in It{a l}y | ||
| 2 | SANCTUMS | Second TUC man’s ordered private rooms (8) |
| s (TUC man’s)* | ||
| 3 | TOT UP | Add drink at college (3,2) |
| tot [= drink] up [= at college] | ||
| 4 | ACCIDENT-PRONE | Decrepit canon slipping is liable to mishaps (8-5) |
| (decrepit canon)* | ||
| 6 | AT A LOW EBB | A voluntary group see BBC news presenter in a miserable way (2,1,3,3) |
| a TA lo! Webb — ref Justin Webb | ||
| 7 | BOFFIN | Book cancelled by popular scientist (6) |
| b off [= cancelled] in [= popular] — boffin used in the way that I prefer, rather than the odious way in which Sarah Walker refers to those backroom people who intertwine two pieces of music for the question she asks on Radio 3 around 9.30 a.m., once a week when she is presenting — odious because it suggests that clever people are somehow different and to be humoured | ||
| 8 | LOLITA | A work turns up about centre of probe, controversial work (6) |
| (a till)rev. round {pr}o{be} — Lolita | ||
| 10 | LEISURE CENTRE | The French island certain to contain modern recreational amenity (7,6) |
| le i su(recent)re | ||
| 15 | HILARIOUS | Very funny hour I sail at sea (9) |
| (hour I sail)* | ||
| 16 | PAINLESS | Simple old man wearing fewer clothes? (8) |
| pa in less — if he’s in less he’s wearing fewer clothes | ||
| 17 | IDOLATRY | Papers with time inspired by eccentric royal, showing undue adoration (8) |
| ID ola(t)ry, the olary being (royal)* | ||
| 19 | DIMPLE | Dark place leaving a cold depression? (6) |
| dim pl{a c}e | ||
| 20 | AFFAIR | A passenger picked up for business (6) |
| “a fare” | ||
| 23 | HOOCH | Stop old companion making illegal liquor (5) |
| ho! o CH | ||
*anagram
A pleasant enough solve. 1a not the greatest of &lits – putting ‘a metre away’ would work better imho. Also not convinced with definition for ironist. Hen-hussy was a new word for me. Favourites were 16d and 19d.
Very enjoyable easier-end stuff. I whizzed through the majority, but there were a few at the end to give me pause for thought and work my brain cell. Lots of solid clueing throughout and my honours for the day go to the solve itself which was just right for a Wednesday. Many thanks to Hypnos for the puzzle and to John for the blog.
20d – hmmmm. Could have done with a “sounds like”.
Lenin@3, ‘picked up’ is often used for ‘sounds like’.
Very nicely-made puzzle.
Good puzzle indeed. ‘Hen hussy’ was my last in after checking for the same reason as John: never ‘eard of it, but a useful bit of vocabulary. Just a coupla things…
I think 1a isn’t so much an &lit as ‘barking’ doing double-duty as anagrind and part of the def which I took to be just ‘It could be barking’.
Some duplication in 9a, surely, what with ‘fan’ being short for ‘fanatic’ anyway…?
And in 13a, irony/satire/sarcasm is a notorious minefield but an ‘ironist’ is one who says the opposite of what he means for comic or satirical effect. The usual example given is that of Jonathan Swift’s ‘Modest Proposal’ that Irish babies be killed and eaten as a solution to Famine: ‘incongruity’ between meaning and intention would cover that neatly, I’d have thought.
But good fun, thanks to both.
ALSATIAN: ‘it could be’ is extraneous anyway, so certainly no &lit. And the ‘with minute gone’ doesn’t add much in the way of definition really. What does that bit bit mean?!?!
Re: the surface of 1a, the term ‘with a minute gone’ is used in football contexts such as ‘he scored with a minute gone’ etc so the pictures the clue painted for me were of a police dog barking at the animals (as in hooligans) just after a football match kick-off; a dog watching a timed dog fight before its turn; and a timed event in Crufts/One Man and his Dog. Of course, I might be barking up the wrong tree or just plain barking, but that’s how this reporter saw it, ma’am.
No, Hoskins, it’s not an &lit. You need to get out more, and to less esoteric sporting events.
I agree I need to get out more, Grant, and, what with being a fan of the little known sport of cally-bogging, I agree about the esoteric nature of my sporting likes – but I can’t see where you got the idea I mentioned anything about &lits. I was talking about surface only as prefaced by my saying “Re: the surface of 1a” and then going on to say “the pictures the clue [I.E the clue’s surface] painted for me” and also not mentioning anything about &lits in the whole of the post.
Thanks, John, for the blog. I needed it, if for nothing else, to parse LOLITA; having convinced myself that “work” indicated “toil” that meant that it was only an anagram, not a reversal, and I couldn’t see where the second L came from. HEN HUSSY was new to me, but clear enough from the wordplay.
Thanks, too, to Hypnos
To Hoskins @10.
Then apologies, natch. Looked rather as though you were defending the &lit. Googled ‘cally-bogging’ and you’re right that it is little-known. This is alll going a bit off-topic, so perhaps you’d like to define it in General Discussion…?
No worries, Grant and apologies to you too.
Reading my post back I can see that, although I didn’t have &lits in mind as was responding about the ‘with minute gone’ bit, it was a fair conclusion for you to reach (especially as I didn’t @7 that post) as in giving my surface readings it enabled a semi&lit clue to work if you go with that reading, natch.
As for cally-bogging – not surpised you didn’t find it on teh interwebz, it was created by Luddites and so no E-advertising is allowed. I find out about the sporting meets by smoke signal and quite often turn up in the fens of Wisbech only to find no event on due to my landlady, Mrs Frottage, having had a chip pan fire in the flat below me the day before.
To Hoskins:
Ah. That all makes perfect sense.
Phew, Grant, that’s a relief as I thought I mighta just been making it all up as I went along. Hope to see you on the morrow. 🙂