A tough-but-fair mental workout from Anax this Saturday…
…two 3-linked-words clues at 6D and 18D, which either help or hinder, depending on how quickly you get them (not very quickly, in my case!), and both with ‘clever’ clues – although 6/7/8D might be described as Cyclops-ean, or Paul-esque!. Also, two long 15-letter across-es, which again can help with lots of crossing letters…once you get them.
My LOIs were CHARACTER and POSTBUS – I didn’t really associate ‘CHARTER’ with ‘privilege’, and hadn’t heard of a POSTBUS before – ‘A small bus used for delivering mail and for conveying passengers, esp. in rural areas’, so presumably a cross between Postman Pat’s van and an almost-non-existent Stagecoach actual bus?!
‘Rule-breaking’ as the definition for INTERREGNUM is equally devious/clever, and I enjoyed the surface readings of 24A and 25A.
I couldn’t find RESTUDIES, or even RE-STUDIES, specifically mentioned in my e-Chambers, but it might be in the long list of re-xxx words that drags along at the bottom for ages and ages in the R section of the paper version…should it have been indicated as hyphenated?…
All in all, fairly tough, but befitting of a Saturday puzzle…I couldn’t see any obvious Nina or theme – and it is a few letters short of being a pangram, so nothing too obviously smarty-pants, but an enjoyable and challenging solve nonetheless…thanks to Anax, and hope I have it all explained below…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | PONTIAC | Chief Constable carries it on a beat (7) | (Native American Indian) chief / P_C (Police Constable) around (carrying) ONTIA (anag, i.e. beat, of IT ON A) |
|
| 5A | POSTBUS | Picket almost destroyed delivery van (7) | delivery van / POST (picket, part of a fence) + BUS( |
|
| 9A | REARGUARD ACTION | Stand to relieve back pressure? (9,6) | &lit-ish/stand ‘(often one’s last?!) / if an army is under pressure from the rear, or back, then a REARGUARD ACTION is a stand that could relieve that pressure…(?) |
|
| 10A | UNBEATABLE | The best book has rotten cover (10) | the best / UN_EATABLE (rotten) around (covering) B (book) |
|
| 11A | ADAR | A challenge to drop last part of Jewish calendar (4) | part of (i.e. month in) Jewish calendar / A + DAR( |
|
| 13A | INTERREGNUM | Badly run regiment’s rule-breaking (11) | rule-breaking (period of time between rules, or reigns) / anag, i.e. badly, of RUN REGIMENT |
|
| 17A | GRAN TURISMO | Give Israeli man small Flash video game (4,7) | video (and computer) game / GRAN T (give) + URI (Jewish name) + S (small) + MO (moment, second, flash) |
|
| 20A | INTO | A fan of peppermint oil extract? (4) | a fan of / hidden word, i.e. extract, in ‘peppermINT Oil’ |
|
| 21A | GROUND ZERO | Fresh start before love is turned to dust? (6,4) | fresh start (or a nast end?!) / GROUND (turned to dust) before ZERO (love, score in e.g. tennis) |
|
| 24A | METROPOLITANISM | Nepotist involved with immoral city concepts (15) | city concepts / anag, i.e. involved, of NEPOTIST and IMMORAL |
|
| 25A | RUMOURS | Strange for us to produce a best-selling album (7) | best-selling album (by Fleetwood Mac) / RUM (strange) + OURS (for us) |
|
| 26A | SWEAR IN | Don opens wrong institute (5,2) | institute / S_IN (wrong) around (opened by) WEAR (don) |
|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | PURSUE | Harry and Kitty embracing for all to see (6) | harry (harass) / PURS_E (kitty) around (embracing) U (film category, suitable for all ages) |
|
| 2D | NEARBY | Handy piece of underwear and thing holding it up (6) | handy / Y_EN (desire, urge, obsession, or ‘thing’) around (holding) BRA (piece of underwear), all ‘up’ |
|
| 3D | INGRATIATE | Crawl home with good swine I feasted on (10) | crawl (up to) / IN (at home) + G (good) + RAT (swine, cad, bounder) + I + ATE (feasted on) |
|
| 4D | CHARACTER | A privilege to carry Bill’s make-up (9) | (psychological) ‘make-up / CHAR_TER (privilege, e.g. royal charter) around (carrying) AC (bill) |
|
| 5D | PEDAL | Cycle in traffic, I’d say (5) | cycle / homophone – to PEDAL (cycle) sounds like to PEDDLE (traffic, sell) |
|
| 6/7/8D | SICK | Erection to blame for this headache? (4,8,8) | &lit-ish? / SICK BUILDING SYNDROME (possibly a headache?) is presumably caused by a building, or erection. |
|
| 7D | BUILDING | See 6D (8) | See 6D / See 6D |
|
| 8D | SYNDROME | See 6D (8) | See 6D / See 6D |
|
| 12D | SECOND-RATE | Cheap fleece? Darn parts to take out (6-4) | cheap / SE_E (take out, as in date someone) around (parted by) CON (fleece) + DRAT (darn!) |
|
| 14D | RESTUDIES | Red tissue breaking bones up again (9) | bones up (on) again / anag, i.e. breaking, of RED TISSUE |
|
| 15D | AGLIMMER | A simple task to keep lake and river sparkling (8) | sparkling / A + G_IMME (simple task, easy putt in golf) around (keeping) L (lake), plus R (river) |
|
| 16D | FACTOTUM | Specific books let me think I’m a handyman (8) | handyman / FACT (specific thing) + OT (Old Testament, books) + UM (let me see, hesitation) |
|
| 18/19/22D | SENIOR | Places for the rest of the lecturers (6,6,5) | CD – cryptic definition? / SCRs are where the lecturers rest?! |
|
| 19D | COMMON | See 18D (6) | See 18D / See 18D |
|
| 22D | ROOMS | See 18D (5) | See 18D / See 18D |
|
| 23D | TOFU | In France you will carry off unfinished food (4) | food / T_U (you, in France) around (carrying) OF( |
|
Great puzzle, great blog.
I particularly enjoyed AGLIMMER and GRAN TURISMO.
I don’t do the Telegraph and Times titles so it’s a real treat to get an Anax
Thanks mc_rapper67 and to Anax a big thank you. Ignoring that of Another Person, it is my birthday this weekend, and this little beaut felt like a present!
Some lovely surfaces ( eg 1a) and a masterclass in misdirection. You pounce on how the clue ‘obviously’ worked, only to find that it doesn’t. I’ll mention just two examples. 5d looks like a hidden – isn’t. 26a looks like an anagram – isn’t.
But there may be some libel here, Dean. I doubt the Don has ever done what you suggest. And I hope Harry and Kitty don’t take action against the calumny in 1d. 🙂
Some tough clues here, I think. Used a word-fit to get 5a, which I’ve never heard of either. Guessed ADAR and PONTIAC and then checked in my dictionary/encyclopaedia. Fortunately, I knew the Fleetwood Mac album and had met INTERREGNUM before (nice clue). Some deceiving surfaces, such as 14d.
PS For those who did the recent Nimrod, you may have missed the sneaky, but beautiful, Nina down the diagonal and round the edges. Worth revisiting the blog if you did.
Quite a few answers that I needed to confirm with the oracles although I did manage the grid fill first.
The 6/7/8 combo left me aghast – is that another excuse used to claim time off with sick pay?!!
Not at all sure that sufficient time has elapsed for me to feel comfortable with 21a being included in a crossword puzzle but wouldn’t care to speculate as to when it should become acceptable.
Like Conrad Cork, I did wonder about a potential lawsuit over 1d!
Thanks to Anax/Dean and to mcr for the decryption.
I concur @baerchen-dont get enough Anax…. I remember an article following him constructing a puzzle and sometimes saying-No dont want to make it too easy”.
I hadnt heard of SBS but I was familiar with SCR.
Anax has the ability to leave you so dazed by a devious clue that you fail to see a sitter like 1d or 5d
Perfect for a weekend slot.And thanks@mc_rapper67
Those of us who walk in the Austrian Alps are very familiar with the post bus – but less so with adar, pontiac and gran turismo which all need looking up. Not very keen on yen for thing but glad to have solved a challenging puzzle. Thanks to my rapper for explaining the bits we ciuldn’t see.
Two clues put a big smile on my face before I’d even started … but given some comments already here, I’m reluctant to mention them in the same breath.
Libel? Oh dear – don’t tongues wag! Surely there’s nothing wrong with hugging a friend? Or should I great people with only a handshake at future meet-ups?
I suffered for a long time with very little up top. And in the crossword too …
Since I really, really didn’t want to cheat, some of this took days* to work out. The lower half came good without too much exertion but after that I found I had a pretty stiff challenge on my hands. I had a complete mental block with 1d, probably because I was so impatient to solve it, but not helped by the fact that the crossing answers also held out until the very end. Only once they’d fallen did the fog lift, making “my” clue the last in: frustrating and pleasing in equal measure.
I too needed to check the Jewish month and the chief, but they were gettable. I don’t know why I was so keen that 6/7/8d should start with SLOW, given I did know of the real answer. Slow is the word!
Anyway, lots of fun, for which thanks – and a demure handshake – to Anax and mc_rapper67.
* may contain traces of exaggeration
Must own up to seeking help as usual with Anax and Nimrod (although I have on occasion completed both unaided). But there were lots I did get and enjoyed, such as SWEAR IN, FACTOTUM and the two three-word answers. Needed the blog, though, to parse SECOND-RATE.
Thanks, Anax (hope to be with you in Macclesfield next month) and mc_rapper67.
Nice to have you back at the Indy Anax, even if you have been active elsewhere in other guises. Challenging, but very enjoyable as expected and lots of witty clues. I think I’ll go for NEARBY as my pick, with the wordplay for SICK BUILDING SYNDROME a close second.
Thanks again to Anax and to mc_rapper67.
Excellent and bloomin’ hard stuff with the puzzle handing me my own arse on a silver platter with the spank marks still visible. I completed just over half before retiring to lick me wounds, but really enjoyed what I did as always with this setter. Loads to admire here with my faves being the very funny surface of 6/7/8d and of course 1d for the name check.
Great to see Anax back in the Indy so thanks to The Dean for the fun and the torture and to The MC for the enlightenment. Oh, and most importantly, hippy burpday weekend to Conrad – hope you have a good one and have a drop of Scotch for me. 🙂
Wow – a veritable smorgasbord of comments – apologies, I have been offline most of the day so couldn’t respond…
Looks like a well received puzzle, and I wasn’t aware that Harry and Kitty were specific references!
jane @ #4 – Chambers has GROUND ZERO as two meanings: ‘a completely fresh beginning’, or ‘fresh start’, as defined here; as well as ‘the area directly below a nuclear explosion in the air’. So although the term has indelible connotations of the 9/11 Twin Towers site (and chilling resonance with events in London this week), I think it is probably valid to use it in one of its original meanings. (Having said that, the wordplay is a bit close to the wire!…)
Conrad – Hoppy Breathday to you!…
Hoskins @ #10 – not an image I want to have to have in my mind!
MC @11 – apologies for that image. I swear the linkage between my first and second sentences was unintentional and not noticed until after posting. Oh, for an edit button on both FifteenSquared and my poor booze-addled brain! 🙂
Oh absolute joy, an anax puzzle – albeit a pretty tough one – thank you MC_rapper for untangling it all. Just been out for dinner and a play so got around to this a bit late. (theatre, kitty)
Very special to see my friends in 1d, although i didn’t see, when was this?
quite liked seeing RUMOURS, i do remember spending a lot of time with my headphones on when that album came out.
I get mixed up between the video game and the clint eastwood movie.
Lots of fun, many thanks Anax – more please
A bit late to the party, but we really enjoyed this toughie from Anax – great to see him back in the Indy.
As expected some cunning misdirections and a real challenge for the old grey matter.
We needed a little electronic assistance to get started – perhaps being in Greece has slowed us down a bit – but once we were in the right frame of mind, it fell into place reasonably quickly. Tumbling to the excellent SICK BUILDING SYNDROME helped Enormously!
Many thanks Anax for waking us up from our holiday slumber and to mc rapper for the blog