An enjoyable crossword from Crosophile today, with no very major pieces of controversy so far as I can see. All right, there are a couple of clues that I can’t quite explain properly but that’s probably just me.
Definitions in maroon, underlined.
The theme, which I struggled with for a while, is cheese and the statement attributed to Emerson, which I eventually saw I think. Cheddar, Boursin and Cheshire straddle the clues in rows 1, 5 and 7, but could I find any other cheeses? A long hunt, but then eventually this statement made by combining 17ac, 22ac and 27ac. If the mousetrap is unsatisfactory the mice will eat all the cheese and there will be nothing left, so no wonder no more cheeses were evident.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BLEACHED | Turned white and pained after a lot of lost blood (8) |
| ble{d} ached | ||
| 5 | DARTED | Shot dead protecting heartless traitor – it’s all over (6) |
| (de(t{raito}r)ad)rev. | ||
| 10 | CUT AND DRY | What hairdresser might do is decided in advance (3,3,3) |
| 2 defs — I’d always thought that it was ‘cut and dried’, but perhaps all my life I’ve misheard it; anyway this variation — if it is one — does seem vaguely familiar | ||
| 11 | ASPIC | Game might be set in this? Like a shot (5) |
| as [= like] pic [=a shot] | ||
| 12 | HARBOUR | A length of time to hang around rowdy bar in refuge (7) |
| h(arb)our, the arb being (bar)* | ||
| 13 | SINCERE | Honest following scriptural instruction (7) |
| since RE | ||
| 14 | SCRATCHES | Sweden outside right gets hold of the ball and scores (9) |
| S c(r)atches | ||
| 16 | HIRES | This man has got round the old taxman and employs workers (5) |
| h(IR)e’s — the old taxman is the Inland Revenue | ||
| 17 | BUILD | Style of construction as advertised on radio? (5) |
| “billed” | ||
| 19 | PERKINESS | Roughly peels second bit of orange skin (left over) for zest (9) |
| (peels {o}r{ange} skin – l)* | ||
| 22 | ABETTER | One more 25; he helps you in trouble (7) |
| 2 defs — one more 25 = one more capable [Actually as Hovis@2 implies, it’s not 2 defs; the second one is the def; the wordplay is a + better [= more capable]] | ||
| 25 | CAPABLE | Competent dad put in some wiring (7) |
| ca(Pa)ble | ||
| 26 | ELUDE | Avoid opening of concert piece, giving piano runs a miss (5) |
| {p r}elude — a prelude is an opening-of-concert-piece | ||
| 27 | MOUSETRAP | Opera must beat long-running play (9) |
| (Opera must)* — this play | ||
| 28 | THESES | Research papers – the ones on hand surgery primarily (6) |
| these [= the ones on hand] s{urgery} | ||
| 29 | CEREMONY | Formal act put Spain in credit with money all over the place (8) |
| c(E)r (money)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BACCHUS | God heard supplication for support (7) |
| “back us” | ||
| 2 | ENTERER | He goes in heart of USA heading off to their A&E (7) |
| {c}enter ER — the USA’s version of A&E is ER | ||
| 3 | CONCOCTED | Fabricated swindle with last month put back and this one included (9) |
| con c(Oct)eD, the ceD being (Dec)rev. — December being the last month of the year | ||
| 4 | ELDERSHIP | It’s a condition of old people; seeing where to source one wild fruit and another (9) |
| elders and hip are the two wild fruits — but the seeing where to source is a bit of a mystery | ||
| 6 | AGAIN | Further Away win (5) |
| a gain | ||
| 7 | TOP GEAR | For Rattle, great musical work included – probably the Fifth (3,4) |
| (great)* round op. — the anagram indicator is ‘For Rattle’ and the reference to the Fifth is not to Beethoven’s or anyone else’s Fifth Symphony or Piano Concerto or whatever, but the fifth gear in a car — I haven’t driven for nearly 30 years so so don’t know how things have changed, but in the 80s it was rare for a car to have a fifth gear | ||
| 8 | DUCHESS | Royal bonkers used such when partly out of uniform (7) |
| (used such – u)* — I think the ‘partly’ is there because u appears twice and this is just one of them | ||
| 9 | GYMS | Where to work out the boundaries in geometry maths (4) |
| g{eometr}y m{ath}s — ‘geometry maths’ is not a very felicitous term, something I’ve never heard | ||
| 15 | STRUCTURE | Building impacted mostly on pasture after the initial step (9) |
| struc{k} {pas}ture — the initial step is the pas [= dance] at the beginning | ||
| 16 | HAIRPIECE | A top-level cover-up – does it follow mad March days say? (9) |
| “Hare peace” I think, but if asked to explain in detail I’d be a bit lost | ||
| 17 | BRAVEST | Most daring underwear (7) |
| bra vest | ||
| 18 | ICE CUBE | I see polar bear’s offspring perhaps caught inside a frozen block (3,4) |
| I ce(cub)e — see = cee? | ||
| 20 | EMBARGO | Seeing only Mr Bean’s ‘oddities’, therefore all round restraint required (7) |
| e(mba)rgo, the mba being M{r} B{e}a{n} | ||
| 21 | STEEPLY | How pointy bit of church rises? (7) |
| The pointy bit of a church is a steeple, so it rises steeple-y or steeply, and it also rises steeply in the usual sense of steeply | ||
| 23 | THEME | Those things leading to end of mice? (as seen in this crossword) (5) |
| them {mic}e — as seen in this crossword, a theme (as described in the preamble) | ||
| 24 | RUMP | The president’s no leader, a butt (4) |
| {T}rump — I did this one first of all and thought here we go, yet another crossword extolling Trump’s unpleasant nuttiness, but no | ||
*anagram
16d is presumably a reference to mad March hares.
Thanks to S & B.
I assumed HAIR in HAIRPIECE was a homonym for ‘hare’ as in the March hare, but don’t get ‘piece’ or ‘peace’ for ‘days’. CEE for SEE in 18d doesn’t work for me. People use the letter C for the word ‘see’ but this doesn’t really explain it. Not sure if this is what you meant in your blog John, but I read the first part of 22a as A + BETTER for ‘one’ + ‘more capable’.
I failed in the NE, not getting DARTED, AGAIN, ASPIC or TOP GEAR. Also missed the cheese theme. Meant to look for theme after getting 23d but forgot. Would have helped complete it I guess. Favourite clue for surface reading was SCRATCHES.
Thanks to John and Crosophile.
I eventually saw the cheeses but would never have got the 17a 22a 27a quote or its meaning for the rest of the puzzle. Yes, as Rullytully@1 explains, I think 16d just means that “hare peace” follows the days of March when hares are supposedly mad. I cee what you mean about CEE for ‘see’. Couldn’t fully explain ELDERSHIP either. Does one source the two wild fruits from an ELDERS HIP – I suppose this is what Crosophile is getting at.
Thanks to Crosophile and all credit to John for identifying and explaining the full significance of such a difficult theme. You’ve really earned your blogger’s salary – which I’m sure includes plenty of zeroes – today.
Hovis @2
From Chambers:
cee – The third letter of the modern English alphabet (C or c)
see – The third letter of the alphabet (C, c)
So cee=see(=C).
Thanks Gaufrid @4. Never new the letter could be spelt ‘see’. Live and learn. btw, I meant to mention that for ELDERSHIP, I took it to be ELDERS (the trees where you can source one wild fruit – elderberries) + HIP (another wild fruit).
Crosophile is always interesting and engaging and this one was no different. He’s also hard for me sometimes, but I did pretty well on this, though didn’t quite complete and missed the theme (well done, John!). Lots to like, but my honours today go 17d, wot I thought very nice. Cheers to the lover of the grids for the, er, grid, and to John for the blog.
Even with the prompt in the puzzle, I went and forgot to look for the theme. Oh well – I hardly think I’d have found the 17a, 22a 27a anyway!
I had the same questions as those raised above and came to the same conclusions. Found a lot to like but can’t decide on any for special mention today. Just solid enjoyment, which I found got tougher as I progressed but no less engaging.
Thanks to Crosophile and John.
Like others, we had trouble parsing ICE CUBE, and thought the usual expression referenced in 10ac to be ‘cut and dried’ – there’s an interesting discussion on the latter subject here, btw. Actually what a hairdresser might do is often referred to as ‘cut and blow dry’.
A satisfying solve, nevertheless. Thanks, Crosophile and John.
Many thanks, John. And thanks for all comments. I think all queries were eventually answered so, nice work.
Yes, March hares are ‘mad’ because of their fighting for mates in that season, so hare peace might [arguably!] break out when that’s over.
And indeed, unlike hips, elders aren’t themselves wild fruits but only the source of them (elderberries).
And C=see=cee (senor).
I was sorry not to have inserted more cheeses. I’m sure it could be done but the other words tend to become rapidly more obscure which is a bit unfair for the solver.
Glad clue to scratches was liked. My own favourite was the top gear one.
Yes, Hovis@2, you’re right; it’s a + better; blog amended.