On the previous four occasions, Dalibor’s contribution was not directly linked to the event as such, however, this one is: Dalibor @ York 2017
That said, there is no ‘inside information’ required and those who still wish to give it a go should look not further yet.
The preamble tells us that S and B have the same meaning throughout.
There are five letters S in the Across clues, all used in a different way – either as fodder, indicator or (part of the) definition.
Something similar for B which is included five times in the Down clues.
Wherever possible, Dalibor tried to give them a ‘meaningful’ (whatever that means these shambolic days) place within the surface of each clue.
It’s of course handy to find out what exactly they represent.
The blog below will make that clear.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
A completed grid is added at the end.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TYPIST | Key figure from Thailand very drunk, they say (6) |
| Homophone [they say] of: THAI (from Thailand) + PISSED (very drunk) | ||
| 4 | ABSEILED | S, oddly stuck in a layer of rock, came down safely (8) |
| The odd letters of S[p]E[c]I[a]L inside A BED (a layer of rock) | ||
| 9 | EBOLA | Travelling west, Vera’s companion catches British disease (5) |
| Reversal [travelling west] of ALOE (Vera’s companion, Aloe Vera) around B (British) | ||
| 10 | SANDBLAST | Smooth event like this has to go on and on (9) |
| S AND B (event like this, S & B) + LAST ((to) go on and on) When this blog appears, we’ll all be gone to where we feel at home (I assume). |
||
| 11 | ACHE | Long review of Eagles’ fifth, Hotel California (4) |
| [Eagl]E[s] + H (hotel) + CA (California), together reversed [review of] That album (indeed The Eagles’ 5th) made us students really run to the record shop when it was released in December 1976. More than 40 years ago now. |
||
| 12 | EPEE | Soft drugs lying around? One has a point, it can be damaging (4) |
| P (soft) with E,E,E (drugs) around it | ||
| 13 | NAMES | S means Sheila, Sue etc (5) |
| (MEANS)* [* = special] | ||
| 15 | LUSTIER | At last, S American row becomes more passionate (7) |
| [specia]L + US (American) + TIER (row) | ||
| 16 | LEAP YEAR | In 1988, possibly, a former record label got into real trouble (4,4) |
| A + PYE (former record label), together inside (REAL)* [* = trouble] Pye was a famous, former English record label, founded in 1953 and one that had its main plant in Cambridge. The early Quo recorded for them, The Kinks, Sandie Shaw and The Searchers too. In 1980 the label changed its name to PRT and years later (in 1988, indeed) it got into trouble when its new owner (Bond Corporation) suffered major financial problems. |
||
| 20 | PLAICES | Surprisingly, S for Swimmers? (7) |
| (SPECIAL)* [* = surprisingly] Now that comes as some surprise! Collins tells us that the plural of ‘plaice’ can be ‘plaices’, so there you are. |
||
| 23 | AVAST | Stop! Satnav is wrong (that’s not new) (5) |
| (SATNAV)* minus N (new) [* = wrong] | ||
| 24 | PAIN | Old man in distress (4) |
| PA (old man) + IN | ||
| 25 | VERB | For example, steal lover boy’s heart (4) |
| Hidden answer [heart]: lover boy | ||
| 27 | BUDGETING | Gemma getting less time for sorting out finances (9) |
| BUD (gemma) + {GETTING minus T (time)} Gemma is a technical term for ‘A bud or protuberance from the body that becomes a new individual (zoology)’ [Chambers]. |
||
| 28 | USUAL | U divides almost everybody including you and me, not S (5) |
| U inside US AL[l] (everybody including you and me, almost) The definition is ‘not special‘. |
||
| 29 | OPTIMISM | Chap is beginning to mature after work, showing confidence (8) |
| TIM (chap) + IS + M[ature], placed after OP (work) | ||
| 30 | ANGELA | A new setter, one’s female! (6) |
| A + N (new) + GEL (setter) + A (one) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TOENAILS | Isn’t ELO a B(and)? (8) |
| (ISN’T ELO A)* [* = broadcast] In the world of typographers, parentheses – i.e. the brackets ( and ) – are sometimes called toenails but only Collins will tell you. A bit sneaky of Dalibor to omit spaces (only to serve the surface) but there is a question mark, isn’t there? |
||
| 2 | PROPHESY | Support free-thinking, forget about ‘to preach‘ (8) |
| PROP (support) + {HERESY (free-thinking) minus RE (about)} | ||
| 3 | STAR | B A Robertson not fully an A-lister (4) |
| Hidden answer [not fully]: Broadcast A Robertson If anyone wonders who on earth B A Robertson is, well, in the 80s he co-wrote both Cliff Richard’s Carrie and Mike & The Mechanics’ The Living Years. He also enjoyed some chart success of his own, including three top ten hits. And in 1982 he wrote ‘We Have A Dream’ for the Scottish World Cup Squad (reaching #5). Unfortunately, they missed out on the quarter finals that year on goal difference …. |
||
| 5 | BANDED LAPWING | Bishop with a foolish wedding plan for native Australian (6,7) |
| B (bishop) + A + (WEDDING PLAN)* [* = foolish] Are you there, Pierre? For legal reasons, I am not allowed to show a picture of this bird. One that, as the clue tells you, feels at home in Australia. |
||
| 6 | EBBING AWAY | E-books in Irish town left unused, becoming gradually less (6,4) |
| E + B,B (books) + IN + {GALWAY (Irish town) minus L (left)} | ||
| 7 | LLAIMA | Chilean volcano visible from Peru’s capital (including its outskirts) (6) |
| LIMA (Peru’s capital) around L[im]A Too obscure? Ask Wikipedia. Eminently gettable though. Sounds like the Dalai Lama got a bit confused. |
||
| 8 | DETEST | Don’t like low grades on examination (6) |
| D,E (low grades) + TEST (examination) | ||
| 10 | SUPERGRAPHICS | Extraordinary images of chips sprinkled with sugar and pepper, no ginger (13) |
| (CHIPS + SUGAR + {PEPPER minus PEP (ginger)})* [* = sprinkled] Strange word but it is in Collins. |
||
| 14 | LIVESTREAM | Dalibor’s entertained by rock star Mel B (10) |
| I’VE (Dalibor’s, Dalibor has) inside (STAR + MEL)* [* = rock] The definition is Broadcast. |
||
| 17 | SCHEDULE | Avoid being upset by school’s timetable (8) |
| SCH (school) + reversal [being upset] of ELUDE (avoid) | ||
| 18 | ISABELLA | Woman taking one with ring into account (8) |
| A (one) + BELL (ring), together inside ISA (account, Individual Savings Account) | ||
| 21 | BAMBOO | Plant a bomb, explosive gas (6) |
| (A BOMB)*+ O (gas, oxygen) [* = explosive] | ||
| 22 | BARDOT | BT presenting old movie star (6) |
| (BROAD)* + T [* = cast] BT has to be split twice, Dalibor doing a philistine 🙂 : BT = BroadcastT = Broad/cast/T. You either love it or loathe it. [I’ve heard that Dalibor loves to loathe it – but he left it as it is] And BARDOT is of course Brigitte Bardot, kind of French equivalent to Marilyn Monroe in the 50s and 60s, nowadays an animal rights activist. |
||
| 26 | BURN | Capital B for Brook (4) |
| Homophone [broadcast] of BERNE (capital, of Switzerland) I don’t think you will find any Swiss person who considers this to be a homophone! |
||
Almost completed this at York – I’d worked out what the ‘S’ stood for but couldn’t see ‘B’ – and I needed wordfinder help when I got home for 14dn and 27ac. Even then my wordfinder only offered ‘sidestream’ for 14dn which fitted but didn’t offer enlightenment as to the ‘B’.
Thanks, though, to setter and blogger.
I struggled with this one, and I don’t think I would have completed if john_dun had not tipped me off about the meaning of the S and B at yesterday’s event. As it was, ‘ livestream’ was my last one in, and I had to confirm ‘Llaima’ post solve, as I deduced the answer from the wordplay but did not know the volcano.
Thakyou Dalibor, and hope to see you again next year.
This is an excellent puzzle, and not for the first time I have to ask why this guy hasn’t been snapped up as a setter for one of the national papers.
We have only now had time to tackle this puzzle and It took us a while to even get started. Once we had a few of the non-thematic entries we began to figure out the S and B references and once we had those we finished off fairly quickly.
We had to look up the Chilean volcano – we loved 10ac
Some really ingenious use of the Ss and Bs, and a great puzzle – we really enjoy this type of challenge, even though it might mean spending longer on the puzzle – the denouement is very satisfying!
Thanks to Dalibor and Sil (!)
Took this to do on the train to London for the Times Championships and, as is usual with Dalibor, found it rather good and rather tough. I didn’t do too well, but enjoyed what I solved and thought the S&B a nice conceit(though I didn’t get that far in deciphering what they meant). Fave clue was 1a so thanks to The Big D for the Puzzle and The Big S for the blog.