A highly entertaining, tough challenge from Punk today.
It took us a while to get into the puzzle and there were a number that we guessed from the crossing letters before we were able to parse them. One of these was 20/19 which made us both laugh when we realised the construction. Another ‘cheeky’ clue was 8d which made Bert laugh when he solved it.
Joyce kept looking for an old drink starting DR P.T….. ( a cousin perhaps of the well-known carbonated drink) until Bert finally realised what the answer was. Joyce remembers her Mr Potato Head set with great affection but cannot understand why you have to have a plastic body in the set nowadays. It was one of her favourite characters in the Toy Story movies.
While we are discussing memories, Joyce was very upset that the definition in 18ac wasn’t ‘trendy top’. She wore a great ‘twin set’ in 1965 when she met Bert!
We are returning from France during the day and will not have access to the internet, if there are any errors or omissions we will deal with them when we are home.
Thanks Punk.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1/17 | Calling trick very cheap, powerful girl? (5,4,6) | |
| KNOCK DOWN GINGER | KNOCK DOWN (very cheap) GINGER (powerful girl – Ginger Spice from the ‘Girl Power’ group perhaps?). This was our LOI and the definition needed to be checked in Chambers. | |
| 6 | See 23 Down | |
| 9 | Most original, a grotesque making things alluring? (13) | |
| GLAMORISATION | An anagram of MOST ORIGINAL A – anagrind is ‘grotesque’ | |
| 10 | Old drink bottles nicked, a drunkard lacking energy knocked over, his features rearranged? (2,6,4) | |
| MR POTATO HEAD | MEAD (old drink) around or ‘bottling’ HOT (nicked) A TOPeR (drunkard) reversed or ‘knocked over’ without or ‘lacking’ E (energy) | |
| 13 | Quick player finding success with national team? Not a lot (6) | |
| WINGER | WIN (success) with GER |
|
| 15 | Wind set to change, too soon for a mask? (8) | |
| EASTERLY | An anagram of SET (anagrind is ‘to change’) with EARLY (too soon) around the outside or ‘masking’ it | |
| 16 | Safe with sparks flying off, perhaps? Case of laser opening it (3,5) | |
| ALL RIGHT | ALIGHT (‘with sparks flying off perhaps’) with L R (first and last letter or ‘case’ of laser) inside or ‘opening it’ | |
| 19 | See 20 | |
| 20/19 | It’s generally believed I wasn’t in love when messing around – responsibly protected? (12,6) | |
| CONVENTIONAL WISDOM | An anagram of of I WASN’T IN LOVE – anagrind is ‘messing around’. We realised that an anagram was involved but could not work out where the other letters came from. It wasn’t until we had a number of crossing letters and guessed the answer that we were able to reveal that the anagram was wrapped in a CONDOM – hence it would be ‘responsibly protected’. | |
| 23 | Remarkably gifted bowler, one on hand to relieve pressure, possibly? (6,7) | |
| FIDGET SPINNER | An anagram of GIFTED (anagrind is ‘remarkably’) SPINNER (bowler) | |
| 24 | Only 50% required in examination that’s overly detailed (4) | |
| ANAL | ANAL |
|
| 25 | Brilliant poet admitting nothing is right (9) | |
| STARBOARD | STAR (brilliant) BARD (poet) around or ‘admitting’ O (nothing) | |
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | Drink up, last bit of scotch moments away (4) | |
| NIGH | GIN (drink) reversed or ‘up’ H (last letter in ‘scotch’) | |
| 3 | Crack troops in the end restrained by hero, briefly (5) | |
| CHASM | S (last letter or ‘the end’ in ‘troops’) in CHAM |
|
| 4 | Medic removed lid from metal tube dispensing medicine, say? (7) | |
| DROPPER | DR (doctor) |
|
| 5 | Carve two little heads in alabaster? (7) | |
| WHITTLE | T L (first letters or ‘heads’ in Two Little) in WHITE (alabaster) | |
| 6 | So described, the devil has to be furious with itself? (9) | |
| FAITHLESS | An anagram of HAS and ITSELF – anagrind is ‘furious’ | |
| 7 | Bar one nation, everything held out (3) | |
| INN | I (one) NN (first and last letters in NatioN only or with ‘everything held out’) | |
| 8 | Cheeky couple touring northern city in France (6) | |
| NANTES | NATES (cheeky couple!) around or ‘touring’ N (northern) | |
| 11 | A good time to squeeze loathsome leader out (6) | |
| ABLOOM | A BOOM (good time) around or ‘squeezing’ L (first letter or ‘leader’ in loathsome) | |
| 12 | Bridge accessing industrial town (6) | |
| RIALTO | Hidden in (‘accessing’) industRIAL TOwn | |
| 14 | Famously witty American footballer’s aim to tackle flipping dishonest footballer? (4,5) | |
| GORE VIDAL | GOAL (footballer’s aim) around or ‘tackling’ DIVER (dishonest footballer?) reversed or ‘flipping’. We are afraid that we had no idea that GORE VIDAL was known for his ‘epigrammatic wit’. Check the link for his wiki page. | |
| 17 | See 1 Across | |
| 18 | Trendy top Kate hasn’t left for matching outfit (7) | |
| TWINSET | T (first letter or ‘top’ of Trendy) WINS |
|
| 19 | Shift work in bordering state ultimately less stable (7) | |
| WONKIER | An anagram of WORK IN – anagrind is ‘shift’ around or ‘bordering’ E (last letter in state or ‘ultimately’) | |
| 21 | Language lesson is needed, primarily, before travel (5) | |
| LINGO | L I N (first or ‘primary’ letters of ‘lesson is needed’) GO (travel). | |
| 22 | Relative extremes of Bognor and Exeter (4) | |
| BRER | First and last letters or ‘extremes’ of B |
|
| 23/6ac | Rides here weighted incorrectly, fillies initially ahead (7) | |
| FUNFAIR | UNFAIR (weighted incorrectly) with F (first or ‘initial’ letter in fillies) at the start or ‘ahead’ | |
Three in one day from the same setter!I didnt have wonkier so one to him-cant even remember if I filled that clue!
Good puzzle.
Good Saturday challenge, with some quite tough ones. Well done for working out the parsing of 20/19 which was great fun, even if it was so ‘responsibly protected’! 9a raised an eyebrow as I thought the English (v. American) spelling included a ‘u’ until Chambers put me right. I couldn’t get beyond ‘Rogers’ for the GINGER in 17d but I think your 50+ years more up to date candidate is maybe just a bit more plausible.
Thanks to Punk and B & J.
Lots of help needed to finish, and even then we didn’t quite make it. Our first idea for 14 was ‘Mark Twain’ (from the R in 16) thinking a footballer needs to mark an opponent though we couldn’t see how to get ‘twain’ and the G in 13 and V in 20 soon disposed of the idea. So then we thought the second word was an anagram of ‘diver’ and all we could think of was ‘Vider’ and googling came up with ‘Gary Vider’ (Who? – Click here) though now we couldn’t see how to get ‘Gary’ and were completely at a loss for 24. Never thought of Gore Vidal – Doh!
But there was plenty to like, including MR POTATO HEAD and FIDGET SPINNER (though we had a job to remember what sort of spinner).
Thanks, Punk and B&J.
A bit too challenging for me. I doubt if I’d ever get 1/17 at 12ac. Don’t think I’ve ever heard of the first one.