Gila has provided today’s cruciverbal entertainment in what used to be Dac’s weekly spot.
I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable, medium-difficulty solve. I completed the grid unaided, but I needed to google some of the cultural references, e.g. at 6 and 8, to complete my parsing. The expression at 19 was unfamiliar to me. Incidentally, when producing the blog and typing out the clues, I was quite struck by how long some of them were – definitely longer than in the average Indy puzzle, I would wager.
My favourite clues today were 4, 5, 8 and 14A and 23A, all for smoothness of surface; 3, for its clever misdirection around the word “parts”; and 14D, both for its surface and its well-hidden definition.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | WHERE IT’S AT | The place to find hipsters recycling their waste
*(THEIR WASTE); “recycling” is anagram indicator; the “hipsters” of the definition are trendy people |
| 06 | SCAR | On the radio, music by The Specials and Cliff
Homophone (“on the radio”) of “ska” (=music by The Specials, i.e. UK group formed in 1977); the “Cliff” of the definition is a scar or geographical feature, not Cliff Richard! |
| 10 | EN SUITE | Small space not entirely fit for a bathroom
EN (=small space, in printing) + SUITE<d> (=fit, appropriate; “not entirely” means last letter is dropped) |
| 11 | ANISEED | Liquorice flavouring agent is a requirement for a coating
IS in [A + NEED (=requirement)] |
| 12 | PHYSICS | Fitness tests disregarding the principles of all legitimate science
PHYSIC<al>S (=fitness tests); “disregarding the principles (=first letters) of A<ll> L<egitimate> means letters “al” are dropped |
| 13 | HAVE A GO | Try to bear a stupid person who’s half-cut
HAVE (=bear, e.g. a child) + A + GO<on> (=foolish person; “half-cut” means half of the letters are dropped) |
| 14 | CYBERCAFÉ | Wacky baccy – free in a place frequented by surfers?
*(BACCY FREE); “wacky” is anagram indicator; the “surfers” of the definition are those surfing the internet |
| 17 | RAISE | Lift provided by Wonderbra is excellent
Hidden (“provided by”) in “wonderbRA IS Excellent” |
| 18 | RECAP | To sum up, in retrospect: outside the Church of England, there is equality
CE (=Church of England) in PAR (=equality, as in on a par with); “in retrospect” indicates reversal |
| 20 | PATTERNED | Bird – outwardly bald – is perhaps covered in spots
TERN (=bird) in PATED (=bald; the pate is the crown of the head, especially when bald) |
| 22 | LE MONDE | European newspaper is a failure and extremely divisive LEMON (=failure) + D<ivisiv>E (“extremely” means first and last letters only) |
| 23 | CLIMBER | Cocaine –with good joints – for someone who likes getting high?
C (=cocaine) + LIMBER (=with good joints, supple); cryptically, a mountain-climber likes to get high up in the mountains! |
| 26 | MARQUEE | Name at the bottom of invite showing possible party venue
MARQUE (=name, brand) + <invit>E (“bottom of” means last letter only |
| 27 | NEEDFUL | Dancing nude almost felt necessary
*(NUDE + FEL<t>); “almost” means last letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “dancing” |
| 28 | YELL | Where you might see stray cats running around letting out a scream
<a>LLEY (=where you might see stray cats); “letting out a” means letter “a” is dropped; “running around” indicates reversal |
| 29 | ADVENTURES | Exciting events in the run up to Christmas sure getting messy
ADVENT (=run up to Christmas) + *(SURE); “to get messy” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | WHELP | Deliver puppies with assistance
W (=with) + HELP (=assistance) |
| 02 | ESSAY | Attempt to pronounce first letters of Swedish alphabet
Homophone (“pronounce”) of S<wedish> A<lphabet>, i.e. first letter of each word |
| 03 | EPICIER | French retailer rejected Formula 1 parts
I (=1) in RECIPE (=formula); “rejected” indicates reversal; an épicier is a grocer in French |
| 04 | TIERS | Rows typically involve everyone rudely shouting at first
T<ypically> I<nvolve> E<veryone> R<udely> S<houting>; “at first” means first letters only |
| 05 | ABASHMENT | A best man rollicking around hotel causes embarrassment
H (=hotel) in *(A BEST MAN); “rollicking” is anagram indicator |
| 07 | CREMATION | M (=mass) in CREATION (=something that’s made) |
| 08 | RADIOHEAD | Roadie had worked for rock band
*(ROADIE HAD); “worked” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the UK rock group Radiohead, founded in 1985 |
| 09 | SILVER | Coins // belonging to elderly people
Double definition: SILVER is coins other than coppers AND e.g. the silver economy focuses on elderly people |
| 14 | COR BLIMEY | My rubbish mobile initially can’t receive an unknown number
*(MOBILE + C<an’t> R<eceive> (“initially” means first letters only)) + Y (=an unknown number e.g. in algebra); “rubbish” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | BICAMERAL | A crime lab disposed of two bodies
*(A CRIME LAB); “disposed” is anagram indicator; a bicameral parliament, say, is made up of two chambers |
| 16 | APPREHEND | Seize absolute power before female does at the beginning
A (=absolute, of temperature) + P (=power, in physics) + PRE- (=before) + HEN (=female) + D<oes> (“at the beginning” means first letter only) |
| 19 | PONY UP | Put down money – £25 – on a horse
PONY (=£25, in slang) + UP (=on a horse, mounted) |
| 21 | EMINENT | Famous British artist gets peanuts occasionally
EMIN (=British artist, i.e. Tracy) + <p>E<a>N<u>T<s> (“occasionally” means alternate letters only are used) |
| 23 | CANOE | Boat toilet starts to overflow … eww!
CAN (=toilet, colloquially) + O<verflow> E<ww> (“starts to” means first letters only) |
| 24 | BY FAR | Born On The Fourth Of July upset servicemen very much
B (=born) + <jul>Y (“fourth of” means fourth letter only) + FAR (RAF=servicemen, i.e. Royal Air Force: “upset” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 25 | RULES | London’s oldest restaurant // is the best!
“Rules” restaurant in Covent Garden claims to be the capital’s oldest, having been founded in 1798 AND “rules” can mean reigns supreme, is the best |
Lots of nice clues. I thought CLIMBER was particularly clever keeping the drug theme throughout the surface. BICAMERAL was a new word to me and I don’t recall having ever seen PATED for ‘bald’. EPICIER was my LOI. The only clue I didn’t like was 25d – never heard of the restaurant.
I really enjoyed this. I used to eat at Rules fairly often when I worked in Covent Garden but without this little snippet of GK I can see that being a head-scratcher.
Great clue for EPICIER, among others.
Thanks to Gila and RR
Despite it having a claim to fame I hadn’t heard of RULES the restaurant either. That was a lucky guess. I cheated on EPICIER too. Those aside, I found this not too difficult and lots of fun. If I had to pick a favourite it would be one of the across clues.
Thanks to Gila and RR.
I found this quite challenging, with the top half going in easily, apart from my LOI, EPICIER, where I spent a while trying to insert F1 until the penny dropped, but the bottom half causing some head scratching. I hadn’t heard of the restaurant, so had to guess that from wordplay. I hadn’t come across BICAMERAL before, so needed all the crossers to put the anagrist in a sensible order. Some nice wordplay. Thanks Gila and RR.
Lots of very nice clues here. I PARTICULARLY enjoyed CYBERSPACE, LE MONDE, RADIOHEAD, BICAMERAL, PHYSICS, COR BLIMEY and RAISE.
Many thanks Gila and RR
Well, we got there in the end and it was quite enjoyable. But we have reservations about some of the clues.
11ac: Aniseed is not the ‘flavouring agent’ of liquorice. According to Chambers, anise (or aniseed) has a flavour similar to liquorice but liquorice itself is an entirely different plant species;
26ac: This point has been raised before but in our view ‘bottom’ is not acceptable as a last letter indicator in an across clue (but fine in a down clue);
3dn: Although epicier is in Chambers we think it might be a foreign word too far for solvers whose knowledge of French is not as extensive as ours;
21dn: A matter of opinion, of course, but though the person referred to may be famous and is certainly British …
25dn: We only knew Rules from a reference in Dorothy L Sayers’ Strong Poison where Lord Peter Wimsey rewards one of his ‘assistants’ with lunch at Rules.
OTOH There was plenty to like, including WHERE IT’S AT, PHYSICS, YELL and CANOE. And we wondered if 8dn was a bit of double bluff; at any rate we started off thinking ‘rock band’ meant a geological deposit.
Thanks, though, to Gila and of course to RatkojaRiku
I’m embarrassed about how long it took me to get 12ac, seeing it’s what I have a degree in – needed all the crossers.
26ac I had trouble with as I couldn’t remember how to spell it and confused it with MARQUIS.
I’d never heard of the restaurant, either. I guessed the answer from the second definition but had no idea how to parse it.
Nice solve. Also got stuck with ‘FI’ in 3d.
There’s a very unusual book titled “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the 15d Mind”. According to Dawkins it’s either great genius or utter rubbish!