After the recent smorgasbord of Christmas/festive thematic/Jumbo puzzles – on which I may have overindulged – it was nice to get back-to-basics with a good-old proper 15×15 cryptic with no extra trimmings, as far as I can see…
…and also to lock horns with Monk again, as my last Indy Saturday blog of 2017 was a Monk. (Bit like London buses…you wait 5 weeks and another one comes along!)
I worked through this at a steady pace, and only really got stuck in the bottom left hand corner, with JACKIE and MATTE…both equally clever, and probably equal LOIs, as one led to the other.
I had wondered if this was going to be a pangram – especially after EQUUS and KVETCH, but I typed it up into my blogging spreadsheet with built-in letter counts, and it was an X and a Z short:
No obvious Nina, but an enjoyable solve and a welcome start to the post-Christmas cruciverbal diet. Thanks to Monk. Who is going to join me in ‘Dry Gin’-uary?….
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | ELEPHANT | Who’ll never forget husband stuffing rubbish into overturned box (8) | (one) who’ll never forget / ELE_T (tele, television, or ‘the goggle box’, overturned) around (stuffed by) P-H-AN (pan – to criticise, or rubbish – around H – husband) |
|
| 6A | LEGACY | Heirloom of frilly clothing for example (6) | heirloom / L_ACY (frilly) around (clothing) EG (for example) |
|
| 9A | MANATEE | China importing a new European mammal (7) | mammal / M_ATE (cockney rhyming slang – china plate = mate) around A + N (new), plus E – European |
|
| 10A | RERAIL | Concerning storyteller about to be put back on track (6) | to be put back on track / RE (concerning) + RAIL (liar, or storyteller, about) |
|
| 11A | HOWLER | Heroin smuggler’s blunder (6) | blunder / H (heroin) + OWLER (smuggler, obsolete) |
|
| 12A | DISBURSE | Bird sues for reparation and payout after separation? (8) | (pay out, i.e.) payout after separation / anag, i.e. for reparation, of BIRD SUES |
|
| 13A | ENCAMPMENT | Temporary dwellings in section of hospital for housing affected soldiers (10) | temporary dwellings / EN_T (Ear Nose and Throat department, or section, of hospital) around (housing) CAMP (affected) + MEN (soldiers) |
|
| 16A | KING | Ruler’s metric measure spanning an imperial one (4) | ruler / K_G (kilogram, metric measure) around (spanning) IN (inch, an imperial measure!) |
|
| 17A | BEAT | Worn-out flap (4) | double defn. / if you are worn out, you could be BEAT; and if a wing if flapping, it could be BEATing |
|
| 19A | DISCIPLINE | Record one tree across large field (10) | field (of study, or achievement) / DISC (record) + I (one) + P-L-INE (PINE – tree – around, or across – L – large) |
|
| 22A | NO-TRUMPS | Bridge contract numbers cut by president (2-6) | (card game) bridge contract / NO_S (numbers) around (cut by) TRUMP (president) |
|
| 24A | KVETCH | Whinger very taken by sailing vessel (6) | whinger / K_ETCH (sailing vessel) around (taking) V (very) |
|
| 26A | DIVEST | Strip clubs that are disreputable and ultimately corrupt (6) | strip / DIVES (clubs/establishments that are disreputable) + T (ultimate letter of corrupT) |
|
| 27A | ICE-CUBE | I die drinking extremely corrosive common coolant (3-4) | common coolant / I + CUBE (die) around (drinking) CE (extreme letters of CorrosivE) |
|
| 28A | JACKIE | Nothing at all current by editor’s boss in old magazine (6) | old magazine / JACK (nothing at all, vugar slang, ‘jack sh1t’) + I (current. Physics) + E (first letter, or boss, of Editor) |
|
| 29A | INDUSTRY | Perhaps shipbuilding by River Test (8) | perhaps shipbuilding / INDUS (river) + TRY (test) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 2D | LAMPOON | Ridicule eccentric about topless seductress (7) | ridicule / L_OON (eccentric) around (V)AMP (seductress, topless!) |
|
| 3D | PANEL | Body section of aircraft left to the end (5) | (e.g. car) body section / P(L)ANE (aircraft) with L (left) moving to the end gives PANEL |
|
| 4D | ARTHROPOD | Horse bitten by variety of trapdoor spider, maybe (9) | spider, maybe / ART_ROPOD (anag, i.e. variety, of TRAPDOOR) around (biting) H (horse) |
|
| 5D | TWEEDLE | Precious diamonds almost guided counterfeit (7) | counterfeit (con, swindle) / TWEE (precious) + D (diamonds) + LE(D) (most of led, or guided) |
|
| 6D | LARKS | Little birds in line succeeded to cross boat (5) | little birds / L (line) + S (succeeded), around (crossing) ARK (boat) |
|
| 7D | GARFUNKEL | Art gallery’s opening with Faulkner novel (9) | Art (singer) / G (opening letter of Gallery) + ARFUNKEL (anag, i.e. novel, of FAULKNER) |
|
| 8D | CRIMSON | Blush from boy after brief sin (7) | blush / CRIM(E) (sin, briefly, or a letter short) + SON (boy) |
|
| 14D | AFTERDECK | What’s behind bridge, according to pack (9) | what’s behind bridge (on a ship) / AFTER (according to) + DECK (pack, of cards) |
|
| 15D | THICKHEAD | Fool one turning up after the bout? (9) | fool / after a bout – of cold, of drinking, of boxing?! – one might end up with a THICK HEAD |
|
| 18D | EROTICA | Jazz mags and books hidden by Heather (7) | jazz mags (pornography) / ER_ICA (Genus of heather) around (hiding) OT Old Testament, books) |
|
| 20D | SASHIMI | Tough men greeting male, one making food (7) | (Japanese) food / SAS (Special Air Service, tough men – and women?) + HI (greeting) + M (male) + I (one) |
|
| 21D | NUCLEAR | Managed to come up with cryptic clue in such a family? (7) | such a (type of) family / N_AR (ran, or managed, coming up) around UCLE (anag, i.e. cryptic, of CLUE) |
|
| 23D | MATTE | Dull Apostle abandoned by married couple? (5) | dull / MATT(H)E(W) (apostle, Matthew, abandoned by H – husband – and W – wife – so, married couple!) |
|
| 25D | EQUUS | Petition raised about question in controversial 70s play (5) | controversial 70s play / E_US (sue, or petition, raised) around QU (question) |
|
Lovely puzzle as usual from Monk. I searched far and wide for ninas etc but all I could find was KING CRIMSON and LARKS(tongues in aspic)GARFUNKEL confused me for a while.
Thanks rapper and Monk.
Similarly flailed around with Jackie and Matte. Strictly speaking, I don’t think “no trumps” is a contract; it’s just one of the five bidding suits.
Thanks to S&B
Lovely crossword but failed on JACKIE and MATTE. Have only ever spelt the latter as MATT and have never seen ‘boss’ used for first letter. I guessed 23d might be ‘muted’ but couldn’t parse it. These were a bit too tough imho.
Thought GARFUNKEL was a brilliantly misleading clue and DIVEST, ICE-CUBE were both very good. Thanks to S&B.
Add me to the ‘lovely crossword’ club – I was a JACKIE reader a very long time ago so no problems with that one.
Thanks to mc_rapper and especially to Monk
Thanks for the various comments and feedback. Seems like a well-received puzzle…
baerchen at #2 – as a non-bridge player, I missed that subtlety, just happy to slot in a bridge term that I knew!
Its an interesting coincidence that one of the answers in today’s guardian crossword is analogous to one of those mentioned in copmus’s comment.
baerchen @2-must confess that JACKIE was LOI and wasnt sure if it was right(didnt want to revisit Indy site!!!)Being a bloke doesnt help with such clues!
Thanks Monk, mc_rapper
Fairly smooth, on the whole, but failed on JACKIE despite having no trouble with MATTE. Had FA for nothing at all, and not really sold on editor’s boss, but it would have needed something extremely obvious for me to have got it. GARFUNKEL the pick of the bunch.
Interesting that many of you also struggled around JACKIE/MATTE. ‘Great minds think alike’ – or ‘fools seldom differ’?…take your pick!
I vaguely remember my sister reading JACKIE in the late 70s – whilst I was obviously reading much more macho stuff like the Beano, and Judge Dredd!
I did wonder about ‘editor’s boss’, as the editor is usually the boss, apart from the owner. I took it as ‘boss of an organisation = head’, and ‘head’ as first letter…
Missed Jackie and matte, had to come here to check so thank you mc_rapper.
Very much enjoyed the rest, needed the checkers before I remembered KVETCH, liked ENCAMPMENT. And ICE CUBE.
thanks very much MONK
A steady but not too onerous solve. We thought CRIMSON as a synonym for ‘blush’ was a bit iffy but when we checked in Chambers found ‘blush’ as a noun includes ‘any reddish colour’ and ‘crimson’ as a verb for ‘blush’; so we live (or solve) and learn. We also learnt the slang meaning for ‘jazz mags’ (and it didn’t help with 18dn that we first thought of ‘ling’ for ‘heather’). TWEEDLE was obvious from the wordplay but we thought ‘counterfeit’ as a definition was a bit loose – Chambers gives ‘swindle’ or ‘con’ among meanings so it’s close; Collins doesn’t have the word at all.
Elsewhere there were some
greatbrilliant clues. ELEPHANT, ICE CUBE, ARTHROPOD and GARFUNKEL were our favourites.Thanks, Monk and mc_rapper67.
Being a bit pernickety, I should perhaps add that the L in 19a comes from Large not Left.
Whatever we may think of President Trump, he has been a godsend to setters.
Great crossword, which I found not as hard as usual for a Monk but not at the expense of enjoyment. I had no problems with JACKIE but missed the finer points of MATTE. Thanks Monk and mc_rapper67.
Thanks to mc_rapper67 for astonishingly crafted blog 🙂 and to all for positive comments. It behoves me to address baerchen‘s comment. In the SOED I found:
no trumps [Cards] — a bid or contract with no suit designated as trumps; (usu. with preceding numeral)
a bid or contract involving playing with no designated trump suit.
Not being a bridge player myself, I just took this at face value.
Also, there was indeed an invisible Nina, inspired by Xmas prezzies that completed my collection of — paraphrasing my note to Mike — the trio of proggy 80s albums by [16] KING [8] CRIMSON: “[1] ELEPHANT Talk” & “[23] MATTE Kudasai” from album [19] DISCIPLINE; “The [11] HOWLER” & “Neal and [28] JACK[IE] and [13] [ENCAMP]ME[NT]” from [17] BEAT; “[6dn] LARKS’ Tongues in Aspic”, “Model [9] MAN[ATEE]” & [29] INDUSTRY from Three of a Perfect Pair.
A belated happy new year to all from the monastery.
hovis at #12 – 19A duly corrected, thanks – not sure where ‘left’ came from…probably my subconscious, and deadline-itis.
Monk – thanks for your kind words, and the rationale behind NO TRUMPS…(America will be a much better place when that is their ‘bid’!). So copmus at #1 was on the right track as far as the Nina is concerned – I was a teenager in the 80s, but King Crimson must have passed me by…
(ooh…that new bolding button is easy to use!…and the standard shortcuts work as well…CTRL-B for bold, CTRL-I for italics, CTRL-U for underlining, and CTRL-Z to undo…commenting will never be the same again!)
Never got round to this today. I was interrupted by water dripping from the dining room ceiling. The plumber came and turned the back bedroom into a bomb site. The leak is now fixed, the boards are back down, the furniture is back where it ought to be. The comfort kebab is eaten. The rioja is almost finished. I may go to the pub shortly. I guess this will wait until tomorrow……… I’m not feeling sorry for myself… Honest….
Confirm Monk at 14. I am shortly flying to Canberra for the Summer Festival of Bridge and expect to play, and defend, any number of NT contracts.
Great puzzle, had to give up on JACKIE.
Thanks to Monk and mc_rapper67.
@gwep
have fun; I imagine you’ll be playing/defending a fair few contracts played in clubs/hearts etc., too. The only incredibly dull point I was attempting to make, and if it’s in the SOED who am I to argue, is that whilst “three no trumps” might very well be a contract, “no trumps” (the grid entry) isn’t, any more than “spades” would be. It’s the same as saying “I contract to sell you my house for pounds” without mentioning the amount, isn’t it?
anyway enough Frippery (geddit?); fantastic puzzle and well spotted @copmus
baerchen — goddit! 😉 And well done copmus for being straight out of the traps on the tail of the Nina.
I found this quite tricky and needed to reveal 28a for which I had YANKIE. I struggled with MATTE too as was unfamiliar with the version with E on the end. I metaphorically slapped my forehead when I saw GARFUNKEL. Took me a while to see the parsing of 1a. Nice puzzle. Thanks Monk and mc_rapper67.