A nice crossword from Eimi, nothing too demanding but everything quietly satisfactory; except for the definition in 26dn, which I am a little unsure of. There seems to be a preponderance ot the words ‘ref’ or ‘referring to’ in the blog, for which I apologise.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
The theme, appropriately enough, is Valentine’s Day. Plenty of references, which I won’t list but I’m sure you will see.
| Across | ||
| 8 | LOVE IS ALL AROUND | Number 0=LLA (4,2,3,6) |
| love [= 0] is [==] (ALL)rev. | ||
| 10 | WALLABIES | Aussie rugby team‘s party at one in rugby-playing country (9) |
| Wal(Lab 1)es | ||
| 11 | ALTAR | Some eventual target or would-be destination of some lovers (5) |
| Hidden in eventuAL TARget — now here’s a challenge to some setter: produce a crossword whose clues all contain the word ‘some’, but which contains no hiddens | ||
| 12 | RENOIR | French film director‘s darkly thrilling take on bible stories etc? (6) |
| RE noir — ref film noir — also ref Jean Renoir, the (less famous?) film director son of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir | ||
| 13 | MESSAGES | Communications muddle involving Green (8) |
| mes(sage)s | ||
| 15 | KISSES | Exes supplying signs of affection (6) |
| XXX, for example | ||
| 17 | EVOLVE | Develop sort of love after day of celebration put back (6) |
| (VE)rev. (love)* — ref VE Day | ||
| 21 | SNEAKILY | Surreptitiously altering a skyline (8) |
| (a skyline)* | ||
| 23 | GYRATE | Spin at extremely giddy speed (6) |
| g{idd}y rate | ||
| 25 | CARDS | 9 communications, those given dismissively? (5) |
| 9 being Valentine, this is Valentine communications. which are sometimes cards (but cards are not always Valentine communications, so this is a definition by example), also referring to the dismissal of an employee | ||
| 27 | CHOCOLATE | Switzerland’s worried about terribly cool gift for 9, perhaps (9) |
| Ch. (ocol) ate, the ocol being (cool)*; again 9 refers to Valentine, so chocolate is a Valentine gift | ||
| 28 | AMOR VINCIT OMNIA | Saying about love of cooking macaroni in Vimto (4,6,5) |
| (macaroni in Vimto)* — does Vimto still exist? I remember we all enjoyed it greatly in our childhood, much to the incomprehension of Mr Belle — looking on Google I see it does | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FLOWERS | Those blooming loud cows! (7) |
| f lowers — cows low, so are lowers | ||
| 2 | LITANIES | Stupidly Latinise forms of prayer (8) |
| (Latinise)* | ||
| 3 | OASIS | Love in its present state rarely displayed by brothers in this? (5) |
| 0 as is — referring to the animosity between the brothers Gallagher in the pop group Oasis, a type of &lit. | ||
| 4 | GLASS EYE | Good girl, yes, I hear, but not really a looker (5,3) |
| g lass “ay” — shades of John Inverdale, who was (unfairly?) chastised for his reference to Marion Bartoli as possibly not being really a looker | ||
| 5 | DREAMS | West caught up in cricket review system fantasies (6) |
| DR(eam)S, the eam being (Mae)rev. — Mae West and the decision review system, that recourse the players and umpire have to television replays in cricket | ||
| 6 | LUST | Awful slut’s sexual desire (4) |
| (slut)* | ||
| 7 | ADDRESS | Speech that’s required to send 1 or 25, for example (7) |
| A postal address is necessary if you’re going to send either flowers (1dn) or chocolates (25ac) | ||
| 9 | VALENTINE | Shakespeare role‘s somewhat ambivalent in execution (9) |
| Hidden in ambiVALENT IN Execution | ||
| 14 | GIVE A DAMN | Shay carrying first man, as Rhett didn’t (4,1,4) |
| Give(Adam)n — Shay Given the footballer — Rhett Butler’s last words in ‘Gone With the Wind’ were “frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” | ||
| 16 | SILICONE | Nicole is ordering something to enhance breasts (8) |
| (Nicole is)* | ||
| 18 | OXYMORON | Head of Ofcom coordinates satellite coverage of rugby at first, which seems contradictory (8) |
| O{fcom} xy mo(r{ugby})on | ||
| 19 | ASOCIAL | When agents in the centre of Honolulu might be avoiding contact (7) |
| as o(CIA)l, ol being {Hon}ol{ulu} | ||
| 20 | SEVERAL | Scandinavian man’s upset about first woman having a few (7) |
| Eve in (Lars)rev. — mild eyebrow raise at ‘having’ | ||
| 22 | KOSOVO | Very, very into Ms Stark in Balkan state (6) |
| Ko(v so)o — Koo Stark | ||
| 24 | TOXIN | Poison from canned beef? (5) |
| ox in a tin | ||
| 26 | ROOM | Make fast turnaround, which might be advised for over-amorous couples (4) |
| (moor)rev. — I’m not absolutely sure here, but I think it refers to the need for over-amorous couples to give one another breathing room | ||
*anagram
I think 26d is more likely to refer to ‘get a room’ said to over-amorous couples. Failed to get OASIS. Put in ‘habit’ as it vaguely related to latter part of clue. Should have seen this. Didn’t know DRS in 5d or Shay Given in 14d but both answers were easy. I took the dismissive cards in 25a to refer to football players rather than employees. I’m glad Eimi went with Vimto in 28a rather than its ‘well-known’ anagram. Thanks to S&B.
thanks Eimi, John
fun, mostly straight bat but enough for the skeptics. I liked the two long ones, particularly the latin one.
Why ‘unfairly’ in 4d? 1) It was far from unfair, and 2) you’ve just repeated his offence
An appropriate theme for the first day of Lent.
It took me a while to get into this but loved it once I did.
Had to ponder awhile to parse WALLABIES and DREAMS (where I didn’t know DRS). Inferred from the answer Shay’s name in 14a but I didn’t GIVE A DAMN enough to look it up.
My last two in were RENOIR and finally OASIS which earned an “argh!”
Those blooming loud cows made me smile.
Thanks Eimi and John. Love to all.
All quite easy, several answers went in as being obvious and parsed afterwards, e.g. WALLABIES and OXYMORON. Apart from 3dn where, like Hovis, we could only think of HABIT.
We thought the reference to Ms Stark was a bit dated and unlikely to be known to younger solvers. On the other side of the coin, though, we didn’t know the Shay reference – the only Shay that came to mind is this rather weird-looking type of locomotive.
Lots to like (or should that be love) so no real CoD.
Thanks, Eimi and John
Not really a looker amused me, I have to say. A rather fun Valentine’s puzzle.
Re 26D: Make fast is moor.
How do you get ate from worried in 27a?
Enjoyable and satisfying. Thanks to both S and B.
Whatever were you thinking of John with your superfluous reference to J I’s boorish remark. Surely his offence was to make a a very public derogatory reference to a player’s appearance whilst being paid, handsomely no doubt, to provided informed comment on the quality of tennis we were likely to see. The clue for 4d was one of my favourites along with 1d.
Allan@4 – agree re Ms Stark. I first thought of Freya Stark and was somewhat disappointed when parsing problems forced me to remember Koo.
very nice guv, you old softie. Reminded me off an off-colour joke to which the punchline was Itchy Koo Stark.
Thanks John
Not had an Eimi puzzle for ages, it seems. As usual with this setter, I found it entertaining and wide-ranging: a Latin phrase, an actress who was allegedly shagging Prince Andrew, a Premier League footballer and a French film director make sure that your GK is up to speed.
I couldn’t get OASIS, and like others entered HABIT because it seemed vaguely likely.
Thanks to John and Eimi. The theme left me a bit cold, as it would other Valentine’s Day babies. We don’t like sharing, you know.
Syx, for ‘worried’ and ‘ate’, think of the phrase ‘it’s been eating me’.
@K’s D
many happy returns of the day dear sir
Always nice to have a rare appearance from the ed. Enjoyed eking out the thematic answers, but got stuck on the Latin phrase despite knowing what it meant. Enjoyed OASIS and FLOWERS muchly.
Cheers to S&B, and Happy Love Day to all
Happy Birthday Kathryn’s Dad. As a Valentine’s Day baby myself, I’m just expecting my daughter Catherine and her family any minute. We’re going to celebrate her 40th today, so a double celebration. In fact I hear their car now so I’ll make this quick. Loved Glass Eye. Didn’t get OASIS until I revealed the last S after HABIT didn’t work. Must go….. Thanks Eimi and John
Enjoyed this rather friendly and topical puzzle, though the footballer and cricket term escaped me. I did enjoy working out the Latin phrase, not one I knew but made sense.
Now have an earworm, so thanks for that too.
Ta Eimi and John
Another two here who tried to parse HABIT.
Hope the birthday celebrations went well for everyone.
Thanks to Eimi and John.
Thanks to the birthday boy(s) and commenters. I’ve been away for a while and someone noticed and asked me to set a puzzle so thought I’d fill a thematic gap. Glad you enjoyed it. Love to all.
Great entertainment. Though OASIS was absolutely brilliant.
Only just got around to tackling this one – pleased to note that I wasn’t alone in not knowing the cricket term, the footballer or the Latin phrase!
Think ‘ROOM’ in 26d refers to the advice given to said couples to ‘get a room’ – reportedly suggested to Will & Kate at a function immediately prior to their public reconciliation as a couple.
Particularly liked 8a & 1d.
Thanks to Eimi and to John.