A good solid workout from GOLIATH this Friday. Seemingly inscrutable at first, the pieces fell in place faster than I had expected them to, once I got going. Several witty/innovative clues I thought .. thanks Goliath !
FF: 9 DD: 8
| Across | ||
| 1, 26 | THE CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST | Comeuppance here as peckers down? (3,8,4,4,4,2,5) |
| cryptic def | ||
| 9 | UPHEAVE | Lift with spinner remarkably unapprehensive? (7) |
| cryptic clue; UPHEAVE SPINNER* = UNAPPREHENSIVE. | ||
| 10 | SPLIT UP | That would put Dubrovnik down for divorce (5,2) |
| cryptic clue; SPLIT is a city in croatia north (nw actually) of dubrovnik. | ||
| 11 | OWLET | Towel round hooter (5) |
| TOWEL* | ||
| 12 | OPERATION | Choice includes time for surgery (9) |
| OPTION (choice) containing ERA (time) | ||
| 13 | SUN-KISSED | Tanned and sent down having changed sides (3-6) |
| SUNK (sent down) + SIDES* | ||
| 15 | THEME | Topic those people finally raise (5) |
| THEM (those people) E (raisE, finally) | ||
| 16 | LOBBY | See baby without the presence of a pressure group (5) |
| LO (see) BaBY (without A) | ||
| 18 | AIR POTATO | A patriot upset by love for vegetable (3,6) |
| A PATRIOT* O (love) | ||
| 20 | UXORICIDE | Dispatching other half of uncovered Medicis iron axe due to be returned (9) |
| reverse of “..mEDICIs iROn aXe dUe..” (uncovered) | ||
| 23 | A-BOMB | Mum finally in a hairstyle that could be a deterrent (1-4) |
| M (muM, finally) in A BOB (hairstyle) | ||
| 24 | ROSSINI | Composer somewhat cross initially (7) |
| hidden in “..cROSS INItially” | ||
| 25 | NEW WAVE | Music genre that’s still around as world war starts to recede (3,4) |
| EVEN (still) around AWW (starting letters of “..As World War..”), all reversed (~recede) | ||
| 26 | See 1 | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | TOULOUSE-LAUTREC | Artist’s fancy couture a sell- out (8-7) |
| COUTURE A SELL-OUT* | ||
| 2 | ECHELON | Musk used by eastern church is rank (7) |
| E (eastern) CH (church) ELON (musk) | ||
| 3 | HEALTHILY | Well or nearly ill in selfless advice to physician (9) |
| ILl (nearly) in HEAL THY (selfless advice to physician) | ||
| 4 | CREDO | Socialist constrained by firm principles (5) |
| RED (socialist) in CO (firm) | ||
| 5 | EAST ENDER | T’cockney? (4,5) |
| cryptic def; T can be clued as easT ender. | ||
| 6 | SALSA | Steps in sauce (5) |
| double def | ||
| 7 | ASTRIDE | On the back of awful tirades (7) |
| TIRADES* | ||
| 8 | EXPENSE NO OBJECT | Anticipate covering even half botched nose job regardless of cost (7,2,6) |
| EXPECT (anticipate) around [ evEN (half of) {NOSE JOB}* ] | ||
| 14 | STALINISM | This form of Islam isn’t tyranny (9) |
| ISLAM ISNT* | ||
| 15 | TROJAN WAR | Conflict to recover old Jerusalem as initiated by Sadat (6,3) |
| TROJ (starting letters of “..To Recover Old Jerusalem..”) ANWAR (sadat, egyptian president) | ||
| 17 | BLOSSOM | Flower (around two seconds) (7) |
| &lit; BLOOM (flower) around SS (two seconds) – neat clue i thought. | ||
| 19 | AVOCADO | Green party not quite as vocal to begin with (7) |
| DO (party) after [ As VOCAl (not quite, i.e. without last letters) ] | ||
| 21 | IRISH | Taking flower to hospital said to be lucky (5) |
| IRIS (flower) H (hospital) | ||
| 22 | ERNST | Young partner and artist (5) |
| cryptic def, referring to ERNST & YOUNG; artist is MAX ERNST | ||
*anagram
Thanks, Turbolegs.
A most entertaining puzzle, which I really enjoyed solving. Some really clever clues: my favourites were HEALTHILY, TROJAN WAR and, especially, UXORICIDE: the definition made me laugh and the wordplay was so seemingly bizarre that I googled ‘Medicis, iron axe’ – and there they were [along with your blog, Turbolegs!].
Many thanks, as ever, Goliath – I loved it!
Lots to like. The reference to ‘Physician, HEAL THYSELF’ minus SELF (selfless) in 3d took a bit of teasing out. UPHEAVE was my LOI.
What Eileen said, including the investigoogling
Thanks to Goliath and Turbolegs
Thanks to Goliath and Turbolegs. I agree – great fun. I needed help parsing UPHEAVE; on the other hand I did parse AIR POTATO but had never heard of one. I had to google Ernst and Young to be sure – and because UXORICIDE (a great clue) was my LOI I had been expecting Monet or Manet from the crossers.
Thank you Goliath & Turbolegs.
Some admirable clever clueing here. Much enjoyed despite not getting 20ac
When Goliath (aka Philistine) behaves himself, he’s one of the best setters in the FT stable.
Today’s crossword was indeed a good example of Goliath behaving himself, keeping far from Boatman territory.
Not very difficult but at the same time really enjoyable.
The long one (1,26) went in pretty late and I’m afraid I don’t have an antenna for these kind of cryptic definitions. I found 17d (BLOSSOM) not as neat as you did Turbolegs and I also think that it is not an &lit. To each their own, I would say. For some reason I liked 13ac (SUN-KISSED) very much, perhaps because I was initially completely wrongfooted by the wordplay. Not my absolute favourites were the whimsical (and slightly dubious) SPLIT UP (10ac) and EAST ENDER (T’cockney, does that mean anything? – I can’t find it). But on the whole a great crossword in which I wondered where ‘elon‘ was coming from 2d. Clever!
Did this one at lunchtime and enjoyed it. Nothing too challenging but plenty of wit and invention.
Thanks to Goliath and Turbolegs
Thanks Goliath and Turbolegs
Haven’t seen a mid-week Goliath for a little while – so a nice surprise for a Friday. Lots of interesting variation in the clues with the three 4-letter words of the long 1,26 having to wait until quite late to be filled in. UPHEAVE needed all crossing letters in before I saw his subtraction anagram. Took a little while to see what was going on with HEALTHILY and although I had forgotten the proverb, eventually the word play became clear.
Finished in the SW corner with IRISH, the humorous UXORICIDE (clever device which was helped by remembering a horse that I had backed many years ago called Uxorious (it won thankfully) whose curious name led me to looking it up in a dictionary – it obviously stuck) and ERNST (which like ACD, had the two French fellows getting in the road of the German one, and with a nod of appreciation to the setter when I realised the clever reference to Young) were the last few in.