Due to IT issues, PeeDee has been unable to add his preamble and schedule/publish this blog.
I cannot remember my solving experience of it last Saturday (too many other puzzles and large whiskies since then) so I will have to leave it up to others to provide a commentary.
Gaufrid
Edit: Just for clarity, everything below this line was produced by PeeDee. I just added the above preamble before publishing the post.
| Across | ||
| 9 | AT A GLANCE | Game to tuck into ale can drunk immediately (2,1,6) |
| TAG (game) inside (to tuck into) anagram (drunk) of ALE CAN | ||
| 10 | AVOID | Miss America film bags Oscar (5) |
| A (America) VID (video, film) contains (bags) O (oscar, phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 11 | AERATES | Inflates price, in the main the wrong way (7) |
| RATE (price) in SEA (the main) reversed (the wrong way) | ||
| 12 | BERGMAN | British monarch fed film director (7) |
| B (British) ER (Elizabeth Regina, the monarch) then G-MAN (fed, Federal Agent) | ||
| 13 | ADDER | Bluer Sierra leaves in summer (5) |
| sADDER (bluer) missing (…leaves) S (sierra, phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 14 | INDECORUM | Bad taste of old booze after hot month (9) |
| O (old) RUM (booze) follows (after) IN (hot, popular) DEC (December, month) | ||
| 16 | COMPASSIONATELY | Pretty, inspiring love and cheers, twirling with care (15) |
| COMELY (pretty) contains (inspiring, breathing in) PASSION (love) and TA (thanks, cheers) reversed (twirling) | ||
| 19 | ROCK SOLID | Reliable music gets son really humming (4,5) |
| ROCK (music)with S (son) and OLID (bad smelling, really humming) | ||
| 21 | HIPPO | In river, you might well see one! (5) |
| HIP (in, fashionable) PO (the River Po in Italy) | ||
| 22 | BEYONCE | Singer‘s live, unknown in the past (7) |
| BE (live, as a verb) then Y (unknown in equations) and ONCE (in the past) | ||
| 23 | BARGAIN | A good deal of lawyers make money (7) |
| BAR (lawyers) and GAIN (make money) | ||
| 24 | DINES | Feeds girl from the right society (5) |
| ENID (a girl) reversed (read from the right) then S (society) | ||
| 25, 3 | CHRISTIAN SLATER | Pagans first and then … a US actor? (9,6) |
| Pagans first then CHRISTIANS LATER | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MADAGASCAR | What gets crazed Turkish bigshot around the island (10) |
| a “mad Aga” (a crazed Turkish bigshot) might get around in a MAD AGA’S CAR – excellent! | ||
| 2 | FAIRYDOM | Winged creatures in this realm of myriad bats (8) |
| anagram (bats) of OF MYRIAD | ||
| 3 | See 25 | |
| 4 | INKS | Skin prepared for tattoos (4) |
| anagram (prepared) of SKIN | ||
| 5 | NEW BEDFORD | Novel to get across entertaining plot in US city (3,7) |
| NEW (novel) FORD (to get across) contains (entertaining) BED (plot, for flowers perhaps) | ||
| 6 | PATRICIA | Aristocrat wanting name for girl (8) |
| PATRICIAn (aristocrat) missing (wanting) N (name) | ||
| 7 | FORMER | Pupils, before English, run late (6) |
| FORM (pupils in a school) before E (English) R (run) | ||
| 8 | EDEN | Planned economy holds back ideal state (4) |
| found reversed inside (holds back) planNED Economy | ||
| 14 | INSOLVENCY | Lacking funds, you do this in hostelry, clearly gutted (10) |
| SOLVE (you do this) in INN (hostelry) then ClearlY (gutted, no middle letters) | ||
| 15 | MAY MORNING | Leader loudly lamenting Oxford revels (3,7) |
| MAY (Theresa May, leader of UK Government) then MORNING sounds like (loudly) “mourning” (lamenting) | ||
| 17 | ARSONIST | Possible danger with lighter fluid on stairs (8) |
| anagram (fluid) of ON STAIRS | ||
| 18 | EMPHASIS | What besets politician currently could be stress (8) |
| EH (what?) contains (besets) MP (politician) then AS IS (currently) | ||
| 20 | CRYING | Showing sadness in bearing, a queen departs (6) |
| CarRYING (bearing) missing (…departs) A R (regina, queen) | ||
| 21 | HARASS | Badger to maul tailless equine (6) |
| HARm (to maul, tailless) ASS (an equine) | ||
| 22 | BADE | Ordered something from dodgy drug dealer? (4) |
| a dodgy drug dealer might supply BAD E (ecstasy) | ||
| 23 | BYRD | English composer‘s time for recital (4) |
| sounds like (for recital) “bird” (time in prison) | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
Thanks Picaroon and Gaufrid.
I really enjoyed 25, 3 CHRISTIAN SLATER, which was a bit reminiscent of Paul’s brilliant DREW BARRYMORE a few months ago (27,523).
Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid. Lots of great clues (e.g., CHRISTIAN SLATER, MADAGASCAR). MAY MORNING was new to me, and I took forever working out FAIRYDOM (I was not including “of” in the anagram).
Thanks Peedee. Like ACD I had to seek assistance with MAY MORNING but I did manage the rest after a while. LOI was 1d, I knew it had to be MADAGASCAR and got as far as MAD AGA but for some inexplicable (now) reason stalled there for much too long.
Thank you Picaroon for a fun crossword and Gaufrid for standing in.
The clues for MAD AGA’S CAR and CHRISTIAN SLATER were great!
Very enjoyable. My COTD was 12a BERGMAN, mainly because I was so easily misled by the use of “fed”. I also had ticks or smiles against AVOID, HIPPO, CHRISTIAN SLATER, INKS and ARSONIST. Took me a while to twig MADAGASCAR which is now a favourite.
Hadn’t heard of NEW BEDFORD but it was a pretty safe bet that there was such a city in US. Had to check with Mr. Crossbar that CHRISTIAN SLATER existed, and with chambers to reassure myself that solid meant smelly
Had lots of fun. Thanks Picaroon and Gaufrid.
Not “solid” but “olid” of course. Autocorrect. *sighs*
Thanks to Paul and Gaufrid. A nice puzzle which was neither too easy or too tough. Last one in was Bergman. Another fan of both Madagascar and Christian Slater. Thanks again to both Paul and Gaufrid. Now on to todays Weekend special with lots of intrepidation.
I didn’t know NEW BEDFORD either although it was reasonably easy to work out unlike FAIRYDOM which I couldn’t get until Sunday morning. Favourites were BARGAIN and CHRISTIAN SLATER and MADAGASCAR made me smile once the penny dropped.
Thanks Picaroon.
Enjoyed this puzzle. Favourit clues were DINES, CHRISTIAN SLATER, EMPHASIS.
I thought BYRD was correct but failed to parse it correctly. I used to enjoy playing (murdering?) his music on the harpsichord.
Ah yes, fond memories of May morning by Magdalen bridge.
Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid.
Thanks PeeDee.
Brilliant puzzle..too many favorites, almost all of them, to list!
Thanks Picaroon!!
Thanks Picaroon and PeeDee
The only way in which I would disagree with the earlier posts is in favourite – mine was BERGMAN, for the wonderful misdirection of “fed”!
I missed this last week, and was pleased to have it to do after a quick look at today’s. Fed was my favourite bit, too. Also ROCK SOLID.
Thanks Gaufrid and PeeDee and of course Picaroon. Pottered along nicely until the last two, 20D where I couldn’t explain bearing and 24A where the right society was unfathomable until now. On the way I really liked the Miss America clue and ARSONIST.
Thanks to Geoff for stepping in and writing the preamble for me. As Eileen so often says the introduction is the hardest part to write, so I left it until later in the week. Sadly I failed to remember until I was away from home and it was too late…
Not easy, but very enjoyable.
I had to google CHRISTIAN SLATER (great clue!) and MAY MORNING. Also, I got NEW BEDFORD from wordplay, not knowing the place.
I really liked “you do this” in 14d, INSOLVENCY, which I was pleased to get after failing to explain BANKRUPTCY.
21a, HIPPO, was very similar to Tramp’s “Creature in river”, 5d in Cryptic 27515, which provoked some discussion here about how the clue should be classified. Luckily, Peedee has been saved the trouble of having to decide whether or not to declare this an &lit by his procrastination!
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2018/05/22/guardian-27515-tramp/
At that blog, Beery Hiker (prompted by Copmus) also pointed out it wasn’t new then, either, citing “Tramp 26133: Animal in river? (5) and
Picaroon 26400: River dweller in river (5)”
So good, both Tramp and Pickers have used it (at least) twice!
A top class puzzle from a top class setter.
Thanks to Picaroon and PeeDee
Like Gaufrid, this all seems a long time ago to me but I remember enjoying it very much. I also had to google CHRISTIAN SLATER. Favourite was BERGMAN, as I remember. Many thanks to P, G and P.
Oh how I swoon for Picaroon.
For 12A, I parsed English Monarch (G) with Film (Mr. Bean).
For 23D, How about Bar-T for “time for recital”. Lionel was surely a fine English Composer