Radian has produced today’s puzzle for our cruciverbal stimulation.
I haven’t spotted any theme in this puzzle, which I found to offer a medium-difficulty, enjoyable solve. Please let me now if I have overlooked anything.
I needed Chambers to explain the definition at 2. My favourite clues were 18 and 30, both for surface reading; and 25, for its well-disguised definition.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | PEOPLE | Race footballer around surgery
OP (=surgery, i.e. operation) in PELÉ (=footballer, from Brazil) |
| 04 | PECCABLE | Exercises with college guy likely to go wrong
P.E. (=exercises, physical education) + C (=college) + CABLE (=guy, rope); “likely to go wrong” means “liable to sin” |
| 10 | ADDRESS | He’s taken off fancy hat to make speech
<he>ADDRESS (=fancy hat); “he‘s taken off” means letters “he” are dropped |
| 11 | HONORED | Lincoln’s revered infantry polished belts
OR (=infantry, i.e. Other Ranks) in HONED (=polished); “(Abe) Lincoln’s” suggests the US spelling of the word |
| 12 | SURE | Take action to control Republican firm
R (=Republican) in SUE (=take (legal) action) |
| 13 | ALTOGETHER | Article in German follows singer fully
ALTO (=singer) + [THE (=article, in grammar) in GER (=German)] |
| 15 | FORGET | Overlook fake tan at the start
FORGE (=fake, as verb) + T<an> (“at the start” means first letter only) |
| 16 | AIR-RAID | Top-class bishop to assist attack from above
A1 (=top-class) + RR (=bishop, i.e. Right Reverend) + AID (=assist) |
| 20 | ASH TREE | A short way to secure hotel furniture supplier
A + [H (=hotel) in STREE<t> (=way; “short” means last letter is dropped)]; cryptically, an ash tree could be described as a “(wooden) furniture supplier” |
| 21 | STUCCO | Injured scout receives cold plaster
C (=cold) in *(SCOUT); “injured” is anagram indicator |
| 24 | OPPOSITION | Enemy locate observation post first
OP (=observation post, in the military) + POSITION (=locate) |
| 26 | DEAD | Old man conserves energy, not working
E (=energy) in DAD (=old man, colloquially); a phone that is “not working” could be described as being “dead” |
| 28 | LAWSUIT | Uniform was ruined during drunken action
*(U (=uniform, in radio telecommunications) + WAS) in LIT (=drunken); “ruined” is anagram indicator |
| 29 | LIAISON | Julia is online, admitting affair
Hidden (“admitting”) in “JuLIA IS ONline” |
| 30 | STRUGGLE | Horse in Ulster unsettled jockey
GG (=horse, i.e. gee-gee) in *(ULSTER); “unsettled” is anagram indicator; to jockey e.g. for position is to struggle, jostle |
| 31 | ON EDGE | Tense, ready to jump?
Cryptically, someone who is e.g. standing on (the) edge (of a roof) could be “ready to jump” off it, alas |
| Down | ||
| 01 | PLAY SAFE | Don’t risk climbing simple mountain carrying female
F (=female) in [EASY (=simple) + ALP (=mountain)]; “climbing” indicates – here full – reversal |
| 02 | ORDER ARMS | Put stocks on ground to strengthen Arsenal
Cryptically, you would strengthen your Arsenal (=weapon store) by ordering (more) arms; the “stocks” in the definition are rifle butts |
| 03 | LEES | Losing general at 14’s precipitate
General Lee lost the Battle of Gettysburg (=entry at 14) in 1863; lees are a sediment or precipitate, e.g. that forms during fermentation of wine, after brewing of coffee, etc |
| 05 | ETHIOPIA | English greeting in sunhat for each part of Africa
E (=English) + [HI (=greeting) in TOPI (=sunhat)] + A (=for each, as in 6 euros a kilo) |
| 06 | CONSECRATE | Bless prisoner with a secret wound
CON (=prisoner) + *(A SECRET); “wound” is an anagram indicator |
| 07 | BIRTH | Result of confinement in bed announced
Homophone (“announced”) of “berth (=bed, i.e. on vessel)”; the “confinement” of the definition refers to labour and childbirth |
| 08 | ENDURE | Stand to finish quarrel, ignoring the odds
END (=to finish) + <q>U<a>R<r>E<l> (“ignoring the odds” means even letters only are used) |
| 09 | PSALM | Quiet singers always like music, primarily church music
P (=quiet, i.e. pronto) + S<inger> A<lways> L<ike> M<usic> (“primarily” means first letters only) |
| 14 | GETTYSBURG | Oil magnate’s uplifted battlefield
GETTY’S (=oil magnate, i.e. Jean Paul Getty) + BURG (GRUB=food, colloquially; “uplifted” indicates vertical reversal); the reference is to the Battle of Gettysburg (1863) during the American Civil War |
| 17 | INCREASED | Spread fashionable beliefs about arms limits
IN (=fashionable) + [A<rm>S (“limits” means first and last letters only) in CREED (=beliefs)] |
| 18 | TEETOTAL | Dry place to drive count
TEE (=place to drive) + TOTAL (=count, tot up) |
| 19 | CONDENSE | Reduce volume of studies into ice cream
DENS (=studies, offices) in CONE (=ice cream) |
| 22 | WORLDS | Promise to orbit large and small planets
[L (=large, of sizes) in WORD (=promise)] + S (=small, of sizes) |
| 23 | NOBLY | Number left in Times with worthy aims
NO (=number, as an abbreviation) + [L (=left) in BY (=times, as in 6 x 6)] |
| 25 | POWER | Might be in debt after priest comes round
OWE (=be in debt) in PR (=priest) |
| 27 | VAIN | Two states inordinately proud of their worth
VA (=Virginia, one of “two states”) + IN (=Indiana, one of “two states”) |
There is a theme here – have a look at 14d and 10a in that order. There are a few related answers and at least two references in the clues.
Thanks for explaining the TOPI bit of ETHIOPIA which I couldn’t get. PECCABLE is a nice, old fashioned word and was my favourite.
Thanks to Radian and RR
Thanks Radian and RR
Fun, with all parsed except the hidden LIAISON – D’oh!
This put me in mind of Bob Newhart’s hilarious Abe Lincoln Vs Madison Ave. sketch (available on youtube).
Enjoyed this, theme passed over my head as per, clever old WordPlodder.
A minor query from me with OR = Infantry though. I have never seen it used for anything other than Other Ranks i.e. any soldier not holding a commission, and not restricted to just the infantry.
Thanks to both Radian and RR
Agree on medium difficulty. Also missed the 14D/10A link. Liked best 25D, 28A, 5D.
Minor typo in 1A, it’s OP in PELE.
Thanks to Radian and RatkojaRiku
Maybe medium difficulty but very high quality.Classy setter.
thanks RR and R
LIT for drunken was new to me but the answer was clear and the rest was fairly straightforward (without spotting the theme of course).
Funnily enough the 14D / 10A always reminds me of Basil Fawlty in the episode where the guest dies overnight..
Thanks to the 3 Rs !
Minor quibble in 24 – you have POSITION as being “post”, but since “post” was part of OP, POSITION would be referring to “locate”.
A fun outing from RR and R – thanks!
Thanks RatkojaRiku and Radian, who latterly as make much of scattering answers from the ghost theme around the puzzle.
So many words from the Gettysburg Address! It would be too vain of me to list them all. Readers of the blog could not endure it.
(Disappears in his Lincoln.)
Thanks to the eagle-eyed among us for pointing out the typos – that’s what happens when one is blogging and working at the same time 🙁 I have now corrected the parsing at 1A, 11 and 24.
I can’t believe that I didn’t make the connection in the grid between “address” and “Gettysburg”, not to mention Lincoln – I was even thinking about the address when I filled in Gettysburg! When you know for sure that there is a theme, you look until you find it, while ghost themes have to find you instead …
The American Civil War is something of an interest of mine so I noticed 14/10 as I was solving and when I was finished I spotted that it was probably a theme, although I don’t know the words by heart so I haven’t checked off all the references.
I’ve actually stood in the spot where allegedly (according to the plaque in the ground) Lincoln stood when delivering the address.
Still, I needed a word search to finish off the bottom left corner.
I’ve heard that the official photographer never got to take a picture as the speech was far shorter than expected. Is htis correct?
P.S. from Alistair Cooke? (Letter from America – one of the most unmissable radio programmes)
Given that Edward Everett, the featured speaker for the dedication, spoke for two hours, it’s quite possible. Wikipedia agrees, and I recall that the Ken Burns documentary series said something similar.
Thanks to RR and R for a challenging exercise, and also to Richard@3 for the Bob Newhart link. Highlight of my day.
Spotted the theme for once, and it helped. Didn’t get HONORED, though; the only word that seemed to fit was ‘hundred’ which I thought might be a reference to some elite body of men that Lincoln mentioned – not that I knew of one or could parse the answer if it was.
A nice puzzle of medium difficulty, imho. Thanks, Radian and RatkojaRiku.