The Observer crossword from Oct 28, 2018
Another goodie but one that took me considerably longer than usual.
Perhaps, I was still a bit 20d [my first one in] after the York S&B.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SHADOW | Gloom in party captured by playwright (6) |
| DO (party) inside SHAW (playwright, George Bernard Shaw) | ||
| 4 | PLASTIC | Artificial image? Continue to be enthralled by it (7) |
| LAST (continue (to be)) inside PIC (it, i.e. the aforementioned ‘image’) | ||
| 9 | ENTERTAIN | Delight in harbour (9) |
| Double definition | ||
| 10 | AMPLE | Substantial specimen, not small (5) |
| SAMPLE (specimen) minus S (small) | ||
| 11 | HONOURS | Drama in period setting’s first to get awards (7) |
| NO (drama, Japanese art form) inside HOUR (period) + S[etting] | ||
| 12 | HADDOCK | Fish held and cut (7) |
| HAD (held) + DOCK (cut) | ||
| 13 | RAMBUNCTIOUS | Exuberant force, group mostly seen with love in revolutionary outfit (12) |
| RAM (force) + BUNC[h] (group, most of it), followed by O (love) inside a reversal [revolutionary] of SUIT (outfit) A new word to me and a case of parsing it afterwards. |
||
| 17 | OLYMPIC TORCH | Terrible trophy, comical, not a symbol of major sporting event (7,5) |
| Anagram [terrible] of: TROPHY + COMICAL minus A | ||
| 20 | SPARROW | Bird emerging from box with noise (7) |
| SPAR (box) + ROW (noise) | ||
| 22 | ITCHING | Eager one with speed of light entering event (7) |
| I, followed by C (speed of light, its symbol in physics) inside THING (event) | ||
| 23 | HALVE | Robust, guarding against split (5) |
| HALE (robust) around V (against) | ||
| 24 | OSTRACISE | Exile in wretched case riots (9) |
| Anagram [wretched] of CASE RIOTS | ||
| 25 | RAPIDLY | Fast strike without real purpose (7) |
| RAP (strike) + IDLY (without real purpose) | ||
| 26 | SKINNY | Thin air outside pub (6) |
| SKY (air) around INN (pub) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHEPHERD | Perfect day disrupted by measure of acidity in conduct (8) |
| SHEER (perfect) + D (day), together going around PH (measure of acidity, in chemistry etc) The nice thing here is that it’s conduct in the surface and conduct for the definition. |
||
| 2 | AUTONOMY | Many too prepared to restrict universal independence (8) |
| Anagram [prepared] of MANY TOO, going around U (universal) | ||
| 3 | OUR MUTUAL FRIEND | Different future in a rum old Victorian tale (3,6,6) |
| Anagram [different] of FUTURE IN A RUM OLD Novel by Charles Dickens . |
||
| 4 | PUNCH | Forcefulness required to get a drink (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | A HARD NUT TO CRACK | Expert under oath, worried about Arctic region, raised difficult problem (1,4,3,2,5) |
| CRACK (expert), coming after an anagram [worried] of OATH which goes around a reversal [raised] of TUNDRA (Arctic region) | ||
| 6 | TIP-TOP | Excellent work after lean time (3-3) |
| TIP (lean) + T (time), followed by OP (work) | ||
| 7 | CHEEKY | Happy with king instead of rook getting forward? (6) |
| CHEERY (happy) with R (rook) replaced by K (king) | ||
| 8 | CAPSICUM | Pepper? Limit amount covering one starter for child (8) |
| CAP (limit) + SUM (amount) around {I (one) + C[hild]} | ||
| 14 | INITIATE | One foolish person, angry, lacking right start (8) |
| I (one) + NIT (foolish person), followed by IRATE (angry) minus R (right) Somewhat surprised to see Everyman using I = ‘one’ in two consecutive clues. It’s not wrong, of course, just a bit uncharacteristic for this setter. |
||
| 15 | FRUITION | Fulfilment I found in working for unit (8) |
| I inside an anagram [working] of FOR UNIT | ||
| 16 | THUGGERY | Violent behaviour almost embraced during endeavour (8) |
| HUGGE[d] (embraced, almost) inside TRY (endeavour) | ||
| 18 | ESTHER | Some interest heretic displayed in Old Testament book (6) |
| Hidden answer [some]: inter est heretic | ||
| 19 | GALLOP | Run good article on vote coming up (6) |
| G (good) + A (article) + a reversal [coming up] of POLL (vote) | ||
| 21 | WOOZY | Befuddled in court over unknown quantities (5) |
| WOO (court) + Z (unknown quantity, in maths etc) + Y (and another one) | ||
8 down: I was tricked by the ‘?’, thinking it meant the reference to ‘pepper’ would be oblique. Are there any rules of thumb for interpreting question marks in clues?
A very good puzzle which I enjoyed immensely. My last one in was RAPIDLY for which I nearly entered RAMADAN but couldn’t make it work apart from ram=hit.
Lots to ponder over in this puzzle but I always know I’ll get there in the end. I don’t know how Everyman does it but the clues are always well-constructed with
some great surfaces. I liked SKINNY especially but I like any clue that has ‘pub’ in it. Many thanks to Everyman and Sil for the blog.
Thank you Everyman and Sil.
I was thrown by 13a, the word that came to my mind was ‘rumbustious’, RAMBUNCTIOUS being North American – hopefully the Kiwis down under will know it since many American words are used in NZ, but this Kiwi did not.
A super anagram, as always, that for OUR MUTUAL FRIEND.
Chris @ 1 – rule of thumb = any sort of punctuation is to treated with suspicion, as it is often there (as in this case) to make the surface work. Try ignoring them in the construction
Thanks for that tip, Shirl.
Definitely harder for me than par for Everyman. I blame 13ac. Lots of fun throughout as ever though.
I definitely found this Everyman a harder nut to crack than usual. It was smoother going after I quite suddenly got Our Mutual Friend, Rambunctious I am familiar with, but was slow to get. I have always thought it had negative connotations, which exuberant doesn’t.
There was a typo in our version which didn’t help and knocked out the definition in 7d. Never heard of the Dickens tale, and I thought the word was Rumbunctious which of course wouldn’t parse. And I never remember the blasted Japanese drama. So I got there with one error but the top left corner was certainly on the tricky side.
Was harder than usual but I got all except Tip Top. Didn’t notice there was a typo in 7 d till Barrie pointed it out, but yes the last two words were omitted. Cookie@3 I haven’t heard many kiwis down under using 13 ac but I had heard of the word.
Liked skinny and itching, even though I didn’t know that C means the speed of light. As usual I biffed most of these so thanks Sil for explaining.
Good crossword though I thought both definitions in 9ac & 1d were bit obscure. Thanks Sil & Everyman & all the contributors above.
I didnt know the speed of light either so that was new. My physics teacher husband will be mortified I had never heard of it. I liked 16d 12 ac 4ac, 4d
7d totally confused me only to be explained with the missing words, makes me feel a bit better. 13 ac what a clumsy word. Dont think it is particularly kiwi.
nothing particularly easy i thought, Great level of diffiulty
I put ‘phantom’ for artificial image (4 across), then spent ages trying to make ‘merry’ work for ‘happy’ with an ‘r’ missing somehow (7 down). It wouldn’t of course. unfortunately I don’t think the complete clue would’ve helped.
Many thanks to Sil, Everyman and all above.
I wondered about there being no literal definition in 7 down, and was relieved to find out that there were words missing in the printed version of the puzzle that we got here in Orcland.
I thought that “thing” meaning “event” (22 across) was a bit tenuous.
Overall a very enjoyable puzzle. Took me a long while to get going; “rambunctious” was my first one in. Actually it was just a guess initially; I didn’t write it in, but used some of the cross letters to get others (capsicum; initiate).
I was proud of myself for figuring out that the “drama” in 11 across was “no”.
Some interesting comments above though I found this crossie a bit ho-hum. No real standout clues.
Another goodie as Sil said. I’ll use the missing words in the clue to 7d as an excuse for it being the last one in even though having seen the whole clue I suspect it probably wouldn’t have made any difference. Held up considerably by biffing in ‘one’ instead of ‘nut’ in 5d (and ‘swallow’ instead of ‘sparrow’ for that matter) but got there in the end. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks to all.