Phi’s latest submission brings our mid-week suite of puzzles to an end.
I enjoyed this crossword and found it to be a medium-difficulty puzzle by Phi standards. True to form, I have been unable to identify any particular theme, although it is likely that there is one there to be found.
My favourite clues today were 24, for originality, and 7, for smoothness of surface. It was refreshing to have something other than ER for Queen at 18. I didn’t really know the solution at 8 or the track at 2, but it was clear from the wordplay what they both had to be.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | GIRAFFE | Animal mistake brought about anger after docking tail
IR<e> (=anger; “after docking tail” means last letter is dropped) in GAFFE (=mistake) |
| 05 | COWPAT | Primer, perhaps, about word processing? One shouldn’t get stuck into it
WP (=word processing) in COAT (=primer, perhaps, i.e. paint) |
| 10 | OPTIC | Pint I delivered in company after returning drink dispenser
[PT (=pint) + I] in OC (CO=company; “after returning” indicates reversal) |
| 11 | COIFFEUSE | Ridiculous office employment for salon worker
*(OFFICE) + USE (=employment); “ridiculous” is anagram indicator |
| 12 | NEE | Requirement after shortening datum in bio?
NEE<d> (=requirement; “after shortening” means last letter is dropped); a woman would preface her maiden name with née, hence “datum in bio” |
| 13 | SMOKESCREEN | It obscures Native American chasing donkeys between too points
[MOKES (=donkeys, colloquially) + CREE (=Native American)] in [ S (=point, i.e. south) + N (=point, i.e. north)] |
| 14 | BARRACUDA | Fish, a thing to be chewed in Scottish island
[A + CUD (=thing to be chewed)] in BARRA (=Scottish island) |
| 16 | RUING | Regretting devastation before end of bombing
RUIN (=devastation) + <bombin>G (“end of” means last letter only) |
| 18 | LEWES | English town and the Queen appearing in article in Le Monde
WE (=the Queen, as in We are not amused) in LES (=article in Le Monde, i.e. a French word for the) |
| 20 | ENGLANDER | UK resident for one, having to accept European’s latest blow
[<europea>N (“latest” means last letter only) in E.G. (=for one, for example)] + LANDER (=blow, i.e. punch, colloquially) |
| 22 | BARQUENTINE | Crisp, perhaps, consumed aboard undecorated boat
QUENTIN (=Crisp, perhaps, i.e. English writer/actor) in BARE (=undecorated); a barquentine is a type of three-masted vessel |
| 25 | GAS | Reduction in rent? That’s something delightful
GAS<h> (=rent, tear); “reduction in” means last letter dropped |
| 27 | AMBULANCE | A doctor beginning to use surgical tool in emergency vehicle
A + MB (=doctor) + U<se> (“beginning to” means first letter only) + LANCE (=surgical tool) |
| 28 | OF AGE | Old enough to work hard in heartless office
FAG (=to work hard, become weary) in O<ffic>E (“heartless” means middle letters are dropped) |
| 29 | DESERT | Leave // a justified response
Double definition: to desert is to leave, abandon AND a desert is something that is deserved, as in to get one’s just deserts |
| 30 | SWELTER | Sun precedes confused state – feel the heat
S (=sun) + WELTER (=confused state, mass) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | GROAN | Good horse is to suffer under weight
G (=good) + ROAN (=horse) |
| 02 | ROTTEN ROW | Argument that’s turned nasty? That’s the London way
Cryptically, an argument (=row) that’s turned nasty could be described as being “rotten”; Rotten Row is a track running along the south side of Hyde Park, hence “London way” |
| 03 | FUCHSIA | Purplish copper turned up in a fish at sea
UC (Cu=copper, in chemical formulas; “turned up” indicates vertical reversal) in *(A FISH); “at sea” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | ENCLOSURE | Confinement certain to follow malfunctioning of clone
*(CLONE) + SURE (=certain); “malfunctioning of” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | OFFICER | Policeman to propose holding most of detectives up
IC (CI<d> (=detectives; “most of” means last letter dropped; “up” indicates vertical reversal) in OFFER (=propose) |
| 07 | PRUNE | Cut and // dried item
Double definition: to prune is to cut (back) e.g. a shrub AND a prune is a dried item, i.e. a plum |
| 08 | TWEENAGER | Pretty little horse about to upend youngster
TWEE (=pretty little) + NAG (=horse) + ER (RE=about; “to upend” indicates vertical reversal); a tweenager is a child who, though not quite a teenager in age, is starting to behave like a teenager |
| 09 | PIKE | Put a stop to topless diving manoeuvre
<s>PIKE (=put a stop to, frustrate); “topless” means first letter is dropped |
| 14 | BILLBOARD | Charge directors for some advertising
BILL (=charge, invoice, as verb) + BOARD (=directors, of a company) |
| 15 | ANGRINESS | There’s a point about an expression of pleasure or rage
GRIN (=expression of pleasure) in [A + NESS (=point, headland)] |
| 17 | INDIGNANT | Popular Democrat, uninformed, overlooking soldiers, expressing anger
IN (=popular) + D (=Democrat) + IGN<or>ANT (=uninformed; “overlooking soldiers (=OR, i.e. other ranks)” means letters “or” are dropped) |
| 19 | SQUALOR | Endless storm or something filthy
SQUAL<l> (=storm; “endless” means last letter dropped) + OR |
| 21 | AWESOME | Accepted leak covers so many initially – incredible
A (=accepted) + {[SO + M<any> (“initially” means first letter only)] in WEE (=leak, i.e. urination)} |
| 23 | REBUS | Discredits having no time for puzzle
REBU<t>S (=discredits, refutes); “having no time (=T)” means letter “t” is dropped |
| 24 | NONE | Energy of gas lowered – to zero?
NEON (=gas); “energy (=E) lowered” means letter “e” appears in a later position in the word |
| 26 | STEER | Time to interrupt soothsayer providing guidance
T (=time) in SEER (=soothsayer) |
I couldn’t access this online today. I could see all the clues, but no grid. When I clicked on “Solve now” it just returned me to the same page, asking me to disable AdBlock. Is it now policy not to allow acces if an adblocker is on?
A couple of things I didn’t know – the 22a boat and the colloquialism in 20a and I wondered whether the ‘article’ in 18a should have been pluralised.
The simple 14d was my favourite.
Thanks to Phi and to RR for the blog – particularly the explanation of 12a.
Groan, Steerpike, Prunesqual(l)or and Swelter are all characters from the Gormenghast novels.
I enjoyed this challenge today and some of the parsing took a bit of teasing out. I was beaten by 9d. I didn’t stand a chance with it as I didn’t know the specific meanings of both the word from which the first letter needed to be removed, and the answer.
7d was my favourite – short and sweet.
Thanks to Phi and RR.
Re Bromley @3. Well spotted! I love the Gormenghast novels but I didn’t see that. However, now you’ve mentioned it, Barquentine is another character from those books.
muffin@1: That sounds like the problem I’ve been having for the last week. Gaufrid and I had an e-mail exchange about this, but we couldn’t get to the bottom of it. It seemed to all start when I had a Windows update Wednesday last week, on two computers. I can now get the grid loaded on my desktop as long as I have the Adblock disabled. I even went as far as removing Adblock plus from Chrome on my notebook and was still asking me to disable the adblocker. I also had some luck with suspending Kaspersky Internet Security, but that seemed to be a one-off.
And that’s beside the problem I’m having with Kaspersky Password Manager adding extra test to my posts.
Or even “extra text”. Doesn’t always do it.
Thanks Dormouse @6
I think I’ll forgo the Independent puzzle rather than disable AdBlock!
The bizarre thing is, even with AdBlock plus disabled for the puzzle page, it doesn’t actually play an ad before loading the puzzle. (With AdBlock plus you can disable to blocker on specific pages.) You see a black rectangle with a rotating video loading icon, but no actual ad.
Thanks to S&B
I’m sure your parsing of LEWES is correct but technically it only works if Her Maj. is the solver.
It might also work as Elizabeth Windsor
For 20a I thought “lander” must be a nautical term for a landward wind (blow ) but I can find no reference for it.
Bromley & Rabbit Dave: from memory (it’s years since I’ve read them) there was also a character called Fuchsia.
A nice smooth enjoyable solve, although we had to do a bit of googling to discover the diving manoeuvre; needless to say we missed the theme.
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku.
Dansar – the blow is a physical blow, usually with the fist, landed on someone
muffin – I load the puzzle from the link on this site; I pause Adblock before clicking on the link then as soon as the Indy site comes up I unpause Adblock. From the time it takes to bring up the puzzle I suspect that it still loads the adverts and the Indy gets paid for them but at least I don’t see them. I don’t have problems solving online as I then print a copy (via the ‘print’ option) to solve on paper.
Well done to those that spotted the theme, exposing yet another gap in my own general knowledge. Something to add to the Christmas reading list, I suppose 😉
I have added the word “punch” to clarify the sense of “blow” at 20, picking up on comments by Dansar@11 and allan_c@13
Didn’t notice the Gormenghast theme to my shame – I have read the books several times and love them! Good puzzle.
So it’s not just me then. Obviously the Indy have got wise to people dismissing the “please disable adblocker” pop-up and you now have to turn off the adblocker to get the grid to appear, although as allan_c says you can turn it back on once the video appears to stop it playing (but you have to be quick). If the ads were just pictures I’d be happy to turn off Adblock Plus in order to support the Indy giving us free crosswords, but I refuse to watch a video. No doubt the time will come when the Indy nixes the workaround, and if that happens I will only bother to get the Indy occasionally rather than every day.