A good Thursday challenge from Klingsor.
There were a couple that had us foxed. We eventually realised that Ma in 13 across referred to Yo Yo Ma the Chinese-American cellist. However, it wasn’t until we were compiling the blog that we realised that we hadn’t solved 25d. In the end we needed a word search to find the double defintion. We had never come across METE as a ‘boundary’.
Thanks Klingsor for the fun.
Across
1 Description of pfennigs perhaps leading to argument? (8)
EXCHANGE
A play on the fact that pfennings are small coins of an old currency – EX CHANGE
5 What you may do with chipped wood to make desk (6)
PULPIT
If you had chipped wood you could always PULP IT to make chipboard and then make a desk!
9 Very much partial to Alfa Romeos (3)
FAR
Hidden in (‘partial to’) alFA Romeos
10 What you may study for after master’s interrogation? (5,6)
THIRD DEGREE
If you were wanting to carry on studying after a master’s degree you may well be looking at studying for your THIRD DEGREE (bachelor, master,……)
12 Drink wine to act terribly refined, for a start (5,5)
TONIC WATER
An anagram of WINE TO ACT (anagrind is ‘terribly’) and R (first letter or ‘start’ of ‘refined’)
13 Ma perhaps produces toy (2-2)
YO-YO
Refers to YO YO MA the cellist
15 Foolish detective interrupts boss (6)
STUPID
PI (private investigator – detective) inside or ‘interrupting’ STUD (boss)
16 US writer turned into fat cat (7)
LEOPARD
POE (US writer) reversed or ‘turned’ inside LARD (fat)
18 Stumped about small hive oddly lacking honey (7)
SWEETIE
ST (stumped) about WEE (small) and hIvE (lacking odd letters)
20 Stand for turnaround of college education (6)
DENOTE
A reversal or ‘turnaround’ of ETON (college) ED (education)
23 Gangster heads for private shooting range (4)
ALPS
AL (gangster as in Al Capone) PS (first letters or ‘heads’ of Private Shooting)
24 Salaciously pry and run most of elite ragged (10)
PRURIENTLY
An anagram of PRY RUN and ELITe (missing last letter or ‘most of’) – anagrind is ‘ragged’
26 Club includes lounge bar? Show the way! (5,1,5)
BLAZE A TRAIL
BAT (club) around or ‘including’ LAZE (lounge) + RAIL (bar)
27 The last of university dons live so long (3)
BYE
Y (last letter of ‘university’) inside or ‘donning’ BE (live)
28 Be still visibly embarrassed about songs (6)
LIEDER
LIE (be still) RED (‘visibly embarrassed’) reversed or ‘about’
29 Is Provençal rib available, waiter? (8)
ESTRAGON
EST (French for ‘is’, as spoken in Provencal) RAG (rib) ON (available) – a reference to the character in ‘Waiting for Godot’
Down
1 Degenerate English fellow wants a holiday (6)
EFFETE
E (English) F (fellow) FETE (holiday)
2 Crown court imprisons leaders of organised racket only (7)
CORONET
CT (court) around or ‘imprisoning’ O R (first letters or ‘leaders’ of ‘organised racket’) ONE (only)
3 Expect a pittance, I snarled (10)
ANTICIPATE
An anagram of A PITTANCE I – anagrind is ‘snarled’
4 Abide an onset of nasty suffering with grit? That’s about right (4,3,4,2)
GRIN AND BEAR IT
A clue-as-defintion – an anagram of ABIDE AN N (first letter or ‘onset’ of ‘nasty’) and GRIT (anagrind is ‘suffering’) round R (right)
6 It’s produced by piddling little area below river (4)
UREA
A (area) under URE (river)
7 A Native American image (7)
PERSONA
PER (a) SON (native) A (American)
8 Love sitting in cheap theatre seats? That’s what’s expected (3,5)
THE GOODS
O (love) ‘sitting’ in THE GODS (cheap theatre seats)
11 Ran off, needing a rum shake extremely badly after long Strauss work (3,10)
DIE FLEDERMAUS
FLED (ran off) and an anagram of A RUM ShakE (first and last letters only or ‘extremely’) – anagrind is ‘badly’ – after DIE (long)
14 One who advises assembly member is picked up (10)
COUNSELLOR
A homophone (‘picked up’) of COUNCILLOR (assembly member)
17 Originally Byzantium with one sultan running? (8)
ISTANBUL
A clue-as-defintion – an anagram of B (first or ‘original’ letter of ‘Byzantium’) and I (one) SULTAN – anagrind is ‘running’
19 Make amends for emigrant possessing one drug (7)
EXPIATE
EX PAT (emigrant) around or ‘possessing’ I (one) + E (drug)
21 Obtained outside help returning item for shopper? (4,3)
TOTE BAG
GOT (obtained) outside ABET (help) all reversed or ‘returning’
22 Monster with very odd name (6)
WYVERN
W (with) and an anagram of VERY – anagrind is ‘odd’ + N (name)
25 Boundary measure (4)
METE
Double defintion
*anagram
YO YO ESTRAGON and PULPIT great.
Lots and lots to enjoy here. ESTRAGON was probably my favourite, only solved since he appeared in another cryptic not too long ago. Also loved WYVERN. Some nice anagrams at 3d and 12a in particular.
Nice to see the Batman parody character from The Tick cartoon make an appearance at 11d.
Thanks to Klingsor and Bertandjoyce.
Thanks, B and J.
I just loved it – started giving ticks, then ran out but double ticks for copmus’s choices. And an extra one for ESTRAGON – brilliant!
Huge thanks to Klingsor for putting a smile on my face for the rest of the day.
What Eileen said 🙂
Great stuff from Klingsor as one expects. The second meanng of METE was new to us but quickly checked in Chambers. The usual sprinkling of music references from this setter – YO-YO, LIEDER and DIE FLEDERMAUS. We particularly liked SWEETIE and CORONET because Klingsor avoided the easy use of IE (it is, etc) and OR (men) in the clues. We also liked PULPIT and ESTRAGON.
Thanks, Klingsor – more of the same, please. And thanks of course also to B&J.
Yes to all the above, plus another tick for EXCHANGE which made me smile. I couldn’t parse PERSONA, so thanks for the explanation.
Good puzzle, though disappointing that I was beaten by one of those innocuous looking four letter clues (25d), which I still couldn’t get despite the crossers and an alphabet trawl. Still, a meaning for the word I didn’t know either.
I liked PULPIT and the musical references, especially YO-YO.
Thanks to Klingsor and to B&J.
Really enjoyed this. ESTRAGON was a belter! And also LIEDER, CORONET and PULPIT were superb as well as many more.
Thank you Klingsor and to B&J.
This was a pleasure from start to finish – especially the penny-drop moment for 13A!
Thanks Klingsor, and B&J.
Wyvern gets the gold medal from me
I am just going through some puzzles at work with a couple of newbies (one has apparently been so keen that his wife bought him a crossword book for Christmas!), and this was the first non-Sunday/Monday one we have tried. We are all obviously getting better, as we completed it, to our surprise, over three breaktimes and much enjoyment was had. Our literary knowledge let us down as we had no clue about why 29a was right. One of us is French, and she suggested the French word for tarragon fitted, and it parsed, and turned out to be an English word too, so we went with it. Great fun, many thanks to B&J and Klingsor.