Crosophile provides the challenge today
Crosophile often provides a theme in his puzzles. Today there seem to be a couple of threads, one based on slang for ‘excellent’ or really good’ and one based on various meanings of WILL Perhaps you can add in reluctance as two entries were defines as ‘not keen’.
I was surprised to find when writing the blog that the film GOOD WILL HUNTING dates back to 1998.
There was a good mix of clue types including a nested container and contents for HIDDEN, which I always like.
Clues I enjoyed today included those for TANTAMOUNT with it’s double use of the same brown and the one for CROISSANTS with it’s interesting ingredients (acorns and a hint of sesame).
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 8 | Actor hanging around toilet is back for money on the streets (6) |
(HAM [actor who rants and overacts] containing (around) LOO [toilet]) all reversed (is back) (M (OOL) AH) < |
MOOLAH (slang [on the street] for money) |
| 9 | We see owner far off, on course to urge caution? (8) |
Anagram of (off) OWNER FAR I think ‘we see’ and ‘on course’ are just words that improve the surface. I don’t think they play specific roles in the wordplay or the definition. FOREWARN* |
FOREWARN (give notice of danger in advance; urge caution) |
| 11 | He fought Richard, a boy possessed by evil (7) |
(A + LAD [boy]) contained in (possessed by SIN (evil) S (A LAD) IN |
SALADIN (An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub [1138 – 1193], known as Salah ad-Din or SALADIN, led the Muslim military campaign against the Crusader states in the Levant, fighting against Richard I [Richard the Lionheart]) |
| 12 | Allow entry in parliament it legislates (7) |
ENTITLE (hidden word in [in] PARLIAMENT IT LEGISLATES) ENTITLE |
ENTITLE (empower; allow) |
| 13 | Move along gradually and squeeze out of top of pipe (4) |
PINCH (squeeze) excluding (out of) P (first letter of [top of] PIPE) INCH |
INCH (move by slow degrees; move along gradually) |
| 15 | Brown (not quite the same brown) horse or equivalent (10) |
TAN (brown) + TAN ([the same] brown) excluding the final letter (not quite) N + MOUNT (horse) TAN TA MOUNT |
TANTAMOUNT (equivalent) |
| 17 | Looking for kindness in a film (4,4,7) |
GOODWILL (benevolence; kindness) + HUNTING (looking for) – a cryptic definition GOOD WILL HUNTING |
GOOD WILL HUNTING (1998 film starring Robin Williams and Matt Damon ) |
| 20 | Wet sandals disintegrating in this wilderness (10) |
Anagram of (disintegrating) WET SANDALS WASTELANDS |
WASTELANDS (desolate, barren area; wilderness) |
| 22 | Good judgement of pitch tackle (4) |
G (good) + EAR (judgment of different [usually musical] sounds; judgement of pitch) G EAR |
GEAR (equipment; tackle) |
| 24 | Church cake initially cut in a stately home (7) |
CH (church) + GATEAU (cake) excluding (cut) the first letter (initially) G CH ATEAU |
CHATEAU (castle or large country house,; stately home) |
| 25 | Raise tax in East Leeds (over 50%) (7) |
VAT (value added tax) contained in (in) (E [East] + LEE [3 of 5 letters of {over 50%} of LEEDS]) E LE (VAT) E |
ELEVATE (raise) |
| 27 | Ends of logs perhaps cut by Mike? (8) |
(EX [from] + TREES – logs come from TREES) containing (cut by) M EX TRE (M) ES |
EXTREMES (ends of) |
| 28 | Adult poetry? Not keen (6) |
A (adult) + VERSE (poetry) A VERSE |
AVERSE (reluctant; not keen) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Celebrate eating spuds – 2 or 3 perhaps, possibly 20 down or 22! (8) |
SING (celebrate) containing (eating) MASH (potatoes; spuds) S (MASH) ING |
SMASHING (really good, excellent; word that could mean the same as COOL [2 down], DANDY [3 down], WICKED [20 down] or GEAR [22 across] in slang terms)
|
| 2 | … Wow! 50? Not keen! (4) |
COO (expression of surprise; wow!) + L (Roman numeral for 50) COO L |
COOL (unenthusiastic; not keen) |
| 3 | Old comic, e.g.. Leno, doughty missing out nothing (5) |
DAN (reference George Wild Galvin [1860 – 1904], English Music Hall comedian who performed under the stage name DAN Leno) + DOUGHTY excluding (missing) OUGHT (corruption of NAUGHT [nothing)] DAN DY |
DANDY (the world’s third longest running comic first published in 1937. From the D C Thomson publishing company in Dundee it was published until 2007, when it became DANDY Xtreme before finally ending its run in 2010) |
| 4 | 18 rocky inlet before crests of rip tide (6) |
COVE (rocky inlet) + RT (first letters of [crests of] each of RIP and TIDE) COVE R T |
COVERT (HIDDEN [18 down]) |
| 5 | Will‘s trial, so let it be over a short time (9) |
TEST (trial) + AMEN (so let it be) + T (abbreviation for time; short time) TEST AMEN T |
TESTAMENT (will) |
| 6 | Is rue mixed into dough to make milk sterile? (10) |
(Anagram of [mixed] IS RUE) contained in (into) PASTE (dough for piecrust) RUE can be defined as a type of fodder plant, so I think that is the sense that is being used in the clue. PAST (EURIS*) E |
PASTEURISE (to sterilise milk) |
| 7 | Aim for a place to sleep when camping (6) |
IN TENT (a place to sleep when camping) IN TENT |
INTENT (aim) |
| 10 | If willing, this settles trouble after seeing hospital department (6) |
ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat; hospital department) + AIL (trouble) ENT AIL |
ENTAIL (to settle an estate on a series of heirs, something probably set out in a will) |
| 14 | These go well with coffee it’s acorns blended with a hint of sesame (10) |
Anagram of (blended with) ITS ACORNS and S (first letter of [hint of] SESAME) CROISSANTS* |
CROISSANTS (bread rolls [should be made with lots of butter] that may be eaten with coffee) |
| 16 | Bribe extends membership to cover golf equipment – all taken aback (9) |
(RENEWS [extends membership] containing [to cover] TEE [golf equipment]) all reversed (all taken aback) (SW (EET) ENER)< |
SWEETENER (bribe) |
| 18 | Concealed woman with concealed identity to protect daughter (6) |
HEN (woman) containing (ID [identity papers] containing [to protect] D [daughter) H (I (D) D) EN |
HIDDEN (concealed) |
| 19 | Might he collect and store potting shed’s last earth? (8) |
GARNER (gather up [collect] and store) containing (potting) (D [final letter of [last] SHED + E [earth]) GAR (D E) NER |
GARDENER (the whole clue could be descriptive of a GARDENER who puts things in the potting shed) |
| 20 | With deck I redealt 1, 2 or 3 (6) |
Anagram of (redealt) W (with) and DECK I WICKED* |
WICKED (in slang, WICKED can mean the equivalent of SMASHING [1 down], COOL [2 down] and DANDY [3 down]) |
| 21 | Obstinate one to quickly charm (6) |
A MULE (an obstinate person) + T‘ (obsolete shortened form of to before a vowel) A MULE T |
AMULET (charm worn to ward off evil, disease etc) |
| 23 | Will‘s time off work (5) |
LEAVE (bequeath; will) LEAVE |
LEAVE (time off work) double definition
|
| 26 | A wide train track twisted to one side (4) |
A + W (wide) + RY (railway; tracks) A W RY |
AWRY (twisted to one side) |
Didnt understand 3d as LENO is now Bernd
I suspected Beano or Dandy but with the current biopic i entered HARDY.
Not that familiar with this setter but more to like than not(didnt like AMULET)’
And the Indy is available in OZ before midnight GMT so its something to do before the others appear
Or in the case of Nimrod on Saturday- rather a lot to do,Great, though.
I had no idea about GEAR as a slang term for ‘good’ so couldn’t fully understand the wordplay for 1d, nor the ‘Leno’ bit of 3d. I resisted temptation and didn’t put in ‘jay’ anyway. Otherwise, nothing too obscure, although I found a few clues pretty hard, including MOOLAH and TANTAMOUNT.
Favourite was the ‘logs perhaps’ for EX TREES in 27a.
Thanks to Crosophile and to Duncan
I think you need to be of a certain age to remember GEAR as slang for good.
Breezed through this which is unusual for me.
Does anyone else have phases when their brain just seems to be in ‘crossword mode’?
I can find that clues that I’ve been struggling with suddenly seem obvious – quite often when I’ve just come out of the shower (extra blood to the brain perhaps?)>
Thanks to Crosophile and Duncan
I do think ENT as a hospital ward should be given a rest in cryptics; likewise TEE as a supporter.
We managed to work steadily through this and finished without help. And we spotted the twin themes as well! Not that we are of an age to have used the various synonyms(?) for ‘good’ but we have children, and now grandchildren, who did/do.
Favourites were TANTAMOUNT and, for its ‘Russian doll’ clue, HIDDEN.
Thanks, Crosophile and Duncan.
Thanks Duncan for explaining 3d. We ignored the Leno bit and saw it as D AND Y being left when ‘ought’ was removed from DOUGHTY.
We didn’t really like AMULET either but the rest was very enjoyable. Ex trees for logs was excellent.
Thanks to Crosophile. Let’s hope it’s not too long before the setter’s name appears on the app. We are reliably informed that they are working on it.
As usual, belatedly. Many thanks, Duncan for the blog and for successfully hunting those googs and wills. 🙂 Thanks also for all the comments.
Re ENT and TEE I don’t think I use either sub-definition that frequently. Maybe someone’s suffering from a cumulative effect of too much solving? 🙂
I can’t see what’s wrong with the AMULET clue unfortunately, so whatever it is I may repeat it!