For those not able to get to ‘The Old Horse’ for the Leicester S&B, or would prefer to tackle it later, Dalibor’s puzzle for the occasion is available at: Dalibor @ Leicester 2019
An interactive version is also available at www.crossword.info/S_and_B
We usually find Dalibor’s puzzles pretty tough (whether his S&B offerings or those now published in the Indy), and they invariably have something going on that is not immediately obvious. However, on this occasion he has given us a clear indication of the theme, based on ‘The Old Horse’ – the venue for the first Leicester S&B – with eight clues having no definition, four being ‘Old’ and four ‘Horses’
We had to check two of the Horses (not being particularly into equine pursuits), but otherwise there were no unusual words.
We weren’t too happy with the abbreviation at 23ac, even though it is not that uncommon – it’s the first time we’ve seen an apostrophe in the enumeration!
As usual, there are some great surfaces (if occasionally requiring a little redundancy) and some ingenuity in bringing ‘The Old Horse’ into two of the clues.
Across
1 Arsenal not prepared to invest money in things that please the eye (11)
ORNAMENTALS
An anagram of ARSENAL NOT (anagrind is ‘prepared’) round or ‘investing’ M (money)
7 Jack‘s thank-you letter almost completely ignored (3)
TAR
TA (thank-you) letteR (last letter only or ‘almost vompletely ignored’)
9 First of all, Stills and Nash should cover American Woman (5)
SUSAN
S A N (first letters of Stills And Nash) round or ‘covering’ US (American)
10 Wind power in green area creating red tape (9)
PAPERWORK
An anagram of POWER (anagrind is ‘wind’) in PARK (green area)
11 Both sides getting to grips with a deprived area a bit slowly (9)
LARGHETTO
L and R (left and right – ‘both sides’) round or ‘gripping’ A + GHETTO (deprived area)
12 Approaches Anne Harris regularly used (5)
NEARS
Alternate or ‘regular’ letters of aNnE hArRiS
13 Fish cakes I originally saw in Mediterranean region (7)
TUNISIA
TUNA (fish) round or ‘caking’ I and S I (first or ‘original’ letters of ‘saw in’)
15 Silver Machine‘s back, Hawkwind’s back! (4)
AGED (‘old’ 1)
AG (silver) E (last letter or ‘back’ of ‘machine’) D (last letter of ‘Hawkwind’)
18 One’s in “The Old Horse”, of course! (4)
YEAH
A (one) in YE (old word for ‘the’) H (horse)
20 See 2 Down
23 Hilarious to find post office inside small city (1’4)
L’POOL
LOL (laughing out loud – ‘hilarious’) round PO (Post Office)
24 Turning red, feeling unwell, when making pancakes (9)
TORTILLAS
TROT (Troskyite – ‘red’) reversed or ‘turning’ + ILL (feeling unwel) AS (when)
26 Cat food? (5,4)
TIGER ROLL (‘horse’ 1)
TIGER (cat) ROLL (food) – we’re not into horse racing, so we had to cheat on this one – apparently the winner of the Grand National this year and last
27 Witty remark providing theme … (5)
MOTIF
MOT (witty remark) IF (providing)
28 … overheard (3)
DUN (‘horse’ 2)
A homophone (‘heard’) of DONE (over)
29 Radiation used for splitting thallium (11)
TRADITIONAL (‘old’ 2)
An anagram of RADIATION (anagrind is ‘used’) in or ‘splitting’ TL (thallium)
Down
1 River Tyne’s banks hampering flatfish (8)
OBSOLETE (‘old’ 3)
OB (river – in Siberia apparently) + TE (first and last letters or ‘banks’ of Tyne) in or ‘hampering’ SOLE (flatfish)
2/20A 50% of Noel Coward well received (2,6,7)
NO SPRING CHICKEN (‘old’ 4)
NO (50% of ‘Noel’) CHICKEN (coward) round or ‘receiving’ SPRING (well)
3 May perhaps blocking referendum on the EU (5)
MONTH
Hidden or ‘blocked’ in referenduM ON THe – unfortunately the ‘EU’ is redundant, but it makes a great surface!!
4 Vulgar in speech? That nearly is stuff that might inflame (7)
NAPHTHA
A homophone (‘in speech’) of NAFF (vulgar) + THAt without the last letter or ‘nearly’
5 A unit of speed or a unit for measuring liquids (7)
AMPHORA
A MPH (unit of speed) OR A
6 Plain tiger seen fluttering (9)
SERENGETI
An anagram of TIGER SEEN – anagrind is ‘fluttering’
7 Books about drinking wine I discarded (6)
TROJAN (‘horse’ 3)
NT (New Testament – ‘books’) reversed or ‘about’ round or ‘drinking’ RiOJA (wine) without the ‘i’
8 Piece from Dvorak is hardly jaunty (6)
RAKISH
Hidden in (‘piece from’) DvoRAK IS Hardly
14 All-star cast assuming me to sense something’s not right (5,1,3)
SMELL A RAT
An anagram of ALL-STAR (anagrind is ‘cast’) round or ‘assuming’ ME
16 On reflection, no form of communication stated a basic plan (8)
SKELETON
A homophone (‘stated’) of NO TELEX (form of communication) reversed or ‘on reflection’
17 Not handy to involve us in musical that lacks tempo (8)
UNUSEFUL
US in tUNEFUL (musical) without the ‘t’ (tempo)
19 Beginners in “The Old Horse”: on arrival, get yourself organised for a heated workout (3,4)
HOT YOGA
An anagram of the first letters or ‘beginners’ of ‘The Old Horse On Arrival Get Yourself’ – anagrind is ‘organised’
20 One who produced bars of gold in oldest part of prison? (7)
CORELLI
OR (gold) in CELL I (first cell, or possibly the ‘oldest part of prison’)
21 Censured confidential information I lost when going up north (6)
SLATED
DETAiLS (cofidential information) without or ‘losing’ I reversed or ‘going up north’
22 Hammond, possibly, supporting May’s leadership (6)
MORGAN (‘horse’ 4)
ORGAN (Hammond, possibly – an organ manufacturer) after or ‘supporting’ M (first letter or ‘leader’ of May) – apparently this is a breed of horse
25 Feet aim to move to AC/DC (5)
IAMBI
An anagram of AIM (anagrind is ‘move’) + BI (bi-sexual – ‘AC/DC’)
Another enjoyable solve, although completing it left me puzzled as I could only find three ‘horses’. In ignorance of racing, I didn’t recognise TIGER ROLL as one, thinking the clue was an &lit for a type of bread baked with a striped-effect crust, although I’ve only come across it as loaves rather than rolls.
I liked the need to ‘lift and separate’ River Tyne in 1dn – fortunately I knew of the Ob as it cropped up in an Indy crossword not long ago; and also the split â la Guardian in 28ac.
Thanks, Dalibor and B&J.
Many thanks to B and J for a fine blog of a great puzzle from Dalibor, with its ingenious and witty exploitation of the venue for our S and B yesterday – and with a lovely picture!.
I found it quite tough going but very rewarding.
Being one of those who, together with the family, bet just once a year, on the National – usually on some tenuous connection with the horse’s name or the jockey’s colours or whatever – I did know TIGER ROLL. [Mine came third, so I just about broke even.]
Like Allan C, I liked the device in 1dn but hadn’t come across OB before – will wait for that to join the lexicon of PO, CAM, EXE, FAL, DEE, URE et al.
Top favourite: 3dn, as a topical solution and for its surface. We seemed yesterday, mercifully, to have a tacit agreement at my table][s] at least, to avoid the unmentionable.
Many thanks, Dalibor, for an intriguing and enjoyable solution.
I’ve solved three of yours (from memory) before this one, Dalibor, but this is the only one I couldn’t finish. I had.to leave the top left and bottom right corners incomplete. There were some deceptively simple clues that I couldn’t get, including AGED and YEAH (but of course the rest of you would call these just ‘simple’!).
I enjoyed the 75% I did mange to get, and I thought MONTH, TROJAN, SMELL A RAT and IAMBI were excellent clues. I haven’t come across UNUSEFUL or HOt YOGA before (although I bunged in the latter), and ‘mot’ for ‘witty remark’ (in MOTIF) was also new to me (knowing only ‘bon mot’).
Many thanks to Dalibor and Bertandjoyce.
[I was amused to see ‘unmentionable’ mentioned in Eileen’s comment. On the table I was at for some of the time there was a full glass of something-or-other (beer or cider) sitting there for half on hour, and everyone seemed to disown it. It had “Thatcher’s Somerset” printed on it.]