As May comes to an end, a puzzle from Hob. I suspect it wouldn’t be June following May this year!
Nice fun puzzle with a lot of cross referencing amongst the clues. Usually a source of irritation for me, but either my advancing years have matured me, or this was an example of how it should be done. Plus whether intended or not I did see a political theme to this puzzle describing the current pathetic situation the members of parliament across all parties have got this country into.
7dn amused me – albeit a simple clue and 31ac won the prize for the most convoluted cross referencing and lovely clueing. 13 dn has me beat on the parsing front.
Thanks Hob, whilst not quite taking my mind completely off more serious things it provided some amusement.
Underline definition; * anagram; DD double definition; Rev. Reversed
Across
5 Blooming husband loves song and dance (8)
bally (blooming) + h (husband) + oo (loves) = BALLYHOO
6 Go off, suppressing onset of imminent scream (4)
Rot (go off) around i (onset of imminent) = RIOT
9 Urban Yank’s one that does give a fig (6)
Hidden urBAN YANk = BANYAN
10 Herb in recipe PM has tackled before noon (8)
r(recipe) in Major (PM) + am (before noon) = MARJORAM
12 Bad cop’s diet is oppressive (8)
(cops diet)* = DESPOTIC
15 Government department briefly providing variable reform (6)
MOD (Government department) + if (providing) + y (variable) = MODIFY
17 Handle a hard swelling (4)
DD KNOB
19 Waiting game? (5)
DD READY
20 Party giving cause for alarm, lacking good leader (4)
grave (cause for alarm) – g (good) = RAVE
21 Having no answer, rashly blamed one politician (3,3)
(blamed i(one) – a(answer))* = LIB DEM
22 Feeling embarrassed by novel recording his outing (8)
She (novel) + ep (recording) + (his)* = SHEEPISH
26 9D 21D giving rise to EU’s “Oh!” perhaps (8)
+(eus oh)* = MADHOUSE
29 Awkwardly placed, held up by lack of motion? (2,1,3)
DD IN A JAM
31 4 leads to 11 25 every single session (4)
leads to mayhem every single session = MESS
32 Awful 31? Blah blah … not half! (8)
(mess + blah)* = SHAMBLES
DOWN
1 Drama over, behave badly
play (drama) + up (over) = PLAY UP
2 Trap below caught wings of young bird (6)
net after c (caught) yg (wings of young) = CYGNET
3 Sleepy party member with no current place to sleep (4)
Dormouse (sleepy party member) – Ouse (current as in river) = DORM
4 Treat with contempt an instruction leading to 11 25? (8)
Dis (treat with contempt) + order (instruction) = DISORDER
5 Supporter of dumb rationales (3)
Hidden dumB RAtionales = BRA
7 Drink in the bar on odd occasions (3)
ThE bAr = TEA
8 Good drink, given party extremely short one (6)
G (good) + rum (drink) + py (party extremely) = GRUMPY
9/21 Wrongly blamed for 11 25 (6)
(blamed)* = BEDLAM
11 Has permission to root around? (3)
Rev. Yam (root) = MAY
13 Tedium of working with No.1, say (5)
Is there a Homonym here I can’t get? Homonym of on (working) + wee (No 1) = ENNUI
14 Conservative with contrary sense of humour about absolute 11 25 (5)
c (conservative) + Rev. soh (sense of humour) around a (absolute) = CHAOS
16 Hob’s into following suit at first in game (5)
I’ve (Hob’s) in f (following) + s (suit at first) = FIVES
18 Dalai Lama perhaps has this novel by Zola? (8)
(this)* after Budd (Zola?) = BUDDHIST
19 5A involving noise from bottom by American (6)
rump (bottom) + us (american) = RUMPUS
21 See 9
23 Puzzle set in game (6)
(in game)* = ENIGMA
24 Something irrational about everyone supporting primarily hubristic male members (6)
Pi (something irrational) around (h (primariliy hubristic) + all (everyone)) = PHALLI
25 Heading for emergency minutes after hard border (3)
e m (heading for emergency minutes) after h (hard) = HEM
27 End of the road, with 11 25 on either side (3)
Ai (road) + m (mayhem on either side) = AIM
28 Genuine exasperation, 14 having triumphed initially (4)
e c h t (exasperation chaos having triumphd initially) = ECHT
30 Fool causes odds to drop on leaving (3)
cAuSeS (odds to drop) = ASS
Thanks, twencelas.
13dn is a homonym, you’re right: ON (working) WEE (number 1).
Finished this in record time for a Hob. Parsed 13d as Neil@1. My only problem was that I couldn’t quite equate READY = WAITING. Ready to drop, for example, doesn’t mean waiting to drop. I’m sure somebody will explain.
Thanks to Hob and twencelas.
Thanks NeilW – have updated the blog
Hovis – We’re ready – spoken in a certain way, perfected by elderly diners – means we’re “waiting” to me
To me, waiting to be served is different to ready to be served. Maybe I’m being picky?
Just to add to the above, I have just looked in my Chambers thesaurus and “waiting” is listed under “ready” in the sense of “ready (to go)”. Live and learn.
Quite tricky but all gettable – we finished without help, LOI being DORM which elicited a “doh!” once we got it. We thought the Zola = Budd device was a bit dated and not likely to be understood by younger generation solvers though we didn’t have any problem with READY = waiting – but isn’t ‘supporter’ for BRA becoming a bit of a cliché?.
Lots to like here; favourites were MARJORAM and the aforesaid DORM.
Thanks, Hob and twencelas.
Made steady progress on this through the afternoon, but in the end although I’d guessed 27dn, I couldn’t parse it. Thanks for the explanation. (I could see M1 reversed, but not the A1.)
You’d be amazed at how long it took me to get 3dn, and even longer to parse it.
Thanks to twencelas and Hob
Very nice, very tricksy.
Some observations:
19a only works for me as a CD
20a GRAVE = GIVING CAUSE FOR ALARM
32a Wordplay is AWFUL MESS BLAH. Where is the def or is this an &lit?
8d Def is SHORT ONE – presumably the dwarf from Snow White
19d Def is 5a INVOLVING NOISE
25d Heading for emergency E, then minutes M
27d The A1 is not THE road. It is A road
30d ON LEAVING is utterly superfluous as far as i can see