Julius provides some head-scratching fun this morning.
I found this puzzle quite tough at first, but once I worked out the longer solutions around the perimeter the rest went in fairly quickly. Some of the definitions are a bit obscure and a healthy dose of general knowledge is required to complete the puzzle, but in the main the clues are fair, with some on the harder side. I do have a slight quibble with 19dn as my idea of an island state differs from the setter’s.
It is unusual to see two Spoonerisms in one puzzle but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the puzzle as I like a wee bit of a challenge and general knowledge in my puzzles. Not one for a rookie though!
Thanks Julius
| Across | ||
| 1 | BUSTER KEATON | Comic news bulletin from Spooner at Little Bighorn? (6,6) |
| Spoonerism of CUSTER BEATEN, which could have been a “news bulletin from Little Bighorn” (ie Custer’s Last Stand) | ||
| 10 | ADDRESS | He’s taken off ceremonial hat to deliver speech (7) |
| (he)ADDRESS (“ceremonial hat” with HE taken off) | ||
| 11 | PUCCINI | Italian barman returning home with endless hiccups (7) |
| [returning] <=IN (“home”) + <=(h)ICCUP(s) [endless] | ||
| 12 | TRAWL | Go fishing, bitterly cold in Tobol on vacation (5) |
| RAW (“bitterly cold”) in T(obo)L [on vacation] | ||
| 13 | FRETSOME | 16 at sea – a few tending to worry (8) |
| FRET (“mist at sea”, see answer to 16ac) + SOME (“a few”) | ||
| 15 | ALTOGETHER | Totally special to get Hermes trousers (10) |
| Hidden in (indicated by trousers) “speciAL TO GET HERmes” | ||
| 16 | MIST | Monsieur’s first film? (4) |
| M (monsieur) + 1st | ||
| 18 | BASH | Republican leaves loud party (4) |
| R (republican) leaves B(r)ASH | ||
| 20 | CINCINNATI | Send over Britannic nickel to insulate home for some Ohioans? (10) |
| Hidden backwards in “brITANNIC NICkel” | ||
| 22 | CARTHAGE | Phoenician state wagon – Tyre’s last – transporting crone (8) |
| CART (“wagon”) + (tyr)E [‘s last] transporting HAG (“crone”) | ||
| 24 | MERIT | Middle East artist regularly getting distinction (5) |
| ME (Middle East) + (a)R(t)I(s)T [regularly] | ||
| 26 | LOW TIDE | Folding towel, I’d time for a walk on the beach? (3,4) |
| *(towel id) | ||
| 27 | PANTHER | Knight blocking way in front of Her Majesty is just a big pussycat (7) |
| N (knight, in chess notation) blocking PATH (“way”) in front of ER (Elizabeth Regina, “her majesty”) | ||
| 28 | KEYSTONE COPS | Corrupt tycoons keep special constables in action (8,4) |
| *(tycoons keep) + S (special) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | US DRAFT | Dollar bill avoided by Donald Trump? (2,5) |
| A dollar bill is US money and a draft is a “money order” | ||
| 3 | THEOLOGY | Convert to eg holy study of religion (8) |
| *(to eg holy) | ||
| 4 | ROSY | Healthy-looking Rovers striker embracing son (4) |
| ROY (of the “Rovers”, “striker: in a British comic) embracing S (son) | ||
| 5 | EXPERIENCE | Witness former VP suppressing rising anger (10) |
| EX (“former”) + (Mike) PENCE (“VP” of the US) suppressing [rising] <=IRE (“anger”) | ||
| 6 | TACIT | Time to do something about independence, it’s understood (5) |
| T (time) + ACT (“to do something”) about I (independence) | ||
| 7 | NAIROBI | Terrible rain over outskirts of Burundi capital (7) |
| *(rain) + O (over) + [outskirts of] B(urund)I | ||
| 8 | FATTY ARBUCKLE | Hollywood giant’s Byzantine bulky artefact? (5,8) |
| *(bulky artefact) | ||
| 9 | SILENT PICTURE | Head of science institute loaned old Scot original English work featuring 1, 8 or the 28? (6,7) |
| [head of] S(cience) + I (institute) + LENT (“loaned”) + PICT (“old Scot”) + UR (prefix meaning “original”) + E (English) | ||
| 14 | STRING VEST | Top actor Rhames under pressure, according to Spooner (6,4) |
| Spoonerism of VING STRESSED (“actor (Ving) Rhames under pressure”) | ||
| 17 | MNEMONIC | C’mon men! I ordered a reminder! (8) |
| *(cmon men i) | ||
| 19 | SARAWAK | Scots departed to visit part of Guernsey, an island state (7) |
| AWA (“Scots” for “departed”) to visit SARK (“part of Guernsey”)
Sark forms part of the bailiwick of Sark, and Sarawak is a state of Malaysia on an island (Borneo) rather than an “island state” which I think is a “state made up of one or more islands”. |
||
| 21 | AIRSHIP | Song’s cool . . . . is it one by Zeppelin? (7) |
| AIR’S (“song’s”) + HIP (“cool”) | ||
| 23 | HAIRY | Scary, like Esau (5) |
| Double definition, the second referring to the Biblical character, who was the hairier of the two sons of Isaac. | ||
| 25 | OPEN | Unlock old enclosure (4) |
| O (old) + PEN (“enclosure”) | ||
*anagram
Thanks, Loonapick. Could you help me understand how ‘mist at sea’ can mean ‘fret’ in 13a?
Kevin @1. One of the meanings for ‘fret’ is ‘sea mist’. I used to live by the sea so this word was common usage there.
Thanks Julius for all the chuckles. I may have seen the CUSTER BEATEN before but even if its not a Julius it .works her in context with other clues. As for VING STRESSED -thats a keeper.
Thanks Julius and loonapick
Thanks for the blog, loonapick and Julius for the many chuckles, as copmus says.
My heart sank when I saw the dreaded ‘Spooner’ twice but I do know by now that Julius is one of the few setters who write witty, meaningful clues of that type and these are both classics.
Those apart, my favourites were PUCCINI and LOW TIDE for their surfaces and SILENT PICTURE for its construction. Many thanks again.
The tropical island of Borneo has four distinct political divisions … Kalimantan of Indonesia, the Sultanate of Brunei, an independent nation, Sabah (formerly North Borneo) & Sarawak, two states which are part of Malaysia. The geographic errors aside, this was a very well-crafted crossword.
Thank you, setter and blogger
Thanks, Uncle Yap – my bad, I didn’t check and relied on my (now failing) memory which told me that Sarawak was part of Indonesia. Have now edited.
Typo in 14d, string Vest. Only correcting because it’s such a great clue it merits it.
I couldn’t parse 2d and incorrectly guessed ‘up’. No excuses.
I liked the silent movie references around the periphery and the CINCINNATI reverse hidden. Yes, Spoonerisms can sometimes be dodgy but these were both very good and as a bonus the actor was new to me.
Thanks to Julius and loonapick (and to Uncle Yap for the geography lesson).
What a fun puzzle! The long (theme) clues were especially clever. I thought Julius was joking about Trump’s hair in 1d and I entered “UP DRAFT” as the answer. Thanks J and L.
Sorry WordPlodder @ 8. We crossed.
hi @loonapick
have you found a few more hidden answers than the (bog standard) two I put in the puzzle?
Julius@11
Thanks for checking in, Julius.
Until you pointed it out, I could have sworn there were more than two. I retract my comment, and would also point out that nothing about your puzzles could be described as mundanely as “bog standard”
Thanks to Julius and loonapick. A treat for me because for the first time with this setter I managed to solve and parse everything, admittedly with the help of Google for the Roy in ROSY and SARAWAK. The two spoonerisms were great fun as were all four long items.
At least this was up my street unlike Boatman in the Graun. My only error was UP for US in 2d. COD my capital city NAIROBI, where l am now.
@loonapick (again)
v kind of you; I meant to suggest that typically I think two embeds/hiddens/lurkers in a puzzle is about the norm. Two Spoonerisms definitely excessive but I liked both of them so…
Re Sarawak…it is a state of Malaysia on an island. So I reckon it is an island state. As opposed to an island State. But whatevs really.
Thanks to all who have commented, warmest regards, Rob/Julius
Not easy but very clever puzzle — I like Spoonerisms and CUSTER BEATEN was a gem, especially so close to the anniversary of the battle. Never would have gotten STRING VEST, however, because I never heard of Ving Rhames. Thanks to Julius and Loonapick for their efforts.
Thanks Julius and loonapick
Timewise, only a little longer than usual but a lot more use of reference material – for Mr Rhames and to find FATTY ARBUCKLE was a human – always thought of him as a comic strip character 🙁
Had always thought that it was KOPS rather than COPS at 28a, but since the C went in first, a quick check showed it was so. Have been to neighbouring SABAH but not to SARAWAK which I thought was defined as an ‘island state’ quite cryptically correct.
Thought that CINCINNATI was cleverly hidden at 20a. It was one of my last entries along with the anusing Spoonwrism at 14d as the last.