A healthy dose of fun from Chalmie this morning…
…with a themed effort full of doctors, real and imagined.
As is often the nature with a puzzle crammed so full of themed clues and answers, the setter has had to cut a corner or two (TO DIE as a solution?), but in general, this was a fun puzzle, and one which fans of general knowledge will lap up. I also had a couple of laugh-out-loud moments when the pennny dropped for 1ac and 29ac, but maybe I’ve just got a childish sense of humour.
Thanks, Chalmie.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TRAFFICS | Deals – that is, provided wind returns (8) |
| <=(SC (“that is”) + IF (“provided”) + FART (“wind”)) [returns] | ||
| 5 | MAGPIE | In the Middle East, doctor stuffs excellent bird (6) |
| [in] ME (Middle East), GP (“doctor”) stuffs A1 (“excellent”) | ||
| 10 | MEANEST | Least likely to give false name with odd parts of website missing (7) |
| *(name) with (w)E(b)S(i)T(e) [odd bits missing] | ||
| 11 | A LITTLE | Some beer will control awful tilt (1,6) |
| ALE (“beer”) will control *(tilt) | ||
| 12 | ASPHALTED | Snake stopped covered road? (9) |
| ASP (“snake”) + HALTED (“stopped”) | ||
| 13 | MCCOY | Medal given to shy space doctor (5) |
| MC (Military Cross, so “medal”) given to COY (“shy”)
Refers to Sylvester McCoy, who played the seventh incarnation of Doctor Who on TV |
||
| 15 | EVENT | Happening, even though 50% has gone missing (5) |
| EVEN T(hough) with 50% missing | ||
| 16 | FEELGOOD | Doctor of music rewrites Log 24 (8) |
| *(log defoe (see 24dn)) Refers to Dr Feelgood, a British ban formed in 1971 | ||
| 19 | EDGEWAYS | Side has mass said in an unusual direction (8) |
| EDGE (“side”) has homophone of WEIGHS (“has mass”) [said] | ||
| 20 | TO DIE | Editor not right about what subject of obituary has (2,3) |
| *(edito) i.e. EDITO(r) not right
A bit contrived, but there are not a lot of options when a setter is faced with T_D_E |
||
| 21 | DRYAD | Nymph doctor some time back (5) |
| DR (doctor) has <=DAY (“some time”) [back] | ||
| 23 | MEDICINAL | Mostly declaiming rubbish, as the doctor recommended? (9) |
| *(declaimin) i.e. [mostly] DECLAIMIN(g) | ||
| 25 | JOHNSON | Literary doctor regularly phones about earlier unfinished work (7) |
| [regularly] (p)H(o)N(e)S + ON (“about”) with JO(b) (unfinished “work” earlier)
Refers to Dr Samuel Johnson, the 18th century writer who compiled a popular early dictionary of the English language. |
||
| 27 | FAUSTUS | Literary doctor inspiring us is an overweight American (7) |
| inspiring US is FAT (“overweight”) US (“American”)
Doctor Faustus is a 1592 play by Christopher Marlowe and a 1947 novel by Thomas Mann. |
||
| 28 | NEWEST | Sheep in the Darwin area the last to be released (6) |
| EWES (“sheep”) in NT (Northern Territory, the part of Australia where “Darwin” can be found) | ||
| 29 | NEUTERED | Recent cowpat said to be doctored (8) |
| Homophone of NEW TURD (“recent cowpat”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TOM BAKER | Doctor once has place to bury ace, king and queen (3,5) |
| TOMB (“place to bury”) + A (ace) + K (king) + ER (“Queen”)
Tom Baker was the fourth incarnation of Doctor Who on TV |
||
| 2 | AN APPLE A DAY | After 40 winks, beg May not to start plan to repel doctors (2,5,1,3) |
| [after] A NAP (“40 winks”) PLEAD (“beg”) (m)AY [not to start] | ||
| 3 | FREMANTLE | Doctor from Australia complimentary about staff with tasteful clothes (9) |
| FREE (“complimentary”) about MAN (“staff”) with T(astefu)L [clothes]
The Fremantle Doctor is a cooling afternoon sea breeze in Western Australia |
||
| 4 | CUT IT | Bird needs metal cap to meet exacting standards (3,2) |
| TIT (“bird”) needs CU (copper, so “metal”) [cap i.e on top] | ||
| 6 | AXIOM | Given order to support a team (5) |
| OM (“Order” of Merit) to support A XI (“team”) | ||
| 7 | PUT | Place sheep upside-down (3) |
| <=TUP (“sheep”) [upside down] | ||
| 8 | ELEGY | Say “See about poem” (5) |
| E.G. (“say”) with ELY (Holy “See”) about | ||
| 9 | HARDNESS | Steely quality of daughter in control (8) |
| D (daughter) in HARNESS (“control”) | ||
| 14 | COORDINATOR | One making arrangements for new doctor on air (11) |
| *(doctor on air) | ||
| 16 | FRAGMENT | French spy keeps mobile bit (8) |
| FR. (French) + AGENT (“spy”) keeps M (mobile)
Don’t think I’ve come across M = mobile in a crossword before, but if e- is OK for electronic, then I suppose m- is OK for mobile. |
||
| 17 | GO TO COURT | Sue possibly understood round playing area (2,2,5) |
| GOT (“understood”) + O (circle, so “round”) + COURT (“playing area”) | ||
| 18 | WELL-USED | Healthy doctor sued, being in common operation (4-4) |
| WELL (“healthy”) + *(sued) | ||
| 21 | DIJON | Row as Simpson possibly turns up in French city (5) |
| DIN (“row”) with <=O.J. (“Simpson, possibly”) [up in] | ||
| 22 | DISCS | Some circles debate excluding America (5) |
| DISC(us)S (“debate” excluding US (“America”)) | ||
| 24 | DEFOE | Writer held up by the Duke of Edinburgh (5) |
| Hidden backwards in [held up by] “dukE OF EDinburgh” | ||
| 26 | HOW | The way to remove dog’s head (3) |
| (c)HOW (“dog” with head removed) | ||
*anagram
Really enjoyed this. Although you may be correct with 13a, I think it almost certainly refers to Dr Leonard (Bones) McCoy from Star Trek.
Had a chuckle myself when the penny dropped with 29a.
Thanks to Chalmie for the entertainment and to loonapick for the blog.
Hovis – you are probably right. I’m not a Trekkie, so Bones didn’t come immediately to mind, whereas Tom Baker put Doctor Who to the front of my mind, so subliminally, I went for Sylvester.
I have that same childish humour as Hovis, and smiled at several others — and I had no reservations about 20ac TO DIE. Very hard work, though. Thanks, Chalmie and loonapick.
Yes, I found this tougher than the usual “clue-themed” puzzle with few write-ins. I did like some of the theme examples, of which my favourite was FREMANTLE, presumably something UK solvers might be expected to know because of the cricket telecasts from Perth. I also liked the not obvious ‘Given’, ‘Some’ and ‘bit’ defs.
Thanks to Chalmie for a few good laughs and to loonapick.
Thanks all. I agree that TO DIE isn’t much of an answer, but I allow myself one dubious grid-entry in a themed puzzle (if necessary – I prefer not to).
I had DeForest Kelley in mind when cluing MCCOY; I obviously know that The Doctor goes to other planets, but I still think he or she is primarily a time-traveller rather than space-.
A bright, sunny puzzle for a bright sunny day. Lots of laughs, a bit of a double-take at TO DIE but I thought it ingenious and funny. Thanks Chalmie & Loonapick.
I got 60% of the top left corner and gave up.
I’ve never heard of CS for “that is”, and as for “Fremantle“…
Too obscure for me.
No wonder I’m grumpy.
Thanks Chalmie and loonapick
Enjoyable puzzle that spilled across a couple of days during this last weekend to get it out. It was the first time that I had seen in the FT the type of humour that emanated from the diagonal corners of the grid and they both brought on a wry smile.
Couldn’t fully parse DIJON, so thanks for that – had forgotten about him. Was another who plumped for the ‘trekkie doctor’ at 13a.
Finished in the SW corner with JOHNSON (which I found very tricky to parse) and DIJON (which, as I wrote earlier, I couldn’t parse at all).