Italicus made his Indy debut a year ago and featured around once a month till the spring. This is the first sight of him since then, but he’s very welcome, because this was an accessible, tightly-clued puzzle with sound surface readings. Just right for a Monday, imho.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 A former film studio (Universal) used in publicity for extreme sport
PARKOUR
An insertion (‘used in’) of A, RKO for the old American film studio and U in PR for Public Relations, or – more loosely – ‘publicity’. The studio became defunct 50 years ago. The sport is a discipline derived from military obstacle training and can certainly be ‘extreme’. The word derives from the French verb parcourir – to ‘cover’ in a distance sense. This was a clue where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, because I entered PARCOUR to begin with and then couldn’t parse it.
5 Failure to remember men lost in Far East
AMNESIA
An insertion of (MEN)* in ASIA. The insertion indicator is ‘in’ and the anagrind is ‘lost’.
9/10 Reportedly riding someone else’s elephant? No way!
NOT ON YOUR NELLY
A whimsical cd cum dd. Two random and ultimately useless facts: the original 1956 song spells the name as Nellie (which is why I think Italicus has used ‘reportedly’) …
Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety-trump
Trump, trump, trump …
… and the tempo of the song is used to teach people the rhythm for CPR. Try it out loud now, with the actions, if you’re not on public transport. It’s good to know if you get fed up with Stayin’ Alive by the BeeGees. Some sources give the song as the origin of the phrase; I’m not convinced. The other theory is cockney rhyming slang.
11 Still clutching front of Sunday supplement
INSERT
An insertion (‘clutching’) of S for the first letter of ‘Sunday’ in INERT.
12 P.S. Dad debauched wretched nude maiden
ADDENDUM
A charade of (DAD)*, (NUDE)* and M. The two anagrinds are ‘debauched’ and ‘wretched’.
13 Plump little man is retiring and bashful
FLESHY
A charade of ELF reversed and SHY.
15 Sounds like suitable party food
MEATBALL
A charade of MEAT for a homophone (‘sounds like’) of MEET and BALL. ‘Meet’ is an archaic word for ‘suitable’ or ‘appropriate’. Here’s the last line of the parable of the Prodigal Son from the King James Bible, with the father’s explanation for having killed the fatted calf:
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
(Luke, 15:32)
18 Cops lose suspect in den of vice
CESSPOOL
(COPS LOSE)*
19 Joint publication provides absorbing material
TISSUE
A charade of T and ISSUE.
21 Most rudimentary means of transport contains one empty seat
PLAINEST
A charade of I inserted into PLANE and ST for the outside letters of ‘seat’.
23 Outline direction to be followed by ship
SKETCH
A charade of S for South and KETCH.
26 Unfinished business involving international crime syndicate
TRIAD
An insertion (‘involving’) of I in TRAD[E].
27 Trouble focusing? Yes, retina is damaged
EYESTRAIN
(YES RETINA)*
28 Cuts classes, it’s said
LESSENS
A homophone of LESSONS.
29 Peculiar variety found on borders of Somerset
STRANGE
A charade of ST for the outside letters of ‘Somerset’ and RANGE.
Down
1 Churchman with no power over dispute
PONTIFF
A charade of NO P reversed (‘over’) and TIFF gives you the head of the Roman Catholic church.
2 Scripture upheld established practices
RITES
A charade of RI for ‘Religious Instruction’ and SET reversed.
3 Cunning hero wins Portugal title
OWNERSHIP
A charade of (HERO WINS)* and P. The anagrind is ‘cunning’.
4 Have sex in Australian base
ROOT
A dd. ROOT is Australian slang for ‘have sexual intercourse with’, as well as England’s cricket captain. Makes for some interesting sledging.
5 Made short work of …
ABRIDGED
A cd.
6 … Cardinal, formerly a sex offender
NONCE
N is the mathematical abbreviation for any cardinal number; follow this with ONCE and you’ve got a prison slang word for a ‘sex offender’. In the 1d’s church, in Australia, this clue might well ring true. The ellipses, as almost always, can be ignored. They’re just there to allow the setter to make sense of the surface of the two clues. He could equally have left them out in this instance.
7 Prime commando unit outside city on June 6th
SALAD DAYS
An insertion (‘outside’) of LA for the ‘city’ and D-DAY for ‘June 6th’ in SAS for the ‘commando unit’.
8 Stewed lamb, say, is awful
ABYSMAL
(LAMB SAY)*
14 Nurse is at scene, embracing elevated emotional states
ECSTASIES
Hidden reversed (‘elevated’) in nurSE IS AT SCEne.
16 Cunning sort of critter’s awkward around king
TRICKSTER
An insertion of K in (CRITTERS)*
17 Way of working over summer period with Queen’s 26
MOBSTERS
A charade of MO for modus operandi or ‘way of working’, BST for British Summer Time and ERS for ‘Queen’s’ gives you a synonym for 26ac.
18 Limit most of country’s spending power
CAPITAL
A charade of CAP and ITAL[Y].
20 Deacon has hinted regularly about upgrade
ENHANCE
Hidden reversed in dEaCoN hAs HiNtEd.
22 Gangrene initially appearing in undressed elbow
NUDGE
An insertion of G for the first letter of ‘gangrene’ in NUDE.
24 Exercise skill returning home
TRAIN
A charade of ART reversed and IN for ‘home’.
25 Contents of book? Bull about alien!
BETS
An another, final insertion: of ET for everyone’s fave ‘alien’ in BS for bullshit, shortened here to ‘bull’.
Many thanks to Italicus for a fine start to the Indy week.
An excellent start to the week.
I wasn’t sure about N for cardinal number in 6d and went for N (North) for cardinal point.
Wasn’t sure about 25d. A quick check in my Chambers gives the fifth definition of “book” as “a record of bets made by different people” which I didn’t know. Also didn’t know the film studio in 1a so had to google that.
One of my favourite humour cds is “Songs, Stories & Elephants” by Bernard Wrigley (highly recommended if you don’t mind slightly naughty humour) which contains “Nelly the Elephant” spelt with a Y.
Thanks to Italicus and Pierre.
My chambers has the sexual connotation of “root” (could that come from “rut”) but fails to list a batsman whose average dropped when lumbered with the captaincy.
I prefer it if we consider cricket as off-topic this morning, copmus …
How nice to see another puzzle from Italicus. I didn’t know the name of the extreme sport but got there via the wordplay – no problems here with the old film studio!
I wanted to rap our setter’s knuckles over 4&25d but as they both came to mind I haven’t really got a leg to stand on……
Particularly enjoyed 13a & 7d.
Thanks to Italicus (more soon, please) and to Pierre for the blog.
Meant to say – the homophone in 15a may well be archaic but anyone who has chanted their way through the Communion service prayers will know ‘ it is meet and right so to do’. As an 11 year old, I didn’t have a clue what it meant. In fairness, I probably didn’t care either – just wanted to get across to the church hall afterwards for a drink and biscuits!
Thanks Italicus and Pierre
Good puzzle, though I had to consult a list of extreme sports to confirm 1A, having got RKO and the other components, and held myself up for ages in the SW by having BARGE at 22. It parses perfectly well, and is possibly closer in meaning to ‘elbow’ tha ‘nudge,.