Tyrus has given us plenty to get our teeth into this Thursday.
I found this to be towards the tougher end of the Indy spectrum in terms of difficulty. There was quite a lot of less usual vocabulary in here for a daily cryptic – at 8, 9, 25 … I also found the wordplay quite challenging to unpick, especially at 7, 13, 14 and 20. 20 has bamboozled me and I am far from sure of my parsing at 13, so any help would be gratefully received.
This grid lends itself to Ninas, and, sure enough, we have one today, with our attention being drawn to it at 4 (see below).
My favourite clues today were 14, for sustaining the football theme throughout the clue; and 21, for the misdirection that comes from the inclusion of both “better” and “good” in the wordplay.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 08 | RUGOSE | Wrinkly‘s wig gets tousled on occasion
RUG (=wig) + <t>O<u>S<l>E<d> (“on occasion” means alternate letters only are used; “rugose” means wrinkled, covered with sunken lines |
| 09 | OMENTUM | Sign initially the union many fold
OMEN (=sign) + T<he> U<nion> M<ay> (“initially” means first letters only); omentum is a fold of peritoneum proceeding from one of the abdominal viscera to another |
| 10 | STRUMPET | Disreputable female prepared to entertain a more disreputable man?
TRUMP (=a more disreputable man, i.e. Donald Trump) in SET (=prepared, as in to be all set to) |
| 11 | TONGAN | Friendly native, Harry, not retiring
NAG (=harry, harass) + NOT; “retiring” indicates reversal; Tonga is referred to as the Friendly Islands |
| 12 | ESCORT | Shepherd‘s pie at last – I’m surprised in a way
<pi>E (“at last” means last letter only) + COR (=I’m surprised, i.e. an exclamation) in ST (=a way, i.e. the abbreviation for “street”) |
| 14 | BOOK CLUB | Reading supporters barrack new left-back (United’s replacement for Ashley originally)
BOO (=to barrack, heckle) + *(L (=left) + B<U (=united) for A<shley> (“originally” means first letter only) >CK); “new” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | NESTOR | “Totnes Tories not all there” – wise guy!
Hidden (“not all there”) in “totNES TORies”; Nestor is a character in the Iliad known for his wise advice to the Greeks |
| 17 | BERTHA | Bed American woman
BERTH (=bed, e.g. on board a ship) + A (=American) |
| 20 | IN CAMERA | Here with shooter (not for public consumption)
Not sure of wordplay: IN CAME RA (=Royal Artillery) or something to do with a camera as a shooter of photos?? |
| 22 | BORNEO | Oberon’s enchanted island
*(OBERON); “enchanted” is anagram indicator |
| 23 | DOABLE | Possible benefit sailor claimed
AB (=sailor, i.e. able-bodied seamen) in DOLE (=benefit) |
| 24 | TAKE A PEW | Sit down in gardens – do the same as teaching assistant earlier
TA (=teaching assistant) + [APE (=do the same as) in KEW (=gardens, i.e. in London)] |
| 26 | ICED TEA | Cold drink runs out (I catered badly)
*(I CATE<r>ED); “runs (=R) out” means letter “r” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “badly” |
| 27 | NAIADS | Spirited females dancing and singing at opening across road
A1 (=road, from London to Edinburgh) in *(AND + S<inging> (“at opening” means first letters only)); “dancing” is anagram indicator; naiads are river or spring nymphs |
| Down | ||
| 01 | AUNT | Crawler looks after posh relative
U (=posh, i.e. upper-class) in ANT (=crawler) |
| 02 | NODULOUS | University professor laid up – poor soul’s covered in lumps
NODU (U (=university) + DON=professor; “laid up” indicates vertical reversal) + *(SOUL); “poor” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | DESPOT | Leader absolutely raised journalist’s plight
DE (ED=journalist, i.e. editor; “raised” indicates vertical reversal) + SPOT (=plight); a despot is a “leader absolutely” in that he enjoys absolute power |
| 04 | YOUTUBE | Buyout affected Mile End – you can see what’s around here
*(BUYOUT) + <mil>E (“end” means last letter only); YouTube is the site to visit to watch RANDY RAINBOW’S SONG PARODIES, which is spelt out around the perimeter of the grid; Randy Rainbow is an American singer and comedian, best known for his spoof videos |
| 05 | REST HOME | Others in old accommodation
REST (=(the) others) + (at) HOME (=in); cryptically, “old accommodation” is accommodation for the elderly |
| 06 | ATONIC | Almost immediately arrests one without stress
I (=one) in AT ONC<e> (=immediately; “almost” means last letter dropped); in prosody, atonic means lacking stress or accent |
| 07 | IMMACULATE | Heading off, put on coat inside – it’s perfectly clean
MAC (=coat) in <s>IMULATE (=put on, feign; “heading off” means first letter is dropped) |
| 13 | SAN ANTONIO | Site of famous mission to moon – NASA not bothered about name
[N (=name) in *(NASA NOT)]+ IO (=moon, of Jupiter); “bothered” is anagram indicator; San Antonio in Texas is the site of five Spanish colonial (religious) missions |
| 16 | OPERETTA | Paul Bunyan maybe up river hacking at tree
OP (PO=river, in Italy; “up” indicates vertical reversal) + *(AT TREE); “hacking” is anagram indicator; Paul Bunyan is an 1971 operetta composed by Benjamin Britten |
| 18 | TERRAPIN | Slip stops easy goal – he may retreat into his shell
ERR (=slip (up)) in TAP-IN (=easy goal) |
| 19 | MANTRAP | Staff split over threat to trespassers
MAN (=staff, as verb) + TRAP (PART=split, divide; “over” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 21 | AMBLER | Better though not good – he’s in no great hurry
<g>AMBLER (=better); “though not good (=G)” means letter “g” is dropped |
| 22 | BAKING | Support about to vanish for Hollywood activity
BA<c>KING (=support); “about (=c., for circa) to vanish” means letter “c” is dropped; the reference is to UK celebrity chef Paul Hollywood, a judge on The Great British Bake Off |
| 25 | EDDO | Plant fodder not limited to rear
<f>ODDE<r>; “not limited” means first and last letter are dropped; “to rear (up)” indicates vertical reversal; an eddo is a tuber of e.g. a taro plant |
Think this might be the first time I’ve finished a Tyrus without aids although I was also unsure about the parsing for IN CAMERA. Went with IN (here?) + CAMERA (shooter).
Strangely, when I first read 12a, I came up with RECORD from the cryptic fodder but couldn’t link to Shepherd. Eventually, the answer became apparent.
Had to check my Chambers to see that RUGOSE & EDDO were correct. Thanks to Tyrus and RatkojaRiku.
I parsed SAN ANTONIO as you did, with IO as the ‘moon’, and IN CAMERA just as ‘Here’ = IN + ‘with shooter’ = CAMERA (as per Hovis @1) but I may be missing something. Didn’t know the ‘Paul Bunyan’ or ‘Hollywood’ references, nor that NESTOR was particularly wise.
I found this at about the ‘not too hard, not too easy’ level of difficulty with some good clues such as BOOK CLUB, STRUMPET and NODULOUS and the reward of a Nina at the end.
Off to YouTube to take a look…
Thanks to Tyrus and RR
We guessed there was a perimeter nina (start at 8 and read clockwise) when we were about half way through but it didn’t help very much, and we had to google the phrase to understand it and the connection to 4dn. And unsurprisingly the man referred to in 10ac features there.
We’re with Hovis for parsing IN CAMERA – one of our favourites alomg with BAKING and TAKE A PEW.
Thanks, Tyrus and RatkojaRiku.
A bit late to the party today – I’ve been out since mid-morning.
Thanks, RR, for the blog, especially for spotting the Nina, which I’m mortified to have missed, having been introduced to the brilliant Randy Rainbow by a comment on my blog of a Vlad puzzle a couple of months ago, where the answer to 1ac was STABLE GENIUS. I urge you to follow Allan’s link to the relevant song.
What a great puzzle! I agree with Allan’s favourites, with the addition of NESTOR and ICED TEA. 16dn is very clever: I got it by googling Paul Bunyan – I’d never heard of him – and found he’s a giant lumberjack in American folklore, as well as an OPERETTA, so it’s a great surface.
Many thanks, Tyrus – as you said, ‘The ‘stable genius’ is the gift that keeps on giving’.
I think SAN ANTONIO may refer to the Alamo. Thanks to blogger and setter.
Thanks to RR for the blog and to others who commented.
Definitely worth checking him out on YouTube. Surprised he’s not much better known.
I’d assumed the mission was the Alamo which I have visited. I also saw a production of Paul Bunyan just this summer and it was written in 1941 not 1971 (and then was never performed again until the mid-seventies).
I couldn’t parse BAKING, so thanks for the explanation.