Long gone seem to be the days when Wednesday was comparatively gentle, with Dac’s excellent but not all that demanding offerings every week. The last two Wednesdays that I’ve blogged have been rather difficult. This was tough but good, and in the only place where I have a question as to its accuracy (4dn) I may be wrong anyway.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
As with all difficult crosswords I reach the end and breathe a sigh of relief; looking for a Nina then becomes a very cursory act, as it was here.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HAIR OF THE DOG | Potential cure for sickness that’s found in lab coat? (4,2,3,3) |
| The lab coat is the coat of a lab, of a labrador | ||
| 10 | OUTINGS | Revelations published through German head of state (7) |
| out [published] in [through] G s{tate} | ||
| 11 | ACCLAIM | Hail from a college – it’s what a professor may do (7) |
| a C. claim — not the acadamic professor, but simply someone who professes | ||
| 12 | PRISE | In America, Jimmy Page is involved in Queen’s comeback (5) |
| p. is in (ER)rev. — Collins gives the use a crowbar sense of jimmy as American English | ||
| 13 | OPERATES | Works of note featuring in musical dramas (8) |
| opera(te)s | ||
| 15 | SALBUTAMOL | Drug produced, um, a lot by criminal labs (10) |
| (labs)* *(um a lot) | ||
| 16 | CRAM | Take the middle bit from the best stuff (4) |
| cr{e}am | ||
| 18 | HYPE | Publicity embraced by flashy people (4) |
| Hidden in flasHY PEople, maybe an &lit. | ||
| 20 | RIVER BASIN | Drainage area comprised of twisted vines and briar (5,5) |
| *(vines briar) | ||
| 22 | ICE PICKS | In case of emergency, opt for special climbing gear (3,5) |
| ‘ice’ is ‘in case of emergency’ according to Collins a standard instruction on a mobile phone (had never heard of it), then pick [opt for] s | ||
| 24 | TRUMP | Leader one hour away from victory (5) |
| tr{1}ump{h} | ||
| 26 | TREASON | Northerner’s specific motive for being disloyal? (7) |
| t’ reason, as a Northerner might say | ||
| 27 | PRANCER | Reindeer quietly scampered round sports ground (7) |
| p ran (rec.)rev. —one of Santa’s reindeers | ||
| 28 | NON-COMPLYING | Officer working steadily, ignoring orders (3-9) |
| non-com [-missioned officer] plying | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ANT HILL | Colonial home completely full of books (mostly kept out of sight) (3,4) |
| a(NT hi{d})ll — an ant colony | ||
| 3 | RUNNER-UP | Athlete finished second (6-2) |
| runner [athlete] up [finished] | ||
| 4 | FIST | Cardinal killing king and duke (4) |
| I think this is meant to be fi{R}st. but first is not a cardinal, it’s an ordinal; 1 is a cardinal. But perhaps I’m on the wrong tack and Gila is correct all along. | ||
| 5 | HEADPHONES | The Crown pub has single, small cans (10) |
| head [the crown] PH one s — cans = headphones is a word I’ve only learnt from crosswords | ||
| 6 | DECOR | Interior design involving some wide cornices (5) |
| Hidden in wiDE CORnices — why is ‘some’ there? It looks to me to be unnecessary and a case of the setter being unable to shake off this word, which so often indicates a hidden; ‘involving’ surely does the job perfectly well on its own | ||
| 7 | GRAFTER | Good tennis player is one who puts in the hours (7) |
| g Rafter — ref. Pat Rafter the Australian tennis player (long-retired, but still a tennis player) | ||
| 8 | CORPUS CHRISTI | This circus somehow gets backing for a festival (6,7) |
| (this circus)* round (pro)rev., this fact signalled by ‘gets’ | ||
| 9 | AMUSEMENT PARK | Daft upmarket name initially suggested for Disneyland? (9,4) |
| *(upmarket name s{uggested}) | ||
| 14 | MARIE KONDO | Make indoor changes? She might! (5,5) |
| (make indoor)* — this had to be an anagram but I could never get it, being unsure between the right answer and Mario Kendo, but choosing the right one because Marie is a woman’s name; this is Marie Kondo | ||
| 17 | OBITUARY | Passing on information? (8) |
| CD | ||
| 19 | PRE-TEEN | Child‘s never-ending make-believe is full of energy (3-4) |
| pret(E)en{d} | ||
| 21 | SOUPCON | Small amount of broth given to prisoner (7) |
| soup [broth] con [prisoner] | ||
| 23 | IBSEN | Playwright who, with time after retiring, could become a children’s author! (5) |
| If you add t at the front of Ibsen and then reverse you get Nesbit, the children’s author — but why the exclam I can’t really see: it’s not an exclamation; it’s not a strange feat of legerdemain in the wordplay; it looks to me like a mere statement “aren’t I amusing” | ||
| 25 | A POP | Each group of journalists has work (1,3) |
| AP [Associated Press] op. — as in ‘these cost £1 a pop’ | ||
Maybe ‘first’ for ‘cardinal is as in ‘it is of cardinal importance…’, meaning of the utmost or of prime importance. I wondered if the exclamation mark in 23d was because it’s a real stretch to think that IBSEN could ever be a children’s author.
Had to get the unheard of MARIE KONDO from the anagram fodder and can see now it’s an &lit, or close. “Daddy, when I grow up I want to be an organising consultant”. Really! (And that does deserve an exclamation mark). Nice to have the Pat Rafter reminder.
Thanks to Gila and John
I had the same misgivings about 4d. “Cardinal” can mean “of fundamental importance” and, I guess, so can “first”. Perhaps Gila will confirm whether or not it was a mistake.
First is a synonym of cardinal in Collins, Oxford and Chambers, so it’s no mistake.
I thought this was tricky for a Wednesday too but I enjoyed the battle – I did like 23d even with the slightly odd addition of the exclamation mark
Thanks to Gila and John
Tricky, but we got there. FIST was our LOI after we tried to think of the name of a cardinal that might give the name of a duke after removing a K or an R. Then the penny dropped – doh! But we couldn’t parse GRAFTER – we got hung up on Steffi GRAF as the ‘good tennis player’ so couldn’t understand where the TER came from.
1ac was a write-in from the definition and enumeration but we soon realised that ‘lab coat’ didn’t refer to what a chemist might wear. We had heard of MARIE KONDO but forgotten and had to google to confirm what we worked out from the wordplay.
We weren’t too happy with 24ac as there was no indication that the I and the H had to be removed from different locations in ‘triumph’.
Lots of nice touches though – we liked ‘specific’ for T. Favourites were SALBUTAMOL and HEADPHONES.
Thanks, Gila and John
I liked it a lot. Thanks Gila, John
I think make-believe must be pretend (adj.) rather than pretence.
Jumped straight in with SHOT IN THE ARM for 1a without giving it proper thought. Nice when I got it eventually. Also confused by non-com, as I’d always thought that was a non-combatant.
I also had “pretend” for 19d.
Yes I think you’re right James@6 and Hovid@7. Pretend makes more sense. Will amend the blog.
Hovis of course. Can’t type.
Hovid sounds like a portmanteau of Homer and Ovid. Sounds good but I’ll stay as is.
Thanks to John and Gila
Another one for “pretend” although I had it as a verb rather than an adjective – I think either works.
In 6d I think “some” is needed – to do away with it the clue would have to read something like “involved in wide cornices”, and would make no sense.
My only real issue is with “gets” in 8d. I think I’ve seen this as an inclusion indicator once or twice before but I really can’t see how it works, especially as setters usually use it to indicate “attaches itself to”.
Marie Kondo?? Wow, obscure