A clever puzzle from Wanderer today, bending a single word to maximum effort. Thanks for the treat, Wanderer .
That’s the last blog of the year for me – Wish everyone here and visiting, a phenomenal 2020 up ahead.
FF: 9 DDL 8
| Across | ||
| 1 | ARETHA | Soul singer famously having a 5 (6) |
| A HEART* (5, cryptically) | ||
| 4 | SCHILLER | Dramatic writer of second horror film? (8) |
| S (second) CHILLER (horror film) | ||
| 9 | HATER | One who really dislikes 10 down? That’s a 5 (5) |
| HEART* (5d, cryptically) | ||
| 10 | ENACTMENT | Bill’s passing Rod, returning prior to month in temporary accommodation (9) |
| ENAC (rod = CANE, reversed) [ M (month) in TENT (temporary accommodation) ] | ||
| 11 | RANCOUR | Managed to tap the FT’s bitterness (7) |
| RAN (managed) C (tap?) OUR (ft’s) | ||
| 12 | GRUYERE | Chap without recipe before getting cheese (7) |
| [ GUY (chap) outside R (recipe) ] ERE (before) | ||
| 13 | OKAY | Like wine aged in hardwood barrel? After 5, it’s “all right” (4) |
| OAKY (like wine aged in hardwood barrel) with the inner letters interchanged (5d, cryptically) | ||
| 14 | RHEOSTAT | Something affecting resistance of East German during 5 (8) |
| [ E (east) OS (german) ] in HEART* (5d, cryptically) | ||
| 17 | EUTROPHY | Brussels awarded prize for healthy nutrition (8) |
| EU (brussels) TROPHY (prize) | ||
| 19 | OKRA | Some cook raw veg (4) |
| hidden in “..coOK RAw..” | ||
| 22 | ABILENE | Bit of a scene, libation having been knocked over somewhere in Texas (7) |
| hidden, reversed in “..scENE LIBAtion..” | ||
| 24 | AT HEART | A new 28 advanced by slightly terrifying 10 down, fundamentally (2,5) |
| A THREAT* (new 28) / A (advanced) T (Terrifying, slightly) EARTH* (10d) | ||
| 25 | ROAD AGENT | Old highwayman Dora confused with a chivalrous chap? (4,5) |
| DORA* A GENT (chivalrous chap) | ||
| 26 | A Lloyd Webber collaborator? Tick! (5) | |
| 27 | DECRYPTS | Makes understandable use of French burial chambers (8) |
| DE (of, french) CRYPTS (burial chambers) | ||
| 28 | THREAT | Warning model to come before 5 (6) |
| T (model, ford) before HEART* (5d, cryptically) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ATHERTON | Cricketer getting century after 5 (8) |
| TON (century) after HEART* (5d, cryptically) | ||
| 2 | EXTENUATE | Lessen amount endlessly consumed around university (9) |
| [EXTENt (amount, endlessly) ATE (consumed)] around U (university) | ||
| 3 | HARLOW | Actress from town in Essex (6) |
| double def, actress ref – jean harlow | ||
| 5 | CHANGE OF HEART | U-turn? If you do that, you might get to the A4 without you texting (6,2,5) |
| cryptic def; THE AFOuR (A4, without U [you, in texting]) can be arrived at by rearranging “OF HEART” | ||
| 6 | IN TRUST | Where funds might be held on others’ behalf? It’s run differently by Thailand (2,5) |
| ITS RUN* T (thailand) | ||
| 7 | LIEGE | Say story is about true subject (5) |
| LIE (story) around EG (say) | ||
| 8 | RATHER | Runs before 5, preferably (6) |
| R (runs) ATHER (5d, cryptically) | ||
| 10 | EARTH MOVEMENT | Subsidence leading to a potential 5? (5-8) |
| cryptic def; 5d | ||
| 15 | TAKE A HIKE | Army with English sort of khaki trousers? English? Go away! (4,1,4) |
| TA (army) [ E (english) in KHAKI* ] E (english) | ||
| 16 | FARTHEST | Extremely remote fellow having 5? Good man! (8) |
| F (fellow) [HEART*] ST (good man) | ||
| 18 | THERAPY | Treatment of patient? Yes, initially, after 5 (7) |
| PY (starting letters of “..Patient Yes”) after HEART* (5d, cryptically) | ||
| 20 | HATRED | What 9 shows daughter after 5 (6) |
| D (daughter) after HEART* (5d, cryptically) | ||
| 21 | THATCH | Potentially unruly hair of PM? No hesitation (6) |
| THATCHer (pm, without ER – hesitation) | ||
| 23 | ISAAC | Twice accounts for Abraham’s son (5) |
| ISA AC (two accounts) | ||
*anagram
Very nice use of theme. Good puzzle all round.
Thanks for the blog, Turbolegs.
Lovely puzzle – and very cleverly used theme. Too many favourites to list: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Many thanks, Wanderer – great fun!
[Two small points, Turbolegs: !4ac – it’s OST [German for East] in HEART* and you’ve missed out 26ac: TRICE [tick] – T[im] Rice collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber.]
Same comments as Eileen. Not sure why the blog has a “?” after tap in 11a. C and H are often clued with tap (as in cold and hot resp.).
Thanks to Wanderer and Turbolegs. I took a while getting 5d thanks to RATHER and RHEOSTAT but then much enjoyed this puzzle, and needed all the crossers to get HARLOW.
Thanks Wanderer for a fun puzzle. Especially enjoyed 21d. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog. I’m unfamiliar with ANTHERTON — I got the “Anther” part from the theme but how is “century” “ton?” A ton of years perhaps?
Tony @5. Ton is just slang for 100 so can be 100 of just about anything. Here it is scoring a ton (of runs). Driving at a ton is 100 mph etc.
Hovis@6 Thanks. Slowly but surely I’m learning British idioms. Now only if I could learn about cricket — I had to use Google to learn who Atherton was.
Cleverest crossie I’ve done for ages. Extremely entertaining.
I too thought this was brilliant. Surprisingly, I did get TRICE and I parsed RHEOSTAT like Eileen. However, I must confess that for 4 across I had SCRIPTER (thinking that cripter could be a quasi-homophone of critters) and therefore I was stuck on 7d. I particualrly liked 13ac and 14ac.
Thank you and Happy New Year to Wanderer, to Turbolegs and to all!
Thanks Wanderer and Turbolegs
A very entertaining puzzle with a clever way of introducing a theme and then using it. Did get the answer to the key 5d early on but was only able to fully parse it when doing the final walk through all of the clues. ABILENE, EUTROPHY, SCHILLER and ‘subsidence’ were all new terms for me.
Many interesting clues to unravel and must admit the two PM’s, one with the name and the other with the hair, did pass through my mind when getting 21d.
Finished in the NE corner with RATHER (not sure why that took so long), SCHILLER (having to check both the writer and the term for a ‘horror film’) and LIEGE (simple in hindsight again) as the last few in.