Very tricky stuff from Tyrus today.
It is no secret that it has a theme – the answer to 23D/8 is referenced in many clues and forms the definition for several.
I could not get a handle on what 23/8 could be for a very long time. It shows how much I relied of crossing letters to make progress that when I had all the left-hand side done 23/8 was still unknown, no letters in 8 or any of the top right and little on the bottom right.
The first of the 23/8s I tentatively got was Starbucks – of course that led me down the dead-end path of Moby Dick.
Sometime later with all crossing letters I concluded that 17 could only be Vodafone and 14’s reference to Apple convinced me it was about big companies. I had enough to realise 23D was Global, but failed to get 8a Brand till after rejecting several other 5 letter words that might have fitted such as Power and Group.
Much of the top right corner went in at the same time when I convinced myself they could all fit together: 8 Brand, 4 U-Boats, 5 Para and 12 Amaze. I then went looking for other “Global Brands” in what was left – thinking of Glaxo, Uber, PayPal, as well as Facebook and Google, the two that featured in the last two clues solved.
The clue to 12 shows Tyrus’s opinion of these big bastards, so it was no surprise really to spot the Nina in the top and bottom rows. But not till I had finished the puzzle. I am happy to echo that:
PAY UP FOLKS!
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 6 | STARBUCKS | 23D/8‘s dismissive response about money (9) RATS< (dismissive response, about) BUCKS (money) |
| 10 | LOO | Can seem a thousand short (3) LOO[k] LOOK (seem) – K (a thousand). First one in |
| 11 | OUT | Exposed shady businessman after tip-off (3) [t]OUT TOUT (shady businessman) – T |
| 12 | THEME | Subject that’s habitually exasperating from the start to this setter (5) T[hat’s] H[abitually] E[xasperating] ME (this setter) |
| 13 | AMAZE | Defy expectations with 23D/8 not on drugs (5) AMAZON (global brand) – ON, then E (drugs) |
| 14 | APPLET | 23D/8 takes time but it does perform task (6) APPLE (global grand), T[ime] |
| 15 | PESETAS | Declined to tuck into vegetables and old bread (7) SET (declined?) inside PEAS (vegetables) old bread = old money. I’m not sure how declined = set |
| 18 | OCEAN | Coe ordered an Indian? Maybe (5) COE* AInd: ordered, then AN. Indian Ocean. Definition by example. I was over-thinking this clue trying to include SEB in the anagram |
| 19 | MAR | Hurt – hit hard in return (3) RAM< (hit hard, returned) |
| 20 | FIXER | Sociable type wants gender reassignment – he (or she) will sort it (5) MIXER (Sociable type) swap the M for an F (gender reassignment) |
| 21 | ABETTED | Supported President Kennedy perhaps over ending of threat (7) ABE (president) TED (Kennedy, perhaps) around T[hreat] |
| 23 | GECKOS | Heard Douglas part with small animals (6) Michael Douglas played the part of Gordon Gecko in Wall Street |
| 25 | OCCUR | Take place of officer in charge, a contemptible fellow (5) OC (officer in charge) CUR (contemptible fellow) |
| 27 | COOMB | Groom crosses over valley (5) COMB (groom) around O[ver] |
| 28 | GAG | Crack team doesn’t have name (3) GANG (team) – N[ame] |
| 29 | EMU | He must contain winger that’s no good in the air (3) Hidden in hE MUst |
| 30 | EULER | Rule out arresting English mathematician (5) (RULE)* AInd: out, around E[nglish]. Just to be clear, Leonard Euler wasn’t English, he was Swiss |
| 31 | MEADOW RUE | One in bed with rude woman getting end away – sweetheart furious (6,3) (RUDE WOMA[n] [sw]E[et])* AInd: Furious. This one was only solved after bashing the anagram fodder around for a long time, and I have never heard of Meadow Rue. I surmised it was likely the same as what I know of as Rue (the herb, common rue) so I was surprised to find it is a different genus Thalictrum from Common Rue |
| Down | ||
| 1 | PARTY PIECE | Do trick? (5,5) Cryptic Definition – which I was very pleased to spot early on |
| 2 | ABUTILON | Washing line moved for plant (8) ABLUTION (washing) shift the L (line) |
| 3 | YCLEPT | Once called Type 150 surprisingly (6) (TYPE CL (150))* AInd: surprisingly I only knew this word because it has popped up in previous puzzles |
| 4 | U-BOATS | Which one of these was cycling round grass and water hazard? (1-5) This seems to be a self-referential clue. UBS derived from ‘cycling’ the letters of SUB (U-Boat), around OAT (grass). As you might expect I had the answer lightly pencilled in as the only thing that matched the crossing letters and letter count (not many 1-5 possibilities) long before I understood the wordplay |
| 5 | PARA | 60% off comparable jumper (4) [com]PARA[ble] |
| 6 | STOP | Conclude a minimal amount of settlement’s best (4) S[ettlement’s] TOP (best) |
| 7 | SLEEPER | Fish served up’s a kipper (7) EELS< (fish (plural), served up[wards]), PER (a) |
| 9 | DRESSERS | Theatre performers likely to be wooden? (8) A sort of Double Definition, except dressers are not performers surely – they are “behind the scenes” |
| 16 | TAX-DODGERS | Trump’s chopper finally landed amongst others – some 23D/8s, perhaps? (3-7) AX (chopper, American spelling thus Trump’s) and [lande]D, inside TODGERS (others, more choppers) |
| 17 | VODAFONE | Very sad song upset a certain 23D/8 (8) V[ery] FADO< (a sad portuguese song) ONE (a) |
| 19 | MODICUM | Police turned up and expressed doubt after second bit (7) CID< (police, truned up) and UM (expressed doubt), all after MO (second) |
| 20 | 23D/8 giving nothing? Be upset having to do without (8) FA (nothing, as in “sweet FA”), then BE< inside COOK (to do) My last one in – mostly due to writing MIXER in at 20A leading be to wondering what MACEBOOK is before spotting the error. the wordplay took even longer to unravel |
|
| 22 | TORERO | Ring fighter moved fast and picked up gold (6) TORE (moved fast) OR< (gold, upwards) The ring this fighter appears in is a bullring |
| 23/8 | GLOBAL BRAND | Very big player making good money: ‘Chuck a pound in’ (6,5) G[ood] RAND (money) around LOB (chuck) and A LB (a pound). Very tricky. Even when I had Global (mostly from crossing letters) Brand did not come easily. |
| 24 | OGLE | Move away from 23D/8 – not a nice look (4) GOOGLE (global brand) – GO (move) |
| 26 | CALF | Steer youngster away from lousy companies – initially awkward (4) (A[way] F[rom] L[ousy] C[ompanies])* AInd: awkward |
Thanks beermagnet for your comprehensive blog. And as for Tyrus, it is Hail to the Chief once more. A true maestro.
I knew it had to be Vodafone, but couldn’t parse it (I was away the day my school did sad Portuguese songs) so didn’t write it in
Just what I needed to get the old grey matter ticking over. Bravo! Almost completed with full parsing. Couldn’t get the reason behind GECKOS (a bit too specialised for my taste) and could only think of “comatose” to fit in 17d so failed on that one.
In 15a, I took “set” as in “the sun has set/declined”. Dressers may not perform on stage but I think it’s fair to say they perform (their duties) in the theatre.
I also took ages to get BRAND. I was too fixated on L not LB for pound.
Many thanks to Tyrus and beermagnet.
Brilliant!
Thanks for the much needed help with many solved but unpairs Ed clues. Too many obscure words and references for me to enjoy this but I suppose it was a fair cop.
Re 4 sorry, that was unparsed which spellcheck thinks is unpairs Ed!
Minor pedantry concerning 23a GECKOS – the definition is just “animals” with “small” standing for S, and Douglas played Gordon Gekko, so it’s a homophone (“Heard”).
I was another one deceived into looking for Seb at 18a. Very nice deception.
Thanks Tyrus and beermagnet
Tyrus is never an easy setter (not a complaint), and today’s was an absolute stormer. Loved it!
We struggled with this and ended up staring for ages at 17 and 21, eventually googling for a list of global brands, but once we got 17 we parsed it easily enough, and the penney soon dropped for 21. We failed to parse 23ac, 4, 16 and 20dn, though. CoD was ABUTILON.
Thanks, Tyrus and beermagnet.
Too tough to be enjoyable for me. In the end I had to make excessive use of the check button to have any hope of finishing it. And much was unparsed at the end so thanks for all the explanations.
Many thanks to beermagnet for an excellent blog and to others who commented.
A late contribution because I took so long to complete this! A few unparsed, a few new ones and plenty of hair pulling on the way, but eventually got there.
A real post-Christmas treat, with the Nina an added present to finish.
A big thanks to Tyrus for a great puzzle (and for dropping in) and to beermagnet for such a comprehensive blog.
Thanks to beermagnet and Tyrus
I don’t keep score but if memory serves this was the most difficult solve of the year for the Independent.
Very, very good, but one or two things I’m still not sure of:
In common with the blog I resisted entering DRESSERS @ 9d until crossers made it inevitable. Afterwards, Collins informed me that a surgeon’s assistant is also called a “dresser”, so I then assumed that this was the intended meaning, but Tyrus has been and gone without mentioning it so perhaps not.
I also wondered about the def @ 14a. The wordplay is straightforward and it led me to decide on GLOBAL BRAND rather than POWER, but I’m still not sure if “it” is meant to be read as “IT”, otherwise “it does perform task” seems rather vague.
With some other setters I may have given up before the end, but with Tyrus, it’s there if you keep digging.
Just got round to this today, having spent most of my time on Harribobs Puzzle since Saturday.
Took my ages to make any leeway with 23/8. I had FACEBOOK and (go)OGLE in place before getting GLOBAL and thinking just the L was for pound. Only when I tried LB for pound did I think of BRAND.
NE corner held out until I got PARTY PIECE.
Many thanks to Tyrus for the work-out.