[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
Crosophile is a fairly regular Independent setter who provides well clued crosswords, sometimes with a theme.
I don’t think there is a theme today. If there is one, I haven’t spotted it.
In 24 across, I’m not sure I’ve got the parsing quite right. It’s the ‘pop’ bit or ‘pop by’ bit that confuses me. As a noun, DOCK can mean simply wharf or pier, but I think we are using DOCK as verb here to match ‘pop by the pier’
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Minor celebrity coterie popping ecstasy, becoming very hot (10) |
(B-LIST [the superstars are A-LIST celebrities, the more minor celebrities slip down to B-LIST] + RING [exclusive group; coterie]) containing (popping) E (ecstasy) BLIST (E) RING |
BLISTERING (very hot) |
| 6 | What 21 did in radio report is sad (4) |
BLUE (sounds like [in radio report] BLEW [what TYPHOONS did]) BLUE |
BLUE (sad) |
| 10 | What goes around comes around, all the same (5) |
ROTOR (palindromic word, reads the same when it is reversed [comes around all the same]) ROTOR<> |
ROTOR (a piece of equipment that goes round) |
| 11 | It shows the way for lad oddly restricted in stature (9) |
Anagram of (oddly) LAD contained in (restricted) HEIGHT (stature) HE (ADL*) IGHT |
HEADLIGHT (piece of kit that lights the way ahead) |
| 12 | Branch of maths involving a bit of geometry – area, length and breadth (7) |
Anagram of (involving) (G [first letter of {a bit of} GEOMETRY] and AREA and L [length] and B [breadth]) ALGEBRA* |
ALGEBRA (branch of mathematics) |
| 13 | Officer liable to be kidnapped by a murderer (7) |
APT (liable) contained in (to be kidnapped by) CAIN (the crossword world’s most likely murderer. The Book of Genesis tells us that CAIN murdered his brother ABEL) C (APT) AIN |
CAPTAIN (officer) |
| 14 | No terms for ‘in Rice style’? It’s how he might be represented (8) |
Anagram of (how he might be represented) I LYRICIST* |
LYRICIST (reference Sir Tim Rice, [born 1944], English lyricist, probably best known for collaborations with [Baron] Andrew Lloyd-Webber) |
| 16 | A picture maker arrived with another? (6) |
CAME (arrived) + RA (Royal Academician; artist; another picture maker) CAME RA |
CAMERA (device for taking / making pictures) |
| 19 | A way to hold one in five in a disapproving look (6) |
ST (way) containing (hold) QUIN (one in five) S (QUIN) T |
SQUINT (give an impression of disapproval in one’s glance) |
| 21 | Tea company above and below equator – they make big impact in tropics (8) |
TYPHOO (company that markets tea products) + (N [north] + S [south], being directions that take you ‘above and below’ the equator) TYPHOO N S |
TYPHOONS (violent tropical cyclonic storms) |
| 24 | Got to pop by the pier for some fish (7) |
HAD (grasped the meaning of; got) + DOCK (pop by the pier) HAD DOCK |
HADDOCK (fish) |
| 25 | Tilt and roll (7) |
LISTING (a leaning; tilt) LISTING |
LISTING (a register of names or roll) double definition |
| 27 | After mid-July lad joins a corporation for final say (9) |
UL (central letters of [mid] JULY) + TIM (boy’s name; lad) + A + TUM (stomach; corporation) UL TIM A TUM |
ULTIMATUM (last word; final say) |
| 28 | Graduate about to invest in artificial intelligence calculators (5) |
(BA [Bachelor of Arts; graduate] + C [circa; about]) contained in (to invest in) AI (artificial intelligence) A (BA C) I |
ABACI (calculators) |
| 29 | Off and on, this day is fairly good (4) |
TIDY (letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [off and on]) of THIS DAY) TIDY |
TIDY (fairly good) |
| 30 | Tremendous falling short in course of affair (10) |
UNDER (falling short) contained in (in course of) THING (affair) TH (UNDER) ING |
THUNDERING (tremendous) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Crustacea clean when cooked in pubs (9) |
Anagram of (when cooked) CLEAN contained in (in) BARS (pubs) BAR (NACLE*) S |
BARNACLES (crustacean that adheres to rocks and ships’ bottoms) |
| 2 | 30 or 21 say, for instance put in ground outside (7) |
INTER (bury; put in ground) containing (outside) EG (for example; for instance) INT (EG) ER |
INTEGER (any positive whole number, such as 30 or 21) |
| 3 | Bit of training by hospital to take pulse (5) |
T (first letter of [bit of] TRAINING) + H (hospital) + ROB (steal; take) T H ROB |
THROB (pulse) |
| 4 | Go over in box cart? (7) |
RE (in respect of; in) + HEARSE (vehicle for carrying coffin [box]; box cart) RE HEARSE |
REHEARSE (practice beforehand; go over) |
| 5 | Pest is abandoned in shade (6) |
NU NUANCE |
NUANCE (delicate or subtle degree or shade of difference.) |
| 7 | Uncovered blue and silver inlaid Fabergé creation turning up in cases (7) |
LU (letters remaining when the outer letters of LU G (AG) GE< |
LUGGAGE ([suit]cases) |
| 8 | Had breakfast – would be defeated after slice of bacon (5) |
B (first letter of [slice of] BACON) + EATEN (the entry) taken together form BEATEN (defeated), but we don’t need the B for the entry EATEN |
EATEN (had food, breakfast, for instance) |
| 9 | Sloppy make-up’s run (8) |
SLAP (stage make-up) + DASH (run) SLAP DASH |
SLAPDASH (careless; sloppy) |
| 15 | Caught on battlefield, in the soup (8) |
C (caught) + ON + SOMME (battlefield in World War 1) C ON SOMME |
CONSOMME (clear soup) |
| 17 | Making appointment as nitwit mixed double gin (9) |
ASS (nitwit) + an anagram of (mixed) GIN plus a second anagram of (mixed) GIN, giving a double mixed GIN ASS IGN* ING* |
ASSIGNING (making appointment |
| 18 | ‘Round cut’ – unusual name for a plant (8) |
CYCL CYCL AMEN* |
CYCLAMEN (plant, related to the primula) |
| 20 | Refreshed by fruit filled baked pud (7) |
DATE (fruit) contained in (filled) an anagram of (baked) PUD UP (DATE) D* |
UPDATED (refreshed) |
| 22 | Imagine getting up with other ranks and no small space at top in craft (7) |
OR [other ranks] + (IMAGI OR IGAMI< |
ORIGAMI (craft of paper folding) |
| 23 | Drawing of small boat (6) |
S (small) + KETCH (boat) S KETCH |
SKETCH (drawing) |
| 24 | Frequent hotel with relative (5) |
H (hotel) + AUNT (female relative) H AUNT |
HAUNT (visit frequently) |
| 26 | Ray‘s succeeded with Katherine (5) |
S (succeeded) + KATE (Katherine) S KATE |
SKATE (large edible kind of ray of tropical and temperate waters) |
Thanks, duncanshiell. There’s a mini theme: Tintin’s Captain Haddock and his child friendly expletives: Blue Blistering Barnacles and Thundering Typhoons. I think that’s the lot – when I saw Algebra early on, I was hoping for Professor Calculus as well…
My favourite was NUANCE.
I had trouble parsing a few today: 13a, 14a (did not know what to do with the letters left over N E E); 21a (never heard of TYPHOO tea company but suspected it would be GK or a UK brand I do not know); and 29a. Thanks to duncanshiell for the explanations.
I did not pick up on the theme.
Well done to NeilW @1 for spotting the theme which I would never have seen. I didn’t know what ‘pop’ was doing in 24a either and couldn’t nail the parsing of ALGEBRA or TYPHOONS.
I liked SLAPDASH and the ‘No terms’ in 14a. For some reason I was thrown by RE for ‘in’ (rather than ‘on’) at 4d, despite probably having come across it many times before.
Thanks to Crosophile and Duncan
I did spot the theme but arrived too late to claim it! Crosophile seems to tease us with a gentle start then whacks in tougher nuts to crack further down. Very enjoyable so thanks Crosophile and Duncan.
Thanks for the blog, Duncan, and for the comments.
24Ac I simply meant ‘to pop by’ as ‘to place next to’ – plus to enhance the surface reading of course. 🙂
BTW Strange but true fact. Captain Haddock was the first man to captain Titanic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Haddock A different Haddock of course, but even so…
We’d finished before spotting the theme; in fact with HADDOCK and SKATE I started to look for a fishy theme till the apprentice pointed out CAPTAIN and suggested ‘Captain Haddock’. “Blistering barnacles, you’re right!” I replied, and then we spotted ‘Thundering typhoons’. Great stuff, and a reminder of a visit to Brussels some time ago when we came across a trompe l’oeil mural of Tinitin, Captain Haddock and Snowy descending a fire escape; if we remember rightly it’s not far from the Manikin Pis.
Thanks, Crosophile and Duncan.
I didn’t spot the theme, and I got 30 and 21 before I got 2d, which led to some nice misdirection as I looked for a stormy answer. All good fun.