[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
The Observer crossword from Mar 15, 2020.
Another accessible puzzle by our Sunday setter.
Not much controversy this week despite me having (less than) a handful of minor quibbles.
I was looking for this week’s linked clues but didn’t spot them.
Who knows, someone else has an idea?
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GET-UP-AND-GO | The Right Stuff and Top Gun aged badly (3-2-3-2) |
| Anagram [badly] of: TOP GUN AGED This expression always reminds me of various song titles – nothing to do with this clue, though. Here’s a bit of nostalgia: The Weavers and The Rutles. |
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| 6 | WHOA | What to say to a horse while holding on anxiously, primarily? (4) |
| First letters [primarily] of: While Holding On Anxiously I could or, perhaps, should have underlined the whole clue as this is, as Pierre would say, a CAD. See last week’s blog to find out what it means! |
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| 9 | BAD HAIR DAY | Period during which you might have an unpleasant shock? (3,4,3) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | ASTI | For starters, alcoholic sparkling tincture, Italian (4) |
| First letters [for starters] of: Alcoholic Sparkling Tincture Italian | ||
| 11 | CHRIS DE BURGH | Singer confused bride with shrug in church (5,2,5) |
| Anagram [confused] of {BRIDE + SHRUG}, placed inside CH (church) Remember The Lady in Red? Or Don’t Pay The Ferryman. More about Mr De Burgh here. |
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| 15 | LEANDER | Tragic Greek figure, skinny, next to the German (7) |
| LEAN (skinny) + DER (the, in German) | ||
| 16 | ROB LOWE | Drugs dipped in caviar for Brat Pack actor (3,4) |
| BLOW (drugs) inside ROE (caviar) ‘Blow’ is an informal word for cannabis (and for cocaine, too). Doesn’t appeal to me, drugs dipped in caviar …. I had to check Brat Pack, a group of actors of which Rob Lowe is one. |
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| 17 | RESIGNS | Once again, accepts contract’s terms and quits (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | SASHIMI | ‘Pescatarian option’? Ham is doubly out of order! (7) |
| Anagram [out of order] of: HAM IS IS A Japanese dish of raw fish. |
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| 20 | CROSS-EXAMINE | Interrogate corrupt cronies about Congress in the morning (5-7) |
| Anagram [corrupt] of CRONIES, placed around {SEX (congress) + AM (in the morning} | ||
| 23 | OWEN | Poet, retiring lone wolf at heart (4) |
| The four letters in the middle [at heart] of: LONE WOLF, then reversed [retiring] The tragic figure of Wilfred Owen (1893-1918). |
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| 24 | EDITORIALS | Real idiots misconstrued views of the Observer, etc (10) |
| Anagram [misconstrued] of: REAL IDIOTS | ||
| 25 | KOAN | Middle section taken from Muslim holy book: it’s a Buddhist riddle (4) |
| KORAN (Muslim holy book) minus the R in the middle A new word to me, apparently derived from Japanese: “(in Zen Buddhism) a problem or riddle that admits no logical solution” (Collins). |
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| 26 | SPYMASTERS | Sympathisers omitting greeting disturbed intelligence chiefs (10) |
| Anagram [disturbed] of: SYMPATHISERS minus HI (greeting) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GOBI | Travel over most of large desert (4) |
| GO (travel) + BIG (large, most of it, i.e. minus the G at the end) One of the largest deserts in the world (approx. 625 by 1000 miles) covering parts of Mongolia and China. |
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| 2 | TA-DA | Cut a dash, to some extent – voilà! (2-2) |
| Hidden solution [to some extent]: CUT A DASH | ||
| 3 | POACHED EGGS | Breakfast items stolen, for example case of grapefruits (7,4) |
| POACHED (stolen) + EG (for example), followed by the outer letters [case] of GRAPEFRUITS | ||
| 4 | NERDIER | Less socially adept, demanding more energy, not right (7) |
| NEEDIER (demanding more) with one E (energy) replaced with R (right) I assume that this is what Everyman wants us to do. However, for me it doesn’t quite work. It feels like Everyman swapped things around. |
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| 5 | GRANDER | King George and Queen Elizabeth: that’s even more majestic (7) |
| GR (King George) AND ER (Queen Elizabeth) | ||
| 7 | HISTRIONIC | That man’s little musical group, iconic, not half theatrical (10) |
| HIS (that man’s) + TRIO (little musical group), followed by (the second) half of ICONIC | ||
| 8 | ARITHMETIC | Crime that I arranged, being calculating (10) |
| Anagram [arranged] of: CRIME THAT I | ||
| 12 | BABES-IN-ARMS | Naïve types accepting president’s to get rid of weapons (5-2-4) |
| ABE’S (president’s, Abraham Lincoln) inside [accepted by] BIN ARMS (get rid of arms) | ||
| 13 | ALARM CLOCK | In the manner of Royal Marine, punch time-keeper (5,5) |
| A LA (in the manner of) + RM (Royal Marine) + CLOCK (punch) | ||
| 14 | CASSIOPEIA | Spies entrap idiot, minor poet regularly following stars (10) |
| CIA (spies) going around {ASS (idiot) + the even letters [regularly] of MINOR POET} This constellation. Most solvers probably don’t mind but for me “A entrap B” is bad cryptic grammar. ‘Spies’ is a singular building block, even if it is plural in the surface reading. |
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| 18 | SEXED UP | ‘River Dee rising,’ son first exaggerated (5,2) |
| EXE (river) + D (dee, the letter D) + UP (rising), preceded by S (son) | ||
| 19 | SYMPTOM | During autopsy, MP to manipulate evidence (7) |
| Hidden solution [during]: autopSY MP TO Manipulate | ||
| 21 | SADE | Blue European nobleman? (4) |
| SAD (blue) + E (European) Another clue that could have been wholly underlined. Marquis de Sade was, of course, European and many of his works have sexual (hence, ‘blue’) content. |
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| 22 | ASPS | Stinging insects, with tip of wings clipped, remain poisonous creatures (4) |
| WASPS (stinging insects) minus the W (tip of wings) I am not a fan of ‘remain’ in this clue. |
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Maybe CHRIS-CROSS in corresponding across clues was the link this time.
I wasn’t sure how to parse 18d SEXED UP.
Favourite was WHOA.
Thanks, Everyman and Sil.
I had NERVIER for 4d: couldn’t parse it, but wouldn’t have been able to parse NERDIER either.
I had “find out if NERDIER is right” on my to-do list for today: I did pick the right answer, but no, I can’t really see how the parsing works, either.
Re K?an (which was new to me too), Chambers agrees with Collins about the meaning and adds “Origin: Jap. A public proposal or plan”. Lots more detail in Wikipedia. Agree that 4d is backwards and the more logical answer (as clued) would have been NEEDIER.
Your explanation for 1d omits the word “omitting” – to make clear the G of BIG is omitted, rather than part of the solution. The highlighting of letters across the various clues doesn’t seem very consistent.
I enjoyed this puzzle, thanks to Everyman and to Sil for the blog
Some really nice clues here. 1a GET UP AND GO, 9a BAD HAIR DAY, 11a CHRIS DE BURGH and 5d GRANDER were all very clever with great surfaces. I agree though that 4d doesn’t quite work and is basically the wrong way round.
I think 21d SADE is indeed a CAD (clue as definition) because “nobleman” by itself would be a bit vague as a definition. (Was SADE also in fact a cad? Maybe that’s putting it mildly.)
Many thanks Everyman and Sil.
I’m another who was unsure about NEEDIER or NERDIER, until I got BAD HAIR DAY (which was a pleasing CD). But this is a quibblet, for there’s much to like in this crossword, including CROSS EXAMINE, BABES IN ARMS, SEXED UP (nice to see both those much-loved cruciverse rivers, Exe & Dee, in the same clue) and SYMPTOM. And I learned about KOAN, which, admittedly, I’m going to have rather more trouble working into a conversation than many of the new words I glean from here. Hey ho
Thanks to Sil for the blog and Everyman for the challenge.
Largely good crossword.
I take Sil’s quibble about 14D; I think something like: ‘More than one spy entraps idiot …’ would give better wordplay. All the dictionaries I’ve looked at give ‘calculating’ as an adjective, rather than a noun. Maybe, the gerund could be nounal? – I’m not sure. I don’t think the clue for 4D could give NEEDIER as the answer because that would mean ‘demanding more’ means NERDIER. It’s not a very good clue but I think it has to be read as NEEDIER [demanding more], energy not, right (as Sil says.) Of course, it doesn’t say which E should be changed or whether both Es should be removed, so it is not clear, in my opinion. I had to check ROB LOWE – never heard of him.
Thanks Everyman and Sil.
Thank you Everyman for an enjoyable puzzle and Sil for a super blog.
I entered SAXE at 21d, definition ‘Blue’, thinking of the comte de Saxe…
As a long time fan of The West Wing, I knew of Rob Lowe. No idea about the Brat Pack though.
Robi @8 — I think that ‘calculating’ works as a gerund as you suggest. “I’m quite good at calculating” / “I’m quite good at arithmetic”.
I agree with others that 4dn is backwards. Otherwise, a very enjoyable puzzle, whose biggest flaw is that it was over too soon.
Unfathomable words at 14D, 25A and 21D, plus the surface in 12A looks like a word is missing, President’s what?
Agree comments re Nerdier being clued the wrong way round
Otherwise I enjoyed this and like Ted sped through it reasonably quickly.
Thanks Sil and EM
Very enjoyable, no quibbles from us but never heard of Koan before – good to learn something new!
One of the best today thanks Everyman. Sil, I was humming along with the Ruttles while I finished the puzzle so thank you for including the link. For anyone unfamiliar, “The Ruttles: All you need is cash” is the original and still the best Rock mockumentary ever made.
Some good clues today, but some others has me stumped e.g. 14 d.
Liked alarm clock, Babes in Arms, Gobi, Leander. Editorials.
Duane, Remuera @ 15, I agree.
My recollection is that “sexed up” entered the language at the time of the Bush/Blair invasion of Iraq and arose with respect to British civil servants having “sexed up” evidence of the possession of “weapons of mass destruction” by Iraq. Some poor bastard got murdered by agents of the Blair government for exposing this (but of course his death was passed off as suicide — which was completely implausible.)
12d I had got confused wondering how besi referred to a president and then concluded that it was not to ban weapons but to bin them – which left abe’s as the president – I read this as Shinzo Abe as opposed to Lincoln. 4d just does not work – I am hoping to have a moment of realisation still. It should be needier and not nerdier as the clue is written as the clue seems to require more energy and less Right. I cannot “crunch” it and it is very annoying. Everyman seems to have interminable and indeterminable clues which are so convoluted that one can lose the will. I make margin notes – occasionally there is a VG – but more often there is a lot of hate and annoyance!