Phi starts me off on a new four week cycle of blogs.
There were a couple of entries today that I hadn’t come across before, both gettable from the wordplay. I did though check the dictionary definitions of RAMAYANA and COMPEER before I entered them in grid.
I also looked up the definition of FETTLE at 6 down to see if ‘fine’ was part of the definition, but I couldn’t find a dictionary that included it. I reckon the definition is simply ‘condition’.
There were quite a few clues today with many component parts to the wordplay. I always enjoy clues of that nature.
My first entry was JAPAN and my last was RETAIL.
BAD at 16 across is a good example of the development of everyday and street language where words take on meanings completely opposite to their more traditional meanings, which of course are still used by the majority of people.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 7 | Blazing about Republican. OK? (7) |
ALIGHT (on fire; blazing) containing (about) R (Republican) AL (R) IGHT |
ALRIGHT (adequate;OK) |
| 8 | Valued return of my drug, alas (5,2) |
DEAR (highly valued) + MY reversed (return of) + E (ecstasy; drug) DEAR Y M< E |
DEARY ME (expression of dismay; alas |
| 9 | Varnish apparently secured in early part of year (5) |
AP (apparently) contained in (secured in) JAN (JANuary; an early part of the year) J (AP) AN |
JAPAN (varnish with a glossy black varnish or lacquer) |
| 10 | Leftover amount, it seems (3,3,3) |
ODD MAN OUT (if you read ODD MAN OUT as a cryptic crossword clue, ODD could be acting as the anagram indicator for the fodder MAN OUT. The answer to the clue will be AMOUNT*) ODD MAN OUT |
ODD MAN OUT (person who is left out when numbers are made up) |
| 11 | Condition limiting new game leads to anger (7) |
(IF [{on} condition {that]} containing (limiting) N [new]) + LAME (game [see second definition in Collins and Chambers]) I (N) F LAME |
INFLAME (anger) |
| 13 | Don’t mess with first two characters variously interrupting reception (5,2) |
A and B (first two characters of the alphabet) placed separately within (variously interrupting) LEVEE (morning or comparatively early reception of visitors, especially by a person of distinction) to form LEAVE BE LE A VE B E |
LEAVE BE (do not disturb; do not mess with) |
| 14 | Indicator of amusement I extracted from comparison (5) |
The first I excluded from (extracted from) S SMILE |
SMILE (indicator of amusement) |
| 16 | Really good pop group ditching name (3) |
BA BAD |
BAD (good; as the language continues to evolve, BAD, like WICKED is now used slang for ‘good’) |
| 17 | Own a former European currency – Italian? (5) |
A + DM (Deutschmark; former German [European] currency]) + IT (Italian) A DM IT |
ADMIT (acknowledge ownership; own) |
| 19 | Host runs last equal (7) |
COMPERE (host) with R (runs) moving to the end (last) COMPEER |
COMPEER (person who is the equal of another in rank, ability or status) |
| 20 | US coach to scoff about rule (7) |
RAIL (scoff) + CA (circa; about) + R (rule) RAIL CA R |
RAILCAR (American term for a RAILway carriage or coach) |
| 22 | Most restrained since cost exploded (9) |
Anagram of (exploded) SINCE COST CONCISEST* |
CONCISEST (most brief and to the point; most restrained) |
| 23 | Swordsman recalled times around capital of Bulgaria (5) |
ERAS (times) reversed (recalled) containing (around) B (first letter of [capital of] BULGARIA) SA (B) RE< |
SABRE (historical cavalry soldier [who carried a sword?]) |
| 25 | Eggs upset deer (7) |
ROE (mass of fish eggs) + BUCK (throw a rider; upset) ROE BUCK |
ROEBUCK (a male ROE deer) |
| 26 | One with good sense, storing energy of volcanic rock (7) |
I (Roman numeral for one) + G + (NOUS [sense] containing [storing] E [energy]) I G N (E) OUS |
IGNEOUS (descriptive of volcanic rock) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Cut throat (4) |
CROP (cut) CROP |
CROP (craw; throat) double definition |
| 2 | Items to discuss? Get on with new one after Director intervenes (6) |
AGE (get on [in years]) + (D [director] contained in [intervenes] [N {new} + A {one}]) AGE N (D) A |
AGENDA (list of items to be discussed) |
| 3 | Futile debut of one very much sent up during match (6) |
O (first letter of [debut of] ONE) + (SO [very much] reversed [sent up; down clue] and contained in [during] TIE [sports match]) O TI (OS<) E |
OTIOSE (futile) |
| 4 | God leading South American people to North America – an epic story (8) |
RA (ancient Egyptian sun-god) + MAYA (South American people) + NA (North America) RA MAYA NA |
RÃMÃYANA (Sanskit epic story) |
| 5 | Jabber in chirpy mode excitedly (10) |
Anagram of (excitedly) CHIRPY MODE HYPODERMIC* |
HYPODERMIC (a syringe with a needle used for injections; jabber) |
| 6 | Exploit story, dismissing articles in fine condition (6) |
FE FET TLE |
FETTLE ([fine] condition) I think the definition of FETTLE is simply ‘condition ‘ although it is often expressed along with ‘fine’ as in someone being in ‘FINE FETTLE‘ |
| 7 | Meets a club host over in front of system (7) |
A + DJ (disc jockey; club host) + O (over) + IN + S (first letter of [front of] SYSTEM) A DJ O IN S |
ADJOINS (is in contact with; meets) |
| 8 | Swindled daughter? Was not greatly exercised about daughter (7) |
D (daughter) + (IDLED [was not greatly exercised] containing [about] D [daughter]) D ID (D) LED Either of the middle Ds could be the one contained. |
DIDDLED (swindled) |
| 12 | Just one room popular? Dull to accept that (4-6) |
FADED (dull) containing (to accept) (I [Roman numeral for one] + RM [room] + IN [popular]) FA (I RM IN) DED |
FAIR-MINDED (judging fairly; just) |
| 15 | Retired? Time sure flies (8) |
Anagram of (flies) TIME SURE EMERITUS* |
EMERITUS (honourably discharged from the performance of public duty, especially denoting a retired professor) |
| 16 | Crazy series penned by idiot (7) |
SER (series) contained in (penned by) BERK (idiot) BER (SER) K |
BERSERK (crazy) |
| 18 | Sailor understands aims (7) |
TAR (sailor) + GETS (understands) TAR GETS |
TARGETS (aims) |
| 19 | Orator curtailed boast, retaining reserve (6) |
CRO C (ICE) RO |
CICERO (reference Marcus Tullius CICERO [106BC – 43BC), Roman statesman and orator) |
| 20 | Selling last of ale and port in bar, … (6) |
ET (final letter of [last of] each of ALE and PORT) contained in (in) RAIL (bar) R (E T) AIL |
RETAIL (sale of goods to the consumer; selling) |
| 21 | … wild scene finally after pub restricts it (6) |
(INN [public house; pub] contains [restricts] SA [sex appeal; it]) + E (last letter of [finally] SCENE) IN (SA) N E |
INSANE (wild) |
| 24 | John pens 50 comments online? (4) |
BOG (lavatory [slang]; john [informal term for lavatory, especially in the USA]) containing (pens) L (Roman numeral for 50) B (L) OG |
BLOG (online journal; online comments) |
Had to work hard for this, which is how I like it. Finally had to cheat on RAMAYANA which I didn’t know. Lots of checks in Chambers, e.g. SABRE as “swordsman” not “sword”, meaning of LEVEE, “Maya” not “Mayans”.
I see Chambers only grudgingly accepts ALRIGHT for ALL RIGHT. A bit surprised Phi was OK with it.
Wonder what Phi would think if I said 16a was a bad clue 🙂
Thanks to Phi and Duncan.
There were some interesting words here. I’d never heard of RAMAYANA (being pedantic though, maybe ‘Central’ rather than ‘South’ American?), COMPEER or SABRE for ‘Swordsman’ rather than just the sword itself. LAME for ‘game’ and LEVEE for ‘reception’ were also barely remembered.
CONCISEST is a pretty ordinary (no ambiguity about that!) word.
Thanks to Duncan and to Phi
You might want to look for a hidden diagonal message.
Thanks Phi. I’ve found ‘a hidden message’ in the seven central diagonals – is that it or have I missed something else? There’s also ‘load’ on the left, but that may be coincidence. I failed on ‘railcar’, couldn’t even find it in a wordsearch. But enjoyed the puzzle so thanks Phi and Duncan.
We failed on this one – all we could think of for South American people was ‘Inca’ which gave ‘Raincana’ for 4dn (and an unparsable ‘odd one out’ for 10ac). We did google for ‘Raincana’ and got a reference to a blog in what appeared to be an Asian language so we thought it might have been right, though we were doubtful.
We got everything else, with COMPEER and CICERO being our last ones in. Missed the nina, though.
RAILCAR is not an exclusively US usage, although in Britain it usually refers only to the self-propelled type.
Thanks, Phi and Duncan
Plenty to chew on here. Good to have a Hindu epic as a solution – my parents will like that when I call them tonight.
Also failed on “Railcar”.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan
There it is, a hidden diagonal message. Hidden, yes, diagonal, yes, but not sure if it’s a message. This statement is false.
Thanks Phi, Duncan
Finally spotted the hidden diagonal message. Nice!
Sorry, “a” not “the”.
re Wordplodder @2 – Mayans were most definitely Central American so not pedantic at all. A mistake in the clue I’m afraid!
So we were right in thinking only of Incas!