Neo provides this morning’s distraction (for a short while at least)
I don’t always find Neo’s puzzles as straightforward as this one. Some of the answers took very little thought at all, especially the chestnut at 25ac that I have seen before several times, and the 3-letter across entries.
On the other hand, Neo used obscure old Canadian geography and an unusual word (CHINE) in crossers in the top left corner, which held me up for a few seconds. I’m not much of a historian, so only know ACADIA as a national park in New England, so was thrown by the reference to Canada, and I haven’t come across CHINE as a ravine before.
Thanks, Neo.
| Across | ||
| 9 | COCHINEAL | Scarlet and black rock enclosing ravine (9) |
| COAL (“black rock”) enclosing CHINE (“ravine”) | ||
| 10 | LINGO | Text shortened, depart peculiar vocabulary (5) |
| LIN(e) (“text”, shortened) + GO (“depart”) | ||
| 11 | DOWAGER | Active sort about to shake grand old woman (7) |
| DOER (“active sort”) about WAG (“to shake”) | ||
| 12 | CRANIUM | Nutcase has stuff about Ulster University (7) |
| CRAM (“stuff”) about NI (Northern Ireland, so “Ulster’) + U (university) | ||
| 13 | ALI | Left cuts first-rate boxer (3) |
| L (left) cuts A1 (“first-rate”) | ||
| 14 | SALESPERSON | One working as rep no less (11) |
| *(as rep no less) [anag:working] and &lit. | ||
| 17 | DOGMA | Blind faith seen in one having puppies? (5) |
| A DOG MA (as in “a mother dog”) could be described as one having puppies. | ||
| 18 | ONE | United were victorious reportedly (3) |
| Homophone of [reportedly] WON (“were victorious”) | ||
| 19 | EIDER | Bird shows colour – that is when reflected (5) |
| <=(RED (“colour”) + I.E. (“that is”)) reflected | ||
| 21 | STAIR CARPET | It protects in covering both flight and landing (5,6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 23 | SUM | Wrestler loses nothing in total (3) |
| SUM(o) (“wrestler” loses O (nothing)) | ||
| 25 | ORCHARD | Where one finds fruit or vegetable (7) |
| OR + CHARD (“vegetable”) | ||
| 27 | DRAGOON | Soldier feeding egg to fiery monster (7) |
| O (“egg”) fed to DRAGON (“fiery monster”) | ||
| 28 | NONET | Conservationists engaging a certain ensemble (5) |
| NT (National Trust, so “conservationists”) engaging ONE (“a certain”) | ||
| 29 | SPOTLIGHT | Modest accepting trophy and fame (9) |
| SLIGHT (“modest”) accepting POT (“trophy”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ACADIA | Canadian region rural paradise Republican deserts (6) |
| A(r)CADIA deserted by R (“Republican”)
Acadia was an area in Eastern Canada, and Arcadia, a rough unspoiled wilderness in Greek mythology, the home of the god Pan. |
||
| 2 | SCOWLING | Lowering second engine cover (8) |
| S (second) + COWLING (“engine cover”) | ||
| 3 | RINGO STARR | Drummer in band old celeb at bar ultimately (5,5) |
| RING (“band”) + O (old) + STAR (“celeb”) at (ba)R [ultimately] | ||
| 4 | BEAR | Stick close to concierge in block (4) |
| [close to] (concierg)E in BAR (“block”) | ||
| 5 | BLACK SHEEP | Family outcast threatening animal (5,5) |
| BLACK (“threatening”) + SHEEP (“animal”) | ||
| 6 | FLEA | Female by meadow in small jumper (4) |
| F (female) by LEA (“meadow”) | ||
| 7 | GNEISS | Rock agreeable to an audience (6) |
| Homophone [to an audience] of NICE (“agreeable”) | ||
| 8 | COMMONER | One from hoi polloi more frequently encountered (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | LEOPARDESS | One spotted crossing road asleep so needing treatment (10) |
| *(asleep so) [anag:needing treatment] crossing Rd. (road) | ||
| 16 | EVENTUALLY | EU partner to bridge gap sooner or later (10) |
| EU + ALLY (“partner”) to bridge VENT (“gap”) | ||
| 17 | DISMOUNT | Desert Arab perhaps converted to nudism (8) |
| *(to nudism) [anag:converted]
An Arab in this context refers to a horse. |
||
| 20 | DISLODGE | Drive away from one small lake in Kansas City (8) |
| 1 (one) + S (small) + L (lake) in DODGE (City in Kansas) | ||
| 22 | ACCENT | Stress caused where Bill needs money (6) |
| AC (account, so “bill”) needs CENT (“money”) | ||
| 24 | MINUTE | Exact time (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | ALTO | One sax used in national tour (4) |
| Hidden [used] in “nationAL TOur” | ||
| 27 | DOOR | Quack to keep ducks closer? (4) |
| Dr. (doctor, so “quack”) to keep O+O (zeroes, or “ducks” in cricket) | ||
*anagram
Reckon I found this harder than you did, loonapick. Indeed, I usually find Neo easier than this one. I did finish though, having only to check both ACADIA and ARCADIA were correct.
The homophone at 18a (an anagram of the setter) is one I have seen before so accept some people must pronounce them the same.
The NW sector held me up the most but eventually (16d) got SCOWLING which opened it up. Have only seen CHINE in reference to the back before. DISMOUNT was my LOI. “Desert Arab” indeed! Excellent!
Thanks to Neo and loonapick.
I found this easier than the usual Neo, and loved a couple of clues (especially 21ac STAIRCARPET — and I hadn’t come across ‘closer’ to mean ‘door’ before). Thanks, Neo, and loonapik as usual
Short and sweet but as entertaining as ever thank you Neo – a setter whose alter egos seem to appear daily in one publication or another lately
There are a lot of ‘chines’ on the Isle of Wight so no problems with that or any other clue apart from the ancient part of Canada
Thanks to Neo and loonapick
Hovis @1
Is there anybody who doesn’t pronounce WON and ONE exactly the same way?
Got held up in the NW for a while. BEAR was last in, and I’m still not convinced it equates to STICK.
NNI @4 – bear with it, and it might come to you
Last two in were “scowling” (being stuck on “coping” as the cover) and “dismount” ( trying to find a Saharan tribe for far too long). Nevertheless an enjoyable solve. To add to crypticsue @3, “chine” is also common around Bournemouth. Incidentally, should have got “cowling” sooner as it was my uncle’s surname! Thanks Neo and loonapick.
thanks N and Loona! I agree was on the easy end of the NeoScale. Enjoyable — I vaguely remember CHINE being the spine of an animal so was surprised that it also meant ravine (but I guess kind of consistent). I’d heard of ACADIA University. I think. I did look it up to make sure though. DODGE City, Kansas was clever (though not so clever to be protesting against lockdowns there…)
To Hovis & to NNI @ 4:
I (& presumably Hovis) pronounce the number 1 as, roughly, ‘Wonn’ and the victory as ‘Wunn’. The word ‘wan’ (‘pale’), if I was being careful, I would pronounce slightly differently again.
Usually it’s loonapick who’s indignant about differentiated Scots pronunciation but I have to say that my Scottish (Kirkintilloch) partner does indeed pronounce ‘One’ & ‘Won’ identically.
To NNI: ‘He’s a bounder and I can’t stick him at any price’.
Chambers gives ‘endure’ as def #10.
… and btw I thought SALESPERSON was a beautiful & lit.
Thanks to both, as always.
GB @8 Yes, that’s indeed how I pronounce them and can’t say I have ever heard anybody pronounce them differently. But, of course, I can imagine some might. Incidentally, I also pronounce “eight” as “eyt” not “ate” but at least I have heard both of these.
SALESPERSON and the ‘Desert Arab perhaps…’ were my favourites too. A coincidence that ACADIA happened to appear in the same week as the tragic events a few days ago in Nova Scotia, the area arguably still most associated with the term. CHINE was my new word of the day.
Thanks to Neo and loonapick
Thanks to Neo and loonapick. Lots of fun. Chine-ravine was new to me, but I did know ACADIA, especially liked desert-Arab-DISMOUNT, and well remember “get out of Dodge” from “Gunsmoke.”
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Acadia is the source of the term ‘cajun’.
To Hovis and GB
It must be a Scottish pronunciation, because I’ve never heard anyone say ONE and WON differently.
PS I pronounce all 3 of your 8’s the same.
We found this pretty straightforward. ACADIA was easy for us as the area in Canada is in Nova Scotia which one of us has visited – many years ago now. GNEISS was our LOI; we couldn’t see it for ages but we did – 16 – and it was nice (pun intended!) not having to use a wordfinder.
Lots of good clues: DISMOUNT was our favourite.
Thanks, Neo and loonapick.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Found it at the lower end of his difficulty scale too, getting most of it done in one shortish sitting and polishing off the two or three clues in quick time after a break. Thought that the &lit was excellent at 14a and chuckled at DOG MA.
DISMOUNT was very clever and was the third to last in, followed by SPOTLIGHT and DISLODGE the last one in.
Generally straightforward but nonetheless crafty — enjoyed SALESPERSON, RINGO STARR, LEOPARDESS, DISLODGE, and the very clever DISMOUNT. Failed to get DOOR as I don’t usually think of doctors as quacks (even though 50% of them graduated in the bottom half of their classes) and I know very little about cricket. Thanks Neo and Loonapick.
I got there with Dislodge the LOI
I’m in the foothills of the cryptic crossword world. Maybe just me, but I find comments like “for a short while at least “in Loonapick’s introduction unhelpful. This is a great website, and the solvers do a marvellous job explaining the clues. Thanks for that – sincerely.
But the cocky comments that one or two of you occasionally come out with, such as the one I cite above, always jar a bit with me.
This learner, who has to work hard, doesn’t need to be made to feel in adequate by his teacher.
Thanks for everything else. It really is a great site and this is meant to be constructive feedback
? ?
Moly@18
I apologise if my comment came across as “cocky”. It was not intended as such. It was my personal experience of the puzzle, but I appreciate that solvers will represent a broad spectrum, from newbies to masters, so it could have come across that way. My bad!
Hello.
Thanks for all your comments. They were very gneiss.
Cheers
Neo
Hi Moly
I wouldn’t take the ‘cocky comments’ too much to heart. The time that it takes to complete a crossword is really neither here nor there, it’s more the enjoyment that you personally get out of a) completing it at all and/or b) having fun along the way. It’s a bit like playing golf with a single handicapper – he might get around in 78 and I might take 100 – still I can admire him for his skill and be happy that I got less than the 110 that I may have had the last time and enjoy the walk around the course whilst doing it.
I find that setters vary in the degree of difficulty from puzzle to puzzle and it can depend on the state of mind one is in when one starts. I was able to complete one the other day very quickly from a setter who usually takes me 3-4 times that long. Meanwhile I’m still chewing over the last clue in a Basilisk puzzle from last month ! 🙂
Am assuming that loonapick was able to finish this one much quicker than he normally would with one of Neo’s.
Thanks for your feedback. And please, Loonapick, no need for apologies. I was doing my best to provide some constructive feedback and which is always a bit difficult in print.