Serpent fills the Thursday slot this week – we’re in for a treat.
We found this slightly easier than we had expected, given the setter. This may have been because we always expect there to be something going on in Serpent puzzles and we tumbled to the BIRD theme fairly early on – though not until we had solved at least four ‘bird’ clues.
2d was our last one in, and until writing up the blog we had no idea how to parse it. We were expecting to have to ask for help, but in a moment of inspiration, the penny dropped.
All good fun and amazing to have 13 thematic entries with definitions that have nothing to do with our feathered friends.
SNIPs (cuts) without or ‘removing’ the last letter + E (first letter or ‘source’ of economies)
C (about) ROW (argument)
LIAR (person who invents) reversed or ‘revolutionary’
IN (popular) SIP (drink) ImbibeD without the middle letters or ‘on vacation’
ROLL (sandwich) BAR (counter)
Clue-as-definition – an anagram of REDUCTION and A, T, S and D (first or ‘primary’ letters of Available To Similar Dealers) – anagrind is ‘negotiated’
Hidden in soundREL IS Hoping
I O (middle letters or ‘essential parts’ of voice and choir) after or ‘introduced by’ ORATOR (speaker)
An anagram of HOT ROD (anagrind is ‘customised’) round or ‘breaking’ O (circuit) + X (times)
MaN (without the middle letter or ‘disemboweled’) after SOLE (fish)
PRIZING (valuing) round or ‘stopped by’ an anagram of GIFT HE – anagrind is ‘unexpected’
TEN (side short of team member – assuming a football team of eleven) after HEAR (try)
Hidden in (‘around’) HarlEM BAR GOt
G (first letter or ‘leader’ of gang) fULLy (completely) without the first and last letters or ‘fleeced’
R (rex – king) in or ‘gripped by’ NEW (novel) reversed or ‘about’
CANE (punishment) round or ‘overcoming’ R (resistance)
S (succeeded) W (with) I and FT (two newspapers)
I (current) N S (North and South- ‘pair involved in deal’ – as in card games such as bridge) TALL (unlikely)
EXPRESS (say) + an anagram of O (love) ISN’T – anagrind is ‘represented’ – in IS (lives)
DIE (stop working) after or ‘under’ CAD (disreputable man)
An anagram of CORONER and D (first letter or ‘beginning’ to doubt) – anagrind is ‘suspect’
An anagram of RARE (anagrind is ‘outburst’) round or ‘interrupted by’ BIT (boring part – of a drill)
An anagram of K (king) LeAR without or ‘losing’ ‘e’ (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of throne) – anagrind is ‘goes mad’
An anagram of SCHOLAR UP TO (anagrind is ‘no good’) + BIC (writer)
LOndON (city) with the middle or ‘central’ letters omitted or ‘shrouded’
cROOK (criminal) without the ‘c’ (caught)
iGNORe without the first and last letters or ‘having no case’ round or ‘taking on’ OVER (extra)
An anagram of A PISTOL – anagrind is ‘shot’
TIRE (flag) reversed or ‘raised’ + A (American) ER (head of state – the queen) reversed or ‘backing’
A homophone (‘reporter’s’) of PIDGIN (crude language). We came across ‘pigeon’ = ‘business’ (concern) for the first time in a recent crossword – here it is again!
Double definition
GAS (gossip) reversed or ‘brought up’ round H (husband)
I am famed for not noticing themes and Ninas and indeed only noticed this one when I wondered to myself what our resident bird watcher and non-fan of sexual references in clues would think of 24d
Thanks to Serpent and B&J
I am always on the lookout with Serpent and it helped the solve.
i was surprised to see PIGEON on the bench s it were
Another beauty.
Thanks Serpent and B&J
A lot easier than his FT puzzle today, I thought.
When solving 3d, I thought “lives” might be “exists” to give and ISTS ending, which led to the answer only to realise that it wasn’t that parsing at all. Maybe a bit lucky there.
Not sure I would have gotten LOON without spotting the birds. Like Bertandjoyce, I only found out about that meaning for PIGEON recently. Thanks all.
I had the top 5 themesters in place before I saw the theme when solving 14d. Guessed both PIGEON and GOOSE from the crossers. A bit easier than usual from Serpent. Keeping Basilisk for later.
An entertaining offering from Serpent, with a theme even I couldn’t miss. Cleverly done, though – having all the avian answers didn’t make for an intractable puzzle.
I was intrigued enough about why we say ‘It’s not my pigeon’ for ‘It’s not my business/concern’ to do a bit of research. Turns out that it does in fact derive from the wordplay that Serpent gave us – pidgin. If you’re interested, the detail is here. Other languages do it differently – the French will say c’est pas tes oignons (literally ‘it’s not your onions’) for ‘it’s not your business’, which makes even less sense.
Thanks to B&J for blogging. Good job it wasn’t your colleague Pierre’s turn to blog – it would have been dark by the time the blog was completed and posted.
After a struggle I ended up missing PIGEON, which I must have forgotten if it has appeared recently. Thanks to Kathryn’s Dad @5 for the link – v. interesting and hopefully will mean I remember it for the future. Yes, the theme helped me with a few as well, notably SNIPE and LOON.
Off to do the Basilisk in the FT. Sounds as if I’m in for a real treat – I think.
Thanks to Serpent and B&J
I didn’t exactly fly through this, even though I spotted the theme fairly early on. 2d held me up for a while too, and LOI was 21 (That phrase sounds Wodehousian to me, so I’d probably encountered it at some time, but had forgotten. Ta for the link, K’s Dad.) Nice one, Serpent. Favourite clue was 22. Cheers for the blog, B&J.
I found this quite a struggle and DNF. The bottom right defeated me. And I don’t think spotting the theme would have helped.
A Serpent puzzle well above my pay grade as usual. I keep trying though.
Many thanks to Bertandjoyce for the great blog and to everyone who has been kind enough to leave a comment.