Hob has provided us with something of a teaser to exercise the grey matter this Thursday.
It is a while since I have solved or blogged a crossword by Hob, so perhaps I am a little out of practice. There is quite a lot of more unusual vocabulary in here – at 9, 10, 14, 28 … – and also a good few cinematographic references – films have never been my strong suit. I thus found this to be a rather stiff challenge for a mid-week puzzle. In any case, I think that I have completed the grid successfully, but I need help from fellow solvers to tease out some of the more intricate wordplay at 7 and at 10. I will revisit the blog later to update it with your input.
My favourite clues today were 22 – a more convoluted clue that I did manage to untangle! – for sauciness; 24, for overall construction; and 26, for surface. It took a long while for the penny to drop at 8, where I just couldn’t see the connection with León, where, quite coincidentally, I spent 6 months as a student some 28 years ago. It is not often that this particular Spanish city gets an airing in crosswords, so thanks go to Hob for my trip down memory lane.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | LOGJAM | Bottleneck improvisation on record
LOG (=record) + JAM (=improvisation, e.g. in music, as in jam session) |
| 04 | INTERNET | Home bird gets firm online here
IN (=(at) home) + TERN (=bird) + E.T. (=film, by Stephen Spielberg in 1982) |
| 09 | OSMIUM | Metallic element split in two somehow
The chemical formula Os is hidden in the clue, split between two words: “twO Somehow” |
| 10 | THEREMIN | Instrument electronic rock group used in … thinks … that’s 11 and 13A, for a start
[E (=electronic) + R.E.M. (=rock group)] in ??? |
| 11 | THE LOST WEEKEND | Mind about hotel’s awfully small kitchen, originally seen in 1940s film
[*(HOTEL’S) + WEE (=small) + K<itchen> (“originally” means first letter only)] in TEND (=mind, look after); the reference is to the 1945 US film starring Billy Wilder and Jane Wyman |
| 13 | SPELLBOUND | After a time, sure to be // captivated // by film
Wordplay plus double definition: SPELL (=a time, period) + BOUND (=sure to be); the reference is to the 1945 US film directed by Alfred Hitchcock |
| 15 | OSLO | Capital of Laos, locally
Hidden (“of”) in “LaOS LOcally” |
| 17 | OOPS | Nothing works? Oh dear, I just miscalculated
O (=nothing) + OPs (=works, operations) |
| 19 | CHARLESTON | Dance? Tango being performed as Strictly option
CHARLES (=Dance, i.e. UK actor) + T (=tango, in radio telecommunications) + ON (=being performed); the charleston is one of the dances performed on Strictly Come Dancing |
| 22 | GOOD VIBRATIONS | Number given fine (Sex in Rome? Screwing brains out? That’s not for all to see)
GOOD (=fine) + VI (=sex in Rome, i.e. the Latin word for six) + *(BRAINS O<u>T); “not for all to see (=U, of film classification) means letter “u” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “screwing”; the reference is to the 1966 song (“number”) by the Beach Boys |
| 25 | OVERCAST | Primarily cloudy, when in past tense?
[C<loudy> (“primarily” means first letter only) + AS (=when)] in [OVER (=past, done) + T (=tense, of grammar)] |
| 26 | ED WOOD | European dukes holding court in film
WOO (=court, as verb) in [E (=European) + D D (=dukes, i.e. 2 x d=duke); the reference is to the 1994 US film starring Johnny Depp |
| 27 | FIRST MAN | Best haircut in film about moon landing
FIRST (=best) + MAN<e> (=hair, on lion: “cut” means last letter is dropped); the reference is to the 2018 US film about the life of Neil Armstrong |
| 28 | SCUTUM | Small group of stars reduced in total number
CUT (=reduced) in SUM (=total number); Scutum is a small southern constellation in the Milky Way |
| Down | ||
| 01 | LEON | Sign name in Spanish city
LEO (=sign, of Zodiac) + N (=name) |
| 02 | GYM SHOE | Hob’s gardener’s first to have turned up, with new hose for pump
GYM (MY=Hob’s, i.e. this crossword compiler’s + G<ardener>; “first” means first letter only; “to have turned up” indicates vertical reversal) + *(HOSE); “new” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | ARUM LILY | Bloomer due to a female drinking alcohol
RUM (=alcohol) in [A + LILY (=female, i.e. a woman’s name)] |
| 05 | NOHOW | Expertise in speech-making? Not at all
Homophone (“in speech-making”) of “know-how (=expertise)” |
| 06 | EARNER | Top student for a good source of income
<l>EARNER (=student); to “top”, behead means first letter is dropped |
| 07 | NUMBERS | Book featuring dead monarchs? Two of them appear in both 26 and 27
NUMB (=dead, lifeless) + ERs (=monarchs, i.e. Elizabeth Reginas); Numbers is a book in the OT; ??? |
| 08 | TONED DOWN | Subdued time, before day in 1D
T (=time) + [D (=day) in ONE DOWN (=1D, in expanded form)] |
| 12 | SLOTH | One of a set of 7 in Holst composition
*(HOLST); “composition” is anagram indicator; sloth is one of the Seven Deadly Sins (=a set of 7) |
| 13 | SPONGE OFF | Take advantage of generosity of one’s GP?
“Sponge off”, with “off” as an anagram indicator, is a cryptic clue to “one’s GP” |
| 14 | NORIA | Device for raising water a golf club’s set up
A + IRON (=golf club), “set up” indicates anagram indicator; a noria is an endless chain of buckets on a wheel for raising water from a stream into irrigation channels |
| 16 | PERIODIC | Occasional table’s description, if it contains 9?
The Periodic Table of the Elements includes osmium (=entry at 9) |
| 18 | PIONEER | Be the first to explore employing one taking drugs in Puerto Rico
[I (=one) + ON (=taking, as in on heroin) + E E (=drugs, i.e. 2 x E=ecstasy)] in PR (=Puerto Rico, in IVR) |
| 19 | TUNE OUT | Stop listening as solicitor describes a French female
UNE (=a French female, i.e. the feminine form of the indefinite article a) in TOUT (=solicitor, as in ticket tout) |
| 21 | AVOCET | Overact badly, right away getting the bird
*(OVE<r>ACT); “right (=R) away” means letter “r” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “badly” |
| 23 | BASRA | Horse mounted outside southern port
S (=southern) in BARA (ARAB=horse; “mounted” indicates vertical reversal); Basra is the main port of Iraq |
| 24 | ADAM | 27 seeing woman naked? Nice one
<m>ADAM<e> (=woman; “Nice one” means Frenchwoman from Nice); “naked” means first and last letters are dropped; Adam was the first man (=entry at 27) in the OT |
10a E (electronic) REM (rock Group) inside THIN – which is ‘thinks’ losing its ‘k’ (“the lost weeK end”) and its ‘s’ (first letter of Spellbound)
Parsed 10a as passerby and for 7d, I think this is just a mislead with 26 and 27 both being composed of two numbers.
We have just finished the puzzle and came here to check the parsing of a couple.
Thanks to passerby for explaining 10a and thanks to RR for linking CHARLES to dance. We completely missed that.
As far as NUMBERS is concerned we took it to mean that there were 2 numbers in both 26 and 27 which is a bit misleading as they are also numbers in their own right. Maybe we are missing something as well.
Thanks Hob.
We crossed Hovis!
10 is a classic case where you would never get the answer from the clue, but burn brain cells parsing after the relief of discovering a previously unknown word exists – incidentally ‘the’ in answer to 11 as clue fodder for 10 fails the surface for me, but it is time for a lie down somewhere dark. Thanks to all
Hard work to parse everything and a few less than common words words such as NORIA and SCUTUM didn’t make things easier.
Favourites were GOOD VIBRATIONS, THEREMIN (Midsomer Murders theme), the appearance of CHARLES Dance in 19a and the not so simple parsing for NUMBERS.
Just a small correction, but I think you’ll find THE LOST WEEKEND starred Ray Milland (as an alcoholic) and Jane Wyman; Billy Wilder was the director.
Thanks to Hob and RR
Not on Hob’s wavelength today, I’m afraid. Quite a struggle both to complete the solve (had to reveal the last four in the SW: SPELLBOUND, PIONEER, OOPS & SPONGE OFF. They just wouldn’t come). And couldn’t parse quite a bit of what I solved. So a comprehensive defeat by the setter.
One of those I did get – didn’t know but did get – was SCUTUM. I suspect others may have looked it up but it’s certainly a small group – the fifth smallest constellation in the heavens! Yet it contains one of the largest stars ever discovered. The statistics are remarkable: 2,150 times the size of our own Sun, surface temperature of nearly 3,000 degrees Celsius, 440,000 times brighter than our own Sun and, were it to be centred in our own solar system, it would extend beyond the orbit of Saturn. Now that is big!
Of the others I got, I’d give ticks to THEREMIN for its rarity alone, ED WOOD which is smooth (but which I’d never heard of), INTERNET (always nice to spot a tern) and GYM SHOW for both construction and misleading definition. I took OVERCAST to be an &lit.
Thanks Hob and RatkojaRiku
Definitely a workout for the brain today, with several great misdirections and plenty of lateral thinking required. Plus a little help from google to bring us up to speed on film titles (although we got 11 and 13ac without help except for realising from 10ac that 13 had to begin with S). There were a couple of answers we couldn’t fully parse – 19ac and 24dn – and NORIA was either a new word for us or one we’d forgotten.
Favourite was THEREMIN, with GOOD VIBRATIONS (which you might get from a theremin?) a close second.
Thanks, Hob and RatkojaRiku
I didn’t really enjoy this one, despite completing it, well over-running the time I allot to the crossword! There were too many mystifying clues for my liking, which I needed to check here. But thanks Hob for the challenge and RatkojaRiku for the blog.
Hello, everyone. There’s a theme here, which I discovered when I checked the correct spelling of ‘theremin’ and got on to its Wikipedia page.
My favorite clue was 12d. When you think of a ‘set of seven’ in a Holst composition, you naturally think of his Planets and not the fact that his name can be anagrammed into one of the seven deadly sins. Very clever.
Dorothy @10: brilliant spot. Well done, you. And we all missed it. Thank goodness you popped in. I’m more inclined to forgive the bit of a struggle this turned out to be now I’ve seen how much Hob managed to work in to the grid.
Thought 10 was a poor clue with a rubbish surface for an obscure word and agree with TFO re the imprecise fodder as well.
Other than that – fine!
Particularly enjoyed SLOTH.
Thanks to HOB and RR
One person’s “obscure” is another’s “you didn’t know it”. I first came across the theremin about fifty years ago.
It also appeared in a Paul graun puzzle earlier this year.
And I thought the clue for it was excellent, really made you think, as a good cryptic clue should do.
I knew the word and have seen John Otway playing one.
Whatever else you feel about the clue it’s hard to see how “that’s the lost k and s” means take K and S away…
Late post, busy yesterday, thought this was wonderful. Took me several visits to complete. @6WordPlodder is of course right about The Lost Weekend (a brilliant film noir).
The theremin has been “played” on a number of songs, probably without most of us knowing, including by the late Brian Jones.
Thanks to Hob, very entertaining, and RatkojaRiku.
Leon Theremin invented the theremin – so there’s a connection with 1 down there.