A very pleasant and satisfactory crossword from Dill today. On the whole I found it gentle (although perhaps I haven’t seen all its complexities) but the fact that it was usually easy doesn’t stop it from being good.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Something is going on. There are many US references, but I can’t see how they make a theme, which may have stretched the grid — witness the fact that Dill found it twice necessary to have 2 out of 5 checking, usually a sign that something is happening. Probably the usual old thing, where John fails to spot a theme that is staring him in the face. It is a pangram, something I noticed when hunting for something.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TRICKS | US checks over Republican scams (6) |
| t(R)icks — why specifically US? ‘Tick’ appears in Collins under British English also as ‘a mark or dash used to check off or indicate the correctness of something’ or ‘to mark or check (something, such as a list) with a tick’ | ||
| 5 | PATIENCE | VP adopts a note of forbearance (8) |
| p(a ti)ence — Mike Pence is still the Vice-President, ti is the seventh note of the tonic sol-fa scale | ||
| 9 | AMBITION | End morning piece working around one (8) |
| a.m. bit (1) on | ||
| 10 | MOUSSE | Articulate American beast that may make your hair stand on end (6) |
| “moose”, the homophone indicated by ‘articulate’ | ||
| 11 | NYMPH | State representative hot for young temptress (5) |
| NY MP h | ||
| 12 | SOLO | Individual entrées of salmon on Lyonnaise onions (4) |
| s{almon} o{n} L{yonnaise} o{nions} | ||
| 13 | THUG | Rowdy Yank put in hospital (4) |
| t(H)ug — ‘Rowdy’ a noun, ‘put in’ imperative | ||
| 15 | STUBBORN | Awkward b. completely overturned objections at first (8) |
| born with (buts)rev. at first — b. = born, although not in the surface, so b. completely is born | ||
| 18 | RUBBER | Masseuse uses extracts of shrub berries (6) |
| Hidden in shRUB BERries — why a masseuse and not a masseur? | ||
| 19 | SEXIST | Society divorcée takes on leading MCP (6) |
| S. ex 1st — Male Chauvinist Pig | ||
| 20 | NONSENSE | European refusal to feel rubbish (8) |
| non sense — the European refusal is specifically a French one, and feel is one of the senses | ||
| 21 | STUD | Detailed research into boss (4) |
| stud{y} — it’s detailed in the sense of being de-tailed | ||
| 22 | ANTE | Bet Italian smoker lapses back (4) |
| (Etna)rev. — the volcano is the Italian smoker, and ‘lapses back’ means the same thing as ‘is reversed’, but gives a better surface | ||
| 23 | FLUSH | Loud drunkard is loaded (5) |
| f lush | ||
| 27 | JOKERS | Judge old King and Queen’s jesters (6) |
| J o K ER’s | ||
| 28 | UNAFRAID | Intrepid Sally on a fun helter-skelter (8) |
| (a fun)* raid | ||
| 29 | TENSES UP | Stresses when grammar forms increase (6,2) |
| tenses up — the grammar forms are tenses, increase = up — Collins gives an informal meaning of ‘stress’ as ‘to become stressed or anxious’ | ||
| 30 | DEALER | Broker fermented red ale (6) |
| *(red ale) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | RUMMY | Like Bacardi but could go after gin here (5) |
| Bacardi is a make of rum, so like Bacardi is rum-my — and there’s also a reference to gin rummy — or is it just a sort of CD? | ||
| 3 | CHIMP | Mischief-maker chasing child’s a little monkey (5) |
| ch. imp | ||
| 4 | SUIT | You and I objectively backing computer department proceedings (4) |
| (us)rev. IT — you and I are we, and we objectively is us; this is reversed — proceedings as in a law suit — I’m a bit confused about what ‘department’ is doing: presumably it’s with ‘computer’ as in ‘IT department’ | ||
| 5 | PONTOON | Midday about time to shore up river barge (7) |
| Po n(t)oon — the Italian river is the Po and it wasn’t long ago that I was saying how useful it is to crossword setters | ||
| 6 | TAMBOURINE | Orchestrated tuba with E-minor instrument (10) |
| *(tuba E-minor) — Dill double-bluffed me, because I was looking for something like a medical instrument, thinking that the clue was trying to inveigle the reader into looking for a musical one | ||
| 7 | EQUITABLE | Tablet dropped by sailor at the French fair (9) |
| E quit AB le — quit = dropped as in “I dropped Maths (from the courses I was studying)’ and ‘I quit Maths’ | ||
| 8 | COSTUMERS | Dressmakers from court mess about (9) |
| (court mess)* — a costumer is simply a costumier — is this an Americanism? Collins, which normally has a heading ‘British English’, doesn’t bother with one and goes straight on to American English | ||
| 14 | LOST CAUSES | Disorganised scout sales are hopeless affairs (4,6) |
| *(scout sales) | ||
| 16 | TWENTY-ONE | Score individual number (6-3) |
| twenty one — twenty is a score, one is an individual | ||
| 17 | BLINDNESS | Disregard little oldie getting up wearing rollers perhaps (9) |
| (sen.)rev. in blinds — the oldie is a senior | ||
| 20 | NO-TRUMP | Call from Democrat opposing the President? (2-5) |
| Democrats who oppose the President, are saying no to Trump — but not for much longer thank goodness — and why does it have to be a Democrat? Lots of people oppose Trump; I do, and I’m not a Democrat, and there are quite a few Republicans who also oppose him | ||
| 24 | LARVA | Some popular variety of grub (5) |
| Hidden in popuLAR VAriety — I’m never very comfortable with the equating of ‘some’ with ‘some of the letters of what follows’ | ||
| 25 | SEIZE | Capture spies allegedly (5) |
| “sees” — ‘allegedly’ the homophone indicator | ||
| 26 | HAND | Labourer wants beer with lemonade essentially (4) |
| {s}hand{y} — beer with lemonade is shandy | ||
Seem to be several references to playing cards and card games.
Amazing to get so many themed words in the grid and also manage a pangram.
In 1a, it is “check” that is the US usage, not “tick”. I also thought that “Democrat” wasn’t needed in 20d.
Thanks to Dill and John.
John – I can’t match passerby for timing of comment – not by a long shot – but I agree with his spot of the theme. I make it 5 card games and 10 or 11 (not sure about SEIZE) other references to cards but I’m sure others will improve on that. And yet the theme didn’t dominate or intrude upon the individual solves. There was plenty I liked – LOST CAUSES, STUBBORN, UNAFRAID, RUMMY and EQUITABLE earned ticks. I didn’t know the MCP abbreviation – and the first Google check suggested Microsoft Certified Professional which is an unfortunate overlap! I did think TWENTY-ONE was rather weak and, like John, would have normally expected costumiers rather than COSTUMERS. And, John, the Po has long been my favourite river in crosswordland!
Thanks Dill and John
Great fun! Thanks Dill and John.
We had spotted the card theme, but needed to come here to understand the parsing of HAND.
Passerby passed by in the night.
The second light and pleasant puzzle this week. I noticed the pangram but not the theme.
LOST CAUSES was my favourite with HAND runner-up.
Many thanks to Dill and John.
nice theme.. had been hoping for Bezique to turn up, or even bridge.. but happy to settle for pontoon..
thanks Dill n John
The theme revealed itself within the first few across answers. I agree with PostMark’s tallies of card games and terms, though ‘it depends whether one regards ‘stud’ as the name of a game on its own or as a descriptive. Also agree with Hovis that getting so many theme words as well as a pangram is an amazing feat. ‘Hand’ was clever – I couldn’t parse it. Thanks Dill and John.
As others have said, both a theme and a pangram to add to the enjoyment of the solve. My only disappointment was missing the parsing for HAND. I’d like to think I’ll remember it the next time it appears somewhere but I probably won’t!
Thanks to Dill and John
Spotted the card theme early on but had to ‘phone a friend’ for help with the parsing of ‘hand’.
The disorganised scout sales made me laugh – those for the Girl Guides were just as chaotic!
Thanks to Dill for the puzzle and to John for the review, best of festive wishes to you both.
Maybe sign of a misspent youth, but to say that the theme jumped out would be an understatement. Many thanks Dill and John.
@undrell moore. I was desperately trying to find Bezique hidden somewhere in the grid!
An enjoyable one today. Not too taxing at all.
Thanks Dill and John
A fairly gentle solve, helped by the fact that we suspected what the theme was after the first two acrosses and rapidly confirmed our suspicions. Even so we needed wordfinder help for 29ac and couldn’t see the parsing of 17dn for ages (didn’t think of ‘disregard’ as a noun).
As is often the case with us, favourites were to be found among non-themed answers – STUBBORN, TAMBOURINE and LOST CAUSES.
Thanks, Dill and John.