Wanderer makes a rare Thursday appearance.
This was a typically challenging Wanderer puzzle, which may have a theme, but I can't see it.
There were some very interesting devices used her that are not often seen, such as referring to another clue rather than another solution (14dn) and the unusual use of another solution to complete another clue (5dn). It was an enjoyable solve, and I learned about Paternoster Row in the process (I'm sure my Sassenach colleagues already know all about it, but it was new to me).
However, I must be missing something in 26ac, as I can't equate REITER with WRITER, and I'm not sure about 22dn either (d = death?), so, as is always the case when I come across these conundrums, I apologise if I have missed something glaringly obvious.
Thanks Wanderer, and goodbye 2020!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1, 7 | PATERNOSTER ROW | Father recalled son having brief panic, facing wide London street once (11,3) |
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PATER ("father") + <= SON [recalled] + [brief] TERRO(r) ("panic") facing W(ide) Paternoster Row was a street in London destroyed in the Blitz. It was synonymous with the book trade. |
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| 9 | RAPID | Speedy attack with a little pace injected (5) |
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RAID ("attack") with [a little] P(ace) injected |
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| 10 | INTERLEAF | Contents of 9 are left out, as blank page added (9) |
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[contents of] (n)IN(e) + *(are left) [anag:out] |
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| 11 | OFF COLOUR | Football club told strips in Round Four must be kind of blue? (3,6) |
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F.C. (football club) + (t)OL(d) [strips] in O (round) + FOUR, so O(F.C.-OL)FOUR |
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| 12 | ELEMI | Fragrant resinous substance ratel emits when short of cover (5) |
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Hidden in "ratEL EMIts" [when short of cover] |
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| 13 | ACCOSTS | Confrontationally attacks account charges (7) |
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A/C ("account") + COSTS ("rates") |
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| 15 | DERV | Fuel used by older vans (4) |
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Hidden in [used by] "olDER Vans" |
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| 18 | BURP | Baby, uttering repeated pleadings at first, gets to bring 22 (4) |
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B(aby) U(ttering) R(epeated) P(leadings) |
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| 20 | MAHATMA | What’s wife left out? It needs around two small pinches of marjoram or sage (7) |
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(w)HAT [with W(ife) left out] needs two small pinches of MA(rjoram) around |
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| 23 | TOPIC | Theme best served cold? Not half! (5) |
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TOP ("best") + IC(ed) ("served cold", not half) |
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| 24 | GILLESPIE | Dizzy spell? 11, with eg staggers (9) |
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*(spell i i eg) [anag:staggers] where i i is 1 1 without the gap |
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| 26 | REITERATE | Repeat has said writer worried (9) |
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I think the intended parsing is: homophone of WRITER (indicated by said) + ATE ("worried"). I really hope I'm wrong, as that is terrible, WRITER and the REITER part of REITERATE sound nothing alike. |
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| 27 | BACON | Painter content to redaub a Constable (5) |
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Hidden in [content to] "redauB A CONstable" |
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| 28, 29 | OLD MOTHER RILEY | “I’m Tory”, hollered eccentric former drag artist (3,6,5) |
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*(im tory hollered) [anag:eccentric] Old Mother Riley (aka Daphne Bluebell Snowdrop Riley) was a music hall creation of comedian Arthur Lucan. |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1, 21 | PERSONAL STEREO | Cassette or CD player for each child too, getting wrapped short time before (8,6) |
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PER ("for") + SON "(each") + ALSO ("too") getting wrapped [short] T(ime) + ERE ("before") |
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| 2 | TYPEFACE | Courier’s one with a kind side (8) |
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TYPE ("kind") + FACE ("side") |
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| 3 | RADIO | New hairdo: initially cut, then set (5) |
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*(airdo) [anag:new] where AIRDO is (h)AIRDO [initially cut] |
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| 4 | OMINOUS | Our starter (takeaway) contains nothing sinister (7) |
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O(ur) [starter] + MINUS ("take away") contains O (nothing) |
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| 5 | TUTORED | Taught after time out 11 (7) |
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After T (time) *(out) + RED To get the [*(out) + RED] you need to solve 11 across which is OFF COLOUR, so the clue now reads "after time out off colour" |
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| 6 | RARE EARTH | Unusual soil element in each half of divided land? (4,5) |
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La (lanthanum) and Nd (neodymium) are both rare earth ("unusual soil") elements, and La-Nd is [divided] LA-ND |
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| 7 | REEFER | If this is pulled on, you’re probably in the wrong jacket (6) |
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Double definition, the first referring to a marijuana cigarette, which in most cases is illegal , so "you're probably in the wrong" if you "pull on" one. |
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| 8, 17 | WIFE IN NAME ONLY | Wantonly lay 9 women, if one’s not truly married (4,2,4,4) |
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*(lay nine women if) [anag:wantonly] |
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| 14 | SOUR CREAM | Something very funny about 4’s topping, a fermented dairy product (4,5) |
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SCREAM ("something very funny") about OUR ("4's topping") This is an unusual clue as the 4 relates not to the solution to 4dn, but to the clue. |
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| 16 | ATYPICAL | Deviant youth leader in foreign capital (8) |
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Y(outh) [leader] in *(capital) [anag:foreign] |
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| 17 | See 8 | |
| 19 | PAGEANT | Parade errand boy in front of social worker (7) |
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PAGE ("errand boy") in front of ANT ("social worker") |
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| 20 | MOLIERE | Dramatist setting story in Rome, surprisingly (7) |
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LIE ("story") in *(rome) [anag:surprisingly] |
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| 21 | See 1 | |
| 22 | UPWIND | Victory in FA Trophy? “Header’s missed at the death”, reported into the blower (6) |
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WIN ("victory") in (c)UP ("FA Trophy" with header missed) at D ("death"). I don't think D can be death; it can be died in encyclopaedias and dead in genealogy, but as far as I know, it is not short for "death" and almost certainly not for "the death" |
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| 25 | EMBER | One that’s still smouldering, as three months come to an end (5) |
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EMBER appears at the end of three months (September, November and December) |
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Great puzzle. I love clues that have a natural surface that has nothing to do with the solution. OFF COLOUR & MAHATMA are good examples of this. I also loved GILLESPIE which sent me in so many wrong directions.
OLD MOTHER RILEY takes me back to my youth. Probably a tough clue for those who have never heard of her/him.
In 14d, I took 4’s topping to be (F)OUR rather than first word of 4d.
I have mentioned before that I am not keen on the construction of clues like 26a but, nevertheless, I think they are valid. The word REITER is pronounced WRITER, just not the same as the first part of REITERate.
I had the same concerns with 22d though. Thanks to Wanderer and loonapick.
Lovely puzzle. I forgot to solve BURP which is simple but good.
Thanks all.
Best of today’s offerings I thought, with the exception of REITERATE if the parsing is as per loonapick’s above and I can’t see an alternative. I had no idea about RARE EARTH so thanks for the explanation which I would never have seen. I parsed 14d as did Hovis @1, though I suppose either will do.
D for ‘death’ at 22d went in with a shrug; I just had ‘into the blower’ as the def. Looking at it now, I wonder if it has anything to do with a WIND UP being ‘at the death’ or at the finish of an event. Probably not.
Thanks to Wanderer and loonapick
I guess, given that d can stand for “died”, perhaps the d here is “at the death reported” with “into the wind” as the definition. Seems a bit contrived, perhaps.
Enjoyable solve which seemed to me to be at the easier end of Wanderer’s spectrum. Interesting coincidence that ‘OFF COLOUR’ was also a solution in yesterday’s FT puzzle. Thanks Wanderer and Loonapick.
What with RADIO ‘set’, PERSONAL STEREO and especially OLD MOTHER RILEY, this was a real blast from the past.
Had fun discerning the various numeric misdirections, of which GILLESPIE was my favourite. This caused me to rethink WATERMARK which I had initially at 10a as the contents of 9a, RAPID, till the parsing ruled that out.
Really liked MAHATMA, REEFER and the BURP/22d connection amused me too.
Thanks Wanderer for a fitting end to the year and to Loonapick for a great blog. Happy New Year to all!
Thanks Wanderer and loonapick
In 22, sorry, but I think you’re looking wrongly for D = DEATH.
For me, it’s ‘misseD [at the death]’, ie the end of ‘missed’.
This was tougher than I generally find Wanderer. It was a DNF, partly due to my knowledge deficits — DERV, courier as TYPEFACE, PATERNOSTER, and ELEMI — other answers I guessed but just couldn’t figure out the parsing — 10a, 11a, 26a, 5d, 6d, and 14d. Nonetheless I liked this crossword and found clues like GILLESPIE, OMINOUS, and ATYPICAL reasons enough to look forward to the next Wanderer/Puck puzzle. Thanks Loonapick for untangling so much for me.
Simon @7. Surely “missed” is in reference to the missing C in cup and Wanderer isn’t the type to use a double duty.
Thanks to loonapick for the blog and to others for your comments.
22dn seems to have caused some confusion. My intended parsing has “into the blower” as the definition for UPWIND, with the D in the wordplay coming from “at the death, reported”, ie the last letter of “reported”. “Header’s missed” then indicates the missing C in cup, without there being any double duty involved.
Thank you Wanderer, for dropping in, and for the clarification.
All done, but failed to parse RARE EARTH and SOUR CREAM, so thanks for help with them.
Ah well, right idea, wrong fodder!
A steady and enjoyable solve. We liked TYPEFACE (‘courier’ not being UPS for once) but favourite was GILLESPIE, even though it was one of our last few in.
THanks, Wanderer and loonapick.
A struggle for me, but got there other than I did not manage Gillespie.
Thanks Wanderer and loonapick
Another one hanging over from Christmas / New Year. Found this quite brilliant and only more so by picking up some of the stuff that I missed before coming here – such as the ‘bring up wind’ reference to 22d with BURP, the construction of the D in that UPWIND and the chemical symbols La / Nd in the RARE EARTH word play. Really appreciate the setter dropping by to clear up the word play for that UPWIND.
Some classic surfaces with, in particular, WIFE IN NAME ONLY and GILLESPIE along with several others. Thought that the misdirection with both the numerals in clues and the structure of the clauses in others was excellent and certainly caused many more minutes in the solve.
Finished down the bottom with GILLESPIE (totally caught off guard with the intent of 11), OLD MOTHER RILEY (that had to be guessed from the crossers, untangle the anagram and then look up to verify that she was in a ‘drag act’ and that UPWIND (trickily defined and more trickily constructed).