A puzzle for those who like a bit of general knowledge thrown in.
For solvers like me who enjoy a bit of general knowledge in their crosswords, this was a great puzzle.
None of the knowledge required was overly obscure (although some non-UK solvers may not have heard of ROBIN BAY (or indeed BIN DAY) and possibly BACH as a Welsh word.
I gave mental ticks to more clues than I can now remember, including NANNY GOAT, SOLDERING IRON, UNLEADED PETROL, PRECIOUS STONE (just for using Spooner in a different way from the norm) and my personal favourite, the aforementioned ROBIN DAY.
I have only one minor criticism – in the clues for DAREDEVIL and ETON BLUE, I would have preferred synonyms for LIVED and NOTE as too many of the letters in the solution were simply handed to us on a plate. It may have been intentional to make the puzzle a little easier, but I think it made both of these clues, especially the latter, write-ins for me.
Thanks, Julius.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | RIGHT NOW | Modernise Worthing immediately! (5,3) |
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*(worthing) [anag:modernise] |
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| 8 | GATEAU | Grandma drained cuppa with last bit of tiramisu cake (6) |
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G(randm)A [drained] + TEA ("cuppa") with [last bit of] (tiramis)U |
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| 11 | SPAWN | Issue of small man? (5) |
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S (small) + PAWN (chess "man") |
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| 12 | DAREDEVIL | Pilot of the future lived in retirement as a human cannonball (9) |
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(Dan) DARE (comic book "pilot of the future") + <=LIVED [in retirement] |
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| 13 | RATTLER | Vermin-killing cat biting large snake (7) |
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RATTER ("vermin-killing cat") biting L (large) |
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| 14 | CHELSEA | Every South African golfer when cycling gets the Blues (7) |
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Start by solving the definitions, so EACH ("every") (Ernie) ELS ("South African golfer") and then "cycle" the letters, so imagine them written in a circle and turn the circle a bit until EACHELS, becomes CHELSEA (the football club whose nickname is "The Blues"). There has been some discussion in the past about "cycling", so to be clear, this is NOT an indirect anagram, It is a specific instruction to rotate the letters without changing the order in which they are written. Rather, you start at a different letter, so at the C instead of the E, in this case. |
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| 15 | MARIE ANTOINETTE | Austrian woman based near Paris who had a fantastic brioche recipe? (5,10) |
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A cryptic definition. Marie Antoinette, an "Austrian" who was married to Louis XVI at the outbreak of the French Revolution, The Royal household was based in Versailles ("near Paris"). When she asked why the people were revolting, she was told it was because they had no bread, and she is reputed to have said, "Let them eat brioche". |
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| 18 | HIBACHI | Greeting little one in Welsh, I put on the grill (7) |
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HI ("greeting") + BACH ("Welsh" for "little" or "little one") + I A hibachi is a Japanese barbecue. |
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| 20 | SCREW UP | Prison officer promoted, about to demonstrate the Peter Principle? (5,2) |
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SCREW ("prison officer") + UP ("promoted"). The Peter Principle postulates that people tend to get promoted to the level of their incompetence (i.e. to a level beyond which they can function well). You only need to look at Westminster or the Capitol for live examples of the principle. |
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| 22 | NANNY GOAT | Billy’s mum tango dancing round an empty nunnery (5-4) |
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*(tango) [anag:dancing] round AN [empty] N(unner)Y |
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| 23 | HOLST | Composer shortening vacation time (5) |
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HOLS ("shortening" holidays or "vacation") + T (time) |
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| 24 | YEASTY | Frothy bridge player boring a pair of Yankees (6) |
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EAST ("bridge player") boring Y + Y (Yankee in the phonetic alphabet) |
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| 25 | ANGELENO | Theatre investor backing one individual from LA (8) |
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ANGEL ("theatre investor") + [backing] <=ONE |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TRISTRAM SHANDY | Isn’t Hardy smart? Extraordinary literary gentleman (8,6) |
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*(isn't hardy smart) [anag:extraordinary] |
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| 2 | AGHAST | Horror-struck Reichstag has terrorist guards (6) |
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Hidden in [guards] "reichstAG HAS Terrorists" |
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| 3 | ETON BLUE | Note rising suggestion of obscenity of strip put on by posh boys (4,4) |
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<=NOTE [rising] + BLUE ("suggestion of obscenity") |
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| 4 | SOLDERING IRON | Some years older, in Girona it gets incredibly hot (9,4) |
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Hidden in [some] "yearS OLDER IN GIRONa" |
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| 5 | HANDLE | Treat court composer, 50, with a slight promotion (6) |
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HANDEL ("court composer") with L promoted (i.e. moved up) gives HAND(L)E |
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| 6 | HEAVY-SET | Hot weather hampering poor Yves, being quite stocky (5-3) |
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HEAT ("hot weather") hampering *(Yves) [anag:poor] |
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| 9 | UNLEADED PETROL | It’s free from Pb, but not free from BP (8,6) |
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Unleaded petrol is free of lead (Pb), but not provided free by petroleum companies such as BP. |
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| 10 | PRECIOUS STONE | Messing around with Spooner’s cutie Ruby? (8,5) |
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*(spooners cutie) [anag:messing around with] |
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| 16 | ROBIN DAY | Former doyen of BBC politics run over when the dustcart came (5,3) |
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R (run) + O (over) + BIN DAY ("when the dustcart came") |
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| 17 | NORTH SEA | The drink undoing Sheraton? (5,3) |
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*(sheraton) [anag;undoing] |
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| 19 | COYOTE | Shy, old Lawrence’s dog (6) |
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COY ("shy") + O (old) + T.E. (Lawrence) (Lawrence of Arabia) |
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| 21 | WILDER | Film legend Billy’s Romeo crowned with Oscar (6) |
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R (Romeo) crowned with (Oscar) WILDE |
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Great fun ,let them eat gateau.
Being an Australian, I had not heard of 16D but managed to guess the answer from the completed letters. Also not familiar with 3D but again guessed from cross letters. 4D was very clever, with the setter managing to include the answer in a sentence. 18A also included a Welsh word unknown to me but I did know the barbecue, and I am familiar with the Scottish child “Bairn” so guessed that the composer may be a Welsh word along the same lines.
Another treat from Julius – perfect to cheer up this dismal extremely wet day, if anything actually could do that.
So many enjoyable clues to make the solver smile. Thanks Julius and loonapick
I echo copmus – great fun. With a few crossers in place I guessed 10d from the def, then spent a couple of bewildered minutes trying to work out the Spoonerism before the penny dropped. I loved 1d too, but raised my eyebrows at modernise as an anagrind in 7a. Thanks Julius
I always look forward to a Julius puzzle and this was the setter at his playful best. Like crypticsue, I cracked many a grin, awarding top honours to 9d both for the surface’s pleasing rhythm and its pb/BP reversal.
MARIE ANTOINETTE was my FOI so with GATEAU and CHELSEA (bun?), I was half expecting a baking theme. I agree with Loonapick about the refreshing use of Spooner – it certainly has me going for a while there. Also, like Peter, I was impressed by how neatly hidden the lengthy 4d was. 1d was, similarly, great fun to unravel. Not a dud clue among them.
Thanks, Julius, for bringing a little sunshine today and to Loonapick for an excellent blog.
What crypticsue said – a dreadful day here, too – but three great crosswords to make up for it.
I loved the surfaces of GATEAU, as a grandma who enjoys tiramisu (and gateau) and NANNY GOAT (lovely picture!) SOLDERING IRON was very well hidden, UNLEADED PETROL was neat and so was the reminder of ROBIN DAY. I enjoyed the ‘Spoonerism’ – for not being one.
I realise I’ve just echoed all your favourites, loonapick.
Many thanks to Julius for the fun and loonapick for the blog.
Crossed with Diane but seem to agree with her, too.
9d was a gimme, and 15a was easy enough to guess, but I had trouble with the other long ones. My anagram finder was of no use for 1d, I failed to spot the hidden solution in 4d, and the Spooner in 10d had me fooled.
BACH was new to me, and I had trouble with 16d because I had entered HITACHI for 18a. Not familiar with Biily Wilder either, and I was trying to fit an ‘O’ into the solution for 21d.
So, I was led up every possible garden path, and enjoyed it tremendously. Thanks for the entertainment, Julius.
Louise @4,
When I saw’modernise’ as an anagrind for RIGHT NOW, I thought of fashionista speak for up-to-date/trending: ‘that look is so now’.
Thanks Julius for an excellent crossword. GATEAU, TRISTRAM SHANDY (great surface and anagram), and SOLDERING IRON (good hidden answer) were among my favourites. I was defeated by ROBIN DAY but that’s no surprise. Thanks Loonapick for the blog.
We found this a bit of light relief after our struggles with Rodriguez, but by no means a doddle although MARIE ANTOINETTE was a bit of a write-in. 4dn was great, managing to get such a long answer into a hidden, and we liked the Spoonerism that wasn’t, too.
Thanks, Julius and loonapick.
This was the most enjoyable crossword I’ve done so far this year. Other setters would do well to emulate Julius’s gentle entertaining wit as demonstrated in 9 & 16.
Thank you, Julius.
Thanks Julius and loonapick
Not the hardest puzzle by this setter, but one of the most fun ones. Was able to fill the grid quite quickly until arriving at the SE corner where I ended up using a word finder for ANGELENO, think thought SCREW UP and think even harder to get WILDER to finish it off.
Spent time then to tidy up the ‘whys’ for a number of them – trying to make more out of MARIE ANTOINETTE than a mere cryptic definition and the construction of the ‘BBC doyen’. Didn’t ever go back to check out the DARE part of 12a and only saw that here.
One of my favourite Japanese restaurants in Melbourne is HIBACHI, so that was a write-in but had to go looking for the Welsh BACH. Like others, it took a while to navigate the misdirected ‘Spooner’ and a grin when the penny dropped.
Excellent clueing. A 13–letter container (has a longer one ever been done?) and great use of misdirection (especially 10d). The bits requiring local knowledge were all fairly clued for us overseas solvers.