We’ve got a Bluth to solve today – no complaints as far as we are concerned, especially as it is Tuesday.
We rattled through the solve fairly quickly. There were a couple we solved and then puzzled over the parsing for a while – 2, 13 and 15. We then ground to a halt after filling the grid. It’s Tuesday, theme day but we couldn’t see anything. Joyce ‘googled’ random words which is what we often do with Phi puzzles, whilst Bert looked at the grid hoping for some inspiration. Thankfully he WAS inspired after noticing BRADLEY across row 5 and then WALSH further down. The name rang a bell so Joyce went back to google (actually SAFARI – we use a mac) and we realised that THE CHASE was the theme.
We haven’t watched the programme but we understand it is very popular, having been nominated six times for National Television Awards. it has various foreign franchises too. Bradley Walsh is the host.
The nicknames of the ‘Chasers’ also feature in the grid:
Mark Labbett – The Beast
Shaun Wallace – The Dark Destroyer
Anne Hegerty – The Governess
Paul Sinha – The Sinnerman
Jenny Ryan – The Vixen
Darragh Ennis – The Menace
An impressive grid fill Bluth and an enjoyable solve as expected.
Double definition
Hidden (to some extent) in mayBE A STrongman
CK (middle letters of smacking or ‘essentially’) with KI (skin without the first and last letters or ‘naked’) first
N OR M (choice of first or last letter or ‘sides’ of newsroom) A (accepted) – we had to check the definition for this one.
DEER (Bambi maybe) round or ‘defining’ an anagram (animated) of STORY
Last or ‘ultimate’ letters of in the jungle
CO (firm) BRA (support)
DNA (genetic code) and LL (two lines) round or ‘describing’ YE (old form of ‘the’) all reversed or ‘from the east’
A LUMP (ball) inside GH (first and last letters only or ’empty’ goalmouth)
SUIT (legal case) about B (British) M (money)
LAW (order) OVA (eggs) reversed or ‘flipped’
SHY (fling) STERn (entirely inflexible) missing last letter or ‘almost’
IV (four) inside or ‘interrupting’ TRIAL (rehearsal)
Hidden (in) LondoN O O SEven
E (European) inside or ‘invested in’ DO (party) before XI (team) DATE (become old-fashioned)
E (tea missing first and last letters or ‘extremely deficient’) LITE (low in calories)
A SIN (an offence)
SKULk (creep missing last letter or ‘dropping behind’) L (student)
D (deserted) ARK (animal sanctuary)
EN (nurse as in Enrolled Nurse) in MACE (club)
CoBRA (answer to 13ac) changing O (love) to ERE (before)
Sounds like (on the radio) N DID (first letter or ‘what started’ Norton)
Alternate letters (every now and then) in StOpS
KNOwaLL (clever clogs) without or ‘offloading’ W (with) and A
CLEo ANd Liz missing last letters or ‘detailed’ + hER missing H (husband)
Hidden (from) and reversed (revolutionary) in sUDAN AXed
An anagram (churned over) of the middle or ‘guts’ of sHYSTEr (22ac) + AY (apology without the middle letters or ‘vacuous’)
CHinA (mate as in Cockney rhyming slang, missing ‘in’) SE (Kent area)
G (first letter or ‘start’ to ‘giggle’) OVER (about) NESS (head)
LOW (depressed) is inside ‘clown’. You have to read the clue as Clown has ‘depressed’ for it to make sense.
A reversal or ‘looking up’ of DR (debtor) A L (student) and LAMe (missing last letter or ‘not quite’)
Double definition
dINNER (meal) with S (son) replacing D (daughter)
An anagram (modelled) of ACE TRIO
BE (stay as in ‘let it be’) DECK (part of ship)
VIE (struggle) around or ‘holding’ X (cross) N (new)
StaLL (market trader’s stand) with TA (thanks) changing to ME
Hidden (content) in rucKSAck reversed or ‘about’
I also spotted BRADLEY WALSH but have never watched The Chase so thanks for the details. All very nicely done. Always prefer themes to be of the ghost variety. Thanks all.
I don’t watch The Chase either and had forgotten it was Tuesday so didn’t remember to look for a theme.
Thanks to Bluth for the entertaining crossword and to B&J for the equally entertaining blog.
steady all the way through, just didn’t see how to fit DNA/RNA into 14ac… Leyland is an eastish Lancs town so didn’t see that bit either… all clear now.. loved a lot of them.. eg clever insertion of XANADU… never really engaged with The Chase but didn’t interfere with the solve… I’m guessing GALUMPH isn’t a feature of the chasers? maybe more about contestants…?
thanks Bluth n Bertandjoyce
I’m not a fan of ‘The Chase’ either, but well spotted B&J. I look forward to an ‘Only Connect’ themed puzzle! Enjoyed this one anyway, so thanks to Bluth and B&J.
Almost the same as @crypticsue, except I sometimes watch The Chase.
Forgot to look for the theme, but I don’t know any of their nicknames, so it wouldn’t have helped.
I’m sure Bradley Walsh and his colleagues don’t come regularly to this site to there’s little chance they will be depressed by the low recognition data at this point, as I become the fourth poster and the fourth to say he doesn’t watch The Chase! So no theme recognition for me but I did recognise the usual hallmarks of Bluth’s clueing. With Nutmeg over on the G we are spoiled today.
A real pleasure to run through this and no real problems apart from tentatively entering HEAR SAY for THEY SAY which caused problems once LEYLAND turned up. Nice to see another of Santa’s crew get namechecked and I enjoyed GOVERNESS, MALLARD, DESTROYER and SHYSTER. DEOXIDATE was, perhaps inevitably, slightly less elegant but I still liked the construction and XANADU was beautifully hidden.
Thanks Bluth and B&j
NNI @5: well done – you’ve helped Bradley et al avoid the wooden spoon!
Thanks for the blog B&J and thanks for the kind comments so far. (V flattered to be mentioned in dispatches alongside Nutmeg, PostMark)
I think this is my third themed crossword… my fourth will be a collaboration with Paul on Friday night in aid of Great Ormond Street. On the topic of (the band) Madness. Feel free to join us on zoom if you fancy it!
https://johnhalpern.co.uk/dave-gorman
Thanks to Bluth for the entertainment, and to B&J for blogging.
I’m afraid that, despite looking for a Tuesday theme, this completely passed us by until we came here. We agree with Tatrasman @4 that an Only Connect themed puzzle would be great!
Enjoyed this this morning and with a little help from “reveal letter” finished it which was good after (what I feel were) a few tough days. Nowhere near the theme but the X,J,V etc had me searching in vain for a pangram
XANADU and LEYLAND my favourites
Thanks B&J for the explanations and Bluth for the fun
Some very nice clues here. I liked “thanks to me”. Searched for the theme but no luck, and it means nothing to me even when it’s been pointed out. One question: is “deoxidate” a real verb? “Oxidate” is normally a noun, no?
Alliacol – Chambers has both oxidate and deoxidate as transitive verbs.
OK, thank you B&J!
Good fun, though neither deoxidate (speaking as a chemist, I would oxidise but have never oxidated anything) or cleanlier sound like real words (but I guess it’s not allowed to say that Chambers is wrong). I join those who know nothing about The Chase, a blank slot I probably won’t remedy.
Tatrasman@4 – 3a links the Chase and Only Connect.
Thanks to Bluth and B&J
I had no idea about the theme(never heard of it) _if I had I might have finished it sooner-found it quite tough-but not boring,
Thanks Bluth and BJ(I have a Bluthner piano)
Very late to the party but I do watch and enjoy The Chase fairly often over the years, though I think I’ve only seen the Menace a couple of times and hadn’t picked up his nickname until today. A thoroughly enjoyable solve and I particularly enjoyed the unusual slightly indirect hidden word cluing of “London OO7 spelled out”, the excellent clue for Xanadu and the nice definition for Vixen, which I got from the theme before the penny dropped. I also missed Bradley Walsh so thanks to B&J as well as Bluth for that. Masterly to fill the grid so thematically without getting too obscure.