Good fun from Julius, as always. There are a couple of clues that I can’t explain, can anyone help out? Thank you Julius.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PRIVATE EYE |
He’s investigating every tape I edited (7,3)
|
| anagram (edited) of EVERY TAPE I | ||
| 7 | WATT |
Scotsman who showed the importance of the transfer of power (4)
|
| cryptic definition – Scottish inventor James Watt who created the rotary steam engine which replaced the waterwheel as the source of industrial power | ||
| 9 | OPAL |
Old mate put on a stone (4)
|
| O (old) then (with…put on) MATE | ||
| 10 | EVEN BETTER |
Further improved flat racing enthusiast? (4,6)
|
| EVEN (flat) BETTER (racing enthusiast) | ||
| 11 | BISTRO |
Little brother taking over first café (6)
|
| BRO (brother, little=contraction of) contains IST (1st, first) | ||
| 12 | TESSERAE |
Setback: sadly erase parts of mosaic (8)
|
| SET reversed (back) then anagram (sadly) of ERASE | ||
| 13 | MERCUTIO |
Romeo’s friend Julius drunk, into Brazilian port (8)
|
| ME (Julius, the setter) then CUT (drunk) inside RIO (Brazilian port) | ||
| 15 | INST |
Poles invested in tech this month (4)
|
| N S (poles) inside (invested in) IT (tech) | ||
| 17 | GOBI |
Mouth commonly beginning to inflame in desert area (4)
|
| GOB (mouth, commonly) then Inflame (first letter, beginning to) | ||
| 19 | YIELDING |
Lie dying, unfortunately giving in (8)
|
| anagram (unfortunately) of LIE DYING | ||
| 22 | TASMANIA |
Qantas man I approached, crossing part of Australia (8)
|
| found inside (with…crossing) qanTAS MAN I Approached | ||
| 23, 4 | DOWN IN THE MOUTH |
Miserable, and soon to be spitting feathers! (4,2,3,5)
|
| definition and cryptic definition | ||
| 25 | LIP SERVICE |
Cheek! RAF, for example, is something perfunctorily paid (3,7)
|
| LIP (cheek) then SERVCIE (RAF for example) | ||
| 26 | EROS |
Lover boy regularly seen in beer house (4)
|
| every other letter (regularly seen) of bEeR hOuSe | ||
| 27 | MARC |
Spoil Charlie’s brandy (4)
|
| MAR (spoil) then C (Charlie, letter in radio communication) | ||
| 28 | NOSE TO TAIL |
Like the introduction of Rover cars one after the other? (4,2,4)
|
| Rover is a dog. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | REPTILE |
Stormy petrel grabbing head of Indian snake? (7)
|
| anagram (stormy) of PETREL contains Indian (first letter, head of) – a snake perhaps, definition by example | ||
| 3 | VALET |
Man turning up the telly, guzzling beer (5)
|
| TV (the telly) reversed (turning up) contains (guzzling) ALE (beer) | ||
| 4 |
See 23
|
|
| 5 | ELECTRODYNAMICS |
Mrs A. conceitedly revised part of physics syllabus (15)
|
| anagram (revised) of MRS A CONCEITEDLY | ||
| 6 | EMBOSS |
Rising Middle East manager to do relief work (6)
|
| ME (middle east) reversed (rising) then BOSS (manager) | ||
| 7, 8 | WET BEHIND THE EARS |
Being inexperienced, reheat mixture to fill “soggy bottoms” (3,6,3,4)
|
| anagram (mixture) of REHEAT inside (to fill) WET (soggy) BEHINDS (bottoms) | ||
| 14 | CHIN MUSIC |
Lots of bouncers punch Mike touring the States (4,5)
|
| 16 | HEADIEST |
Most exciting passion fades away inside (8)
|
| HEAT (passion) contains (with…inside) DIES (fades away) | ||
| 18 | OCARINA |
Instrument fitted to Volvo car in America (7)
|
| found inside (fitted to) volvO CAR IN America | ||
| 20 | NAIROBI |
Ian upset former pupil visiting Rhode Island capital (7)
|
| IAN reversed (upset) then OB (old boy, former pupil) inside (visiting) RI (Rhode Island) | ||
| 21 | END RUN |
Gridiron play doctor introduced to English sister (3,3)
|
| DR (doctor) inside (introduced to) E (English) NUN (sister) | ||
| 24 | WHEAT |
Product of farmer’s wife being in season? (5)
|
| W (wife) then HEAT (being in season, of an animal) |
Clip music was the solution I’d gone for too
Apart from that, another great crossword from Julius
Thanks to him and PeeDee
CHIN MUSIC in cricket = intimidating bowling, i.e. bouncers aimed at the head. It sort of fits with ‘lip service’ & ‘nose to tail’.
Good puzzle, thanks to both.
I think 28 is a reference to dogs investigating each other by sniffing “nose to tail”.
14 should be CHIN MUSIC (new to me) – a cricketing reference.
Another lovely puzzle from Julius with a good mix of clues from the warmer-uppers like OPAL and the by now familiar OCARINA to the more cryptic LIP SERVICE and the amusing 7d/8d.
1a was another good illustration of why I appreciate the Julius stamp.
6d and 24d took longer than they should have but the penny dropped soon enough. What required most effort from me today was a number of four-letter clues of which EROS and INST were the last two standing – wasn’t sure of the latter.
Always a pleasure!
Thanks to Julius and PeeDee.
And wet behind the ears, down in the mouth. Any others?
For 21D we had English NUN (sister) and DoctoR giving END RUN. Never heard of CLIP MUSIC.
I think they’re the HEADIEST clues today.
Agree with Grant and Andrew for CHIN MUSIC (to ‘chin’ someone is punching them) and dogs getting to know each other @28.
And parsed 21d as did Paul Hugh.
…’Private eye’ possibly even ‘(Gob)i’ and ‘(Head)iest’ at a push?
PRIVATE EYE too, Grant. Heady indeed.
Favourites today were PRIVATE EYE, TESSERAE, MERCUTIO, DOWN IN THE MOUTH, the well-hidden TASMANIA and OCARINA and the hilarious WET BEHIND THE EARS.
Many thanks to Julius for the fun and PeeDee for the blog.
Thanks for filling in the missing pieces everybody, the blog is updated now.
Thanks Julius and PeeDee
Was able to sail through this one steadily until coming to the last couple. END RUN and CHIN MUSIC were the only new terms for me, although I had to check on MERCUTIO to confirm that he was a buddy of Romeo, after piecing together the word play.
Liked spotting TASMANIA (just finished reading an interesting novel, “Bruny”, set there in modern times with some topical themes with our northern ‘Far East to you guys’, neighbour. NOSE TO TAIL actually made me laugh when the penny dropped – extremely clever.
Finished in the SW corner (again) with LIP SERVICE, that MERCUTIO and CHIN MUSIC (after going down the CLIP MUSIC path, not being able to parse it properly and using a word finder to see if there were any other options and finding the right answer, neither of whose definitions I had come across before).
North to me too, Bruce. One to look out …
A steady and satisfying solve. We got END RUN from the wordplay and checked it in Chambers, but all we could think of for 14dn was ‘clip music’which of course we couldn’t check. We thought DOWN IN THE MOUTH a bit of a chestnut, but we liked WET BEHIND THE EARS.
Didn’t spot the theme – but that’s not unusual.
Thanks, Julius and PeeDee.
Failed to get CHIN MUSIC and MARC. My download version had “ChWarlies brandy” for 27a. Had no idea what to do with that! The cricket term was called a “bouncer” when I played.
Dear PeeDee, thank you for your blog and thanks to those who have commented. Sorry if CHIN MUSIC is a bit obscure (I think the first person I heard use the expression was England fast bowler Devon Malcolm). @John (17) I noticed the uninvited W in the clue for MARC too, glad it didn’t cause too many problems.
Best wishes to all, Rob/Julius
Thanks Julius for your usual meticulous cluing. I missed CHIN MUSIC, again done in by my ignorance of cricket. I hadn’t heard of MARC or INST though I guessed the latter from the parsing. I knew MERCUTIO but “cut” as drunk was unfamiliar; I often wonder how many British terms mean drunk — it seems like a substantial number. Favourites were BISTRO, TASMANIA (nice hidden clue with a relevant surface), and the anagram in 5d. Thanks PeeDee for the blog.
Thank you Julius. Greatly enjoyed the puzzle which I , exceptionally, rattled off before breakfast . But had to look up CHIN MUSIC. Look forward to your next puzzle.
Tony @19 – that had not occurred to me before, but so true! Some northern languages are famous for having dozens of words for snow, British English has dozens of words for getting drunk. What does that say about us Brits?
Felt exactly like how a crossword is meant to be! I had CHIN MUSIC which made sense altho new to me.. as was END RUN.. I like an anagram so 5dn helped a lot.. had to be HEADIEST but couldn’t parse it .. so thanks Peedee n Julius for a lovely puzzle..
Tony Santucci@19 CUT for drunk is usually employed as half-cut.. full-cut must be quite something …
Really enjoyed this, especially 28 and 7,8d. Failed 14d which was unknown to me although well clued. Thank you Julius and PeeDee.
PeeDee @21, Undree @23: Thanks. I should have consulted “Knickers in a Twist,” my little dictionary of British slang. It lists bevvied, bladdered, half cut, mullered, on the lash, paralytic, plastered, rat-arsed, skinful, snockered, sozzled, squiffy, and wellied. I’m sure there are others.
[Sorry for the misspelling Undrell, I’ll never master typing on a smart phone.]
Very enjoyable solve. Thank you to Julius and PeeDee.
Will start to use chin music when the pubs re-open…and get half cut!
Flew through this one by my standards until I reached 14 down. I guessed at clip music.
Hmmm
Some great clues snd a nice puzzle, rather marred, I thought, by the impossible and unknown clip music. It’s clues like that the disappoint me in crosswords. It’s one thing flogging a way to get to an answer you’ve heard of, quite another to waste time on an impossibility.
Thanks Julius, very enjoyable puzzle. one small comment. On 21 down, not sure I’ve ever heard of an end run ?
No worries Tony@25,26.. I answer to almost anything.. great list there! May not be comprehensive but certainly covers the basics..
Jonny @25: END RUN is a common term in American football. When the ball carrier runs around the defensive line it’s called an end run. The word “gridiron” in the clue caused me to think it would be an American term.
Re CHIN MUSIC, that term is common in baseball, with the same meaning, although the pitcher doesn’t bounce the ball – he throws it straight in the general direction of the batter’s head. It is considered a dirty play, and if repeated often results in a brawl.
Nice puzzle, Julius. I chuckled once again at DOWN IN THE MOUTH, the long anagram at 5d was good, “soggy bottoms” was another chortle, and the aforementioned CHIN MUSIC makes me impatient for the start of the baseball season.
@Moly
Just in case you pop in, I commented on the inclusion of CHIN MUSIC (as opposed to clip music, which doesn’t exist) a bit higher up the thread. Perhaps unfortunately, my test solver is – like me – an avid cricket fan and had no problem with the expression. I used this entry as part of the ghost theme as described above and tried to clue it relatively fairly, although “chin” for punch is a bit downmarket. Sorry if it spoiled the puzzle for you.
I don’t think anyone has commented on the complete theme. The references are all to parts of the HEAD : EYE, EARS, GOB, CHIN, LIP and NOSE. Nice one Julius. Thanks.