As spring approaches, a puzzle from Knut accompanies the daffodils, snowdrops and vaccination shots.
General knowledge required, but nothing I needed to look up. References to Pia Zadora and the Nolans make me feel that we are both imminently due/ or have already had a vaccination – qualifying by age.
8dn was a very neat clue and 17dn an hilarious surface. Their steaks are pretty good by the way! 9dn was excellent too
Many thanks Knut, general knowledge references make a refreshing change.
Key * anagram; DD Double definition; underline definition;
Across
1 Chemical compound by reactor had decayed (12)
(by reactor had)* = CARBOHYDRATE
10 Heaney’s work bedevilled initially by recurrent influenza misery (7)
B (bedevilled initially) + Rev. flu woe (influenza misery) = BEOWULF
11 Mocking male teacher in charge nursing a temperature (7)
Sir (male teacher) + ic (in charge) around a t (a Temperature) = SATIRIC
12 Alfred the Unsure? (5)
No + yes (unsure) = NOYES
13 Singer Buddy regularly sampled by T-Rex star (3,5)
BuDdY in Bolan (T-Rex star) = BOB DYLAN
15 Forgot Ed Balls appearance having priority (10)
Over (balls) + look (appearance) + ed = OVERLOOKED
16 10 perhaps, a constant in The City (4)
EC (city) around pi (constant) = EPIC
18 Catch sight of English agent (4)
E(English) + spy (agent) = ESPY
20 Called at Rome on the way back, having a sandwich of sausage (10)
Rev. hidden cALLED AT ROMe = MORTADELLA
22 Small firm working to contain inflation measure – it could be deadly (8)
S(small) + co (firm) + on (working) around rpi (inflation measure) = SCORPION
24 Partially decrease Liberal support for the arts? (5)
Hidden decrEASE Liberal = EASEL
26 Frozen marijuana drink (4,3)
Iced(frozen) + tea (marijuana) = ICED TEA
27 Ms Zadora breaking end off musical Irish family’s instrument (7)
Pia (Ms Zadora) + Nolan (musical Irish family) – n = PIANOLA
28 Gasbag Sepp runs off carrying that lady’s winter sports gear (12)
Blatter (Sepp) – r (runs off) around her ski (lady’s winter sports gear) = BLATHERSKITE
Down
2 American wily-sounding character short of oxygen acquiring large fan (7)
A (American) + coyote – o (oxygen) around l (large) = ACOLYTE
3 Some nonsense about Brand taking a line in the capital (8)
bs (nonsense – it’s in Chambers!) around Russell (Brand) – l (line) = BRUSSELS
4 Leaders of House admit frankly Trump’s a bit of a tool (4)
House Admit Frankly Trump = HAFT
5 Fraud as Rishi – according to some – admits trafficking stone (10)
Dishy (Rishi according to some) around (stone)* = DISHONESTY
6 Played detective about to flip (5)
Rev det (detective) + ca (about) = ACTED
7 Wyatt touring Florida in headwarmer (7)
Earp (Wyatt) around Fla (Florida) = EARFLAP
8 Left Marie Celeste? (9,4)
DD ABANDONED SHIP
9 One climbing Snowdon circles in a weird manner (6,7)
(circles in a)* + way (manner) = SCENIC RAILWAY
14 He recommends a tiny sample of the oompah remix (not loud) (10)
(o the oompah)* = HOMOEOPATH
17 Lidl steak unfortunately emitting sulphur gas (4,4)
(Lidl steak -s)* = IDLE TALK
19 Saw dog biting lead (7)
rover(dog) in pb (lead) = PROVERB
21 React angrily to the French call of aggression? (4,3)
La (the French) + shout (call of aggression) = LASH OUT
23 Bread? It’s mine, thanks (5)
Pit (mine) + ta (thanks) = PITTA
25 Box Snoop’s debut rap collection (4)
S (Snoop’s debut) + Rev. rap = SPAR
Great fun! Thank you to Knut for a cheering start to the weekend.
Fave clues 8d, and 20ac.
Thanks twencelas for the blog
Quite gentle for a Saturday. Over half the clues contain reference to famous names – does that count as a theme? Thanks Knut and Twencelas.
Minor quiblet. 8d the ship was Mary Celeste. Otherwise fun and gentle as others have said.
Gentle, fun and very enjoyable – just as we expect from Knut
Thanks to him and Twencelas
Enjoyed that despite the weird spelling of homeopath and the unknown blatherskite. Thanks Knut.
I agree with all the above (except the ‘weird’ – spelling 😉 ) but I’ll pick out my favourites:
BEOWULF, for the construction and surface, the cleverly hidden MORTADELLA , with another great surface – but then they’re all good – HOMOEOPATH, BLATHERSKITE (lovely word) and NOYES, for reminding me of ‘The Highwayman’, which I learned and loved in primary school.
Many thanks to Knut and to twencelas.
Fortunately, my general knowledge was just about up to scratch – though I spent some time fruitlessly attempting to insert the shortened Corrs instead of the Nolans into 27ac and, whether ‘weird’ or not, I felt I had an ‘O’ too many in HOMEOEOEOPATH.
I agree with Eileen that BLATHERSKITE is a splendid word and both BEOWULF and MORTADELLA deserve big ticks. Helluva word to fit into a reverse lurker device. I also enjoyed SCENIC RAILWAY for anagram and surface plus the construction of OVERLOOKED with the clever use of Ed Balls with both elements of the name being taken out of context.
Finally – everyone knows I enjoy coincidence – it’s amusing to see both the bread and the drugs being discussed on both G&I pages this morning.
[Oh, and Panthes @1, if you pop back in later, I did answer your query of yesterday with a very late post this morning on the G page.]
Challenging for me. Exposed holes in my knowledge- esp Pia Zadora and Seamus Heaney.
Also, some UK centric clues make it hard for an Aussie, namely Dishy Rishy, and odd spellings of pita bread and homeopathy. We have unfortunately received Russell Brand (can’t imagine why he is associated with BS though).
I do get EC for the City of London- once lived in SW13 so I know how Londoners love to reference these letters. I guess City = EC is cryptic 101.
Infuriating struggle with Bob Dylan, too many singers- not sure whether I needed 1,3,5 or 2,4,6… of Marc, Bolan, Buddy, or Holley.
I’m awarding myself 8.5/10 Too much Wikipedia use.
Thanks all.
Enjoyed this, needed a bit of help as ever but most of the ones I didn’t know (BLATHERSKITE I am going to pop into conversation at work and PROVERB=Saw I only recalled when I read this ) were gettable from the excellent clues.
EASEL probably my favourite although I parsed it differently (and more poorly) due to the use of “supporting the arts”
Wasn’t aware of Alfred Noyes (I need to go on a “poets for crossword solvers” course) so spent some time trying to make Nobel work but No-yes is superb
Thanks a lot to Knut and twencelas
We struggled a bit with this but got there eventually. A few answers were of the “it must be that but we can’t parse it” variety, notably BOB DYLAN, PIANOLA, BRUSSELS and DISHONESTY. But we liked BEOWULF (plus the linked EPIC) and BLATHERSKITE.
Thanks, Knut and twencelas.
Excellent. My heart sank slightly when I glanced at 1a (I need to go on a “chemistry for crossword solvers” course), but it was one even I could fathom. I’ve no idea who Pia Zadora is or was but somehow the name surfaced, as did blatherskate. Favourite was Alfred the Unsure but there were so many good clues in there. Thanks to Knut and twenceslas.
Pia Zadora was allegedly so bad in a stage production of The Diary of Anne Frank that when the Gestapo came looking for her the audience shouted “She’s in the attic!”
With regard to homoeopath (which the spellchecker here has just underlined in red), some spelling looks weird in capitals for some reason. For PROVERB I was looking for lead inside a dog, which seems to me to be what would happen if the dog bit something, but I suppose you can visualise it the other way too.
So.. as Dicho@3 re Mary Celeste.. as Eileen@6 re “the highwayman”… “The moon was a ghostly galleon… “… as Darenth J@8 re Dishy Rishi (and I’m UK) .. I mean.. REALLY?… binsie@12 … that made me laugh out loud!.. re PROVERB.. pretty sure a similar clue came up a few weeks ago.. but maybe in FT?.. enjoyed large chunks if this fave probably 13ac… just cos I was ITCHING to write BOLAN in even with the D already in for first letter.. then I read the clue properly… good Saturday indeed
Thanks KNUT n twenceslas