I found this REDSHANK puzzle a real challenge. Thanks to setter for the opportunity to toil š
FF: 8 DD:10
Geoff helped me get across the line.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | RARITY |
Gunmen on line claiming itās a freak (6)
|
| RA ( gunmen ) [ RY ( line ) containing IT ] | ||
| 4 | COCKUP |
Crook on horse making a mess (6)
|
| COCK ( crook ) UP ( on horse ) | ||
| 8 | ICE-COLD |
Officer killed seals in Baltic . . . . (3-4)
|
| ICED ( killed ) containing COL ( officer ) – nice surface with clever use of ‘seals’ | ||
| 9 | ETONIAN |
. . . . where resident avoids small schoolboy (7)
|
| EsTONIAN ( resident in the baltics, without S small ) | ||
| 11 | POWER PLANT |
Post Office silly to accept right idea for generator (5,5)
|
| PO ( Post Office ) [ WET ( silly ) containing { R ( right ) PLAN ( idea ) } ] | ||
| 12 | DREW |
Was attractive Scotsman missing a name? (4)
|
| anDREW ( scotsman, without A N [ name ] ) | ||
| 13 | LASSO |
Heading west, huge saddleās dropped rope (5)
|
| reverse of colOSSAL ( huge, without COL – saddle ) | ||
| 14 | QUAGMIRE |
Slough papers cover meeting of shareholders (8)
|
| QUIRE ( papers ) around AGM ( meeting of shareholders ) | ||
| 16 | WORMHOLE |
Evidence of boring old empty roomās incomplete (8)
|
| [ O ( old ) RooM ( empty, i.e. without inner characters ) ] in WHOLE ( complete ); the ‘in’ of ‘incomplete” is the placement indicator | ||
| 18 | TILDE |
What seƱorita displays until decorum covers it (5)
|
| hidden in “..unTIL DEcorum..”, my foi | ||
| 20 | TERM |
Hilaryās one expression (4)
|
| cryptic def; referring to the second academic term at oxford | ||
| 21 | SPRING TIDE |
Rise in sea level bound to draw over 500 (6,4)
|
| [ SPRING ( bound ) { TIE ( draw ) around D ( 500, in roman numerals ) } ] | ||
| 23 | ENSNARE |
Small spaces are filled by new trap (7)
|
| [ ENS ( small spaces ) ARE ] containing N ( new ) | ||
| 24 | SAVOURY |
Salty cabbage wraps regular helpings of curry (7)
|
| SAVOY ( cabbage ) containing UR ( cUrRy, regularly ) – savoy in this sense was new to me | ||
| 25 | SNOOTY |
Stuck up number over in enclosure (6)
|
| [ NO ( number ) O ( Over ) ] in STY ( enclosure ) | ||
| 26 | STANCE |
Position volunteers between poles next to church (6)
|
| [ TA ( volunteers ) in SN ( poles – South, North ) ] CE ( church ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | RECTO |
Cleric doesnāt finish first page of book (5)
|
| RECTOr ( cleric, unfinished ) | ||
| 2 | RICKETS |
Head of sportās dismissed disorder (7)
|
| cRICKETS ( sport’s , without first letter ) | ||
| 3 | TELEPHOTO |
Itās designed to help to enlarge ultimately (9)
|
| &lit; [ TO HELP TO E ( enlargE, ultimately ) ]* | ||
| 5 | OCTET |
Group turns up in concert etc occasionally (5)
|
| hidden, reversed in “..concerT ETC Occasionally” | ||
| 6 | KINGDOM |
Top group of names doing runs in kilometres (7)
|
| [ DOING ]* in KM ( kilometres ) | ||
| 7 | PLANE TREE |
Arrange to be in Paris with English timber supplier (5,4)
|
| PLAN ( arrange ) ETRE ( to be, in french ) E ( English ) | ||
| 10 | PARQUETRY |
Standard question about tango floor work (9)
|
| PAR ( standard ) [ QUERY ( question ) around T ( Tango ) ] | ||
| 13 | LOOSE ENDS |
Large ducks spotted with officer? They need tying up (5,4)
|
| L ( Large ) OO ( ducks , zeros ) SEEN ( spotted ) DS ( officer ) | ||
| 15 | ATTENDANT |
A dry conclusion by a property ownerās valet (9)
|
| A TT ( dry ) END ( conclusion ) A NT ( property owner, National Trust ) | ||
| 17 | MEMENTO |
Note about European theatre souvenir (7)
|
| MEMO ( note ) about [ E ( European ) NT ( theatre ) ] | ||
| 19 | LET DOWN |
The French city hosting duke is disappointed (3,4)
|
| [ LE ( the , french ) TOWN ( city ) ] containing D ( duke ) | ||
| 21 | SPRAT |
Row round rare swimmer (5)
|
| SPAT ( row ) around R ( rare ) | ||
| 22 | DIRGE |
Lament withdrawal of eastern network (5)
|
| reverse of E ( eastern ) GRID ( network ) |
Thanks, Turbolegs – yes, it was a bit of a challenge – and a most enjoyable one.
Only the other day, someone asked on one of the threads what was the purpose of ellipses in clues and several people replied that more often than not there wasn’t one – but we have a perfect example of the proper use here at 8,9ac – very clever.
My other ticks were for DREW, QUAGMIRE, WORMHOLE, TILDE and PLANE TREE. I failed to parse LASSO, so thanks for that.
Many thanks, as ever, To Redshank.
Unusually, my two favourites were the two I didnāt get without recourse to a word fit: RICKETS & WORMHOLE. Pleased to eventually parse LASSO having first tried OS< for the āHeading West, hugeā bit.
That’s what I did, Hovis. š
Why so few comments here?
This was textbook maybe masterclass here. Lovely surfaces and very enjoyable.
Great puzzle and blog-thanks all
Hovis and Eileen, same here for LASSO.
āBalticā as slang for āice-coldā was a new one for me.
On 14ac, should āpapersā really be indicated as part of the meaning?
Yes, quite a challenge today. Thanks, Redshank and Turbolegs.
Much enjoyed and I completely missed the reverse hidden for OCTET, feeling very smug that I’d spotted a mistake in an “every alternate letter” clue. That’ll learn me.
Best for me in a very good bunch were the excellent WORMHOLE (lift and separate) and the TELEPHOTO &lit.
Thanks to Turbolegs (and ? Gaufrid) and Redshank
An excellent puzzle, I agree. I also particularly liked WORMHOLE and failed to parse LASSO, so thanks to Turbolegs for that.
Was I the only person in the world to put in “Snotty” for 25a? It seemed to me to work pretty well: the definition is fine and then it’s “ton” (100) for number , “over” (meaning backwards) in “sty”. But I’ll accept that probably Snooty is the intended solution.
Thanks Redshanks and Turbolegs.
Copmus @4. It was indeed a great puzzle.
āUpā in 4a. Well remembered, Eileen!!
Perplexed @7
I also had ‘Snotty’ for 25a. Same parsing.
Would like to know which one Redshank had in mind.
* sorry…. ‘Perplexus @7’. Damn autocorrect!
Alan @9 – Well remembered, Eileen!!
?
Eileen @12. That had me perplexus ( š ) as well.
Thanks Redshank for the workout — this crossword gave up its secrets slowly. I failed with COCKUP, a new word for me and I used a word finder for ETONIAN, neglecting to take advantage of Baltic in the previous clue. Favourites were WORMHOLE, TILDE (clever having punctuation being the definition), SAVOURY (I occasionally use Savoy cabbage in cooking), and PARQUETRY. There were a number of clues I couldn’t fully parse (though I did understand LASSO fully) so thanks Turbolegs for that.
Thanks to both for the fun and explanations. I needed them today as I fell into the traps. I am another SNOTTY and one who started with a huge OS. Finished
Oops, dyslexic fingers. That was supposed to finish as I now understand the whole lot.
Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
Indeed a cracking puzzle which I had a quick initial look and saw nothing, was able to get most of it out in an hour long sitting later and then needed a quick finish off session after dinner.
Didn’t parse LASSO, also going down the OS rabbit hole and plugged in a hopeful TERM, not knowing the Oxford spring term.
Enjoyed the tussle with the elliptical Baltic connection for the ETONIAN clue my favourite. It was the penultimate entry followed by KINGDOM that took an age to twig to the taxonomic meaning.
Just got around to this and Iām glad I did – immaculate clueing as always from this setter in whatever guise. Iām another SNOTTY (the printed solution gives SNOOTY) and I failed on RICKETS even though I said it out loud to MrsW. As Eileen says 8&9 are a great example of ellipses with a purpose. Iāve only ever seen COCKUP hyphenated and Iāll give QUAGMIRE a mention because itās such a good word. Many thanks to Redshank and Turbolegs.