My second Leonidas, and it was a pleasure.
Leonidas is a comparatively new setter (at least under that monicker), but his puzzles are very well written, with a good range of devices and a refreshing take on things.
I did have one minor quibble, about the use of "information" to indicate I in 25ac, but other than that minor issue, this was an excellent start to the day.
Thanks, Leonidas.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | LANDMASS |
Two sizes of animal in continent? (8)
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L AND M (large and medium, so "two sizes") + ASS ("animal") |
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| 5 | CARPET |
Reprimand when retro record snuck into trolley (6)
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[retro] <=EP ("record") snuck into CART ("trolley") |
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| 10 | GALETTE |
Blow to the exterior initially flattened cake (7)
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GALE ("blow") + T(o) T(he) E(xterior) |
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| 11 | TROUSER |
Pocket of resistance on banks of Tiber river (7)
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R (resistance) on [banks of] T(ibe)R + (River) OUSE |
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| 12 | OZONE |
UV blocker from premier Canberra address? (5)
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OZ ONE (as in Australia One) could be a "premier address" in "Canberra". |
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| 13 | WINBBREAK |
Secure Dutch vacation in beach shelter (9)
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WIN ("secure") + D (Dutch) + BREAK ("vacation") |
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| 14 | THROW A WOBBLY |
Shy baby owl knocked fly off the handle (5,1,6)
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THROW ("shy") + *(baby owl) [anag:knocked] |
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| 18 | SECOND FIDDLE |
Fraud on back part of orchestra (6,6)
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FIDDLE ("fraud") on SECOND ("back") |
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| 21 | BAIN-MARIE |
Cook a bream in one? (4-5)
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*(a bream in I) [anag:cook] and &lit., where I = "one" |
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| 23 | GOUDA |
King left fruit and accepted cheese (5)
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R (Rex, so "King") left GOU(r)D ("fruit") and A (accepted) |
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| 24 | LAGOONS |
Note heavy start to swim in pools (7)
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LA ("note") + GOON ("heavy") + [start to] S(wim) |
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| 25 | RATIONS |
Zero information within feature about shares (7)
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<=(NO "zero" + I (information) within STAR ("feature") [about] I don't think I on its own can stand for "information". It can do in phrases such as IT (information technology) or compounds such as I-way (Information highway), but not on its own. |
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| 26 | AU PAIR |
24-carat earrings possibly help (2,4)
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Au (chemical symbol for gold, so "24-carat") + PAIR ("earrings, possibly") |
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| 27 | PRODIGAL |
Lavish spread polar bears love (8)
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*(polar) [anag:spread] bears DIG ("love") |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | LEGION |
Soldiers stage landing on moon close to canyon (6)
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LEG ("stage") landing on IO ("moon" of Jupiter) + [close to] (canyo)N |
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| 2 | NELSON |
Hold turnover of some casinos’ lenders (6)
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Hidden backwards [turnover of some] in "casiNOS LENders" |
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| 3 | MOTHER HEN |
Flappy sort of insect on search seen regularly (6,3)
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MOTH ("insect") on (s)E(a)R(c)H (s)E(e)N [regularly] |
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| 4 | SHERWOOD FOREST |
Robin’s hideaway scattered with her food stores (8,6)
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*(w her food stores) [anag:scattered] where W = with |
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| 6 | A-BOMB |
Retreating crowd overcome by sailor’s nasty drop (1-4)
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[retreating] <=MOB ("crowd") overcome by AB (able-bodied "sailor") |
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| 7 | PASSED BY |
Ignored advance by editor on exchange (6,2)
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PASS ("advance") + BY + ED (editor) changing places [on exchange] |
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| 8 | TURNKEYS |
Country’s welcoming new bar staff? (8)
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TURKEY'S ("country's") welcoming N (new) |
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| 9 | STANDARD-BEARER |
Usual exhibitionist broadcast for leader (8-6)
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STANDARD ("usual") + homophone [broadcast] of BARER ("exhibitionist") |
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| 15 | OBLIGATED |
Forced deli to bag in a different way (9)
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*(deli to bag) [anag:in a different way] |
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| 16 | ISABELLA |
Spanish ruler’s second son into religion briefly (8)
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ABEL ("second son" in the Bible) into ISLA(m) ("religion", briefly) Refers to Isabella, who with Ferdinand, sponsored the 1492 Columbus expedition. |
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| 17 | ACTING UP |
Misbehaving cat lost home – dog head over heels (6,2)
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*(cat) [anag:lost] + IN ("home") + <=PUG ("dog", head over heels) |
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| 19 | DUGONG |
Creature half-ugly eaten by one of Lear’s (6)
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[half-] UG(ly) eaten by DONG ("one of Lear's (creatures)") A dugong is a marine mammal, related to the manatee, and Edward Lear's Dong was famous for its bright nose. "The Dong! — the Dong! "The wandering Dong through the forest goes! "The Dong! the Dong! "The Dong with a luminous Nose!" |
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| 20 | HANSEL |
Solo’s key line is one of two that were abandoned (6)
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HAN'S ("Solo's") + E ("key", a musical note) + L (line) Hans Solo is Harrison Ford's character in the Star Wars movie franchise, and Hansel was one of the children abandoned by their father in the Grimms' fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. |
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| 22 | MAORI |
Language degree press endlessly sent up (5)
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MA (Master of Arts, so "degree") + <= IRO(n) ("press" endlessly and sent up) |
Found this very difficult but persevered and got there in the end.
The use of “i” for “information” crops up now and then. It doesn’t appear in reference lists (as far as I know) but is standard on tourist information signs and on TV remotes for example. So I have no problem with it.
Typo in solution for 13a.
Oh, and great crossword by the way.
Thanks, Hovis – will edit later.
On the “information” point, I agree with you that it SHOULD be acceptable, especially given the context you pointed out, but for some reason, it has to appear in the dictionary to be allowed. I have the same issue with L, R and S (which I think should be allowed as long, regular and short (clothes sizes), but when I try to put these into puzzles, I get negative feedback.
An excellent but tough outing from LEONIDAS, just two eluding me:(LANDMASS and HANSEL) but when I read Loonapick’s explanations, I couldn’t really see why.
THROW A WOBBLY, TROUSER, NELSON and CARPET were my picks today among an admittedly great bunch of clues.
No real problem for me with ‘i’ for ‘information’ as it’s ubiquitous in tourist spots, as Hovis says.
There’s a small error in the blog for 13a which should read WINDBREAK.
Thanks to Leonidas for yet another corner and Loonapick for showing me the error of my ways.
Whoops, sorry for repeating what Hovis said re 13a
The I for ‘information’ in RATIONS gave pause for thought too, but worked for me in the sense given by Hovis @1 and Diane @3, usually as a lower case letter, which perhaps adds to the uncertainty. I was tripped up by the admittedly unknown GALETTE, but even so, ‘galetoe’ doesn’t look very convincing and should have made me think again.
I didn’t know the DONG as ‘one of Lear’s’ (creatures) but everything else made sense. Favourite was THROW A WOBBLY, an expression which I’m glad to see has found its way into both Chambers and the OED.
Thanks to Leonidas (your seventh I think) and loonapick
All fairly straightforward although we didn’t do ourselves any favours by accidentally putting TROUSER at 10ac instead of 11ac (we realised our mistake when we came to the write-in SHERWOOD FOREST). We couldn’t parse RATIONS – apart from the i = information doubt we couldn’t shake off the idea of the feature being a physical (e.g facial) feature. Last in was ISABELLA which took far too long for the penny to drop.
Lots to enjoy, though; BAIN MARIE and MOTHER HEN among our favourites.
Thanks, Leonidas and loonapick.
Tougher than many FT puzzles, so took a little longer than usual: everything went in OK but as usual I was too lazy to parse thoroughly the ones which seemed obvious, so thanks to loonapick for the elucidations.
I didn’t see i for information, either, though I think Hovis@1 has convinced me for the future, nor was I familiar with “a” meaning “acceptance”, though I obviously should have been.
Lovely puzzle.
Failed on Hansel. Han often seems to crop up, but the Solo I usually think of is Napoleon
Thanks to L and L
IT Information Technology. I = Information seems very reasonable to me. Far better than W = with which I always think weak.
Missed Galette, Lagoon (easy)Au Pair snd Isabella.
I found this hard.
Thanks Leonidas for the tough workout — I missed DUGONG — I had no chance— it’s an unfamiliar word with an unfamiliar element, dong, in its parsing. I also missed THROW A WOBBLY, an unfamiliar term with throw=shy also being an unfamiliar element. HANSEL was another failure but that’s one I should have solved. There were many favourites including LANDMASS, LEGION, ISABELLA, and ACTING UP, the latter for its humourous surface. In WINDBREAK, I liked vacation being break because that was not my first thought. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
Another superb puzzle from Leonidas (number 6, I believe). Got there eventually, ending in the SE corner.
Thanks Leonides and loonapick
Late to the party with this one, getting caught up with this working caper after a bit of a break. Found this one a good challenge that took a couple of half hour sessions to get it out, but happy to work it all through with all the parsing. Minor eyebrow raise at BAIN MARIE being a cooker, rather than something that keeps food warm. No new terms but lots of well constructed clues which made for a very enjoyable solve.
Finished in the SE corner with DUGONG (where had to remind myself of the Edward Lear poem), RATIONS and HANSEL (which would have to go close to clue of the day) as the last one in.