This week’s Wednesday slot has been occupied by eXternal. It is a good long while since I have blogged one of his puzzles, I have to say.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, which was of medium-difficulty on the Indy spectrum, in my view. I took me a while to make inroads into it, but then I made steady progress before almost falling at the final hurdle at 8. Thankfully, the penny dropped before I resorted to cheating to complete the puzzle.
I think I am totally happy with my parsing for once, which must mean that eXternal has not had recourse to anything particularly abstruse or otherwise questionable.
My favourite clues today were 2 and 5, both for surface; 13, for ingenuity; and 21, for surface and construction.
I hope it won’t be as long again before it falls to me to blog a crossword by eXternal.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | BOWLING GREEN | Level area with cluster of woods?
Cryptic definition: the “woods” of the definition are those used in bowling |
| 09 | CRESCENTS | Charlie feels bitter taking in another’s curvy shapes
C (=Charlie, in radio telecommunications) in [C (=Charlie, in radio telecommunications) + RESENTS (=feels bitter)] |
| 10 | LAMER | Young creature mostly on back gets weaker
LAM<b> (=young creature; “mostly” means last letter is dropped) + ER (RE- =about, regarding; “back” indicates reversal) |
| 11 | MARKED | Noted rescue ship in sea …
ARK (=rescue ship, in OT) in MED (=sea, i.e. the Mediterranean) |
| 12 | TUNISIAN | … is Scotsman on vessel from Africa?
TUN (=vessel, cask) + IS + IAN (=Scotsman) |
| 13 | LEARNT | Got to know King Cnut: sea, you heard, must withdraw
LEAR (=King, in Shakespeare) + <c>N<u>T (“sea, you heard, must withdraw” means homophones of “sea (=C)” and “you (=U)” are dropped) |
| 14 | HELSINKI | Some brothels in kingdom’s capital city
Hidden (“some”) in “brotHELS IN KIngdom” |
| 17 | MATURITY | Full development of fancy atrium they gutted
*(ATRIUM + T<he>Y); “gutted” means middle letters are dropped from anagram, indicated by “fancy” |
| 19 | TURING | Mathematician somewhere in Italy heading for Genoa
TURIN (=somewhere in Italy) + G<enoa> (“heading for” means first letter only); the reference is to UK mathematician Alan Turing (1912-54) |
| 21 | NEURITIS | Going west, protest about French road’s condition
RUE (=French road, i.e. the French word for road) in SIT-IN (=protest); “going west” indicates reversal; neuritis is the inflammation of a nerve |
| 23 | ARCHER | Comparatively shrewd // one that might have quarrel
Double definition: archer is comparatively shrewd, cunning AND one that might have quarrel, i.e. a square-headed arrow |
| 25 | EXAMS | Cross being put in same complex tests
X (=cross, pictorially) in *(SAME); “complex” is anagram indicator |
| 26 | GOING DOWN | Declining and becoming sad
GOING (=becoming, turning) + DOWN (=sad) |
| 27 | MANIPULATORY | Controlling my tarpaulin all over the place covering nothing
O (=nothing, zero) in *(MY TARPAULIN); “all over the place” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 02 | OVERREACT | Crate rerouted after deliveries go too far
OVER (=deliveries, in cricket) + *(CRATE); “rerouted” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | LECTERN | Vote to have leader dropped sailors support
LECT-E (vote=elect; “to have leader dropped” means first letter falls to end of word”) + RN (=sailors, i.e. Royal Navy) |
| 04 | NINE | Heard German’s negative figure
Homophone (“heard”) of “nein (=German’s negative, i.e. the German word for no)” |
| 05 | GESTURED | Indicated novel gets rude
*(GETS RUDE); “novel” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | ECLAIRS | Regularly excel with displays for cakes
E<x>C<e>L (“regularly” means alternate letters only) + AIRS (=displays, make public) |
| 07 | NIMBI | They’re in the sky some time rising over British Isle
NIM (MIN=some time, i.e. minute; “rising” indicates vertical reversal) + B (=British) + I (=Isle) |
| 08 | BRANDING IRON | Type in good club that will supply ID
BRAND (=type, sort) + IN + G (=good) + IRON (=club, in golf); branding irons can be used to place an identifying mark on livestock, hence “that will supply ID” |
| 09 | COMPLIMENTED | Gave opinion about place and one is praised
[PL. (=Place, in addresses) + I (=one)] in COMMENTED (=gave opinion) |
| 15 | NEIGHBOUR | Awfully huge robin, one close to you
*(HUGE ROBIN); “awfully” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | STRING UP | Punish group breaking into places to the north
RING (=group, as in drugs ring) in STUP (PUTS=places; “to the north” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 18 | REINS IN | Controls and rules not good I start to notice
REI<g>NS (=rules, of monarch; “not good (=G)” means letter “g” is dropped) + I + N<otice> (“start to” means first letter only) |
| 20 | UPRIGHT | Reputable type of milk opened by puritan
PRIG (=puritan) in UHT (=type of milk, i.e. Ultra-heat-treated) |
| 22 | UNARM | Remove weapon from some lunar module
Hidden (“some”) in “lUNAR Module” |
| 24 | BILL | Notice // something protruding from bird
Double definition: a bill is a notice, poster AND a beak, hence “something protruding from bird” |
I think I encountered UNARM somewhere recently and was surprised to find it exists alongside the more commonly used (and better sounding) ‘disarm’. And LECTERN was another recent appearance in the Indy though very differently clued. HELSINKI was nicely, if naughtily, hidden and I liked the construction of CRESCENTS. ‘Woods’ had me sniffing suspiciously from the off, though I thought golf at first before the penny dropped.
Thanks eXternal and RR
[Possibly of interest to regular commenters here: a couple of very late – as in 8 o’ clock this morning – posts on yesterday’s Filbert blog. There is an unintended theme with at least a dozen connected solutions and the setter also dropped in to comment .]
What a brilliant puzzle. Not too difficult but a joy from start to finish.
With lots of goodies to choose from, I’ll just mention BOWLING GREEN, LEARNT, HELSINKI, NEURITIS and ARCHER.
Many thanks to eXternal and to RR.
Like today’s blogger, it took me a while to get into this puzzle but once I’d solved HELSINKI I worked steadily clockwise around the grid to completion, with the LOI being NIMBI when the penny dropped. Thanks eXternal and RatkojaRiku.
Anticlockwise for me. Not too difficult but a pleasure to solve.
rapid start .. down the bottom somewhere… last one being 1ac.. had me thinking “playing field” then “putting green” before the final push.. liked many maybe 7dn squeezed it due to fact that NIMBI are ever-present rather than just some time in the sky currently… n thats talking south of Geneva…
thanks eXternal n RatkojaRiku
Thanks both. Just the right level of difficulty for me, though I momentarily de-railed myself by entering overcater instead of OVERREACT -works just as well imho, if only it existed as a word!
What an enjoyable puzzle. 1&9a put me in just the right mood and that continued throughout the solve. The awfully huge robin made me laugh but I stuck with my first two choices – BOWLING GREEN & CRESCENTS – for the top spots.
Thanks to eXternal for the fun and to RR for the review.
I really enjoyed this. Just the right amount of challenge. The awfully huge robin was my favourite.
Another who enjoyed it, but I take X regularly so I guess I would. The tougher, but rewarding, 23a my fave.
I imagine it was only me who misread 13a and was half-way through a very stern green-penned letter to the editor before I realized my mistake …
Not the easiest of puzzles but it all fell into place eventually. NEURITIS and LEARNT were our last ones in; the latter was a candidate for our CoD but CRESCENTS pipped it at the post.
Thanks, eXternal and RatkojaRiku.
[Hoskins @10, X – that’s ‘kiss’, innit?]
[It is one or more of the several meanings, Sil@12 – sadly I haven’t specifically X’d anyone since longer than I care to remember. If there happen to be any takers, please take a ticket and get in a suitably spaced line …]