A fantastic challenge from REDSHANK today.
Too many clues to call a favorite.
FF: 10 DD: 9
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TIME BOMB |
Release revolting turkey – it’ll go off eventually (4,4)
|
| TIME ( release = EMIT, reversed ) BOMB ( turkey ) | ||
| 5 | KODIAK |
Grizzly individual opens film company (6)
|
| I ( individual ) in KODAK ( film company ) | ||
| 10 | CURRANT |
A couple of swine snaffle last of rotten fruit (7)
|
| CUR RAT ( couple of swine ) swallowing N ( last letter of rotteN ) | ||
| 11 | HIT LIST |
Mob targets best-sellers (3,4)
|
| double def | ||
| 12 | ELIDE |
Omit some characters in novel I’d edited (5)
|
| hidden in “..novEL I’D Edited” | ||
| 13 | EUPHONIUM |
Wind up in home with uniform in tatters (9)
|
| [ UP IN HOME with U (uniform) ]* – didnt know this instrument | ||
| 14 | SHOOTING STAR |
What pap’s doing for Leonid maybe (8,4)
|
| cryptic def; pap being short for papparazo who might take pictures of stars when they are not particularly welcome | ||
| 18 | FATHER FIGURE |
Either a gruff sort or maybe mum’s male friend? (6,6)
|
| [ EITHER A GRUFF ]* | ||
| 21 | LIFE CYCLE |
Entomologists study this weird fly Cecil ate finally (4,5)
|
| [ FLY CECIL ]* E ( atE, finally ) | ||
| 23 | INEPT |
Useless writer’s back in city centre (5)
|
| NEP ( writer = PEN, reversed ) in IT ( centre of cITy ) | ||
| 24 | TRIVIAL |
Minor sixth within hearing (7)
|
| VI ( sixth ) in TRIAL ( hearing ) | ||
| 25 | TRACING |
Outline origin of the sport of kings (7)
|
| T ( The, first letter ) RACING ( sport of kings ) | ||
| 26 | SIGNAL |
Notable archbishop is heading west (6)
|
| LANG ( archbishop, cosmo gordon ) IS, all reversed | ||
| 27 | DEMENTIA |
Time and drug altered debilitating condition (8)
|
| [ TIME AND E ( drug, Ecstacy ) ]* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TICKER |
Maybe the other one’s vital pump? (6)
|
| cryptic def; THE is the heart of oTHEr. | ||
| 2 | MARTIN |
Migrant’s endless drink (6)
|
| MARTINi (drink, endless ) | ||
| 3 | BRAKE SHOE |
It stops carriage’s hooter occasionally (5,4)
|
| BRAKE’S ( carriage’s ) HOE ( HoOtEr, alternate letters ) | ||
| 4 | MATTER OF FACTLY |
With little imagination, factory left ATM in pieces (6-2-6)
|
| [ FACTORY LEFT ATM ]* | ||
| 6 | OUTDO |
Outclass United in no-score draw? (5)
|
| UTD ( united ) in OO ( no-score draw, 0-0 ) | ||
| 7 | INITIATE |
Begin my simple comment on restaurant? (8)
|
| cryptic def; parsed as IN IT, I ATE ( simple comment on restaurant ) | ||
| 8 | KITEMARK |
Couple pass on clothing showing stamp of approval (8)
|
| ITEM ( couple ) in KARK ( pass on ) / Thanks Diane@1 | ||
| 9 | SHOPPING CENTRE |
It implies very quiet place to buy lots (8,6)
|
| cryptic def; CENTRE of SHOPPING is PP – very quiet | ||
| 15 | GERMINATE |
Grow good at cutting material for peer (9)
|
| G ( good ) [ AT in ERMINE ( material for peer ) ] | ||
| 16 | AFFLATUS |
Impulse to create a fine apartment with my group (8)
|
| A F ( fine ) FLAT ( apt ) US ( my group ) | ||
| 17 | STUFFING |
Thumping university fellows engaged in fraud (8)
|
| [ U ( university ) FF ( fellows ) ] in STING ( fraud ) | ||
| 19 | DESIST |
Stop religious type commandeering society (6)
|
| DEIST ( religious type ) containing S ( society ) | ||
| 20 | STIGMA |
It’s modified, genetically modified, on a part of plant (6)
|
| [ ITS ]* GM ( Genetically Modified ) A | ||
| 22 | CHINA |
Stun a pal in Bow (5)
|
| CHIN ( stun ) A |
Really enjoyed decoding this puzzle from Redshank. Not exactly a write-in but nothing too obscure either; just plenty of fun and surprising wordplay.
Liked the surface of 27, along answers for 2, 8 (where pass= kark), 17 and 22 (where stun = chin!).
‘Re 8d, I think it is ‘item’ (couple) inside ‘kark’ (pass away).
Thanks to Redshank and Turbolegs.
Oops, hadn’t finished: also thought ‘clothing’ was part of the fed, ie, a crash helmet or other safety gear bearing the kitemark.
Enjoyable and tough in equal measure. I had to guess SHOOTING STAR, never having heard of the ‘Leonid’ meteor shower and not being able to work out what ‘pap’s’ meant in the wordplay. Didn’t understand the ‘Maybe the other one’s’ part of 1d or how MARTIN = ‘migrant’ at 2d. Thinking about it now, I suppose it’s referring to the bird.
I liked working out 8d (for me, ‘clothing’ was a misleading containment indicator, rather than part of the def) and the clever SHOPPING CENTRE but favourite was EUPHONIUM for the reminder of “The Floral Dance”, especially the Peter Dawson version.
Thanks to Redshank and Turbolegs.
Yes, Wordplodder, you’re probably right re ‘clothing’ and it certainly misled me momentarily as I toyed with ‘kit’.
Brain-fade re 1 down, TICKER. I still don’t get it. Someone help & humiliate me, please.
Hi Grant,
THE is the heart of oTHEr, hence the ticker reference.
Regards,
Mahesh / TL
Grant – It looks to me like a double definition, with ‘maybe the other one’ referring to the other ‘1’ clue, i.e. ‘time bomb’. A little bit naughty, as usually clues are referred to using numerals.
I see I didn’t edit the blog for that clue from my first pass. Thanks for spotting that.
Regards,
TL
To bill poster & to Turbolegs:
Thanks. Both of your solutions are plausible and fun. I wonder if both were meant. If so, it’s a flipping brilliant clue.
Bill@7
Naughty but nice idea.
I had a terrible time on the top half of this puzzle and needed a lot of help to get answers. But I believe that in 10a “N” is “the end of rotten”.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Roman numeral used as an ordinal before, as it is in 24a, rather than a cardinal. Otherwise, thanks to Turbolegs for a great job on the blog and to Redshank for the challenge, with several lovely clues, even if some were beyond my skill level.
EdK. Roman numerals as ordinals is not that uncommon in crosswords. It is usually justified via regal numbers, such as Henry VI.
Supposed to be regnal not regal, but the autocorrect would have it otherwise.
FWIW, I parsed TICKER in the same way as Bill@7: surely “one’s” is redundant in the alternative?
Phew, quite a struggle but we got there in the end, the NE corner being the last to fall as we were convinced for ages that ‘film company’ referred to a studio rather than a manufacturer. Once we got KODIAK we saw 8dn had to be KITEMARK but had to check ‘kark’ in Chambers.
Actually we’ve a couple of quibbles about those two clues. To be pedantic a Kodiak is not the same as a grizzly – the former is ursus arctos middendorffi and the latter ursus arctos horribilis. And shouldn’t there be an indication that ‘kark’ is Australian as is usual for American usage?
A good challenge though. Favourite was EUPHONIUM.
Thanks, Redshank and Turbolegs.
Thanks for the blog, I was puzzled with TICKER but the suggestion from Bill @7 makes it flipping brilliant in the words of Grant.
Leonid in 14Ac made it my favourite clue.
I am another who associated TICKER with TIME BOMB.
I wasn’t happy with KODIAK as there was no inclusion indicator, unless opens is doing double dispute.
Main thing is it was all gettable and there were a number of good misleads in the clues. I finished it this morning after an overnight brain reset.
Thanks for the challenge Redshank and the explanations Turbolegs.
Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
Mystogre@17 re 5ac: I took individual = one = I, leaving “opens” doing single duty as the inclusion indicator.
Thanks Redshank and Turbolegs
Started on this one on Friday, but took until Saturday night to get it finished. All completed and understood apart from the clever parsing(s) of TICKER and the relationship of ‘pap’ in 14a.
Lots to enjoy and lots of mischievous misdirection going on throughout. EUPHONIUM wasn’t difficult for me – it was my only attempt at using a musical instrument at school – didn’t make the brass band though !!! 🙂
Finished in the NE corner with the clever HIT LIST, KODIAK (after finally remembering the bear) and KITEMARK (which I had to look up and KARK (usually spelt CARK as far as I’ve seen before).