Zamorca's second Thursday outing…
… was very like his first – a pangram that didn't take too long to solve.
It did take a while to blog, but that was mainly due to the plethora of abbreviations that I had to work through, and because I had a mental block about the BERED bit of JABBERED.
Got there in the end, though. Nothing contentious, I think, and some nice surfaces. My favourite was STEEP.
Thanks, Zamorca, and I hope everyone has as enjoyable a festive season as is possible in these challenging times.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WORKER |
One has a job keeping King in retreating soldiers’ line (6)
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R (rex, so "king") in [retreating] <=(RE (Royal Engineers. so "soldiers") + ROW ("line")) |
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| 4 | JABBERED |
Talked incoherently and is flushed following injection (8)
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BE RED ("is flushed") following JAB ("injection") |
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| 10 | ANCIENT |
Old article has point about space in it (7)
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A (article) has N (north, so "point") + C (circa, so "about) + EN (printer's "space") in IT |
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| 11 | TEACHER |
Tutor sees child in a tree playing (7)
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Ch. (child) in *(a tree) [anag:playing] |
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| 12 | SUMO |
Wrestling with problem zip (4)
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SUM ("problem") + O (nothing, so "zip") |
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| 13 | REMARKABLE |
Scripture grade by pupil in Lincoln’s outstanding (10)
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RE (religious instruction, so "scripture") + MARK ("grade") by L (learner, so "pupil") in ABE (Lincoln) |
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| 15 | UNEASY |
Use any compound tense (6)
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*(use any) [anag:compound] |
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| 16 | BLOOMER |
Boy by lake’s given duck more crumbled bread (7)
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B (boy) by L (lake) given O (duck, in cricket) + *(more) [anag:crumbled] |
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| 20 | ADVERSE |
Nowadays poetry’s antagonistic (7)
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AD (anno domini, so "these days") + VERSE ("poetry") |
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| 21 | GROUND |
Dog’s heading off after good run in field (6)
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(h)OUND ("dog" heading off) after G (good) + R (run, in cricket) |
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| 24 | FREE-FOR-ALL |
Undersea eco-system examination in Florida results in big argument (4-3-3)
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REEF ("undersea eco-system") + ORAL ("examination") in FL (Florida) |
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| 26 | OPAL |
Dad invested in ring with large gemstone (4)
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PA ("dad") invested in O (ring) with L (large) |
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| 28 | EMPLOYS |
Setter’s contrary wiles have uses! (7)
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<=ME ("setter"'s contrary) + PLOYS ("wiles") |
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| 29 | COOLEST |
Most trendy carbon spectacles in case (7)
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C (carbon) + OO (pair of "spectacles", in cricket) + LEST ("in case") In cricket, if a batsman is out for a duck in both innings, it is called a "pair" because OO resembles a pair of spectacles. |
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| 30 | TALK SHOP |
Discuss work issues off duty in social after negotiations (4,4)
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HOP ("social") after TALKS ("negotiations") |
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| 31 | GLITZY |
Girl’s gutted with horrid zit taking last opportunity to be glamorous (6)
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G(ir)L ['s gutted] with *(zit) [anag:horrid] taking [last] (opportunit)Y |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WEARS OUT |
Exhausts listener with first incomplete point (5,3)
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EAR ("listener") with W (with) first) + [incomplete] SOUT(h) ("point") |
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| 2 | RECOMMEND |
Give a good review on company’s first major repair (9)
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RE ("on") + Co. (company) + [first] M(ajor) + MEND ("repair") |
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| 3 | EYED |
Heard setter had studied (4)
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Homophone [heard] of I'D ("setter had") |
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| 5 | ACTUALLY |
In fact, posh colleague’s supporting show (8)
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U (posh) + ALLY ("colleague") supporting ACT ("show") |
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| 6 | BLACKBOARD |
Miss Bishop’s going ahead with governors to show old classroom feature (10)
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LACK ("miss") with B (bishop) [going ahead] with BOARD ("governors") |
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| 7 | REHAB |
Treatment for addiction uses a herb remedy (5)
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*(a herb) [anag:remedy] |
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| 8 | DARTED |
Moved quickly and was brave enough to grab terrorist’s foot (6)
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DARED ("was brave enough") to grab (terroris)T ['s foot] |
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| 9 | STEEP |
Go up on street rising sharply (5)
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<=PEE ("go", up) on St. (street) |
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| 14 | ISLE OF DOGS |
Life’s changed around old haunts in part of London (4,2,4)
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*(lifes) [anag:changed] around O (old) + DOGS ("haunts") |
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| 17 | EQUIPMENT |
Supplies online joke intended to be read aloud (9)
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E– (online, as in e-mail) + QUIP ("joke") + homophone [to be read aloud] of MEANT ("intended") |
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| 18 | ESPRESSO |
Affected posers swallowing drugs with Italian coffee (8)
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*(posers) [anag:affected] swallowing Es (ecstasy, so "drugs") |
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| 19 | IDOLATRY |
Papers have a look-up time-line on icon worship (8)
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ID ("papers") have <=(A + LO ("look")) [up] + T (time) + Ry. (railway, so "line") |
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| 22 | EFFECT |
Cause very loud echoes around court (6)
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FF (fortissimo, so "very loud") with E + E (echo, in the phonetic alphabet, twice, so "echoes") around + Ct. (court) |
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| 23 | PLUCK |
Pull off getting parking by chance (5)
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P (parking) by LUCK ("chance") |
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| 25 | EXPEL |
Throw out complex Pelham bit (5)
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Hidden in [bit (of)] "complEX PELham" |
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| 27 | HOWL |
Scream seeing wolf briefly straying behind hotel (4)
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*(wol) [ang:straying] where WOL is WOL(f) [briefly] behind H (hotel) |
Thanks loonapick, I agree it was pretty easy although I had to use an internet search engine to confirm that Bloomer at 16A is actually a type of bread. I spent ten years in the baking industry in Australia and had never come across this expression.
Was puzzled by bloomer=bread, and had forgotten that in the UK, RE are soldiers. In 30a, why is hop social? And in 22d, I thought cause and effect were opposites.
Hop is a rather dated term for a party with music.
https://youtu.be/U3KjDpvmtwU
Thank you, Loonapick. Dated indeed!
Third completed in three days. Must be getting easier. ??
Too many abbreviations in this one for my liking. But it was a quick solve as the definitions were often obvious, and completed in one go.
Thanks Zamorca and Loonapick.
Geoff@2 re 22dn: Cause = Effect as verbs.
Yes, I guess so, Pelham. Thanks.
This enjoable little pangram grid from Zamorca slipped down nicely. SUMO was my favourite.
Thanks Zamorca and Loonapick.
I remembered BLOOMER as ‘bread’ from a previous puzzle but have never heard of it in the real world outside crosswords. Otherwise no obscure words, but the apparently simple ANCIENT for ‘old’ took a bit of working out.
A pleasant puzzle with the pangram adding that little bit of extra enjoyment.
Thanks to loonapick and Zamorca
Looking for the Q for the pangram really helped with 17d (equipment). I thought that this was much easier than monday’s and tuesday’s offerings which I DNF.
Incidentally “HOP” was a term for informal college dance. We had one twice a month in the 1950’s – not that dated!
Yes, I found this puzzle easier than Monday’s and Tuesday’s. I did not observe that it was a pangram. Usually I look for one after seeing two or more of J, Q, X, and Z, but today I just went through solving the puzzle.
I did need a dictionary to determine that, in the UK, “bloomer” (my LOI) is a kind of bread. And I didn’t fully parse “ancient” correctly, although I knew it had to be the right answer. So thanks to loonapick for the explanation of “ancient” and confirmation on the other answers. And thanks to Zamora for a puzzle that felt like exactly the right level of challenge for today. “Free for all” was my favorite.
BTW, in 13a, isn’t “RE” religious education, not religious instruction, as a synonym for “scripture”?
Thanks Zamorca and loonapick
Re your intro, loonapick, I’m sure I’ve read in the past that Zamorca is a she.
I agree this was the easiest of the week and very welcome too.
I can remember a 1950s pop song “Let’s go to the hop” but hop for a party is not a term I have used this century. I also thought Zamora was female. She certainly has set a charming puzzle.
Thanks to setter and blogger for putting me in a good mood for the festive season.
Thanks Zamorca for a pleasant start to my day. I didn’t know BLOOMER as bread but it had to be the answer and I needed a look-up for ISLE OF DOGS,
a part of London unknown to me. Favourites included ADVERSE, STEEP, and EQUIPMENT. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
Thanks Zamorca and loonapick
This setter used to be predominantly used for the Monday slot, but there appears to be a change in publishing the more straightforward puzzles then I have noticed. Anyway a godsend as I play catch up again this week being able to complete it in a single shortish session.
Think that I’ve commented previously on the higher number of single letter abbreviations used by her and there was certainly a lot today – not good or bad – but it did make the parsing of ANCIENT quite tricky.
Finished in the NE corner with BLACKBOARD (another that took a while to parse, the BLACK bit anyway), REMARKABLE (another made up of lots of little bits), BLOOMER (one eats with jam and cream, but only in crosswords outside the UK) and ACTUALLY the last one in.
Thanks, Zamorca and loonapick. Agree with what Tony@14 said; BLOOMER and ISLE OF DOGS (last one in) were new terms to me.
A lot of intricate “rebus” type clues – ANCIENT, REMARKABLE, RECOMMEND, IDOLATRY. As brucew@15 said, lots of single and double letter abbreviations. I figured out several clues just from crossers but needed help parsing. A favorite was EQUIPMENT. Is a joke told online an “E-quip?”
Good fun on a hot afternoon. Thanks Zamorca.
Um, Loonapick, in 1a, it is K that represents king and not R.
Parts of this did take me some time as I got stuck in the SE corner for some reason.
Thanks for the blog Loonapick, and all the others through the year.
@Simon S & @SM – yes, can confirm that Zamorca is indeed female.