It’s Klingsor filling the Tuesday slot this week. Our last blog of a Klingsor puzzle was back in Jan 2020. We also blogged his two earlier puzzles in Nov and Dec 2019. It was a long time waiting for this next one.
But well worth the wait……
Regular solvers will no doubt have been on the lookout for a theme which has become traditional on a Tuesday. As TOBERMORY was written in, we both thought of the Wombles. We haven’t read the books by Elisabeth Beresford and we didn’t watch the animated series which followed on BBC. However, the characters are still well known although we had to check the full list as we hadn’t heard of Madam CHOLET or TOMSK – there is also a minor character called OMSK. The original characters included BUNGO and ALDERNEY but we couldn’t locate either of these in the grid.
Thanks Klingsor – smooth surfaces as always.
GROUCH (complain) with O (nothing)
LED (was first) around or ‘accepting’ T (last or ‘final’ letter of defeat) + OWN (to admit)
An anagram (‘shot’) of IS LAD around or ‘concealing’ MISS (failure)
I (one) inside or ‘entering’ BARN (shed)
GOON (fool) around or ‘holding’ DAFTER (relatively silly) + O (first letter of opinion) ON (about)
pENTANGLE (shape) losing or ‘out of’ P (penny)
MO (medical officer – ‘doctor’) ROSE (rebelled)
CO (officer) reversed or ‘back’ in LATE (former)
BUSiNESS (commerce) with Y (unknown – as used in maths) replacing I (one)
O (Oscar in the phonetic alphabet) inside or ‘stopping’ an anagram (‘playing’) of BINGO IN LOCAL
OMSK (Russian city) after T (time)
HARm (damage) missing last letter or ‘endless’ + BINGER (heavy drinker)
An anagram (‘doctor’) of MUST, R (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of offer) and NO
C (caught) and lAdDiE (alternate letters only or ‘regularly’) inside or ‘breaking into’ A MY (fancy)
DOG (Pluto maybe – from the Disney cartoons) reversed or ‘going around’ + S (sun)
O (love) N (new) + a homophone (‘we hear’) of SITE (place)
AIR (look) in CO (business)
OB’S (old boy’s or former pupil’s) TALE (story) about C (college)
A clue as definition – A TILL (work) around or ‘involving’ O (love) all reversed or ‘twisted’
An anagram (‘with trouble’) of ROB ROY MET
Hidden in the clue (‘partly’) MaORI NO COlumbian – we’re not keen on the use of ‘banker’ as a definition for a river, but it is commonly used in cryptics, usually to provide a suitable surface
An anagram (‘struggling’) of ONES N (name) and ONES N – (‘repeated’)
WELL IN (on good terms with) G (Government) TON (heavyweight)
IN (elected) reversed or ‘returning’ + TICKER (watch) around or ‘entertaining’ P (first letter or ‘opening’ to play)
ARIA (air) with BULGe (swelling) missing last letter or ‘reduced’ at the start
SIC (thus) around AMEN (word of approval) reversed or ‘put up’
E (last letter of give) + GO (attempt) reversed or ‘up’ inside or ‘cracking’ CLUE
A play on the fact that meat past its sell-by date may be OLD HAM
A (one) after or ‘supporting’ (in a down clue) CH (companion) IN – Derby is a well know type of china
bARMY (out to lunch) without or ‘ignoring’ B (British)
What a load of rubbish! 😉
A nice pick-me-up.
And, just to be clear, no it wasn’t! Splendid clueing and plenty of smiles throughout. The theme was nicely incorporated. Not too in your face. And NON-BIOLOGICAL is a super anagram.
Thanks Klingsor and B&J
Thanks B&J for Wimbledon low-down-I often forget to check Tuesday themes/
Nice puzzle.
Quite delightful – I love the Wombles. When I entered TOBERMORY – lovely name – I thought how great it would be to have a Womble theme – and the very next one was ORINOCO!
When I’d finished, I resorted to a list, too, and found there was also one called Perth (in the clue for 10ac).
So many great clues, as ever with Klingsor. With difficulty, I’ve cut down my favourites to GOOD AFTERNOON, NON-BIOLOGICAL, TOBERMORY, NO-NONSENSE, CINEMAS and ARMY.
Many thanks to Klingsor for all the fun and to B&J for the blog.
I was a bit surprised that there were “only” six Wombles in the grid, so I tried hunting around for more obscure connections. The best I could find is that there is a Womble Road in the city of CAIRO, Georgia.
Loved the puzzle, but one aftereffect of the theme is that I have now entered that circle of hell in which the Wombles’ theme tune is played over and over at high volume for all eternity, with particular emphasis on the “Uncle Bulgaria” motif.
Is 5 down an &litter clue?
(gets coat)
cruciverbophile@8 Maybe that makes it another themed clue (Low litter). Nice puzzle which took a mid-puzzle walk to finally crack. Thanks both. [Wombling free should make a great anagram but nothing comes to mind]
Petert@9: ‘I blew frogmen up, litter-picking? (8,4)’ perhaps.
allan-c@10 nice one. I was trying to use free as the anagrind, which only gave me “Blow Ming” Cryptically blow Ming to produce Common activity.( 8,4)
Petert@10, your reverse anagram could perhaps be “How you might discover Ming bowl searching through Wimbledon’s rubbish”
Alliacol@12 Brilliant!
Alliacol @12: superb!
I was stuck with Ming Blow which seemed way too risque to even attempt to clue!
Loved this, thank you Klingsor. After seeing Mull and Tobermory I was wondering if we had a malt whisky session ahead, but this was jus as much fun without the calories or hangover.
Petert@9 : my first thoughts have already been said – maybe ‘On the grass in the 70s, din could make this mind blowing’ but it doesn’t quite make it….
alliacol@12: great!