A well-crafted and enjoyable Monday puzzle from Vigo.
It’s always good to see clues where the solution isn’t at all obvious at first glance, but a simple process of identifying the components and putting them together as instructed is all you need. 17a and 13a are good examples.
I was amused by the images of a reckless eater in 15a and the filibustering politicians in 11d; I also liked 5a and 10a for their straightforward simplicity. Thanks Vigo for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SNOBBISH |
Stuck up small head by mistake (8)
|
| S (small) + NOB (slang for head) + BISH (slang for mistake).
Stuck up = conceited = snobbish. |
||
| 5 | RUMPUS |
Uproar behind you and me (6)
|
| RUMP (behind = buttocks) + US (you and me). | ||
| 9 | AVERAGES |
State has plenty of time and means (8)
|
| AVER (state, as a verb = say with confidence) + AGES (plenty of time, as in “You’ve got ages to finish that”.
Arithmetic mean = what is commonly meant by the “average” of a set of numbers, though there are other measures that can be called an average (for example median and mode). |
||
| 10 | ADHERE |
Stick poster in this place (6)
|
| AD (short for advertisement = poster) + HERE (in this place). | ||
| 12 | GET TOGETHER |
Meet and greet ghetto revolutionary (3,8)
|
| Anagram (revolutionary) of GREET GHETTO. | ||
| 15 | TOXIC |
Poisonous beast consumed by jerk (5)
|
| OX (a beast) in TIC (involuntary movement = jerk). | ||
| 17 | ODD-JOB MAN |
Following overdose music producer, born in Sultanate, finds fixer (3-3,3)
|
| OD (short for overdose) + DJ (someone who plays music), then B (abbreviation for born) in OMAN (a Sultanate in the Arabian Peninsula).
Odd-job man = a general maintenance worker who fixes things, rather than a specialist in a particular trade. |
||
| 18 | RANSACKED |
Searched and managed to fire journalist (9)
|
| RAN (managed) + SACK (fire, as a verb = dismiss from employment) + ED (short for editor = newspaper boss = journalist). | ||
| 19 | ENTER |
Begin letter without introduction (5)
|
| [r]ENTER (letter = someone who rents / lets a property), without its introductory R. | ||
| 20 | FLYING SQUAD |
Brief special vehicle branch of the police (6,5)
|
| FLYING (brief, as in a “flying visit” = not staying for a long time) + S (special) + QUAD (I don’t think I’ve seen this by itself as a name for a vehicle – but it could be short for quad bike, quadcopter drone, or various four-wheeled or four-passenger vehicles). | ||
| 24 | AWAKEN |
Arouse interest in article about vigil (6)
|
| AN (form of the indefinite article) around WAKE (vigil). | ||
| 25 | CREATIVE |
Original member of family left out after bit of controversy (8)
|
| RE[l]ATIVE (member of the family) without the L (left), after the first letter (a bit) of C[ontroversy].
Creative = original in the sense of “not just doing what’s been done before”. |
||
| 26 | THEORY |
Attempt to embrace man with love in ideal situation (6)
|
| TRY (attempt), containing (embracing) HE (man) + O (zero = love in tennis scoring).
As in “in theory it would work, but in practice . . . “. |
||
| 27 | SNAPSHOT |
Stretches back to get steamy photograph (8)
|
| SPANS (stretches = lengths) reversed (back), then HOT (steamy). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SLAUGHTERS |
Kills merriment aboard ship (10)
|
| LAUGHTER (merriment), inserted into SS (steamship); it’s a fairly common crossword convention that “aboard” means inserted into a word for a ship. | ||
| 2 | OVERTAXING |
Public dismissal is too much (10)
|
| OVERT (public) + AXING (the act of dismissing someone from a position). | ||
| 3 | BEANO |
Do butchers extract all nutritious offal first of all? (5)
|
| First letters of all the words in B[utchers] E[xtract] A[ll] N[utritious] O[ffal].
Beano (short for beanfeast) = do = slang for a party. |
||
| 4 | SKELETON KEYS |
Frame guides showing ways to access multiple places (8,4)
|
| SKELETON (frame) + KEYS (key = guide = explanatory notes, for example alongside a diagram to explain colour-coding or abbreviations).
Skeleton key = a key that will open several different locks. |
||
| 6 | UNDERTONE |
Suggestion from subordinate, tense individual (9)
|
| UNDER (subordinate) + T (abbreviation for tense) + ONE (individual).
Undertone = suggestion = a hint of something not stated explicitly, or a barely-detectable flavour or scent. |
||
| 7 | PIER |
Support lord vocally (4)
|
| Homophone (vocally) of PEER = lord. | ||
| 8 | STEW |
Cook ineffectual politicians upset (4)
|
| WETS (derogatory term for moderate Conservative MPs who opposed Margaret Thatcher’s hardline policies), reversed (upset = upwards in a down clue). | ||
| 11 | RHODODENDRON |
Republican and Democrat droned on about keeping house plant (12)
|
| Anagram (about = scattered) of R (Republican) + D (Democrat) + DRONED ON, containing (keeping) HO (abbreviation for house).
Flowering shrub or tree; the name is Greek for “rose tree”. |
||
| 13 | AMATEURISH |
Clumsy American couple thrive without Flo (10)
|
| A (American) + MATE (couple, as a verb) + [flo]URISH (thrive) without FLO. | ||
| 14 | INGREDIENT |
Factor in dirt engine churned up (10)
|
| Anagram (churned up) of DIRT ENGINE. | ||
| 16 | CHAUFFEUR |
Loudly regret returning after tea with posh driver (9)
|
| FF (in musical notation, ff = Italian fortissimo = instruction to play very loudly) + RUE (regret) reversed (returning), after CHA (slang for tea, from Asian languages) + U (posh, as in “U and non-U”). | ||
| 21 | SCAMP |
Second party for rascal (5)
|
| S (second) + CAMP (party = one of two opposing factions). | ||
| 22 | WAFT |
Women behind drift (4)
|
| W (abbreviation for women) + AFT (nautical term for rearwards of a vessel = behind). | ||
| 23 | DAZE |
Stun and partially confound a zealot (4)
|
| Hidden answer (partially) in [confoun]D A ZE[alot]. |
Quad bike always strikes me as being a bit of an oxymoron but it is in common usage. I think I’ve seen this referred to as a quad.
Nice to see a pangram without needing to resort to any obscurities.
Good way to ease in to the week. Still, I needed to think about some of the words here including QUAD for ‘vehicle’ (I thought of bike), CAMP for ‘party’ and BEANO, which is a term I haven’t come across often. I have to admit I just bunged in ODD-JOB MAN from the def. The debating politicians for RHODODENDRON, as pointed out by our blogger, was my favourite. Nice to see the pangram too.
Thanks to Vigo and Quirister
Thanks for the blog, Quirister. Once again, I agree with your favourites, for the same reasons and would add 16dn CHAUFFEUR, for its construction and surface.
RHODODENDRON is an all-round delight.
Many thanks to Vigo for a most enjoyable start to the day.
This pangram was light and great fun. Just right for a Monday morning.
RHODODENDRON was my favourite.
Many thanks to Vigo and to Quirister.
A gentle start to the week, but with some excellent and precise clueing, so thanks Vigo and Quirister.
Eileen @3
I seem to remember a nonsense book where the answer to a stupid question was
“One rode a donkey and the other Rhododendron”
Yes, just right for a Monday. Well clued and entertaining and a pangram to spot, as well. Favourites were the clumsy American and the posh driver. Thanks to Vigo and Quirister
Clues simple in a good way, nothing contentious, not difficult, nicely done. Very good and just right for the Monday slot. It’s easy when you know how, and Vigo clearly does know how.
I do think Vigo has upped the ante in recent times but she always produces very enjoyable puzzles. Apologies to her for not noticing the pangram but I rarely bother to look for them other than through desperation over a particular clue.
Quit happy to go with our blogger’s choice of clues, perhaps the simple RUMPUS caused the most amusement here.
Thanks to Vigo and to Quirister for the review.
Thanks Vigo and Q. A nice light start to the week – guessed a pangram relatively soon on but the gridfill and clues didn’t have the forced feeling pangrams sometimes produce. Good job.
Thanks Vigo. Except for the unfamiliar BEANO, I found this fairly straightforward but nonetheless very enjoyable. Favorites included RUMPUS, ADHERE, ODD-JOB MAN, and CHAUFFEUR. I couldn’t parse FLYING SQUAD or the “ho” in RHODODENDRON and wondered why the definition was “house plant!” Thanks Quirister for the blog.