A reasonably straightforward Tuesday challenge from Crosophile.
Some enjoyably sneaky definitions here: I liked “one who’s down” in 2d, “black” in 4d, “maybe Cinderella” in 6d, and particularly “made sir” in 18d. Other favourites were 5d (my LOI, which needed all the crossers, but was obvious when I finally saw it) and the ingenious “no-no” in 16a. We also have a pangram, for those who like such things.
Tuesday normally means a themed crossword but I can’t see anything obvious here; I’m sure someone will tell me if I’ve missed it. UPDATE: As our first couple of commenters pointed out, CHARLIE CHAPLIN appears (slightly disconnected) in the top left corner. We also have his best-known character the TRAMP, and a few of his films: The KID, The GOLD RUSH, and MODERN TIMES. Now to see if I can get a grid image into this post . . .
Thanks Crosophile for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | CHAR |
Sear fish (4)
|
| Double definition. To brown food quickly over high heat; or a species of fish related to salmon. | ||
| 8 | LIEUTENANT |
Officer flustered until having eaten together (10)
|
| Anagram (flustered) of UNTIL together with EATEN. | ||
| 10 | ACETYLENE |
Expert to start off in style with neon gas (9)
|
| ACE (slang for expert) + [s]TYLE (with the starting letter taken off) + NE (Ne = chemical symbol for neon).
Gas used as a fuel for welding, among other applications. |
||
| 11 | TRAMP |
Bit of trouble with sleeping policeman perhaps, one on the road (5)
|
| First letter (a bit) of T[rouble] + RAMP (sleeping policeman = slang for a speed bump to slow traffic). | ||
| 12 | STATUTORY |
‘Docking’ for monument (right-winger) supported by the law (9)
|
| STATU[e] (monument) with its last letter removed (docked) + TORY (right-winger). | ||
| 13 | RUSH |
Marshy plant spread quickly (4)
|
| Double definition. A flowering grass that grows in marshy locations; or to move at speed. | ||
| 16 | INFER |
Draw a big fire? That’s a no-no (5)
|
| INFER[no] (a big fire), with no NO at the end.
As in “draw a conclusion” = infer. |
||
| 18 | KID |
Josh is a child (3)
|
| Double definition. To tease someone; or slang for a child. | ||
| 19 | EASEL |
Stand and move gently with a little latitude (5)
|
| EASE (to move something gently) + first letter (a little) of L[atitude].
A stand on which artwork is supported. |
||
| 20 | GOLD |
Top-notch German antique (4)
|
| G (abbreviation for German) + OLD (antique). | ||
| 21 | DISCLAIMS |
Declines to acknowledge record on learner targets (9)
|
| DISC (record) + L (learner) + AIMS (targets). | ||
| 26 | RABBI |
Religious leader to witter on endlessly (5)
|
| RABBI[t] (slang for talk profusely without much substance), without its last letter (endlessly). I’m afraid I’ll have to put this one in the “chestnut” category, having seen the same word clued by dropping the T from RABBIT twice already this year. | ||
| 27 | HOT-HEADED |
Perhaps like a match that’s foolhardy? (3-6)
|
| Double definition. Like the burning head of a lit match; or a slang description of someone who acts without thinking first. | ||
| 28 | RACKETEERS |
They provide protection – for tennis players? (10)
|
| Double definition. As in “protection rackets” = people extorting payment in return for “protection” from violence; or people who hit tennis balls with a racket. | ||
| 29 | TRUE |
Absolute torture regularly observed (4)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly observed) of T[o]R[t]U[r]E. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | RAWEST |
The most untreated and muddied waters (6)
|
| Anagram (muddied = messed up) of WATERS. | ||
| 2 | DIVERT |
Distract one who’s down with a bit of tenderness (6)
|
| DIVER (one who goes down below the surface of water) + first letter (a bit) of T[enderness]. | ||
| 3 | PUREBRED |
In which horses race endlessly, then short burst and it’s all over, having just one race (8)
|
| DERB[y] (a horse race) without its last letter (endlessly), then ERUP[t] (burst) without its last letter (short), all reversed (all over). | ||
| 4 | JETTY |
A pier that is black? (5)
|
| Double definition. Structure projecting from land out into water; or black like jet (a form of coal, used as a gemstone). | ||
| 5 | MACAQUES |
Scotsman on a curtailed hunt for monkeys (8)
|
| MAC (nickname for a Scotsman) + A + QUES[t] (hunt) without its last letter (curtailed). | ||
| 6 | STEPCHILD |
Maybe Cinderella at end of stage is mostly cold and deserted (9)
|
| STEP (stage = one part of a longer process) + CHIL[l] (catch a chill = catch a cold, as in the common cold virus) + D (abbreviation for deserted).
Pantomime character oppressed by her stepmother and stepsisters. |
||
| 7 | CHAP |
Padre’s lain out a man (4)
|
| CHAP[lain] (padre) with the LAIN taken out. I’m not sure the grammar quite works, because I think the past tense of “lay out” is “has laid out”, and “has lain” is the past tense of “lie” (as in lie down); but there are probably counter-examples. | ||
| 9 | MYSTERY |
Closed book, autobiography swapping one’s beginning with one’s end (7)
|
| MY ST[o]RY (autobiography), swapping the O for an E (beginning and end letters of O[n]E).
Closed book = metaphor for something not understood at all. |
||
| 14 | LINGERERS |
They hang around underwear dept after I left, with bras oddly ignored (9)
|
| LINGER[i]E (underwear, or the department in a shop that sells it) without the I, then the even-numberd letters (oddly ignored) of [b]R[a]S. | ||
| 15 | RELAXED |
Slack relative’s dispensed with (7)
|
| REL (abbreviation for relative, as in “relative pronoun”) + AXED (got rid of = dispensed with). | ||
| 17 | FULL BACK |
Fellow heading off in retreat as defender on the field (4,4)
|
| F (abbreviation for fellow) + [p]ULL BACK (retreat, as a verb) without its first letter (heading).
A defending player in sports such as football and rugby. |
||
| 18 | KNIGHTED |
Made sir ponder about receiving good education (8)
|
| THINK (ponder) reversed (about), containing (receiving) G (good), then ED (short for education).
Someone who is knighted is made a knight (allowed to use the title “sir”) = colloquially, made a “sir”. |
||
| 22 | CATERS |
Provides food from packing cases right nearer the bottom (6)
|
| CRATES (packing cases), with the R (right) moved towards the end (nearer the bottom, in a down clue). | ||
| 23 | MODERN |
Current fashion runs over November (6)
|
| MODE (fashion) + R (abbreviation for runs, in cricket scoring), before (over, reading downwards in a down clue) N (November in the radio alphabet). | ||
| 24 | TIMES |
Items spread about Independent’s rival (5)
|
| Anagram (spread about) of ITEMS.
A newspaper that could be considered a rival to the Independent. |
||
| 25 | ADZE |
Commercials broadcast for a cutting tool (4)
|
| Homophone (broadcast = read out aloud) of ADS = advertisements = commercials.
Adze = like an axe but with the cutting edge in a different position. |
I see Charlie Chaplin in the top and LH edges & TRAMP but not much else
Modern Times, too and Gold Rush, A puzzle where the theme didn’t get in the way of some great clues.
flashling @1, Petert @2: thanks, I’ll explore a bit further and then update the blog.
An Indy cryptic I could solve reasonably quickly. Had trouble parsing TRAMP. Although it was obvious, I have never heard of the reference. C’est la vie. Also PUREBRED. The definition was obvious with the crossers but the blog helped with the parse. And STEPCHILD. I still don’t get it. I assumed it was a physical step to reach a stage. Nice definition. JETTY raised a smile and I liked MYSTERY. Thanks for the blog and set.
I didn’t get JETTY, just one of several words with few checked letters and all unhelpful. Since jet means black by itself, I think we should have been given a hint that we were after a nonsense word.
Otherwise all plain-sailing, and the weirdness/wrongness of lain in the clue for CHAP was an alert.
Thanks S&B
Missed the theme despite looking, though as it turns out in the wrong places. I couldn’t parse the ‘sleeping policeman’ bit of TRAMP and found PUREBRED quite hard.
Favourite was the ‘That’s a no-no’ bit of the wordplay for INFER.
Thanks to Crosophile and Quirister
Very enjoyable albeit that some parsings escaped me – thanks be for 15^2. I do enjoy a pangram and MACAQUES was my pick of the lot.
Whoops – thanks both.
James @5 isn’t the question mark on 4d the hint that we’re looking for a jokey or nonsense word? Very enjoyable, despite being a dnf for me: my fixation on Scotsmen always being Ian in crosswordland plus my irrational aversion to thinking about monkeys kept 5d from my grasp. Love a pangram, just to admire it. Thanks to Crosophile and Quirister
Excellent puzzle.
Distracted by some “Scotsman” talk on Twitter yesterday, I DNF’d by putting
TAM+A+RINS[e](??) in at 5d. Oops.
INFER made me laugh.
Thx Crosophile and Quirister.
My third cryptic today and my favourite of the bunch — thanks Crosophile. I liked INFER, MACAQUES, MYSTERY, LINGERERS, and KNIGHTED. I missed JETTY. I never thought to look for a theme. Thanks Quirister for the blog.
Most enjoyable, although we didn’t spot the theme despite seeing ‘Charlie’. We did realise we were on course for a pangram which we completed with RELAXED, our LOI. We puzzled a bit over the parsing of FULL BACK as to retreat could be to fall back as well as to pull back but we sussed it in the end. And we originally had ‘thump’ for 11ac as a sort of &lit-ish clue as a thump when you drive over a hump might indicate a bit of trouble on the road; fortunately the MACAQUES put us right there. ACETYLENE, INFER and LINGERERS were among our favourites.
Thanks, Crosophile and Quirister.
Thanks for the blog, Quirister, and thanks for all the comments – about the nicest bunch of remarks I can remember and much appreciated.