Radian is occupying the Tuesday slot today, where is where I normally come across his work.
I found this to be a highly enjoyable puzzle, which didn’t reveal itself to me easily. However, I do think that I got there in the end, and I think that I have managed to parse everything successfully.
14D was new to me, as was 11 in this particular sense. My favourite clues today were 14A, 22D, 23D and 24, all for smoothness of surface; and 1, for originality.
Tuesday is theme day, but I am rather stumped today. I look forward to hearing from others what it is that I have missed.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 09 | ONION DOME | After about twice touring one, fix Middle East vault
[I (=one) in ON ON (=about, concerning); “twice” means x2)] + DO (=fix, sort out) + ME (=Middle-East); an onion dome is a bulb-shaped dome having a sharp point, typical of Eastern Orthodox architecture |
| 10 | OMAHA | Tomahawk’s helping US city
Hidden (“helping”, i.e. portion of) in “tOMAHAwk” |
| 11 | ABYSSAL | A Times girl’s heading back from the deepest sea
A + BY (=times, as in 6 x 3) + SSAL (LASS=girl; “heading back” indicates reversal); abyss can also refer to the depths of the sea |
| 12 | GATEWAY | Dined with lesbian perhaps outside entrance
[ATE (=dined) + W (=with)] in GAY (=lesbian perhaps) |
| 13 | SHARD | Split up, avoiding east London landmark
SHAR<e>D (=split up, divided); “avoiding east (=E)” means letter “e” is dropped |
| 14 | FLATTENED | Even pad at No 10’s given to top hack
FLAT (=pad, apartment) + TEN (=No 10) + ED. (=top hack, i.e. editor); even is level, flat, hence flattened |
| 16 | ALL OVER THE PLACE | Everywhere where fish sauce goes I left
ALL OVER THE PLA<i>CE (=where fish sauce goes; “I left” means letter “i” is dropped) |
| 19 | DINING CAR | Racket disturbed racing coach offering food
DIN (=racket) + *(RACING); “disturbed” is anagram indicator |
| 21 | PLANE | Flyer’s fifth design?
Cryptically, the fifth design would be Plan E, after Plan A, Plan B, etc |
| 22 | HOW IT IS | As things are, head office wags entertain one
HO (=head office) + [I (=one) in WITS (=wags, comedians)] |
| 23 | HEAD OFF | Leave instruction for execution?
The executioner might be told “head off (=off with his head)!” before beheading his victim! |
| 24 | SYRIA | State’s open society in retreat
AIRY (=open, spacious) + S (=society); “in retreat” indicates reversal |
| 25 | LEVANTINE | Large native flounders nearly new from eastern Med
L (=large, of sizes) + *(NATIVE) + NE<w>; “flounders” is anagram indicator; “nearly” means last letter is dropped |
| Down | ||
| 01 | NO MAN’S LAND | What happens in 1066, avoiding king’s disputed ground
(the) NO<r>MANS LAND (=what happens in 1066); “avoiding king (=R, i.e. rex)” means letter “r” is dropped |
| 02 | CITY HALL | Ring about Italian youth hostel where councillors meet
[IT (=Italian) + YH (=youth hostel)] in CALL (=ring, phone) |
| 03 | UNUSED | Remaining American’s in for it in team
UNITED (=team, as in Man U); “American’s (=US) in for it” means letters “us” replace “it” |
| 04 | GOAL | Aim to swap prison’s central characters
GAOL (=prison); “to swap central characters” means second and third letters change places |
| 05 | GEOGRAPHER | Traveller on old ship, say, upset about Henry’s mapmaker?
H (=Henry, in name of kings) in [GEOGRAPER (REP=traveller + ARGO (=old ship, in mythology) + E.G. (=say, for example); “upset” indicates vertical reversal] |
| 06 | FOOTSTEP | Pace of favourite’s excessively strong, on reflection
PET’S (=favourite’s) + TOO (=excessively) + F (=strong, i.e. forte, in music); “on reflection” indicates reversal |
| 07 | DARWIN | Beagle expert finally achieved a rare victory
<achieve>D (“finally” means last letter only) + A + R (=rare) + WIN (=victory); HMS Beagle was the vessel on which English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-82) sailed |
| 08 | NAVY | Service Yankee vehicle on way north
Y (=Yankee, in NATO alphabet) + VAN (=vehicle); “on the way north” indicates vertical reversal |
| 14 | FORECASTLE | Crew’s quarters for English man on board
FOR + E (=English) + CASTLE (=man on board, i.e. in chess); the forecastle is the forepart of a ship under the maindeck, where the crew’s quarters are located |
| 15 | DIESEL FUEL | Power supplier’s selfie ruined in combat
*(SELFIE) in DUEL (=combat); “ruined” is anagram indicator |
| 17 | VENETIAN | Italian city’s event organised by Scotsman
*(EVENT) + IAN (=Scotsman); “organised” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | ANATOLIA | Part of Turkey’s defence alliance, inter alia
NATO (=defence alliance) in ALIA; “inter” is used here to mean “between, among”, from Latin |
| 20 | NEWARK | Grass over opposite points in US city
[E + W (=opposite points, i.e. East and West)] in NARK (=grass, snout) |
| 21 | PLAINS | Shepherd in Alps plots to cover current grasslands
Here we have a definition and then two forms of wordplay: *(IN ALPS); “shepherd” is anagram indicator AND I (=current, in physics) in PLANS (=plots) |
| 22 | HOSE | Spray weed around start of spring
S<pring> (“start of” means first letter only) in HOE (=weed, as verb) |
| 23 | HOVE | Sailor’s raised in resort
“hove” is a nautical (=sailor’s) alternative to “heaved (=raised)”; Hove is a seaside resort in East Sussex |
Always nice to start the day with Radian and this was no exception
I think Tuesday is theme day and there did seem to be a lot of travelling but no Wilburys
But I aint going nowhere! Nice to see HOVE
Thanks Radian and RR
A relatively gentle outing for Radian, I thought, though I needed to come here for an explanation of 23D HOVE. FORECASTLE is more often spelled “fo’c’s’le” (in dictionaries at least, though I’m sure most would be challenged to put the apostrophes in the right place) and pronounced like “folks’ll”. Thanks Radian and RatkojaRiku.
Like copmus, I could only see mention of several geographical locations, but nothing to connect them (apart from GEOGRAPHER). I hope someone will be able to elucidate. I did wonder if there was any significance in NEWARK being defined as a US city – we have one about forty miles from here.
My favourites were NO MAN’S LAND, SHARD, UNUSED, GEOGRAPHER, ANATOLIA and PLAINS.
Many thanks to Radian for an enjoyable puzzle and RR for the blog.
Same favourites as Eileen above. I particularly enjoyed the double clueing of PLAINS: come up with two equally good clues, can’t decide between them so link them quite elegantly. Nice touch. NO MAN’S LAND is very witty and a great spot. I add HOVE to the list for its use of an unusual variant of the verb.
I did wonder, with the GEOGRAPHER and that scattering of locations whether ALL OVER THE PLACE is the theme (which would embrace both NEWARK’s, Eileen). Although there feels something significant about those four locations in the Eastern Med and the presence of ONION DOME which one might associate with any/all of them.
Thanks Radian and RR
Thx RR & R. 1d made me laugh more than it should have.
So many straws of ‘almost’ themes to be snatched at today . OMAHA, NAVY, PLANE…WW11? D-Day? Hmm, not enough links to be that. Radian does state that the puzzle is ALL OVER THE PLACE but despite the GEOGRAPHER I can’t see anything’s that locks it all in place.
Thanks to Radian and RR and to the person who unravels this Tuesday knot…please.
Apologies PostMark for the partial overlap.
Salad @7: no need. We were pretty much in synch in all respects!
Nice puzzle. I was thinking more of an architectural theme, but couldn’t get much beyond SHARD and CITY HALL
Could there be a travel theme? If it is your GOAL to HEAD OFF ALL OVER THE PLACE
by PLANE or ( DINING ) CAR. To the LEVANTINE or ANATOLIA. Go to NEWARK or see the SHARD etc. DARWIN already has, the NAVY took him and GEOGRAPHERS as well even unto the ABYSSAL. Might even have HOVE to in HOVE. PLAIN(S) to see, no?
Nice try nicbach @10 😀 PLAINS (GA), is of course, a place in its own right.
I’m fairly new here. Does Radian ever visit to clear things up?
Pleased to get this out with no reveals, and enjoyed some very shrp and whimsical cluing. Still no helpful ideas about a theme, though. Thank you Radian and RatkojaRiku.
@salad no I’ve never seen Radian post here in any of his guises. Thanks RR and Radian, I suspect the All over the Place(s) is the theme.