A slightly tricky puzzle from Wiglaf today.
The trickiness comes from a few obscure references (particularly in 19d), an odd construction in 18d, and a dubious abbreviation in 15d. However, there’s plenty to enjoy: ingenious long anagrams (especially 14a and 9d), the range-of-letters trick in 1a, and the multi-layered 6a. I also liked 5d for the misleading definition, and 20d for the misdirection of “sings bass”. Thanks Wiglaf for the challenge.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CHEPSTOW |
Five characters evidently following revolutionary piano course (8)
|
| S TO W (the five characters S T U V W in alphabetical order, or “S through W” in US usage), after CHE (Che Guevara, Argentine revolutionary) + P (p = piano = musical term for quiet).
Course = racecourse, in this case the one at Chepstow in Monmouthshire. |
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| 6 | TINA |
“The lady ain’t for turning” – the initial form of Thatcher’s mantra (4)
|
| Two definitions and an anagram. A woman’s name; anagram (for turning) of AIN’T; or Margaret Thatcher’s phrase “there is no alternative”, often abbreviated to its initials as TINA. The first five words could be a variant of another Thatcher phrase “the lady’s not for turning” (meaning she wouldn’t reverse an unpopular policy decision); and perhaps the clue also gives us a pun on the name of the singer Tina Turner, if this Tina ain’t for turning? | ||
| 10 | PAROLEE |
One conditionally released gets a job in gym (7)
|
| A ROLE (a job) in PE (physical education = gym).
Parolee = someone released early from a prison term on the condition that they follow a set of rules. |
||
| 11 | ROOIBOS |
Native Australians overcoming fetish about bush tea (7)
|
| ROOS (short for kangaroos = animals native to Australia), containing (overcoming) OBI (also obeah = a fetish or charm associated with African slaves in the West Indies) reversed (about).
Otherwise known as redbush = a herbal tea. |
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| 12 | USHER |
Escort drug dealer out of Portugal (5)
|
| [p]USHER (slang for a drug dealer) without the P (abbreviation for Portugal).
Escort, as a verb = usher = take someone to their assigned place. |
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| 13 | MISINFORM |
50% of girls in class give incorrect responses (9)
|
| The first 50% of MIS[ses] (a somewhat old-fashioned word for girls) + IN + FORM (class, as in “sixth form”). | ||
| 14 | MR TAMBOURINE MAN |
Old hit number I am performing with matron (2,10,3)
|
| Anagram (performing) of NUMBER I AM with MATRON.
1965 hit song by Bob Dylan. |
||
| 17 | THE MANSION HOUSE |
Ominous heathens demolished residence of London dignitary (3,7,5)
|
| Anagram (demolished) of OMINOUS HEATHENS.
The official residence of the Lord Mayor of London. |
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| 20 | BIG CHEESE |
Somebody‘s providing ample food (3,6)
|
| BIG (ample; both can be euphemisms for “overweight”) + CHEESE (food).
Somebody = big cheese = slang for an important person. |
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| 22 | DWARF |
Happy, perhaps, and content to read war fiction (5)
|
| Hidden answer (content to . . . = part of the contents of . . .) in [rea]D WAR F[iction].
One of the Seven Dwarfs in Disney’s version of the Snow White story: Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey. |
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| 23 | OVERRAN |
Raver, rattling on outside, went on too long (7)
|
| Anagram (rattling) of RAVER, with ON outside it. | ||
| 24 | IMMORAL |
Never to be forgotten with the passing of time? Wrong (7)
|
| IMMOR[t]AL (in the metaphorical sense of enduring and well-known = never to be forgotten), without the T (time). | ||
| 25 | KNOB |
Boss has mate round (4)
|
| BONK (slang for mate, as a verb = copulate) reversed (round).
Boss = knob = a stud projecting from a surface. |
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| 26 | SINISTER |
Left home to visit relative (8)
|
| IN (home = at home, for example “I’ll be in all day”) inserted into (to visit) SISTER (relative).
Latin for “left” as opposed to right (dexter); used in heraldry for the left side of a shield, but from the point of view of the person carrying it rather than the observer. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | HARD HAT |
Firm that originally rejected protective cover (4,3)
|
| HARD (firm = unyielding) + [t]HAT with its first letter (origin) rejected.
A protective hat used in workplaces such as construction sites. |
||
| 3 | PILGRIM FATHERS |
Separatists spout about forbidding pop music essentially (7,7)
|
| LIP (spout, as in a jug) reversed (about), then GRIM (forbidding = frightening or unwelcoming) + FATHER (pop = short name for father) + middle letter (essentially) of [mu]S[ic].
Group who settled in North America after separating from the established church in England (hence called Separatists). |
||
| 4 | THERMIONS |
His mentor scattered particles in vacuum tubes? (9)
|
| Anagram (scattered) of HIS MENTOR.
Charged particles emitted from a heated electrode, typically electrons emitted from the element in a vacuum tube. |
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| 5 | WARDS |
Beginning to rake in loads of money in minor charges (5)
|
| Beginning letter of R[ake] in WADS (slang for large quantities of banknotes = loads of money).
Ward = a child or young person (minor) in the charge of another, for example a “ward of court”. |
||
| 7 | IN BLOOM |
During economic upswing nurses primarily lost out (2,5)
|
| IN BOOM (during economic upswing), containing (nursing) the first letter (primarily) of L[ost].
In bloom = out = (of a plant) flowering: “The roses aren’t out yet, it’s too cold”. |
||
| 8 | ASSAM |
After metamorphosis, Samsa leaves (5)
|
| Anagram (after metamorphosis) of SAMSA. The surface refers to Gregor Samsa, the main character in Kafka’s novel Metamorphosis.
A variety of tea (leaves) from India. |
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| 9 | DOWN IN THE DUMPS |
Despondent men didn’t show up at work (4,2,3,5)
|
| Anagram (at work) of MEN DIDN’T SHOW UP.
Down in the dumps = slang for depressed or unhappy = despondent. |
||
| 10 | PLUMMET |
Satisfied with fruit drop (7)
|
| MET (satisfied, as in “it met the requirements”) after PLUM (a fruit). “With” doesn’t specify the order of the two elements, but the wordplay is simple enough.
Plummet = quickly fall a long way = drop. |
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| 15 | RHODESIAN |
Historical African island, one to the north of Angola (9)
|
| RHODES (Greek island) + I (one in Roman numerals) + AN (which might have been used as an abbreviation for Angola in some contexts, but AO seems to be the standard according to ISO 3166; AN can also be an abbreviation for the Netherlands Antilles islands).
Someone from the African country that was known as Rhodesia before it became Zimbabwe in 1980. |
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| 16 | NEEDFUL |
Oral massage perfect, but not entirely necessary (7)
|
| Homophone (oral) of KNEAD (massage), then FUL[l] (perfect) without its last letter (not entirely). | ||
| 18 | EL GRECO |
Composer ignored by a novelist and painter (2,5)
|
| ELG[a]R (the composer Edward Elgar) without the A (though “ignored by A” is an odd way to say that) + ECO (the Italian novelist Umberto Eco, known for The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum).
Renaissance painter (Domenikos Theotokopoulos), who was born in Greece but spent most of his working life in Spain, and was known by his nickname meaning “The Greek”. |
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| 19 | UP A TREE |
In difficult situation having finished active service? (2,1,4)
|
| UP (finished, as in “your time is up”) + A (abbreviation for active) + TREE (service = a tree similar to rowan, with the question mark indicating a definition by example). No, I’d never heard of it either, but Chambers Dictionary says so.
Up a tree = slang for in a difficult situation; perhaps from the traditional image of a cat that climbs a tree but then can’t get down. Also “up a gum-tree”. |
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| 20 | BJORK |
Northerner who sings bass given choice of court cards (5)
|
| B (musical abbreviation for a bass singer) + J OR K (abbreviations for two of the “court cards” in a deck of cards, so a choice of Jack or King).
Icelandic singer, so a “northerner”. |
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| 21 | ERNES |
Sea rangers regularly observed seabirds (5)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly observed) in [s]E[a] R[a]N[g]E[r]S.
Erne = a sea eagle. |
Very difficult for a rookie but the blog has explained it very well. I liked BJORK and the court cards; and KNOB as well. The anagrams were useful entry points. I noticed DWARF was hidden but it took me a while to catch on. Mr Tambourine Man was and is a favourite. Although written by Dylan it was a #1 hit for The Byrds.
Lovely stuff. The anagram for 9d is superb. I thought SINISTER was wonderfully succinct and liked the clueing for DWARF. More please!
Great, Wiglaf on top form
Not as hard as we’ve had from Wiglaf before, but I still didn’t get the ‘Thatcher’ reference at 6a, the reversed OBI at 11a or the relevance of ‘Samsa’ at 8d. I can’t pretend I knew much about THERMIONS either. If anything though this added to the enjoyment as well as challenge of the puzzle.
Favourite was BJORK. I thought this might be an ABBA reference until the crossing KNOB gave the final K.
Thanks to Wiglaf and Quirister
Thanks Wiglaf and Quirister.
I enjoyed this in spite of time constraints forcing a few reveals. Looking forward to the next encounter. (But didn’t like a=’active’ in UP A TREE – don’t get that (and ‘service’ was a nho but hey-ho)).
Thanks Quirister and Wiglaf.
Had unparsed CHAPATIS for course, do didn’t get WARDS as well.
I still don’t get what “evidently” is doing in 1a.
ilippu @6: yes, I meant to say in the blog (but forgot) that I didn’t think “evidently” added anything in 1a.
Rather than wrestle with Paul in the G I thought I’d I give Wiglaf a shot. I think I went from the frying pan into the fire! I eventually revealed the last half dozen answers because I hit a brick wall. Still, I had some good moments with clues like THE MANSION HOUSE (great anagram), SINISTER, and PLUMMET. Thanks to both.
Made slow progress on this and got stuck about halfway through. Came back to it after my evening meal and eventually finished. Never heard of ROOIBOS but worked it out from the word play and then checked in Chambers.
I once sat next to Bjork in Huddersfield at a film show about Stockhausen.
I really liked this. So many great clues including TINA, DWARF, SINISTER, BJORK and the three silky smooth anagrams at 14, 17 and 9.
Thanks Wiglaf & Quirister