An excellent challenge from NEO this Friday.
FF: 9 DD: 8
I was really saddened to read yesterday that Alberich is no longer with us. Really loved tussling with his puzzles. A huge loss to the Crossword fraternity.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PARSEC |
Some measurement taken from copper-covered seat (6)
|
| ARSE ( seat ) in PC ( copper ) | ||
| 5 | PIT STOPS |
Worst and best locations to pause excursion? (3,5)
|
| PITS ( worst ) TOPS ( best ) | ||
| 9 | SKINHEAD |
Aggressive sort had Nikes made specially (8)
|
| [ HAD NIKES ]* | ||
| 10 | TURTLE |
Time to race along – hard going for swimmer (6)
|
| T ( time ) hURTLE ( race along, without H – hard ) | ||
| 11 | ARTHUR |
Unearth urn that contains legendary figure (6)
|
| hidden in “uneARTH URn..” | ||
| 12 | ORIENTAL |
Gold cases for instance not all from China? (8)
|
| OR ( gold ) IE NT AL ( cases i.e. end characters of “..InstancE NoT AlL..” ) | ||
| 14 | STEAK TARTARE |
Ask at retreat to get cooked dish (5,7)
|
| [ ASK AT RETREAT ]* | ||
| 18 | ALL SYSTEMS GO |
Partner having succeeded in checks, leave everything ready (3,7,2)
|
| [ ALLY ( partner ) containing S ( succeeded ) ] STEMS ( checks ) GO ( leave ) | ||
| 22 | WELL-TO-DO |
Rightly awaiting execution, but comfortable (4-2-2)
|
| WELL ( rightly ) TO-DO ( awaiting execution ) | ||
| 25 | INHUME |
Bury is brutal and virtually obliterated (6)
|
| INHUManE ( brutal, without ANd virtually i.e. nearly all the letters ) | ||
| 26 | AMORAL |
Lacking ethical sense, sent back large bouquet (6)
|
| reverse of L ( large ) AROMA ( bouquet ) | ||
| 27 | ICEBOUND |
Going towards frozen water, or stuck in it? (8)
|
| ICE ( frozen water ) BOUND ( ~ going towards ) | ||
| 28 | UNBEATEN |
Bachelor, inside left, winner always (8)
|
| B ( bachelor ) in UNEATEN ( left ) | ||
| 29 | THEIST |
One advocating belief in article first? (6)
|
| THE ( article ) IST ( 1st , first ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ANKARA |
An artist embodies attendant spirit in Turkish city (6)
|
| [ AN RA ( artist ) ] containing KA ( attendant spirit ) | ||
| 3 | SYNTHESIS |
Occasionally saying academic work becomes pastiche? (9)
|
| SYN ( SaYiNg, occasionally ) THESIS ( academic work ) | ||
| 4 | CHEERLESS |
Miserable chap tucking into toast (9)
|
| LES ( chap ) in CHEERS ( toast ) | ||
| 5 | PADLOCK |
Security measure in flat on Strand (7)
|
| PAD ( flat ) LOCK ( strand ) | ||
| 6 | TUTSI |
Rwandan king of old is on the rise (5)
|
| TUT ( kind of old ) SI ( IS, reversed ) | ||
| 7 | TURIN |
Go round one base for carmakers (5)
|
| TURN ( go ) around I ( one ) | ||
| 8 | PELLAGRA |
Topless time at Indian city causes itching (8)
|
| sPELL ( time, without first letter ) AGRA ( indian city ) | ||
| 13 | EAR |
Musical talent demands attention (3)
|
| double def | ||
| 15 | ABSTINENT |
Not taking booze away – can stored inside (9)
|
| TIN ( can ) in ABSENT ( away ) | ||
| 16 | TOOTHSOME |
Neo thinks about hot bananas thus being tasty (9)
|
| [ TO ME ( ~neo thinks about ) ] around { [ HOT ]* SO ( thus ) } – i am iffy about this parsing so any help is welcome. | ||
| 17 | ALDERMAN |
Tree feller an elected council member (8)
|
| ALDER ( tree ) MAN ( feller ) | ||
| 19 | YET |
Mythical creature one’s not seen at this time (3)
|
| YETi ( mythical creature, without I – one ) | ||
| 20 | ETONIAN |
Johnson’s rising importance in surrounding area? (7)
|
| ETON ( importance = NOTE, reversed ) [ IN around A ( area ) ] | ||
| 21 | AMENDS |
What happens at midday makes improvements? (6)
|
| cryptic def; read as AM ENDS ( what happens at midday ) | ||
| 23 | LARGE |
Good to stop real rampaging mammoth (5)
|
| G ( good ) in [ REAL ]* | ||
| 24 | OWLET |
Anything covering wings of little bird? (5)
|
| OWT ( anything ) covering LE ( LittlE, wings i.e. end letters ) |
Yes, very enjoyable. 5d is PADLOCK surely?
And 5a is pits stops?
Sorry pits + tops = pit stops!
Thanks to Setter for satisfactory puzzle and to blogger. I agree with both Rachel@2 and Steven@1. PADLOCK as security measure and PITS plus TOPS for worst and best.
The usual fun challenge from Neo. Thanks to him and Turbolegs
Quite enjoyable. I didn’t get ETONIAN. In 18a, surprised that “succeeded” could be “s”. I had MENTAGRA for 8d (“mo” missing from “moment”), which seems to have more to do with skin and itching than pellagra. As a result I floundered with 5a. The parsing of TOOTHSOME is a bit weird.
Steven@1 and Rachel@2,
Thanks for the corrections. Done now. Apologies for a less than ordinary effort on the blog.
Regards,
TL
Geoff @6, One of the symptoms of pellagra is scaly skin which would probably be itchy. I did not get ETONIAN as I thought the Johnson was some slang usage! Thus I also failed on ICEBOUND as I was trying to fit “icore” in the middle! Some excellent mind benders. Thanks to Neo and Turbolegs.
Well, it was Neo thinks this clue is okay/ To me this clue is okay. That is my attempt at proving the equivalence. Thanks TL and thanks all.
Also saddened to hear of the passing of Neil. Didn’t really know the man, but knew for sure he was a fantastic crossword compiler.
Hmm, I was thinking along similar lines to John for a while … after all, there was PARSEC.
Really liked the misleading anagrind for STEAK TARTARE.
Entertaining and enjoyable with a couple of excellent ones in PARSEC and PIT STOPS to get things going. TOOTHSOME took a while to see, but Neo @9 has explained his reasoning which works for me. Now, when was the last time I heard that word in everyday conversation?
Favourite was PELLAGRA. Shows how educational popular culture can be; two different effects of the disease that I’ve learnt from two non-academic sources over sixty years apart. Not only does it make you “scrawny”, today I’ve learnt it ’causes itching’ as well.
Very sad to hear of the death of Alberich/Klingsor. Always top quality puzzles and a very helpful website.
Thanks to Neo and Turbolegs
I will try TOOTHSOME on the Indian restaurant a bit later.
‘Can I please have your most toothsome murgh masala please chef?’
‘I’m not entirely sure sir. Can you?’
Thanks Neo for a nicely crafted crossword. I enjoyed PIT STOPS, AMORAL, UNBEATEN, PADLOCK (liked the use of Strand), TUTSI, and ETONIAN. I couldn’t fully parse PARSEC (I got stuck on copper=cu) and TOOTHSOME and I needed a look-up for INHUME, an unfamiliar word to me. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
Thanks Neo and turbolegs, a very enjoyable grid.
Thanks Neo and Turbolegs
A fun solve with the cheeky ARSE at 1a to start things off ! Some other clever stuff as in PITS TOPS. ‘partner having succeeded’ to generate ALL-S-Y and the ‘cooked dish’ which wasn’t cooked at all.
Wasn’t able to parse TOOTHSOME apart from the mixed HOT – maybe if I had of looked a bit harder for the ‘thus’ may have helped.
Had not seen INHUME before and it also took a while to understand the word play. It was the third to last to go in, followed by UNBEATEN (nice definition for the answer and the UNEATEN part) with ETONIAN (which I used a word finder to get options, saw the parsing and then worked out where Boris must have been schooled).
‘Partner having succeeded in‘.
😀
A Rwandan king is also called an mwami. Which for after I got oriental. And knowing this random fact ruined me in the upper right even though I knew the cryptic clue could not create mwami! The trials of a newcomer I suppose.