A delightful Sunday puzzle from Italicus that slowly revealed its secret.
The secret being that the crossword has a ghost theme of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and subsequent novels, by Douglas Adams. I have read the first book, a long time ago, and I can certainly see a number of references. The one that gave it away was FORTY-TWO, the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, found by the super-computer DEEP THOUGHT. GALAXY makes an appearance at 2dn; the last remaining human, Arthur DENT is also there; as is Marvin the Paranoid ANDROID. PUTTY and ARMPIT are to be found in Ode To A Small Lump of Green Putty I Found In My Armpit One Midsummer Morning. MOSTLY HARMLESS is part of the series, as is So Long and Thanks for All the FISH. And Dirk GENTLY was also written by Adams. I’m sure there are more, which aficionados can point us to in the comments section. A fun puzzle, where a lack of knowledge of the theme would have been no hindrance to solving it.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Famous figure playing games with sailor
MEGASTAR
A charade of (GAMES)* and TAR. The anagrind is ‘playing’.
5 Prime explosives and mine cavity
ARMPIT
A charade of ARM and PIT for what, were I to lapse into my given dialect, I would call an oxter.
9 Drunk embracing heartless lass rocks biannual event
SOLSTICE
An insertion of LS for L[AS]S in SOT, followed by ICE. ‘On the rocks’ refers to serving an alcoholic beverage with ice, so I suppose at a pinch you could describe the ICE as ‘rocks’.
10 A revolutionary painting is call to arms
ALARUM
A charade of A and MURAL reversed (‘revolutionary’).
12 10p, say, essentially deducted after large university revel
LUXURIATE
A charade of L, U and URI[N]ATE. You need to read the ‘p’ as meaning URINATE and ‘essentially deducted’ is inviting you to remove the central letter.
13 It may be thrown in dryer
TOWEL
A dd. Referring to the expression ‘to throw in the towel’.
14 Extremely meaningful covers of dance record
DEEP
A charade of DE for the outer letters of ‘dance’ and EP.
16 Believed ruffian about hotel bar
THOUGHT
An insertion of H for the phonetic alphabet ‘hotel’ in TOUGH, followed by T. For T-bar.
19 Article physician regularly copied is like a robot?
ANDROID
A charade of AN, DR and cOpIeD.
21 Louche airmen abandoned swimmer
FISH
[RAF]FISH
24 Mother meets copper outside a popular gambling centre
MACAU
A charade of MA and A inserted into CU. The insertion indicator is ‘outside’.
25 Spooner’s model relative gets microscopic part
NOSEPIECE
A Spoonerism of POSE NIECE. My Collins has:
nosepiece (n) the end of a microscope tube carrying the objective
27 Require shape-shifting alien to hide truth, initially
ENTAIL
An insertion of T for the initial letter of ‘truth’ in (ALIEN)* The anagrind is ‘shape-shifting’ and the insertion indicator is ‘to hide’.
28 Newspaper defends Tory struggling with old age?
FORTY-TWO
An insertion of (TORY)* in FT for the pink’un followed by W and O. The insertion indicator is ‘defends’. FORTY-TWO is certainly an ‘age’; but of course it’s also the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
29 Psychiatrist‘s contract
SHRINK
A dd.
30 Tearful daughters crossing river in middle of storm
DEWY-EYED
A double insertion: of the river WYE in EYE (the ‘middle of storm’), and all that in DD for two ‘daughters’. The two insertion indicators are ‘crossing’ and ‘in’.
Down
1 Second line written in pen predominantly
MOSTLY
A charade of MO for ‘moment’ or ‘second’ and L inserted into STY. The insertion indicator is ‘written in’.
2 Happy to welcome easy-going host
GALAXY
An insertion of LAX in GAY. The insertion indicator is ‘to welcome’.
3 Somewhat dreary task upset lecherous fellow
SATYR
Hidden reversed (‘upset’) in dreaRY TASk.
4 Gaslight a politician supporting Catholic in Alabama
ARC LAMP
An insertion of RC in AL, all ‘supported’ (since it’s a down clue) by A MP.
6 Joy’s crushed by Romeo having intercourse
RELATIONS
A charade of R for more phonetic alphabet and ELATIONS. ‘Crushed’ suggests that the R needs to go on top of the ELATIONS.
Elderly man, to wife: Do we still have sexual relations?
Wife: Well, yes, dear … sometimes.
Man: Why do they never come to see us, then?
7 Meat suppliers receiving telegram about headgear
PERIWIGS
An insertion of WIRE reversed in PIGS. The reversal indicator is ‘about’; the insertion indicator is ‘receiving’.
8 Model discovered fate in place of worship
TEMPLATE
An insertion of [F]AT[E] in TEMPLE. You have to read ‘discovered’ as ‘uncovered’ to get to AT, and the insertion indicator is ‘in’.
11 Gag son aboard plane
JEST
An insertion of S in JET. The insertion indicator is ‘aboard’.
15 Oscar popped in to unveil outlandish theory
EVOLUTION
An insertion of another letter of the phonetic alphabet, O, in (TO UNVEIL)* The anagrind is ‘outlandish’; the insertion indicator is ‘popped in’.
17 Innocent prince endlessly entertaining queen on ship
HARMLESS
An insertion of R for Regina or ‘queen’ in HAMLE[T] followed by SS. The ‘on’ is simply a placement indicator rather than the usual instruction to place something inside SS.
18 Teacher read out moving letters about Charlie
EDUCATOR
We’ll have run out of phonetic alphabet letters soon. Here it’s C for ‘Charlie’ inserted into (READ OUT)* The anagrind is ‘moving letters’; the insertion indicator is ‘about’.
20 Study base of object for superficial damage
DENT
A charade of DEN and T for the last letter of ‘object’.
21 Sporting association covers second pitch? Cunning move!
FAST ONE
A charade of FA for the guardians of the beautiful game, S and TONE in its musical sense. ‘Covers’, since it’s a down clue, is just an instruction to put the FA on top of the STONE.
22 Gradually landowning class swaps sides
GENTLY
Italicus is inviting you to replace the R in GENTRY with L.
23 Most of county setter originally described as destitute
DEVOID
A charade of DEVO[N], I for ‘the setter’ and D for the initial letter of ‘described’.
26 Sealant placed on borders of tapestry
PUTTY
A charade of PUT and TY for the outside letters of ‘tapestry’.
Many thanks to Italicus for this Sunday’s puzzle.
Enjoyed. Completed at a leisurely pace oblivious to the theme. The blog tidied up the parsing (forty-two, raffish – I thought ‘fishy’ but then I had the ‘y’). LUXURIATE and ARMPIT both funny. I thought of ICE as diamond rocks. Just the right level for a lazy Sunday. Ta.
The ‘diamond’ interpretation of ICE for ‘rocks’ is no doubt what Italicus had in mind, rookie. Thanks for that.
You can’t be a hoopy frood, Pierre, since you didn’t list TOWEL as thematic.
I am lots of things, Hovis, but definitely not one of those. If I knew what it was, I could even tell you whether I would like to be one.
Just as well a knowledge of the novels penned by Mr Adams wasn’t essential although the inclusion of FORTY TWO should have rung a faint bell even with me!
Top clues here were ARMPIT, TOWEL and SHRINK.
Thanks to Italicus and to Pierre for the review, particularly the explanation of 25a which had left me wondering.
Must investigate hoopy froods – sounds ridiculous!
Funnily enough, I too clicked with FORTY-TWO. An odd number (well, an even one actually) to light upon other than to fill a particularly difficult spot or with Adams in mind. I spotted TOWEL which I’d already got but I don’t think I had thought of THOUGHT at that point. I stupidly put it down to a nice coincidence. Doh!
Particular favourites include: ARMPIT, ALARUM, THOUGHT, FISH, MOSTLY, TEMPLATE, HARMLESS and GENTLY. A very pleasant morning solve.
Thanks Italicus and Pierre
Fantastic thanks Italicus and mon Frere Pierre. Loved this as the theme appeared, right up my street.
As Pierre says, a fun puzzle, where a lack of knowledge of the theme would have been no hindrance to solving it. We solved it without knowing the theme but then a few entries, such as FORTY-TWO, DENT and GALAXY looked suspiciously familiar. We’re not into TH-HGTTG but have a nodding acquaintance with it, sufficient to convince us there was a theme.
Favourites were SOLSTICE and EVOLUTION.
Thanks, Italicus and Pierre.
A delightful puzzle. I was in a hurry this morning and solved without twigging the theme, unfortunately, but I’m so glad to see the tribute to Douglas Adams and glad I came here later.