Rodriguez challenges the old grey matter today.
We found this pretty tough, but generally all fair with some interesting and original wordplay and definitions. We are a bit doubtful about the ‘bagel’ reference in 20d, but it didn’t prevent us from solving the clue, especially once we had the crossing letters.
We half expect a theme in Rodriguez puzzles, but we can’t see one here – unless we’re missing something.
RUFF (frilly neckwear) with TAUT (tight) outside
ME (this person) in A PEN (enclosure)
Hidden in (‘some’) mainstreAM MOvie
If you were to LOOK SNAPPY you might have achieved a fashionable appearance
FILL (satisfy) + 1P (one penny – ‘very little cash’)
GINGER (red) LorrY without the middle letters or ‘unloaded’
Naturists HAVE NOTHING (no clothing) ON
An anagram (‘drunk’) of CABIN BOY – one of our grandsons likes these but we’re happy with black Americanos!
LILO (inflatable bed) round or ‘punctured by’ E (English) + W (women)
ALL (everyone) vOCATION (calling) without or ‘expelling’ the ‘v’ (Victor)
J (first letter or ‘leader’ of Japan) IFFy (dubious) without the ‘y’ (yen)
ANNE (queen) round or ‘hugging’ EX (‘lover once’)
An anagram (‘pants’) of ITCHIEST
U (a homophone – ‘heard’ – of YOU) RUM (strange) + a reversal (‘about’) of IQ (intelligence) – a new word for us
A reversal (‘from the base’) of OR (soldiers) FA (nothing)
TAIL (follow) + a reversal (‘around’) of NIPS (tots, as in small shots of spirits)
WhAT SON (relative) without the ‘h’ (husband) – a reference to Sherlock Holmes’ (the ‘solver’) partner
LEG (‘on’, in cricket) ALE ALE (two beers) round or ‘drinking’ G (gallons)
A reversal (‘rising’) of NILE (river) PP (‘very gently’) after ZairE (first and last letters or ‘borders’)
THOUGH (still) + an anagram (‘awful’) of TOP + LICE (bloodsuckers) – a reference to the Secret Police in 1984 by George Orwell – the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair
LOVE (nothing) Y Y (a homophone – ‘we hear’ – of WISE) round DOVE (pacifist)
HAD (made) round or ‘swallowing’ E (ecstasy) + LINE (some coke – cocaine)
I + a reversal (‘over’) of LO (look) + AN and THE (two articles)
A reversal (‘up’) of SEMI (house) round or ‘pocketing’ A G (thousand pounds)
O (bagel – Rodriguez wants us to think of the shape of a bagel – is this a step too far?) + A FISH (salmon?)
The ‘deck’ is a pack of cards.
It’s a pangram.
Which I should have realised in order to complete URUMQI correctly.
I think ‘bagel’ is used in tennis – maybe elsewhere? – to signify a score of zero.
It’s a pangram, which I should have realised to complete URUMQI correctly.
I think ‘bagel’ is used to denote zero in tennis, in a score of 6-0 for example.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Oops. Not sure why I’ve posted twice. (Now thrice).
Thanks DP – we should have checked. It is there in Chambers.
An enjoyably challenging pangram -thanks very much to Rodriguez and B&J
Beaten by both ARUMQI and BABYCINO I’m afraid. Both nho and, although Rodriguez’s clueing is as clear and faultless as always, I couldn’t find my way to them. I have encountered the tennis bagel discussion before on 225 I think so was happy enough with that.
TRUFFAUT, GINGERLY, ALLOCATION, TAILSPIN, WATSON and IMAGES were my favourites today.
Thanks Rodriguez and B&J
I appreciate the solved grid ahead of the clues. A bouquet for B&J. Liked ‘babycino’ a lot, and ethicist’ as well as ‘look snappy’ but I researched another Blair for 8d and needed a couple of reveals. Thanks.
There was I, feeling smug about solving URUMQI early on, then ground to a complete halt. The heat is getting to me. Thanks anyway Rodriquez and B&J.
That was quite a challenge, but it all came together with some persistence to make for an enjoyable solve. I spluttered a bit when I found that 17a was a real (presumably recently manufactured) word, but it was fairly clued, and being on pangram alert helped me to get URUMQI, my last one in. Imho this is a step too far in terms of specialised knowledge for most solvers.
THOUGHT POLICE was top of the pile for me. A brilliant clue.
Many thanks to Rodriguez and to B&J.
Failed on WATSON, of all things. I had *A*SON, tried tatson with t[h]at for which, then gave up. Wooden spoon.
URUMQI was second in after TRUFFAUT, so can’t have been too hard. I like the LEG ZEPPELIN in the top right and thought TAILSPIN quite cute.
Thanks Rodriguez, B&J
I tracked down URUMQI early on otherwise i would have been gunning for the pangram
This shows the versatility of this setter
I loved WATSON
Thanks BJ and JB
Thanks both. The Blair reference was devious but I’m sure irresistible. Not entirely sure what ‘firstly’ is doing in OAFISH, unless it it simply A but will try to remember the bagel piece. I had ‘tenderly’ instead of GINGERLY for a while, acknowledging tender (fire engine)for ‘red lorry’ would involve some double duty, yet ginger has always been nearer to orange in my book, though I am aware of the euphemism in the world of hair colour
URUMQI was my last in too and solved (laboriously) via wordplay; it would have made that last Q a lot easier if I’d realised it completed the pangram, something I only saw afterwards.
I’ll join the praise for the puzzle in general and specifically for WATSON and ‘Blair’s enforcers’ for THOUGHT POLICE.
Thanks to Rodriguez and B&J
I object to strange items such as URUMQI and BABYCINO even in a pangram. Such entries ought not to be necessary, in my view.
I thought OAFISH a particularly bad clue with its redundant ‘firstly’ and use of an obscurity to denote the O. I can say I did not hear that expression once throughout the entire Wimbledon coverage this year.
A good writer this person, but not quite there for me.
I tried hard to find an alternative spelling of Xinjiang with gen at the end for intelligence, but no luck. I echo the praise for THOUGHT POLICE, and I liked TRUFFAUT. Thanks both.
Got off to a bad start by not knowing TRUFFAUT, URUMQI or the milky drink but redeemed myself elsewhere in the grid.
Favourite was WATSON followed by GINGERLY.
Thanks to Rodriguez and to B&J for sterling work on the review.
a) a bagel isn’t an obscurity, just as all the other things used to indicate O’s aren’t, like rings, discs, eggs, wheels, doughnuts, spectacles etc. There’s no need to refer to tennis, but if sportspeople can understand the reference it shouldn’t be beyond anyone here.
b) isn’t ‘firstly’ giving us the A?
I imagine the firstly is meant to give A, as secondly would give B, and thirdly C. Quite quickly, having performed the experiment, I was able to see how solvers might miss that. I imagine this, by the way, as A FISH seemed a little untidy to me for ‘salmon?’.
Bagels: I see no reason not to add this to the longish list of O indicators, although it might be a little new, and somewhat American, to be immediately obvious. Bagels can be too fresh, you see.
Failed on BABYCINO and URUMQI, both new to us. The former’s not in the vocabulary of our go to wordfinder/anagram solver; we obviously need a new one. And the best we could do for the latter was ‘Urummi’ with ‘mi’ for ‘intelligence’ as in MI5, MI6 etc.
We were fine with the rest. TRUFFAUT and ALLOCATION were our favourites.
Thanks, Rodriguez and B&J.
Thanks Rodriquez for the tougher-than-usual crossword. I hadn’t heard of URUMQI but the wordplay made it obvious. BABYCINO was also new but the crossings and anagram made it possible. My top choices were AMMO, ALLOCATION, and LOVEY-DOVEY. I didn’t know FA was nothing in AFRO so thanks B&J for filling in my parsing gaps.
I had heard of Urumqi, thanks to my Grandad. For reasons I have never understood, there was a game that involved creating a tower of stones and trying to knock it down by throwing more stones at it, and he used to call it something like “the Toupan of Urumchi” (spelling of both is a guess). I suspect he made it up himself.
Agree this was a pretty tough one, certainly harder than most of his recent Picaroon puzzles…
Thanks to R, B & J (I walked past BJ earlier today).
Spiffing puzzle.You wanna theme as well as a pangram
No satisfying some folk!
On yer JB!
Another superb puzzle from James