Vigo makes a welcome return for her occasional Indy slot.
Pretty gentle stuff I thought, no real head scratchers. Vigo often uses some sort of theme as a grid fill starter but I can’t see anything or other Nina this time
ACROSS
9. No noun in fancy lecture (5)
ORATE
Initially I tried O indicating no & RATE – to fancy but that doesn’t account for “noun” so it’s no N(oun) in OR(n)ATE
10. Morning Heather has no coffee (9)
AMERICANO
A.M. – morning & ERICA – heather & NO from the clue
11. Seasonal fare you will broadcast and record (4,3)
YULE LOG
YULE sounds like “you’ll” & LOG – record
12. Expressed hesitation entering exercise ground (7)
TERRAIN
ER- sound of hesitation inside TRAIN – exercise
13. Sets about turning around to keep moist (5)
BASTE
Hidden reversed in sETS ABout
15. Runner descending slope almost full pelt (3)
SKI
16. Agent in favour of facing unknowns (5)
PROXY
PRO – in favour of & X, Y maths unknowns
17. Affirmative answers the jury ultimately returns (3)
YES
FInal letters of answerS thE jurY reversed
19. Obnoxious person takes a shot with soft drink (4,3)
SODA POP
SOD – unpleasant person & A & POP – shot
20. Bounce backwards and forwards (3)
BOB
22. King leaving wicket destroyed more than once (5)
TWICE
K(ing) removed from a destoyed WIC(k)ET* . Similar trick to 14d
23. Uniform sporting tin star (3)
SUN
Sn – chem symbol, well SN anyway for TIN sporting U(niform)
24. Lawful boundary having mile removed for Conservative (5)
LICIT
M(ile) removed in LI(m)IT and replaced by C(onservative)
26. Dancing in opera outside (4-3)
OPEN-AIR
28. Characters Liberal setter disturbed (7)
LETTERS
L(iberal) & SETTER* disturbed
31. Trespassers stupidly sit under opening in roof (9)
INTRUDERS
[SIT UNDER R(oof)]* stupidly
32. Shortly dismissing head of team with waves (5)
CURLY
T(eam) removed from CUR(t)LY
DOWN
1. Twenty five pounds of phosphorous about to cover yard (4)
PONY
P chem symbol for Phosphorus & ON – about – on top of – covering – Y(ard)
2. US city unhappy about everything returning (6)
DALLAS
3. Wood trade agreement (4)
DEAL
4. Sailor up to no good creates explosion (4)
BANG
AB for sailor reversed & N(o) G(ood)
5. Left inept person initially moving marker? (4-3,3)
FELT-TIP PEN
[LEFT INEPT P(erson)]* moving
6. Perjurer perhaps to protest in retrospect (4)
LIAR
a reversal of RAIL = complain
7. Vault with Mexican food and bit of mescal into taxi (8)
CATACOMB
TACO – mexican food & a bit of M(escal) all inside CAB – taxi
8. Bloke in second part of The Shining regularly overcome by rapture (6)
JOHNNY
sHiNiNg alternate letters, regularly inside JOY – rapture, just shining as it’s the second word of “The Shining”
13. Oddly boozy young man (3)
BOY
14. Follow queens around without question (5)
ENSUE
No Q(uestion) in [(q)UENNS]* around
15. Teams on plane perhaps with time to find less congested path (4,6)
SIDE STREET
SIDES – teams & TREE – plane perhaps & T(ime)
16. Prop up ill-prepared boxing student (5)
PUPIL
Hidden in – boxed by – proP UP ILl-prepared
18. Argument about unfinished hat and shoe (8)
STILETTO
Most of TIL(e) – HAT inside SET-TO – argument
21. Club Bill returned (3)
BAT
22. Cheap American couple taking a while (3-3)
TWO-BIT
TWO – couple & a BIT – while
25. Wail about that woman’s fruit (6)
CHERRY
27. Join anonymous objection (4)
ABUT
A(nonymous) & BUT – objection.
28. US city with way to survive (4)
LAST
29. Riding gear and whip upended by knight (4)
TACK
CAT – whip reversed & K(night). I note in chess notation that Knight is N rather than K.
30. Baby cows regularly rejected protein (4)
SOYA
bAbY cOwS alternate letters reversed
“Here’s Johnny!” (To quote Jack Nicholson). This was my loi but my favourite.
This was light but great fun. A little hmm from me regarding 19a, which is an American term – both Collins and Chambers agree.
Many thanks to Vigo and to flashling..
Rabbit Dave @2. I also thought that about 19a. It seems, more and more, that American terms are appearing in cryptics without indications of such. And, indeed, for that matter, occasionally we get Australian or South African words. I’ve just learnt to accept them, assuming they appear in my Chambers at least. I sometimes wonder if any of the setters live in the US and are unaware that some terms are not UK English.
I think there’s an (unindicated) American literary theme
Thanks Vigo, a very enjoyable and not too taxing way to start Monday morning. I agree with Hovis on 8d – splendid clue.
And thanks for the blog as ever, flashling.
Some Americanisms need indicating more than others. I’d say SODA POP is well enough known over here not to need it. The OED includes a citation from The Listener from 1963, so it’s hardly a newcomer. Practically naturalised, in fact.
Thanks flashling, I had to scratch my head over a few of these and don’t think I have met this grid with its abundance of 3 letter words before but hats off to Vigo for clueing them individually which must have taken a while.
I wondered if SODA POP was a term used by a previous generation so thanks RabbitDave for putting me right.
Is “keep” doing double duty in 13A? (Only a v minor grumble though.)
I thought SUN in particular was a great clue for a short word, thanks Vigo.
Very gentle start to the week. I remember the two unknowns from ‘epoxy’ resin last week. I liked ‘pony’ and ‘stiletto’ once I found ‘set to’ in the Google dictionary. Solved, parsed, enjoyed.
I spent a while trying to get JOHNNY, but the rest went in reasonably smoothly. I also liked the DALLAS reference at 2d.
James @4 – if you don’t want to give anything away yet, that’s fine, but otherwise would you care to elaborate on the “(unindicated) American literary theme”. Just some American terminology (as discussed) or ? something else.
Thanks to Vigo and flashling
James should hint on …
Well done James@4 for spotting the names of characters from the novel which was made into the Francis Ford Coppolla film that gave some of the 80s ‘Brat Pack’ some of their earlier roles (Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez and Patrick Swayze among others). My younger daughter had been studying the book in her English lessons.
Thank you to flashing for the blog and to all who took the time to comment.
V
Aha! Thanks, Vigo – I’m guessing you mean this one – unfortunately, both book and film have completely passed me by! I shall put it on the list to get round to one day…
Sailed merrily through this without being remotely aware of the theme – probably because I’m not at all au fait with either the book or the film!
Joint favourites here were PONY & OPEN AIR.
Many thanks to Vigo, to flashling for the review and to James for pointing out where the idea had originated.
wordplodder @ 8, sorry, didn’t mean to be coy about it, I went out after commenting then when I got back from the blissfully cool supermarket the beans had been spilled, and then by the time I had cleaned up the mess in the car, Hoskins had already given a hint which I couldn’t better.
A brilliant example of elegantly simple clueing, IMHO. Brava. 8d was my favourite too.
I recently (re-?)learned the distinction between phosphorus and phosphorous. Which I shall no doubt forget again the next time I need not to.
We had no idea about the theme but what did it matter – it was a great puzzle! Not too difficult, either.
Thanks, Vigo and flashling.
Nice and easy, an enjoyable one for a hot day! As so often I still don’t know what the theme is even after it’s been explained (what book, what film?) but no matter – it’s much better for my mood if I just ignore the obscure themes and even more obscure hints!