Rodriguez’s latest puzzle provides us with our daily cruciverbal challenge today.
I found this to be quite a challenging and thoroughly enjoyable puzzle. I think that I have managed to solve and parse it correctly, although I would appreciation confirmation (or otherwise) of my explanation of 12.
My favourite clues today were 2 and 25, both for surface reading; and 23, for the misdirection around “wound”. The expression referenced at 13 was new to me, so thanks, Rodriguez, for plugging another gap in my vocabulary and general knowledge.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 09 | NEW GUINEA | Island city rejected old money
NEW (WEN=city, as in the great wen for London; “rejected” indicates reversal) + GUINEA (=old money) |
| 10 | ADIEU | Item getting rolled gold on the outside is so long
DIE (=item getting rolled) in AU (=gold, i.e. chemical symbol) |
| 11 | EGYPT | State of discomfort accepted by otherworldly figure
GYP (=discomfort, pain) in E.T. (=otherworldly figure, as in Spielberg film) |
| 12 | REGICIDAL | Wasting sovereign and coppers on serving man wearing Spanish outfit
[GI (=serving man, in US army) + CID (=coppers, i.e. Criminal Investigation Department)] in REAL (=Spanish outfit, i.e. Real Madrid); the “wasting” of the definition refers to “killing” a king |
| 13 | NODDING | No good drinking rum, cool like Homer 1 Down?
[ODD (=rum, strange) + IN (=cool, trendy)] in NG (=no good); the reference is to the expression even Homer nods, from Horace via Dryden, i.e. even the most attentive person’s concentration can lapse, hence “like Homer once in a blue moon (=entry at 1D)” |
| 15 | PHALLIC | Image captures prince left looking like a plonker
[HAL (=Prince, i.e. the young Henry V) + L (=left)] in PIC (=image); plonker is a slang word for the penis, hence “phallic” |
| 16 | BACK TO SQUARE ONE | Second old conservative admitted to feeling we’re making no progress
BACK (=second, support) + {[O (=old, as in OT) + SQUARE (=conservative, orthodox)] in TONE (=feeling, air)} |
| 19 | UNARMED | Perhaps not dangerous, or safe in the East End
UN(H)ARMED (=safe, in the East End of London, i.e. with the aitch dropped) |
| 21 | SIBERIA | Southern peninsula is a notoriously chilly place
S (=southern) + IBERIA (=peninsula) |
| 23 | MEANDERED | Doctor named drug, having inflamed wound
*(NAMED) + E (=drug, i.e. Ecstasy) + RED (=inflamed); “doctor (=adulterate)” is anagram indicator; meandered is wound its way, twisted, of river |
| 24 | OBELI | Ancient Gaul’s cut by daggers
OBELI<x> (=ancient Gaul, in the Asterix series); “cut” means last letter is dropped; obeli are dagger marks in printing |
| 25 | OVERT | Plain with nothing green in Quebec, perhaps
O (=nothing) + VERT (=green in Quebec, i.e. in French) |
| 26 | ISLINGTON | Working in gilts with working capital, partly
*(IN GILTS) + ON (=working, of machine); “working” is anagram indicator; Islington is one of the boroughs of London, hence “capital, partly” |
| Down | ||
| 01 | ONCE IN A BLUE MOON | Rarely dancing on ice with an Elvis number?
*(ON ICE + AN) + BLUE MOON (=Elvis number, in 1954); “dancing” is anagram indicator |
| 02 | SWAYED | Did rock and roll material, by the sound of it
Homophone (“by the sound of it”) of “suede (=material, cloth)” |
| 03 | RUNT | Maybe GI initially dropping bit of litter
<g>RUNT (=maybe GI, i.e. low-ranking soldier); ”initially dropping” means first letter is dropped |
| 04 | INERT GAS | Angriest when provoked, one won’t react and isn’t noble
*(ANGRIEST); “when provoked” is anagram indicator; noble gases can undergo chemical reactions, whereas inert gases cannot |
| 05 | HANG-UP | Chinese dog flips, displaying neurosis
HAN (=Chinese) + GUP (PUG=dog; “flips” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 06 | CATCH A CRAB | Arrest Charlie, poking e.g. Saudi in row improperly
CATCH (=arrest) + [C (=Charlie, in radio telecommunications) in ARAB (=e.g. Saudi)]; to catch a crab is to sink the oar too deeply (or not enough) and thus fall back, hence “row improperly” |
| 07 | VINDALOO | In France, plonk date on potato dish from India
VIN (=in France plonk, i.e. wine) + D (=date) + ALOO (=potato, in Indian cookery) |
| 08 | PUBLIC RELATIONS | Bar’s saving pounds in charge account for promotional activity
[L (=pounds, as in LSD) + I/C (=in charge) + RELATION (=account, description)] in PUB’S (=bar’s) |
| 14 | INTIMIDATE | Cow, one I see eating wild mint
*(MINT) in [I (=one) + I + DATE (=see, go out with)]; “wild” is anagram indicator |
| 17 | CHARADES | Sega ultimately crashed, playing game
*(<seg>A + CRASHED); “ultimately” means last letter only is used in anagram, indicated by “playing” |
| 18 | UNSADDLE | Take seat from empty, unclean Sierra and go off
U<nclea>N (“empty” means all but first and last letters are dropped) + S (=Sierra, in radio telecommunications) + ADDLE (=go off, turn rotten); the “seat” in question is a saddle on a horse |
| 20 | DERAIL | Frustrate artist plugging song the wrong way
RA (=artist, i.e. Royal Academician) in DEIL (LIED=song; “the wrong way” indicates reversal) |
| 22 | ROESTI | Vermouth’s knocked back after caviare? It’s on the menu in Switzerland
ROE (=caviare) + STI (IT’S=Vermouth’s; “knocked back” indicates reversal); a roesti is a Swiss dish of grated potatoes shaped into a pancake and fried |
| 24 | OINK | E.g. Napoleon’s comment suggesting why tattoo is impossible
If there is “0 (=zero) ink”, then a tattoo is impossible; the “Napoleon” of the definition refers to the dominant pig in George Orwell’s Animal Farm |
12 REGICIDE:
I parsed it the same way, RR! I feel satisfied. No loose ends.
INERT GAS:
Actually, noble gases are inert gases. Is there an error in the clue or is there an alternative explanation that we are missing?
Thanks both. My favourite here OINK whereby I knew the Animal Farm connection, though ironically I did not know grunt, as the source for RUNT, and too many others to list. I know Blue Moon but not as an Elvis song, which predates me, but I guess it gets played very occasionally (see what I did there?)
Noble gasses are inert but not all inert gasses are Noble ones…
Challenging and thoroughly enjoyable sums this crossword up very nicely
Thanks to Rodriguez and RR
Can’t remember the last time I came to the blog in search of so many parsings so many thanks for setting me straight, RR. Must remember not to use the only definition of ‘plonker’ that I’ve ever been aware of in the past!
Thanks to Rodriguez for the challenge which I obviously failed on so many counts and thanks again to RR for his helpful review.
What crypticsue said – but I can’t resist naming my favourites: ADIEU, EGYPT and MEANDER (all for the definitions), NODDING and ONCE IN A BLUE MOON (for the association), CATCH A CRAB, VINDALOO, UNSADDLE and INTIMIDATE (for the construction) and PHALLIC and OINK( because they made me laugh) Great surfaces all round.
Many thanks to Rodriguez for the fun and RR for a great blog.
Flashling @4 so the clue should read ‘isn’t necessarily Noble’ presumably
Had to flash through an amount of this using reveal but OINK gave me a chuckle. Toughie.
Thanks both.
Challenging and enjoyable. Oink, oink, Don’t understand ‘its’ for Vermouth. Thanks.
Hi rookie @10
Re 22dn – It =Vermouth: see here: https://www.lostsaloon.com/mixology/gin-and-it-the-recipe-for-a-gin-and-italian-drink/
It crops up quite often, so worth filing away. Cheers. 🙂
rookie@10: I’ve no idea why but vermouth is frequently referred to as ‘it’ – as in ‘gin and it’. Not that it’s in our ‘repertoire’ of drinks, anyway.
Eileen@11: Sorry, we crossed!
Anyway we enjoyed this puzzle including the bit of naughtiness at 15ac. We particularly liked ADIEU, OBELI, RUNT and OINK.
Thanks, Rodriguez and RatkojaRiku.
Vermouth: Italian sweet french dry, hence gin and it and gin and french. I probably have not added anything interesting to Eileen’s explanation, but my mother drank them.
Thanks for the response. Filed.
I read INERT GAS as a word for one that won’t react that isn’t noble. Otherwise what Eileen said.
Hmm strange. I found this very easy. The only one I was unable to parse was ROESTI but guessed it.
Late to comment but just wanted to thank Rodriguez for a very enjoyable puzzle – challenging but satisfying! 1d ONCE IN A BLUE MOON was my favourite but I could have done a list similar to Eileen’s as there were so many others I liked. A few of my solutions were only partially parsed, so I really appreciated the blog from RatkojaRiku – thank you.