An easier-than-usual offering from GOLIATH this Friday. Thanks to setter for the tussle.
I wonder if there is a typo in a clue or if i am missing something else in that clue. I thought some clues could have been more cryptic than they were.
FF: 9 DD: 7
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WORLD WIDE WEB |
Global network evolving wild breed? Wow! (5,4,3)
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[ WILD BREED WOW ]* |
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| 10, 11 | AMONGST FRIENDS |
In compensation, frog isn’t mutating in a safe environment (7,7)
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[ FROG ISNT ]* in AMENDS ( compensation ) |
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| 12 | TOAST |
For he’s a jolly good fellow! Cheers! (5)
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cryptic def? |
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| 13 | PASTRAMI |
‘Jewish food in Muslim Art’s a playful retrospective (8)
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hidden, reversed in "..muslM ART'S A Playful.." |
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| 15 | RETURN HOME |
Hunter lost in Italian capital should do this at the end of the holiday (6,4)
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[ HUNTER ]* in ROME ( italian capital ) |
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| 16 | LAIC |
Skinning plaice is not professional (4)
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pLAICe ( skinned i.e. without end characters ) |
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| 18 | NOSH |
Food provided by essentially economic dishes (4)
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central ( essentially ) characters of "..ecoNOmic diSHes" |
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| 20 | FRANGIPANI |
French leader called, almost in panic, to get flowers (10)
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F ( french ) RANG ( called ) [ In PANIc ( almost i.e. without end characters ) ] |
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| 22 | RAILWAYS |
Start to rant continuously about one mode of transport (8)
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R ( start to Rant ) [ ALWAYS ( continuously ) around I ( one ) ] |
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| 24 | EIGHT |
Had dinner, they say, around that time? (5)
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sounds like ATE ( had dinner, say ; perhaps at 8pm ) |
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| 26, 27 | MAGICAL REALISM |
Oxymoronic writing? (7,7)
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sort of cryptic def |
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| 28 | EXONERATIONS |
Absolutions for erstwhile old corrupt Etonians? That’s about right (12)
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EX ( erstwhile ) O ( old ) { [ ETONIANS ]* around R ( right ) } |
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| DOWN | ||
| 2 | ODORANT |
Scent of whirling tornado (7)
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[ TORNADO ]* |
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| 3 | LIGATURE |
Tie flying cat? Oddly not true, in a way (8)
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LIGA ( fLyInG cAt, without odd letters ) [ TRUE ]* |
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| 4 | WITS |
Morons primarily lacking intelligence (4)
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tWITS ( morons, without starting letter ) |
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| 5 | DEFRAYMENT |
Go round the bend about flight compensation (10)
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DEMENT ( go round the bend ) around FRAY ( fight ; i think there is a typo in the clue ) ; please do improve upon this if you can as i cant explain flight otherwise |
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| 6 | WAIST |
Middle section sounds like rubbish (5)
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sounds like WASTE ( rubbish ) |
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| 7 | BANDANA |
Colourful piece of cloth featuring fruit wrapped around dancer’s head (7)
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BANANA ( fruit ) around D ( Dancer, first letter ) |
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| 8 | BATTERING RAMS |
Flour, milk, and eggs using non- Imperial measures for gatecrashers (9,4)
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read as BATTER ( flour milk and eggs ) IN GRAMS ( using non-imperial measures ) |
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| 9 | A STITCH IN TIME |
Precautionary measure for the endless antisemitic cracks (1,6,2,4)
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[ THe ( endless ) ANTISEMITIC ]* |
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| 14 | THE ROYAL WE |
Queen’s first person wholeheartedly held out for a change (3,5,2)
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[ WHOLEhEARTedlY ( without the letters of HELD ) ]* |
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| 17 | LITERATI |
Some polite, rational and cultured people (8)
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hidden in "..poLITE RATIonal.." |
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| 19 | SHINGLE |
Type of beach hotel one should stay out of (7)
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SINGLE ( one ) outside H ( hotel ) |
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| 21 | ANGLIAN |
Ancient British church without its leader (7)
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ANGLIcAN ( Church, without its leader i.e. the letter C ) |
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| 23 | WACKO |
Women and children first, OK? On reflection, that’s crazy (5)
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WAC ( first letters of "Women And Children.." ) KO ( OK reversed ) |
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| 25 | ARIA |
Song from the outskirts of Amritsar, India (4)
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end characters ( outskirts ) of "..AmritsaR IndiA" |
12a To a S(ain)T
5d f+light = f+ray?
Muffyword@1,
I am sure you are right on both counts. I will leave the parsing unchanged so your comment above continues to stay relevant.
Regards,
TL
Parsed 5d as Muffyword. Always on the lookout for this type of wordplay in a Goliath. Not sure about 12a. I took it to be a weak DD. The first as a noun (as in ‘he’s the toast of the town’) and the second as the interjection associated with a toast. I don’t think either explanation works particularly well.
Thanks for the blog, I had the same idea as Hovis for 12AC but I think Muffyword@1 may be inspired. Goliath/Vlad well known for the Playtex technique in 5D , see the Guardian puzzle yesterday.
Really enjoyed this, BATTERING RAMS for the way it was built up, THE ROYAL WE for the neat subtraction and others.
Me@4 Goliath/Philistine of course.
26A was an expression unknown to me and only managed to complete it with all cross letters in.
However I did write in 1A from the definition without bothering to parse it.
Thanks, Turbolegs, for staying up after midnight to complete the blog. My brain doesn’t work that well at that hour!
Echoing Roz, BATTERING RAMS was my top pick.
Thanks to Goliath and Turbolegs.
I interpreted 12ac as Muffyword did: ‘To a saint’ = ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow!’ – lovely.
As for 5dn, if this were any other setter, I’d be inclined to go along with Turbolegs’ typo idea – indeed, that’s what I did – but this setter has previous and he continues to push the envelope ever more audaciously, as per yesterday’s Philistine puzzle, so I’m won over by Muffyword’s parsing.
I’ll join the praise for BATTERING RAMS and THE ROYAL WE. I had ticks also for AMONGST FRIENDS, FRANGIPANI, EXONERATIONS and A STITCH IN TIME.
Many thanks to Goliath, as ever, for an enjoyable puzzle and to Turbolegs for a fine blog.
I found this harder than some but did get there, after a snooze. Enjoyed battering rams, amongst others. I had no idea that frangipani was a flower. And presumably not a river. 🙂
Thanks for helping me with a few mysterious parsings.
Except for the giveaway anagrams in 1a and 9d this seemed more of a challenge than yesterday’s Philistine and I found it a bit less clever as well. I needed a word finder for FRANGIPANI, DEFRAYMENT, and ANGLIAN. Still, this crossword had good moments for me with AMONGST FRIENDS, PASTRAMI, and THE ROYAL WE topping the list. Thanks to both.