An enjoyable puzzle; not too hard, not too easy. Thank you Guy.
Oops! Sorry the blog is late, I wrote this up first ting and then forgot to hit the “Publish” button at the end. I am on holiday now, I cam answer queries but complicated corrections to the blog may have to wait until I can get to real computer rather than phone.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GEORGE HARRISON |
Guitarist running after two men in a boat (6,8)
|
| ON (running) following GEORGE and HARRIS (two men’s names) | ||
| 10 | ILIAD |
Long poem that sounds like a coffee commercial? (5)
|
| sounds like “Illy Ad” – an advertisement for Illy, a brand of coffee | ||
| 11 | SIGNATURE |
Personal authority is about good character (9)
|
| IS reversed (about) then G (good) NATURE (character) | ||
| 12 | COULOMB |
French physicist runs out of clubroom in a tizzy (7)
|
| R (runs) missing from (out of) anagram (in a tizzy) of CLUBrOOM | ||
| 13 | SURVEIL |
Observe what someone pulling pints does when told? (7)
|
| sounds like (when told) “serve ale” (what someone pulling pints does) | ||
| 14 | DREAM |
Test out of ten given by doctor for vision (5)
|
| ExAM (test) missing (out of) X (ten) following (given by) DR (Doctor) | ||
| 16 | UPLANDERS |
Sort of characters to spurn dale? (9)
|
| anagram (sort, of the characters to) SPURN DALE | ||
| 19 | SINGLEDOM |
Carol meets professional beauty on the rebound, having no partner (9)
|
| SING (carol) with MODEL (a professional beauty) revered (on the rebound) | ||
| 20 | EMOJI |
Music business divided by Simpson’s yellow face, perhaps (5)
|
| EMI (music business) containing (divided by) OJ (OJ Simpson) 🙂 | ||
| 22 | EASE OFF |
In retreat, some of foe’s aeroplanes slow down (4,3)
|
| found inside (some) oF FOE’S AEroplanes reversed (in retreat) | ||
| 25 | RIOTOUS |
Noisy place for a carnival, as we call it (7)
|
| RIO (place for a carnival) then TO US (as we call it) | ||
| 27 | IRON CROSS |
Interior gutted immediately after mad decoration (4,5)
|
| InterioR missing middle letters (gutted) then ON (immediately after) CROSS (mad, angry) | ||
| 28 | LAIRD |
Glen’s big cheese left dairy unfinished and runny (5)
|
| L (left) then anagram (runny) of DAIRy (unfinished) | ||
| 29 | SECOND THOUGHTS |
Cold feet while wearing support tights inside out (6,8)
|
| THOUGH (while) inside (wearing) SECOND (support) TightS missing middle letters (with the inside removed, out) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | EPICUREAN |
Massive jar contains shelled peas for foodie (9)
|
| EPIC (massive) URN (jar) contains pEAs missing outer letters (shelled) | ||
| 3 | RADIO |
A Christian cycling waves (5)
|
| A DIOR (Christian Dior, designer) with letters cycled | ||
| 4 | EASTBOUND |
U-boat ends manoeuvres on a bearing of 90° (9)
|
| anagram (manoeuvres) of U-BOAT ENDS | ||
| 5 | ANGUS |
A Scot telephoned the FT, seeing no leader (5)
|
| rANG US (telephoned the FT) missing first letter (seeing no leader) – a traditional Scots name | ||
| 6 | REARRANGE |
Switch behind cooker (9)
|
| REAR (behind) RANGE (cooker) | ||
| 7 | SOUSE |
Get drunk then take drugs (5)
|
| SO (then) and USE (take drugs) | ||
| 8 | NEEDLES |
Sewers drained Newcastle and fouled Leeds (7)
|
| NewcastlE missing inner letters (drained) then anagram (fouled) of LEEDS | ||
| 9 | MINCED |
Caught entering booby-trapped ground (6)
|
| C (caught) inside (entering) MINED (booby-trapped) | ||
| 15 | MALLORCAN |
Spanish chap punched by total monster (9)
|
| MAN (chap) containing (punched by, made a hole in) ALL (total) then ORCA (a monster in mythology) | ||
| 17 | LAMBRUSCO |
Sparkling red coral starts to bleach making scientists upset at sea (9)
|
| anagram (at sea) of CORAL with first letters (starts to) of Bleach Making Scientists Upset | ||
| 18 | ECONOMIST |
Eg Marx once made funny duck film (9)
|
| anagram (made funy) of ONCE then O (duck, zero score) and MIST (film) – Karl Marx | ||
| 19 | SPECIES |
Type that is wearing glasses (7)
|
| IE (that is) inside (wearing) SPECS (glasses) | ||
| 21 | INSIDE |
Classified as bound by Darwin’s ideas (6)
|
| found inside (as bound by) darwIN’S IDEas – I think the definition indicates secret | ||
| 23 | STOIC |
Stay in charge having lost power, unmoved (5)
|
| STOp (stay) IC (in charge) missing (having lost) P (power) | ||
| 24 | FLOAT |
Offer to sell stock in empty apartment? (5)
|
| an empty apartment is a FLAT that contains O (zero, nothing) | ||
| 26 | OFLAG |
Prison camp belonging to prisoner (5)
|
| OF (belonging to) LAG (prisoner) |
GEORGE and HARRIS are two of Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat; thus the ‘in a boat’ at the end of the clue.
This one needed a bit of work to get out. It’s ages since I’ve read it and I had to look up the “Three Men in a Boat” reference at 1a later. I didn’t know ILLY as a brand of ‘coffee’ at 10a. The anagram fodder for COULOMB needed some juggling before coming up with the correct answer after initially bunging in “Columbo”. A few uncommon words such as SURVEIL and SINGLEDOM didn’t make things any easier.
Thanks for explaining the sense of INSIDE for ‘Classified’ which I just couldn’t see. Favourites were the &lit (I think!) UPLANDERS and the not so obvious def for my last in, EMOJI.
Thanks to Guy and PeeDee
Thanks Guy and PeeDee
In 15 the monster is ORC, otherwise there are too many letters.
Thanks both.
A slow start for me but it picked up after that. I think the parsing of MALLORCAN is ALL + ORC inside MAN. An ORC is a mythical creature in Tolkien. Your parsing would have too many As
Sorry Simon. I am slow at typing!
Found this hard, and was going to throw in the towel, but I built up my momentum and before I knew it I was finished. I couldn’t parse LAMBRUSCO or LAIRD till I came here, and I’m still not 100% sure I get the latter. I wasn’t sure whether 16a had an anagrind. It sort of does, with bits doing double duty, perhaps a bit messily. The clue for 19a had me trying to think of an adjective, but the solution is a noun. I hadn’t heard of OFLAG. My favourites were probably SURVEIL & SPECIES.
I think the definition of 21D is “classified as,” meaning within or “inside” a species or classification.
I finished this from the definitions, without being able to parse 1A, 14A, or 20A. I had no idea what “the boat” was about, although I had heard of the book. I also could not figure out what Bart or Homer Simpson had to do with anything. (Nothing, as it turns out.) Thanks for the clarifications.
This is the first Guy puzzle I’ve tried, I think and it won’t be the last – I really enjoyed it, particularly GEORGE HARRISON, ILIAD, SURVEIL, LAIRD, and RADIO.
Geoff Down Under – I think LAIRD (‘big cheese’) is a reference to the picture ‘The Monarch of the Glen’ -see here: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/159116/monarch-glen
{It’s a TV programme, too.)
Thanks to Guy and PeeDee – enjoy your holiday! 😉
Spooner’s Catflat @1,
Good spot re “Three Men in a Boat”. Like Wordplodder, it’s been a long time since I read that and the accompanying Bummel.
ILIAD raised a smile and MALLORCAN made me think of Nadal just bundled out of the US Open courtesy of a ‘monster’ performance by Tiafoe.
Much to like in this grid.
Many thanks to Guy and PeeDee.
I got there but found it a bit of a struggle.
George Harrison was entered towards the end. I don’t like clues requiring fairly obscure general knowledge. 1A is obviously a reference to the famous-ish book but I had no idea that George and Harris were two of the occupants.
For me, rather too many the answers emerged from the definition, rather than the cryptic
Never heard of Oflag
All this said, there were some marvellous clues as I have more ticks than usual. I especially liked Emoji, Lambrusco, Stoic, Riotous and Serveil.
Thanks, Eileen, I was thinking along those lines for LAIRD, but wasn’t sure.
PS. The Laird is an individual who owns a lot of land in Scotland. Hence “a big cheese in the Glen”. That is the definition.
I was drinking a cup of freshly ground Illy as I was doing this puzzle 🙂
Another entertaining but easy one, though I couldn’t parse 29
For 26d I entered gulag but struggled to get “gu” to mean ”belonging to”. Result DNF with 25a missing. Thanks Guy and PeeDee
I should have included MINCED as a favourite: I really (still, every time) love ‘ground’ as an anagram indicator, as it was not here – great surface!
Thanks Guy. I found this tough going and needed a word finder to get the last few. My top picks were ILIAD, SIGNATURE, UPLANDERS, SINGLEDOM, and MINCED. I liked the latter because the definition and answer are both common anagrinds but the clue itself did not require any anagramming. Thanks PeeDee for the blog as I had many gaps in parsing today.
Tony Santucci @16 – that’s exactly what i meant!
Didn’t tackle this till late last night so my brain probably wasn’t working 100%. Nevertheless I almost finished; couldn’t get SOUSE, and although I thought 24dn had to be FLOAT I couldn’t get past ’empty flat’ being simply FT. SURVEIL was a guess, confirmed in Chambers this morning. Favourites? – MINCE and EMOJI.
Thanks, Guy and PeeDee
Couldn’t get into this at all. Couldn’t get 1ac as I didn’t know the boat reference and it just got worse from there. I give it 3/10.