Some nice stuff from Knut today…with a couple of obscure (for me) references that needed a bit of e-research…
…and a pangram to boot!
Some classical/literary references, with ELECTRA, FIDELIO, MEDEA, LEANDER – none of them too obscure(?) and pretty much gettable from wordplay/crossers – and UNDER (MILK) WOOD, involving some clever linkage between 6D and 18A.
My failings were: on the one hand ignorance of who Ioan Gruffud is for IO(W)AN – at least the surname was easy to Go-ogle!; and one probably misremembered in the mists of time with JUMBLE as the dog from Just William (Brown) at 21D – my LOI, and a pretty evocative initial surface read, accompanied by a devious double definition…
Aside from that, I enjoyed many nice touches – Amtrak as a US RY at 23A; Paul Klee contributing to KLEENEX at 19D; retsina making one NASTIER when drunk; and the UK now being ex-EU in EXEUNT; the splitting of ELY-SEE into two standalone entries; fans ‘playing up’ in a MEXICAN WAVE…
16D was strange in that it seems to have a homophonic definition – INXS for ‘in excess’ to define PLETHORA. I think this is fairly rare, but maybe justifiable here to incorporate two musical references from different ends of any scale – ELP and INXS!
At some point I realised it would probably be a pangram – with QUIRKY, JUMBLE and WOOZY providing several of the rarer letters required for alphabetical completion – and so it proved to be:
Otherwise, I couldn’t see any particular theme(ette) or Nina – just a pleasantly brain-stretching puzzle, for which my thanks to Knut, and I hope all is clear below…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 1A | PORTMANTEAU | Case of actress Natalie being digitally enhanced I’m told (11)
PORTMAN (actress, Natalie) plus (enhanced with) TEAU (homophone, i.e. I’m told – sounds like toe, or digit) |
||
| 7A | SEE | See 28 (3)
see 28A |
||
| 9A | SAVED | Chester’s retired having put away some cash (5)
DEVA (Roman name for Chester) + S (contraction from ‘is’) all reversed (retired) = SAVED |
||
| 10A | SHELDRAKE | Flier told to bombard English vice-admiral (9)
SHEL (homophone, i.e. told, of shell, or bombard) + DRAKE (English vice-admiral, Sir Francis Drake) [a Sheldrake being a type of duck, hence a flier] |
||
| 11A | HERBALIST | Maker of plant products stocked by kosher Bali store (9)
hidden word in, i.e. stocked by, ‘kosHER BALI STore’ |
||
| 12A | RAMEN | Noodle soup; gallons binned by Steptoe & Son? (5)
RA( |
||
| 13A | LEANDER | Jack Sprat’s favourite daughter Eleanor on vacation, a keen swimmer (7)
LEAN (Jack Sprat’s favourite!) + D (daughter) + ER (EleanoR, on vacation) [Leander used to swim across the Hellespont to see Hero…] |
||
| 15A | AVOW | A very old western state (4)
A + V (very) + O (old) + W (western) |
||
| 18A | MILK | Drink imbibed by 6 after half time in 1954 classic … (4)
if you insert MILK into 6D UNDER_WOOD, just over half way, you get UNDER MILK WOOD, a 1954 classic by Dylan Thomas! |
||
| 20A | FIDELIO | … screened by Amalfi deli opposite opera (7)
hidden word in, i.e. screened by, ‘amalFI DELI Opposite’ |
||
| 23A | USURY | Punitive lending policy universal in Amtrak? (5)
Amtrak is a railway (RY) in America (the US), so could be a US_RY, and put around U (universal) this gives USURY |
||
| 24A | EMACIATED | Came round, had a meal wrapped in papers, wasted (9)
EMAC (came, round) + I_D (identity papers) around (wrapping) ATE (had a meal) |
||
| 26A | BAR MAGNET | Mum with a hint of gel in hair which is attractive (3,6)
BAR_NET (hair, cockney rhyming slang, Barnet Fair) atround MA (mum) + G (first letter, or hint, of Gel) |
||
| 27A | WOOZY | Wife slimy when befuddled with drink (5)
W (wife) + OOZY (slimy) |
||
| 28A | ELY(SEE) | & 7 Palace watch City taking the lead (6)
ELY (city) ahead of SEE (watch) |
||
| 29A | MEXICAN WAVE | Examine VW breaking down touring California – it’s the fans playing up (7,4)
MEXI_N WAVE (anag, i.e. breaking down, of EXAMINE VW) around (touring) CA (California) |
||
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
||
| 1D | PAST HELP | Previous domestic employee washed up (4,4)
PAST (previous) + HELP (domestic employee) |
||
| 2D | REVERSAL | Vicar has laser surgery down below in setback (8)
Rev (Reverend, or vicar) + ERSAL (anagram, i.e. surgery, of LASER) |
||
| 3D | MEDEA | Regularly meet deejay who helped to fleece her father (5)
regular letters from MsEt DeEjAy’ |
||
| 4D | NASTIER | More awful retsina drunk (7)
anag, i.e. drunk, of RETSINA |
||
| 5D | ELECTRA | Some rising go-kart celebrity girl with a daddy complex (7)
reversed hidden word in, i.e. ‘reversed’ and ‘some’ of, ‘go-kART CELEbrity’ |
||
| 6D | UNDERWOOD | Coppice below Victoria? That’s funny (9)
UNDER (below) + WOOD (Victoria Wood, comedian/comedienne?) |
||
| 7D | SMARMY | Suave host dominated by sadomasochism (6)
SM (sadomasochism) + ARMY (host) |
||
| 8D | EXEUNT | As the UK is now sovereign at last, time they leave the stage (6)
EX EU (the UK is now ex-EU, after Brexit) + N (last letter of sovereigN) + T (time) |
||
| 14D | DAIRY FARM | Cheese producer working Friday morning around Reading? (5,4)
DAIRY FA_M (anag, i.e. working, of FRIDAY + AM – morning) around R (reading, one of the three Rs of education – reading, riting and rithmetic!) |
||
| 16D | PLETHORA | Prog rock band upset Ms Hird sounding a bit like INXS (8)
PLE (ELP, Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, prog rock band, upset) + THORA (Dame Thora Hird, English actress with 70+ year career) [a rare homophonic definition?! ‘INXS’ can sound like ‘in excess’, so a plethora…] |
||
| 17D | BOLD TYPE | With which to emphasise writing led by top design? (4,4)
anag, i.e. design, of LED BY TOP |
||
| 19D | KLEENEX | Artist Paul reportedly drinks this well known brand (7)
KLEE (artist, Paul Klee) + NEX (homophone, i.e. reportedly – sounds like NECKS, or drinks) |
||
| 20D | FRANTIC | Desperate French caper (7)
FR (French) + ANTIC (caper) |
||
| 21D | JUMBLE | Brown dog mess? (6)
double defn. – a JUMBLE can be a mess; and JUMBLE was the name of William Brown’s dog in the ‘Just William’ stories [I have to admit I needed to Go-ogle this one…] |
||
| 22D | QUIRKY | Question one: Crikey: evens or odd? (6)
QU (question) + I (one) + RKY (even letters of ‘RiKeY’) |
||
| 25D | IOWAN | Gruffudd drinking whiskey from Des Moines? (5)
IO_An (Ioan Gruffudd, Welsh actor) around (drinking) W (whiskey, phonetic alphabet) [And this one…I knew Des Moines was the capital of Iowa, but I had never heard of the actor!…] |
||
Thanks for the blog, mcr.
I had the same kind of journey and reactions as you – apart from being held up overlong at 1ac, being far more familiar with Wood as the actress Natalie but like you, was delighted to end up, literally, with Just William’s dog – fond memories.
Lots more to like: SAVED, HERBALIST, LEANDER, UNDER MILK WOOD, MEXICAN WAVE, EXEUNT, DAIRY FARM and PLETHORA (having spent a while trying to make something of AROHT).
(I’d give a lot never to see the chestnut at 4dn ever again, as I say every time it appears. It’s a great anagram and worth repeating for newer solvers but I can honestly say that there are very few NASTIER tasting things in my experience.)
Many thanks for lots of fun, Knut.
Eileen has saved me the trouble of writing my thoughts on another wonderful Knut puzzle
Thanks to her, him and mcr
Eileen @1
It is an acquired taste, but I assure you there is nothing better than an ice-cold retsina when in Greece. Not the stuff you get in bottles full of sulphates.
Thanks both. Suffered the preoccupation of assuming the ‘hair’ in BAR MAGNET was ‘mane’ so I failed to parse it. I posted recently that something was obscure, and a subsequent commenter posted singularly for the purpose of contradicting me, so I have chosen not to share my view on JUMBLE as a brown dog….
Thanks for the blog, dear mc_r, and thanks to those who have commented.
@TFO…Fair enough, although it’s Brown dog rather than brown dog. I liked the idea of this clue but would not have been at all surprised if the editor had asked for it to be changed based on the GK component. I think that the main definition of mess=jumble is OK and I’d thought that solvers *might* have spotted the absence of a J by then. Well, that’s my excuse anyhow.
Best wishes to all, Rob/Knut
Yes, we got JUMBLE because we needed the J to complete the pangram and half remembered it as the name of a dog somewhere. LOI was MILK and a splendid PDM when we saw the link to 6dn.
Thanks, Knut and mc_rapper67.
I thought it might be a Brown dog but of those only knew Snoopy.
Knut@5 Thanks again, as that subtlety did escape me, even having read (sone of) the blog. I would add my issue was parsing, not solving, and I did feel the wordplay was irresistible….my personal point remains that whilst I was aware of the stories, I never knew the dog, and I knew the main character as just(!) William
Thanks Knut and MC,
Never having read the Just William books I had no hope of parsing JUMBLE, but that’s my lack of GK and not your problem. The clue was fair and now I fully understand it very tidy too.
I will admit to googling whether Gordon Brown had a pet dog named Jumble, and then when nothing useful was returned assumed it was a famous Brown I didnt know.
Super puzzle, most enjoyable.
Thanks again.
I have to say the first actress Natalie I thought of was Natalie Dormer, but that’s probably because we share a surname.
I rather enjoyed the INXS trick, and was pleased to see (and get) EXEUNT.
Eventually saw SHELDRAKE but thought that was the admiral and could not call him to mind.
Showing my age, the first Natalie I thought of was Wood 🙂
Speaking of which, I couldn’t see how UNDERWOOD worked – literally couldn’t see the wood for the trees!
Loved the simplicity of AVOW too.
Cheers Knut.
Oh and, forgot to say – defeated by JUMBLE. Very smart clue. Thank you to MC for the explanations.
Thanks to all for the various comments and feedback – and to Knut for dropping in.
Apologies for lack of response from me – it was a busy weekend, and then it seemed a bit late to reply…and it is even later now!
Nothing too controversial – apart from the Brown JUMBLE! Interesting to see the different, presumably generational, initial responses to ‘Actress, Natalie…’
And if I see Eileen at the York get-together, I will buy her a retsina (;+>)