Filbert has provided his latest puzzle for our delectation this Thursday.
I found this to be towards the harder end of the difficulty spectrum. I think that I have managed to solve all the clues, although I cannot tease out the wordplay to my satisfaction: e.g. at 8, 15 and 18A. Any clarification from fellow-solvers would be most welcome.
My favourite clues today were 1A, for the clever split between definition and wordplay at “audio//books”; 3, for brevity; and 18D, 21 and 26, both for surface, although I didn’t know the word at 21.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | MAJOR PROPHETS | Old Tory makes money in audio books
MAJOR (=old Tory, i.e. former Conservative PM John Major) + homophone “profits (=makes money)”; the Major Prophets are a group of (long) books in the Christian Old Testament |
| 09 | DOWNSTAGE | Silver Porsche’s behind following along street towards the house
DOWN (=along) + ST (=street) + AG (=silver, i.e. chemical formula) + <porsch>E (“behind” means last letter only is used); the “house” of the definition refers to a theatre |
| 10 | CLOTH | Threads potentially, on bolt?
Cryptic definition: the “bolt” of the definition is a measure of cloth |
| 11 | LAUNDRY | Steamy room in flat out of bounds, apparently wet?
<f>LA<t> (“out of bounds” means first and last letters are dropped) + UN-DRY (=apparently wet) |
| 13 | SCUTTLE | Open holes in the bottom of // metal bucket
Double definition: a scuttle is a metal bucket for e.g. coal |
| 14 | SODA | Water turf by the start of August
SOD (=turf) + A<ugust> (“start of” means first letter only) |
| 15 | BELLWETHER | Electoral indicator, maybe, with number on Big Ben?
BELL (=Big Ben) + W (=with) + ETHER (=numb-er, i.e. anaesthetic); e.g. a bellwether constituency could provide an indication of a political trend |
| 18 | CAMOUFLAGE | Guacamole blitzed – when fellow plugs that blender in?
F (=fellow) in *(GUACAMOLE); “blitzed” is anagram indicator; camouflage helps someone to blend in |
| 19 | SNUG | Inverted pieces fitted nicely
GUNS (=pieces, colloquially, weapons); “inverted” indicates reversal |
| 22 | SAND DAB | Swimmer died, blot on hospital
SAN (=hospital, i.e. sanatorium) + D (=died) + DAB (=blot, daub) |
| 24 | TORPEDO | Poor Ted ordered to tin fish?
*(POOR TED); “ordered”; in nautical slang, a torpedo is a tin fish! |
| 25 | EVITA | Show at one has to be put back
AT + I’VE (=one has); “to put back” indicates reversal |
| 26 | STOCK CUBE | Baby in family beginning to eat a little dissolved solid
CUB (=baby, of e.g. bear) in [STOCK (=family) + E<at> (“beginning to” means first letter only)] |
| 28 | GRANDSTANDING | Elderly relative without a seat bored by daughter’s showy play
D (=daughter) in [GRAN (=elderly relative) + STANDING (=without a seat)] |
| Down | ||
| 01 | MODEL Ts | Tesla parts seldom working in old cars
T (=Tesla) in *(SELDOM); “working” is anagram indicator |
| 02 | JAW | Judge weight, lifting a chop
A in [J (=judge) + W (=weight)]; chops are a slang word for the jaws, the mouth |
| 03 | RESIDE | Live on the edge
RE- (on, i.e. regarding) + SIDE (=the edge) |
| 04 | READY MEAL | Rambling early, made packed lunch?
*(EARLY MADE); “rambling” is anagram indicator; a ready meal is a pre-“packed lunch” |
| 05 | PRESS | Cupboard containing linen, perhaps sheets and rags?
The (broad)sheets and rags (=tabloids) are features of the printed press! |
| 06 | EXCLUDED | Cesspool after draining inside oozed out
C<esspoo>L (“after draining” means all but first and last letters are dropped) in EXUDED (=oozed e.g. charm) |
| 07 | SHORT-CHANGE | Fresh clothes under ratty fleece
RATTY (=short, bad-tempered) + CHANGE (=fresh clothes); to fleece someone could be to short-change him, do him out of something |
| 08 | OH DEAR | Henry picking up old pet’s whoopsie
O (=old) + H (=Henry) + DEAR (=pet, beloved) |
| 12 | UNDEMANDING | Men dug in shifting sandwiches and a piece of cake
AND in (MEN DUG IN); “shifting” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | LIGHTS OUT | United with cheerful drunk outside time for bed
U (=United, as in Man U) in [LIGHT (=cheerful, of atmosphere) + SOT (=drunk)] |
| 17 | GURDWARA | Sikh building an untested medicine up
A + RAW (=untested, untrained) + DRUG (=medicine); “up” indicates vertical reversal; a gurdwara is a place of Sikh worship |
| 18 | COSSET | Baby close to tears in Tesco tickled
<tear>S (“close to” means last letter only) in *(TESCO); “tickled” is anagram indicator; to cosset is to mollycoddle, to cosset |
| 20 | GOOD EGG | Fine example of something that’s laid: a brick
A good egg is a “fine example of something that’s laid” by a hen; a brick is a decent fellow, hence “a good egg” |
| 21 | KRAKEN | Capsized vessel understanding submarine threat
KRA (ARK=vessel; “capsized” indicates a vertical reversal) + KEN (=understanding); the Kraken is a legendary sea monster, hence a “submarine (=under the sea) threat” |
| 23 | BUSED | Malibu’s educational packages taken to school in the American way?
Hidden (“packages”) in “MaliBU’S EDucational”; “bused” is the US spelling (“the American way”) of “bussed (=taken to school (by bud))” |
| 27 | UNI | Form leaves clothes at school for after-school activity
UNI<form> (=clothes at school); University comes after one’s school career, hence “after-school activity”! |
BELLWETHER = BELL (e.g. Big Ben) + W[ith] + ETHER (the familiar “numb-er”)
Some hard ones here, starting off with 1a which was a new term to me. I ended up with another difficult one, GURDWARA, which I constructed from wordplay as an unknown word though I see I had come across it before.
Good to see KRAKEN which reminds me of “The Kraken Wakes” by John Wyndham and I liked the surface for STOCK CUBE.
Incidentally, a minor typo in the explanation for DOWNSTAGE. I think you meant “E (“behind” means only the last letter (is included in the answer))”, not “…(“behind” means last letter is dropped)”.
Thanks to Filbert and RR
Thanks to Andrew @1 – it’s strange how I always think of Big Ben as a clock, not as a bell!
And to WordPlodder@2 – typo now corrected
Found this to be quite tricky though helped by knowing gurdwara.
Surely a stock cube is an undissolved solid though.
I know its purpose is to be dissolved but can’t see how the cube itself can be described as dissolved.
Am I missing something?
Thanks to Filbert and RR
Thanks Filbert and RatkojaRiku.
Tricky but enjoyable.
GRANDSTANDING, SHORT-CHANGE, KRAKEN, LIGHTS OUT and GURDWARA make my list.
reddevil@4 I felt the same about STOCK CUBE. I couldn’t finish this without a lot of help, but I can’t quite see why I found it so tricky.
Thanks RatkojaRiku and everyone,
I like the stock cube conundrum. It seems to allow this silly statement: ‘I put a stock cube in the stew, but it’s not there now’
I’d say the easiest way out of the soup for these purposes is to say that ‘a little dissolved solid’ might mean ‘a little solid that is [to be] dissolved’ in the same way that ‘a bowed instrument’ can describe a violin whether or not one is ever played. More generally, dissolved solid is a thing. It describes stuff that is not solid, but used to be, e.g. salt. But then, solid in the clue is used in the sense of a 3D shape, and in that sense the definition does seem more paradoxical.
Well thankyou Filbert, I thought I understood before your explanation, but now, I’m not so sure.
It is 9:30 pm and I have just finished, second crossword of the day, The Guardian always comes first, but still, I think that shows how difficult I found it (I did other things as well, kept returning) and now feel a glow of happiness for having finished.
Thankyou both, I enjoyed it , would I have carried on if I didn’t, I don’t know, and failed to parse a couple.