Rodriguez provides the fun this Thursday.
We needed to check a few things in Chambers and it took a while to see the parsing for 23ac which we liked. Some smooth surfaces too – always appreciated.
Apologies for the rather delayed posting. We thought we had pressed ‘publish’ but when we didn’t have any comments – we realised our error!
CIC (commander) ‘ERO (champion – missing ‘H’ or ‘without aspiration’)
IT (appeal) inside or ‘breaking’ CORE (heart) all reversed or ‘flipping’
ROUND (‘magazine’s content as in ammunition) after QUALIFYING (modifying)
C (caught) LOUSE (scoundrel) AU (gold) – what great memories of Peter Sellers!
First and last letters or ‘envelopes’ of OtheR ApparenT OrdeR
Sounds like (‘auditor’s) REIGN (rule)
PB (lead – the metal) ALL (everyone) around LAY (place)
SKA (reggae) around or ‘saving’ TIN (money) RD (the way – as in road)
A homophone (‘giving a speech’) of BREAD (money)
An anagram (‘composed’) of A SET after AV (Bible – Authorised Version)
A TAP (kind of dance) INCH (go slowly)
ITALIAN riVERMOUTH (e.g. Tiber Estuary) without RI (Rhode Island)
R (river) WANDA (fish name as in the film – A fish called Wanda)
DO GEAR (take drugs) – we needed all the crossing letters for this one.
C (cold) gRUEL (food for breakfast) missing ‘g’ (good). Gruel, made with oatmeal and water (or milk) was a staple breakfast food in Workhouses for many years.
CO (business) iLLUSION (trick) without or ‘rejecting’ i
REF (official) LEX (law) – another one of those clues which Joyce did not parse having studied German not Latin at school.
A reversal (‘up’) of LAGER around I (one) ON (working)
THO’ (a brief way of writing however) RA (one may paint)
NOODLE (jam) inside or ‘scoffed’ by CAD (roguish individual). We needed to check NOODLE = JAM
An anagram (‘broadcast’) of LUVVIE CBS PAID
ROTAVATOR is an example of a palindrome (‘unaffected by revolution’)
BARITONE (voice) around or ‘overwhelming’ B (bass)
ARAB (Bedouin, say) in SAND (desert)
AH (I see) reversed or ‘about’ I (newspaper – i) R (Republican) DO (party)
SAS (Special forces) and A (are) ‘surrounding’ L (lake)
CAT and ER (both queens)
As usual from this setter, parts of this were very challenging but it was all good fun.
We had a case of déjà vu with 21a, clued very differently from when it cropped up last week.
I didn’t know the meaning of “noodle” needed for 7d but a quick check in Chambers put me wise.
ITALIAN VERMOUTH was my favourite.
Many thanks to Rodriguez and to B&J.
I’d solved most of the bottom half before I had to go out, but my brain was obviously working clues out while I was trailing round Canterbury as the remaining solutions were quickly filled in on my return
Thanks to Rodriguez for another great crossword – my favourite was 23a – and to B&J for the blog
Thanks both. Too many unknowns to make this enjoyable for me e.g. CANOODLED where I was aware neither that the answer can mean ‘spooned’ or that ‘noodle’ is a musical jam. On that basis. I lost some confidence in solving the (slightly) more straightforward ones
Great fun if a bit hard at times. It seemed plausible to me that to be ‘in a noodle’ might be the equivalent of being in a pickle or in a jam, so I got the answer but with dodgy reasoning.
I was thrown a bit by 22D as I thought that banquet was perhaps an alternative spelling of banquette, and therefore came up with SETEE being lay (set) on two Queens (ee). It was only when this didn’t work with at a pinch that I realised settee has two t’s and crossed it out.
Only (slight) criticism is that 9A talks about magazine’s contents rather than content. I figured that contents would equate to rounds plural, so wasn’t too confident about it until I got the first half of the clue much later.
Thanks Rodriguez B&J
The three long answers looked a bit daunting at first but once a few crossing letters were in place they proved fairly tractable. We took a little while to see CANOODLED as we’d forgotten the musical sense of ‘noodle’; we’d also forgotten about A for ‘are’ as the unit of area which meant we couldn’t parse SALSA properly. Otherwise fairly straightforward though we had to check in Chambers’ list of first names that THORA was Scandinavian in origin.
When Q and X appeared we started looking for a pangram – fruitlessly, of course.
Favourites were CLOUSEAU and ROTAVATOR.
Thanks, Rodriguez and B&J
ITALIAN VERMOUTH was my favourite. THORA was my loi. I don’t know why. It’s not as if I hadn’t Hird of the name.
The clue for ITALIAN VERMOUTH is absolutely top-notch
Nicely done, ta to BertandJoyce and Rodriguez
I always relish this setter’s puzzles in The Telegraph and this was right up there I thought with his usual superb wordplay and misdirection.
COLLUSION, HAIRDO, ITALIAN VERMOUTH and CLOUSEAU were my picks in a very strong field.
Many thanks Rodriguez and B&J.
Found this very hard indeed. Needed 2 letter reveals & 1 correction via the check button to finish. Much harder than his DT toughies. I’d add STINKARD, QUALIFYING ROUND & DOG-EAR to Stephen’s picks for a Magnificent 7
Thanks to Rodriguez & B&J
@9 What is “DT toughies”?
Rats@10 – DT Toughies are crossword puzzles in the Daily Telegraph.
I hadn’t realized James did crosswords for the daily telegraph. I only know of him as Picaroon, buccaneer and Rodriguez from the guardian, financial times and independent respectively.
What pseudonym does he use in the telegraph?
Can someone explain 23a please? I understand the parsing but why is the definition “It”?
‘It.’ is short for Italian Vermouth – see Chambers. Hope that explains it!