Alchemi fills the Tuesday slot this week.
This was an enjoyable ‘theme day’ puzzle with eight clues using the various meanings of 22 down in either the solutions or the wordplay.
An anagram (‘irritated’) of LOUD BASS
LONE (solitary) SS (ship) round or ‘carrying’ I (international)
ARR (arranged) round or ‘receiving’ BITE (snack)
An anagram (‘could make’) of SOLID PILE – an ellipsoid is a ’round’ (22 down) solid
AS (when) in or ‘eaten by’ TOT (child)
DEN (study) in IT (congress, as in sex)
Double definition (22 down being ’round’)
An anagram (‘somehow’) of GOES IN THE HEEL – a reference to a round (22 down) of golf
TIER (row) round G (German)
An anagram (‘collapse’) of TRIAL round or ‘keeping’ RAVE (party)
RU (Rugby Union – ‘sport’) MOURnS (grieves) without or ‘ignoring’ ‘n’ (new)
SAT IN (protested against) E T (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of elegant)
STAND AROUND (idly loiter)
A reversal (‘going round’ – 22) of DESSERTS (courses)
BULLET (’round’ – 22 down) IN (admitted)
An anagram (‘managed’) of ROUND (22 down) SLEIGH
OVERT (in public) round PI (holy) + CH (church)
DISCO (club) LURED (tempted) round or ‘admitting’ O (nothing)
OR (gold) BIT (piece)
Alternate or ‘regular’ letters of RoAsT – a reference to Roland Rat, the TV glove puppet
R (river – ‘flower’) in or ‘covered by’ DUST (powder)
S (small) ANDIRON (‘dog by the fire’) – a club used in golf
A (are) TALL (high) EVEN (level) + TalkS without the middle letters or ‘short of content’
An anagram (‘knitted’) of SCARVES + E (base – in maths)
USE (operate) round HERE (present) TT (races – as in the Isle of Man motorcycle races)
An anagram (‘compromise’) of IDEALS TO
We think this is a double definition, the second referring to taking TURNS in a round (22) of a board game – but not all board games involve ’rounds’, so we’re not too sure about it
24. Finally, after five failures, we get to start again from scratch (5)
Last or ‘final’ letters of afteR fivE failureS wE geT
MOlAr (‘chopper’ – tooth) missing ‘l’ (left) and ‘r’ (right) ‘hands’
Lots to like in this including BUSLOADS, LIONESSES, TOAST, EIGHTEEN HOLES, OVERPITCH and AT ALL EVENTS. And the theme was nicely employed.
Two quibbles: if a solution is going to be split between two lights, I’d prefer that both parts are words in themselves so DISCO LOURED doesn’t work for me. And DURST, using flower = R, if gettable is surely a tad indirect?
Thanks Alchemi and B&J
Lovely stuff, Alchemi – and a very nicely worked theme. Most enjoyable. 19/20 was my favourite – took me far too long to spot but a very satisfying PDM when it came.
Thanks for the blog, B&J. I think your parsing for 21d is fine – that’s how I understood it too.
PM – presume it’s “loured” you don’t like, rather than disco? It’s fine – a variant spelling of lower, in the sense of frown or scowl. Agree with you about flower = R being a tad indirect, but it was still gettable so I don’t mind that too much.
I agree with PostMark @1 about DURST but I’ll go one step further than him regarding answers split across two lights, which I dislike intensely even when both parts are words in their own right (this is actually the case here as LOUR is a verb meaning to scowl). Both of these are technically OK, but they took the edge off an otherwise fine puzzle for me.
My top picks were BUSLOADS, LIONESS and EIGHTEEN HOLES.
IDENT was a new word for me.
Many thanks to Alchemi and to B&J.
Thanks Alchemi and BnJ
They aren’t indicated, but I think you could add DISC & O from 4D to the thematic collection.
Nice spot Simon. I actually quite liked the way DISCOLOURED was split into two words. The split for 28/22 was interesting since STAND AROUND would make a more obvious solution (with ‘idly loiter’ as definition) but, of course, STANDA isn’t a 7-letter word forcing the issue.
Whilst split solutions are not my favourite device, I accept they get used and, if lour is a word (dnk – only familiar with lower) then my quibble is withdrawn.
I meant to add that I hadn’t heard of 14d as a phrase, just heard of ‘in any event’ but it was the obvious equivalent.
I didn’t know E = base so couldn’t fully parse 16D but it had to be CREVASSE. Re DURST, my understanding was that indirect devices were frowned on in cryptic land, but seems no longer – will bear in mind for the future. Thanks Alchemi and B&J.
I had the same difficulty with TURNS as B&J and in the end opted for their parsing, sharing their reservations. I hadn’t come across LIONESS for ‘footballer’ before but guessed correctly who the name referred to. IDENT only entered thanks to previous appearances in crossword land.
I liked the golf-related clues and OVERPITCH.
Thanks to Alchemi and B&J
Thanks both. Had the same doubts as others re TURNS and AT ALL EVENTS and had dismissed that there could be a word ‘andiron’ specifically identifying a ‘dog’ by the fire….slightly disappointed it is not a real dog
I was fine with DURST, especially as the R was a crosser, so immediately said flower to me. If I have any criticism it would be calling a molar a chopper. Surely they’re grinders..
Nice puzzle and thanks to B&J for filling me in on the bits that I couldn’t parse (andiron?)
A Tuesday theme that was ‘obvious’ rather than hidden for once and it made for a fairly quick finish, Favlourites were the thematic ELLIPSOID and CIRCULAR.
We were a bit doubtful about the parsing of TURNS and couldn’t parse AT ALL EVENTS. But we’ve no problems with splitting words between lights (provided they split into valid words). As for DURST, flower = river = R may be indirect but is it any different from flower = river = DEE (or other name)? At all events it’s not the dreaded indirect anagram.
Thanks, Alchemi and B&J
I liked SAND IRON and BULLETIN. DISCOLOURED was my loi, but I think it’s fair enough.
It can’t be easy to incorporate the various meanings of ROUND so expertly in a single crossword but Alchemi has done a masterful job. I particularly liked BULLETIN, BUSLOADS, and EIGHTEEN HOLES. Thanks to all.
What about a round of toast?
Thanks Alchemi and B&J
Thanks Alchemi, B&J
Loved the loud bass anagram, what a blight.
I invented all sorts of problems, like thinking BULL was round (darts) and LET IN was admitted with an extra L, not seeing SAND IRON as a club, just thinking it was two different things on the golf course, and more. Appropriately too I didn’t get EIGHTEEN HOLES – I’ve always run out of balls by that point.
For flower > R, it is more indirect than flower > Dee (allan_c @ 12) as Dee is something that flows, there’s no need to go via river. There’s no shortage of abbreviations that are commonly given by synonyms of their expansions: way etc. for RD/ST etc., business/firm for CO, but this one’s cryptic which makes it odder. My problem with not giving the actual word to be abbreviated in the clue is that the alternatives have to be learned by rote. If you don’t know them, they’re inexplicable, and really nonsense. The one I like least is student for L. Who could possibly decipher that who hadn’t had it explained to them? And it’s not like there’s much pleasure in working it out. Abbreviations are the mechanical parts of clues.
Despite not being a huge fan of puzzles that constantly refer back to 1 clue (& there’s been a fair bit of it lately) I enjoyed this. Used 1 letter reveal ,hit check once & with a couple unparsed but with a filled the grid at least. EIGHTEEN HOLES my fav.
Thanks to Alchemi & B&J
Ps completely agree with RD @3 re DISCOLOURED. It’s unnecessary & irritating
No problem here with DISCO + LOURED. In fact I find it quite helpful to know that a solution is an eleven letter word made up of two legit sub-words. Happy alo with DURST, but same reservations about AT ALL LEVELS.
I enjoyed playing ‘spot the theme’ here – liked TOAST, and also wondered about SHOULDER(ed/->ing?) too.
Thanks all.
I’m pretty certain I’ve seen flower = r before, though possibly from a non-Ximenean setter like Araucaria, which might not satisfy everyone.
With regard to splitting DISCOLOURED, I did it because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a clue for DISCO that I liked, and I’ve definitely not written one (I’ve written two or three feeble/rotten ones, though), so when I found it inescapable I looked for somewhere I could put a word that could concatenate.