Bluebird makes a rare appearance this Thursday.
An enjoyable challenge today, with a nice twist introduced by 13 down – although the clue told us where to look for the wallies. We think we would have enjoyed the puzzle even more if we had to find the wallies, as per the challenge in the children’s books – which our son used to love and our grandchildren are now beginning to enjoy!
U (posh) in or ‘boring’ T and T (‘models’, as in model T Ford cars)
R (Republican) BORE (dullard) in or ‘wearing’ A SCENT (fragrance)
IN (during) IT (sex) I (one) ALLY (partner)
MUG (something tea is served in) + GalleY missing the middle letters or ’empty’
G E C K (first and last letters or ‘walls’ of Guardbridge and Carnock) + O (duck)
A clue-as-definition – HOW round or ‘capturing’ R (king) after OVERT (public)
ZZ (snores) ‘interrupting’ an anagram (‘arrangement’) of MINUEt without the last letter or ‘unfinished’
SHE (a woman) round a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of ZOOM (videoconferencing software)
I in an anagram (‘dilapidated’) of STABLE
MUSE (the English rock band) + first letters or ‘starts’ of Tune Trumpets and Euphoniums
BLUEbird (‘your setter’) with ‘bird’ (‘singer’) replaced by GRASS (another ‘singer’ – an informer)
A reversal (‘revolutionary’ – again) of A1M (road) + OW (‘I am in pain’)
A person declaring their sexuality or ’emerging from the closet’ might say or ‘deliver the line’ I AM BI (bisexual)
ESSEN (German city) + a reversal (‘returned’) of IT + A L (learner – student)
MINUTES (logs – as in notes of a meeting) TEAK (wood)
Triple definition – the first being the guitarist with Queen
THIN (skinny) GAMY (‘like a rabbit maybe’) BOB (as in ‘Bob’s your uncle’ – on satisfactory completion of a task)
An anagram (‘organisation’) of WITH SECReT missing an ‘e’ (base) – nice definition!
AM (morning) I GO (leave)
BALL (dance) O (nothing) ON
An anagram (‘drunk’) of SHERRY round or ‘transfixed by’ M (first letter or ‘overture’ of Macbeth)
SOS (cry for help) round or ‘overwhelming’ ME-TIME (self-indulgence)
EAtER (diner) with the ‘t’ (last letter of goblet) replaced by G (the first letter)
TrOY (old city) with the ‘r’ (Romeo in the phonetic alphabet) missing or ‘exiled’
In the WHERE’S WALLY picture books, Wally is hidden somewhere in each picture – ‘Wallies’ (fools) are hidden in 2, 4, 10 and 19, as highlighted in the grid
ZIT (swelling) and GIS (soldiers) both round or ‘taking’ Es (drugs) + T (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of represent)
OS (outsize – ‘great’) + a reversal (‘retrogressive’) of ART + CIS M (male)
LOAF (bread) ExeteR (first and last or ‘outside’ letters) S (first letter or ‘north facade’ – in a down clue) of station
M T (first letters or ‘tops’ of mountains and tors) round US (American) + SEE (diocese)
UN (‘one’ in French) MAN (island dependency)
Hidden in verMIN SKulking
A clue-as-definition – IdeaS (without the middles letters or ‘discharged’) M (first or ‘initial’ letter of Marx or Mao)
Several favorites today.
Mentioning a few: OVERTHROW, THINGAMYBOB, ZEITGEIST and ISM.
Thanks, Bb and B&J!
Thanks, Bluebird, most enjoyable. I shared our bloggers’ delight in cracking the theme.
Thanks for the blog, B&J.
Can we count the silly MOO in 16a, shades of Alf Garnett? I think I’ve always spelt that as SCHMOOZE.
I would pick SOMETIMES and BLUEGRASS among my favourites of many good clues. Thanks, all.
Very nice, Bluebird. Those of us who have done the G as well will be purring with pleasure. OVERTHROW, MINUTE STEAK and SOMETIMES my favourites.
I did smile at the construction of the clue for GECKO: a strange couple of locations with which to identify our scaly friend. They both appear to be … in the Kingdom of Fife! What a coincidence 😉
Thanks Bluebird and B&J
An enjoyable solve, on the whole. Struggled a bit with THINGAMYBOB as I am not used to that spelling. Most online dictionaries give it as “thingamabob” or the variant “thingummybob”.
Thank you Bluebird and B&J
Very nice, though I struggled at 1D to work out which of the many spellings was intended. At 20A, where rock bands are concerned my mind goes into a Blur, so some online research was required to solve it. Thanks Bluebird and B&J.
All completed, though not completely parsed – for intance ZEITGEIST which we just wrote in because it couldn’t be anything else. and THINGAMYBOB where we didn’t kmow that spelling so put it in as …UMY… (dropping the second M). Variant spellings can frequently catch solvers out, another instance here being SHMOOZE for which Chambers just says ‘see Schmooze’ – there are quite a few words which can be spelt starting ‘sch…’ or ‘sh…’; most are American usage and derived from Yiddish.
An enjoyable puzzle nevertheless, although we didn’t cotton on to the theme.
Thanks, Bluebird and B&J.
Thanks both. I was defeated in finding a Wally in each indicated location, as I took BALLOON to be a Wally in whole, which it can be up here in the grim North
Thanks to Bertandjoyce for the excellent (-as-ever) blog. Thanks to all those who have had a go at this puzzle and taken the time to comment. Bonus points to Mark for discovering the Fife references!