A fun challenge from PHSSTHPOK to start my blogging for the year. Wish everyone here a fantastic New Year 2023.
FF: 9 DD: 7
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SEMIQUAVER |
A short note, qua clue? (10)
|
| reverse clue for QUA; SEMI QUAver ( implying half of ) | ||
| 7 | AXES |
Weapons for groups of allied countries (4)
|
| double def | ||
| 9 | SPUD |
Potato salad’s starter and dessert (4)
|
| S ( Salad, starting letter ) PUD ( dessert ) | ||
| 10 | BAREBACKED |
Are supported by top of bicycle without a saddle (10)
|
| B ( Bicycle, first letter ) ARE BACKED ( supported ) | ||
| 11 | CAMERA |
Gunners arrived before one shoots (6)
|
| CAME ( arrived ) RA ( gunners , Royal Artillery) | ||
| 12 | ULTERIOR |
Republican outlier cooked up this dubious motive (8)
|
| [ R ( republican ) OUTLIER ]* | ||
| 13 | SEASHELL |
Protection from ocean’s torment? (8)
|
| &lit perhaps; SEA’S ( ocean’s ) HELL ( torment ) | ||
| 15 | IOTA |
Fragment reflected first volume of dictionary? (4)
|
| cryptic Def; the first volume of dictionary could be A TO I, reversed | ||
| 17 | CRAG |
Caught toy with bluff (4)
|
| C ( caught ) RAG ( toy with ) | ||
| 19 | UGLINESS |
Bugsy loses by getting wrinkles — an unattractive quality (8)
|
| UGS ( bUGSy, without the letters of BY ) containing LINES ( wrinkles) | ||
| 22 | SNAPPIER |
More fashionable when one wears crocodile, perhaps (8)
|
| SNAPPER ( crocodile, maybe ) containing I ( one ) | ||
| 23 | TURNIP |
Spin, freeze and grind vegetable (6)
|
| PIN ( freeze ) RUT ( grind ), all reversed; i was stuck for sometime with SPIN = TURN and then not knowing what to do after that | ||
| 25 | CONSCIENCE |
Morality provides argument against evidence-based knowledge (10)
|
| CON ( argument against ) SCIENCE ( evidence-based knowledge ) | ||
| 26 | PUTT |
Lightly stroke puppies under their tiny heads (4)
|
| starting letters ( heads ) of “..Puppies Under Their Tiny..” | ||
| 27 | ARKS |
Large boats decapitated birds (4)
|
| lARKS ( birds, without first letter ) | ||
| 28 | UNYIELDING |
Fixed interest in gilts initially introduced by fund centrally (10)
|
| UN ( fUNd, centrally ) YIELD ( interest ) IN G ( Gilts, initially ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | EXPIATE |
Atone for former bandit lacking resistance (7)
|
| EX ( former) PIrATE ( bandit, without R – resistance ) | ||
| 3 | INDIE |
Cool mould collected type of film (5)
|
| IN ( cool ) DIE ( mould ) | ||
| 4 | UNBIASED |
Neutral peacekeepers deployed outside India (8)
|
| UN ( peacekeepers) [ BASED ( ~ deployed) outside I ( India) ] | ||
| 5 | VIRTUAL CURRENCY |
Perhaps bitcoin’s lucrative run collapses with cry (7,8)
|
| [ LUCRATIVE RUN CRY]* | ||
| 6 | ROBOTS |
More than one machine breaks down after ingesting foul smell (6)
|
| ROTS ( breaks down) containing BO ( foil smell, Body Odour ) | ||
| 7 | ACCORDION |
Harmony one gets playing musical instrument (9)
|
| ACCORD ( harmony ) I ( one ) ON ( playing ) | ||
| 8 | EVEN OUT |
Level 1, 3, 5, etc.? (4,3)
|
| cryptic def; the series excludes even numbers | ||
| 14 | SIGNPOSTS |
Pointers and icons incorporate letters (9)
|
| SIGNS ( icons ) containing POST ( letters ) | ||
| 16 | ALL THERE |
Nothing here is rational (3,5)
|
| cryptic def; nothing here = ALL THERE | ||
| 18 | RANCOUR |
What’s concealed by sporran? Courtesy or malice? (7)
|
| hidden in “..sporRAN? COURtesy..” | ||
| 20 | SMITTEN |
Punched with single glove (7)
|
| S ( single ) MITTEN ( glove ) | ||
| 21 | MILIEU |
Setting for motorway layout over top of underpass (6)
|
| MI ( motorway ) LIE ( layout ) U ( Underpass, first letter ) | ||
| 24 | RAPID |
Express blame over primal urges (5)
|
| RAP ( blame ) ID ( primal urges; i only know this from crosswordland ) |
I first came across ID in the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet. Missed AXES. Forgot all about the ‘allied countries’ sense. Found this a lot simpler than his last outing.
Loved the topical 5d! 16, 18 and 20 were among my other likes.
This wasn’t exactly a pushover though I did complete the puzzle fairly steadily with just a few remaining half-parsed till I came here.
Thanks to Phssthpok and Turbolegs. I’m curious about ‘freeze’ cluing ‘pin’. Would it be in the sense of ‘pinned/frozen’ to the spot?
Thanks Phssthpok and Turbolegs
23ac: Diane@2, I think you have it exactly right. Chambers 2014 gives “to fix” in the definitions of both freeze and pin. Thinking of “pinned/frozen/fixed” to the spot is a very good example of how the meanings coincide.
I was held up by 14d where having the sequence __p-s_ its convinced that the answer contained _pis_ (for letters) eventually saw the light when I got seashell.
I failed on PUTT having PAT-, for no good reason other than that’s what one does to puppies! Thanks Turbolegs for the lesson.
Thanks, Pelham@3, for that confirmation.
17a. How is rag “toy with” or “you”?
Hi Peter – Thanks for spotting the error – I had meant for it to read “toy with”. My take on it was to do with ‘ragging’ in educational institutions along the lines of “hazing”. It does mean to make fun of someone.
Regards,
TL
Thanks, Phsstphok and Turbolegs – and happy new year to you too. Enjoyed this one a lot – many neatly constructed clues with clever misdirection. 5d is brilliant. Also loved the clue for RANCOUR among others. Like Hovis, I found it much easier going than the previous one, but still plenty enough of a challenge to keep me interested throughout. I also got fixated on spin=TURN and couldn’t see the wood for the trees for ages.
Hopefully no one was bothered by the use of QUA today with it being fresh in the mind from Aardvark’s puzzle the other day.
Thanks Phssthpok for an enjoyable crossword. This was easier for me than the last one but that was a Saturday crossword when you have all week to solve it. My top picks were UGLINESS, RAPID, VIRTUAL CURRENCY, and CONSCIENCE, the latter two for their great surfaces. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog and explaining TURNIP; I couldn’t get past “turn” for “spin.”
[Regarding ID: I was once at a baseball game and the beer seller had “NO ID, NO BEER” on his beer box. I thought it should have read, “No superego, no beer.”]
Thanks for the blog, Muffin @1 has the same ID reference as me, Walter Pidgeon and Robbie the Robot and a raging ID , loosely based on The Tempest.
Lovely set of clues , I will just pick out UGLINESS and VIRTUAL CURRENCY plus I admire the restraint in the clue for BAREBACKED.