Rodriguez provides the challenge today.
Rodriguez is a setter I have found quite difficult in the past, but this puzzle seemed to sit towards the gentler end of the spectrum.
There were some American allusions today. I reckon CHANNEL-HOPPER is more of an American term than a British one, where remote-control or flicker are more common terms for the device. I started off with the wrong HOPPER in the parsing, as I plumped for Dennis first before realising he was an actor rather than an artist. I corrected the reference to Edward HOPPER before I pressed the ‘publish’ button.
I think SCHMOOZING is also an American term.
The clues for GINGERSNAPS and DOGMA both raised a smile.
The philosophical content of the clue for AMI was clever.
Other clues I liked were the ones for EAST SUSSEX and GERMAN MEASLES
If there is a theme or message in the grid, I haven’t spotted it.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Battered halibut’s tail and drinks, including case of champagne (8) TROUNCED (beaten severely; battered) T (last letter of [tail] HALIBUT) + (ROUND [drinks] containing [including] CE [outer letters of {case of} CHAMPAGNE) T ROUN (CE) D |
| 6 |
More often than not, Rodriguez has virile exterior (6) MAINLY (principally; more often than not) I (Rodriguez, the setter) contained in (has … exterior) MANLY (virile) MA (I) NLY |
| 9 |
Perfumier engages new US artist who changes what’s on the box (7-6) CHANNEL-HOPPER (device for switching rapidly between different television channels in a forlorn attempt to find anything of interest) CHANEL (reference the French perfume house founded by Coco CHANEL in 1921) containing (engages) N (new) + HOPPER (reference Edward HOPPER [1882 – 1967], American artist and printmaker) CHAN (N) EL HOPPER |
| 10 |
American idiot with zero pizzazz making chit-chat (10) SCHMOOZING (chatting in a friendly or intimate manner) SCHMO (American term for an idiot) + O (character representing zero) + ZING (pizzazz) SCHMO O ZING |
| 12 |
Spike, large one (4) LACE (secretly add a small amount of alcohol or drugs to a plain drink; spike) L (large) + ACE (one) L ACE |
| 13 |
Didn’t catch film using audio (6) MISSED (didn’t catch) MISSED (sounds like [using audio] MIST [film]) MISSED |
| 15 |
Gift from party people (8) DONATION (gift) DO (party) + NATION (nation) DO NATION |
| 17 |
Working on image, a narcissist’s problem (8) EGOMANIA (abnormal self interest [problem in the eyes of most people], as displayed by a narcissist) Anagram of (working) ON IMAGE A EGOMANIA* |
| 19 |
Bar passage out of Rwanda’s capital (6) EXCEPT (not including; bar) EXCERPT (passage [of text, for example]) excluding (out of) R (first letter of [capital of] RWANDA) EXCEPT |
| 20 |
Star‘s promise in Union and League (4) IDOL (star) I DO (promise made by the bridge and groom at a wedding [union]) + L (league) I DO L |
| 22 |
Card player with dodgy relations in part of England (4,6) EAST SUSSEX (part of England) EAST (designation of card player in a game such a bridge) + SUS (suspect; dodgy) + SEX (intercourse; relations) EAST SUS SEX |
| 24 |
Complaint from son tucking into e.g. wurst with sauerkraut and enchiladas on vacation (6,7) GERMAN MEASLES (disease; complaint) (S [son] contained in [tucking into] GERMAN MEAL, of which wurst [large sausage] is an example) + ES (letters remaining in ENCHILADAS when the central letters NCHILADA are removed; on vacation) GERMAN MEA (S) L ES |
| 26 |
Peacenik into drugtaking and hippiedom (6) GANDHI (reference the Indian revolutionary leader Mahatma GANDHI [1869 – 1948], who employed non-violent resistance to bring about Indian independence from British rule in 1947) GANDHI (hidden word in [into] DRUGTAKING AND HIPPIEDOM) GANDHI |
| 27 |
Gives up storing item in bureaus after losing a thousand (8) DESPAIRS (is without hope; gives up) PAIR (two people together; an item) contained in (in) DESKS (bureaus) excluding (after losing) K (1,000) DES (PAIR) S |
| Down | |
| 2 |
Concerned with eco travel, helping the environment (9) RECYCLING (re-using, sometimes in a different form, without sending to landfill; helping the environment) RE (concerned with) + CYCLING (a form of travel that is ecologically sound in that it doesn’t pollute the atmosphere) RE CYCLING |
| 3 |
Remove attacking threat from team, introducing right back (5) UNARM (remove attacking threat from) (MAN U [Manchester United; team]) containing [introducing] R [right]) all reversed (back) (U NA (R) M)< |
| 4 |
Harmony from Italian with my kind of music (11) CONCORDANCE (agreement; harmony) CON (Italian for ‘with’) + COR (gosh!; my!) + DANCE (type of music) CON COR DANCE |
| 5 |
In the end, Oxford United wasted time (7) DALLIED (wasted time) D (last letter of [in the end] OXFORD + ALLIED [united]) D ALLIED |
| 6 |
Low emotional state finishing early (3) MOO (lowing sound made by a cow) MOOD (emotional state) excluding the final letter (finishing early) D MOO |
| 7 |
Mostly ill-mannered, I see, and unwise (9) IMPOLITIC (inexpedient; unwise) IMPOLITE (ill-mannered) excluding the final letter (mostly) E + I + C (see defines the letter C) IMPOLIT I C |
| 8 |
Poetry penned by Joely Richardson (5) LYRIC (poetry) LYRIC (hidden word in [penned by] JOELY RICHARDSON) LYRIC |
| 11 |
What happens when Posh or Sporty is annoying getting biscuits (11) GINGERSNAPS (type of biscuits) POSH (Victoria Beckham [nee Adams] and SPORTY [Melanie Chisholm] were members of the Spice Girls singing group, as was GINGER [Geri Halliwell], who might have got annoyed or SNAPPED if POSH and SPORTY took all the biscuits) GINGER SNAPS |
| 14 |
Suggest infiltrating small leftist group (6,3) SIMPLY RED (British soul and pop group) IMPLY (suggest) contained in (infiltrating) (S [small] + RED [communist; leftist]) S (IMPLY) RED |
| 16 |
E.g. Putin in media getting awfully poor coverage (9) OPPRESSOR (reference Vladimir PUTIN [born 1962], President of Russian seen by almost everyone outside Russia and its allies as an OPPRESSOR) PRESS (part of the media) contained in (getting … coverage) an anagram of (awfully) POOR OP (PRESS) OR* |
| 18 |
Bore and nincompoop you heard at the seaside? (7) ASSUMED (took upon oneself; bore) ASS (nincompoop) + U (sounds like [heard] YOU) + MED (MEDiterranean Sea; seaside) ASS U MED |
| 21 |
Strong belief one may be responsible for litter (5) DOGMA (settled or strong belief) DOG MA (mother dog, who may give birth to a litter of puppies) DOG MA |
| 23 |
Dip in retail, with area sapped of energy (5) SALSA (spicy sauce or dip made with tomatoes, onions, chillis and oil) SALES (retail) excluding (sapped of) E (energy) + A (area) SALS A |
| 25 |
A question Descartes implicitly asked his pal (3) AMI (friend; pal) Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650), French philosopher who coined the definitive philosophical statement Cogito, Ergo Sum [I think therefore I am] which can be considered as an answer to the implicit question ‘AM I?‘ AM I |
A fun crossword with pizzazz i.e. GINGERSNAPS, SIMPLY RED. My favourites were shorter entries – AMI, IDOL and UNARM where I finally twigged that the ‘team’ was Man U. Easy meat for football fans. Thanks to both although for once I didn’t require help with the parsing. Must, indeed, have been a gentle grid.
Never short of goodies with this setter
SIMPLY RED was great
Thanks, Rodriguez and duncanshiell!
GINGERSNAPS (your parsing seems perfect).
My take was marginally different (Hardly different, one may say):
When Posh or Sporty is annoying, Ginger snaps (that’s what happens). I took this as one part
and of course, ‘biscuits’ as the def.
Nicely done. I was beaten by SALSA, not spotting ‘dip’ in that sense and looking for something meaning sag or recession. I didn’t equate retail with SALES as either verb or noun. Favourites include MAINLY, LACE, IDOL, EAST SUSSEX, UNARM, DALLIED, SIMPLY RED, ASSUMED and AMI.
duncan – I think ‘wurst with sauerkraut’ is all defining MEAL in 24a: I was initially trying to incorporate vacated SauerkrauT into the solution.
Thanks Rodriguez and duncan
Thanks both. I thought AMI and GINGERSNAPS were brilliant.
I think the CHANNEL-HOPPER is the person, not the gadget, making ‘who’ part of the definition.
Postmark@4 and Roger@5
You both make fair comments – I’ll leave the blog unchanged so that others can see what you are referring to. I have though corrected a couple of typos in the introductory text.
This was both challenging and enjoyable as this setter’s puzzles usually are.
Although CHANNEL-HOPPER and SCHMOOZING are American terms, both clues had some sort of US reference which just about makes them OK in my book.
I don’t think “bore” and “assumed” in 18d are synonymous as the former means to have (e.g. a title) whereas the latter means to take it.
My top picks were GINGERSNAPS, EAST SUSSEX and GERMAN MEASLES with AMI just nosing in front as my favourite.
Many thanks to Rodriguez and to Duncan.
AMI, IDOL, EXCEPT, GINGERSNAPS all excellent. I liked EAST SUSSEX but it could have been WEST SUSSEX without the crossers. Thanks, both.
Thanks both. Very enjoyable, and agree fairly gentle, which I needed after yesterday’s Filbert, which was scary (completing the Spice Girls theme). GERMAN MEASLES was stand-out for me
Slightly less challenging for me than many of this setter’s puzzles but I did have to ask Mr G about American idiots!
Liked the notion of the battered halibut with champagne but my top two were EAST SUSSEX & SIMPLY RED.
Thanks to Rodriguez and to Duncan for the review.
Another fine workout for the cryptic grey matter. Lots to enjoy, my top favourite was 11d
Thanks to Rodriguez and Duncan
I thought this was typically superb from this setter, he rarely if ever disappoints.
My top three were IDOL (brilliant), EAST SUSSEX and SIMPLY RED.
Many thanks to Rodriguez (and congratulations on securing a regular Wednesday spot in The Telegraph) and DS for a super blog.
Thanks Rodriguez for your customary excellence. As an American I never heard the term CHANNEL-HOPPER. I’ve only heard the term “channel-surfer”. (It’s a big country, however, and often I’m not in its mainstream.) Thanks Duncan for the blog.
Some very good clues. Particular enjoyed gingersnaps and schmoozing. Didn’t appreciate the Putin clue. Our politicians might be anti-Russian but last I recall nobody has asked the public what their opinion is.