A fun solve with a number of tricky parsings. Many favourites including 13ac, 18ac, 26ac, 30ac, 1dn, 2dn, and 23dn. Thanks to Picaroon for the puzzle.
A very obvious theme, with MANY COOKS in the solutions
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 |
See 22
|
|
| 10 | UNHEALTHY |
Not well disposed, finally Jeremy Hunt introduces remedy (9)
|
| anagram/”disposed” of (y Hunt)* with y=”finally Jeremy“, around HEAL=”remedy”
Jeremy Hunt was UK Secretary of State for Health from 2012 to 2018 |
||
| 11 | DISPELLED |
Drove away and broke down over a period of time (9)
|
| DIED=”broke down” (e.g. a car engine dying), around SPELL=”period of time” | ||
| 12 | BLANC |
French wine — litres swallowed in bar cold (5)
|
| theme connection: Raymond Blanc [wiki]
definition: French for white wine L (litres) inside BAN=”bar”, plus C (cold) |
||
| 13 | BUMBLER |
Clumsy fellow from Britain, more like Uriah Heep (7)
|
| B (Britain) + ‘UMBLE-R=”more like Uriah Heep”
Uriah Heep [wiki] often describes himself as ‘umble (humble) in the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield |
||
| 15 | SUSPEND |
Temporarily stop while away going round America (7)
|
| SPEND=”while away” (while away / spend time somewhere), around US=”America” | ||
| 17 | STEIN |
Drug-filled idiot’s knocked back booze in this (5)
|
| theme connection: Rick Stein [wiki]
E (ecstasy, “Drug”), filling inside NIT’S=”idiot’s”, all reversed/”knocked back” |
||
| 18 | GAL |
Miss target, dropping ball (3)
|
| G-O-AL=”target”, minus the O=”ball” shaped letter | ||
| 20 | IN ALL |
Exhausted after cycling, leaving nothing out (2,3)
|
| ALL IN=”Exhausted”, cycling the words into the other order | ||
| 22, 9 | TOO MANY COOKS |
Maybe 12, 17, 25, 26, 27, 31, 5 and 23, jeopardising 26 down or 2? (3,4,5)
|
| COOKS are the solutions to 12, 17, 25, 26ac, 27, 31, 5, and 23 – and too many cooks could spoil the ‘broths’ in the solutions to 2dn or 26dn | ||
| 25 | NIGELLA |
Claiming to lose £1,000 over a bloomer (7)
|
| theme connection: Nigella Lawson [wiki]
definition: the name of a flowering plant or “bloomer”, also known as love-in-a-mist ALLEGIN-G, losing a G (‘G’ for a grand, £1000), and reversed/”over” |
||
| 26 | SMITH |
Metalworker, terribly hit and miss, is dismissed (5)
|
| theme connection: Delia Smith [wiki]
anagram/”terribly” of (hit m-is-s)*, minus the letters of “is“ |
||
| 27 | HOLLYWOOD |
Gangster grabs lowly vagrant in star-studded area (9)
|
| theme connection: Paul Hollywood [wiki]
HOOD=”Gangster”, around anagram/”vagrant” of (lowly)* |
||
| 30 | UNEARTHED |
Rude ten Hag almost trashed dugout, needing a break? (9)
|
| definition: adding a “break” or space into “dug/out” gives ‘dug out’, a definition of UNEARTHED
anagram/”trashed” of (Rude ten Ha)*, with Ha=”Hag almost” Erik ten Hag is the manager of Manchester United Football Club |
||
| 31 | BERRY |
Chuck fruit (5)
|
| theme connection: Mary Berry [wiki]
double definition: Chuck Berry the singer [wiki]; or a type of fruit |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ACID |
Trip facilitator from Cuba’s capital financing tours (4)
|
| definition referring to a “Trip” as in a psychedelic experience
“capital” letter of C-uba, and AID=”financing” goes around/”tours” |
||
| 2 | CONSOMME |
Colt running miles in an unspecified course (8)
|
| definition: “course” as in a part of a meal – a CONSOMMÉ is a soup
C (Colt, in horse racing) + ON=”running”, plus M (miles) in SOME=”an unspecified” |
||
| 3 | ASHE |
Court victor‘s appeal about case of homicide (4)
|
| definition: Arthur Ashe [wiki] who won tournaments on the tennis court
SA (Sex Appeal) reversed/”around”, plus the outer letters/”case” of H-omicid-E |
||
| 4 | BULLFROG |
Rubbish shot for golf, one in the pond? (8)
|
| BULL=”Rubbish” + anagram/”shot” of (for)* + G (Golf in the NATO alphabet) | ||
| 5 | RHODES |
Travelled south across hot island (6)
|
| theme connection: Gary Rhodes [wiki]
RODE=”Travelled” + S (south), going around/”across” H (hot) |
||
| 6 | LAMBASTING |
Battering Italian white meat with no good covering (10)
|
| ASTI=”Italian white” wine; with LAMB=”meat” and NG (no good, e.g. used to describe a TV recording) going around/”covering” | ||
| 7 | AT EASE |
American guy’s order given to men (2,4)
|
| A (American) + TEASE=”guy” as a verb meaning to make fun of someone | ||
| 8 | SYNC |
Say, an act with nothing even in harmony (4)
|
| S-a-Y a-N a-C-t, with none of the “even” letters | ||
| 13 | BESET |
Harry Kane at last stops Man U player (5)
|
| last letter of [Kan]-E, stopping inside George BEST [wiki]=”Man U player” | ||
| 14 | LANCASHIRE |
Cheese and bread chopped up in real bags (10)
|
| CASH=”bread”, bagged inside anagram/”chopped up” of (in real)* | ||
| 16 | DELTA |
With adult delayed, distributed letter (5)
|
| DEALT=”distributed” with the A for “adult” moved to the end or “delayed” | ||
| 19 | LANDLADY |
Letter from pair of kids describing New Year (8)
|
| definition: someone who ‘lets’ out a property
LAD LAD=”pair of kids” around N (New), plus Y (Year) |
||
| 21 | ALL FOURS |
Game over? Everybody hides outside (3,5)
|
| definition: All Fours is a card game
O (over, in cricket), with both ALL=”Everyone” and FURS=”hides” going “outside” |
||
| 23 | OLIVER |
Repeated element of solo on organ is musical (6)
|
| theme connection: Jamie Oliver [wiki]
definition: Oliver! is a musical [wiki] based on the novel Oliver Twist O is the only repeated letter in the word “solo”, plus LIVER=”organ” |
||
| 24 | YO-HO-HO |
Sailors’ chant in typhoon occasionally including surprised cry (2-2-2)
|
| occasional letters of t-Y-p-H-o-O-n, around OHO=”surprised cry” | ||
| 26 | SOUP |
Little money in France and here for food (4)
|
| SOU=a former French coin of low value=”Little money in France” + P (penny, “Little money… here [in the UK]”) | ||
| 28 | YOBS |
Two unidentical sons, flipping hooligans! (4)
|
| S (son) + BOY=a second, different, “son”; all reversed/”flipping” | ||
| 29 | DAYS |
Picked up shock in periods of global revolution (4)
|
| definition referring to the daily rotation of the Earth on its axis
sounds like/”Picked up”: ‘daze’=”shock” |
Failed on 21d. Thought that the answer was going to be ‘All yours’. Didn’t know the card game.
The theme helped solve this, but I found it tricky. The chefs listed all have or feature on TV cooking programmes, and I did wonder as I entered DELTA, if that could have been DELIA, to go with NIGELLA.
Thank you to Picaroon and manehi
All a bit too contrived. When I looked hard enough, I eventually found C for colt in Chambers, but pretty obscure. Wonder how the non-UK solvers cope with the chefs. Gary Rhodes hasn’t been seen for some time, even in the UK.
I felt sure that the “appeal” in 3d would be “it”, as it so often is, and this held me up for a while. Couldn’t parse IN ALL, and it took a while to remember guy/tease. To “while away” time and “spend” time are much the same, although the former probably implies more leisurely pleasure, yes?
My knowledge of things British was further expanded today with an extinct pub game and a dead footballer. And I’d only heard of three of the cooks, but that was enough. (Are they all British? I couldn’t be bothered looking them all up.)
But this was very enjoyable, as this setter always is. Picaróon will continue to be my favourite Guardian setter so long as unfamiliar Britishisms remain within the legal limits. 😉
I thought this was a real beauty – my favourite Guardian crossword for a while. A few easy ins (YO-HO-HO, HOLLYWOOD) but mostly a brick wall of really challenging wordplay and/or misleading definitions (LANDLADY, LANCASHIRE, BULLFROG were all fun to unpick).
Not sure I disagree with Crispy @3 that there were a couple of places where it was a bit overdone – CONSOMME for instance seemed out of reach without the reference in 22/9 (but then perhaps that’s what makes it fair).
Thanks Picaroon and manehi.
Finally, I get a theme! Enjoyed this immensely after being on completely the wrong wavelength yesterday. Could Lancashire be a reference to Sarah who brilliantly played the US chef Julia Childs recently. I would argue that Paul Hollywood differs from the rest as he is a baker not a chef. And, Crispy@3, Gary Rhodes sadly died not long ago which is why we haven’t seen him on TV!
Much thanks to manehi and Picaroon.
Great fun, though a bit of a challenge in places. Am pleased to see a reference to the wonderful OLIVER musical at 23 D (and part of the chef theme of course). I recall that on my seventh birthday in 1968 I was to have the treat of a trip with the family to central London to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I was very upset when it turned out that all seats had been sold. We saw Oliver instead. Ten minutes in and I was hooked. Andrew LLoyd Webber has referred to Lionel Bart as the father of the British musical. I am not a particular fan of musicals as such, but I make an exception for this one. With thanks to Picaroon and manehi.
There’s a reason for Gary Rhodes’ absence from our TV screens. He died in 2019
Crispy @3 I am not a European, and knowing early on what the theme was didn’t help much. I’d never heard of Rhodes or Blanc (my FOI) and a lot of the others I only recognised after the fact. Nigella was the only one who I thought to look for, but as Lawson, and in fact she was the only one clued as first name rather than last. I found the NW corner a particular slog for some reason.
A few unparsed (CONSOMME – nearly got there, ALL FOURS – not heard of the game and NIGELLA – deceived by ‘over a’), but getting the theme early helped a bit. Crispy @3, I’d heard of all except RHODES and BLANC as we get a lot of UK cooking shows in Aus.
Nice spot for Sarah LANCASHIRE JerryG @6 as she was great as Julia Child and I’ve just finished watching the brilliant series 3 of Happy Valley. A tour de force. Also nice to see my birthplace for a change from Leicestershire 😉
I wondered whether Chuck in BERRY needed a DBE indicator.
Much to like in this, and particular favourites were SUSPEND (for ‘while away’), LANCASHIRE (for reasons stated) and DELTA for the delayed adult.
Is it a coincidence with so many cooks that the Fast of LENT is a Nina in column 6?
I really enjoyed this. My favourite was BUMBLER (as a small boy, I was so thrilled by the humorous, and slightly scary, repeated claim from Uriah that “I am an ‘umble man” – never to be eclipsed by any tagline or catchphrase encountered since). I thought LANDLADY, which manehi hasn’t singled out, was an exemplary construction – and with a meaningful surface reading.
ALL FOURS new to me, I think, but sounded like a card game!
Crispy@3 – Gary Rhodes, much admired by his compeers, sadly died suddenly just over three years ago, while still a relatively young man.
Very nice puzzle and a great blog. Many thanks
Almost a Man United sub-theme with Laurent BLANC, George Best and Erik ten Hag, but it’s the other Manchester team that (allegedly) cooks the books.
Even I couldn’t miss this theme! Only helped with confirming answers, but very nicely done indeed. Really enjoyed this, especially BUMBLER, HOLLYWOOD, BULLFROG and ACID.
Thanks Picaroon and manehi.
Great puzzle but needed help with the parsing – although once I came here there were several AHA moments that I should have got – GAL, SYNC, ASHE – and I echo the favourites mentioned already. Thanks both.
An enjoyable crossword should in my opinion include clues that are very hard to get without some of the crossers. That is of course subjective; the level was just right for me, but somebody who takes more interest in (British) celebrity chefs might find it too easy. I recognised enough of them early on to realise the theme, but didn’t find it much help in completing the ones I hadn’t already got. It would have taken me a while to get 2d without the extra hint even with the crossers, but the clue was fair, even with an obscure abbreviation.
As usual, some seemed obvious in hindsight (just how did I manage to take so long to get 16d?) but that, to me, is a sign of a good clue.
Brilliant puzzle, lots of fun and a couple of standout clues for me: LANDLADY and LAMBASTING. Many thanks to P & m.
An enjoyable puzzle, taking me less time than this setter usually demands, but I could still savour the many excellent clue constructions and clever wordplay. Thanks to Picaroon and manehi.
A splendid crossword with a theme even I couldn’t miss
Many thanks to Picaroon and manehi
I absolutely loved this.
The list in 22,9 looked a bit daunting at first but HOLLYWOOD, BERRY and RHODES rang the appropriate bells and led me to TOO MANY COOKS, swiftly followed by SMITH, OLIVER et al – which didn’t spoil the fun one bit: I just enjoyed the cleverness of how they were all fitted in, while grinning at the jeopardy to CONSOMMÉ and SOUP.
As so often with this setter, too many favourite clues to list – glad your birthplace got a mention today, Tim C @10 – and as another cheese, too. 😉
I hadn’t heard of ALL FOURS as a game, either, but enjoyed working out the parsing.
A poignant reminder of three premature deaths: Arthur Ashe, George Best and Gary Rhodes.
Many thanks to Picaroon for a lot of fun and to manehi for a super blog.
I found this tricky to begin with, just like our blogger, but patient work eventually delivered a fully parsed solve and a very contented PostMark. As food, cooking and things cheffy are a passion of mine, I clocked the theme half way through my first pass and then, like Eileen, found a host of names to populate the grid after which the rest was plain sailing. I can imagine the challenge for those unfamiliar with the UK TV cookery scene though.
BUMBLER, SMITH, HOLLYWOOD, UNEARTHED, BULLFROG, LAMBASTING, LANDLADY, SOUP and YOBS were my favourites today; lots of creative construction. I wonder if we will ever lose some of the ageing names we rely upon when filling crossword grids – George Best, Arthur Ashe, Ezra Pound etc? And will Hary Kane join that group? In which context, nice to see Erik ten Hag as a very current reference. And, for those who enjoy co-incidence, giving nothing away by way of spoiler, today is another of those days where there is an intriguing overlap with the Indy puzzle.
Thanks Picaroon and manehi
I went down a different theme rabbit hole when I got Rhodes, Smith and Stein… thought they had something to do with South African cricketers 🙂
Thanks for the parsing, manehi – especially 13a, 25a, 30a and the devilish 23d
And ta, Pics for a wonderful puzzle.
Phew. Got there finally but not without some major head-scratching.
With NIGELLA (great spot) and BERRY being early entries, even this serially theme-blind plodder got the gag.
An awful lot of solutions were ‘guess then try to parse’ but they were interspersed with others to help.
Complicated but fun offering from the pirate., and many thanks manehi for a well worked blog.
Thanks Picaroon and manehi
C = COLT isn’t at all obscure if you are interested in horses and racing.
Some delightful clues but even spotting the theme mid-solve didn’t help much as I have heard of few of these chefs. I was also misled by finding lambASTIng and BLANC early into looking for a wine theme.
Tasty offering from the Pirate today. Slow start also for me but a few cooks appeared and I soon cracked the key – which enabled me to solve the previously recalcitrant broths at 2dn and 26dn – and the rest fell out nicely.
Some good cryptic defs here (‘trip facilitator’, ‘letter’), some disguised as part of a common phrase (‘not well disposed’, ‘miss target’, ‘Harry Kane’).
Fortunately there are plenty of British TV chefs/cooks/bakers with names adaptable to crosswords. Italy has Antonio Cannavacciuolo 🙂
Thanks to S&B
Despite spotting the theme early on, this took longer than usual. But all fairly clued in retrospect.
My favourite (of many) was UNHEALTHY closely followed by OLIVER.
Thanks Picaroon and manehi
Tough but enjoyable puzzle. Solved most of SE corner last.
Tried to guess the theme and thought of celebrity chefs (Delia SMITH, Rick STEIN) and then solved NIGELLA, Jamie OLIVER, Raymond BLANC as well as the theme clue 22/9.
New for me: Gary RHODES (British TV chef); game ALL FOURS.
I could not parse 2d (I should have guessed/assumed that C = colt!).
Thanks, both.
[I agree that Sarah Lancashire was great as Julia Childs in the recent TV series.]
Thanks for the blog, I just skipped 22,9 as I was solving so missed the theme completely until right at the end. NIGELLA was very clever, I liked the deceptive simplicity of BERRY , good to see LANCASHIRE , many varieties of this cheese, all delicious , visit Bury market if you can. ALL FOURS is very misleading, great card game but can teach bad habits, you can play trumps even when you can follow suit.
Thought this very clever. But even with getting TOO MANY COOKS early on, still struggled to find them all. Last one in ALL FOURS, a game I have never come across before, though wouldn’t quite say I was on my knees by then. NIGELLA Lawson apparently descended from the family that introduced the Joe Lyons Corner Shops, amongst many other innovations in the catering trade.
Many thanks Picaroon and Mahehi…
Really enjoyed this but amazed I finished it as I needed to come here for at least half a dozen parsings. I trawled my brain for tour guides and trip hazards before alighting on the other type of trip facilitator – long forgotten and probably responsible for some of the parsing challenges!
Loved the theme and in particular 22, 9 which made me laugh it loud. JerryG @6 to be fair to Picaroon ‘cooks’ is the theme rather than chefs, so bakers count too.
and Petert@13…very amusing sub theme, made me laugh!
Did anyone else expect a different theme after getting BUMBLE[R] and OLIVER? After ruling that out, I went down another blind alley thinking about Mel BLANC before the penny eventually dropped. Happy to say I know all the cooks mentioned, so no problem there.
Great fun, thanks, Picaroon. Enjoyed this a lot. And thanks for the blog, manehi.
I’m with Simon S @24 re C=colt.
Shanne @2 – presumably with SMITH already in the grid, including DELIA as well would have been overkill.
JerryG @6 – Several of the cooks featured here are not “chefs”. I think what they all have in common, as others have already mentioned, is being on TV.
Another superb offering from Picaroon. I am running out of praises high enough for him in his various Pirate guises.
Today was worth it for the astonishingly good surfaces and disguises of definitions in 4 and 19d alone. And such a clever theme to cap it all.
Thanks all
Yay, I got the theme in enough time for it to help me fill in some clues 🙂
It struck me doing this that Picaroon is a setter who often errs on the side of fairness/clarity rather than deviousness, as I saw two examples of this today: first, in ACID using “Cuba’s capital” to indicate C was kind, given he could just have used “Cuba” as C is the international vehicle registration code for Cuba; and secondly for giving us a clear lift-and-separate instruction “needing a break” for the “dug/out” in UNEARTHED – not all setters would have done so.
I’m sure now people might come up with examples of Picaroon being very devious indeed…
Thanks both.
Is it that one (as in I) has only so many synaptic connections to give to a crossword? I accepted the challenge of 22,9 and gave it my all eventually unearthing TOO MANY COOKS with a clunk of satisfaction.
And there it stopped. Large acreage refused to yield so a dnf but I was highly entertained. Would have made a good prize?
Thanks to Picaroon and to manehi for parsing NIGELLA which was very sneaky.
Pretty easy to get theme though I don’t watch ‘em. C = colt my unfavourite. Didn’t know ALL FOURS game.
Thanks both
I found this tough despite getting the theme early for once.
Thanks both.
Haven’t seen any of the UK cooking shows, but managed it in the end, in part because some of these people are minor celebrities and just get around. I wasn’t helped, though, by getting SOUP very early on and thinking it might be another theme about setters. Glad that it wasn’t.
Knowing only Mary Berry I was in the dark with the theme. I found this to be more of a slog than a joy. I generally like Picaroon but this wasn’t my cup of tea. Thanks to both.
Could do very little of this.
Thanks both.
Rob T@35
I think your first example (acid) is because the blog is incorrect. I’m not at all sure we can equate the word aid with the single word financing even in crosswordland. I think aid is meant to come from capital financing (which is certainly ok) leaving C=Cuba.
I think every single clue mentioned in 22,9 could be solved individually without any knowledge or even awareness of a theme. 22,9 itself only needs the idea of “spoil the broth” , a very unobtrusive theme indeed.
Rob @35 I think it is the role of a setter to be more devious , not less, except for perhaps twice a week and Everyman.
Just back from golf, so no chance of a number 1 spot today Roz. Obvious theme after getting HOLLYWOOD, STEIN and OLIVER. (I was hoping for a Blumenthal clue somewhere). Widdersbel @33: I also noticed the Dickens link with Uriah, BUMBLE(R) and OLIVER but if only he had asked for more CONSOMMÉ/SOUP rather than gruel. NIGELLA and UNEARTHED were my favourites. Great fun.
Ta Picaroon & manehi.
[ AlanC@44 I suspect that golf is a cover story for a secret special branch mission. You need to beware of number 1, it influences Saturday. Are KPR playing one of their 91 bogey teams ?
Try and have a look at the FT puzzle today, it is IO with one rather special clue ]
I had BLANC and SMITH early on and thought that there might be a Mel connection, but OLIVER corrected me! I really enjoyed this one.
I spent ages to get ALL FOURS, not only because I had never heard of the game, but also because it seemed inconceivable that the word “ALL” should be used twice, as both across and down.
Well, this was a slog. I’m not sure why, except that it felt more British than usual. (I know you’re all in bed and will have moved on by the morning, but I thought I’d comment anyway. I didn’t get to this until the end of my workday for various reasons.)
The Great British Bake-Off makes it to American TV (under the name Great British Baking Show, because the name Bake-Off is a trademark held by U.S. baking-products maker Pillsbury for its long-running annual competition), so I knew Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. Jamie Oliver has a planet-spanning empire (and ego), so I’ve heard of him too. The rest are a mystery (and unsurprisingly are all British). So the theme entry was almost the last one, but it was just in time to get me to CONSOMME.
I had never heard of All Fours. It helps that when you have to know a specific English footballer in a crossword it’s almost always George Best, so I’ve heard of him from doing these puzzles for a dozen years now.
Arthur ASHE is a staple of American-style crosswords, just like any short word with as many (or more) vowels as consonants, so that was my first one in. I’ve got an ecru etui with a whole list of these words stowed in it.
Superduper difficult for this American. I had to start revealing with the grid only half full. Even after the theme was revealed, I could only identify four of the chefs. Some things I should have recognized from past puzzles: Best, all fours, Lancashire cheese – but by then my brain was too fatigued to come up with anything.
PS to mrpenney @ 48: Ha! I had a similar etui I kept alee ere I lost in Erie.
Yeah i got the theme and this was still a miserable plod. Lot of gaps in my knowledge. Better luck tomorrow!
It’s very late, I know but I wanted to thank Picaroon for a most enjoyable puzzle. Although I live in Australia, I knew each and every one of the ‘too many cooks’. They were cleverly disguised so I didn’t twig to the theme until only the last cook was left – wonderful Rick Stein – and I didn’t need help with his clue. Lots of fun and happy pennies dropping.
Manehi, thank you for a super blog. I did need clarification on a couple and my poor brain flaked out trying to come to terms with my LOI, 2d consomme. I got the word but had no idea how! So thanks.
I am late too but thanks manehi for confirming the card game, the colt (was my best guess, i like it), parsing 25a and the “needing a break” part of 30a. Rob T@35 I like your thinking but that extra part just confused me further, I decided it was a second definition and alluded to an unearthed electrical circuit needing a break for safety reasons (eg the boxes we plug lawnmowers into, or used to). Roz@43 don’t think i would have solved NIGELLA (great clue) without knowing that she might be there so I was glad of the very explicit communication of theme this time. Thanks Picaroon, my favourite was 23d. [Please Sir, I want some more.]
Brilliant puzzle as we’ve come to expect from this setter, the master of misdirection. Couldn’t possibly pick a favourite as it wouldn’t do justice to the rest.
Thanks Picaroon and thanks (and kudos) to the reviewer for explaining the two that I just couldn’t see in the parsing.
Got to this puzzle a day late. I don’t normally do the week-day puzzles but I make an exception for anything by Picaroon, Paul or Brendan. I thought this one worthy of the Saturday Prize.
I’m tempted to write “What Eileen said @20” , since I had precisely that reaction: fun, clever and too many great surfaces and clues to mention them all. UNEARTHED was brilliant with ACID, LANDLADY and NIGELLA running it close.
Above all I liked the rhythm of this solve. It reminded me of why I used to love Araucaria’s thematic puzzles so much.
The intense frustration of the first run through with only one or two going in. The pondering which revealed a few more. The further pondering on what the theme might be, based upon the paltry evidence at hand. Twenty minutes in with very little further progress. Then the penny finally dropping and the satisfying rush of breaking the back of the puzzle leaving that handful of pesky clues that you knew all along were going to give you the most trouble. And with further reflection the completion, a process that could take anything from a few minutes to most of the following week. And it was always worth persevering because, however long it took ,you knew that the clues were fair, and that failure would be down to your own limitations rather than the setter’s showing off his own erudition.
Thanks as always to Picaroon and to manehi for elucidating the far too many solutions that I was unable to parse.
Roz @45: KPR play my team-the Boro-on Saturday. We are playing well at the moment and the fear on Diasboro, a forum for Boro supporters across the world, is that it may be a Typical Boro Day taking our current euphoria down a few pegs.
Very tricky. Finally cottoned on to theme via 22,9 when I had crossers in 22 to be able to guess “too many cooks”. Then Google confirmed my hypothesis. I had solved most of the names but knew none of them as chefs from here in Texas. Definitely contrived, but aren’t all cryptics so.