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Methuselah has supplied this week’s Thursday challenge, which has proved quite challenging, at least for me.
I am fairly sure that I have completed the grid correctly, but I am not sure of all the parsings and would appreciate input from fellow solvers. 14A is the clue that I need most help to parse – there must be something that I am missing here – and also the “ew” in 17. I am not sure of 6/28 or 25 either, or why “potentially” appears in 19. Thanks to fellow solvers and to Methuselah for clearing up the outstanding points and typos – I hope that everything is now correctly parsed.
Despite the intricate wordplay that had me scratching my head for a good long while this morning, there are a few brilliant standout clues for me: 1A, for incorporating so many London/royal references; 1D, for overall construction and use of “Dalmatian”; the concise & lit. at 22; 24, for smoothness of surface reading; and 27, for the humour around “mayo”.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | CARNIVORES | Beefeaters possibly replacing ravens with corgi after government cut
*(RAVENS + COR<g>I); “after government (=G) cut” means letter “g” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “replacing” |
| 06/28 | DARKROOM | Where film will end up, one way or another
Cryptic definition: photographic film will be developed in a darkroom, while a released film will be shown in a dark cinema |
| 10 | AZURE | Jazz quartet occasionally ripped off Kind of Blue
<j>A<z>Z <q>U<a>R<t>E<t>; “occasionally” means alternate letters only |
| 11 | GODFATHER | Top gangster got that woman to collect notes from minor triad
D F A (=notes from minor triad, in music) in [GOT + HER (=that woman)] |
| 12 | REGAIN | Gripped by Beatlemania, geriatric recalled Get Back
Hidden (“gripped by”) and reversed (“recalled”) in “BeatlemaNIA GERiatric” |
| 13 | REGALIA | Royal property unequally divided between Regan and Cordelia
REGA<n> + <corde>LIA; “unequally divided” means fours letters are taken from one word and three letters from the other |
| 14 | BOATSWAIN | Crew member gets more than one flyer to put away a bit of technology
[O (bit, in technology) in BAT (=”flyer”) + [I (=bit, in technology) in SWAN (=”flyer”)] |
| 17 | SINEW | One joins transgressive act that’s a bit disgusting
SIN (=transgressive act) + EW (=a bit disgusting, i.e. expression of disgust, shorter than ewww, hence “a bit”); a sinew joins a muscle to a bone, hence “one joins” |
| 18 | ACTED | To begin with, analyst claimed that erotic dynamic was in play?
A<nalyst> C<laimed> T<hat> E<rotic> D<ynamic>; “to begin with” means first letters only are used; “was in (stage) play” means “acted, performed in” |
| 20 | GREAT BEAR | Stars from BGT are repeatedly manipulated
*(BGT + ARE ARE); “repeatedly” means letters “are” are used twice in anagram, indicated by “manipulated”; the Great Bear or Ursa Major is a constellation, hence “stars” |
| 22 | BASHFUL | Fellow with a blush in animation
*(F (=fellow) + *(A BLUSH); “in animation” is anagram indicator; & lit., since Bashful is one of the seven dwarfs |
| 23 | GOTHAM | Fetched bad actor on location for Batman
GOT (=fetched, brought) + HAM (=bad actor); the action in Batman takes place in Gotham (City) |
| 26 | IMITATION | Sham leader is out of control
<l>IMITATION (=control, restriction); “leader is out of” means that first letter is dropped; sham leather is imitation leather |
| 27 | AIOLI | Regular features in tabloid describing more of the same from Simon Mayo
<s>I<m>O<n> in <t>A<b>L<o>I<d>; “regular features” means alternate letters only are used; aioli is a kind of garlic mayonnaise! |
| 29 | CHEAPSKATE | Mean person putting move on ice after budget
CHEAP (=budget, used adjectively as in budget brands) + SKATE (=move on ice) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | COAT | Dognapper ultimately snatched Dalmatian for one?
C<r>OAT (=Dalmatian, one from Croatia); “dognapper ultimately, i.e. last letter, snatched” means letter “r” is dropped; the reference is to Cruella De Vil’s desire to turn Dalmatians into fur coats in Dodie Smith’s 1956 novel One Hundred and One Dalmatians |
| 02 | ROUSE | Stir up arguments in speech
Homophone (“in speech”) of “rows (=arguments)” |
| 03 | ICECAPS | Things unfortunately getting heated up in Room 101
SPACE (=room) + CI (=101, in Roman numerals); “up” indicates vertical reversal |
| 04 | ORGAN | Not completely mature, but turning over a new leaf?
ORG (GRO<w>=mature, as verb; “not completely” means last letter is dropped; “turning over” indicates reversal) + A + N (=new, as in NT); a leaf is an organ of a plant |
| 05 | ENDURANCE | Endless send-up on organised religion shows persistence
<s>END-U<p> (“endless” means first and last letters are dropped) + RAN (=organised) + CE (=religion, i.e. Church of England) |
| 07 | ASH-BLONDE | He’s bald, no? Perhaps – but she’s this
*(HE’S BALD NO); “perhaps” is anagram indicator |
| 08 | KOREAN WAR | King with valuable resource acting neutral about fresh conflict
K (=king, in cards) + ORE (=valuable (mineral) resource) + A (=acting, as in Acting Director) + N (=neutral) + WAR (RAW=fresh; “about” indicates reversal) |
| 09 | GANGES | Crews on either side of English river
E (=English) in GANGS (=crews) |
| 14 | BRAMBLIER | Pricklier British fiction hidden within covers of bestseller by American
BR (=British) + AM (=American) + {[LIE (=fiction, untruth) in B<estselle>R (“covers of bestseller” means first and last letters only)} |
| 15 | ALTISSIMO | I miss a lot when drunk or very high
*(I MISS A LOT); “when drunk” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | ANGELFISH | Swimmer’s called inconsiderate when putting beginners off
<r>ANG (=called, telephoned) + <s>ELFISH (=inconsiderate); “when putting beginners off” means first letters are dropped |
| 19 | DEFEAT | Potentially hammer frames for delicate, fragile art
D<elicat>E F<ragil>E A<r>T; “frames for” means first and last letters only; “potentially” is used to imply that one can be defeated without necessarily being hammered |
| 21 | TETRADS | Startled criminal drops back on all fours
*(START<l>ED); “drops back (=last letter) of all” means letter “l” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “criminal” |
| 23 | GANJA | Green vegan jam sandwiches
Hidden (“sandwiches”) in “veGAN Jam; like ganja, green(s) is slang for marijuana |
| 24 | AROMA | Single person who’ll never settle down caught bouquet
Homophone (“caught”) of “a roamer (=single person, i.e. one individual, who”ll never settle down)” |
| 25 | WINE | Booze store making Methuselah’s head spin
MINE (=store, repository, as in goldmine); “making Methuselah’s head, i.e. first letter, spin” means letter “m” flips over to give “w” |
BOATSWAIN
I took a bit of technology as O in the first case and I in the second case (digital bits 0 and 1)
Put away=eat
BAT eats O and SWAN eats I
SINEW
EW-an expression of disgust
WINE
I took MINE as store and Methuselah’s head as M. In MINE, M is converted to W.
DARKROOM
Your parsing seems all right RR!
Thanks both. I’d say I need a lie down in a DARKROOM after this battle – I got there eventually with far more unparsed than cited here; for instance, I just couldn’t see ‘up’ as a reversal indicator given its position in ICECAPS and I thought a triad was only a sometimes unwelcome visitor, maybe featuring in the GODFATHER
Thanks, Methuselah & RR. This certainly was a bit tricky in places thanks to some fairly oblique definitions, but I found it lots of fun. Particularly liked the clever use of popular cultural references and the tidy &lit for BASHFUL was my favourite.
I wasn’t quite sure how BOATSWAIN worked either, but I think KVa has it sussed.
That was a bit too tough for me in places. KVa may well be correct for BOATSWAIN, although I think ‘a bit of technology’ for O & I is a bit weak. (Bits of technology would work for me.) Presumably done to make you think it was the ‘AT’ bit of the answer. I wondered why Methuselah had put ‘store’ in 25d. Works ok (better?) without it, as RR parsed it but now agree that KVa has nailed that one. Didn’t get 1d and don’t like it. ‘Snatched’ doesn’t mean ‘snatched from’ which the wordplay needs, unless we’re all barking up the wrong tree (pun intended).
Tricky in plenty of places. I too failed to parse ICECAPS among several others.
I didn’t mind the bit of technology in the singular form in BOATSWAIN as each of the flyers had one bit. Worked OK for me.
Very small error in the blog on 25d. You have written “hide spin” instead of “head spin” in the explanation.
Thanks very much to both Methuselah and RatkojaRiku for the test and help respectively.
I agree that the grammar for 1d is a bit awkward but I think you have to read “snatched” as a past participle in the wordplay “(with the) last letter of dognapper (having been) snatched” but then as a verb in the definition. For BOATSWAIN I had my feather boa flying in the wind with t for technology but I think KVa is right.
I think my brain is a bit fuddled today. I agree with rocket @6 and BOATSWAIN is now my favourite. Still not entirely convinced that 1d works but the idea is certainly clever so I can’t complain.
Excellent crossword. Lovely surfaces.
1a “Beefeaters possibly replacing ravens with corgi after government cut” reads like a joke news headline.
10a: Kind of Blue is an album by Miles Davis. That makes it an even better clue.
Room 101 = SPACES CI: Brilliant!
LOI: COAT – I did get it, and I liked it.
RatkojaRiku:
{9d should be GANGES}
{2a BGT = Britain’s Got Talent – or are you assuming everyone knows that?}
I meant “Room 101 = SPACE CI: Brilliant!”
Thanks M&RR
Is there any significance to all the GANs (GANGES, GANGS, GANJA, ORGAN)?
12a: Get Back is a song by The Beatles. That makes that an even better clue too.
Not a lot to add – other than I thought I had encountered a letterbank clue for the first time (for me) in a published UK puzzle, having failed to understand the ‘BGT are repeatedly manipulated’ in GREAT BEAR! Tbh, I’m quite glad this was just my misunderstanding; it is not a device I particularly like. And I’m not entirely sure about how it is indicated but ‘repeatedly manipulated’ sounded like it was telling me that unspecified letters in ‘BGT are’ were being repeated and then manipulated. My bad.
BASHFUL is brilliant and was the stand out clue for me.
Thanks Methuselah and RR
Whenever I see a Z in a grid I am always alerted to the possibility of a pangram. We had the Z in AZURE but are missing usual suspects Q and X and also slightly more surprisingly Y I think.
Apparently J appears the same amount of times in the 1995 OED as Q, which are both seen on fewer occasions than both Z and X.
Thanks for the blog RatkojaRiku and to KVa for filling in gaps. I hope people enjoyed it.
I take ‘ew’ (as opposed to ‘ewwww!’) to mean you think something’s just somewhat disgusting, hence ‘that’s a bit disgusting’ in 17. I used ‘potentially’ at 19 because you can defeat someone without going as far as hammering them.
I did have doubts over the best way to express the wordplay in 14a. I think the clue as it stands can be read as asking for two different translations of [flyer] containing [bit] (it could also mean a single bit contained somewhere within a pair of flyers, but that’s the sort of ambiguity you often get in crosswords). I think ‘bits of technology’ would have been actively misleading, because that would mean multiple ‘bits’ in each ‘flyer’ (BOIAT+SWAION?) or for a ‘joined up’ pair of bits introduced somewhere within the pair of flyers (IO in BAT+SWAN). Maybe Batswan lives in GOTHAM too.
@Petert11 I can confirm the four GANs are unintentional
Thanks for the comments, everyone
As far as I can see, ew is not in Chambers or Collins, nor was it a Scrabble word last time I looked. Calvin says it a lot, though.
I’ve not heard of green for ganja but I needed some after I got LOI 1d. There’s images of Dalmatian coats on Google. Spent a lot of time admiring the clueing after I did finish with three reveals. It was all entirely brilliant but I liked the ‘selected letters’ clues. There were four. A couple were fairly gentle and a couple were not. They were very clearly clued and very cleverly disguised or misdirected. The anagrams were good too. M always goes a bit further. Adds a letter, drops a letter, makes you work harder. What’s not to like? Thanks.
James@16: it’s in Merriam-Webster – does that count? Recorded as first used in 1969.
It was added to the list of two-letter Scrabble words in 2018.
FrankieG @18, thanks, I should update. So should English dictionaries. When I say it in my head it is always with an American accent.
Late thanks RatkojaRiku and KVa for sorting out 14a and 4d: like TFO@3 i struggled with the position of ‘up’ in 3d and still can’t quite relax re 1d, but a lot of brilliant clues, thank you Methuselah.