March 25th – and a puzzle relevant to that date.
Well certainly 9ac was pertinent to today.
I did love 5dn – so many other possibilities for anagrams to describe him – some potentially a litle more controversial, Rail reconfigured for … say; Best ruler interpreted by ….say ; Fob of Nu enchanted for … say; Gay pet art transformed for … scandal say. Feel free to add more below. Apologies to anyone who is less leaning towards being a 26ac than I am!
Many other gems too – Bluth. 4dn was a good one as was and 9ac had me thinking of a person on remand in a Romanian jail and 15dn was a lovely alternative use for Spooner.
Many thanks Bluth – a pleasure as always and maybe this one is a little on your easier side?
Key * anagram; DD double definition; Rev. reversed; underline definition
Across
1 Lead in to a fool’s headline act (3,6)
To a nana (to a fool) around Pb (lead) = TOP BANANA
6 Regularly welly-boot wanging’s beginning to build up part of arm (5)
wElLy BoOt + w(wanging’s beginning) = ELBOW
9 March 25: social media bad boy joined Tea Party, finally (4,3)
sociaL mediA baD boY joineD teA partY = LADY DAY
10 Respectable post (7)
DD UPRIGHT
11 The rope’s new, unbound, lacking length (5)
n(new) + loose (unbound) – l (length) = NOOSE
12 Called Jack over to provide proof of ownership (5,4)
titled (called) + Rev. Dee (Jack) = TITLE DEED
13 Hide pay for escort first (4,5)
take(escort) + cover (pay for) = TAKE COVER
15 Agents seizing church roughly (5)
CIA (agents) around RC (church) = CIRCA
16 Registers tips (5)
DD LISTS
18 Abundant common sense making good Charlie’s thieving (9)
large nous (abundant common sense) changing g(good) to c(Charlie) = LARCENOUS
20 Inspired by Red Sea – Queen’s getting rest (9)
main (sea) in red + er (queen) = REMAINDER
23 Presents Bluth has with extremely gorgeous wrapping (5)
I’ve (Bluth has) in gs (extremely gorgeous) = GIVES
25 Lavish meal – it’s what winds up audience on Question Time following prohibition (7)
ban (prohibition) + e (winds up (ends) audience) on qu (question) + t (time) = BANQUET
26 Come across excellent friend (7)
come around rad (excellent) = COMRADE
27 Striking effect of some revolutionary dental cement (5)
Rev. hidden denTAL CEment = ECLAT
28 Write study on case for divorce – it ultimately leaves one needing financial support (9)
pen (write) + den (study) afte de (case for divorce) + t (it ultimately) = DEPENDENT
Down
1 Short story’s touching – one’s hooked (5)
tale – e (short story) + on (touching) = TALON
2 Old man took too many drugs in retirement – coke, occasionally and grass within limits? (7)
pa (old man) + Rev od’d (took too many drugs) + CoKe = PADDOCK
3 Crowds dine out after Gold Card’s express service starts (9)
au(gold) + (dine)* + Card’s Express Service = AUDIENCES
4 Budget airline heading off, ignoring Japan – until now (2,3)
Easy Jet (budget airline) – e – J(japan) = AS YET
5 Trade rule rewritten for Boris Johnson, say (9)
(trade rule)* = ADULTERER
6 Nest egg principally to support European over year one (5)
e + Rev. Yri (Year one) + e (european) = EYRIE
7 Error – stop assuming end of nose produces bogey (7)
bug (error) + bar (stop) around e (end of nose) = BUGBEAR
8 Leaves husband after comic sketches (9)
wit (comic) + h (husband) + draws (sketches) + WITHDRAWS
13 Fantastic baller breaks toe – it’s okay (9)
(baller)* in toe = TOLERABLE
14 Confirmed somewhere to go climbing I saw (9)
Rev. Lav (somewhere to go) + I + dated (saw) = VALIDATED
15 For example Spooner once put hundred pounds on Germany collapsing (9)
cl (hundred pounds) + (Germany)* = CLERGYMAN
17 Without assuming that penultimate round of competition will be important (7)
Semi Final (penultimate round ..) – if (assuming that) = SEMINAL
19 Prevent rebuilding above it (7)
(above it)* = OBVIATE
21 Forgetting a tense in divine language (5)
intuit (divine) – t (tense) = INUIT
22 Venture capitalist’s summary (5)
Hidden ventuRE CAPitalist = RECAP
24 Perfume’s dispatched by the sound of it (5)
Homonym of sent (dispatched) = SCENT
The usual fun challenge from this setter.
The surface of 6a seems a little bizarre, not least the inclusion of “wang” as a verb which, as far as I can see, neither Chambers nor Collins supports. It’s probably just me, but I dislike the American slang for excellent in 26a with a passion.
With plenty to like, CLERGYMAN gets my vote as favourite.
Many thanks to Bluth and twencelas.
It’s Saturday, it’s Bluth, it’s smiles in abundance.
Not particularly difficult (well at least to fill in the grid) but some lovely light bulb moments when seeing where the setter was heading.
Loved ELBOW for the surface read, surely only Bluth would clue PADDOCK (brilliant) as such. The non-Spoonerism CLERGYMAN makes up my podium.
Many thanks Bluth for a great start to the weekend and to twencelas
Liked TOP BANANA, TITLE DEED, BANQUET, PADDOCK and INUIT.
Thanks, Bluth and twencelas!
RD @1: you have clearly never been to a village fete where the wanging of wellies is decidedly an activity thus requiring the verbal form to exist, whether the straight-lacers at Chambers or Collins have participated in it or not. The world record, believe it or not, is nearly 65m!
As usual, a smorgasbord of delights from Bluth and the usual slew of up-to-date cultural references which is something I really enjoy. Plenty of other compilers give us classical references a plenty – and, yes, as a result of his style, some of Bluth’s puzzles will be difficult to complete by solvers in a century’s time – but it’s hugely refreshing. That said, COTD is probably one that will still make sense in a hundred years when our ex-PM’s behaviour is faithfully recorded in the history books: ADULTERER is a delightful clue with a very current surface.
Favourites include LADY DAY, TITLE DEED, LARCENOUS, BANQUET, DEPENDENT, PADDOCK, AS YET, WITHDRAWS, CLERGYMAN (what a spot with Germany) and INUIT.
Thanks Bluth and twencelas
I always thought it was DEPENDENT = “needing financial support ” (adjective)
DEPENDANT = “one needing financial support ” (noun)’
But Collins allows it as ‘7. a variant spelling (esp US) of DEPENDANT’
While for British English it says ‘USAGE Avoid confusion with dependant’
For an anagram to describe him, Google that king who tried to make the waves go backwards… or the Azerbaijani for bronze…or Lawrence Durrell novels…
28a “Write study on case for divorce – it ultimately leaves one needing financial support”
Clearly a reference to him writing his famous two essays pro- and anti- Brexit, and then choosing the one that would end up with us governed by
‘an evolutionary dead-end of the Honey Monster. A bin bag of albino body parts. A cross between the Incredible Hulk and a Haribo fried egg is the ***king prime minister. The prime minister! It’s not that he’s the worst person for the job, he might be the worst mammal.’
(Frankie Boyle)
Now all of us are in need of financial support while we bask on these sunlit uplands.
FrankieG @5. I also had the same feeling about DEPENDANT v DEPENDENT. Chambers simply says DEPENDANT (also DEPENDENT) for the noun and DEPENDENT (also DEPENDANT) for the adjective. The different spellings were always a bit contrived.
the wiktionary gives for DEPENDANT:
Obsolete spelling of dependent.
1811, Jane Austen], chapter XV, in Sense and Sensibility
Mrs. Smith has this morning exercised the privilege of riches upon a poor dependant cousin, by sending me on business to London.
Misspelling of dependent.
2006 April 27, Sylvia Moosmüller; Theodor Granser, “The spread of Standard Albanian: An illustration based on an analysis of vowels”, in Language Variation and Change, volume 18, number 2, Cambridge University Press
However, word-final unstressed schwa is deleted even by the speakers from South Albania, though to different degrees and dependant on the speech style
PM @4. Well, well, well (or should I say, welly, welly, welly)! The lexicographers at Chambers and Collins, and I have obviously all led very unadventurous lives. 65m – that is truly impressive! Thank you for the enlightenment.
Most enjoyable. Our favourite was the non-spoonerism.
Thanks, Bluth and twencelas.
I took “leaves one” as the link between wordplay and solution in 28 leading to the adjectival form of DEPENDENT.
Unlike RD@1 I’m delighted to see some vaguely contemporary terms in crosswords. Makes me feel a little less ancient
Thanks to Bluth and twencelas
I thought this was Bluth at his best. Hard to pick a favourite.
Great puzzle as always from Bluth. Loved 6a and 26a and I wholeheartedly agree with DuncT@12. I had the pleasure of seeing DG’s gig last week. 225 is featured in the show in a way that will be appreciated by everyone in Crossword Land (well, almost everyone…). Highly recommended.
Thanks Twencelas, and thanks all – especially to Montedarlo for the kind words on the show. (I’m typing this from a dressing room in Torquay)
I don’t know if welly-wanging still features at village fetes and the like but it was something I encountered many times in childhood for sure. It seems far more appealing than its American counterpart, cow chip throwing.
Came here straight from Torquay show Bluth. I’ve been trying for years the get my other half to understand how cryptics.
And after tonight….
… she still doesn’t.
My immediate thought was that it should be ‘whanging’, and all three of the dictionaries do indeed have a meaning for ‘whang’ that would suffice.
But that’s just the view from Wellington, of course…
Phi @17 while I agree that there’s a definition for whanging that could work, I defer to the organisers of the Works Welly Wanging Championship.
*World not works, darn you autocorrect
continued from @6…
…or the Latin for then…or if you can’t be bothered solving an anagram…what Krishnan Guru-Murthy called Steve Baker and got suspended for…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L69QkDF0LT4
..or what Thandiwe Newton’s daughter called Johnson to his face after she spotted him at a showing of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child…
https://www.nme.com/news/thandie-newton-daughter-boris-johnson-2023039
Thanks Bluth & twencelas
Hedgecutter @16 thanks for coming along!