Grecian pops up every few weeks and today’s the day.
Bert and Joyce are on their hols so you have a second blog from me this week.
I doubt if I am the only person to whom the film genre BLAXPLOITATION is something new. I had to check the word in the dictionary. Not being particularly strong on films, I hadn’t heard of CLEOPATRA JONES either, but the wordplay and crossing letters helped solve that one.
I haven’t come across just ‘DOODLE’ as a breed of dog before, although I am aware of Labradoodles.
I liked the use of AS ONE in the word play for REASONED and the reference to Raleigh Chopper in the clue for SAXON.
I think there was a bit of science bent in the grid with DOODLEBUG [a bit of physics], STINGRAY [marine biology] , Bengal tigers [zoology], PENDULAR [more physics] and RESULTANT [even more physics].
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
Old lady in New York with male for time in private (5) MOMMY (North American [New York] informal term for ‘mother’ [old lady]) TOMMY (a private in the British Army) with M (male) replacing (for) T (time) MOMMY |
| 4 |
Part of Leclerc or Vettel’s craft (8) CORVETTE (escort vessel [craft] specially designed for protecting convoys against submarine attack) CORVETTE (hidden word in [part of] LECLERC OR VETTEL’S) CORVETTE |
| 8 |
Queen, jack and aces in 24 movie (9,5) CLEOPATRA JONES (a 1973 movie in the BLAXPLOITATION [entry at 24 across] genre) CLEOPATRA (reference Queen CLEOPATRA [Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC]) + J (jack) + ONES (aces) CLEOPATRA J ONES |
| 10 |
Drink in a fine yarn about California (9) AMERICANO (type of coffee drink) A + (MERINO [fine fabric or yarn] containing [about] CA [California]) A MERI (CA) NO |
| 11 |
A German breaking the heart of Peter Storey (5) ÉTAGE (floor or story) (A + G [German]) contained in (breaking) ETE (the central letters [heart] of PETER) ET (A G) E |
| 12 |
Fatty covering over poori oddly (6) LIPOID (fat-like) LID (covering) containing (over) POI (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of POORI) LI (POI) D |
| 14 |
Judge going back on short stretch for hunter (8) FERRETER (hunter who uses a FERRET to help locate the prey) REF (REFeree [judge] reversed [going back]) + RE (with reference to; about; on) + TERM (stretch in prison) excluding the final letter (short) M FER< RE TER |
| 17 |
American wife welcoming golf day getting shortened (8) ABRIDGED (shortened) A (American) + (BRIDE [wife] containing [welcoming] G [Golf is the international radio communication codeword for the letter G) + D (day) A BRID (G) E D |
| 18 |
Wit in Spar after drug (6) ESPRIT (wit or liveliness) E (ecstasy; drug) + SPRIT (spar set diagonally to extend a fore-and-aft sail) E SPRIT |
| 20 |
Bill Sykes initially delivers bouquets (5) NOSES (scents; bouquets) NOSE (beak; bill) + S (first letter of [initially] SYKES) NOSE S |
| 22 |
Bomb dog cross with insect (9) DOODLEBUG (informal name for the V1 flying bomb used in the Second World War) DOODLE (I know what is meant here but I can’t find a dictionary with DOODLE defined as a dog cross. However, a search on the web tells me that to create a DOODLE, you take a Poodle and mate it with another dog. The cross I know best is a LabraDOODLE, a dog that is bred as a cross between a Labrador and a poodle) + BUG (insect) DOODLE BUG |
| 24 |
Excited at Bill Paxton orbiting moon in style of film (14) BLAXPLOITATION (commercial exploitation of Black culture, relying on stereotypes, in US cinema in the 1970s) Anagram of (excited) AT BILL PAXTON containing (orbiting) IO (one of the satellites [moons] of Jupiter) BLAXPLOITAT (IO) N* |
| 25 |
Rear Admiral tucking into mean fish (8) STINGRAY (fish with a formidable barbed dorsal spine on its tail) RA (Rear Admiral) contained in (tucking into) STINGY (niggardly; mean) STING (RA) Y |
| 26 |
List of things in stews (2-3) TO-DOS (list of things that need to be done) TO-DOS (agitations; stews) double definition TO-DOS |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Actor has starter of iced tea in awfully nice meal (7,5) MICHAEL CAINE (English actor, [born 1933 as Maurice Micklewhite]) (I [first letter of {starter of} ICED + CHA [tea]) contained in (in) an anagram of (awfully) NICE MEAL M (I CHA) EL CAINE* |
| 2 |
Rubbish detective following case of Moriarty (2,3) MY EYE (interjection expressing disagreement; rubbish!) MY (outer letters of [case of] MORIARTY) + EYE (private EYE; private detective) MY EYE |
| 3 |
I defy pupil scratching bottom crudely to get more upmarket (9) YUPPIFIED (developed to suit the taste of young upward-mobile persons [YUPPies]; taken upmarket) Anagram of (crudely) I DEFY PUPIL excluding the final letter (scratching bottom) L YUPPIFIED* |
| 4 |
Siesta in Bengal maybe the best bet? (6) CATNAP (brief sleep; siesta) CAT (reference Bengal tiger) + NAP (a racing tip that professes to be a certainty; maybe the best bet) CAT NAP |
| 5 |
United wearing red is logical (8) REASONED (logical) AS ONE (united) contained in (wearing) RED RE (AS ONE) D |
| 6 |
Call up first lady about fine (5) EVOKE (call up) EVE (first lady on earth as described in the Book of Genesis in The Old Testament of the Bible) containing (about) OK (okay; fine) EV (OK) E |
| 7 |
Doctor’s enemy edging in trailer (3,6) THE MASTER (a renegade time-lord and one of the major enemies of Doctor Who in the fictional television series and associated spin-offs) HEM (edging) contained in (in) TASTER (an extract or sample of a forthcoming book or film, for example) T (HE M) ASTER |
| 9 |
Spies administrator leaving lines on toilet (6,6) SECRET AGENTS (spies) SECRETARY (administrator) excluding (leaving) RY ([railway] lines + GENTS (male toilet) SECRET A GENTS |
| 13 |
At first, Lady Astor put out cheese (4,5) PORT SALUT (mild cheese originally made at the Trappist monastery Le PORT du SALUT in Bayonne, France) Anagram of (out) L (initial letter of [at first] LADY) and ASTOR PUT PORT SALUT* |
| 15 |
Type of force exhibited by ruler in revolutionary territory (9) RESULTANT (a force compounded of two or more forces) SULTAN (Muslim ruler) contained in (n) TER (abbreviation for territory) reversed (revolutionary) RE (SULTAN) T< |
| 16 |
Rude plan in resort is characteristic of swinger (8) PENDULAR (relating to [characteristic of] a pendulum [swinger]) Anagram of (in re-sort) RUDE PLAN PENDULAR* |
| 19 |
Niece occasionally engaged in college course (6) POLICY (course [of action]) IC (letters 2 and 4 [occasionally] of NIECE) contained in (engaged in) POLY (POLYtechnic college) POL (IC) Y |
| 21 |
German boy astride Raleigh Chopper (5) SAXON (a member of a North German people that conquered most of Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries) SON (boy) containing (astride) AX (American [Raleigh is the state capital of North Carolina] spelling of AXE [chopper]) S (AX) ON |
| 23 |
Truss accepting pound is failing to produce expected growth (5) BLIND (of plants, failing to produce expected growth or flowers) BIND (truss) containing (accepting) L (a symbol for pound sterling) B (L) IND |
Thanks, Grecian and duncanshiell!
Liked ESPRIT, CATNAP, REASONED and BLIND.
(Chevrolet) CORVETTE STINGRAY is seen.
MY EYE -diagonally we have BLIND.
MICHAEL CAINE and SECRET AGENTS aren’t connected. Or are they?
There are many movies
MOMMY, AMERICANO, THE MASTER…
DOODLEBUG- a short fantasy movie
Thanks for the blog Duncan. I remember Tommy now but didn’t before and I entered Mammy so that was my one error . I thought AM for time and MY for private. Also, Term for stretch makes sense now. The abbreviation for territory as Ter is completely new as is NAP so while I could solve the puzzle I couldn’t parse it so I’m feeling stupid today and I’ll leave it at that. Thanks Grecian.
CATNAP
A thought…
Bengal maybe+the best bet?
‘Bengal(Tiger)’ is an example of a (big) CAT.
Though a NAP is a tipster’s best bet, a ? is always there!
Good stuff.No complaints
CLEOPATRA JONES was released on July 13, 1973.
So we’re back to the 50-year anniversaries after yesterday’s unbeatable 1-year one.
SECRET AGENTS:
MICHAEL CAINE portrayed spy Harry Palmer in the films The Ipcress File (1965), Funeral in Berlin (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
8 drove a 4a 25 and her enemy was the drug queen 1a played by Shelley Winters. I think there was a character called 22a as well, and I’m probably missing some more, it’s been a while.
Great puzzle, such a lot of wit.
Thanks both. Really liked SECRET AGENTS, although many went in without a full understanding. I initially had notes instead of NOSES as I am usually too thirsty to read and learn from wine labels, but I know both words can appear. Like Bengal in CATNAP my view is that SAXON is an example of a German (if living in Saxony) but not a straight synonym – I read that German and Germanic should not be confused, but will leave to proper grown-ups to discuss further
Great fun puzzle as always, thanks, Grecian. And thanks for the blog, Duncan.
Twmbarlwm @9 – Doodlebug was played in the film by Antonio Fargas, best known (to me, at least) as Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch.
Very enjoyable but pretty tough. I did fill the grid correctly but missed the various cross references pointed out above and had never heard of a RESULTANT ‘force’, PORT SALUT ‘cheese’ or the given horticultural sense of BLIND. As a word I don’t recall having seen in a crossword before, FERRETER also took a bit of winkling out at the end. I liked the ‘Raleigh Chopper’ for AX at 21d.
Hard enough, but little did I know what lay in store after this from Imogen in the G!
Thanks to Grecian and Duncan
A similar experience as WordPlodder. I have heard of ‘resultant force’ but felt this was a bit weak as a clue. ‘Resultant’ as a word just refers to the net result of a combination which can be used in reference to forces but a lot of other things, in particular any vector quantities. Fortunately, I had somebody solving the Imogen with me so we solved that with only one word unknown to us both (the type of glass, if you’re wondering).
Widdersbel @11, thanks for the word on the street! He did panto in Bournemouth not so long ago.
really enjoyed this! thanks Grecian and Duncan!
I found both of my daily puzzles to be pretty tough today. I filled Grecian’s grid but needed some help from the blog for parsing. Notably missing the Raleigh Chopper allusion – I recall being lambasted for using another N Carolina city, Charlotte, as a US indicator – and being slated for it as too tangential. I will take comfort from this!
Faves included ABRIDGED, DOODLEBUG, STINGRAY, PENDULAR and THE MASTER though the surface presents a strange image. I was mildly disgruntled with MOMMY which I felt could work equally well for TOMMY and interested that on-one has challenged ‘college’ = POLY which is encouraging as I have similar plans in mind.
Thanks Grecian and Duncan
Bernie Casey played CJ’s love interest – Reuben MASTERs.
I remember him from The Man Who Fell to Earth (’76)
Thanks G&d
Good stuff, enjoyed Bill Paxton’s appearance, always good for a laugh, and the Man U one, but defeated by THE MASTER, nho. There’s got to be a good reason why CORVETTE isn’t defined as ‘car’, doesn’t there?
Thanks FrankieG @17, that checks out.
James @18, I guess it’s to give an extra misdirection in the surface where craft can mean skill.
Many thanks to Duncan for the blog and to all of you for the feedback. It is all much appreciated. Bengal refers to the breed of cat in 4dn, rather than the tiger.
I realise that this is quite a niche anniversary, but a strong, black, female lead was pretty significant back in 1973. Blaxploitation movies, despite the obvious flaws, created massive opportunities for black actors and musicians and they’ve had a massive influence on modern culture. Those classic Tarantino films owe everything to the genre, for example. Thanks again everyone. G
‘Bengal’ is also a crossbreed of a domesticated cat
Thanks Grecian done at leisurely nay snail pace over many beers and wines by the pool. Grand stuff sir. A few head palm moments as things revealed.
Firstly thanks to Duncan for covering our logs today as we returned to Paris on the TGV.
Joyce had never heard of 24ac so thanks to Grecian for the history lesson. We both thought of the Bengal tiger for cat not being aware of the domesticated cat breed.
Postmark – we had no concerns over COLLEGE = POLY.
Never heard of BLAXPLOITATION but once we googled CLEO J all became clear, even the car and some of the other characters. FERRETER was our LOI after we wasted a lot of time trying to work something around a reversal of ‘rate’ for ‘judge’.
Plenty to like as well as the theme. Our favourites were RESULTANT and PENDULAR.
Thanks, Grecian and Duncan.
“Shaft” is probably the best-known Blaxploitation movie, although “Live And Let Die” also jumped on that particular bandwagon