Shabbo returns for the first time since December last year and first time for me to blog.
A bit of mixed bag for me, the grid seems to be split into 2 distinct crosswords and some surfaces seem a bit odd, perhaps I’ve just got out the wrong side of bed today. Over to you.
Of Scotland, playing PART* & variously NATIONS*
M&S – Marks and Spencer – long established British store removed from (m)ALL(s)
Type of antelope – E(uropean) & LAND – country
REACH* out being accommodated by BUST – having no money
H(usband) taken from (h)AMSTER & DAM – mother
SUD – French for South & A & N(orthern)
G(ood) for PH – Public House, pub in ELEPHANT – dumbo in the cartoon
MOOR – dock reversed
Following on in the surface from the previous clue only. PEED – went to the loo reversed. This peed – went thing seems to getting a bit hackneyed now.
LL – 2 x L – learner/student replaced by R in ACTUALLY – surely
O(rdinary) & W(eek) & LET – allowed. Collective noun for owls being a parliament
Sounds like LEE SOLD
STATU(s) cut short & TORY – Conservative
BEAN – nut, head & O(ver). I assume comics like the Beano or Dandy are still going, not seen one in donkeys years
L for fifty removed from P(l)AY
A created [WARLIKE HELL]*
Double def – to exist before or can be used as going after prey
First of N(ails) inside a defective RAFTERS*
(s)OLDIE(r) stripped bare
Not suit in bed but rather BED in SUIT – garment
INCOME – money & R(ight)
Double def.
END – finale inside AGA – type of oven
LATE – dead, former & NT – the National Trust
Hmm, with the cockney dropped H the AWES sounds like (h)ORSE-TRUCK – trailer-ish
OR – gold inside PANAMA – country
Well Chronic fatigue is a syndrome. ROM – type of computer memory inside a worried DENYS. I guess Denys could be a name but the surface seems a skew-whiff
Double definition, dunno just seems a bit weak this one
A suspect [ANY SALE]*
SPOT is TOPS up – reversed
king LEAR inside BY – times
A half hearted WOB(b)LE reversed
Thanks flashling and Shabbo.
Very much liked this. Smooth.
BUCHAREST, AMSTERDAM, OWLET, ACTUARY, LATENT, SUDAN and ELEGANT make my list.
I liked this a lot – ACTUA[LL->R]Y, ELE[PH->G]ANT, ELB[B]OW, [S}OLDIE[R}
and especially PREDATED – Two homographs with the different pronunciations apparently contradicting each other – clever.
The late in LATENT – not dead, but former:
‘Existing or holding some position not long ago, but not now; departed, or gone out of office. “the late bishop of London”‘
Liked AWE-STRUCK too.
Thanks S&f
It was fun.
Thanks, Shabbo and flashling!
Liked PREDATED and PALM-OIL.
KILLER WHALE
Will it work better as a reverse anagram? KILLER WHALE creates (a) ‘warlike hell’.
AWE-STRUCK
Many times we see ‘Cockney’ itself as an h-dropper as well as a homophone indicator.
Here we have the ‘articulated’ in addition. An ‘articulated equine trailer’ is appealing!
PALM-OIL
I noticed that flashling found this weak. I liked it mainly because I didn’t know PALM OIL
meant ‘bribe’. I knew the ‘greasing the palm’ expression and thought this was a cryptic
def.
I find myself more aligned with blogger than other commenters so far. There were some smiles but too many chestnuts for me. I feel I have seen half of these clues before which was a tad disappointing.
Thanks Shabbo and flashling
Doesn’t dumbo need to be capitalised in the clue?
Another very enjoyable puzzle from this setter with ACTUARY, PREDATED, TRANSPORT, LATENT and AWE-STRUCK my top picks.
Many thanks to Shabbo and to flashling.
Excellent all round, so thanks Shabbo (who should appear more often) and Flashling.
Very enjoyable with smooth surfaces throughout and a welcome lack of obscurities – thanks to Shabbo and flashling.
I liked BUCHAREST, SUBEDIT and LATENT but my favourite was PREDATED.
Well, unlike our blogger I found plenty to enjoy in this one – my top two being PREDATED and AWE-STRUCK.
Thanks to Shabbo and to flashling for the review.
I liked the way the Cockney articulation prevented any issues with rhotic pronunciation as well as removing the aitch and PREDATED was clever.
Thanks Shabbo. This was my first shot at a Shabbo crossword and I was impressed with the quality of the clues. I was not clever enough to solve SUBEDIT or TOPS UP but all else fell into place. My favourites included AMSTERDAM, ELEGANT, LEASEHOLD, and INCOMER. Thanks flashling for the blog.
Thanks both.
Enjoyed a lot even if it was too straightforward for some.
Always a pleasure when you do an alphabet trawl, it goes right down to the ‘W’ and you get a result. Today it happened twice for me with AWESTRUCK and OWLET. Icing on the cake 🙂
Apologies to Shabbo for being curt, I’d just got home after a seriously delayed flight home and was a tad crabby. I think Ian was right that Dumbo probably should have been capitalised but that would ruin the clue
Thanks Shabbo and Flashling.
Re D/dumbo (Flashling/Ian) – I thought “the rules” – such as they are – allowed setters to take any liberty they wanted with capitals or punctuation?
The rule I feel should hold is that capitals/punctuation should be correct for the surface reading of the clue even if it does not agree with that needed for the parsing, as is the case here.
The (generally accepted) rule is that false capitalisation is kosher. So dumbo=dimwit could be capitalised to masquerade as a Disney elephant. But you shouldn’t really de-capitalise a Disney elephant to turn it into a de-capitalised (Disney) elephant. Also, as here, Dumbo for the (Disney) elephant would be DBE, and that would require indication.
So if the Universe doesn’t shatter within the next five minutes, I’d be surprised. That’s why I’m going to the pub.
Thank you all for your kind comments – it is good to hear that some of the clues raised a few smiles.
Many thanks to Flashing for the blog and for the subsequent post, which was very much appreciated.
I agree that dumbo probably should have been capitalised.
Thanks, Shabbo. First time I’ve encountered this solver.
Enjoyable puzzle, on the gentle side but enough witty clues to reward the effort.