A devilish challenge from BUCCANEER!
FF: 10 DD: 10
I had to get some help from the internet with a couple of clues but enjoyed it nevertheless!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | COGITO ERGO SUM |
Philosophical remark from Tom Cruise, go-go dancing (6,4,3)
|
| [ TOM CRUISE GO GO ]* | ||
| 9 | CHRONIC |
Terrible history the French ignored (7)
|
| CHRONICle ( history, without LE – french for the ) | ||
| 10 | DRINKER |
Novak’s outside, going into more boring boozer (7)
|
| NK ( NovaK, outer letters ) in DRIER ( more boring ) | ||
| 11 | ON ICE |
Dean here, maybe, getting delayed (2,3)
|
| cryptic def; referring to christopher dean, british ice skater | ||
| 12 | PLASTERED |
High walls may be so (9)
|
| double def | ||
| 13 | STOCKADE |
Cod and skate at sea barrier (8)
|
| [ COD SKATE ]* | ||
| 15 | JOINER |
Woodworker, not a beater? (6)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 18 | MISERY |
Perhaps like an ungenerous person’s suffering (6)
|
| cryptic def; read as MISER-Y ( ~like an ungenerous person ) | ||
| 19 | FOLDERAL |
Nonsense in case for documents official emptied (8)
|
| FOLDER ( case for documents ) OL ( OfficiaL, emptied i.e. without inner letters ) | ||
| 22 | TRANSPORT |
One disembarking from vehicles left vehicles (9)
|
| TRAiNS ( vehicles, without I – one ) PORT ( left ) | ||
| 24 | BEANO |
One of the Greens has love for party (5)
|
| BEAN ( one of the greens ) O ( love ) | ||
| 25 | TROT OUT |
Mindlessly repeat call for a left-winger’s dismissal (4,3)
|
| TROT ( call for a left-winger ) OUT ( dismissal ) | ||
| 26 | REALISE |
Understand debacle occasionally obstructs growth (7)
|
| EAL ( dEbAcLe, occasionally ) in RISE ( growth ) | ||
| 27 | FRENCH LETTERS |
Correspondence possibly begun by Cher indicating protective measures (6,7)
|
| cryptic def; FRENCH ( cher is french for dear ) LETTERS ( correspondence ) – i had no idea that this meant condoms | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CYCLOPS |
Mythical character of e.g. Wagner’s Ring mostly works in the theatre (7)
|
| CYCLe ( wagner’s ring mostly , referring to his cycle of four epic music dramas, der ring des nibelungen ) OPS ( works in the theatre ) | ||
| 2 | GARRISONS |
Bandmate of J Lennon’s in East End stations (9)
|
| cryptic def; referring to G-eorge ‘ARRISON ( as would be said in the east end ) | ||
| 3 | TENSE |
Possibly perfect youngsters with energy dropping (5)
|
| TEENS ( youngsters ) with E ( energy ) moving to the end | ||
| 4 | ESCAPADE |
Lark Bill caught in flight (8)
|
| AD ( bill ) in ESCAPE ( flight ) | ||
| 5 | GODDAM |
Curse flipping creature out in midday sun (6)
|
| reverse of MAD DOG ( creature in midday sun, reference to the song ‘mad dogs and englishmen’, a phrase supposedly coined by rudyard kipling ) | ||
| 6 | SAINTHOOD |
After start of sentence, isn’t criminal getting recognition for good behaviour? (9)
|
| S ( Sentence, first letter ) AINT ( isn’t ) HOOD ( criminal ) | ||
| 7 | MAKER |
Manufacturer right to abandon felt-tip pen (5)
|
| MArKER ( felt top pen, without R – right ) ; while its obvious, does the clue need to indicate which ‘R’ should be removed? | ||
| 8 | CRUDER |
Less refined monarch lacking manners at heart (6)
|
| CR ( monarch, Charles Rex ) containing RUDE ( lacking manners ) | ||
| 14 | KERBSTONE |
Ben Stokes endlessly bats, bagging runs? This is by the way (9)
|
| [ BEN STOKEs ( endlessly ) ]* containing R ( runs ) | ||
| 16 | NORMATIVE |
Requiring standards from opera and tango US composer hasn’t finished (9)
|
| NORMA ( opera ) T ( tango ) IVEs ( us composer, not finished ) | ||
| 17 | DOCTORAL |
Dealing with degree viva after date and time in autumn (8)
|
| D ( date ) OCT ( time in autumn ) ORAL ( viva ) | ||
| 18 | MOTETS |
Dr Lawrence Eliot initially producing musical compositions (6)
|
| MO ( doctor ) TE TS ( referring to the initials of T.E.Lawrence and T.S.Eliot ) ; new word for me | ||
| 20 | LIONESS |
International footballer from Spain stops playing in loss (7)
|
| E ( spain ) in [ IN LOSS ]* / I had a complete brain fart despite parsing correctly . Thanks Andrew@1. | ||
| 21 | POETIC |
Gothic writer rejected quotation about his work? (6)
|
| POE ( gothic writer ) TIC ( reverse of CIT. short for citation – quotation ) | ||
| 23 | ALOOF |
Somewhat cold, sweet tea finally brought up (5)
|
| FOOL ( sweet, a kind of dessert ) A ( teA, finally ), all reversed | ||
| 24 | BEAST |
Monster is to achieve 6? (5)
|
| cryptic def; read as BE A ST ( saint ) – referring to 6d |
20d is LIONESS
Thanks Buccaneer and Turbolegs
20dn; I Agree with Andrew@1: this needs to be LIONESS, meaning a member of the England Women’s football team.
Thanks Andrew@1.
TL
25ac (TROT OUT). I think the wordplay here is in one part, “TROT OUT” meaning “remove the Trotzkyite (left-winger) from office”.
[typo FOLDERAL]
I agree with Pelham Barton’s parsing of TROT OUT.
Here’s the song referred to in 5dn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkEd3WgR8qw
Another brilliant puzzle from Buccaneer, the highlights for me being 1ac COGITO ERGO SUM – a wonderful start – and 27ac FRENCH LETTERS.
Other ticks, for various reasons: 15ac JOINER, 18ac MISERY, 2dn GARRISONS, 3dn TENSE, 4dn ESCAPADE, 5dn GODDAM, 6dn SAINTHOOD, 14dn KERBSTONE and 18dn MOTETS.
To expand on JOINER: ‘beater’ could refer to a panel beater as opposed to a woodworker or to the maxim, ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.’
Many thanks to Buccaneer and to Turbolegs.
Not too much trouble with this but failed to get POETIC (put in an unparsed GOETIC). Had JOINER as Eileen ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’.
Thought the anagram for 1a was once of the very best I’ve ever seen. What a marvellous spot! Nice lightbulb moment when I thought Cher could be French and FRENCH LETTERS suddenly came to me.
Add me to the list of people who thought this was a brilliant crossword. 27a was brilliant and I agree with Eileen that 1a also deserves special mention. My take on 15a was a reference to the ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ maxim
Thanks to Buccaneer and Turbolegs
Happy to complete this without any help. Agee with praise for many clues although MOTETS was my favourite . When I has SUM from the crossers the anagram fell into place and it was all plain sailing from then on.
Thanks to Buccaneer and Turbolegs
May I join Turbolegs, Eileen, and Cryptic Sue in praising this excellent crossword, and agree with Turbolegs’ FF rating of 10, whilst putting DD a bit lower because I wasn’t beaten by it. 1, 14, and 27 across and 2, 5, 14, 16, and 21 down all fine clues.
Add me to the list of those who thought this was brilliant.
Yes, we liked this too, and finished without help although we only saw some of the parsings afterwards.
Favourites were STOCKADE, GARRISONS and NORMATIVE.
Thanks, Buccaneer and Turbolegs.
Buccaneer at the top of his game. The surface and anagram for COGITO ERGO SUM are both splendid. I also liked SAINTHOOD (and BEAST), the witty GARRISONS, NORMATIVE, and ESCAPADE among others. I needed a nudge for FRENCH LETTERS and I had forgotten what that meant even though it was in someone’s crossword some time ago. Next time I’ll remember. Thanks Buccaneer, and Turbolegs for the blog.
Thanks for the blog , maybe JOINER was a reference to Ansells Bittermen from the 70s.
Other commenters beat me to all the points I wanted to make, so I’ll simply join them. (Yes, 15a was one of my favourites.)
Thanks, B&T (sounds like a drink), for the FF10 and the excellent blog.
Thanks to Buccaneer, always enjoy his puzzles (especially as Picaroon). 18 is clue of the week: I enjoy Renaissance polyphony and the double sets of initials wordplay is ingenious.