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An interesting challenge from MOO this Friday.
FF: 9 DD: 9
I still have 18d left to parse but in the interest of time am putting the blog up.
| 1 | THE BORROWERS |
A book for Coutts’ most valued customers? (3,9)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 8 | HAULAGE |
Transporting stolen goods takes time (7)
|
| HAUL ( stolen goods ) AGE ( time ) | ||
| 9 | IGNITED |
Fired for slipshod editing (7)
|
| [ EDITING ]* | ||
| 11 | INDIANA |
State of local, one given help after setback (7)
|
| [ INN ( local ) A ( one ) ] containing reverse of AID ( help ) | ||
| 12 | SISSIES |
Cowards in MI6 more than once welcoming end of struggle (7)
|
| [ SIS SIS ( mi6, Secret Intelligence Service, twice ) ] containing E ( strugglE, last letter ) | ||
| 13 | EYRIE |
Dictator’s creepy observation post (5)
|
| sounds like EERIE ( creepy ) | ||
| 14 | INEBRIATE |
In grip of dreadful inertia, English bishop getting drunk (9)
|
| ( E ( english ) B ( bishop ) ) in [ INERTIA ]* | ||
| 16 | OVERSLEPT |
Came round late post-revel, heaving (9)
|
| [ POST REVEL ]* | ||
| 19 | PATER |
In Rome daddy’s PR inspiring a mischievous woman (5)
|
| PR containing ATE ( mischievous woman ) | ||
| 21 | GRANADA |
Pompous American touring a Spanish city (7)
|
| [ GRAND ( pompous ) A ( american ) ] around A | ||
| 23 | ASTRIDE |
Seated thus on horse I stared around (7)
|
| [ I STARED ]* | ||
| 24 | EXISTED |
Was first to occupy river delta (7)
|
| IST ( first ) in [ EXE ( river ) D ( delta ) ] | ||
| 25 | TWO-TIME |
Cheat on more than one occasion (3-4)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 26 | NEUROSURGEON |
Partners investing money to encourage theatre performer (12)
|
| [ NS ( partners , bridge ) containing EURO ( money ) ] URGE ON ( encourage ) | ||
| 1 | THUNDER |
Half of them liable to crash (7)
|
| TH ( THem, half of ) UNDER ( liable ) | ||
| 2 | EMANATE |
Sea cow moving east in spring (7)
|
| MANATEE ( sea cow ) with the last E ( east ) moving to the front | ||
| 3 | OPERATIVE |
Key agent of the CIA (9)
|
| double def | ||
| 4 | RAILS |
Complains about Republican troubles (5)
|
| R ( republican ) AILS ( troubles ) | ||
| 5 | WINDSOR |
Royal flatulence very ripe at first whiff (7)
|
| WIND ( flatulence ) SO ( very ) R ( Ripe, first letter ) | ||
| 6 | RETSINA |
Pupil at back nicking school head’s booze (7)
|
| RETINA ( pupil at back ) containing S ( School, first letter ) | ||
| 7 | CHAISE LONGUE |
Simone de Beauvoir putting her feet up here? (6,6)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 10 | DISHEARTENED |
Dejected, I sent redhead running off (12)
|
| [ I SENT REDHEAD ]* | ||
| 15 | EXTRACTOR |
One withdrawing more troops outside court (9)
|
| EXTRA ( more ) CT ( court ) OR ( troops ) | ||
| 17 | EXAMINE |
Grill lover who was a valuable source (7)
|
| EX ( lover who was ) A MINE ( valuable source ) | ||
| 18 | STARTER |
Contestant getting 10 points for this entrée? (7)
|
| ? | ||
| 19 | POTHOLE |
Spooner’s sexy European, a distraction for drivers (7)
|
| spoonerism of HOT ( sexy ) POLE ( european ) | ||
| 20 | TUITION |
Perception lacking in classroom activity (7)
|
| inTUITION ( perception , without IN ) | ||
| 22 | ANDES |
Experience many highs here with Es (5)
|
| AND ( with ) ES |
18D STARTER ————–My take:
Def1: Contestant
Def2: (getting) 10 points for this entrée?
Wiktionary:
Starter For Ten
Etymology
From the British TV quiz programme University Challenge, where the phrase refers to the first question given to a contestant, worth ten points.
Noun
starter for ten (plural starters for ten)
Something, especially a question or problem, to be tackled first.
Def2 is a cryptic one.
TWO-TIME
It has a wordplay. Right?
More than one=TWO
occasion=TIME
18d STARTER – dd – “Contestant getting 10 points for this” and “entrée?”
FrankieG@4
As in the phrase ‘starter for ten’, ‘starter’ is the question, not the contestant, I believe that ’10 points for this entree?’ is the second def (a CD).
The first, as KVa@1 says is from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_Challenge
– It’s been running since 1962 with a hiatus from ’88 to ’93.
The second is food, though in the US it would be a main course.
On second thoughts, I agree with FrankieG@4.
No need for a CD. Just a DD.
Steady solve and some excellent clueing. Particularly liked neurosurgeon.
Never heard of SIS as secret intelligence services, so there’s something new.
I can understand at a stretch how retsina works, but to my mind, the retina is not “pupil at back”. The retina is the back of the eyeball where light is focused after passing through the lens. The pupil is the hole at the front.
Thanks
The question mark is probably there for the surface-not to hint at a CD.
Or maybe …
🙂
When I was at University – 50 years ago – they held auditions early on a Sunday morning. My friends and I all OVERSLEPT, so they missed out on our brilliance. 🙂
😀
STARTER
I feel the urge to muddy it up a bit more.
Def1: Contestant
Def2: getting 10 points for this? (? pushed forward)
Def3: entree
Thanks, Moo and Teacow. Interesting challenge indeed! Ate was perhaps a bit more than a ‘mischievous woman’ – being the Greek goddess who made people blind for the lols!
KVA @3 – I read TWO-TIME as two (straight) definitions: cheat // on more than one occasion. And STARTER as per FrankieG @4
PATER – Latin and Greek in the same clue – I like it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ate_(mythology)
Not just “a mischievous woman” – ‘the goddess of mischief, delusion, ruin, and blind folly, rash action and reckless impulse who led men down the path of ruin.’
https://www.sis.gov.uk/our-history.html
STARTER. I think definition 1 is ‘contestant getting 10 points for this‘ and definition 2 is ‘entree’. On University Challenge the quizmaster says ‘here is your starter for ten’ – i.e. a starter question is worth 10 points (follow-up questions being worth 5 points).
University Challenge was originally on GRANADA (ITV)
Both runs had a birthday yesterday (’62 & ’94)
There’s also this movie:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starter_for_10_(film)
Widdersbel@13
TWO-TIME
I feel ‘cheat on’ is more apt as the first def (or the only def) as underlined by Turbolegs.
‘more than one occasion’ or ‘on more than one occasion’ may not stand for TWO TIME (it will be twice
or two times).
Correct me if I am wrong.
STARTER
FrankieG@4’s parsing is quite all right. I just see a bit more in it as mentioned by me @9 and 12. If the setter
didn’t really intend it to be a multi-layered clue or a (def+a CD) clue, I at least had some fun thinking like I did.
Yes, FrankieG@19, I’d forgotten about the film
22d – ANDES – I wondered just how “many highs” there were. Too many to bother counting. Yes, there are “many highs here”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes
Ironic how much conferring there’s been about the starter for 10 🙂
Had hoped for a Farage connection for 1a but sadly not
KVa @20 I’m inclined to agree – you “cheat on” / “two time” someone. If you just cheat them that’s not the same thing
I did not understand the 10 points part of STARTER, so the comments have been illuminating. I think it could be a triple definition. I have seen the show, but it has been a long time ago.
KVa/bodycheetah – two-time can be an intransitive verb though. And an adjective (as in ‘the two-time world champion’). Works either way for me.
Thanks for the blog, really good puzzle but I agree with Moly@8 that RETSINA does not really work using pupil.
A lot of discussion for two clues, for STARTER I just think of an imaginary comma before entree giving two definitions.
TWO-TIME I am with cheat on, cheat itself has multiple possibilities , for the second part – Marie Curie was a two-time Nobel prize winner – gives the sense.
Thanks Moo. After several sittings I managed to solve and parse everything except for STARTER which I bunged in from the crossers and the definition “entree”. (In the US, starters are generally called appetizers, mains are called entrees, and afters are called desserts.) In any event I had many favourites including IGNITED, INEBRIATE (good surface), OVERSLEPT, EXISTED (liked “was” as a definition), NEUROSURGEON, WINDSOR (amusing surface), EXAMINE, and POTHOLE (a good Spoonerism with a surface that read well). Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
bodycheetah@23 ha ha 🙂
18d – STARTER – Contestant getting 10 points for this entrée? (7)
A very late thought: if we expand the “?” to what it is – a question mark, we get both the starter question, and the mark it receives.
And that’s what KVa@12 was suggesting, but I just didn’t twig it at the time. Sorry, KVa – Nice one! 🙂
University Challenge is based on the US quiz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Bowl – first on Radio in 1953, & TV in 1959 – so even older.
Resurrected in 2021, it’s now on its third season.