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This appears to have been the first crossword by Coot in the Indy that has been blogged on 15, although I see that one was published in the IoS and blogged earlier this year. It is certainly my first outing with this setter, either as solver or as blogger.
I found this to be towards the more challenging end of the Indy spectrum in terms of difficulty, with wordplay that was quite difficult to tease out, even when the solution was clear from the definition, e.g. at 19. Coot has had the last laugh on me today, since I cannot parse 6D – I look forward to being enlightened by other solvers – thanks for explaining the parsing and for the other corrections/tweaks; blog now updated.
My favourite clues today were 1, for originality; 2/8, for its saucy surface; 10 and 24, both for smoothness of surface; 21, for the misleading reference to Clio; and 28/20, for its clever inclusion of the Dales and the compiler’s name.
Incidentally, I was wondering what might have ousted Phi from his usual Friday spot. I had noticed that there were numerous golfing references in the clues – at 11, 12, 19, 26, 27 … – and then I spotted that the names CHARLEY HULL and GEORGIA HALL are to be found around the perimeter of the completed grid. A quick Google search revealed that these two ladies are British professional golfers, and that today sees the start of the Solheim Cup between Europe and the USA, being held near Estepona (see 19!) in Spain. Now we know!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 06 | CHINO | Branch in Oregon stocks fabric
Hidden (“stocks”) in “branCH IN Oregon” |
| 07 | ULTRA-HIGH | Fanatic uttered greeting imitating Sopranos?
ULTRA (=fanatic, extremist) + homophone (“uttered”) of “hi” |
| 10 | ART DECO | Extravagant red coat in 20s style
*(RED COAT); “extravagant” is anagram indicator |
| 11 | PIVOTAL | Partner takes divot striking 3-wood at last – that’s decisive
<d>IVOT (“striking 3-wood at last” means last letter is dropped) in PAL (=partner) |
| 12 | LURCH | Beginners in lush uncut rough can’t handle pitch
L<ush> U<ncut> R<ough> C<an’t> H<andle>; “beginners in” means first letters only; to pitch is to roll from side to side, to lurch |
| 14 | EXTENSOR | Old men, clothing XS, showing muscle
[TEN (=X, in Roman numerals) + S] in [EX- (=old, former) + OR (=men, i.e. other ranks)] |
| 15 | YARDMAN | Yeovil’s original tough guy denied opening as farm worker
Y<eovil> (“original” means first letter only) + <h>ARD MAN (=tough guy; “denied opening” means first letter is dropped); a yardman is a person in charge of a farmyard |
| 17 | WEARING | Exhibiting is// arduous
Double definition: “wearing” is exhibiting, sporting AND arduous, taxing |
| 19 | TURNED ON | Excited to find new course west of Estepona: cue round!
TURN (=to find new course) + E<stepona> (“west of” means first letter only) + DON (NOD=cue; “round” indicates reversal) |
| 21 | ERATO | Partially reupholster a Torino, an old relative of Clio
Hidden (“partially”) in “reupholstER A TOrino”; Clio and Erato were sisters, two of the nine Muses in Greek mythology! |
| 24 | UTENSIL | Implement bizarre resolution to liberate Roo
*(<r>ES<o>LUTI<o>N); “to liberate Roo” means that letters “roo” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “bizarre” |
| 25 | BACKLOG | Champion’s loss initially placed on “self-inflicted wound” pile
BACK (=champion, support) + L<oss> (“initially” means first letter only) + OG (= “self-inflicted wound”, i.e. own goal) |
| 27 | LONG SHOTS | Driving can produce these unexpected outcomes
In golf, driving can produce long shots, i.e. balls that go a long distance |
| 28/20 | COSTA DEL SOL | A popular destination, Southern Dales left Coot refreshed
*(S (=Southern) + DALES + L (=left) + COOT); “refreshed” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | SISTER | One with habit assuming this makes bets better?
“bets” becomes “better” when “s is (=becomes) ter”; a sister is a nun, hence “one with habit” |
| 02/08 | HOME ADVANTAGE | “You can’t have it away in vehicle” – Tesla’s boring motto
HOME (=in) + {[VAN (=vehicle) + T (=Tesla)] in ADAGE (=motto)}; if you play an away game, you cannot have a home advantage! |
| 03 | EUROPEAN | Drunk on a purée from Provence?
*(ON A PUREE); “drunk” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | STOP IT | Behave best housed in squat
TOP (=best) in SIT (=squat, crouch); Behave! as an exclamation means Stop it! |
| 05 | VIRTUOSI | Struggling tour is after six elite players
VI (=six, in Roman numerals) + *(TOUR IS); “struggling” is anagram indicator |
| 06 | CHARLEY | Silly cleaner’s last in line for promotion
CHARLADY (=cleaner); “last (=last letter) in line for promotion (=ad(vert))” means letter “ad” is replaced by “e”; a charley is a fool, a silly (person) |
| 09 | HALL | Snatch pig from shallow passageway
<s>HALL<ow>; “snatch pig (=sow) from” means letters “sow” are dropped |
| 13 | HUMANISTS | Terrible tsunami disheartened Haitians – they can’t imagine life after this
*(TSUNAMI + H<aitian>S); “disheartened” means middle letters are dropped from anagram, indicated by “terrible”; humanists do not believe in the afterlife |
| 16 | ROUTE ONE | Defeat 3-1 results in long-ball strategy
ROUT (=defeat) + E (=European, i.e. entry at 3) + ONE (=1); route one is a strategy in football whereby the ball is kicked a long distance to a target strike, as opposed to a short pass |
| 17 | WENT BUST | Lost fortune and, given time, travelled by public transport
WENT (=travelled) + BUS (=public transport) + T (=time) |
| 18 | GEORGIA | In a state, blokes scratching backsides
GEORG<e> + IA<n> (=blokes, i.e. male forenames; “scratching backsides” means last letters are dropped |
| 22 | ABLEST | Cycling fast, more accomplished than the rest
STABLE (=fast, fixed); “cycling” here means that the first and second letters have moved to the end of the word |
| 23 | HULL | Tip for horseradish: removing skin fully, peel
H<orseradish>H (=tip, i.e. either first or last letter) + <f>ULL<y> (“removing skin” means first and last letters are dropped); to hull is to husk or remove outer covering, hence “peel” |
| 26 | COCO | Mizuno’s latest clubs held in firm palm
[<mizun>O (“latest” means last letter only) + C (=clubs, in cards)] in CO (=firm, i.e. company) |
6D CHARLEY
Cleaner=CHARLADY, last in line=E, promotion=AD, E for AD in CHARLADY.
My top fave:
SISTER
‘assuming S IS TER(this) makes bets better’ —reads nice.
The def is cute too.
typo 07a ULTRA-HIGH
Not a fan of golf but Estepona is in the COSTA DEL SOL
Good puzzle. As I type this. we Europeans are currently 4-0 down in the Solheim Cup !
I believe there are smatterings of other S C tournament references in there. I counted COSTA DEL SOL, EUROPEAN, HOME, LONG SHOTS, ROUTE ONE, WEARING CHINO, ULTRA-HIGH ( loft wedges) [ there’s an error in 6a in the blog ] ….
Thank you Coot and RR.
Thanks both. Liked HOME ADVANTAGE. Had the same issues with parsing, notably CHARLEY, where more importantly I did not know it means silly )in that spelling), and without trying too hard can’t find anything to confirm it does
We share the opinion of golf attributed to Mark Twain, so the theme was lost on us. A satisfying solve nevertheless, although we couldn’t parse 14ac, 1dn or 6dn. Favourites were ERATO and HOME ADVANTAGE.
Thanks, Coot and RR
Thanks Coot and RatkojaRiku.
Tough one.
Parsed CHARLEY but not SISTER, thanks.
BACKLOG, got BACK and L, was messing with EGO for self, couldn’t get rid of E 🙁
Of course, Own Goal it is.
HOME ADVANTAGE
TURNED ON
STOP IT
HULL
CHARLEY are favs.
Thanks Coot and RR
The game does nothing for me, but there do seem to be quite a lot of golf references in the clues too.
Oh, and I think that in 23D ‘peel’ & ‘hull’ are being used in the verbal sense.
Filling the grid was one thing, sorting out some of the parsing a different matter altogether! Failed on 1&16d – simply didn’t know the football term in the latter and remain somewhat unconvinced about the former.
Always good to see a new face getting a puzzle published so congrats to Coot and many thanks to RR for help with the parsing.
I parsed 6d as CHAR+cleaner , afterwards (last) LEY line. Considering the number I didn’t parse, it seemed good to me. Just checked , four unparsed. It felt like more!
A nicely worked theme acknowledging an event about which I may know nothing but I appreciated the surface references and admire the range of references in the clues too. Some nice constructions with EXTENSOR, BACKLOG, LONG SHOTS, HULL, HUMANISTS and EUROPEAN amongst my favourites. Podium is the lovely combo of surface and construction in HOME ADVANTAGE, the cunning parse for SISTER and the neat surface for PIVOTAL.
Thanks Coot and RR
Many thanks RR for the blog and to everyone who has commented. Well done on working out the theme RR! I flew out to Estepona today and will be watching the event over the weekend. After a bad start today, I’m hoping that the EUROPEANs can make their HOME ADVANTAGE pay! My intended parse for CHARLEY was as noted by KVa @ 1. And Flea @ 5 I’m delighted that you managed to stretch the theme even further than I intended, although I might add that I’m sure the teammates see each other as SISTERs and that they are the ABLEST ‘elite players’ that we have.
I didn’t do this (sorry Coot, but there’s only so many hours in a day) but I know Coot from MyCrossword so if you enjoyed this one you can get more there. He’s also supplied one of the comp. puzzles for the Crossword Centre this year.
This was tough. Finished this morning after starting in the pub last night, having a third left. Fell in to place this morning even if we couldn’t parse two or three and were doubtful about others.
Thanks RR and Coot 🙂
Still don’t understand sister!
Coot means ‘when S IS TER, e.g. betS becomes betTER’. I liked that idea, which seems to present with an implied warning against gambling.