Us again! Methuselah provides this Saturday’s challenge.
Unfortunately, we didn’t really enjoy this as much as we had hoped. Some of the clues seem rather ‘clunky’ (21d for example) with a few tenuous definitions, while others seemed too easy (e.g 22d). Perhaps it’s just us. We did enjoy 20ac however.
CHApS (blokes) with O (love) replacing the ‘p’ (power)
An anagram (‘put out of joint’) of NOSE after (‘by’) OVERT (shameless)
A reversal (‘knocked back’) of PAL (buddy) + PINt (beer) missing the last letter or ‘shortly’ + G (golf – in the phonetic alphabet)
I NUDE (like skinny-dippers) round or ‘swallowing’ CL (chlorine)
EGG round or ‘seizing’ RE (on) + IOUS (‘signs of debt’)
bASSET (hound) missing the first letter or ‘not needing lead’
An anagram (‘about’) of DCIS TROOP round or ‘keeping’ eYEs without the first and last letters (‘peeled’)
Alternate letters (‘oddly dropped’) of hAs PoRtIlLo
SEE (look) after a homophone (‘recording’) of TENNIS (game played by Venus and Serena) – a reference to Tennessee Williams, the American playwright
DONE (accomplished) + GALway (another Irish county, missing or ‘losing’ ‘way’)
A cryptic definition – a TORPEDO (‘striker’) is launched (‘sent off’) from a sub(marine). The football misdirection doesn’t quite work for us, but maybe we’re being a bit picky?
A clue-as-definition – an anagram (‘in need of circulation’) of SOME LINGO – a NEOLOGISM is a new word or the new use of an established word (‘some lingo’) which would be ‘in need of circulation’ to gain acceptance
An anagram (‘struggling’) of IMP and VICAR
AS KING (‘in the role of monarch’) PRInCE (‘heir’ – to the throne) missing or ‘ignoring’ the ‘n’ (last letter or ‘latest’ in son)
A Spoonerism of GONE (become) MOOSE (large creature) – we’re not keen on Spoonerisms generally, but find them acceptable if they create a natural combination of words – this one doesn’t.
Hidden (‘some of’) and reversed (‘around’) in uS LIVE Dangerously
C (Charlie in the phonetic alphabet) CA (approximately – ‘more or less’) in or (‘getting through’) an anagram (‘drunken’) of TOAST
C (Conservative) OLDER (senior)
NUNS (sisters) round (‘gathering’) O (’round letter’)
An anagram (‘cryptic’) of meTHUSELah missing the first two and last two letters (‘repeatedly excoriated’)
A homophone (‘talking’) of POLLY (parrot) + G (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of sitting) + LOT (fortune)
I’M (‘writer’s’) in (‘skewered’ by) IN (trendy) NOTE (‘piece of music’)
Last letters (‘in the end’) of studentS carrY storieS abouT + acadEMIC missing the first four letters (‘half-cut’)
AID (rescue) in (‘secured by’) MEN (‘knights perhaps’ – as in chessmen)
A reversal (‘turned up’) of TOME (volume) R (right) + E (last letter or ‘end’ of pantomime) – we’re not really convinced by this clue – a remote control does have a lot of buttons and if the surface worked well it might be okay as a definition…. but would one of the cast be responsible for ‘turning up the volume’ in a pantomime?
Another clue-as-definition: the 5 letters of RINGO make up a quarter of the 20 letters in ‘peace-mongeRING Outfit’ and he was one quarter of the Beatles, who could loosely be described as a ‘peace-mongering outfit’
A + L K (last or ‘final’ letters of cool comeback) ‘written’ in TIE (bond)
First or ‘initial’ letters of Empty Nesters Romped Atop Pantry Table
Well, I did enjoy most of it but spent far too long trying and failing to solve 19D, eventually giving up and bunging in ‘remove’ (as it included a V) instead of ‘remote’. Despite which, thanks Methuselah and B&J.
Thanks, Methuselah and B&J!
Lovely puzzle and a great blog!
TORPEDO
I agree with the blog that it’s a CD.
I see some extra layers:
There is a Torpedo Deseert -‘after’
There is a Torpedo Sub (a sandwich)-starting on(of) a sub.
We are left with the ‘striker sent off’.
A CD+3 separate defs. Maybe.
If the setter’s name was absent, I would never have guessed Methuselah. Finished this in half the time I would normally spend. A few too many easy clues for my liking but more than made up for by some lovely clues. The NE sector was the only troublesome bit for me. Favourites include: TENNESSEE, DONEGAL, NEOLOGIST, ASKING PRICE, STACCATO & SLEUTH.
Very enjoyable indeed! The usual imaginative clueing from this setter throughout the grid.
My ticks go to APRIL (great spot) though I clocked it immediately, SLEUTH, TENNESSEE and NOUNS.
Many thanks to Methuselah and B&J for a top puzzle and blog.
I was beaten by just the one and would never have thought of REMOTE from the word ‘buttons’. ‘Clicker’ in our house. I would never have got Beatles from ‘peace mongering outfit’ either but the solution was easily found. APRIL and TENNESSEE were nice and I liked ‘like skinny dippers’ = NUDE.
Thanks Methuselah and B&J
Peace mongering – All You Need is Love? Probably not, but that’s how I got there.
Thanks Methuselah and B&J.
We struggled a bit with this, taking ages to get our last three – SLEUTH, TORPEDO and REMOTE. Plenty to like, though, including APRIL, TENNESSEE and STACCATO.
Thanks, Methuselah and B&J.
Thanks Methuselah and Bertandjoyce.
Totally agree with each of the objections you have raised. I was lookin forward to solving this, but too many dodgy clues made for great frustration. The worst Spooner I have ever seen.
COPY EDITORS
TENNESSEE, my likes, are not enough to redeem the puzzle.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/buttons – ‘2 (colloquial) A remote control.’
After a couple of hours, I got just over half done and gave up. Looking at the answers, I don’t see I’d ever have got the rest.
Thanks Methuselah, I enjoyed this despite failing with RINGO, TORPEDO, and IN NO TIME. (After breezing through the top half I struggled in the bottom half.) My top picks were CHAOS (nice surface), the very clever TENNESSEE, ASKING PRICE, DEVILS (nice surface), POLYGLOT (amusing surface), and ENRAPT (amusing surface). Thanks B & J for the blog.
I’m surprised there’s not more enthusiasm for RINGO, undoubtedly my COD, though it could have done with a question mark. I hope it gets a mention in Nimrod’s Weekend i round-up. REMOTE took me more three times as long as the rest of the puzzle put together.
EGREGIOUS – I used to like to use this word, but in its original sense.
Etymology – From Latin e[x] (“out of”) + grex/gregis (“flock”) – reflecting the positive connotations of “standing out from the flock”
‘Conspicuous, exceptional, outstanding; usually in a negative sense’ – like a black sheep.
It’s very bad that it’s come to mean “very bad”, and that very bad disgraced ex-prime ministers and ex-presidents use it when they could just say “very bad”.
I liked the clue for TALKIE – a lift-and-separate of “Bond film”
Thanks M & B&J