A Thursday challenge from Bluth today.
Lots to enjoy here: some clever long anagrams, and surfaces ranging from the entirely plausible (Premier League clubs spending lots of money, or a British holidaymaker giving the country a bad name) to the bizarre (Nora Batty on HRT). One of the things I like about crosswords is the wide range of topics they cover: where else would one need to consider washing powder, left-wing political figures and artificial football pitches in the same sentence? Thanks Bluth for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | CREDO |
Church backing poem about belief (5)
|
| RC (abbreviation for Roman Catholic = church, which works if you take it as an adjective rather than a noun) reversed (backing), then ODE (poem) reversed (about). | ||
| 8 | ASTROTURF |
Advanced laundry detergent assuming red playing surface? (9)
|
| A (abbreviation for advanced, as in A-level exams) + SURF (a brand of laundry detergent), containing (assuming) TROT (short for Trotskyist = politically left-wing = red).
Artificial turf for sports pitches. |
||
| 10 | RED WHITE AND BLUE |
Ended the burial at sea with boring patriotic display? (3,5,3,4)
|
| Anagram (at sea = confused) of ENDED THE BURIAL, with W (abbreviation for with) inserted into it (boring it). | ||
| 11 | E-COMMERCE |
Start of economy drive with millions invested in online trade (1-8)
|
| Starting letter of E[conomy] + COERCE (drive, as a verb = force), with MM (M = abbreviation for million) inserted. | ||
| 12 | AITCH |
Letter from occasionally sadistic husband (5)
|
| Alternate letters (occasionally) of [s]A[d]I[s]T[i]C + H (abbreviation for husband).
Written name for the letter H. |
||
| 13 | BAG |
Airline good to land (3)
|
| BA (abbreviation for British Airways) + G (abbreviation for good).
Land, as a verb = bag = succeed in obtaining something desirable. |
||
| 14 | NOSTRIL |
Perhaps airline’s opening new line after awful riots (7)
|
| N (abbreviation for new), then L (abbreviation for line) after an anagram (awful) of RIOTS.
An opening of the airway into the lungs. |
||
| 16 | CON |
Tory do (3)
|
| Double definition. Short for Conservative = Tory; or as a verb, con = do = slang for cheat. | ||
| 17 | GAMER |
Someone likely to have some Sega merchandise (5)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . .) in [se]GA MER[chandise].
Extended definition: a gamer (player of online or electronic games) may well have some merchandise from the games company Sega, although other game providers are available. |
||
| 19 | FLASHBULB |
One appears with a shot drink on the counter containing small amount of garlic? (9)
|
| HALF (short for a half-pint of beer) reversed (on the counter), containing S (abbreviation for small), then BULB (a cluster of garlic cloves).
Artificial lighting for taking a photograph (shot). |
||
| 20 | EDINBURGH TATTOO |
Dicky Attenborough regularly tried to make military show (9,6)
|
| Anagram (dicky = faulty) of ATTENBOROUGH + alternate letters (regularly) of T[r]I[e]D.
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, in full: an annual display. |
||
| 22 | SPLURGING |
Wild spending increasing across Premier League primarily (9)
|
| SURGING (increasing), around (across) the first letters (primarily) of P[remier] L[eague]. | ||
| 23 | EASED |
Return envelope ready for posting and journalist is relaxed (5)
|
| SAE (abbreviation for Stamped Addressed Envelope = envelope ready for posting) reversed (return . . .), then ED (abbreviation for editor = journalist). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HEADLONG |
Boss with itch reveals rash (8)
|
| HEAD (boss, as in head teacher) + LONG (as a verb = yearn = itch).
Rash = headlong = without regard for consequences. |
||
| 2/21 | TO THE MANOR BORN |
Sitcom‘s Nora Batty ultimately wanting hormone replacement (2,3,5,4)
|
| Anagram (re-placement) of NOR[a] BATT[y] (without the last letters = ultimately wanting) + HORMONE.
BBC sitcom starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles; somewhat different from Last of the Summer Wine, which features the character Nora Batty. |
||
| 3 | CAPTURES |
Takes ecstasy – topless, when visiting Cyprus on vacation (8)
|
| [r]APTURE (ecstasy) without the first letter (topless), inserted into (visiting) C[ypru]S (on vacation = when emptied = inner letters removed). | ||
| 4 | STRAFE |
Offensive street artist content to leave Fringe (6)
|
| ST (abbreviation for street) + RA (abbreviation for Royal Academician = artist) + F[ring]E with the content (inner letters) removed.
Strafe, as a verb = to attack a target with machine-gun fire or bombs from a low-flying aircraft. Here we need to read it as a noun, meaning an attack carried out in this way = an offensive. |
||
| 5/12 | HOLD ALL THE ACES |
13 coaches moving Hearts up to be in a winning position (4,3,3,4)
|
| HOLDALL (a bag = reference to 13a BAG), then TEACHES with the H (abbreviation for hearts, in playing cards) moving a few places towards the front of the word (upwards, in a down clue). | ||
| 6 | MULLET |
Star swimmer (6)
|
| Double definition. Heraldic term for a star shape; or one of various species of fish with this name. | ||
| 7 | CARPETBAGGERS |
Opportunists writing motor sport book inspired by graffiti artists (13)
|
| CAR (motor vehicle, or “motor” for short) + PE (Physical Education = sport lessons in schools), then B (abbreviation for book) contained in (inspired by = breathed in by) TAGGERS (graffiti artists who write their own personal “tag” anywhere they can).
People moving into an area for political or financial gain; originally applied to people from the northern US states who moved to the south hoping to profit from conditions after the American Civil War. |
||
| 9 | FLESH AND BLOOD |
Ben Folds Five working with a family member (5,3,5)
|
| Anagram (working) of BEN FOLDS + HOLD (Five = reference to 5 down) + A. | ||
| 12 |
See 5
|
|
| 15 | ROAD HOGS |
Bad drivers rowed loudly – silence shrouding journey the other way (4,4)
|
| Homophone (loudly) of ROWED; then SH (sh! = silence! = a command to be quiet) containing (shrouding) GO (journey, as a verb), with all of this second part reversed (the other way). | ||
| 16 | COURTESY |
Palace a pushover? Withdraw article to show respect (8)
|
| COURT (royal household = palace) + E[a]SY (a pushover), withdrawing A (the indefinite article). | ||
| 18 | MAINLY |
I like a bloke boxing, generally (6)
|
| I with MANLY (like a bloke) surrounding (boxing) it. | ||
| 19 | FORBID |
Ban because of British papers (6)
|
| FOR (because of) + B (abbreviation for British) + ID (abbreviation for identity documents = papers). | ||
| 21 |
See 2
|
|
This was great fun as usual from Bluth. Many thanks to him for the challenge.
I was unable to parse the first syllable of FLASHBULB, and couldn’t parse CARPETBAGGERS at all, “taggers” being a complete mystery to me. So, thanks to Quirister for unravelling those two for me.
I couldn’t find the reference to the heraldic meaning of MULLET anywhere, but it had to be that. (The addition of ‘hair style’ would have made it a triple definition.) Otherwise everything slipped in smoothly, so thanks Bluth and Quirister.
Tatrasman @2: For mullet = star, Wikipedia has more detail than you probably want to know . . .
EDINBURGH TATTOO – Seeing “Dicky” rather than the more frequently used “Dickie”, I was alert for a lift-and-separate & anagram, with “Dicky” as the anagrind.
TO THE MANOR BORN – “Nora Batty” looked like she might be similar, but wasn’t at all. She didn’t need disassembly and “Batty” wasn’t the anagrind. Nice.
Thanks B&Q
All done without aids, but not all parsed. I’ll have to try to remember ‘mullet’ as an heraldic term for star shaped.
Lovely fun challenge. Thanks to Bluth and Quirister
I also enjoyed this very much; I had the impression this would have taken the setter some effort, for which my thanks, and one or two constructions did feel a little contrived to me. But that effort (given and received) will smooth over time; so long as Bluth continues to aim high. He certainly could become a great (rather than ‘just’ good) compiler in time
I did enjoy the solve – and that’s the most important thing – just enough tussle and chew, often missing (for me, at any rate) and some interesting surfaces
Well done, Bluth, and many thanks to Quirister for a jolly good web log …..
Bluth in scintillating form with this light delight. I’ve said it many times before I love how this setter brings real life into his puzzles almost as caricatures…as in Nora Batty on HRT.
Impossible to select highlights, the whole puzzle!
Many thanks to setter and Quirister for the entertainment.
Thanks both. Same parsing issues as Rabbit Dave@1 – perhaps as I am on holiday enjoying the very dangerous ‘all inclusive’ fare, ‘half’ for ‘drink’ did not immediately jump into my mind….after all, why would you ever order one?
MULLET as a heraldic term also unknown to me. EDINBURGH TATTOO & TO THE MANOR BORN were simply superb.
I’m in full agreement with Hovis re the two standouts and, whilst FrankieG makes a fair point about the dicky Dicky, it made for such a delightful construction. As we have said before, Bluth’s ability to bring popular names, tropes etc into his clues is remarkable.
Thanks Bluth and Quirister
Thanks Quirister and thanks all.
Re the dicky, Dicky. While I knew that ‘Dickie’ would be the preferred version, I figured that Dicky is still a nickname for Richard and as such, it isn’t really out-and-out wrong. I did even check to see if he was ever referred to as Dicky elsewhere and was delighted to discover The Times doing it here.
Cheers, all!
Gosh – I usually don’t return to 15² and I haven’t posted regularly, if at all, on the Indy thread for some years. Though, I think, I commented on Indy puzzles every day for some years – certainly when it was still in print
But for some reason I feel intrigued by this particular nascent craftsman
I was taken aback a little by the use of the word “good” in my earlier comment. I used it as a contrast to “great” but this creation was far more than good. I wouldn’t have such high hopes if I thought it was just “good”. Hope that resets the timbre