A fun solve that requires a little extra brainpower to complete.
The puzzle may be found here:
https://www.fifteensquared.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Fez_SBYork2023.pdf
Fair warning: This blog is a bit coarser than the typical Fifteensquared write-up.
Fez advises: “Thematic elements of 12 answers are omitted from wordplay, possibly due to 1a taking an off-hand remark literally.”
It rather quickly becomes clear that this instruction translates to the dismissive expression: “No shit, Sherlock,” and each of the theme words is a scatological synonym that is literally omitted from the solutions. The clues themselves do not indicate where the theme words fit into the solutions (i.e., whether beginning, middle, or end), but solving is aided by the fact that the theme words do appear intact in the solutions (rather than being scattered or anagrammed). The thematic elements are highlighted below.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SHERLOCK |
Astute sort of moneylender not unknown to pocket interest, essentially (8)
|
| SH[Y]LOCK (moneylender) minus (not) Y (unknown) around (to pocket) middle letters of (essentially) [INT]ER[EST] | ||
| 5 | MUSCAT |
Character of Greek wine (6)
|
| MU (character of [the] Greek [alphabet])
SCAT [theme word] |
||
| 10 | LOO |
John regularly consumed alcohol (3)
|
| Alternate letters of (regularly consumed) [A]L[C]O[H]O[L] | ||
| 11 | DUNGEON |
Where you might be kept in the dark a seriously long time (7)
|
| EON (a seriously long time)
DUNG [theme word] |
||
| 12 | CHA |
That’s surprising: $100 for early afternoon tea! (3)
|
| [A]HA (that’s surprising) with C ($100) [substituting] for first letter of (early) A[FTERNOON]. See setter’s comment on parsing @1. | ||
| 13 | ENIGMA |
Hemingway drunk to forget, possibly … why? It’s a mystery (6)
|
| Anagram of (drunk) [H]EMING[W]A[Y] minus (to forget) anagram of (possibly) WHY | ||
| 14 | PAYROLLS |
Lists of workers from Scottish town disrupting voting (8)
|
| AYR (Scottish town) inside (disrupting) POLLS (voting) | ||
| 16 | INNOCENTLY |
Naively thought: “Musical celebrity, finally!” – after playing once in pub (10)
|
| Anagram of (playing) ONCE inside (in) INN (pub) + last letters of (finally) [THOUGH]T + [MUSICA]L + [CELEBRIT]Y | ||
| 17 | OSLO |
City bankers no longer involved in industrial action? (4)
|
| [G]O-SLO[W] (industrial action) minus outside letters (“bankers” no longer involved) | ||
| 19 | UIST |
Curiosity occasionally seen in Hebridean islands (4)
|
| Alternate letters of (occasionally seen) [C]U[R]I[O]S[I]T[Y] | ||
| 21 | NEOLOGICAL |
Suggestion of “xanga” rejected when preparing a lexicon of new words (10)
|
| Anagram of (preparing) LE[X]ICON minus (rejected) X ([first letter of] suggestion of X[ANGA])
LOG [theme word] |
||
| 24 | NORMANDY |
Knight or king perhaps spending a day in French region (8)
|
| N (knight [in chess]) + OR + MAN (king, perhaps [in chess]) + D[A]Y minus (spending) A | ||
| 25 | STURDY |
Tough second year (6)
|
| S (second) + Y (year)
TURD [theme word] |
||
| 28 | DIP |
Reduce pressure on police officer (3)
|
| DI (police officer) + P (pressure) | ||
| 29 | MESSAGE |
Get on email, for example (7)
|
| AGE (get on)
MESS [theme word] |
||
| 30 | ILL |
Poorly, needing a dose of painkillers (3)
|
| Hidden in (a dose of) [PAINK]ILL[ERS] | ||
| 31 | NESTLE |
Cosy up to finest legal minds (6)
|
| Hidden in (minds) [FI]NEST LE[GAL] | ||
| 32 | POOH-BAHS |
Hard bastard has beaten up pompous officials (4-4)
|
| H (hard)+ B (bastard) + anagram of (beaten up) HAS
POO [theme word] |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SOLVE |
Harry loves to do crosswords,say (5)
|
| Anagram of (harry) LOVES | ||
| 2 | EMOTION |
Feeling close to someone (7)
|
| Last letter of (close to) [SOMEON]E
MOTION [theme word] |
||
| 3 | LADY MUCK |
The French Duke, maybe at heart a socially pretentious type (4,4)
|
| LA (the [in] French) + D (duke) + middle letter of (at heart) [MA]Y[BE]
MUCK [theme word] |
||
| 4 | CANE |
Switch spots, acting depressed (4)
|
| ACNE (spots) with A (acting) moving down (depressed) | ||
| 6 | ULNARE |
Bend over scratching backside, nearly fracturing wristbone (6)
|
| U (bend) + anagram of (fracturing) NEARL[Y] minus final letter (scratching backside) | ||
| 7 | CACKLES |
Naked flesh prompts raucous laughter (7)
|
| [F]LES[H] minus outside letters (naked)
CACK [theme word] |
||
| 8 | TOADSTOOL |
Fungal growth that’s oddly appearing “downstairs” initially (9)
|
| First letters of (initially) T[HAT’S] + O[DDLY] + A[PPEARING] + D[OWNSTAIRS]
STOOL [theme word] |
||
| 9 | REGAL LILY |
Ridiculously large square leaves from incredibly silly plant (5,4)
|
| Anagram of (ridiculously) LARGE + anagram of (incredibly) [S]ILLY minus (leaves from) S (square) | ||
| 15 | ANGEL DUST |
Unsalted nuts laced with ultimately mind-blowing drug (5,4)
|
| Anagram of (nuts) UNSALTED around (laced with) last letter of (ultimately) [MIND-BLOWIN]G | ||
| 16 | IGUANODON |
I assume that’s a dinosaur (9)
|
| I + DON (assume)
GUANO [theme word] |
||
| 18 | EGG TEETH |
Bolstered by Tories – hardliners, principally – encourage support for immature Leavers … they‘re crackers! (3,5)
|
| EGG (encourage) + TEE (support) + {first letters of (principally) T[ORIES] + H[ARDLINERS]}, with “bolstered by” indicating the position of the elements of the wordplay and with a slighltly cryptic definition |
||
| 20 | SCRAPES |
Seems extremely bored by introduction from Eric Pickles (7)
|
| Outside letters of (extremely) S[EEM]S around (bored [into] by) first letter of (introduction from) E[RIC]
CRAP [theme word] |
||
| 22 | CORSICA |
Crew’s leader is about to be eaten by whale in Mediterranean location (7)
|
| First letter of (leader [of]) C[REW] + {IS reversed (about) inside (to be eaten by) ORCA (whale)} | ||
| 23 | MAMMAL |
Mum’s first taste of Lebanese skunk? (6)
|
| MAMMA (mum) + first letter of (first taste of) L[EBANESE] | ||
| 26 | YELLS |
Absolutely nailing 50/50 calls (5)
|
| YES (absolutely) around (nailing) {L + L (50 + 50, i.e., in Roman numerals) | ||
| 27 | HALO |
Stop to fix intermittently observed fault in headlight? (4)
|
| HO (stop) around (to fix) alternate letters of (intermittently) [F]A[U]L[T], with a slightly cryptic definition |
Many thanks for the blog Cineraria, glad you found it fun 🙂 despite the theming … I guess the warning is indeed fair, sorry! (Just a minor point on 12a, “afternoon” was intended as the Chambers-compliant abbreviation A, with “early” clarifying it’s the first of the two A’s in AHA that is changed) Thanks again!
As you know, Fez, I am regularly undone by SI such as this but I did manage to solve SHERLOCK early and the penny dropped with regard to the off-hand phrase when crossers led me to EMOTION as a possible solution for 2d which appeared to be ‘underclued’ – it helped that I saw a recent streamed solve which equated ‘motions’ with ‘excreta’ and the penny dropped. I have a feeling I have seen something similar to this device before – maybe from you! It then became quite a fun exercise of looking for poo!
DUNGEON, OSLO, UIST and CORSICA were my favourites, ULNARE defeated me, though.
Thanks Fez and Cineraria