A very gentle challenge from JULIUS this Friday.
FF: 8 DD: 6
A few references to the loo but not enough to call a theme I guess.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | EARTHEN CLOSET |
‘I must go in here, dear’ — ‘Then close the curtains!’ (7,6)
|
| hidden in “..dEAR THEN CLOSE The..” | ||
| 9 | GROWN-UP |
Adult gathering welcomes discontented women (5-2)
|
| GROUP ( gathering ) containing WN ( WomeN, without inner letters ) | ||
| 10 | VICEROY |
Very cold, hosting the old Queen and old Governor in her place (7)
|
| V ( very ) [ ICY ( cold ) containing { ER ( old queen ) O ( old ) } ] | ||
| 11 | ENTRY |
Aristocracy spurning grand portal (5)
|
| gENTRY ( aristocracy, without G – grand ) | ||
| 12 | LUBRICANT |
Foreign lunatic claiming British oil? (9)
|
| [ LUNATIC ]* containing BR ( british ) | ||
| 13 | OBLATION |
Offering former pupil nothing in classical language (8)
|
| OB ( former pupil ) [ O ( nothing ) in LATIN ( classical language ) ] | ||
| 15 | STAPLE |
Churning out plates of everyday food (6)
|
| [ PLATES ]* | ||
| 18 | OCTADS |
October commercials reduced to groups of eight (6)
|
| OCT ( october ) ADS ( commercials ) | ||
| 19 | BARNACLE |
Clingy individual that might be attracted by Hull? (8)
|
| cryptic def | ||
| 22 | DAIRYMAID |
Forged Riyad papers mum kept as a farmgirl (9)
|
| [ RIYAD ]* MA ( mum ) ID ( papers ) | ||
| 24 | LIMIT |
Julius is drunk, going over the maximum (5)
|
| LIT ( drunk ) containing I’M ( julius is ) | ||
| 25 | STIPEND |
Clergyman’s income? Mine’s been sent back at last (7)
|
| reverse of PIT’S ( mine’s ) END ( last ) | ||
| 26 | BETOKEN |
Portend live cryptocurrency? (7)
|
| BE ( live ) TOKEN ( cryptocurrency ) | ||
| 27 | HERCULE POIROT |
Hotel croupier, funny chap with a moustache (7,6)
|
| [ HOTEL CROUPIER ]* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | EL GRECO |
Greengrocer gleefully set up frame for artist (2,5)
|
| hidden, reversed in “..greengrOCER GLEefully..” | ||
| 2 | ROOM TO LET |
Strangely, 24D with more space available (4,2,3)
|
| [ LOTTO ( answer to 24d ) MORE ]* | ||
| 3 | HANDY |
Useful boundaries at Headingley (5)
|
| cryptic def; boundaries of HeadingleY are H AND Y | ||
| 4 | NAPOLEON |
French leader to sleep over? Revolting Coward! (8)
|
| NAP ( sleep ) O ( over ) reverse of NOEL ( coward ) | ||
| 5 | LAVABO |
Slave labor completely disrobed to wash here (6)
|
| sLAVe lABOr ( disrobed, i.e. without end letters ) | ||
| 6 | SACRISTAN |
Church officer weeps, drained of energy in the grip of the devil (9)
|
| [ CRIeS ( weeps, without E – energy ) ] in SATAN ( devil ) | ||
| 7 | TERRA |
Their dream? Every now and again to leave Earth (5)
|
| “ThEiR dReAm..” ( alternate letters of ) | ||
| 8 | MYRTLE |
Elm fallen over outside? Try climbing shrub (6)
|
| reverse of ELM outside reverse of TRY | ||
| 14 | TEDDY BEAR |
Sleeping partner’s one-piece with nothing on (she says) underneath! (5,4)
|
| TEDDY ( one-piece ) BEAR ( sounds like BARE – nothing on ) | ||
| 16 | PACEMAKER |
Head of UN for one ignoring European race regulator (9)
|
| PeACEMAKER ( head of un for one, without E – european ) | ||
| 17 | MANDIBLE |
LibDem, suffering fracture, fitted with a new jawbone (8)
|
| [ LIBDEM ]* containing [ A N ( new ) ] | ||
| 18 | OLDEST |
Most senior people jiggle modestly when undressed (6)
|
| m [ ODESTL ]* y ( without outer characters ) | ||
| 20 | EXTINCT |
Former alchemist’s elixir gone forever? (7)
|
| EX ( former ) TINCT ( alchemist’s elixir ) | ||
| 21 | LANDAU |
Secure American upper-class carriage (6)
|
| LAND ( secure ) A ( american ) U ( upper-class ) | ||
| 23 | IRISH |
The nationality of Murdoch, according to Connery? (5)
|
| cryptic def; referring to the thick scottish accent of connery and how he would pronounce iris | ||
| 24 | LOTTO |
When squiffy, bishop avoided game with long odds (5)
|
| bLOTTO ( squiffy, without B – bishop ) |
Another short but sweet interlude from Julius with smiles aplenty starting with 1a and continuing all the way to 27a, not to mention the surface of 18d !
Always a help knowing French with this setter but 5d was fair enough without it.
Thanks to him and Turbolegs.
10a should have ER (old queen) + O in V + ICY.
Recently we had Hercule Poirot as an anagram of “our helicopter” and now “hotel croupier”. Both brilliant.
Thanks Hovis@2. Fixed the error.
Regards,
TL
P.S: Diane@1, nice to see you chime in so quickly after the blog went up.
Hovis @3: that leaves ‘puerile cohort’ and ‘ulterior epoch’ still to come, though slightly less natural phrases to incorporate in a clue. The first must have some political application, surely …
A nice gentle puzzle for the first Friday of the year. LUBRICANT, TEDDY BEAR and PACEMAKER join the Belgian on the podium for me. Riyad, the capitalised Coward and ‘labor’ all qualify as ‘nice try’
Thanks Julius and Turbolegs
You were swift out of the blocks, yourself, Turbolegs! Always appreciated.
I had a LOL before I had even started with 1a, the definition of which might be extended to include ‘ I must go in here dear’ or even to the entire clue making it a rather adept or possibly brilliant &lit.
Thanks Julius for a really enjoyable crossword and Turbolegs for the blog. 23d makes shensh now.
Thanks for the blog, very neat clues as usual , I will add HANDY to the favourites above, I always like the X and Y trick. PACEMAKER has a good definition.
Another lovely puzzle from Julius.
I’ll echo Diane’s and PostMark’s favourites and Newbie’s thoughts on 1ac.
Many thanks to Julius and Turbolegs.
Thanks Julius and Turbolegs
13ac: There has been a 13ac every day this week, and this is the first one I have found satisfactory, after two dodgy indicators, one ambiguous unchecked letter, and a ghastly device which a lot of people seem to like, but I do not.
Further to Diane@1, I do not normally say which was my last one in, but today it was 18dn, for the simple reason that I solved the other thirty-one clues before I even read that one.
Thanks Julius and Turbolegs
Excellent fun puzzle.
Diane @ 1: the French simply took over a Latin word, seen mainly in a monastic context.
Julius = my favourite
Marvellous
Many excellent clues, including earthen closet, which I only spotted was hidden when I got the answer, towards the end of a very enjoyable solve.
Thanks to all.
Short and sweet but once again great fun
Many thanks to Julius and Turbolegs
I always enjoy a Julius puzzle, and I echo the praise and favourites of everyone else
Was I the only one to find this more difficult than average for Julius? There were several new or seldom-used words and the clues seemed a lot more wordy than usual. So saying, once I got a toehold in the SW corner, it was a steady solve in an anti-clockwise direction.
Many thanks to Julius and Turbolegs
Thanks Julius for another excellent and entertaining crossword. I found this a bit more difficult than Turbolegs did but it wasn’t as challenging as Julius can sometimes be. I liked STIPEND and I thought for a second that “mine’s” was Julius’ way of saying his income was the “pits”. Other ticks went to GROWN-UP, HERCULE POIROT, SACRISTAN, MYRTLE, and OLDEST. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
Thank you Julius! Especially liked 1a (great spot) and 27a. As for 18d: jiggle: probably; modestly: not so sure. Thanks also Turbolegs for the blog.
What crypticsue said. Splendid! Thanks, Julius and Turbolegs.