I’m thinking this is the first time a Skinny puzzle has appeared on a Saturday.
Their puzzles are more frequently seen on a Sunday, so we must say welcome to the “ex-Prize” slot.
At first I thought it was somewhat on the simple side with the first 10 or 12 answers slotting in very quickly, especially the top left corner which was mostly complete when I began to hit thsomme tougher clues. 14A was the first to keep me guessing – thinking the answer was some “fast food” I’d never heard of. I took me ages to consider sticking a Q in front of the U – resulting in a sigh-making PDM.
There weren’t a vast number of anagrams but the few there were, were memorable.
Of the two excellent long anagrams I found 3d quite quickly after spotting GARDEN in the rest of the anagram fodder assembled itself pleasingly. I found 6d much harder – the wordplay was clear enough so the available letters were obvious, but I could not shuffle them into anything meaningful and I didn’t really know what the definition was on about – I thought it could be an &Lit, and wondered if there was a theme of mineralogy across the whole puzzle(?). Then I got the U from ROUNDED which made 6D’s 3 letter word either OUT or BUT and the answer appeared. In the past I might have indeed treated myself to a cigar at that point, but I gave up smoking ages ago. Years and years ago. 16 years 6 months 5 days and 9 hours, roughly …
The puzzle had a sting in the tail. 17D.
I had to check this in a dictionary before I was convinced I had the unchecked letters in their correct squares – in truth with all checkers in place only STIAVARG and STRAVAIG looked likely – actually, neither looked likely – but one of them it was.
Oh well. At least I now have a word to use, aimlessly, when wandering aimlessly, in Scotland.
Amazingly it has been used before in a couple of puzzles blogged on fifteensquared: One perhaps not so surprising is an Inquisitor by Phi in 2011. The other was a 2014 Guardian by Orlando!
(It’s what the search facility’s for!)
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DISABLED | Black day after detective’s put out of action (8) SABLE (black) D[ay], all after DI (detective, Detective Inspector) |
| 5 | ICICLE | See farming implement picked up, one that’s cold and tapered (6) Homophone of “Eye sickle” (See, farming implement) HInd: picked up. |
| 10 | NIGHT | When do the lights go on? It’s almost time (5) NIGH (almost) T[ime] |
| 11 | ELABORATE | Fancy booze knocked back with salt (9) ALE< (booze, Reversal indicator: knocked back ) BORATE (salt) Tricky clue. That’s not the first salt that springs to mind |
| 12 | BRAINWAVE | Webinar broadcast inspires a very brilliant idea (9) (WEBINAR)* AInd: broadcast, around (Inclusion indicator: inspires) A V[ery] |
| 13 | EARTH | What covers painting? Dirt (5) ART (painting) inside EH (What) I must’ve seen “What” clueing EH many times but it still gives me a chuckle |
| 14 | QUICHE | He’s after unfinished fast food (6) HE after QUIC[k] |
| 15 | ROUNDED | Made circumnavigation complete (7) Double definition, making a 3 word story. |
| 18 | TREBLES | Stiff drinks – they’re often sought by darts players (7) Double definition, making a believable image (provided they’re old enough!) |
| 20 | DINING | Type of table Director General takes home twice (6) IN IN (Home, twice) in DG (well used acronym for the Beeb’s chief and others) |
| 22 | ALPHA | A mountain? Don’t be ridiculous! (5) ALP (mountain) HA! (Don’t be ridiculous!) Disguised single letter definition |
| 24 | DECK CHAIR | One may be placed on a beach to monitor risk, according to Spooner (4,5) Spoonerism of “Check Dare” (monitor risk) |
| 25 | ABANDONED | Left rehab, and one deteriorated, to some extent (9) Hidden in rehAB AND ONE Deteriorated HInd: to some extent. |
| 26 | GREAT | Enormous jar, so it’s said (5) Homophone of “Grate” HInd: so it’s said. |
| 27 | GALENA | Lead source of wind starts to nip away (6) GALE (wind) N[ip] A[way] Galena is the main ore of lead, used since ancient times |
| 28 | ARMRESTS | Starmer’s struggling to produce bits of 7 (8) (STARMER’S)* AInd: struggling to produce. Ref. answer to 7 = CHAIR |
| Down | ||
| 1 | DANUBE | Name encapsulates a new European river (6) A N[ew] inside DUB (name), then E[uropean] |
| 2 | SIGNATURE | Is upset by good quality autograph (9) IS< (Rev. Ind: upset) G[ood] NATURE (quality) |
| 3 | BOTANICAL GARDEN | Where you may find an Araucaria declaration bang out of order (9,6) (DECLARATION BANG)* AInd: out of order. Providing it is a Monkey Puzzle tree |
| 4 | ELEVATE | Upgrade rear of battle tank in shelter (7) [battl]E VAT (tank) inside LEE (shelter) |
| 6 | CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR | Very nearly locating obscure rocks (5,3,2,5) (LOCATING OBSCURE)* AInd: rocks. |
| 7 | CHAIR | Cleaner welcomes current president (5) CHAR (cleaner) around I (current) |
| 8 | EYESHADE | After start of equinox, definitely took ecstasy to provide protection against the sun (8) E[quinox] YES (definitely) HAD (took) E[cstasy] |
| 9 | CAREER | The job of a nurse is protecting everyone, first and foremost (6) E[veryone] inside CARER (a nurse) “First and foremost” is just specifying the first letter of “Everyone” |
| 16 | DUNGAREES | Garment waste a wise man rejected (9) DUNG (waste) A (a) SEER< (wise man, rejected) |
| 17 | STRAVAIG | The Scots wander about with peculiar gravitas (8) (GRAVITAS)* AInd: peculiar. Last one in (of course). |
| 19 | SIDING | Confess about papers being biased (6) SING (confess) around ID (papers) |
| 20 | DECIDER | Ref endlessly took risks over winning goal (7) RE[f] DICED (took risks) all Reversed (over) |
| 21 | GRATIS | Free end of string instrument lifted (6) [strin]G SITAR< (string instrument, lifted) |
| 23 | PEARL | Ring encircling middle of spherical gem (5) PEAL (ring) around (encircling) [sphe]R[ical] |
My experience of this puzzle mirrors beermagnets. I liked the two long anagrams. Thanks to Skinny and beermagnet.
I have spent a lot of time in Scotland and STRAVAIG came quickly to mind – I have heard it in use – though it certainly stands out as the most obscure word in the grid. (It’s a pretty obscure word to hear used, too). But then gridfills can do that to you. Serving up an unusual word in anagrammed form is a bit tough on the solver but, as our blogger points out, there are not many alternatives available, once all the crossers are in place. As per Petert, I enjoyed the two long anagrams.
Thanks Skinny and beermagnet
This was right up my street. Loved it.
Favourites include: “webinar” in “brainwave”; the cunning definition in “alpha”; the beautiful inclusion for “abandoned”; and the CAD for 9d.
I bet I’m not the only one who thought of the Alas Smith and Jones sketch when solving 18a.
What a weird word is STRAVAIG. I guess I must have done the Orlando crossword but have no recollection of seeing the word before. The Phi crossword was before I started solving the independent offerings.
Hey! You’re supposed to follow me PostMark 🙂
Thanks Skinny and beermagnet!
Liked ICICLE, ALPHA, CAREER and DECIDER.
Welcome back, Skinny, it’s been too long! Enjoyable puzzle. The “obscure” words were just the right side of gettable for me – I’ve certainly come across STRAVAIG before but had to rack my brain to dig it out.
Thanks also for the blog, beermagnet.
Orlando clued it with ST VIAGRA.
Like Hovis, I loved this. Everything slotted into place nicely, without being too easy. Took far to long to see ‘cigar’ after assuming ‘close but no…..’, never having heard of this phrase, though it makes perfect sense now. Beermagnet, you forgot the minutes! Thanks to you and especially Skinny.
Thanks both. My only real issues were with the intersecting GALENA and STRAVAIG – both unknowns, and for the latter I semi-confidently entered the right answer as I did feel it sounded right, although yesterday’s cheongsam delivered a similar circumstance only for me to get three letters in the wrong place. I’ll away now to look up the accepted origin of CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR which I have forgotten (perhaps US TV?), although I use the expression quite often and I like the song by Thomas Dolby.
Welcome back, Skinny – this was good fun, and not knowing STRAVAIG, GALENA, or ‘borate’ didn’t hold me up too much. I assume STRAVAIG shares some etymology with ‘stray’, which was how I wrangled it out.
Thanks beermagnet & Skinny.
Lovely puzzle. Thanks Setter and Blogger.
(9, 6) where you find araucaria had to be crossword puzzle didn’t it? – First in and first out
Thanks everyone, it’s great to be back. A move for work prevented me from setting in this past year, but hopefully back to normal now. Many thanks to Beermagnet and all commenters.