Filbert has provided his latest puzzle for us this Tuesday aka theme day.
I found this to be an enjoyable medium-difficulty puzzle and made steady progress throughout. I actually found the three 3-letter entries amongst the most difficult to either solve or parse, but I think that I sussed them in the end. It was interesting to see the grid accommodate two 2-letter entries, even though they were run together to form a single 2-2 solution.
The theme today appears to be around the word “rule” and its many uses, with the word having been shoehorned into the wordplay or definition of a sizeable number of clues.
My favourite clues today were 7, 9 and 29, all for smoothness of surface. I would appreciate confirmation (or otherwise) of my parsing at 13 (why “out of town”?), 16 and 22.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | RUMBLE | Discover doctor breaching guideline
MB (=doctor) in RULE (=guideline); to rumble is to see through, discover the truth about someone or something |
| 05 | DUCK SOUP | Nothing very revolting for Yank’s picnic
DUCK (=nothing, i.e. zero score in cricket) + SO (=very) + UP (=revolting, i.e. in revolt); in US slang, duck soup is something easy, a doddle, child’s play, hence “picnic” |
| 09 | TEST CASE | Claim there’s no rule for rogue EC states
*(EC STATES); “rogue”, unruly is anagram indicator; there are no rules established for the claims addressed in test cases |
| 10 | IMPACT | Effect of current law on politician
I (=current, in physics) + MP (=politician, i.e. Member of Parliament) + ACT (=law, piece of legislation) |
| 11 | IRON MAIDEN | Band on I admire, playing number
*(ON I ADMIRE) + N (=number); “playing” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, formed in 1975 |
| 13 | LANE | Love of Kent, // way out of town
Double definition: Lois Lane is the love interest of Clark Kent in the Superman comics and films AND a lane is a way, a road, especially in the countryside, hence “out of town”. |
| 14 | PACKED LUNCH | Sandwiches, etc weren’t beefy enough for Spooner
Spoonerism of “lacked punch (=wasn’t beefy enough)” |
| 17/18 | NO-NO | Small numbers a breach of the rules
NO (=number) + NO (=number); “small” indicates that both are abbreviated |
| 19 | NAUGHTINESS | Breaking rules, given one point by FA
NAUGHT (=FA, as in sweet FA=sweet Fanny Adams, i.e. nothing at all) + I (=one) + NESS (=point, headland) |
| 22 | BANE | Rule out Ecstasy as cause of death
BAN (=rule out, exclude) + E (=Ecstasy, i.e. drug) |
| 23 | BALUSTRADE | Railing if cooking bad at Rules
*(BAD AT RULES); “cooking” is anagram indicator |
| 26 | FIESTA | Carnival with boos and cheers
FIES (=boos, i.e. expressions of disapproval) + TA (=cheers, i.e. thanks, colloquially) |
| 27 | NORMALLY | Cliff’s drinking partner and friend, as a rule
NORM (=Cliff’s drinking partner, in the US sitcom Cheers) + ALLY (=friend) |
| 29 | INTRUDES | Is a trespasser cheeky, entering home with tenants on vacation?
[RUDE (=cheeky, impertinent)] in [IN (=(at) home) + T<enant>S (“on vacation” means only first and last letters are left)] |
| 30 | DEMURE | Shy doctor resumed scratching Charles’ back
*(RE<s>UMED); “scratching Charles’ back (=last letter)”, means that letter “s” is dropped from anagram indicated by “(to) doctor”, manipulate |
| Down | ||
| 02 | ULE | Rubber, ruler, neither right
<r>ULE<r>; “neither right (=R)” means that both “r”s are dropped; ule is the crude rubber of a Central American tree |
| 03 | BATON | Fail to declare what runner gives you to carry
(to) bat on is (to) fail to declare, in a cricket mach; a baton is handed on by runners in a relay race |
| 04 | EMANATE | Picking up part for Chevrolet an American’s issue
Hidden (“part”) and reversed (“picking up”) in “chevrolET AN AMErican’s”; to issue from is to emanate from, flow from |
| 05 | DREAD | Old man hides concerning phobia
RE- (=concerning, regarding) in DAD (=old man, i.e. slang for father) |
| 06 | CHIGNON | German cuts shaved area beside knot of hair
G (=German) in [CHIN (=shaved area, of body) + ON (=beside, next to)] |
| 07 | SEPULCHRE | Grave case of unusual herpes spread around college
C (=college) in *(U<nusua>L + HERPES); “case of” means external letters only are used in anagram, indicated by “spread” |
| 08 | UNCANONISED | No saint dies out, under a French rule
UN (=a French, i.e. a French word for a) + CANON (=rule, law, in ecclesiastical matters) + *(DIES); “out” is anagram indicator; a figure who is uncanonised is not yet a saint! |
| 12 | REPROBATION | Copy AI bot that’s misspelled name, getting severe censure
REPRO (=copy, i.e. reproduction) + *(AI BOT) + N (=name); ‘that’s misspelled” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | CONFESSOR | Father that forgives criminal for pinching contents of TESSA
CON (=criminal, i.e. convict) + [<t>ESS<a> (“contents of” means all but first and last letters are used) in FOR]; a confessor is a priest who hears confession and grants absolution, hence “father that forgives” |
| 16 | LAH | Note reciprocal of three eighths?
HAL<f> (=three eighths, i.e. where “half” would be four eighths/letters); “reciprocal”, in return, indicates reversal |
| 20 | UPBRAID | Twit bungled pub heist
*(PUB) + RAID (=heist, robbery); “bungled” is anagram indicator; to twit is to chide, upbraid |
| 21 | INSURED | Covered vine uncovered and certainly dead
<v>IN<e> (“uncovered” means first and last letters are dropped) + SURE (=certainly, for sure) + D (=dead) |
| 24 | LINES | Rules // and punishment at school
Double definition: lines are rules and canons AND a punishment at school, e.g. 50 lines – “I will mend my ways”, i.e. write it out 50 times |
| 25 | REALM | Queen and footling male ruled land
R (=Queen, i.e. regina) + *(MALE); “footling”, pottering around is anagram indicator; a realm is a “ruled land”, i.e. one ruled by a monarch |
| 28 | LOR | Goodness coming from dictator’s rule
Homophone (“coming from dictator”) of “law (=rule)”; “lor” and “goodness” are both exclamations indicating surprise |
I found this one quite a struggle. Needed RR’s excellent blog for parsing a few. I found the short clues annoying. I did solve at 3am due to insomnia keeping me awake. In the morning, having slept in between , I am less annoyed with it than I was.
Thanks RatkojaRiku and Filbert
A Spoonerism that actually works properly was a pleasure to solve.
My toppie is RUMBLE because it’s such a nice definition for ‘discover’. Filbert’s definitions are one of the reasons I like his puzzles. INTRUDES is very similar to OBTRUDES in yesterday’s Tees and I recall an identical DREAD last week somewhere here or the G. The ULE tree is new to me, and LAH went in unparsed and can stay that way for my very low- level mathematical brain. I looked up reciprocal fractions but it didn’t help. Good puzzle though. Many thanks to RR and Filbert.
Enjoyed both the lovely puzzle and the neat blog! Thanks both!
DUCK SOUP, BAT ON, NAUGHTINESS and TEST CASE: my top faves.
LANE
The first entry in Collins:
A lane is a narrow road, especially in the country.
Therefore, ‘a way out of town’. Well…looks like.
TEST CASE
‘Claim there’-is no rule: A claim made in TEST CASE (there) is not a rule (until tested and proven).
Not sure if RR says the same thing or my understanding is slightly different.
LAH and BANE: Can’t see any problem at all with RR’s parsing!
It was Tyrus. Feared old fellow on entering. Same but different.
A clue by Paul in G (from the archives):
AI character‘s 3/8, say (3)
Sofamore@2
Filbert’s definitions are classy. I agree with you.
I’d agree with Matthew Newell that this was quite tough – but then I may be having a bad week as I struggled a bit with yesterday’s puzzles too. Worth it for a really good Spoonerism in PACKED LUNCH. Would not have parsed LAH in a month of Sundays.
Thanks Filbert and RR
[RR, a typo – 03d BATON – an extra “you” has crept in – “Fail to declare what you runner gives you to carry“]
What about Brick Lane?
Fun puzzle as usual-theme didnt scream
Thanks Filbert and RR
PACKED LUNCH is one of the best Spoonerisms I have come across. I wrongly assumed that 3 of our eight King Henrys were known as Hal. UNCANONISED was clever to mislead us into thinking of the colloquial meaning of “no saint” rather than the literal one. It took me ages to think of the clever “love of Kent”
At 13A I agree with KVa @3 that ‘out of town’ is an essential element of the clue, as lanes are usually in the country, despite there being many urban ones, which were probably in the country once. At 2D, despite having four respectable dictionaries, or online, I couldn’t find ‘ule’ anywhere as rubber, only as the suffix -ule. Great stuff though, so thanks Filbert and RatkojaRiku.
Nice one..
Bit of of a non-theme but not complaining as I generally miss them, don’t understand them, or choose to ignore them…
Thanks RatkojaRiku n Filbert
Very nice puzzle, very nice blog. Didn’t really notice the theme, but am chuffed to have parsed LAH (some time after I realised it had to be the answer).
Thanks Filbert & RR
Lovely puzzle. Favourites BAT ON, SEPULCHRE and IRON MAIDEN.
Can someone walk me through the parse of LAH? I see that LAH is a note, reciprocal=reversal, and HAL=3/8ths of HALF, but where do you get HALF from in the first place, to take 3/8ths of it? Unless HALF is an example of a note (“half-note”), but then isn’t note doing double duty? Unless Petert has it with the Henry-Hals?
Thanks to S&B.
Mev – I took it as “3/8 (implied: of a whole) is equivalent to 3/4 of HALF, i.e. HAL”. Then reciprocal as you say. Does that help!?
Amoeba@14 Ah, I see! Thanks. I clearly wasn’t focussing hard enough on the question mark. 🙂
Yes, that’s how I understood it too (as per the blog)
1/2 = 4/8 and if from that we take each of the letters of HALF as being 1/8 then HAL[f] = 3/8
It’s rather fiendish but I don’t mind setters experimenting with unconventional wordplay as long as they are following Afrit’s injunction to say what they mean. I think Filbert is saying what he means here so all good.
Thanks, Filbert and RR.
Like Petert, I thought 3/8ths had something to do with kings Henry. But then realised Hal was the 5th.
Yeah I liked LAH. A coherent surface (unlike some ‘inventive’ wordplay examples!), unambiguous if you can untangle the parsing, and gettable from crossers/def in any case. A good example of how to do it.
I’d convinced myself I could see where the half comes in to 3/8. Now I’ve talked myself out of it. I can see HAL is 3/4 of half and 3/8 is 3/4 of 4/8 but… is that it?
I liked the Cliff and Norm clue. Did that really finish over 30 years ago. Time flies.
Thanks both.
Thanks Filbert for the challenge. I missed the theme, needed a couple of letter reveals, and couldn’t parse all of my answers but it was still worth my time. Top picks were LANE, UNCANONISED, and FIESTA, Thanks RR for explaining things.
@7 – thanks for spotting the typo at 3, now corrected, I hope.
@10 – as for “lane” at 13, yes, that makes perfect sense now – thanks!