Rodriguez fills the midweek slot this week.
We really enjoyed this puzzle, even before we realised that there is a theme in all the across entries. 23ac gave the game away, but we are sure that without the hint we would not have realised that all the other across answers included the name of a currency. Admittedly we had to check LARI in 16ac (Georgia) and SUM in 26ac (Uzbekistan) as we had not come across them before, but all the others were reasonably familiar to us.
A grand finale to an excellent puzzle – thanks Rodriguez!
PARAS (soldiers) round or ‘welcoming’ SO (really) L (large)
N (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of felon) + a reversal (‘going around’) of NO (not one) RUE (regret)
LEVitY (frivolity) missing or ‘ignoring’ ‘it’
COLON (:) ALLY (friend) behind I (India, in the phonetic alphabet)
An anagram (‘reforms’) of SALUTE
MARS (spoils) round or ‘clothing’ KING (‘man put on board’ – in chess)
YE (‘you once’) in or ‘introduced to’ DONNE (John Donne – poet)
An anagram (‘running’) of TRIAL AS – the ‘stock’ in the definition being cattle
A reversal (‘back’) of RENE (Frenchman) in or ‘cutting’ VEAL (meat)
A double definition, but we initially guessed the entry from the crossing letters and the first definition – then realised that all the across answers include the name of a currency
G R (Gewürztraminer without the middle letters or ‘drained’) AND (along with) TOT (‘some spirits’ as in ‘tot of rum’) A L (Liberal)
W (with) T (time) round or ‘adopting’ ON (working)
SUM (problem) after or ‘introduced by’ a reversal (‘from the east’) of A MO (medic)
D (first letter or ‘opening’ of deejay) in an anagram (‘broadcast’) of ON-AIR + RY (railway – ‘line’)
An anagram (‘criminal’) of ALERT in WOO (court)
A reversal (‘turning up’) of AH (‘I see’) + Z Y (axes – in a 3-d graph)
M (male) OCCASIoN (suitable time) missing or ‘dropping’ the ‘o’ (round)
A + Y (yard) in SLUMS (poor areas)
A (American) in INNER (private)
MAN (chap) in or ‘sheltered by’ HUIT (French for 8) + IS round or ‘grasping’ E (English)
DOG (track) L (lake) EG (say)
EVEN (still) in or ‘maintained by’ UN (‘country club’ – a tad dubious?) NESS (head)
CO (company – ‘firm’) LAD (stable worker – looking after horses) in or ‘admitted to’ ACE (tremendous)
An anagram (‘working’) of NHS and INERT
rELATION (‘parent, say’) missing or ‘ignoring’ r’ (rule)
Alternate or ‘periodic’ letters of sEt Up + ROMP (‘sex session’)
An anagram (‘ground’) of B TEaM ON missing or ‘leaving’ ‘a’ (area)
IN (cool) O (old) with W (whiskey in the phonetic alphabet) in front or ‘to start with’
What an excellent puzzle with a really clever theme. It was certainly challenging but very enjoyable.
I don’t see how the definition for 16a leads to a plural noun as the answer. (In any event it’s an American word, but we’ll let that pass …)
Many thanks to Rodriguez and to B&J
P.S.”deejay” brings me out in spots. If you want to abbreviate disc jockey, what’s wrong with DJ?
Wow! Missed the theme and got bashed up in the SW corner. My own ineptitude because the clues were perfectly made and patently obvious when explained by experts. My most egregious failures were ENTOMB (where I was unable to shake the football reference and didn’t see ‘ground’ as an anagrind) and OMASUM where the same thing happened and I was convinced the answer was nausea or a similar ailment. I guess Rodriguez intended that to happen. At least there is another puzzle tomorrow. Thanks for the blog which was very helpful and thanks Rodriguez for a tour de force.
Super puzzle. It did take 23a to tip me off to the theme and the currencies are well hidden but it was a pleasure to spot them all at the end. PARASOLS, DOG-LEG and UNEVENNESS were my favourites. I’d include WATERLOO but I thought that was a victory 😉
Thanks Rodriguez and B&J
Great $tuff
Especially liked 11a – “:” + I + ALLY – presumably 50centimos/centavos in Costa Rica would be a “;”
Also liked 13d UNEVENNESS for calling the UN a “country club”. But 1d WATERLOO, a “defeat”? – it was a great victory… (edit – Hi, PM@3)…
…for ABBA at Eurovision ’74 – a 50th (Golden) anniversary.
Mr Brydon up to his familiar trick of signalling a theme well into the clues, thus delaying folk like me who tackle them in order. I didn’t know all the currencies and so I’m not sure that I’d have spotted it without the heads up – a lot of fun looking for them later, as PostMark says.
Once again, too many favourites to list or even whittle down to a handful. I’d definitely include WATERLOO, too, as being used for ‘a final / total crushing defeat’, in both Collins and Chambers, both citing ‘to meet one’s Waterloo’.
Many thanks to Rodriguez for another super puzzle and to B&J for a matching blog.
Eileen @6: I feel I should note that my comment about not including WATERLOO was entirely tongue in cheek! It is actually a very cute clue which I enjoyed when solving and one man’s victory is clearly another’s defeat.
Theme-spotting didn’t happen but didn’t make much difference to the solve.. the real delay was pencilling in PALATINATE for 11ac, thinking pre:ially… (very clever device) … ah well
thanks Rodriguez n Bertandjoyce
PM @7 – yes, I did realise that. 😉
Doh! Take 100 lines: “I must remember to look out for punctuation marks as part of the answer”. And missed the theme of course, well done B&J! Despite which very much enjoyed, so thanks Rodriguez and B&J.
I haven’t memorised all the body parts of a ruminant so OMASUM was a new one for me, but solved from the clueing. ENTOMB defeated me as I missed the function of ground.
If deejays cause spots do emcees bring on a nasty rash Rabbit Dave? I don’t like either myself.
Thanks Rodriguez and B&J.
It says something about the stature of Napoleon that WATERLOO has come to mean what it does. I think this is the first of this style of puzzle where the theme didn’t help me solve any clues. I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Thanks both. Excellent for me too, with the indicated theme helping somewhat, including a couple of unknowns. I pride myself on knowing a lot of world currencies owing to past employment, but like B&J Georgia and Uzbekistan went unrecognised….I will respectfully name-check the Vietnamese Dong as an absent friend, unless the top-right corner qualifies?
I found this quite difficult and ended up just guessing a few, and still couldn’t finish.
Very nice puzzle. New word OMASUM for me.
Worked out WATERLOO but why defeat?
Rats@15 – See Eileen@6’s second paragraph.
[Or consult ABBA – “… Finally facing my Waterloo … I was defeated, you won the war … And now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight …”]