Bert and Joyce are off on holiday (again) for two weeks so you got me today and Quirister next Wednesday, anyway quite a Thursday toughy from Rodriguez
Some of this took a little winkling out, thanks Rodriguez.
Can’t see a theme and Rodriguez often has some grid fill tricks but it’s lost on me if there are any
Possibly you could say it’s double def, but the letters don’t seek but an additional note with an application
Opening of W(orrisome) & number EIGHT
RARE – bloody in a steak say & BIRD – sentence, time
Well Sly Stallone played Rocky, the first horse would go in STALL ONE
As in the Hun, ILL – trouble with TT – dry – inserted & A(rea) See KVa @4 for noticing the typing error
TRIPS – drug experiences & WITCH
I telling you NO B.S. I doubt I have to explain BS so look it up if you’ve had that sheltered a life
Front – prow of S(hip) & W(ith) & AB – sailor
Start of R(ibs) removed from IMP(r)UDENTLY – unwisely
Hidden reversed in masschuseTS OCCAsionally. Bit embarrassing how long I looked for alternate letters reversed
TEST – try & L(arge) in ICE a dessert
END – goal & I – one all in FISH – members of a school say
HOB top of oven & I all in PC – policeman, copper
Another sneaky name pairing. RON – friend of Hermione & Harry & an oddball [AN ENVIOUS ILL]*
Nicely misleading putting Henry & Fielding next to each other. OVERT – public & H(enry) & ROW – disagreement
A new one to me, I’d heard of Egg Nog, still it’s EG = for one & G(rand) & FLIP – lose it as in temper
Hidden reversed in fORTNIte
ARM get ready to fight in GENT – chap
A rickety [A BEAR]* & SHED a shack say
BET for venture & start of A(nnoy) all inside TIN for can
RA – painter, artist – inside alternate letters of tRoUbLe
W(hiskey) & a high ASTI* & a LINE of cocaine
A LAB(rador) reversed, from the south in a down clue & LAIKA a famous Russian dog
End of (forge)S in 2 relatives BRO & NAN
PAT – glib & CHE’S
I – one & O(ld) in BRIAN reversed. In The Life of Brian he and Jesus were born at the same time etc
Not Groucho for once. HIC – burp drunkenly in CO(mmunists)
LAPSE unfortunately
Glad I stuck with this one as it was well worth it! Even though I’d never heard of my LOI, the “Potter” RONNIE O’SULLIVAN at 28a and I had to crosscheck my guess from wordplay and crossers, I finished with a big smile in my face. It was all good but the ones I liked a lot were 11a STALLONE, 24a TESTICLE, 16d BALALAIKA and 21d NAIROBI.
Thanks for the enjoyment to Rodriguez, and thanks to flashing for an interesting and thorough blog.
This was a very good puzzle, but one which was sadly spoilt for me by the very misleading and incorrect enumeration for 28a. His name is O’SULLIVAN not OSULLIVAN!
I also thought the definition for 1a was decidedly dodgy. LETTERS don’t seek work.
OVERTHROW was my favourite, and I particularly enjoyed NAIROBI too.
Thanks to Rodriguez and to flashling.
Flashling, you are working hard this week. It feels like you’re appearing daily! Thanks for a thorough blog. wrt COVERING LETTERS, I’d accept the first def as OK. If one sends one’s CV on spec to an organisation, the covering letter would certainly be the bit that is seeking work. I suppose one could argue it is the writer, not the letter, that is doing the seeking but it worked for me.
A very smoothly clued puzzle with some very clever hidden breaks between def and WP as our blogger has highlighted. Faves in abundance: highlighting just a few – RARE BIRD, TRIP SWITCH, SWAB, TESTICLE, RONNIE O’SULLIVAN, EARBASHED, RURAL and NAIROBI for the delightful ‘contemporary of Jesus’ reference. He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.
Thanks Rodriguez and flash
Liked COVERING LETTERS (seen the blogger’s observations and the comments above. Still…), TRIP SWITCH, TESTICLE, INTRO and SEPAL (excellent surface).
INTRO: A nice extended def.
ATTILA (looks like an inadvertent slip in the blog)
trouble=AIL
Thanks Rodriguez and flashing!
@KVa, grr yep you’re right, I guess proofreading your own work isn’t a good idea. I’ll leave it so your comment makes sense.
Not the quickest Rodriguez I’ve ever solved under all his names, but enjoyable with lots of wry grins when I solved OVERTHROW, NAIROBI and RONNIE O’SULLIVAN.
Thank you to flashling and Rodriguez.
Sheer class!
Definitely more testing than Monday’s Quiptic! Took me far too long to think of the “contemporary of Jesus” but I did like that one. Lovely puzzle. Thanks, Rodriguez and flashling.
I always like Rodriguez, but this was glorious. I rattled through it for once, but there was plenty of scenery to admire. I always/only remember BALALAIKA from Back in the USSR.
O’SULLIVAN’s enumeration didn’t greatly bother me. It’s also the Guardian’s style, which has foxed me on occasion with various Irish writers. Might be too much of a gimme otherwise, although enumerations do include hyphens, so… *shrug*
I was relieved to have correctly recalled I’d come across SEPAL before, as those vowels could easily be the other way around.
Thanks flashling & Rodriguez.
On the apostrophe issue, whilst I have some sympathy for RD, I don’t recall seeing apostrophes indicated in any crossword enumeration. I’d be intrigued to know if there is anyone that does that. It would be a bit of a giveaway, tbh, and, whilst it might occasionally be frustrating to discover that the reason one has struggled to solve something is that there is a pesky lurking apostrophe, I think I would actually prefer that struggle and subsequent pdm to the alternative.
Thanks for standing in for us flashling – you are giving us a bad name though with the inclusion of ‘again’! One of the benefits of being retired.
We struggled at the end but that was because we had BRONSAN not BROSNAN. Took us a while to realise our error. Not sure about BRIAN being a ‘contemporary’ of Jesus without any other reference but it did raise a smile.
Thanks also to Rodriguez.
There’s a joke involving the Tickle Me Elmo factory and the new Quality Control hire who mishears the assignment: “Give each Elmo two test tickles”.
Thanks R&F
Nice one. I too spent too long trying to look for reversed alternates in Massivechewsets. BRIAN raised a smile. The movie too funny to show in Norway, apparently. And Laika always brings back memories of My Life As A Dog. A good day all round.
Thanks Rodriguez and flashling.
Thanks Rodriguez and flashling. Some very nice cluing – too many managed to send me up the garden path (all quite legitimately)
Brilliant, I thought. A little late to comment but I enjoyed the puzzle very much and had big ticks for TESTICLE, Jesus’ neighbour Brian in NAIROBI, NO BS, and the potter in 28a. Thought ceramics until I realised who the friend was. Nice to see Chico in a grid. Thanks flashling and Rodriguez.
Had lolling at TESTICLE. Very nice puzzle