The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29341.
An excellent and intricately constructed puzzle, with a theme announced in 10A TOOL. There are a good number of envelope clues, with varied indications, to form a secondary theme, and while the clue constructions were mostly simple, there were a few which needed careful thought.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | REPLIERS |
Dealing with awful peril, Scotland’s first responders (8)
|
| A charade of RE (‘dealing with’) plus PLIER, an anagram (‘awful’) of ‘peril’, plus S (‘Scotland’s first’). | ||
| 9 | BRAKES |
Car part gets very hot? That’s about right (6)
|
| An envelope (‘that’s about’) of R (‘right’) in BAKES (‘gets vety hot’). | ||
| 10 | TOOL |
Cashback for item in all other across answers here (4)
|
| A reversal (-‘back’) of LOOT (‘cash’-). The tools are marked in red. | ||
| 11 | SANDERLING |
Maybe one flying header from Silva, as well as Haaland (10)
|
| A charade of S (‘header from Silva’) plus AND (‘as well as’) plus ERLING (‘Haaland’, Norwegian footballer, playing for Manchester City as well as his national team), for the bird. | ||
| 12 | LATHER |
Subsequently catching start of Hollyoaks or frothy soap (6)
|
| An envelope (‘catching’) of H (‘start of Hollyoaks’) in LATER (‘subsequently’). | ||
| 14 | MISHEARS |
Improperly picks up girl, stopped by judge (8)
|
| An envelope (‘stopped by’) of HEAR (‘judge’) in MISS (‘girl’). | ||
| 15 | SHAMMER |
Finale of Platters hit – The Great Pretender? (7)
|
| A charade of S (‘finale of PlatterS‘) plus HAMMER (‘hit’). Your choice whether ‘the great’ goes with ‘hit’ or the definition. Either way, “The Great Pretender” was a song by the Platters. | ||
| 17 | ADVICES |
Formal notifications of commercial failings (7)
|
| A charade of AD (‘commercial’) plus VICES (‘failings’). | ||
| 20 | SHOE TREE |
This may keep a loafer in shape, or these supply energy (4,4)
|
| A charade of SHOETRE, an anagram (‘supply’) of ‘or these’ plus E (‘energy’). | ||
| 22 | LEDGER |
What accountant has mishandled – German banks (6)
|
| A hidden answer (‘banks’) in ‘mishaldLED GERman’. | ||
| 23 | AEROPLANES |
Fighters, say, in arena thrashed with poles (10)
|
| An anagram (‘thrashed with’) of ‘arena’ plus ‘poles’. | ||
| 24 | AXEL |
Jump on ice in lake to the east of ditch (4)
|
| A charade of AXE (‘ditch’) plus L (‘lake’), with ‘to the east of’ indicating the order of the particles. | ||
| 25 | DEFILE |
Pollute Cheshire river with a lot of stuff in it (6)
|
| An envelope (‘with … in it’) of FIL[l] (‘stuff’) minus just its last letter (‘a lot of’) in DEE (‘Cheshire river’: one of the several rivers so named passes through Cheshire). | ||
| 26 | WRENCHED |
Small bird with red bird’s tail getting yanked (8)
|
| A charade of WREN (‘small bird’) plus CHE (Guevara, ‘red’) plus D (‘birD‘s tail’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CENOTAPH |
Note chap going around memorial (8)
|
| An anagram (‘going around’) of ‘note chap’. | ||
| 2 | EL AL |
Paris Match articles about travel company (2,2)
|
| Reversals (‘about’) of LE and LA, the French definite articles, masculine and feminine (‘Paris Match articles’), for the Israel airline. | ||
| 3 | TEASER |
Tough puzzle – a stunner inspiring ecstasy (6)
|
| An envelope (‘inspiring’) of E (‘ecstasy’) in TASER (‘a stunner’). | ||
| 4 | TSUNAMI |
Main event – it’s possibly holding football team back (7)
|
| An envelope (‘holding’) of UNAM, a reversal (‘back’) of MAN U (Manchester United, ‘football team’) in TSI, an anagram (‘possibly’) of ‘its’. | ||
| 5 | OBSESSED |
See boss working last in shipyard, intensely focused (8)
|
| A charade of OBSESSE, an anagram (‘working’) of ‘see boss’, plus D (‘last in shipyarD‘). | ||
| 6 | FALL BEHIND |
Biden, half-intoxicated, gulping large drop back (4,6)
|
| An envelope (‘gulping’) of L (‘large’) in FALBEHIND, an anagram (-‘intoxicated’) of ‘Biden half’-. | ||
| 7 | TENNER |
Note what e.g. Gloucester manufacturer uses up (6)
|
| A reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of RENNET (a coagulant used in cheese making, ‘what e.g. Gloucester manufacturer uses’ – Gloucester, single or double, being a cheese). for the £10 bank note. | ||
| 13 | HOMOEROTIC |
Greek writer pocketing ring for the ear, creating excitement on Lesbos? (10)
|
| A charade of HOMOER, an envelope (‘pocketing’) of O (‘ring’) in HOMER (‘Greek writer’); plus OTIC (‘for the ear’). | ||
| 16 | ENROLLED |
Enlisted soldiers turned up, extremely loyal in dire need (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of RO, a reversal (‘turned up’ in a down light) of OR (‘soldiers’) plus LL (‘extremely LoyaL‘) in ENED, an anagram (‘dire’) of ‘need’. | ||
| 18 | EXEGETES |
Interpreters for one film screened by lovers once (8)
|
| An envelope (‘screened by’) of E.G. (‘for one’) plus ET (the Extra-Terrestrial, ‘film’) in EXES (‘lovers once’). | ||
| 19 | BEKNOWN |
Familiar Scottish eminence hosting king currently (7)
|
| An envelope (‘hosting’) of K (‘king’) plus NOW (‘currently’) in BEN (a mountain, ‘Scottish eminence’); Collins lists BEKNOWN as archaic, but with a recent resurgence in use. | ||
| 21 | HEEDED |
Attended to clothing of Hermione Edwards (6)
|
| A charade of HE (‘clothing of HermionE‘) plus ED ED (‘Edwards’ – two of them). | ||
| 22 | LESSEE |
Taking time off, I suggest we wait to find out who rents a property (6)
|
| A subtraction: LE[t]’S SEE (‘I suggest we wait to find out’) minus the T (‘taking time off’). | ||
| 24 | ARCO |
Bowing is required during Elgar concerto (4)
|
| A hidden answer (‘during’) in ‘ElgAR COncerto’, for the direction in a musical score for strings to take up the bow after a pizzicato passage. |
Not proud to say it took me 4 completed acrosses to twig to the theme; I really think I should have done it in 2 or 3, but there you go.
Having got the theme I was determined to make it useful, so I tried to find a home for DRILL everywhere/anywhere, it being such a common tool, but as luck would have it, no luck!
I was happy to know the first names of both players in the clue to SANDERLING – and I don’t even support Man City – but one was enough. Saturday morning TV watching paid off at last.
Liked HOMOEROTIC – the clue, to be sure.
Finally, a Pretender two days running! It seems peculiar, but it is one of those oddities where it would be more unlikely for this kind of thing never to happen. One of these days I’m going to sit down and calculate how often we should expect these coincidences to occur.
Most enjoyable puzzle. Having no knowledge of (or interest in) football, 11 was impossible for me. Thought that 4 down was magnificent.
Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.
Nice surfaces and congratulations to Picaroon for a themed puzzle without obscure words to complete the grid. No real favourites. Like Dr Whatson@1, I had no idea about Haaland. Unlike Apteryx@2, I do not get TSUNAMI – although I am sure it is obvious.
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO
Martyn@3
TSUNAMI is a main (main=sea) event.
Liked this very much, went very quickly, got the theme 3/4ths of the way in and it helped with the south west corner. 18d is a new word learnt, though “Exegesis” was already familiar to me…Had no idea that was a song by The Platters. Thank you to PeterO and Picaroon.
I got several across clues and was scratching my head before I solved TOOL. Similar to a recent puzzle by this setter with things concealed in across clues. Again, highly enjoyable, despite my having to educate myself on Cheshire rivers and Israeli airlines. EXEGETES was my only lexicon-expander.
Thanks for the blog, PeterO.
TOOL was my second one in and thereafter I completely forgot about the theme until reading the comments at the other place. So neither a help nor a hindrance which is exactly how I like my themes 🙂
Top ticks for HOMOEROTIC, SANDERLING & TSUNAMI
EXEGETES was a new one but the wordplay was clear and I knew exegesis from somewhere
Cheers P&P
Not knowing the Norwegian striker, and before twigging reverse loot, bunged in Sunderland for the flyer, then had to correct, still with something of a shrug. On firmer ground with the other hard one, exegetes, having rubbed shoulders with Philos postgrads, who like words like exegesis (pace anyone here 🙂 ). Pretty much plug’n’play otherwise, so a pleasant potter, thx Pickers’n’Peter.
GDU@6
TOOL
Yes. The other day we had ‘each other across clue’ and today we have ‘all other across clues’.
DEFILE
Found this online:
There are five rivers with the name Dee situated within the British Isles, one in Cumbria in England, one in the Republic of Ireland, one which flows between Wales and England and two in Scotland. The name Dee comes from the Roman word Deva, which means goddess.
There are two Dees in England and two in Scotland. Englandd and Scotlandd!? 🙂
As you are fond of learning many languages and new words, let me share with you something. Deva in Sanskrit means god and Devi means goddess.
Yes, Dr Wh@1, noticed the Pretenders Old and Great (not Elvis, then?). As you suggest, bound to happen now and then!
KVa @ 9, what did I do to deserve such a comprehensive enlightenment? Thank you. Prior cruciverabling meant that I knew there were rivers Dee in the UK, but I needed to verify that one was in Cheshire. Last time I checked we had one or two rivers Dee here too, albeit quite minor. I’m sure the Brits would have copied the name from us — they do that sort of thing a lot. 😉
Like others here I didn’t know of the Norwegian footballer so I guessed SANDERLAND.
Knowing neither the bird nor the soccer player made SANDERLING difficult (though I did get the SAND bit, and suspected SANDER, before looking up what or who a Haaland was). Having once lived overlooking the Dee – though from North Wales – I immediately thought of that, though figuring out what to FIL(L) it with took longer. Thanks, Picaroon and PeterO.
Hailing from the red side of Manchester I got TSUNAMI fairly quickly, but took a while to remember Haaland’s first name to complete SANDERLING. Got 10 on the first pass through the across clues and found it a useful check on the answers, but not useful in solving, except perhaps for 26 WRENCHED. I thought this wasn’t as difficult as Picaroon can be, but liked 4, 5 and 13. Like others, I knew exegesis rather than EXEGETES, but got there eventually. Thanks to Picaroon and to PeterO for the detailed exposition.
This was an enjoyable 3d.
I had filled in 8 of the across answers before I saw the theme mentioned at 10ac 😉
New for me: ARCO; SANDERLING including ERLING Haaland (for 11ac) – I am the same as Apteryx@2 in ‘Having no knowledge of (or interest in) football’.
Favourites: BEKNOWN, TENNER, TSUNAMI, CENOTAPH (loi).
Thanks, both.
LOL – I love Geoff Down Under’s comment @1:
“Last time I checked we had one or two rivers Dee here too, albeit quite minor. I’m sure the Brits would have copied the name from us — they do that sort of thing a lot. 😉”
We have a Dee in Tassie – the Hydro dammed it to create Dee Lagoon.
This was a rare occasion where I got the theme right at the beginning – even earlier than I intended to. I was tackling the first few down clues before looking at the horizontals but somehow peripheral vision picked up the last bit of instructions in 10a so I spotted PLIERS in my first across. Largely plain sailing – a couple of unusual words (EXEGETES was a jorum) – and I confess to checking the first name of the footballer which I vaguely recalled as Erik. LOI was WRENCHED which had quite a lot of moving parts!
Favourites in a smoothly and elegantly constructed puzzle: REPLIERS, BRAKES, LEDGER, AEROPLANES, TSUNAMI, OBSESSED, HOMOEROTIC and HEEDED. All great fun.
Thaks Picaroon and PeterO
A lovely solve. My thanks to Picaroon and PeterO. TOOL was one of the first I got but then I promptly forgot it was the theme til I read the blog (doh!). Just realised my inadvertent reference to Lawrence of Arabia 😎…
3d and 24d were my solved clues.
I found it (as I always do) murderously tricky.
Spotted the theme about halfway through, after inexplicably having not even looked at 10ac. Like Tomsdad @14, the only one it helped me with was WRENCHED. I liked the football clues but TSUNAMI was the standout. Took me a while to parse RENNET (new).
Dr WhatsOn @1: I have commented before about consecutive words, but it would certainly be interesting to see how often or little it occurs. Look forward to the results of your research 😉
Pauline in Brum @18: 🙂
Ta Picaroon & PeterO.
….and who is Hermione Edwards, when she’s at home, or is it just a random name. If so, it would therefore seem a bit weak?
GDU@11
DEFILE
DEE, DEVA and more.
I thought I should quote something from some source other than my Chambers mobile app so that you feel it’s real.
By the way, today is Io day on FT. Superb as usual!
Really lovely puzzle, thanks P. I thought 21D was a very elegant clue indeed
AlanC @21 Hermione Edwards is a well known influencer on TikTok although it seems she doesn’t influence many followers. 😉
Good fun, with all the garden and workshop tools a helpful theme (which I guessed early from AXEL and SHOE TREE before solving TOOL). I eventually needed to Google Haaland as I thought he was Erwin not Erling, so I wasted time looking for a something-erwing bird.
Thought 18d must be EXEGETES (knew the word existed, but not what it meant) but couldn’t parse it apart from the inevitable crossword film. BEKNOWN is one of those words (like kempt) better known in its UN… version.
Favourites RENNET, TSUNAMI, WRENCHED.
Thanks Picaroon & PeterO, great fun.
Loved the ‘main event’.
The theme helped a (tool) bit, and the instruction ‘all other across clues’ was thankfully clearer than ‘each other …’
Another gem from Picaroon. I solved pliers first followed by loot which gave the theme away so found today’s puzzle at the easier end of the Pirate’s compilations. But then, as well as his other talents, he is very good at setting at the right level for the day of the week!
Apart from Vulcan on a Monday, do the setters know which day of the week they will appear, or is it the editor’s choice?
The Rivers Dee
I think it is very simplistic to just say ‘it comes from the Roman word Deva’
The Romans may well have renamed rivers using the names of Roman deities, but they tended to preserve or rework the original native names.
In the case of the Rivers Dee, what we have here is something derived from the Celtic word for water. This would have been something like /dVvVr/ (V meaning a vowel)
In modern Welsh water is dwr (with a circumflex on the w, which the system won’t allow), in France look for rivers and placenames ending in -dour.
Interestingly, the Basque word for water is ‘ur’. This may just be coincidence, it not being an IE language.
I don’t care what the theme is, or who or what those unknown (to me) references were, ‘cos I didn’t need to know. I just found this brilliant. Before I even got started I liked TSUNAMI, TENNER, FALL BEHIND, AXEL and WRENCHED. (I know me reds.)
Thx TimC @24: 🙂 I find the influencer thing wholly depressing.
We’re seeing quite a lot of Picaroon lately, which is excellent news as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t have the foggiest about Hermione Edwards, so thanks to TimC @ 24 for the elucidation – although I don’t think that the knowledge will be of much use to me.
KVA @9 (and 22!)
“The name Dee comes from the Roman word Deva, which means goddess.”
There seems to be a typo here: the Latin word for goddess is diva – v divine / divinity – (or dea) – not Deva.
Interestingly, Deva is, however, the Roman name for Chester.
Loved this, with the last two in the excellent SANDERLING and TENNER. Though had to look up EXEGETES to confirm its rightful place in the grid.
The Hoe in SHOE TREE reminded of that radio programme years ago with Frank Muir and Denis Norden, My Word, where one of them had to tell a shaggy dog story about the origin of the phrase from The Bible: “O death, where is thy sting?” Which eventually became “Hoed Eth, where is my string”. A poorly repaired garden tool causing havoc…
Thanks Eileen@33. I just copied and pasted (also, got a bit curious because of Deva and Devi in Sanskrit) from a random site. Thanks for correcting me.
I really liked the hidden tools. Also ticked heaps of the down clues. Thanks a million to Picaroon and PeterO.
George Clements @32… my tongue was firmly in my cheek with that elucidation, as it sometimes is. 🙂
GDU @6 – I haven’t been keeping count but Picaroon has give us a handful of similar puzzles recently. I’ve commented more than once on his trick of delaying the hint until half way through the down clues – a disadvantage for those like me who attempt the clues in order.
Today, of course, I was ready for him and so I was looking for tools from the outset. Now I’m not sure which way I’d prefer it!
Like others, I had several suggestions for 11ac but resorted to googling the vaguely heard of footballers, then admired the construction of SANDERLING. I also liked the definitions for SHOE TREE and AXEL and the intricacies of WRENCHED.
Ticks among the down clues were for FALL BEHIND (wonderful surface), EXEGETES (which I enjoyed piecing together), LESSEES, which made me smile and, top of the bill, HOMOEROTIC – great construction and surface.
Pauline in Brum @18 – loved it! (While at University, I saw the other PeterO as Hamlet at Bristol Old Vic, before he became famous.)
Many thanks to Picaroon and PeterO.
KVa@35
I wasn’t intending to be schoolmarmish – but I did think the Chester connection was interesting. 😉
Anna @29: in Tasmania, the river Dee flows into the River Derwent – both names, as I understand it, derived from the Celtic predecessor of the Welsh “dwr” (as you said).
Eileen@39!
Please intend to be so ma’m as I haven’t understood the Chester connection properly (ok. ‘properly’ is redundant).
KVa @41
Sorry to prolong this!
The Romans called Chester Deva – and it’s the county town of Cheshire, through which (one) River Dee flows, as in the clue.
Got it, Eileen. Thanks.
That was a lovely 3d today, I enjoyed the theme. I had heard of (and been accused of) exegesis before, but EXEGETES was new to me.
Anna@29, KVa@9 the Irish River Dee originally derives its name from the Irish word for “battle” or “conflict” níth. The Anglicised version is derived from the attractive town of Ardee on its banks, whose name is from the Irish Baile Átha Fhirdhia – Town of the Ford of Ferdia.
Thanks for a wonderful puzzle, Picaroon. Thanks, as always, to PeterO for the enlightening blog.
A good start for me – I looked first at 2d which was made quite easy by the enumeration (2,2), that gave me the final L for 10a which was then a write-in, so I had the key almost straight away. The set-up was exactly the same as last Friday’s Picaroon with the reference to all the other across clues. I’m not complaining!
As usual with Picaroon there were lots of great clues with lovely surfaces. I particularly liked WRENCHED (good old “red” = CHE) and LESSEE.
(Pauline in Brum and Eileen – yes it would have been good if Peter O’Toole had made an appearance. As well as L of A, he played Lord Jim in an excellent film 🙂 )
Many thanks Picaroon and PeterO.
Lord Jim @45 – 🙂
This was a beaut, with a helpful but unobtrusive theme. I follow football enough to know ERLING Haaland, probably the best striker playing currently, and likely to be so for another 5-10 years.
Favourites were the Scottish eminence, the main event, and the excitement on Lesbos.
Thanks Picaroon & PeterO.
Thanks for the blog, hard to be positive when I have seen this sort of thing so many times, at least there is an IO in the FT today.
Lots to like here including some very nice surfaces. As usual I have never heard of the bird, but got there by construction before confirming its existence.
Perhaps one day a setter will throw us all completely by alluding to a film that is not ET. Or alternatively, cluing ET without mentioning the film.
Thanks PeterO and Picaroon.
Jacob @49
I’m old enough to remember when, pre- ET, the only film was Kes.
Regarding the ubiquitous use of ET as “film”: it’s been a while since Cher for “singer “ reared her head
“I think this would have been more fun as a ghost theme,”
if 10a had been clued without the ‘in all other across answers here’,
“leaving us to solve the puzzle without possible extra help,”
and then play spot the TOOL.
Thanks P&PO
Eileen @50
To go back considerably further, the perennial crossword IT refers not only to Clara Bow as the It Girl, but it is the title of one of her films.
Having got 8a and 10a pretty much straightaway, I saw the theme and that certainly helped make this a simpler than usual solve.
All very neatly put together, I especially liked the simplicity of HEEDED, and the surfaces of LESSEE and TSUNAMI.
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO
Thought this was yet another failure with DEFILE only one in but then saw EL AL, got the theme and completed. Phew!
Thanks both
Another cleverly constructed but eminently solvable puzzle from Picaroon (one Quiptic and two regular crosswords in ten days!).
The theme was apparent to me very early. I didn’t need it to solve any of the clues, but it served as an additional check. Nothing unfamiliar here, luckily.
Favourites: AXEL, TSUNAMI, LESSEE. HOMOEROTIC was fun, but the surface is not quite the best…
As Anna @29 points out, the river name Dee is from a Celtic word for water. There are several English rivers called Avon, from the Celtic word for – river 🙂
Thanks to the Pirate and PeterO (an admirable EXEGETE)
Good setting to get all the TOOLs in without too many obscurities (EXEGETES and ARCO were unknown to me.)
I liked BRAKES, which could be considered a CAD or extended definition, especially if you saw Verstappen at the weekend! I also liked the definitions of SHAMMER and SHOE TREE, and the wordplays for ENROLLED, LEDGER and HOMOEROTIC.
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO.
Pauline in Brum@18 – 🙂 – But how did you do the smiley in the Wayfarers? – It’s not in the Emoticons FAQ – 😯
AlanC@21 – Hermione Edwards‘ claim to fame, according to Wikipedia, is that she stood for the SDP-Liberal Alliance, in the Letchworth Wilbury ward, in the
1986 North Hertfordshire District Council election coming in third after Labour and Conservative. How soon we forget.
Lovely puzzle. For once I got the theme right away, and I was lucky that Mr. Haaland is approximately the one soccer star in his prime whose name I know. Particularly liked TSUNAMI–I had penciled in IST as the envelope but it turned out this is a word that starts with TS!
Thanks Picaroon and Eileen.
FrankieG @59: now that made me lol.
thanks KV2@4. I forgot that poetic meaning of main
Very enjoyable, thanks, Picaroon and PeterO.
Eileen @42 – my turn to be teacher: the Romans actually named the place Deva Victrix after the river, Deva being the river’s old Brythonic (Celtic) name.
Here’s another Hermione Edwards
Thanks Picaroon and PeterO
I was about half done when I went out. BY the time I took another look I had forgotten the theme, so had SUNDERLAND (a WW2 flying boat) at 11a. UNDERLAND made just as much sense to me as ERLING – i.e. none!
Thanks both,
My first guess for 11a was ‘sandmartin’. I’m sure there’s a Martin Harland somewhere.
Harland!
Haaland. Damn you autocorrect!
Erling Haaland is one of the current candidates for world’s best footballer, now that Messi has reached his decline phase. So I’d heard of him, and I’d venture that any soccer player I’ve heard of all the way over here in Chicago is fair game. Pity he’s Norwegian, because that means that World Cup glory probably isn’t in the cards for him. Anyway, I hadn’t heard of a SANDERLING, but it couldn’t have been anything else.
I liked the excitement on Lesbos too. Like others, I’d never seen EXEGETES, but the mechanics of the clue plus analogizing from exegesis and exegetic made it gettable. I will say this, though: the most annoying crossing letter is E, since it provides so little information. So I was peeved to see nothing but E’s when I finally tackled that one, my last in.
Widdersbel @63 – thanks for the confirmation of the connection!
Had a five minute look before my morning walk. GRASPed the theme straight away, so stopped and spent the next hour out thinking of tool-containing words. BIT of a FROWn that neither the ever lovely spinDRIFT nor espaDRILLes made the PICK , but “AWL”s well that ended well.
Well done, Wellcidered!
I’ll store the unknown FROW in my (tool)box, just in case.
I see that Chambers thinks that frow is an old Dutchwoman
I use my FROW (rhymes with throw) for splitting wood.
( If my FROW was an old Dutchwoman, I`m sure she would have complained by now.)
Yet another pleasurable afternoon, courtesy of my favourite Guardian compiler.
Came here for the parsing of HEEDED. I didn’t twig the two Eds, so, unlike Alan C I thought this was a rather clever clue and didn’t mind at all that Ms Edwards may have had no material existence.
TILT: that in British English it’s “vice”, not “vise”!
I would love a million more clues that require me to know that Haaland’s first name is Erling, and a million less that expect me to know some obscure character from Last of the Summer Wine or an advertising campaign that ran from Jan – May 1971. Enjoyed seeing a piece of contemporary pop culture knowledge required for once.
What is it about Haaland that makes him not look like a footballer? Or is it just me?
Thanks Picaroon. I enjoyed this with EL AL, TSUNAMI, ENROLLED, BEKNOWN, and LESSEE being my top picks. BRAKES was my second word in and I caught onto the old trick of hidden objects after I solved TOOL, my third one in. This made the crossword fairly gentle though I failed woth SANDERLING, knowing neither the bird nor the footballer. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
Tyngewick@66 yes I did the same, and Googled Martin Haaland to find he’s (also) a Norwegian professional footballer, so entered SANDMARTIN with confidence (even convincing myself that a mart must be a tool!). Got there in the end, but some time later.
After yesterday’s struggle, this was a lot of fun. I find Picaroon’s style a lot more accessible – though often requires revisiting clues multiple times! Got there with only 3 reveals, one of which – TSUNAMI – was maddening: I’d got the team, backwards, and knew to anagram ITS, and figured that Main likely referred to the sea… But gave up when ISUNAMT was clearly wrong. Said out loud “you can’t have a T before S” and then revealed. Groan.
Many thanks Picaroon and PeterO for filling in the blanks on some of the parsings.
This was relatively easy for me. Entering sanderling without knowing Haarland is a little risky, but I must have heard of this bird, as it seemed familiar. Well, beknown was a bit tricky, and I didn’t expect the old-fashioned aeroplane.
Very enjoyable xword.
This was an enjoyable, if sometimes frustrating puzzle and I learned a new word EXEGETES. Interesting that both Manchester City and Manchester United were included so I guess Picaroon enjoys football more than cricket. Loi was AEROPLANES.
Thanks setter and blogger.
5d took longer than it should have because I was trying to fit “bishop” in somehow. Anyone else?
An enjoyable puzzle with EXEGETES being a new word for me. Manchester City and Manchester United were both featured so it seems that Picaroon enjoys football more than cricket.
Thanks setter and blogger.
I clearered my history today and now the site wants my name and email address, rather than my Fifteen Squared handle which was Oakville Reader. Also the option to correct has disappeared. Does anyone know how to fix this?
For once, not only did I catch the TOOL theme, it actually helped with some clues. And now PeterO tells me there’s another theme! Totally missed that one, whatever it is.
Never heard of the Norwegian Haaland. Only person of that name I know of is Deb Haaland, our Secretary of the Interior and the first Native American in the US Cabinet. She’s doing a great job.
[Carole Gilbert@86 – The next time you post, paste “Oakville Reader” into the box that currently has your name in it.]
Dr What’s On at 1
After many years noticing the repetitions, I began to log them. I’m work through the archive, usually solving about 10 years behind today’s date.
Because I often do several at a sitting, the repetitions are more obvious, as in: ‘I am sure we’ve just had that one…’ and it is then easy to flick back and check the ones recently solved.
I’ve also noticed that repetition rarely prompts comment from the eagle- eyed aficionados on this site.
Here are a few of the more notable repetitions:
Paddle steamer on consecutive crosswords takes the biscuit for me, but Grass Widow twice in a fortnight is also remarkable.
Crossword Coincidences
Paddle steamer 24829 / 24828
Grass widow 24,805 / 24,817
Either-or 24802 /24805
Staccato. 24835 /24819
25130/25134 Lateral
25139 / 25144 Don Quixote
25150. Admire
25148 admiral (ans) admire (clue)
25276 tryst
25277 trysts
25733 cowed
25731 cowed
25757
Indecent assault
25756
Indecency
25773
Noodle
25771
Noodles
25776
Noodle
Riposte 25819/ 25821
Neil