My first blog of a Bluebird grid today.
I found this enjoyable as it was straightforward, perhaps to the point of being “workaday” (in the nicest possible way).
Only one new word: OLIVENITE, which was simple enough to parse even though I didn’t know it. Wiki tells me this is a green-coloured mineral deposit, hence the “Olive” in the word. As an honorary member of the armed wing of the Pedant’s Revolt, I might wish to gently take issue with the Soda Stream reference as this would perhaps be a CARBONATOR?
There’s no obvious theme I can see in here, although Bluebird themes tend towards the obscure end of the market so I might be missing something.
Definitions are underlined.
ACROSS
1. Late visitors finally bring presents (6)
GHOSTS
Finally bring [G] presents [HOSTS]
5. Sample recording by “the King” for American who likes the blues? (8)
DEMOCRAT
Sample recording [DEMO] by “the King” [CR= Charles Rex] for [AT]
9. A large provision of weapons is causing panic (8)
ALARMING
A [A] large [L] provision of weapons [ARMING]
10. Pop star exercising during pandemic (6)
SPEARS
Exercising [PE] during [inside] pandemic [SARS]
Obviously a reference to the delightful Britney Spears
11. We go about on pontoons and lighters at first (6)
PEOPLE
Go [WEE] about [placed around] on pontoons and lighters at first [OPL]
12. Crash top-notch Tesla with me inside (7)
PLUMMET
Top-notch [PLUM] Tesla [T] with me [ME] inside
13. Scrubbing a section of Farmfoods, say, or Iceland? (4)
ISLE
“A” removed from AISLE
14. Cake made by special computers with flour student’s left (5,4)
PETIT FOUR
Special [PET] computers [IT] with flour student’s left [FLOUR]
17. Declares King John ‘boring, dense interminable’ (9)
ENTHRONES
John [THRONE] ‘boring [placed inside], dense interminable’ [ENS = dense with no beginning or end]
18. They’re rascals, these current politicians (4)
IMPS
Current [I] politicians [MPS]
20. Pursue communist making slow progress (7)
DOGTROT
Pursue [DOG] communist [TROT]
23. Equipment used in play watched by spy (6)
SEESAW
Watched [SAW] by spy [SEE]
24. Husky’s howl inspiring Mohawks subjected to regular losses (6)
CROAKY
Howl [CRY] inspiring [around] Mohawks subjected to regular losses [MOHAWK]
25. Editor, with Bluebird following, puts the finishing touches to impressive constructions (8)
EDIFICES
Editor, [ED] with Bluebird [I] following [F], puts the finishing touches to [ICES]
26. Disease leads to youth suffering with his lip damaged (8)
SYPHILIS
anag. of YS [“leads to youth suffering] and HIS LIP
27. Still, flat, empty oceans, receding (4,2)
EVEN SO
Flat [EVEN], empty oceans [OCEANS], receding [placed backwards = SO]
DOWN
2. Some bloke, 50, encountered by the front of Sainsbury’s, delivering hats (7)
HELMETS
Some bloke [HE], 50 [L], encountered [MET] by the front of Sainsbury’s [S]
3. Dixie Dean wore this, I established, and scored the most (9)
STRIPIEST
Dixie Dean wore this [STRIP] , I [I] established [EST]
4. Gunk from small piece of fruit (5)
SLIME
Small [S] piece of fruit [LIME]
5. Discover dog, one day, lying about (3,2)
DIG UP
Dog [PUG], one day [ID], lying about [placed backwards]
6. Bloodsuckers stop at nothing to infiltrate Stirling (9)
MOSQUITOS
Stop [QUIT] at nothing [O] to infiltrate [placed inside] Stirling [MOSS]
7. 100 sheets of paper, off-white (5)
CREAM
100 [C] sheets of paper [REAM]
8. Put up a list on a Soda Stream (7)
AERATOR
Put up [backwards] a list [ROTA] on [RE] a [A]
14. Picture left by artist put on the counter (9)
PORTRAYAL
Left [PORT] by artist [RA] put [LAY] on the counter [backwards]
15. X-men given time to replace leader (3)
TEN
Men with “M” replaced by “T” [= time]
In this clue the X refers to the Roman numeral for 10
16. Electronic drills smashed in violet and green crystals (9)
OLIVENITE
Electronic [E] drills [placed inside] smashed in violet [smashed in = anag. VIOLET]
17. Pensioners yelled animatedly across the river (7)
ELDERLY
Yelled animatedly [anag. YELLED] across [placed around] the river [R]
19. Intend to accompany aliens arriving at Venus and Mars? (7)
PLANETS
Intend [PLAN] to accompany aliens [ET’S]
21. Grit shown by bandmate of D Crosby and S Stills (5)
GNASH
This one had me stumped for a bit. It was obviously a reference to Graham Nash, of the band “Crosby, Stills and Nash”. Took a while before my brain caught up to make the link between “gritting” and “gnashing” one’s teeth.
22. There’s bats passing over the heart of the forest (5)
TREES
There’s bats [anag. THERES] passing over the heart [without the H]
23. Turn the top of Erdinger bottle (5)
SPINE
Turn [SPIN] the top of Erdinger [E]
Smooth going until my last 3: PEOPLE (blog should have PEE not WEE), SPINE & SEESAW. But all gettable in the end.
Graham Nash. I enjoyed the puzzle. Liked STRIPIEST best. Droll. Thanks LC for the blog and thanks Bluebird.
Well, it did last longer than the Guardian Prize but Bluebird has definitely gone easier on us. He has produced some puzzles previously that solvers agreed to be quite devious. A couple did hold out for a while – I spent too long trying to shoehorn both king and a synonym for loo into ENTHRONE and I was too slow to connect Dixie Dean with strip and to see stripy as a synonym for scored in STRIPIEST. (wrt the latter, I haven’t yet thought of a situation where the two words could be interchanged in a sentence.) DEMOCRAT, GNASH and TREES are my podium.
Thanks Bluebird and Leedsclimber
PEAR, ELM, PLUM, OAK, LIME, PINE, OLIVE, ASH, ELDER, TREES ….Are these words part of a theme?
@sofamore
Thank you for spotting that. I have a very aggressive spell checker!
Central column instructs to “DIG UP TEN TREES” !
Nice One KVa@4! 😉 – G. NASH formerly of The Hollies – some bushes to add to the trees.
Dixie Dean played for Tranmere Rovers, Everton, and Notts County – their kit was the STRIPIEST of the three:
‘… Juventus derived its famous black-and-white striped kits from Notts County. … Originally, they played in pink shirts with a black tie, which only occurred due to the wrong shirts being sent to them. … continual washing faded the colour so much that in 1903 the club sought to replace them. Juventus asked one of their team members, Englishman John Savage, if he had any contacts in England who could supply new shirts in a colour that would better withstand the elements. He had a friend who lived in Nottingham, who being a Notts County supporter, shipped out the black and white striped shirts to Turin. Juve have worn the shirts ever since, considering the colours to be aggressive and powerful.’
Another Good Spot Flea@6! 😉
Wrt STRIPIEST Wikipedia says Dixie Dean holds the record for the most goals scored in a single season in top-flight English football, with 60. Almost makes the clue &lit.
Thanks and appreciation to Leedsclimber for the blog, and to those who have commented so far.
Well done to those who spotted the (sort of) theme. There are indeed TEN TREES to DIG UP. KVa found all but one…
PLANE
Just popping back to acknowledge the theme. Well spotted KVa. The pointer to the theme is particularly lovely. Well spotted Flea. And well done Bluebird.
Missed the theme, as per. I should click Review Answers, but I’m always in a rush to come here for the cure to my puzzlement. In this case for=AT in DEMOCRAT.
I for one am glad the pension age was altered since I started work. It gives me another couple of years before joining the ranks of the ELDERLY.
Thanks Bluebird and Leedsclimber.
I enjoyed this despite being convinced that we should plant more trees not dig them up 🙂
Anyone else never heard of Farmfoods?
Thanks Bluebird, I enjoyed this quite a bit. If I had thought to look for a theme I think I would have seen this one. Nonetheless it was still satisfying with GHOSTS, SPEARS, PETIT FOUR, DIG UP, TEN, and TREES being my ticks. I missed STRIPIEST (nho Dixie Dean) and the very clever ENTHRONES. Thanks Leedsclimber for the blog.
Ericw: I’d never heard of them but I’ve googled them. A Scottish supermarket chain, founded in 1954, with branches in England.