Wire gets us off to a new week, what’s he got in store today?
Well as far as I can see a plain puzzle, no ninas or themes but a good standard Indy puzzle which hopefully stretched the brain cells a bit. Thanks Wire
PARA – soldier & F(ellow) & FIN – a bit of a fish
O(scar) in LATHE a machine
LIE – to lounge in alternate letters of hUnGaRy
GET – fetch & CHART – table and the clue was certainly for me.
[FOR MANS COW]* in trouble
N(orth) in a YAK
[AT LABS]* melted
ANT – insect – 6 footer & ELOPE – run off, Antelopes generally have 4 feet
Hidden in quarTET HER EDitor
S(mall) in ABE (lincoln) & NT – books
ART – skill removed from SP(art)AN – austere
RAVEL in a shot GOUT* & E(nglish). A film about holidays moreso I’d have a thought, but still.
11a is a CAN OF WORMS of which annelids are an example, ANNE an old queen & LIDS – covers
V – 5 & leading letters of Obscure Order Detained Over Odd
R(oo)M inside FOAL – a young Arab or horse
AB – sailor & ST(reet) & RUSE – trick, as opposed to 10a I notice
Most of GRAV(e) – tomb inside AGATE – type of quartz
There was a comedy western(ish ) called the The Three Amigos. MIG – soviet fighter place in the middle of – losing its wings (l)AO(s)
W(omen)s inside FIRE (e)ATER – a circus act without the central letter or heartless
AIR – tune & E.G. & IN – popular all reversed – in retirement
The US president’s wife is referred to as the FLOTUS
End of (vodk)A &[SILLY – daft & RAM – stuff] reversed
The woman who launched a thousand ships allegedly. LE the in French inside HEN – woman
A inside [EU ANTHEM]* played
TE – note & ALE – beer & AVES – birds
PEN – writer & L(atin) in DUO – couple & U.S.
ADS – bills, adverts in the river DEE & A
KPO is P IN(side) KO
Last letters of (garre)T (windo)W & ILL – poorly
hidden in frODO URgently
A nice way to ease into the week. I have done harder Wire puzzles – which is absolutely not a criticism. This felt either designed or well-selected for a Monday: precise, crisp, clean cluing which led to a smooth solve. Some super surfaces and nice spots: PARAFFIN, CAN OF WORMS, BASALT, ANTELOPE, FORMAL and PENDULOUS were my favourites. What a super spot for the reversal in AMARYLLIS.
Thanks Wire and flashling
Very nice. At 12A I was amazed at the number of beasts with three letters, and had to get almost to the end of the alphabet before it clicked. Thanks Wire and Flashling.
I agree. A good standard Indy puzzle which stretched the brain cells a bit. Liked PINKO and SPAN. Thanks flashling and Wire.
Great start to the week from one of my favourite setters.
My ticks were for 11ac CAN OF WORMS (clever link with 28ac ANNELIDS), 15ac ANTELOPE (a lovely picture), 23ac TRAVELOGUE (ditto), 28ac ABSTRUSE (definition and link with 10ac), 7dn AMARYLLIS (as Post Mark said) and 14dn ATHENAEUM ( wordplay and surface).
Having just finished reading- and loving – Natalie Haynes’ ‘A thousand ships’, I also liked 8dn HELEN.
Many thanks to Wire and to flashling.
The ATHENAEUM Club – founded in 1824, is celebrating a bicentenary.
Sir Michael Palin is a member – famous for his TRAVELOGUEs, and knighted for”services to travel, culture and geography”.
Thanks W&F
I agree with PostMark and Eileen.
HELEN
I found this interesting (Wiki):
The classic reference to Helen’s beauty is Marlowe’s lines from the 1592 play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, “Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?” In the tradition of humorous pseudounits, then, 1 millihelen is the amount of beauty needed to launch a single ship.
Liked ANTELOPE (Imagine! As Eileen says), FIREWATER, HELEN (Sort of a contra surface. As a unit, it is beautiful), DEAD SEA (surface and in depth, nice) and ODOUR (for the sniffing/detective angle).
Thanks Wire and flashling!
Firstly thanks to Wire and flashling. A good fun crossword which didn’t hurt my already struggling post weekend brain too much.
Can someone expand on the wordplay / sequencing for 16d TEA LEAVES? I can’t sort out the order of the 3 parts properly. I’m not seeing how covered by is an insertion indicator. We aren’t talking about the animal kingdom version of covering are we?
Thanks Wire and flashling
rocket @ 8 16D is TE (note) then AVES (birds) with ALE (beer) on top [in a down clue] (ie AVES covered by ALE)
TEA LEAVES
rocket@8
It’s a Down clue. AVES ‘covered by’ ALE=ALE above AVES (covering from the top).
Simon S beat me to it!
Simon S @9 and KVa @10 – Thanks for straightening that out for me. I knew there’d be an obvious answer but it wasn’t twigging.
Thanks Wire for an excellent crossword with my top picks being GETTABLE, ANTELOPE, SPAN, TRAVELOGUE, LOTUS, and AMARYLLIS. I missed ANNELIDS and PINKO. Thanks flashling for the blog