Well, this turned out to be quite the challenge from Aardvark, with some difficult parsing on a few items, and about halfway through, I was not sure that I was going to be able to complete the puzzle. Some fortuitous crossers got me across the finish line.
This is a pangram, with the four hard-to-fit letters (J, Q, X, Z) clustered around the center square. Please amplify or correct any nuances that I have missed.
Kudos to FrankieG@7 for noticing “Hay-on-Wye” at the bottom of the puzzle, which I am sure was an intentional wink from Aardvark, although I do not see any extension of that as a theme.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TOM HANKS |
Actor fails to win hearts pursuing award (3,5)
|
| TANKS (fails) around (to win) {OM (award, i.e., Order of Merit) + H (hearts)} | ||
| 5 | OBTAIN |
Secure communicators perfect during broadcasting (6)
|
| {BT (communicators, i.e., British Telecommunications) + AI (perfect, i.e., “A1”)} inside (during) ON (broadcasting) | ||
| 9 | SALCOMBE |
Finally unravel teaser, put in envelope somewhere in Devon (8)
|
| {Last letter of (finally) [UNRAVE]L + COMB (teaser)} inside (put in) SAE (envelope, i.e., stamped addressed envelope) | ||
| 10 | CLARET |
College head in tavern gets booze (6)
|
| CLARE (college, i.e., in Cambridge) + first letter of (head in) T[AVERN] | ||
| 12 | NOTED |
Newbie’s first series of books media chief celebrated (5)
|
| First [letter of] N[EWBIE] + OT (series of books) + ED (media chief) | ||
| 13 | ERADICATE |
Uproot original cutting during summer for Pierre? (9)
|
| RADICA[L] (original) minus last letter (cutting) inside (during) ÉTÉ (summer for Pierre, i.e., in French) | ||
| 14 | ERSATZ |
Phoney old royal that’s followed by Sun character finally (6)
|
| ER (old royal) + SAT[URDAY] (that’s followed by Sun[day]) + Z (character finally, i.e., the last letter of the alphabet) | ||
| 16 | JUSTICE |
The only extra wanted in drink? Bar tries to administer this (7)
|
| JUST ICE (the only extra wanted in drink, perhaps), referring to the legal bar | ||
| 19 | SPANDEX |
Heavy rockers may wear this cross, linked with special chain mostly (7)
|
| SP. (special) + ANDE[S] ([mountain] chain) minus last letter (mostly) + X (cross), “heavy” being a bit of a double entendre | ||
| 21 | QUAKER |
Friend’s duck perhaps Charlie sidestepped (6)
|
| QUA[C]KER (duck, perhaps) minus (sidestepped) C (Charlie) | ||
| 23 | BANDOLERO |
Outlaw dance that features American outwardly naked (9)
|
| BOLERO (dance) around (that features) {A (American) + outside letters of (outwardly) N[AKE]D} | ||
| 25 | GROWL |
Good right/left hooks that hurt bravado of boxer? (5)
|
| G (good) + R/L (right/left) around (hooks) OW (that hurt), referring to a dog | ||
| 26 | OKAYED |
Authorised dictionary includes definition of a god (variable) (6)
|
| OED (dictionary) around (includes) {KA ([definition of] a god) + Y (variable)}. I understood “ka” to be the ancient Egyptian equivalent of “soul,” or “the breath of life.” One definition in Chambers is “a god,” however. |
||
| 27 | HAYMAKER |
One reaching Welsh festival bop? (8)
|
| HAY MAKER (cryptically, one reaching Welsh festival), referring to a type of pugilistic punch | ||
| 28 | DOLLAR |
Staff receiving endless calls about money (6)
|
| ROD (staff) around (receiving) [C]ALL[S] minus outside letters (“endless”) all reversed (about) | ||
| 29 | DEWY-EYED |
Naive river authority ultimately stifled by Act (4-4)
|
| {WYE (river) + last letter of (ultimately) [AUTHORIT]Y} inside (stifled by) DEED (act) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TISANE |
Part of regimen: a sitcom over tea (6)
|
| Hidden in (part of) [REGIM]EN A SIT[COM] inverted (over) | ||
| 2 | MILITARIA |
Arms, uniforms, etc one works into police vehicle’s rear half (9)
|
| {I (one) + LIT (works, i.e., literature)} inside (into) [BLACK] MARIA (police vehicle’s rear half) | ||
| 3 | AVOID |
Escape with good book, disc and papers (5)
|
| AV ([the] Good Book, i.e., Authorized Version) + O (disc) + ID (papers) | ||
| 4 | KOBLENZ |
Car pioneer hugs new driver after defeat somewhere in Europe (7)
|
| KO (defeat, e.g., in boxing) + BENZ (car pioneer, i.e., Carl Benz) around (hugs) L (new driver), somewhere in Germany, to be more specific | ||
| 6 | BALTIC SEA |
Much water primarily cooled the drink following curry (6,3)
|
| BALTI (curry) + first letter of (primarily) C[OOLED] + SEA (the drink) | ||
| 7 | AORTA |
Personal carrier Labour’s team regularly used (5)
|
| Every other letter of (regularly used) [L]A[B]O[U]R[‘S] T[E]A[M]. “Personal carrier” is very cryptic definition for “aorta.” | ||
| 8 | NATTERER |
Gossip column’s latest subject: topless English Romeo (8)
|
| Last letter of (latest) [COLUM]N + [M]ATTER (subject) minus first letter (topless) + E (English) + R (Romeo) | ||
| 11 | HADJ |
Journey to Middle East fleeced Jack (4)
|
| HAD (fleeced) + J (jack) | ||
| 15 | ANDROMEDA |
Group of stars also wandered, with American hindmost (9)
|
| AND (also) + RO[A]MED (wandered) with the A (American) moved to the end (hindmost) | ||
| 17 | ICE HOCKEY |
Chill wine, having case for every game (3,6)
|
| ICE (chill) + HOCK (wine) + outside letters of (case for) E[VER]Y | ||
| 18 | ASH-BLOND |
Portraying Barnet wood, spy captivating lake (3-5)
|
| ASH (wood) + BOND (spy, i.e., James Bond) around (captivating) L (lake). I am not entirely sure I get the sense of this one. “Barnet” is Cockney rhyming slang for “hair,” so I guess “portraying Barnet” means “resembling [a color of] hair.” | ||
| 20 | X-MEN |
Declared retired soldiers as superheroes (1-3)
|
| Homophone of (declared) EX (retired) + MEN (soldiers) | ||
| 21 | QUORATE |
Ready for meeting, vegan food briefly consumed (7)
|
| QUOR[N] (vegan food) minus last letter (briefly) + ATE (consumed) | ||
| 22 | FLARED |
Astaire accepts Hollywood location’s style of trousers (6)
|
| FRED (Astaire) around (accepts) LA (Hollywood’s location, i.e., Los Angeles) | ||
| 24 | NIALL |
Irishman sweeping up in the works (5)
|
| IN inverted (sweeping up) + ALL (the works) | ||
| 25 | GAMMY |
Mike repeatedly restricted by pink sore (5)
|
| {M + M} (Mike “repeatedly”) inside (restricted by) GAY (pink) |
Yes, a toughie but fairly clued as usual from this setter — thanks to Aardvark and to Cineraria for the blog, which looked good to me. In fact when I saw the blog had arrived, I gave up trying to parse OBTAIN and ERSATZ. The first looked gettable, the second probably not by me.
ASH-BLOND
I read the ‘portraying barnet’ as ‘qualifying/describing hair’.
(as an adjective as in ASH-BLOND hair)
Thanks both
Tough, but unfortunately I found few rewards for the effort. I liked JUSTICE but little else. These are simply the types of clue I do not like: remote references; over-engineered clues; and too few natural surfaces. I trust others enjoyed it and I am happy for you. Great blog – I think you nailed it
Thanks Aardvark and Cineraria
This was too hard for me . I really admire the blogger for working it all out. Thanks to both .
More Haardvark than Aardvark for me today. I couldn’t parse SALCOMBE, SPANDEX or MILITARIA and QUORATE was both unparsed and a new word. I parsed ASH-BLOND in the same way as KVa @2. I thought AORTA for ‘Personal carrier’ was a bit iffy but I liked HAYMAKER.
The Z J Q X around the central square looked familiar and indeed it was, last seen in a Times Quick Cryptic in March by Aardvark’s alter ego Breadman, although that puzzle wasn’t a pangram.
Thanks to Cineraria – well done for sorting everything out – and to Aardvark
Aardvark is in my “don’t attempt” list but nevertheless I had a brief look today as I was at a loose end. I didn’t get far, and the few I got elicited more groans than smiles. Too many clues were especially hard for a non-Brit.
Stays in said list. Thanks for persevering, Cineraria.
Parsed ASH-BLOND as KVa @2. Didn’t notice the JQXZ trick.
The “Welsh festival” in 27a HAYMAKER links to the “river” in 29a DEWY-EYED (just below)
The town it takes place in is Hay-on-Wye. Liked the puzzle.
T.Hanks A&C
Pretty tough but I like this setter and stuck with it
Was the vegan food quorn? Dont like the sound of it
I thought vegan meant no animal products at all at all
As 24 would say
Very tricky on a Tuesday (or any day)
But nought wrong with it
Wow! FrankieG@7
HAY-on-WYE etc.,
Unlike some, I enjoyed this: it took a little longer than the average FT puzzle, but a satisfying challenge. The pending pangram helped me with my last few. So thanks to Aardvark and to Cineraria for the admirable blog, to which I resorted for the parsing of OBTAIN – I don’t think of BT as a “communicator”, though that’s no doubt my ignorance.
Thanks Cineraria for the very helpful blog. I was completely stuck after solving about half of this, but the comment in your introduction about JQXZ got me going again and I finished, but without parsing ERSATZ or NIALL.
Enjoyed it, nevertheless, so thanks, too, to Aardvark.
This was very difficult for me, a DNF (4 left undone with some unparsed), but pretty fairly clued, so can’t complain, plus liked quite a few. Thanks very much to Cineraria for the elucidation and to Aardvark for the puzzle.
I agree with copster, a nicely challenging puzzle (quorn is a brand of mycoprotein, by the way – made from fungus). Thanks, Aardvark and Cineraria!
Thanks for the blog, tough puzzle but worth the effort, I noticed the Scrabble letters in the middle but not the pangram .
I have been saved from many boring meetings due to not being QUORATE.
Yes Widdersbel, Quorn a major brand in the UK now, used to make all sorts of things.
I’ve got some Quorn “sausage” rolls in the fridge. Anyone remember TVP – Textured Vegetable Protein? I do, from college meals 50 years ago. And so does
WIkipedia: ‘Because of its relatively low cost, high protein content, and long shelf life, TVP is often used in prisons and schools, as well as for disaster preparedness.’
Great crossword, several difficulties with parsing, thank goodness for 15 squared.
Thank you aardvark and cineraria