I’m always glad to see Qaos’ name on a puzzle, especially when I’m blogging but, as I said last time, ‘the only nagging issue, as I say every time, is to Spot the Theme, as Qaos always has one. Best to concentrate on the clues and see what emerges…’
… nothing did emerge during the solve but, as I stared at the grid, RED DWARF caught my eye, at which my heart sank, because that’s totally alien territory for me. A quick google revealed several members of the cast of this series (RIMMER, LISTER, CAT…) and confirmed my suspicion – and so I’m leaving the fun of explaining the rest to you: I’m sure there are many fans of the show here.
For once, I didn’t stay up after midnight or while away sleepless early hours solving and blogging but relied on waking up early – and then rather overslept – I shan’t try that again! – so I’m afraid there are one or two (or three) bits of parsing that have escaped me (9, 10, 26). Rather than hold up the blog any longer, I’m asking for help here, too. My thanks in advance.
Lots of nice clues: I had ticks for 8ac BLISTERS, 11ac TOLERATING, 14ac STRIMMER, 16ac ANDROID, 24ac GRAND PIANO, 27ac DWARF, 1dn ALGERIAN, 6dn STATEMENTS, 20dn BREATHE and 22dn PARODY.
Many thanks to Qaos for the puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8 Second-rate 5s, they’re annoying after the bubble bursts (8)
BLISTERS
B-LISTERS (second rate stars – 5dn)
9 Entire opening from chess champion’s letter? (5)
TOTAL
10 ‘Finally About Us’ from The Rolling Stones (4)
GEMS
11 Putting up with the French in time, otherwise giant outburst (10)
TOLERATING
LE (the French) in T (time) OR (otherwise) + an anagram (outburst) of GIANT
12 One dropping off fish? (6)
KIPPER
Double definition
14 Tool to gently boil Thai rice, primarily to be eaten (8)
STRIMMER
SIMMER (to gently boil) round T[hai] R[ice]
16 Robot with head of rubber, heart of foil and rear of lead (7)
ANDROID
AND (with) + R[ubber] + [f]OI[l] + [lea]D
18 Ancient follower of cricket match isn’t excited (7)
ODINIST
ODI (One Day International – cricket match) + an anagram (excited) of ISN’T
21 One running small peripheral device (8)
SPRINTER
S (small) + PRINTER (peripheral device)
23 Drunk, refuse third of vodka (6)
WASTED
WASTE (refuse) + [vo]D[ka]
24 Gain pardon playing instrument (5,5)
GRAND PIANO
An anagram (playing) of GAIN PARDON
26 Over £501 billion in account? (4)
BILL
I usually like Qaos’ ‘mathematical clues but I can’t figure this one
27 Grumpy, say, from battle between Germany and France (5)
DWARF
WAR (battle) between D (Germany) and F (France)
28 Hit record swapped on hard disk image (8)
HOLOGRAM
RAM (hit) + LOG (record) in reverse order – swapped – after H (hard) O (disk) – I think
Down
1 African uplifting song penned by fallen angel (8)
ALGERIAN
A reversal (uplifting, in a down clue) of AIR (song) in an anagram (fallen) of ANGEL
2 Requests bottles to be emptied of fluid (4)
ASKS
[fl]ASKS (bottles)
3 Improved gambler (6)
BETTER
Double definition
4 Futile advice to junkie? (7)
USELESS
USE LESS
5 Celebrity drummer not quite all there (4)
STAR
(Ringo) STAR[r] – drummer not quite all there
6 Reports about Facebook owner installed into medical devices (10)
STATEMENTS
A reversal (about) of META (Facebook owner) in STENTS (medical devices)
7 Knight wanting great deal chasing good look (6)
GLANCE
LANCE[lot] knight, minus lot (great deal) after G (good)
13 Can’t praise naughty pet (7,3)
PERSIAN CAT
An anagram (naughty) of CAN’T PRAISE
15 Communist in orderly retreat (3)
RED
Hidden reversal in orDERly
17 Old Scot blows top with new technology (3)
ICT
[p]ICT (old Scot) minus initial letter (Information and Communication Technology)
19 Does Dahl work make a pile? (8)
SHEDLOAD
An anagram (work) of DOES DAHL
20 Inspire soldiers to wash outside (7)
BREATHE
BATHE (wash) round RE (Royal Engineers – soldiers)
22 Even? Odd? Not even close to equality? That’s a travesty (6)
PARODY
PAR (even) + O[d]D (not even, without its even letter) + [equalit]Y
23 TV doctor’s friend giving up acting entirely (6)
WHOLLY
WHO (TV doctor) + [a]LLY (friend, minus a (acting – I think we’ve had this before but I can’t find it)
25 Promotion from flier – 1/3 off! (4)
PUFF
PUFF[in] (flier) minus two of its six letters
26 Bunny heading to gaol in vehicle (4)
BUGS
G[aol] in BUS (vehicle)
This was on the gentler side for the setter and spotting the theme (one up my street) about halfway through, helped me solve my last two, BLISTERS and the excellent GEMS. My other favourites were KIPPER, USELESS, STATEMENTS and WHOLLY. It took me a long time to work out BILL and I couldn’t parse TOTAL. GEMS is the final letters backwards and SMEG is a mild vulgarism used by LISTER. There’s also HOLLY the HOLOGRAM and Kryten was the ANDROID. All good fun.
Ta Qaos & Eileen, hope you’re feeling energised again.
A letter to a former chess champion might be sent TO Mikhail TAL
I believe we also have the wonderful coinage “smeg” (a plausible but invented Red Dwarf expletive) if you read 10ac in reverse. And of course the Android at 16ac refers to Kryton. Happy memories of that inventive and funny TV prog. Hope you have recovered from your oversleep, Eileen. They always leave me woolly-headed.
A main character on the show is an ANDROID. RIMMER is a HOLOGRAM, and one of his catchphrases is “Smoke me a KIPPER, I’ll be back for breakfast.”
Hi Eileen.
I can’t see 9 but 10 is a reversal of the final(ly) letters from “Us From The Rolling”. And 26, similarly, is a reversal of B(illion) 1 L(50) L(pounds). Thanks to Qaos and Eileen. Very enjoyable and most definitely was a fan.
26a: £50 = LL , 1 billion = IB. All over = BILL.
10ac last letters of us from the rolling about
It’s often the short lights that catch me out. Am kicking myself for failing on MEGS at the very last. Aven’t fully parsed BILL yet, but think it’s tied up with being just over half the word ‘billion’?
Thanks to Qaos and Eileen
Thought this was going to be a difficult solve at first, but then the bottom half slipped in nicely. An Ancient Follower Of Cricket could be applied to me, so no apologies for mentioning that Colin Cowdrey was known as KIPPER in his playing days because of his habit of taking naps even before important innings. Though I might have mentioned this before. Last one in was GEMS. Wrote it in with a shrug then came on here to see why…still don’t see why…
GEMS
Finally — uS’ froM thE rollinG–about
BILL
L (pound) L (50) I (1) B (billion) <
A few have beaten me to it!
10ac last letters turned
Meant to add the 28ac Hologram (which was the only one I really struggled to parse) refers to Rimmer. If I had sussed the theme earlier that would have helped – but as usual I went back over the puzzle after completing it to look for the inevitable theme from Qaos.
9a Mikhail Tal was a Chess World champion. 10 is the last letters reversed of words in the clue. 26 £=L, 50=L 1=I Billion =b. I thought 26 was a bit clumsy, to be honest, but enjoyed the puzzle. Didn’t spot the theme whilst doing the puzzle, but saw RED DWARF after completion and a couple of references I recognised (e.g. HOLOGRAM, CAT). But I don’t know enough about the series to spot all the references. Thanks Qaos and Eileen
Thanks for all the help – I knew it wouldn’t take long!
(I’m kicking myself, too, nametab. 😉 )
Me @1: Sorry, HOLLY was the on board computer and RIMMER the HOLOGRAM, as others have stated. Ta Sagittarius @2 for explaining TOTAL.
My full (?) list of Red Dwarf references is:
LISTER
RIMMER
CAT
ANDROID
HOLOGRAM
HOLLY
STARBUG
PARODY
SMEG
KIPPER
… and of course RED and DWARF
I assumed there was a theme but even though I remembered to look this time, I didn’t see it! Have never heard of Red Dwarf TV show.
Failed 10ac GEMS. I couldn’t parse 9ac (wow, that seems to be obscure GK!) and was unsure about the first O in 28ac but I parsed the rest of that clue.
Favourites: ANDROID, DWARF, BUGS, BLISTERS.
New for me: ICT = information and communications technology
Thanks, both.
Well done Qaos for fitting in so many RED DWARF references – has anyone mentioned the (Persian) CAT yet? It was only the theme that finally let me realise what the Rolling Stones clue was – and it took a bit longer to parse it. Didn’t know the chess champion, couldn’t parse BILL and ODINIST was new.
This lovely puzzle should have been yesterday, as I found it quite easy apart from a couple of parsings which you have all provided. Yesterday’s puzzle was pretty hard for a Monday!
Thanks Qaos and Eileen – I didn’t get the theme at all!
Many thanks for sorting out the GEMS for me. When I started to post there were no posts up yet, they must have been stacking up ready to appear, judging by how close together in time they are…
Criceto@16: I missed STARBUG – but why PARODY?
For once the theme helped – though I did not watch the show (it fell into the period since 1985 where I have barely watched any television), my wife and friends are fans and I recognised enough of the names that “hologram” came only once I thought of theme words, as did “gems” when I thought “there’s no way he can fit ‘smeg’ in as there’s no reference to kitchen white goods”…
Lovely fun – “gems” was last to parse and naturally was way less complicated than I had assumed.
many thanks Qaos and Eileen – I think other posters have picked up all the references I found.
WHOLLY
a=acting is in Chambers (mobile app).
I thought an acting General Manager (for example) was written ‘Ag. GM’ for short,
but I found on a site that A/GM is also a legitimate short form.
As Chambers gives a=acting (not A), it should a/GM or GM(a) or something like that.
Someone will clarify.
Thanks Qaos and Eileen!
The Picts were ‘Scots’ only insofar as they lived in what we today regard as Scotland.
They were definitely not Scots. They were there long before the Scoti arrived from Ireland.
It is not even known for a fact that the Picts were Celts, opinion is divided on the score.
gladys@21 Red Dwarf is a parody of other TV sci-fi shows, such as Star Trek.
Thanks Anna @24, I had a similar thought only because I vaguely remembered the phrase “the Picts and the Scots” from O level History.
If Eileen’s parse of HOLOGRAM is what was intended, it ranks as the poorest clue of the puzzle.
Favourite was BLISTERS for the clever “second rate stars”.
Theme? What feckin’ theme?
I thought: Qaos always has a theme. What’s it here? I spot RED DWARF and I’m away: bLISTERs; smoke me a KIPPER, skipper; stRIMMER the HOLOGRAM; Kryten the ANDROID; BETTER than life; STAR BUGs; persian CAT; a sci-fi PARODY; wHOLLY – leaving me wondering both where the smeg is SMEG, and what could 10a possibly be? Aha!
Great themed crossie – my only quibble was BILL – I parsed it as others above have, but it is right there in the clue as part of billion – seemed a bit weird.
[When we did an exchange to England in 1988, we came across Red Dwarf and were instant fans – parents and kids. Back in Oz, it wasn’t showing, so for the first (and only) time I wrote to the ABC urging them to get it – and eventually, they did. Because of me???]
Yes, I remember being rather amused, in primary school, at the Picts being in Scotland and the Scots in Ireland.
Re HOLOGRAM – my reasoning was that if ‘egg’ can signify O, as it quite often does, then disk could do the same.
Thanks Qaos & Eileen, that was fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun (if it weren’t a typically British summer).
Favourite – the annoying B-listers.
Eileen@28
HOLOGRAM
Disc has stood in for O many times. Disc=Disk. Right? I think disk=O is fine.
Can’t think of any alternative parsing.
Tease band releasing second disc (4) G 28960
Criceto @16 I would (at a bit of a stretch) add BETTER (…Than Life) to that list, assuming it’s a well-known episode – it certainly feels like one.
Anna @24: you give me an opportunity to post once again, for the sake of utter clarity, the definitive ruling from 1066 And All That:
The Scots (originally Irish, but by now Scotch) were at this time inhabiting Ireland, having driven the Irish (Picts) out of Scotland; while the Picts (originally Scots) were now Irish (living in brackets) and vice versa.
I initially had “napper” at 12a – it’s one dropping off, and one (letter) dropping off “snapper”. I thought this was quite clever and was rather disappointed when I realised my mistake.
Thanks to Qaos and Eileen.
Well, it’s Qaos, so there’s a theme. There is The PIANO (film) which STARRED (w)HOLLY Hunter (see Column 10), is that it? Obviously not! I am aware of RED DWARF but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a complete episode.
I was surprised at the beginning that I didn’t get many of the earlier Across solutions. However, I worked my way up from the bottom and enjoyed the solve.
I know enough about chess, so that I could parse TO TAL. I liked G LANCE(lot), BLISTERS, ODINIST and the PERSIAN CAT anagram. I couldn’t parse HOLOGRAM satisfactorily as I thought the hard disk was something to do with a computer’s H RAM or some such.
Thanks Qaos and Eileen.
DuncT @34, I also had (S)Napper at first and like you thought it was a clever clue. I suspect that it is known in the southern hemisphere but not the northern but I’m happy to be corrected. I have a red one in the freezer waiting for who knows what.
Eileen — there is no explanation for the wordplay in GEMS or TOTAL.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s never heard of this TV series from the 90’s. I’ve also never heard of ICT, and could you really describe the ancient Norsefolk as ODINISTS? Were the ancient Greeks Zeusists? Oh, I see on looking them up that the people who call themselves Odinists have invented a white-supremacist cult for themselves.
TimC@36 Red snappers are well known in the US.
Thanks, Qaos and Eileen.
Thanks Qaos and Eileen
I forgot to look for a theme, which is a pity, as I’m very familiar with it.
I agree that BILL is a very weak clue.
Someone has to be the first to point out that the Doctor in the TV series isn’t called “Doctor Who”; just “The Doctor”.
Fun puzzle bringing back memories
I have never used SIRI but it would be good to have Holly (and DAVE-sadly missing, I think )
I heard SMEG in this show before being aware of it as an upmarket white goods manufacturer
Thanks Eileen and Q.
I liked Robi@35’s elegant tracing of the subsidiary mini-theme of The Piano and Holly. Thanks also to ronald@9 for the reminder of Kipper Cowdrey. In several Tests he opened for England with Geoff (‘Noddy’) Pullar, also known for nodding off in the dressing room. Well, such bits of esoteric cricket data could just be of use one day in Crosswordland.
Guess I’m grumpy because I missed the blatantly obvious theme but, has anyone seen a free swimming kipper fish?
Thanks both.
Mrs ginf and I had a sort of Friday-night-bit-of-a-giggle thing with Blake’s 7, which was sort of a send-up of itself, and our boys were ardent Dr Who fans, but we never watched Red Dwarf. The puzzle, ntl, was an enjoyable hour’s potter, thanks Qaos and Eileen.
There were some nice clues here but 17D felt the last resort of a setter who had written themselves into a corner. I worked in IT for four decades starting in the early 1980s, and can barely remember anybody ever using the phrase ICT outside of out-of-date school or college classes. I sure other solvers will be along to assure me that my knowledge is too narrow…
I knew of Tal from my chess-playing schooldays, but knew right away it was going to be problematic GK for many people.
Sorry Eileen, I must be very thick, but there is no solution to 9a or 10a? Presumably because the answers are obvious to all you brain boxes.
Any chance you could add the parsing for a thicko like me?
Eileen, please ignore I have just seen the answers in the blog.
10a is very good.
Thanks for the blog.
Smeg isn’t a Red Dwarf neologism; it’s a contraction of smegme, ie genital sebum.
Valentine @37 and HYD @45 – sorry, I’ve had a friend here for coffee and haven’t revisited the blog lately.
I said in the preamble that I couldn’t explain the wordplay in 9 and 10ac and asked for help, which I acknowledged @14. I didn’t have time to thank everyone individually, nor change the blog.
I loved Red Dwarf back in the day, but only series 1-6, it rapidly declined after that.
Rimmer’s description of why there is no Eskimo word for ‘Eastbourne’, still has me in stitches.
Roz mentioned yesterday that the new editor seems to have thrown the convention of the crosswords getting progressively harder as the week progresses. QED, this was a Monday puzzle, and yesterday’s definitely wasn’t.
Scolopax@46: indeed, it is derived from smegme, but it’s use as a pseudo-swear word makes it a neologism, as I would see it (copster@39 – ditto – I can’t see the whitegoods without thinking they are swearing at us – not the image they are after, I am sure). wynsum@29: thanks for the earworm!
5a STAR – another outing for Ringo, after Saturday’s Indy by Twin – ‘12a Best replacement name, right? (5)’ – It was his 84th birthday on Sunday. 🎂
Thanks Q&E
[Here’s Clare Grogan (aka the original Kristine Kochanski) singing Altered Images’ Happy Birthday on TOTP in 1981. Just for Ringo🎂]
I’ve never heard of Red Dwarf or Tal the chess player but I finished this with the exception of 9a and I couldn’t parse 10a . Seeing Eileen have trouble with those two made me feel much better about it. Thanks to all the bloggers for the explanations. I couldn’t bring myself to buy a SMEG kettle because of its connection to the other word so was amused to find it here. Eileen I also remembered the Picts and the Scots from primary school. Thanks everyone.
Never heard of ODINISTs. I was thinking that it might be a term for people that only go to work on Wednesdays. Go ogle, however, tells me that Odinism is the original pagan religion of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes (not the Picts though I guess ?). I quickly stopped reading, however, when it started to refer to much less savoury modern interpretations.
Anyway, many thanks to Q and E for a fun Tuesday puzzle.
I very briefly early on, with no crossers yet in place, wonder whether the drummer at 5d might be Moon, with perhaps the varying lunar stages being involved somehow…
I spotted RED DWARF in the answers and guessed that that might be the theme, despite knowing almost nothing about the show. I figured it was the sort of thing that might have an ANDROID and a HOLOGRAM.
I also failed to parse GEMS, even though it seems utterly obvious in hindsight. A complete lack of cricket knowledge, combined with the somewhat obscure word, kept me from getting ODINIST, and ignorance of chess kept me from parsing TOTAL.
A particularly silly holdup: I thought that the drummer who’s not quite all there must be RING[o], but the definition didn’t make sense. It took me an embarrassingly long time to think of using the surname instead.
The difference between Picts and Scots is fully explained by 1066 And All That:
“The Scots (originally Irish, but by now Scotch) were at this time inhabiting Ireland, having driven the Irish (Picts) out of Scotland; while the Picts (originally Scots) were now Irish (living in brackets) and vice versa. It is essential to keep these distinctions clearly in mind (and verce visa).”
FOI was 2d, FOBS, B[ottle]S “to be emptied” and OF with “fluid” as the anagrind, since fobbing a task onto someone else can be a kind of request. That probably requires “off” even if I have it right at all! Fortunately the B-LISTERS quickly disabused me of that.
Some excellent clues like 6d and 22d. The cricket knowledge in 18ac defeated me–I haven’t internalized ODI the way I have RU and the like–and the word was pretty obscure, though Odinism has been making the news a bit at least in the US, unfortunately in connection with some very unsavory political beliefs. At least Mikhail Tal was familiar from my chess-playing youth, but I’m not surprised that it was tough for other people–he’s one of the more obscure chess champions! Also had to reveal ICT and I often have trouble parsing those “subtract some part of it.” Missed the theme as I’ve heard of Red Dwarf but am not up on all the details.
Thanks Qaos and Eileen!
Amazing puzzle (at least for the first five or six seasons…)
We’d got seven or eight clues when I got DWARF, already having both RED and STAR, so we suspected it’d either be about the show or stars in general, both of which seem like Qaos territory. Then we got bLISTERs and it clipped into place. Thanks so much, Qaos and Eileen!
If I have one criticism, it’s the absence of MR FLIBBLE.
Where does total come from?
Don’t understand some of the answers. Total for example
Sorry didn’t read blog re total etc. Seems I wasn’t alone. In fact in good company. Thanks Eileen
Hi Kirsty @61 – please see my comment @47. I do usually amend / expand the blog in the light of contributors’ comments but today there were too many and I was pushed for time.
(I don’t remember seeing your name before so ‘Welcome’, if you’re new and my apologies if not.)
Thanks Qaos. NHO the show RED DWARF so the theme was meaningless to me. I still enjoyed this with BLISTERS, ANDROID, SPRINTER, USELESS, PERSIAN CAT, and WHOLLY being my top picks. I had the same parsing problems as Eileen with TOTAL, GEMS, and BILL so I don’t feel so thick anymore. Thanks Eileen as always.
I have (only) just remembered to look on Qaos’ website, where he says,
“Make some space in your diary for my latest Guardian crossword.”
Can anyone shed any light on that? (I can’t see any relevant comments above – sorry if I’ve missed something.)
Tony Santucci @63 – ‘”I don’t feel so thick any more”. Neither do I – thank you. 😉
This was full of blatant clues. Game over.
Eileen @64 – could it just be a reference to the fact that Red Dwarf is set in space?
Bah, I can’t parse 10a (or 26a) and was hoping you could help.
For 10a it’s got be something to do with SMEG backwards. Finally? Better off smeg!
Mark B, read the first few comments.
The theme was beyond my ken, but the puzzle was doable without it, so no problem. On the other hand, ODI fell squarely in my cricket black hole, so I couldn’t get 18a, inspite of getting as far as -D-NIST.
PostMark@33, I too rely on 1066 etc to separate my Picts from my Scots.
DuncT@34 and TimC@36, I was another NAPPER, and like you I thought it was a great clue. Ah well….
Thanks Qaos and Eileen for the excellent fun.
Alec @66 – anyone who missed the theme must have been playing like puddings
Hoofit @71 I think that was an insult, so please smeg off.
By the time I got home I only had two clues left which implies an easier puzzle for me than yesterday. I often forget about themes and Ninas but remembered this setter likes to have one and spotted it from completed grid so no help in solving. ICT was a subject I used to teach in primary school in a former life but can see why it’s not common parlance. Lots of ticks all of which already mentioned. Thank you Qaos Eileen and Howard Goodall for the brilliant theme tune.
🤦♂️ Thanks Monkey!!
And another 🤦♂️ for 10a
Houstontony @72 – just plagiarising Timothy Spall, no insult intended
Alec @66
Brilliant reference to “Back to Reality”, one of the very best RedDwarf episodes (and there really were SHEDLOADs of them), as delivered by the wonderful Timothy Spall.
Many thanks to Qaos for the customary fun puzzle, particularly for the chosen theme this time.
I generally find that if I meet someone else who likes Red Dwarf, there’s an instant rapport and an enjoyable conversation will follow, with reference to KIPPERS, “Ace” RIMMER, both versions of HOLLY, the CAT (the funniest one-note character on TV), and how much better the replacement Kryten was than the original, unlike the replacement Kochansky, who wasn’t nearly as good as the original.
Just realised that GEMS is how smeg would have been spelt in the classic “Backwards” episode.
Highly recommended to Eileen and all posters who haven’t watched it.
Also, we’ll always have Parrots.
Thanks to both.
[Claire Grogan (the original Kochansky) was Gregory’s Girl before becoming the singer in Altered Images.
The channel Dave (named after Lister) has been showing lots of Red Dwarf episodes. The ones with the new Kochansky (Chloe Annett) and the reconstituted Red Dwarf should have been good, but they just weren’t…]
Alec @66 & 1961Blanchflower @77: thanks for referencing that episode. Utterly brilliant in both thinking and execution.
Has anyone else noticed Jeremy Hunt’s resemblance to Rimmer?
I did look for a space [sic] to fit Kochansky in – a bit hard to clue, though – and tough on non-fans.
Well this was a pleasant surprise! A Tuesday like a Monday, in that I managed most of it! Thank you Qaos. Particularly welcome after yesterday’s nightmare. I didn’t get any then, although I suppose I could have found the obvious anagram Nostradamus except that I was shell-shocked from the rest of it.
Bonjour mon nom est René
Je comprends pas le sens de mots croisés
Bonjour René,
Meilleur de laisser comme ça. Les anglais ont des problèmes avec les mots croisés lui-memes!
Robert. Un fous anglais…….