Stamp has provided today’s puzzle, displacing Phi from the Friday slot, to mark an important date in the sporting calendar: the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games this evening.
Stamp has done an amazing job of cramming the clues with Olympic sports past or present. Of course, the puzzle can be solved perfectly well without the solver needing to have made the connection to the Olympics at all.
My favourite clues today are 14, 23 and 28, all for smoothness of surface; and 25, for the inclusion of two events in a clue to a word that is not sport-related at all! However, given the occasion being marked, this is a puzzle whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues; the words underlined are Olympic sports/events past or present
| Across | ||
| 09 | IRISH | Politician cycling for nation with luck
RISHI (=politician, i.e. former UK PM Rishi Sunak); “cycling” means last letter moves back to front of word; cf. the luck of the Irish |
| 10 | SONNETEER | Writer of poems enters wrestling with one
*(ENTERS + ONE); “wrestling” is anagram indicator |
| 11 | TRAIN FARE | Coach just announced price for return?
TRAIN (=coach, teach) + homophone (“announced”) of fair (=just) |
| 12 | LOCUM | Substitute, initially left out, controversially undertaking marathon
First letters only (“initially”) of L<eft> O<ut> C<ontroversially> U<ndertaking> M<arathon>; a locum is often a substitute doctor |
| 13 | FEUDING | France due returns in golf and rowing
F (=France, in IVR) + EUD (DUE; “returns” indicates reversal) + IN + G (=golf, in NATO alphabet) |
| 15 | TOOTSIE | Film featuring cross-dressing, // little piggy
Double definition: Tootsie was a 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman AND a tootsie is a childish word for a toe, as in “little piggy” in the rhyme This little piggy went to market, … |
| 17 | TREAD | Given time, dip into squash
T (=time) + READ (=dip into, e.g. book); to tread grapes is to squash them to release their juice |
| 18 | TIN | Preserve shooting jackets
Hidden (“jackets”) in “shooTINg” |
| 20 | NIECE | Relative odds cut in mixed crew
<i>N <m>I<x>E<d> C<r>E<w>; “odds cut” means all odd letters are dropped |
| 22 | AROUSAL | Drinking session, having started late, winding up
<c>AROUSAL (=drinking session; “having started late” means first letter is dropped); to wind up is to excite or agitate, hence “arousal” |
| 25 | DISRUPT | Discus half completed – right before shot put upset
DIS<cus> (“half completed” means 3 of 6 letters only are used) + R (=right) + *(PUT); “shot” is anagram indicator |
| 26 | FLEER | One escaping hammer freely released at last
*(FREEL<y>); “released at last” means last letter dropped from anagram, indicated by “hammer”, smash |
| 27 | VENERATED | Admired victor made grand exits
V (=victor, in NATO alphabet) + <g>ENERATED (=made, produced; “grand (=G, i.e. $1000) exits” means letter “g” is dropped) |
| 30 | WENCESLAS | Carol’s Bohemian – a good looker?
Cryptic definition: the reference is to the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas (of Bohemia) (looked out on the feast of Stephen) |
| 31 | COVES | Gentlemen head for sailing on bay
COVE (=bay, inlet) + S<ailing> (“head for” means first letter only) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | MITT | Tesla supports US college baseball catcher
MIT (=US college, i.e. Massachusetts Institute of Technology) + T (=tesla, i.e. unit of magnetic flux density); a mitt is a padded leather glove worn by a baseball player |
| 02 | LIGATURE | Bandage decoy plugged by one American’s gun
[I (=one) + GAT (=American’s gun, i.e. US slang for gatling gun)] in LURE (=decoy) |
| 03 | WHEN | Cut weightlifting? It’s just a question of time
HEWN (=cut; “weight (=W) lifting” means letter “w” rises to a higher position in the word) |
| 04 | ESCARGOT | Relay rage cost starter in Paris?
*(RAGE COST); “relay” is anagram indicator; escargot is the French word for snail, hence “starter in Paris” |
| 05 | INSECT | Cricket, perhaps, popular with dedicated following
IN (=popular, fashionable) + SECT (=dedicated following) |
| 06 | HELLHOUNDS | Infernal creatures covering Harry head to toe
SHELL (=covering, of e.g. egg) + HOUND (=harry, badger, as verb); “head to toe” means that first letter goes to end of entry |
| 07 | FENCES | Adopting new top speed, charges hurdles
[N (=new, as in NT) + C (=top speed, i.e. the speed of light, from the Latin celeritas)] in FEES (=charges, levies) |
| 08 | CRAM | Middle-distance specialist once ran, briefly, in 100m
RA<n> (“briefly” means last letter is dropped) in [C (=100, in Roman numerals) + M (=metres)]; the reference is to Steve Cram (1960-), former British Olympic silver medallist over 1500m |
| 13 | FATWA | Fighter at amateur boxing won judicial decision
W (=won, in sports results) in [F (=fighter, as in fighter plane, e.g. F-16) + AT + A (=amateur)]; a fatwa is a formal legal opinion or decision issued by a Muslim judicial authority |
| 14 | INDISCREET | Iridescent swimming outfit, if revealing, thus described?
*(IRIDESCENT); “swimming”, moving around, is anagram indicator |
| 16 | EVERT | Retired tennis player nevertheless entertains
Hidden (“entertains”) in “nEVERTheless”; the reference is to former US tennis champion Chris Evert (1954-) |
| 19 | NUDENESS | Exposed state head accepting uniform study
[U (=uniform, in NATO alphabet) + DEN (=study)] in NESS (=head(land)) |
| 21 | ERUPTIVE | Straight after rejection, tense setter’s volcanic
ERUP (PURE=straight, of whisky, say; “after rejection” indicates reversal) + T (=tense, in grammar) + I’VE (=setter’s, i.e. “Stamp has”) |
| 23 | OCEANS | Canoe’s breaking lashings
*(OCEAN’S); “breaking” is anagram indicator; oceans, lashings can both mean large volumes of |
| 24 | LOVELY | Party missing volleyball getting lost in Nice
*(VOLLEY<ball>); “party (=ball) missing” means letters “ball” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “getting lost” |
| 26 | FOWL | Start off football downcast, dropping left winger
F<ootball> (“start off” means first letter only) + OWL (LOW=downcast, blue; “dropping left (=L) means letter “l” moves to end of word); the “winger” of the definition refers to a bird, hence “fowl” |
| 28 | RACE | Stay one off the front in steeplechase
<b>RACE (=stay, i.e. restraint; “one off the front” means first letter is dropped) |
| 29 | DOSH | Hard bugger climbing for money
H (=hard, as in HB pencil) + SOD (=bugger, i.e. obnoxious person); “climbing” indicates vertical reversal |
I needed the excellent (as always) blog for a couple of parsings – but that was my fault not the setters.
Great themed puzzle with highlights and no grumbles. Seems familiar today
Thanks Stamp and RatkojaRiku
As a sucker for a sports-themed puzzle, I thoroughly enjoyed this – thanks Stamp. Great blog RR, thank you, which put me right on a couple of parses. My top picks were FEUDING, TOOTSIE and DOSH.
Setter dropping in, part way through an all day drive home from a brief trip to the Isle of Skye, to thank RatkojaRiku for a generous, clear and timely blog.
You have found an alternative parsing for FATWA – the ‘won’ I had in mind was the Korean currency. Not the best known but won = W does have dictionary support and is a very useful abbreviation. If solvers are happy with ‘won’ from Won/Lost/Drawn then who am I to argue?
I think you identified all the events, though a few are not underlined – 100m, football and canoe. You might have overlooked ‘breaking’ used as the anagrind in OCEANS: it is the term the Olympics are using for the newest event – what may be more commonly known as breakdancing.
Thanks also to other commenters for their contributions.
Thanks for the blog, someone printed this for me since it is Stamp.
Managed to ignore the theme as the clues worked very well without it.
INDISCREET a great spot for a complete anagram , WENCESLAS a very neat idea.
Very minor quibble for FEUDING , due in the clue and wordplay .
I can just about forgive top speed=c for a crossword.
9a IRISH – I’d been getting fed up with setters anagramming or (re)cycling that “sage” ex-PM to get my nationality (or vv).
But the !rish are celebrating a century of Olympic competition this year, so I didn’t mind it here. LOi 3d WHEN with its Playtex of “weightlifting”
[RR, you’ve misspelt 10a SONNETEER]
Thanks S&RR
I found this quite hard going but ultimately satisfying to complete.
Lots to like: a good start at 9ac, with RISHI not being clued as a sage this time; two well-hidden words within a single word at 18ac and 16dn; ‘Nice’ as a definition, rather than a French indication at 24dn; more smiles for the tardy drinking session at 22ac; Carol the Bohemian at 30ac; the unexpected relay rage at 4dn; the middle distance runner at 8dn – because I liked him (and RR’s reference to Stamp’s cramming the clues) and the hard bugger at the end.
I was ready to cry ‘fowl’ at 26/28dn, being confused by ‘off’ indicating only the first letter in 26 and not the first letter in 28; ‘dropping left’ meaning moving the L down, rather than losing it and OWL being a winger to boot – but this was at the very end, when I probably wasn’t thinking straight.
A very enjoyable tussle – many thanks (and bonne route) to Stamp and to RR for a fine blog.
Thanks Stamp – hope you had a good time in Skye and a safe journey home. Bet you are not on the 9 hour bus trip from Uig to Glasgow! Fantastic scenery though until you reach your destination.
Anyway – back to the crossword. Some devious definitions, some chuckles along the way and a few smiles when the penny dropped. A great achievement to get so many theme words into the clues and grid.
Thanks to RR for the blog.
Thanks for the fun puzzle, Stamp, which I really enjoyed, despite creating problems for myself by putting TIFFING in at 13 across. Lots of great clues – I’ll go for 3 down as my favourite.
Thanks both. Quite a challenge, wherein WENCESLAS a favourite, HELLHOUNDS went in albeit 50% parsed. I was unconvinced about TREAD without an object e.g. ‘on’ meaning squash, but maybe we’re in wine-making territory. For FEUDING I was caught out by the direct insertion instead of use of a synonym for due so went with TIFFING (F+fit returns…)
I thought we were going to be olympiced when Phi was ousted from the Friday slot this week. How clever to put the sports in the clues.
I couldn’t see what the good looker had to do with LOI WENCELAS. It’s often the cryptic defs that go over my head.
Thanks Stamp and RR.
Thanks Stamp for a timely crossword that skillfully incorporates so many Olympic sports within the clues. My top picks were LOCUM, VENERATED, INSECT, INDISCREET, and NUDENESS. I failed with WENCESLAS and HELLHOUNDS and I couldn’t parse WHEN and FENCES. Thanks RR for explaining.
Not quite sure how I missed the theme given the depth of publicity hereabouts.. in fact had to wait for an advert on that subject before the crossword loaded… 6d held me up until all crossers were in, not sure why now… apart from that the lack of obscure general knowledge was refreshing..
Thanks Stamp n RatkojaRiku
Great stuff, thanks Stamp and RR. Faves include LOCUM, FEUDING, DISRUPT, WENCESLAS, INSECT, CRAM, FATWA, INDISCREET and DOSH. Impressively comprehensive theming – thanks again!
Great stuff indeed. I am impressed by how many Olympic events can become anagram indicators. Thanks Stamp and RR
Even though I didn’t spot the theme, I thought this was an excellent puzzle. A real joy to solve from start to finish, including a lot of inventive ideas.
I’m not fully sure that “head to toe” strictly in 6d can apply to two unconnected words but others wiser than me will know.
I would be rather upset to be served one snail as a starter, but perhaps this was the case when French nouvelle cuisine was in vogue in the 1970s 😉
Many thanks to Stamp and to RR.
Well, a 13 hour drive behind me, I am trying to drown out the memories of the M6 with a glass of red wine and catching up on the blog. Thanks to all commenters for the kind posts. Picking up on a couple of specifics:
re DUE/EUD – I am happy, as both solver and setter, to have the occasional bit of a solution appearing in plain sight. It seems to me to be a legitimate device.
Eileen @6: ironic that you should think of crying ‘fowl’. The original clue was actually a homophone!
I was quite chuffed to have a clue with three sports! Something like ‘Turkey, perhaps, is in football, handball or diving reportedly’ but the editor queried whether handball and diving were actually fouls in football. I’m a rugby man so had to look it up and am fairly confident handball is a foul. Diving is unsporting behaviour and can merit a yellow card but doesn’t actually appear to be a foul.
TFO @9: I do agree that ‘squash’ would normally equate to ‘TREAD on’ and so, yes, it was the treading/squashing of grapes that I felt was safely synonymous.
Thanks again for the support and I hope everyone gets to enjoy the Games
PM
@5 – thanks for directing my attention to the typo 10, FrankieG, now corrected
@9 – I agree with TFO about “tread”, so I have amended the blog accordingly
@3 – many thanks to Stamp for pointing out the missed events, now underlined
@15 – I agree with Rabbit Dave about the meagre starter at 4!
As someone not all that into “the sports” I was pleased to see that the theme was largely confined to the clues and not much Olympic GK was required! Some corkers here including CRAM (even I had heard of him), FEUDING (plain-sight fragments are fine by me, especially if they are acted upon such as a reversal) and my CotD WENCESLAS.
Thanks both.