Vigo provides our Tuesday entertainment this week.
As we’ve come to expect from this setter, everything is clear and concise, with nothing too obscure: not necessarily easy, but the answer is obviously right when you see it. It’s a real skill. There’s an awkward misprint in the puzzle that spoils 16a, but I’m going to assume it wasn’t Vigo’s fault; it may possibly have been corrected by the time you’re reading this.
Tuesday usually means theme day, and today we’re looking at the BBC sitcom GHOSTS (set in BUTTON House). The characters suggested by the title include a GEORGIAN LADY (we could also include another character LADY BUTTON), the CAPTAIN, and a PURITAN; there are also a number of PLAGUE victims, and we have references to how a few of the other ghosts met their deaths (DUEL, LIGHTNING, BURNED). The duel victim is called THORNE but the grid only contains THORN; close, but not quite. I’m not very familiar with the series so there may be other references I’ve missed – but that seems quite enough for a theme. Thanks Vigo for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GEORGIAN |
Misplaced aggression having lost ship from US state (8)
|
| Anagram (misplaced) of AGGRE[ss]ION, without SS (abbreviation for a steamship). | ||
| 5 | PLAGUE |
Place with malaria and other infestation (6)
|
| PL (abbreviation for place, especially in streetmaps) + AGUE (a fever, especially one caused by malaria). | ||
| 9 | ORDNANCE |
Munitions regulation one dropped (8)
|
| ORD[i]NANCE (regulation) without I (one in Roman numerals). | ||
| 10 | AGAVES |
Plants adult donated to society (6)
|
| A (abbreviation for adult) + GAVE (donated) + S (abbreviation for society).
Desert plants. |
||
| 12 | TROUSSEAU |
Sue tours around about America finding stuff for wedding (9)
|
| Anagram (around) of SUE TOURS, containing (about) A (abbreviation for America).
Clothes and other items that a bride traditionally collects for her wedding. |
||
| 13 | THORN |
Spike in two minds about Henry (5)
|
| TORN (in two minds = struggling to decide between two options) around H (abbreviation for henry = unit of electrical inductance). | ||
| 14 | LADY |
Note date with unknown noblewoman (4)
|
| LA (a note in the musical sol-fa scale) + D (abbreviation for date) + Y (mathematical symbol for an unknown quantity). | ||
| 16 | LOITERS |
Some exploit erstwhile lags (7)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . .) in [exp]LOIT ERS[twhile]. The puzzle (as originally published) has an unhelpful misprint “ertswhile”, but I’m assuming Vigo intended “erstwhile” which is a real word and makes sense of the clue.
Lag, as a verb = loiter = be slow to leave. |
||
| 19 | CAPTAIN |
Head of costumes fitting first class number for lead (7)
|
| First letter (head) of C[ostumes], then APT (fitting = suitable) + AI (A1 = first class) + N (abbreviation for number). | ||
| 21 | PAGE |
Playgoer regularly lost attendant (4)
|
| Alternate letters removed (regularly lost) from P[l]A[y]G[o]E[r].
A young boy who acts as an attendant (for example to a knight, a member of the royal family, or a bride). |
||
| 24 | ANNOY |
5 is negative with whichever case (5)
|
| NO (negative) contained in (with . . . case) ANY (whichever).
Reference to 5a PLAGUE, as a verb = annoy. |
||
| 25 | PARACHUTE |
Canopy and air conditioning shed in cut (9)
|
| AC (abbreviation for air conditioning) + HUT (a shed), contained in PARE (cut). | ||
| 27 | BUTTON |
Bottom touching knob (6)
|
| BUTT (slang for bottom, especially in US) + ON (touching). | ||
| 28 | STIPENDS |
Small hints about final allowances (8)
|
| S (abbreviation for small) + TIPS (hints), around END (final). | ||
| 29 | ERRATA |
Mistakes published by informant overwhelmed by age (6)
|
| RAT (someone who betrays another by passing on information = informant) contained in (overwhelmed by) ERA (age = a period of time).
Errata = a published list of mistakes found in a previously-published work. |
||
| 30 | INTRUDED |
Meddled with various untried desserts initially (8)
|
| Anagram (various) of UNTRIED, then the initial letter of D[esserts]. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GHOSTS |
Good landlords providing spirits (6)
|
| G (abbreviation for good) + HOSTS (landlords = managers of pubs). | ||
| 2 | ODD JOB |
Bit of work in unusual book (3,3)
|
| ODD (unusual) + JOB (book in the Old Testament).
Odd job = a small task that doesn’t need a specialist craftsperson to do it. |
||
| 3 | GLASS |
Talk about line on square vessel (5)
|
| GAS (talk = chatter) around L (abbreviation for line), then S (abbreviation for square).
A drinking vessel. |
||
| 4 | ARCHERY |
Mischievous line about European sport (7)
|
| ARCH (mischievous) + RY (abbreviation for railway = line), around E (abbreviation for European). | ||
| 6 | LIGHTNING |
Strange thing swallowed by fish in a flash (9)
|
| Anagram (strange) of THING, contained in LING (a name for various species of fish). | ||
| 7 | GIVE OVER |
Stop transfer (4,4)
|
| Double definition: “Give over!” = an instruction to stop doing something annoying; or to pass something to another person. | ||
| 8 | EASINESS |
Simplicity of each essentially delusional head (8)
|
| EA (abbreviation for each) + middle letters (essentially) of [delu]SI[onal] + NESS (head = headland). | ||
| 11 | DUEL |
Ran round bend turning up for fight (4)
|
| LED (ran = was in charge of) around U (as in U-bend), all reversed (turning up = upwards in a down clue). | ||
| 15 | AT ANY COST |
Destroy nasty coat whatever the consequences (2,3,4)
|
| Anagram (destroy . . .) of NASTY COAT. | ||
| 17 | SCRABBLE |
Oddly such mob goes to game (8)
|
| Odd-numbered letters of S[u]C[h], then RABBLE (mob = a disorderly crowd).
Word-building board game. |
||
| 18 | SPINSTER |
Sir sent out to embrace Penny – she’s single (8)
|
| Anagram (out) of SIR SENT, around (embracing) P (abbreviation for penny or pence). | ||
| 20 | NAPE |
Bit of body on a pedestal displayed (4)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . displayed) in [o]N A PE[destal].
The back of the neck. |
||
| 21 | PURITAN |
A turnip prepared for zealot (7)
|
| Anagram (prepared) of A TURNIP. | ||
| 22 | BURNED |
Branded container in part of garden (6)
|
| URN (container) in BED (as in flower-bed = part of a garden).
Brand = to mark something by burning. |
||
| 23 | VERSED |
Practised poetry with head of department (6)
|
| VERSE (poetry) + first letter (head) of D[epartment].
As in “well-versed” = practised = experienced. |
||
| 26 | CAPER |
Head to run and frolic (5)
|
| CAPE (head = headland; the same as NESS in 8d) + R (abbreviation for run, in cricket scoring). |
Loiters last one in. The tiny typo was just enough to stop me seeing it. Great crossword all round though.
Thanks Vigo and Quirister
I shall have the mental image of puritans existing on a diet of turnips for quite a while. Clue of the week for me even if it’s only Tuesday.
The theme passed me by, not having even seen trailers for the show.
Thanks Vigo and Quirister.
Didn’t even notice the typo. Nor the theme – it’s very unobtrusive.
4d Patrick ‘Pat’ Butcher (not ‘er from EastEnders) is in scout uniform, with an arrow through his neck, killed by one of his troop, while giving an ARCHERY lesson.
23d VERSED – Thomas Thorne is a poet with writer’s block.
Noticed quite a few “head”s in the clues. Sir Humphrey Bone is a Tudor nobleman who accidentally decapitated himself. In 26d CAPER, maybe?
Thanks V&Q
I got the cluee, but I do not understand the reference for spinster: how is “she” single?
This was light and a lot of fun as we expect from this setter.
I’ve never seen Ghosts, nor know anything about it, so the theme passed me by completely.
A pity about the typo, which was irritating but not a show stopper.
Many thanks to Vigo and to Quirister.
Patrick @4: “spinster” means a woman who has never been married.
I am sure 16 across was just a mistake because anyone who LOITERS with intent commits a crime. A good example of a puzzle which doesn’t have to be very hard to be enjoyable. I am trying to think if when you would use “s” for square.
I filled the grid and it looked theme worthy but id never heard of it so thanks for the blog
Don’t tend to look for the theme… if it doesn’t stand out in bold, then it’s likely not to help me much. This one passed like a ship in the night but didn’t alter the pleasure one jot. Tight cluing is the way forwards..
Thanks Vigo n Quirister
Doesn’t look as though many of us have spotted the theme, it’s certainly not a series that appeared on my radar. Think that ODD JOB gets top billing here but can’t say this was one of my favourite puzzles from our setter.
Thanks to Vigo and also to Quirister for the review.
Thanks both. My quickest solve by far in recent weeks, so little to add except that I am aware of the series GHOSTS but the trailers were a turn-off, so I did. I did spot the typo, which is some comfort. I’m unsure in CAPER whether the word ‘to’ in the clue is superfluous or indicates being alongside.
Went in very quickly and spotted the theme early. A favourite show for me. (And the American remake isn’t bad.)
Incidentally, there was a WWII ORDNANCE buried in the garden.