I had the pleasure of blogging a Kairos puzzle last month, so it’s nice to meet him again.
It’s Tuesday so we should expect a themed puzzle, and indeed there’s an obvious sign of one today, with several references to 8a. This initially looks rather awkward because the clue itself is a bit impenetrable, and its only crossers are in clues that refer back to it. Oh, well, try the rest of the puzzle and see what happens . . .
After a while I could see possible answers to two of the clues that reference 8a, working from the wordplay, and as soon as I wrote down DISTRICT next to CIRCLE the penny dropped. 8a is LINE (with multiple definitions), and we’re looking at the names of London Underground lines; most are in the grid, except for Piccadilly, Bakerloo and Metropolitan which are in the wordplay. (Before anyone asks, the Elizabeth Line is officially a railway line and not part of the Underground; in any case its royal namesake gets a passing reference in the wordplay for 25d.) I hope that solvers outside SE England won’t find all this too unfair; I think most of the names will be reasonably familiar, or at least guessable.
I had a few niggles with some clues (noted below), but mostly this was a fun solve; I liked the surfaces of 30a and 20d, and the neat constructions of 28a and 5d. Thanks Kairos as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | PEPERONI |
Quiet pioneer cooked Italian food (8)
|
| P (p, in musical notation = abbreviation for Italian piano = quiet) + anagram (cooked) of PIONEER.
The Italian word for peppers, for example sliced on pizzas or stuffed and roasted. Or an alternative spelling for pepperoni (spicy sausage), but that’s an American invention by Italian immigrants and not really recognised in Italy. |
||
| 8 | LINE |
Work to reinforce regular army policy (4)
|
| I think this is a quadruple definition, though I’m not sure of all of them. (1) as in one’s “line of work”, or the old TV programme What’s My Line?; (2) to add a layer of fabric inside a garment to strengthen it; (3) the fighting forces of armies and navies, though this is a long way down the list of definitions in Collins; (4) as in “taking a hard line” on a particular issue. | ||
| 9 | GAS |
In retrospect Indian food produces flatulence (3)
|
| SAG (also spelled saag = Indian word for spinach or similar leaf vegetables, as in sag aloo), reversed (in retrospect). | ||
| 11 | NORTHERN |
Player’s bearing oddly overlooked 8 (8)
|
| NORTH (one of the four players in a game of bridge) + [b]E[a]R[i]N[g] with the odd-numbered letters dropped (overlooked).
Reference to 8a LINE: the Northern Line of the London Underground. |
||
| 12 | ASTUTE |
Clever, like Pharaoh, leader of Egypt (6)
|
| AS (like) + TUT (another name for the Pharaoh Tutankhamun) + leading letter of E[gypt]. | ||
| 13 | VICTORIA |
State 8 (8)
|
| Double definition. A state in Australia; or a reference to 8a LINE, the Victoria Line of the London Underground. | ||
| 16 | RHINAL |
Nasal inhaler (drug free) is manufactured (6)
|
| Anagram (manufactured) of INHAL[e]R, without the letter E (abbreviation for the drug ecstasy). | ||
| 17 | HAMMERSMITH |
Criticises university hospital in part of 8 (11)
|
| HAMMERS (as a verb = criticises strongly) + MIT (abbreviation for Massachusetts Institute of Technology = university) + H (abbreviation for hospital).
Reference to 8a LINE: part of the name of a London Underground line, in full “Hammersmith & City”. |
||
| 23 | PUNTER |
Heading for Piccadilly Nimrod leaves Henry with client (6)
|
| First letter (heading) of P[iccadilly], then [h]UNTER (Nimrod in the Old Testament is described as a “mighty hunter”) without the H (abbreviation for Henry = unit of electrical inductance).
Punter = slang for a client or customer. |
||
| 24 | WATERLOO |
Cycling down the road into court for part of 8 (8)
|
| LATER (down the road = yet to come), with the letters “cycling” so that the L moves to the end, inside WOO (court, as a verb = make amorous advances to).
Reference to 8a LINE: part of the name of a (very short) London Underground line, in full “Waterloo & City”. |
||
| 27 | CIRCLE |
Enchantress welcomes student 8 (6)
|
| CIRCE (an enchantress in Greek mythology, featured in Homer’s Odyssey) containing L (abbreviation for learner, as in L-plate = student).
Reference to 8a LINE: the Circle Line of the London Underground. |
||
| 28 | COVENTRY |
Firm against access for 28D (8)
|
| CO (abbreviation for company = firm) + V (abbreviation for Latin versus = against) + ENTRY (access).
Reference to 28d CITY: in the West Midlands. |
||
| 29 | TAI |
Reportedly draw fish (3)
|
| Homophone (reportedly) of TIE (draw, in sports: two competitors with the same score).
Japanese name for the red seabream. |
||
| 30 | EDEN |
Garden forms part of protected environment (4)
|
| Hidden answer (forms part of . . .) in [protect]ED EN[vironment].
The Biblical Garden of Eden. |
||
| 31 | TAR BRUSH |
Hurry after naughty child returns boat maker’s tool (3,5)
|
| RUSH (hurry), after BRAT (naughty child) reversed (. . . returns). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DEPOSIT |
Leave to play top side (7)
|
| Anagram (to play) of TOP SIDE. | ||
| 2 | SEPTET |
Group prepared to defend record time (6)
|
| SET (prepared, as in “take your marks, get set, go”), containing (defending) EP (abbreviation for extended-play record) + T (abbreviation for time).
A group of seven musicians. |
||
| 3 | POSEUR |
Serious regrets over show-off (6)
|
| PO (short version of “po-faced” = serious = lacking a sense of humour), then RUES (regrets) reversed (over). | ||
| 4 | SIGN |
Notice function on the radio (4)
|
| Homophone (on the radio) of SINE (a mathematical function). | ||
| 5 | DISTRICT |
Hell merges with authoritarian 8 (8)
|
| DIS (hell = the underworld: from a Roman god of the underworld, and it’s also the name of a region of Hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy) + STRICT (authoritarian), “merging” so that the two letters S overlap in the middle.
Reference to 8a LINE: the District line of the London Underground. |
||
| 6 | CENTRAL |
European money artist left for 8 (7)
|
| CENT (1/100 of a euro = European money) + RA (abbreviation for Royal Academician = artist) + L (abbreviation for left).
Reference to 8a LINE: the Central line of the London Underground. |
||
| 10 | SACRUM |
Struggle to eat a bone (6)
|
| SCRUM (struggle), containing (to eat . . .) A.
Bone at the base of the spine where it joins the pelvis. |
||
| 14 | OHM |
Unit‘s heavy machinery initially located below Bakerloo’s terminus (3)
|
| Initial letters of H[eavy] M[achinery], below (after, in a down clue) the last letter (terminus) of [bakerl]O.
The SI unit of electrical resistance, named after a German physicist. |
||
| 15 | ARROW |
Indicator of Arabian 8 (5)
|
| AR (abbreviation for Arabian) + ROW (reference to 8a LINE: in this case it’s a literal meaning of the word rather than a London Underground line). | ||
| 18 | ATTACHES |
Joins junior diplomats (8)
|
| Double definition. As a verb = sticks one thing to another; or attachés (lower-ranking members of a diplomatic organisation), with the accented é indicating the word’s French origin. | ||
| 19 | MARKET |
Chest collected by metropolitan outlet (6)
|
| ARK (chest = strong box, as in the Biblical Ark of the Covenant) contained in MET (abbreviation for metropolitan, especially as a slang shortening of the Metropolitan Police or the Metropolitan Line of the London Underground). | ||
| 20 | IRE |
Anger of armchair expert (3)
|
| Hidden answer (of . . .) in [armcha]IR E[xpert]. | ||
| 21 | JUBILEE |
8‘s celebration (7)
|
| Double definition. Reference to 8a LINE, the Jubilee line of the London Underground; or an anniversary celebration (from an Old Testament festival that occurred every 50 years). | ||
| 22 | TOURIST |
Visitor‘s petition to keep danger curtailed (7)
|
| TOUT (as a verb = petition = make a forceful request to obtain something, as in “touting for business”), containing (to keep) RIS[k] (danger) without the last letter (curtailed). | ||
| 25 | TAVERN |
Local barman banning second old queen (6)
|
| TAVERN[er] (barman: I’ll comment on that in a minute) without the second ER (abbreviation for the late Queen Elizabeth Regina). The “barman” might be literally the manager of a drinking establishment, but that would be a bit weak because it uses the same meaning as the definition. Or it might be the Renaissance composer (writer of musical bars) John Taverner, though he’s perhaps not well-known enough to count as general knowledge; in any case I’ll be pedantic and point out that music in his day was generally written without bar-lines. Not to be confused with the 20th-century composer John Tavener, who used a different spelling.
Local = slang for a pub = tavern. |
||
| 26 | RUN DRY |
Finished rehearsal getting words mixed up (3,3)
|
| DRY RUN (a rehearsal in preparation for an event) with the two words swapped. | ||
| 28 | CITY |
Bore dropping bible in part of 8 twice (4)
|
| This had to be CITY from the crossers and definition, and to make sense of the reference in 28a, but it took me a very long time to parse it. I think it’s C[av]ITY (bore = hollowed-out interior), dropping out AV (abbreviation for the Authorised Version of the Bible).
Reference to 8a LINE: part of the names of two London Underground lines, as noted in 17a (Hammersmith & City) and 24a (Waterloo & City). |
Red Letter day for me. I saw the theme and it helped me complete the puzzle! Lived in London most of my life so the Tube is pretty well engrained in my psyche; jubilee was the giveaway for me.
Thanks Kairos and Quirister
Re 7a – I’m sure my son wasn’t the first to have ordered a peperoni pizza in an Italian pizzeria and been disappointed with what was delivered, and I’m sure he won’t be the last!
Made heavy weather of this – I also found 8 impenetrable and the penny only dropped with the theme once I got HAMMERSMITH. All fell into place nicely after that though. Had been prepared to complain about 11a – the clue could equally well indicate SOUTHERN, but the theme resolved the ambiguity.
Thanks, Kairos and Quirister
@quirister. I would agree with both your quibbles and explanations (city and tavern).
A nicely incorporated theme. As Quirister says, the key word was tricky: multiple (as opposed to double) defs can be very hard to spot (though I have no issue with ‘line’ in the sense of regiments of the line, even if it’s a lower ranked def for the dictionary). Neat to incorporate a couple of the lines in the clues too.
Thanks Kairos and Quirister
Pleased to complete this without looking up underground lines. I knew there was a NORTHERN line but wasn’t sure if there was a SOUTHERN line as well which would also fit the crossers. I guess not.
This was a nice challenge and good fun with a theme that even I could spot.
I failed to parse the obvious answer to 28d but the wordplay is somewhat abstruse.
My favourite was the quadruple definition for LINE.
Many thanks to Kairos and to Quirister.
Maybe its because I’m a crossword addict……
I left 8 for a while -then got CIRCLE and HAMMERSMITH and had a smooth ride all the way to Epping.
Nice puzzle and blog
[The 21d JUBILEE Line gets its name and colour from the 1977 25th (Silver) anniversary of accession of the “old queen”‘ in 25d TAVERN[ER].
The extension to Stratford (1999) celebrates its own 25th (Silver) anniversary this year.]
My only quibble: 3d POSEUR – Can po mean po-faced on its own, without the -faced? “It’s in Chambers“, of course:
‘po² … (colloq) adj a shortening of po-faced.’ and
‘po-faced … ” … stupidly solemn and narrow-minded; stolid, humourless. … [Perh pot-faced or poor-faced]’
Poor could be shortened to po’, but oed.com doesn’t have that as a possible etymology,
preferring poh/pooh (int), po n⁶ (a Chamber pot), and even poker-faced.
Thanks K&Q
It’s a very unusual experience to solve a themed puzzle when you get the theme early on. The Underground lines came to the surface almost too easily, though I, too, found City hard to parse, even if I got there in the end. Thanks, both.
Thanks both. Even for a Northener who maintains the capital is in the wrong place, the themed answers were mostly familiar, though those marked as ‘part’ were specialist knowledge I didn’t possess. The link-word LINE also taxed me, wherein one of the multiple definitions is so niche it actually hindered the solve.
My time of living in London was over 50 years ago but enough of the 8a’s remained in my mind to get the theme although the niceties of 28d required help from our blogger.
ASTUTE was my favourite clue with RUN DRY a close second.
Thanks to Kairos – busy boy today! and also to Quirister for the review and 28d assistance.
Solved by similar route to Quirister, except I suspect it took me a while longer… I needed CENTRAL and VICTORIA before pennies started dropping.. fortunately not much has changed since I last used the tube regularly, the Jubilee line wasn’t open then. Memory is a weird thing and all the others slotted in with no issues. Parsing was something else however, so grateful for direction with CITY n others.. the non-themed clues were pretty fair also, or I would have got nowhere. Particularly liked TARBRUSH, ASTUTE, n the diplomats..
Thanks Kairos n Quirister..
Great fun and nice use of theme, deviously arranged as Quirister noted so that 8’s crossers referenced it – not too hard to resolve once a couple of familiar words were entered.
At first I thought the “part of 8” clues were referring to stations, not multi-word lines; it was not until 28 that that penny dropped.
The one that I could not parse was 15d, where I mis-thought that the ‘8’ was the def, as elsewhere, and that ‘arrow’ therefore had to be a sort of line which spoilt the theming. So thank you Quirister for explaining that! And thanks to Kairos for a splendid puzzle.
Thanks to Quirister for the review and dissection of the clues and to everyone for the comments. I used to use the Waterloo & City line to get to work until I discovered that at peak times by the time you have queued to get on to the platform, waited for the next train, travelled to Bank and shuffled of at the other end, it was quicker and healthier to walk.
Sorry to be the dissenting voice, but this kind of theming doesn’t do it for me. After twigging LINE from HAMMERSMITH and WATERLOO, all the other themed clues were write-ins thanks to often just one crosser from non-themed clues, due to the very limited set of possibilities.
Still, it was an otherwise fun puzzle. Thanks both!
I’m kind of with AP on this in that I found it quite an unsatisfying puzzle to solve. I thought of LINE early on for 8ac using ‘policy’ as the definition, but couldn’t make it fit with what I thought at that point was the wordplay in the rest of the clue. I then got CENTRAL at 6D and couldn’t see a connection with ‘line’ (still thinking of it as ‘policy’). Then when I got HAMMERSMITH at 17ac I twigged and parsed 8ac as a multiple definition, asssuming that the reference to the ‘regular army’ must be something to do with the ‘front line’ in a war.
That made the other references to 8D write-ins – apart from 15D ARROW and 28D CITY, both of which I struggled with for too long before coming here to be put out of my misery.
So a strange mixture of what felt like unedifying struggle and simple write-ins.
Thanks, anyway, Kairos, for the puzzle – I look forward to performing better on your next one – and thanks Quirister for the explanations.