A couple of tricky moments in this one, but I was helped a little by …
… spotting the theme quite early on. It’s the films of Tom CRUISE, including MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, MINORITY REPORT, RAIN MAN, OBLIVION, COCKTAIL, TROPIC THUNDER (and/or Days of THUNDER), Top GUN, The FIRM, WAR of the WORLDS, and possibly others. (As is often the case, some of these use only parts of the answers.) Thanks to Qaos.
| Across | ||||||||
| 8 | MISSIONS | Religious organisations need to tour biblical hill (8) SION (the biblical Mount Sion, or Zion) in MISS (need) |
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| 9 | TROPIC | About 100 left over individual giving latitude (6) I (one, individual) in reverse of C (100) PORT (left). “About” tells us to do the reversal and “over” indicates the inclusion |
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| 10 | K-MESON | Subatomic particle finally seen after smoke disperses (1-5) SMOKE* + [see]N |
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| 12 | EXERTION | Effort of flowing into two rivers to begin with (8) EXE + R (two rivers) + INTO* |
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| 13 | GIN | Soldier’s command – drop war game (3) GI (soldier) + WARN (command) less WAR |
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| 14 | CRUISE | Groups on boats discussed voyage (6) Homophone of “crews” |
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| 16 | COCKTAIL | Drink-k? (8) The final k is the TAIL of COCK |
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| 17 | ASH-PANS | Cook has break over trays by fire (3-4) HAS* + reverse of SNAP (break) |
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| 20 | SYNONYM | Tin storing yen, not European funny money or similar word (7) Y in SN (chemical symbol for tin) + anagram of MONEY less E |
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| 23 | GUNSMITH | In America, one making piece for Joe? (8) Cryptic (perhaps not very) definition: “piece” for gun and “Joe” for a man or soldier are both American slang |
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| 24 | WANTON | Unrestrained social worker now dancing outside (6) ANT (social worker) in NOW* |
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| 26 | USA | Country captured by Marcus Aurelius (3) Hidden in marcUS Aurelius |
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| 27 | OBLIVION | Old black cat eating 6 in limbo (8) O B + VI in LION |
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| 28 | REPORT | Article on wine (6) RE (on) PORT (its second appearance in this puzzle, though with a different meaning) |
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| 31 | WORLDS | Golfer losing 1-0 takes sides in areas of interest (6) [Tiger] WOODS losing one of his Os, and taking in R[ight] L[eft] |
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| 32 | ELECTRIC | To make Stein president sounds thrilling (8) Homophone of “elect Rick” (Rick Stein, chef). Jill Stein is the Green Party candidate for the forthcoming US presidential election (as she was in 2016 and 2020) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | FIRM | Stable company (4) Double definition |
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| 2 | ASKS | Enquires of jobs wanting leader (4) [t]ASKS |
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| 3 | LOUNGE | Yearn to screen university debut of Eric Idle (6) U in LONG (yearn) + E[ric] |
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| 4 | ESSENCE | German city chose to be empty by nature (7) ESSEN + C[hos]E |
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| 5 | STRETCHY | Flexible cat described by pen (8) RETCH (vomit, cat) in STY |
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| 6 | GOAT’S‑THORN | Shrub from Indian state, extremely stout, in wild north (5-5) GOA (Indian state) + S[tou]T in NORTH* |
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| 7 | MINORITY | I’m upset by Tory in Barking getting smaller number (8) Reverse of I’M + (TORY IN)* |
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| 11 | EAU | Nice water regularly provided by Belarus (3) Alternate letters of bElArUs. As often, we have to interpret “Nice” as the French city |
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| 14 | CHA | It’s offered during lunch and tea (3) Hidden in lunCH And |
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| 15 | IMPOSSIBLE | Hopeless politician taken in by Number 10’s nasty lies about Belgium (10) MP (politician) in IO’S + B[elgium] in LIES* |
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| 18 | STUDBOOK | UK stood apart buying British horse’s record of descent (8) B[ritish] in (UK STOOD)* |
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| 19 | NOISIEST | Most vocal that no-one has short nap in the afternoon (8) NO I + SIEST[a] |
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| 21 | MAN | Vassal turning handle three quarters (3) Three-quarters of NAMe (handle), reversed |
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| 22 | THUNDER | Starting to tremble hard beneath very loud bellow (7) T[remble] + H[ard] + UNDER |
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| 24 | WARDEN | Guardian in military bunker? (6) A military bunker might be a WAR DEN |
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| 25 | TWO | Lifting anything in Yorkshire for a couple (3) Reverse of OWT (Yorkshire word for “anything”) |
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| 29 | PITS | Former Prime Ministers, allegedly the worst? (4) Homophone of “Pitts”, William Pitt the Elder and Younger, Prime Ministers in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries |
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| 30 | RAIN | What might flow through middle of downpipes? (4) The middle dRAINs (downpipes); an &lit, or cad (clue-as-definition) if you prefer |
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The only one I wasn’t completely sure about was GUNSMITH but apart from that this went in fairly readily. I only looked for (this being Qaos) and found the theme after I’d finished.
I spotted the theme quite late when I realised that IMPOSSIBLE had MISSION(S) to go with it, but missed some of the entries like (THE) FIRM, not actually being that much of a fan of Mr 14a.
I have never spotted a theme in my life and, not being a movie buff, lived up to my record. Quite a mixture of very straightforward and quite tricky today. NE corner caused some head scratching. Not sure about the hyphenation of GOATS THORN
I spotted the theme, but it didn’t really help. Last in were STUDBOOK (nho) and WORLDS, both requiring GK in areas of no interest to me. By contrast K-MESON was FOI. New meaning of “cat” for me.
There was no trademark numerical clue.
Thanks to Q&A.
Sure extremely STOUT is ST, which would give us GOAST THORN? What’s the reversal indicator? Thanks to Q and A
Crispy @5, It’s ST (extremely StouT) in THORN (wild NORTH), that is T-ST-HORN. That also made me pause for a bit.
Nicely filled grid with quite a few references to the actor fitted in. I didn’t recognise them all but did spot it early enough for some help on my second run through. The Nho GOATS THORN was last in and took a while to parse until I had worked out just where ‘north’ had to fit. I returned to STUDBOOK more than once before filling it in, reluctant to concede that ‘UK stood’ could be the main elements of an anagram: it seemed unlikely! Did anyone else play with FIELDS and/or REALMS for WORLDS? It was tempting, given the letters ELS are in order in both of them.
Thanks Qaos and Andrew
Bit of a boring theme, which I twigged early and I imagine the subject won’t appeal to some of our readers. It did help with my loi, MISSIONS. I thought K-MESON was a bit of a STRETCH(Y) and I liked the adjoining GIN COCKTAIL. Other favourites were TROPIC, GUNSMITH, OBLIVION, WORLDS and ELECTRIC.
Ta Qaos & Andrew.
Thanks TimC @6
I enjoyed doing the puzzle but didn’t know enough about Mr Cruise and his films to spot the theme.
I had ticks for WANTON, LOUNGE, MINORITY, IMPOSSIBLE, WORLDS (yes, PostMark @7, I did – both of them!) and RAIN (an uncomfortable reminder of the trouble I’m having with a downpipe in this incessant wet weather).
Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.
Insomnia saw me fill half of this in about 3 hours ago, then return to it on getting up again subsequently. In such a semi-addled state it was hard to tell the difficulty level, but I did find it engaging.
Revealed 23a, was perhaps thinking too cryptically. NHO cat = retch in 5d.
Didn’t see the theme, but given my first paragraph, it’s hardly surprising.
I had to think about the parsing of GOATS THORN too, but worked it. Last few helped by spotting the theme, but not much – there’s a lot of theme material available.
Thank you to Andrew and Qaos.
I failed to spot the theme. Other than the lateness of the hour when I solved this I have no excuse really. My favourite was COCKTAIL. I was hoping there was more to GUNSMITH, which seemed barely Cryptic, but from the blog and comments so far, it seems not.
Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.
Oh and as regards my comment @11, if anyone can explain the cat = retch link to me I’d be grateful (as I always am when people are able to respond).
For once I saw the theme early and was able to engage Cruz control.
I liked ‘drink-k’, the attendant LOUNGE and the smoky particle.
Thanks Qaos & Andrew
I looked for a theme when I finished and could see some Tom Cruise references such as Mission Impossible, Minority Report, Cocktail, Rain Man, The Firm, then went to check at his wiki page and found War of the Worlds, Tropic Thunder, Oblivion. I think I have only seen one of those movies (Rain Man) but have heard of most of the others.
Favourite: LOUNGE.
I failed to solve 13ac.
23ac I too wondered if it was a cd.
30d I guessed it was a cd but now I see I was wrong. dRAINs is quite clever!
I could not parse 5d RETCH = cat? in STY = pen. Did not know that cat=vomit/retch. As a cat lover (aka childless cat lady LOL), I find that weird!
New for me: K-MESON, GOAT’S HORN.
Thanks, both.
Thanks Qaos and Andrew
Despite looking for a theme, I didn’t see it, and now I know what it is, I’m not surprised – I know nothing of his oeuvre.
I didn’t parse GIN, and, despite being a gardener and plant spotter, I’ve never heard of GOAT’S THORN.
“Stein” for RIC(k) might puzzle non-Brits.
Favourite EXERTION, for the “flowing into”.
scraggs @11 – cat is another word for retching, I’m not sure how currently used. I’m not sure that anyone else here has ever read it, but it’s in Stalky & Co, Rudyard Kipling’s story of his schooldays – he’s Beetle. When the boys purloin cigars and smoke them in the furzy they are all violent sick – but the phrase is “Cat!”. That book is set in the 1870s.
scraggs@14
STRETCHY
to cat=to RETCH/vomit (sorry I am repeating what Andrew says in the blog)
Not a theme I find particularly interesting, and I missed some of them, but I did like the way Qaos had MISSIONS IMPOSSIBLE for the apparently unending series.
GOATS THORN and the K-MESON were new to me, and I missed warn=command though it will doubtless be In Chambers. I couldn’t see why the GUNSMITH was particularly American. No particular favourites, though my last in WORLDS was clever, as was OBLIVION with the misdirection to 6.
Yes PostMark@7. I also explored fields and realms for WORLDS looking for the cryptic chestnut, Els the golfer. NHO of him before doing cryptics. So obvious in hindsight with a much more recently famous golfer.
Re cat = retch. I’d be interested to hear people’s source for this. My, admittedly aged, Chambers doesn’t have it.
Anyone who has seen (and heard) a cat dealing with a hairball will agree that cat=retch is a good fit, but it’s pretty rare outside crosswordland. Worth remembering nevertheless because it gets used quite often.
Saw the theme for once, which helped.
13a Warn = command? Seems rather loose to me.
@22 my pretty ancient BRB edition (early 2000s) has cat=to vomit
Crispy @22 – I did give a reference for cat as retch @18 – it’s the only place I’ve come across it, but it’s definitely there.
muffin@17. We have a Rick Stein restaurant on the south coast of NSW.
Shanne @18, many thanks. Totally new one for me, and useful to have a context for it.
KVa @19 – thanks too. Well you might just be repeating from the blog but it underlines what Shanne says, it’s nice to get context for new (to me) meanings/definitions.
Cat meaning vomit (retch) I have only encountered in cryptic crosswords. Happy to have remembered that and solved STRETCHY. Collins online gives CAT at last entry: 23. (intransitive) a slang word for vomit
Shanne @26 – I saw your comment @18, but I was looking more for a dictionary type reference. I’d heard of “Stalky & Co” when it appeared in a Tom Sharpe book.
Ilan Carron @ 25 – Excuse my ignorance, but what’s BRB?
Thanks both.
Crispy @30
Big Red Book – i.e. Chambers Dictionary
Having broken the habit of a lifetime and spotted the theme, I was convinced that the cat in “flexible” would be Tom!
Podium places for COCKTAIL, ELECTRIC & WORLDS
Cheers Q&A
Cat. Found this in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable –
‘As sick as a cat’. Defined – “Cats are prone to vomiting. Hence a person who vomits is said ‘to cat’ or ‘to shoot the cat’.”
Hope that helps a bit.
muffin @17, I always enjoy seeing Ric(k) on TV here in Aus.
Nice to see cat=vomit getting a workout. It was one of my first ones in. Good that a couple of years doing Azed is reaping benefits. 🙂
Thanks Muffin and chargehand
Chambers 2016…. “cat…..; to vomit”
CAT – a bit more. The Oxford Dictionary of Slang has the reference to vomiting. ‘Whip the cat’ dating back to 1622 and ‘Shoot the cat’ dated 1785.
It’s a bit of a wretched word really…. I’ll get my coat…
The theme flew over my head, as usual, but a steady solve for me.
13 a GIN
Chambers (mobile app) has this under ‘warn’
To instruct, command
(That puts the setter in the clear)
Wordsmyth.net (may not be a dictionary like Collins but found this entry handy) has this under ‘warn’:
to command or advise (someone) in an attempt to prevent some inadvisable or dangerous action on the part of that person.
She warned him not to touch or eat the mushrooms.
One may say: That’s exactly not the same as ‘command’. Well…
I’m glad I didn’t try very hard to find the theme, because I never would’ve.
Postmark@7 Yes, I had FIELDS. Just as CHER is always the singer, Ernie ELS (whom, unlike Cher, I’d never heard of till I got here) is always the golfer. Never occurred to me for too long to look for somebody else.
I join those who’ve never heard of this meaning of “cat.” My cat hasn’t either.
Thanks, Qaos and Andrew.
chargehand@37 🙂
My cat hasn’t either.
🙂
retch in Australian lingo is a technicolour yawn.
paddymelon @43: pretty common in the UK as well. In NI it’s boke. Glad you cracked WORLDS eventually and thanks for the thanks.
Thanks paddymelon@43. TILT.
From the 225 archives:
Kaleidoscopic expression coming up now certainly — ouch, that’s horrible! (12,4) Paul (G-25846 Jan 2013!)
Thought 13 & 16 a bit iffy and I didn’t know cat for vomit, but that does explain a 40-year old mystery (to me) as to why an Irish colleague referred to anything ghastly as “that’s cat”
[PDM @43
Barry Humphries, writing as “Barry McKenzie” in Private Eye magazine, introduced a number of Aussie slang terms for vomiting to Britain. Others included “chunder on the wall-to-wall” and “call for Hughie on the big white telephone”.]
I guessed in the end that command=warn (even though they are not the same) and game=gin, which I assume is the same as gin rummy, though I’ve never heard it used on its own. I wasn’t impressed with that clue or gunsmith, but otherwise I enjoyed it.
Enjoyable puzzle. As Andrew said, a couple of tricky moments here. Most flew in, but the last half dozen took a while to disentangle. I forgot to look for a theme, as usual, but I’m not sure that it would have helped.
The American significance for GUNSMITH seems to be ‘Joe’, as ‘piece’ is used on both sides of the pond (eg fowling piece). STRETCHY took a while, as it isn’t a good synonym for ‘flexible’ (both refer to deformability but in different directions), and ‘retch’ isn’t quite ‘vomit’ for me. I would have preferred ‘hawk’ to ‘cat’.
LOI WORLDS – clever clue.
Favourites: COCKTAIL, OBLIVION, MINORITY, STUDBOOK, WARDEN.
Thanks to Qaos and Andrew
Thought the proliferation of three letter clues rather fetching, and particularly liked EAU and TWO. Couldn’t see how RAIN worked. I suppose Americans would understand the significance of Joe in the GUNSMITH clue. Tangled up finally by the unknown bush at 6d, loi therefore. And another D Minus for me yet again for knowing that there’s always a theme with Qaos but not seeing it. Even with CRUISE as my foi. A steady, enjoyable solve for me this morning…
10a K MESON (hyphen optional) ‘Nuclear Physics. 1954–‘ (a 70th (Platinum) anniversary) ‘= kaon n.’ — Latest quote:
‘1973 There are two kinds of neutral K-mesons, the K° and the K°.’ (They must be identical twins) ‘L. J. Tassie, Physics of Elementary Particles ix. 84′
paddymelon @43 and following…. Since arriving here in the 1980s I’ve formed the impression that Australia has the most expressions for vomiting than any other “English” speakers.
I’ve always thought that Chunder had its origin in people on boats shouting “WatCH UNDER” as they threw up over the side but the Australian National University reckons it’s rhyming slang from “Chunder Loo of Akim Foo”.
Others not mentioned are “liquid laugh”, George, Ruth etc etc
AlanC@44: I’ve only ever seen ‘cat’ in that sense in crosswords, but luckily remembered it. ‘Boke’ is familiar from my childhood – Chambers has it as ‘chiefly Scots’. I look forward to seeing it in a puzzle some day. I’ve occasionally wondered if it’s related to (e.g.) ‘boca’=mouth in Spanish, or French ‘bouche’, but probably not. However ‘bake’=mouth is/was also much used in NI (‘shut yer bake’).
All done, except 8a…I gave up on the bible aged about 6.
I have never spotted a theme, and if I had stared at this for an hour, I still wouldn’t have seen it.
Nice puzzle, harder than yesterday as I always struggle with Qaos.
Thanks both…
I clearly have more degenerate tastes than many here, because, solving as I do somewhat unmethodically, I had CRUISE and MINORITY among my first five answers, which sent me hunting for REPORT, and I was off. I saw M.R. in the cinema when it first came out – directed by Spielberg and with Samantha Morton. based on a Philip K Dick story, it was a no-brainer. The theme was thereafter of significant help: I didn’t know all of the other themed entries, but I knew where to look for them to confirm the wordplay.
Once I got MINORITY, I looked for REPORT, but apart from seeing CRUISE in there, it wasn’t a great help with the solving. I always enjoy Qaos puzzles where one doesn’t need to know the theme to solve them.
Good setting to get in all the references. I have a feeling that Qaos used this grid with the three-letter words so that he could put in Tom but was constrained by the other entries. There is TOO in the 10th column, which might have been able to be exploited somehow.
I liked EXERTION with the two rivers flowing into … WANTON, WORLDS, GOATS THORN (which I managed to piece together), IMPOSSIBLE, and STUDBOOK. Like muffin @17, I failed to parse GIN.
Thanks Qaos for the fun and Andrew for the unravelling.
[muffin@47. And let’s not forget “Point Percy at the porcelain”. I saw Barry Humphries in the West End in the 70s. I didn’t think that people got him at the time, but then humour doesn’t necessarily translate.
5d STRETCHY – ‘cat v … 4. dialect and colloquial. To vomit. See to shoot the cat at cat n.1 III.13d.‘ …
… ‘cat n.1 III.13.d. 1609– to jerk, shoot, whip the cat: to vomit, especially from too much drink. — Latest quote:
1830 I’m cursedly inclined to shoot the cat. F. Marryat, King’s Own vol. II. xii. 181′
chargehand @33 – I have always known the expression as “sick as a dog/parrot” never cat, live and learn…
I would have said the theme helped me (it did give me MINORITY), except that, having G_N, I immediately entered (TOP) GUN. No need for further thought, I assumed. Ah well. Thanks, Qaos and Andrew.
I wondered whether the inclusion of ‘Joe’ in GUNSMITH may also be a reference to Joseph Smith, the founder of Scientology, of which Tom Cruise is an adherent.
It could be a piece (gun) for Joe (Joseph Smith). Or is that a step too far?
Thanks Qaos and Andrew
[poc @53: lol, a particular favourite of my mother’s. A certain social media forum is known among some of my NI friends as Bakebook] .
muffin@47 and paddymelon@57. Leaves are falling Hugo’s calling, and Hugging the porcelain god.
I finished this with a few guesses from the crossers and a few were unparsed so not really a satisfying solve but I learned some new crossword tricks. Thanks Andrew and Qaos.
Not really familiar with Qaos- I lean more towards Paul and Picaroon- but I found this thoroughly engaging and enjoyable. The theme is obvious but I managed to miss it. Got STRETCHY but couldn’t equate cat and retch. GUNSMITH I would never have got, and ELECTRIC and EXERTION were gettable but defeated me.
Will certainly keep an eye out for Qaos in the future. Thanks to Qaos and Andrew for the blog
Nice puzzle today, thanks Q&A.
Came here for the parsing of 23 and 30, those were both “this has to be the answer, but can’t quite make them satisfying!”.
Like the idea Sue@62, and great link to the theme, but too obscure for me!
LOI was WORLDS, despite being a golfer. Favourite was EXERTION, as that is one particular river my (very poor) UK geography GK extends to!
Oh, and of course I didn’t spot the theme – I never do! Once a clue is in it’s just a set of crossers for me, I never look back at it again!
AlanC@44, oed.com has boke as a variant of the obsolete Germanic-derived † bolk ‘4.a. 1495–1855 intransitive
To vomit; to retch, or make efforts as in vomiting. Still dialect.’
Very enjoyable puzzle, though only saw the theme towards the end.
I didn’t parse GIN, not seeing command = warn or the game.
Top ticks for ELECTRIC, being a Rick Stein fan and having been to his restaurant on the S Coast of NSW. Though I did think of Gloria Stein first of all.
I also liked WORLDS, OBLIVION, STRETCHY, COCKTAIL and TWO.
Thanks both Q and A
Wiktionary reckons the !rish CAT as an adjective is catastrophic …
[ You’re Welcome, AlanC@71 – I’m psychic 😉 ]
Ta FrankieG for boke and yes I used to say Cat to describe something awful.
… or cat melodeon catmalogen, cat malogen, cat melodium
Brb? My Chambers is blue. But couldn’t find retch cat. Otherwise enjoyable.
Qaos is usually gentle for me and so was this, mostly (though I would like to see more of his arithmetical clues, they seem to have gone out of fashion). This one was, mostly, and I clocked the theme, nearly. Steins Jock and Chris came to mind readily, Rick should have, so ELECTRIC was LOI.
Having a lot of fun, thanks to others here. I really dislike Tom Cruise. He only ever plays himself.
The crossword was good on its own merits. Sometimes themes are a distraction. Qaos doesn’t have to do that, as a great setter. Themes may detract from appreciation of individual clues. But that’s his schtick, and he’s sticking to it. Too many good clues to mention.
pm, for me his best performance was in the superb Magnolia, if you haven’t seen it.
[Sue @62
Joseph Smith was Mormons, not Scientology. The latter was founded by Lafayette Ron Hubbard as a result of a bet with fellow science fiction writer Larry Niven on the easiest way to make a fortune. Hubbard’s offer was “invent a religion”.]
Too bad there was no pseudo-mathematical clue this time. Still, really enjoyed the puzzle.
The comments here were interesting for two reasons:
(1) Although there is overlap, this community does not seem to be Tom Cruise’s demographics.
(2) Said community loves talking about throwing up.
I wonder if there is a connection?
Muffin@77. Oops yes, you’re right, of course.
Mostly straightforward but for a couple of niggles.
Cat for retch/vomit was new to me, but the answer was inevitable. NHO Rick Stein. NHO goats-thorn but worked it out from the wordplay and verified online.
Warn (13A) as a synonym for command seems dubious to me (yes, I’m sure it’s in Chambers). A command is mandatory, a warning is advisory, and I’m at a loss to think of a sentence where they are substitutable?
In 23A, I’m not clear what “for Joe” is doing in the clue. Nor, for that matter, “in America”. Without those parts it is a straightforward CD with “piece” as slang for gun. Is GUNSMITH not used in other English-speaking countries? And I recall hearing “piece” as slang for gun as long ago as the 1980s.
Thanks for the blog, pretty good and many neat clues although GIN is weak in every respect.
K-MESON , more properly kaon , the first “strange” particles discovered leading to the concept of strangeness and the naming of the s quark and eventually the Omega-minus.
The next quark , discovered much later , was named after me .
Worth remembering for future puzzles:
River is very often EXE, a very handy way for setters to start off many words
Add it to the existing list:
Film is nearly always ET
Golfer is nearly always ELS
Singer is nearly always CHER
[ Frankie @51 , it is Kzero and Kzero-bar . The first has d quark and s-bar antiquark . The second s quark and d-bar antiquark . They are as different as they can possibly be and must never meet. ]
We also have MISSION IMPOSSIBLE TWO, thanks to 25d, but the many subsequent sequels didn’t make it into the grid.
The best Tom Cruise movies (Jerry Maguire, A Few Good Men) and the ones for which his acting won actual praise (Born on the 4th of July, Magnolia) didn’t make the cut either. I guess we did get RAIN MAN, a fine film. Edit to add: I liked MINORITY REPORT too.
[ Rosemary Brown made important discoveries concerning parity violation in the decay of kaons when doing her doctorate . Her supervisor got the Nobel prize , I wonder why ? ]
I thought the Joe in 23a was the one with a gun in his hand.
One of Great Britain’s lesser-known treasures outside of cruciverbia is its wealth of three- and four-letter rivers. As well as EXE, DEE, URE,, TEST and TEES are popular, FAL less so. And of course Italy has the PO. Put them all on your map.
Don’t forget Russia’s River Ob!
Rovrum@86 , Hey Joe was my thinking as well .
Valentine@87 you missed out Wye to go with the Dee(s) and Exe .
I vaguely remember from time in the military that there are several types of orders “commands?” Viz: operation order and warning order et al. If you had received a warning order you were said to have been ’warned’ I.e. This may explain it more clearly: https://www.mkbartlett.co.uk/data/0306FC20OH.pdf
Jacob @80. Both piece and (GI) Joe are americanisms as far as I’m concerned, so I think the clue is fine.
Don’t forget the OUSE. Also, from Russia, the DON.
[American rivers tend to come in three types: descriptively named (Red, Snake, Platte, etc.), named after people (Hudson, Charles, Delaware, etc.), and named by the Natives (which mostly are descriptive names too). All methods result in names not suitable for this type of crossword, so don’t expect the Wabash or Merrimack or St Lawrence to put in an appearance any time soon.]
[mrpenney @92: US rivers occasionally appear as solutions, rather than parts of a charade, but I’ve never encountered Schuylkill 🙂 ]
Enjoyed this. Tom Cruise is maybe a bit of an oddball to say the least but I enjoy his films and it helped massively to complete this.
Re. Paddy Melon @75 It’s funny I have the complete opposite opinion. I never understand how people can set crosswords which don‘t have a theme of some kind or other. How do they select the words otherwise?
mrpenney @92. We have 2 rivers Don in the UK.
Thanks Qaos for a fun crossword. I spotted the theme towards the end of my solve and it helped me to get a few of my remaining clues. I’ve seen a number of the movies and generally I’m more impressed with the athleticism of Tom Cruise (he does his own remarkable stunts) than his acting. Anyhow, my top picks were WANTON, REPORT, and STRETCHY. Thanks Andrew for the blog.
Loiner@91
GUNSMITH
piece=a gun (Chambers, it’s not indicated as US English)
Joe (slang) =a man, an ordinary fellow, esp (US) a soldier (Chambers)
I think the ‘in America’ is justified if we take the ‘Joe’ as a soldier.
Good puzzle and blog, thanks. Missed the theme as usual. I quite like the variety of difficulty within Qaos’ puzzles, and the obscurities were fairly clued. Favourites today were WANTON and EXERTION.
To add to the cat list, back home we would “have a chat with Hughie and Ralph”.
jeceris @ 99 “…on the big white telephone”.
Been there, done that.
For me this was a neutral theme. It neither detracted from the quality of the puzzle, nor added to the enjoyment of it.
Too many good clues to list, but my favourite was 16a COCKTAIL.
Thanks Qaos and Andrew for the fun.
All very nice, apart from “apart” as an anagrind, which seemed odd to me.
Fave EXERTION.
Thanks, Q&A
Re 5d stRETCHy – I do remember ralphing after post-finals parties in my distant youth. I’m sure that word’s origin is onomatopoeic.
Gervase @93: Suchly, turned off Philadelphia channel (10)
Roz@83, oed.com has failed to put the bar over the second K° __ (The harmless drudges must have thought it was an underscore from the previous line.)
‘1973 There are two kinds of neutral K-mesons, the K° and the K°.’
Frankie , for Particle Physics it is probably best never to trust dictionaries or anything online. I only read original papers in print.
Refining KVa @97, 23 across might be better re-ordered as One making a piece for Joe in America. Because G.I. Joe is the definite Americanism, a piece, while having echoes of gangsters spraying bullets from the running board of a moving car, is not just Americanese, and a gunsmith is universal English.
mrpenney@104: Chuckling emoji
Valentine @87 We also have the Usk, Cam and Lee (and its tributary the Rib, remembered from childhood.)
Some weird comments. Not knowing much about Tom Cruise who, notwithstanding his weird beliefs, is a very fine actor is not the badge of honour a lot of people appear to think it is.
I might be missing the obvious here, but I have zero idea what is happening with DRINK-K = “cocktail”, despite the explanation given.
What does the standalone ‘k’ indicate?
Is it a drink?
I solved USA.
Steffen@111: the letter K is the last one (i.e. the TAIL) of the word COCK. A COCKTAIL is a drink. So “Drink” is the definition, and “-k” is the wordplay, meant to confirm COCKTAIL once you get it. That is, you have to reverse engineer it once you have a possible answer. I doubt many solvers got that answer without any crossers (I certainly didn’t).
I found this tough but worth it, thanks Qaos and Andrew. WORLDS was my LOI, COCKTAIL my favourite (even though it kind of ruined my evening going through all the crosser possibilities trying to guess it). @110 Bingy – I’m sure he is a fine actor but I’m afraid it’s difficult to tell how good his acting is now (in Dead Reckoning), he’s seems so Botox-ed up his face is completely uncommunicative; it’s sad, I’d rather watch a craggy expressive face any day.
That took a lot longer than it should have, got caught up in the NE, especially by the cat and its hairballs. Thankfully I grabbed Joe the Smith from Great Expectations to go with piece, but GI Joe makes far more sense.
Enjoyable, no real complaints.
Thanks Qaos and Andrew.
Now to watch the insanity over the pond. Not sure Yale are proud of this alumnus, hope he’s as convincing as Trump was.
[As for the rivers…AVON too. F is pronounced as V in Welsh (F=FF), and afon means river, always makes me chuckle to see the river river.]
Took me a couple of gos, but I got there. I hadn’t heard of K-MESON or GOATS-THORN, but got them from the wordplay. Which I find very satisfying when I subsequently look them up.
I didn’t see the dRAINs, so thought it was just a (not very) cryptic clue. Thank you Andrew for enlightening me.
I am in agreement with Bingy – any gap in one’s knowledge is not really something to be proud of. (Though I admit to having this particular gap myself!) Obviously no-one can know everything, but doing crosswords helps!
A couple of busy days held me up, but finally sitting down with a plate of food helped me to write in the final half dozen as though it was a Monday.
mrpenny@92. The river Don is in South Yorkshire, flowing through Sheffield and Doncaster. No need to involve Russia!
Phitonelly@102. If you take something ‘apart’ it enables it to be reassembled. Unusual way to indicate an anagram, I agree.
Favourite was GOATS THORN, as I was able to work it out from the wordplay without any crossers, even though I didn’t know – or couldn’t remember – the shrub. Also very pleased to (eventually) remember ‘cat’=RETCH.
Thanks to Qaos and Andrew.
I understand there may have been a theme. 🤔😀
I’m with you on this Steffen@111
If Andrew’s parsing is correct then the cryptic keyword TAIL should be part of the clue not in the answer. Tail is vaguely suggested in the clue by the stand alone K but COCK isn’t.
IStans@118. This is a type of reverse clue where the answer provides the wordplay. The solver needs to be thinking “what can ‘k’ be?” But as you suggest, COCK isn’t indicated in the clue, so in effect, we have to get the answer from the definition and crossers and thus arrive at the indictor for ‘k’ in the clue. The same device could be used to clue BOOKEND.
Other examples might be E for SWEETHEART or G for MIDNIGHT.