Phi has set the Tuesday puzzle this week, so he is not occupying his usual Friday slot for once.
Of course, since today is theme day, there had to be a reason for shifting Phi to today’s slot. As I completed the grid and looked at the entries, I could see that many of the entries could preface the word “board” – 1A, 3, 4D, 5, 13, 15, 18A, 19, 28, and perhaps more that I haven’t spotted.
My favourite clues today were 7, 18A, 26 and 27, all for smoothness of surface. 14 and 17 and the chair part at 24A were all new to me today. I would appreciate other solvers” input on 9, where my parsing may not be altogether accurate.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | CHESS | Bloke’s participating in Civil Service game
HE’S (=bloke’s) in CS (=Civil Service) |
| 04 | COMEDIANS | Humorists offering tricks involving broadcast outlets? MEDIA (=broadcast outlets) in CONS (=tricks, deceives) |
| 09 | MECCANO | Construction kit: something to resort to on retiring
MECCA (=something to resort (=go) to, as in St Andrews is a Mecca for golfers) + NO (ON; “retiring” indicates reversal) |
| 10 | ROSETTE | Award fixed in memory
SET (=fixed, of e.g. price, rule) in ROTE (=memory, as in to learn by rote) |
| 11 | RIFLE | Sack left in current
L (=left) in RIFE (=current, in Chambers); to sack is to plunder, hence to “rifle” |
| 12 | PRACTICAL | Sensible mate, going round polar region, right in the lead
R-ACTIC (ARCTIC=polar region; “right (=R) in the lead” means that letter “r” moves to the front) in PAL (=mate) |
| 13 | SKIRTING | Avoiding beating, four characters in retreat
STRIKING (=beating); “four characters in retreat” means that letters “trik” are reversed |
| 15 | SWITCH | Show of intelligence in school will get you the cane
WIT (=intelligence, nous, as to have the wit to) in SCH (=school); switch is a rod, cane, used for corporal punishment |
| 18 | SPRING | Showing mercy, releasing one in vault
SP<a>RING (=showing mercy); “releasing one (=a)” means letter “a” is dropped; to vault, leap, hence “spring” |
| 19 | BULLETIN | Nonsense English idiot backed in news report
BULL (=nonsense, drivel) + E (=English) + TIN (NIT=idiot; “backed” indicates reversal) |
| 22 | INDIAN INK | Unexpectedly kind about Scotsman in Stoppard play
[IAN (=Scotsman) + IN] in *(KIND); “unexpectedly” is anagram indicator; Indian Ink is a 1995 play by British playwright Tom Stoppard |
| 24 | SPLAT | Wet sound coming from part of chair back
Double definition: SPLAT is the sound made by a soft, wet object striking a surface AND a splat is a thin strip forming the upright middle part of a chair-back |
| 25 | INEXACT | One subsequently suppressing account with the wrong numbers?
AC (=account) in [I (=one) + NEXT (=subsequently, afterwards)] |
| 26 | TORNADO | Ran wild amidst commotion in dangerous weather
*(RAN) in TO-DO (=commotion, fuss) |
| 27 | GIBRALTAR | Tribal struggles in Gabon are reduced in disputed territory
*(TRIBAL) in [G (=Gabon, in IVR) + AR<e> (“reduced“ means last letter is dropped)] |
| 28 | BREAD | Money produced after investment by America
A (=America) in BRED (=produced, generated) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | CAMERAS | American put in a lot of money to produce Chambers
AMER (=American) in CAS<h> (=money; “a lot of” means last letter is dropped); cameras are judges’ private chambers, legislative chambers |
| 02 | ESCOFFIER | Famous chef’s food that is eaten by historic queen
[SCOFF (=food, eats) + I.E. (=that is, id est)] in ER (=historic queen, i.e. Elizabeth Regina); the reference is to French chef and food writer Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935) |
| 03 | SKATE | Fish’s way to cross frozen water?
Double definition: a skate is a type of fish AND a way to cross frozen water, i.e. on skates |
| 04 | CHOPPING | Caught on the hop, preparing meat or wood?
C (=caught, on cricket scorecard) + HOPPING (=on the hop) |
| 05 | MORTAR | Piece of artillery that may take a pounding?
Substances in a mortar, i.e. small bowl, are pounded with a pestle! |
| 06 | DISH-TOWEL | Kitchen item: pin fixes this roughly
*(THIS) in DOWEL (=pin, for fastening things together); dish-towel is the American English equivalent of the British tea towel |
| 07 | ANTIC | Father avoiding wild caper
<fr>ANTIC (=wild, furious); “father (=Fr, in religious titles) avoiding” means letters “fr” are dropped |
| 08 | STEALTH | Bird in street taken to hospital in secretive manner
TEAL (=bird, i.e. duck) in [ST (=street) + H (=hospital)] |
| 14 | TANTARARA | Biblical mountain Nationalist elevated with the sound of trumpets?
ARARAT (=Biblical mountain, in modern-day Turkey) + NAT (=nationalist); “elevated” indicates vertical reversal |
| 16 | TITILLATE | Produce erotic stimulation? It’s not good in art gallery
[IT + ILL (=not good)] in TATE (=art gallery) |
| 17 | HUCKSTER | Salesman, hero of American literature, not entirely austere
HUCK (=hero of American literature, i.e. Huckleberry Finn, in books by Mark Twain) + STER<n> (=austere, severe; “not entirely” means last letter is dropped); a huckster is a hawker, pedlar |
| 18 | SHINING | Splendid party admitting some number after daughter’s left
N (=some number) in SHIN<d>IG (=party, knees-up; “after daughter (=D)”s left” means letter “d” is dropped); cf. a shining example of |
| 20 | NET CORD | Tech expert treasuring time with company – it leads to further service
[T (=time) + CO (=company)] in NERD (=tech expert); a net cord in tennis requires the player to serve again |
| 21 | DIKTAT | Knight involved in support, upset with tyrant’s initial decree
[KT (=Knight, as in Knight Templar) in DIA (AID=support; “upset” indicates vertical reversal)] + T<yrant> (“initial” means first letter only) |
| 23 | DWEEB | American idiot our group engaged in plot taking the wrong direction
WE (=our group) in DEB (BED=plot, in garden; “taking the wrong direction” indicates reversal) |
| 24 | SHRUB | Quietly trimmed red bush
SH (=quietly) + RUB<y> (=red; “trimmed” means last letter is dropped) |
Nice to see Phi on a Tuesday – wonder who’ll be in the Friday slot?
I found this quite tricky to finish in the NW, although it was mostly my slightly bunged-up brain to blame for being slow to see SKATE, CAMERAS, or SCOFF. Never heard of a SPLAT on a chair, and indeed I thought it might be a reversal of TALPS, whatever they might be.
Thanks both.
Didn’t spot either the theme or that it was Phi!! Proceeded uneventfully, but in fits and starts, the grid made it feel like 4 separate mini puzzles, which is not that unusual, but it hampered flow for me… everything pretty fair, but couldn’t see how SKIRTING worked, also interesting to see how many ways knight can be included, Kt is old school, I believe… TANTARARA doesn’t seem to crop up in most dictionaries, TANTARA is there, and I’ve used TARANTARA for sure, but I suspect someone will be only too happy to oblige…
Thanks Phi n RatkojaRiku
I did spot that Phi was appearing on an unusual day but assumed it was because someone has a date-related themer for Friday rather than that Phi had produced a Tuesday theme. After all, he often introduces a theme on a Friday so why move day? I kicked myself for not seeing it – with my own setting hat on, I quite enjoy ghost themes that are linked to a particular word. But not as much as I kicked myself for struggling to parse STRIKING/SKIRTING because I have set the word in precisely that way in the past! I did eventually work it out but felt such a twit. I also struggled with two less familiar abbreviations that needed to be inserted – AMER for American and KT for knight – though neither should be beyond the wit of man to work out.
Thanks Phi and RR
Undrell@2: 14d ‘TANTARARA, variant of tantara, int. & n. c1537– Imitative of the sound of a flourish blown on a trumpet, or sometimes of a drum.’
Oed.com has two citations:
‘1680 TANTARARA go the Trumpets. T. Otway, History Caius Marius iii. 33′ — and
‘1843 Amid a cheer..and a TANTARARA from the trumpets. C. J. Lever, Jack Hinton lv’ — There’s even a TANTARARARA! 😉
‘1751 I heard a TANTARARARA at the door, and in walked my Mrs. Hamilton. M. Delany, Autobiography & Correspondence (1861) vol. III. 17′
… Your TARANTARA is a variant of “something completely different”:
‘1553– TARANTARA, variant of taratantara, n. A word imitating, and hence denoting, the sound of a trumpet or bugle (in quot. 1620, of a drum). Also attributive.’
Oed.com has one citation there:
‘1651 I would have blown a Trumpet TARANTARA. T. Randolph et al., Hey for Honesty i. ii. 4/2′ — but there’s also one in the entry for CLACK:
‘I.3.a. c1440–1708 The clapper of a mill; an instrument which by striking the hopper causes the corn to be shaken into the mill-stones. Obsolete.’ Citation:
‘c1440 Clappe or clakke of a mille, TARANTARA, batillus. Promptorium Parvulorum‘
But that’s 113 years too early. I must send them another email. 😉
I didn’t see SKIRTING at all. I tried to make a case for skipping, shirking until I saw I needed a T in it.
Maybe the puzzle within a puzzle is what can we expect on Friday. Hopefully not a TV show tie-in of the sort that irks the Guardian solvers so much.
Thanks Phi and RR.
Thanks both. For me, the setter was not in a generous mood here, and while the theme may have helped, spotting the nine references in the majority of non-references was beyond me. So, I ended up partly revealing a couple, before TANTARARA simply had to show itself, which is just as well as it does not appear in my dictionaries. CHOPPING was contrastingly so straight forward that I didn’t get it in a hurry either. ESCOFFIER is so famous he must have been avoiding me, but it’s a great name so I will forgive him.
Enjoyed this, and only saw the theme at the last minute.
Only gripe would be with 4d. Having “hop” in both the clue and the answer seems a bit sloppy.
But “Caught on the hop” is an idiom that requires lifting and separating from its usual meaning.
My LOi – it held me up a good while – was 13a SKIRTING, so that gets COTD. Inventive cluing.
I might’ve got it sooner, if I’d spotted the theme, but I didn’t. 🙁 Thanks Φ&RR
Over here in NZ we have Gibraltar board, a building material used to create walls you can hear through but apparently “as strong as the Rock of…” It’s in Chambers
If there’s a general assumption that part of the answer should not appear in the clue, then any setter worth his or her salt will do so on occasion, just to catch some of you out.