Guy is the compiler today.
An excellent puzzle from start to finish. My first run through resulted in about ten answers in place but the crossers in the top half allowed me to finish thet part quite quickly, especially after I saw the topical MASTER BEDROOM. The bottom half was almost blank, but SINGAPORE opened it up and OVERSTATEMENT provided the crossers I need to complete the puzzle, which in the end, was over far too quickly, Some great clues with humour and misdirection, but my favourite was proabably that for HOMESPUN.
Thanks Guy.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MASTER BEDROOM |
Millions booed Starmer, possibly the situation with his wardrobe? (6,7)
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M (millions) + *(booed starmer) [anag:possibly] A topical clue. |
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| 9 | SEAPORT |
Dover, say, area with Kent to the left (7)
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A (area) with SE (south east, so "Kent") + PORT ("the left") |
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| 10 | ALADDIN |
Poster filled by boy wearing rubber in panto (7)
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AD ("poster") filled by LAD ("boy") + IN ("wearing") "Rubber" because Aladdin rubbed the magic lamp to summon the genie, |
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| 11 | TE-HEE |
See he tripped over, smothering a laugh (2-3)
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Hidden backwards in [over…smothering] "sEE HE Tripped" |
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| 12 | EXTRICATE |
Pull out odd bits of crap in old stock (9)
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[odd bits of] C(r)A(p) in EX ("old") + TRITE ("stock") |
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| 13 | PARISIAN |
Citizen with ridiculous airs, and pain? (8)
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*(airs pain) [anag:ridiculous] |
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| 15 | SQUINT |
Look askance, beginning to sift Jaws’ last meal (6)
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[beginning to] S(ift) + (Sam) QUINT ("Jaws' last meal") In the movie, "Jaws", Sam Quint was a seasoned shark hunter who became prey when the shark ate him. |
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| 18 | GROUND |
Drinks after golf turned into meal (6)
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ROUND (of "drinks") after G (golf, in the NATO phonetic alphabet) |
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| 19 | HOLESPUN |
Simple joke Watson might have recorded, but left out (8)
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HO(l)MES PUN ("a joke" possibly told by Sherlock Holmes, so what "Watson might have recorded", but with L (left) out) |
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| 22 | SACRAMENT |
Host sat eating cold noodles (9)
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SAT eating C (cold) + RAMEN ("noodles") |
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| 24 | BOOTS |
We don’t like that back street chemist (5)
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BOO ("we don't like that") + [back] <=St. (street) |
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| 25 | EPITOME |
Summary chapter omitted from very long book (7)
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C (chapter) omitted from EPI(c) ("very long") + TOME ("book") |
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| 26 | LET RIDE |
Given permission to travel on, leave alone (3,4)
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LET ("given permission to") + RIDE ("travel on") |
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| 27 | OVERSTATEMENT |
Exaggerated line government workers fed to public (13)
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STATE ("government") + MEN ("workers") fed to OVERT ("public") |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MISSTEP |
Fail to notice flipping pet’s whoopsie (7)
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MISS ("fail to notice") + [flipping] <=PET |
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| 2 | SMASHEROO |
US hit show regularly includes mother’s idol (9)
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S(h)O(w) [regularly] includes MA'S ("mother's") + HERO ("idol") |
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| 3 | EVOKE |
Call up first wife about agreement (5)
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EVE ("first wife" in the Bible) about OK ("agreement") |
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| 4 | BETJEMAN |
Poet laid Monsieur, introduced to John in France (8)
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BET ("laid") + M (monsieur) introduced to JEAN ("John in France") |
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| 5 | DEARTH |
Want expensive article reduced (6)
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DEAR ("expensive") + TH(e) ("article", reduced) |
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| 6 | ODALISQUE |
Female slave does quail dreadfully (9)
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*(does quail) [anag:dreadfully] |
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| 7 | MEDIA |
Male assistant switched channels (5)
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M (male) + <=AIDE ("assistant", switched) |
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| 8 | IN JEST |
Swallow, you might say, meaning a lark (2,4)
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Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [you might say] of INGEST ("swallow") |
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| 14 | SINGAPORE |
Country dancing in G&S opera (9)
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*(in gs opera) [anag:dancing] |
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| 16 | IMPROVISE |
Jam is spreading better (9)
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IS spreading IMPROVE ("better") |
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| 17 | TORTILLA |
Mexican eats everything I run over (8)
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<=(ALL ("everything") + I + TROT ("run"), over) |
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| 18 | GASKET |
Seal grand coffin after wiping top (6)
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G (grand) + (c)ASKET ("coffin", after wiping top (i.e. removing the first letter)) |
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| 20 | NO SWEAT |
With time to finish, cryptic was one that’s easy (2,5)
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*(was one) [anag:cryptic] with T (time) to finish |
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| 21 | SEVENS |
Olympic rugby, yet between sides in speedos (6)
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EVEN ("yet") between [sides in] S(peedo)S |
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| 23 | CHINO |
What’s beneath beard? Old cloth (5)
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CHIN ("what's beneath beard") + O (old) |
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| 24 | BATHE |
That man joins club to swim (5)
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HE ("that man") joins BAT ("club") |
Loonapick, you have a typo in 19a.
Thanks for the blog, I think SEAPORT is an &Lit, Dover being the port in the wordplay and A and SE to the left of this. I am not sure it totally works either way .
Quite enjoyable, thanks Guy. My lexicon expanders: ODALISQUE, BETJEMAN, SMASHEROO.
Very good set of neat and clever clues , many of them concise . I really like this setter . SQUINT a very nice idea.
15a SQUINT – Peter Benchley’s Jaws (1974, a 50th (Golden) anniversary).
GDU @1 – oops, will try to get a chance to edit
Could ciondolo origonite translate the post @7 into English please? In C
Something going wrong here !
Liked SEAPORT, ALADDIN, HOMESPUN and MEDIA.
Thanks Guy and loonapick.
[19a: The Sherlock Holmes short story The Red-Headed League may be an elaborate HO[L]MES PUN on Red-Hair Ring]
25A: “epitome” meaning a “summary” was new to me. The only meaning that I knew previously was “the best”.
I still don’t get 1A. It is obviously “topical” in the UK but not in the rest of the world…
Frieda, I agree with you. Like you, English is not my first language but I always thought that “”epitome” “meant “the best.
Frieda – the MASTER BEDROOM is presumably where the wardrobe is holding Starmer’s clothes. The reference is to an expenses scandal where a Labour peer has been funding Starmer’s wardrobe, and his wife’s and some of his cabinet – see here , Has taken much of any remaining shine off the new Government.
Fun puzzle, which mostly went in smoothly. I know of Betjeman – partly from his King’s Cross station connections (there’s a statue of him there), but also from his poetry – which includes
“Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough,
It isn’t fit for humans now”
and “How to Get on in Society” sending up Nancy Mitford’s U and non-U.
Thank you to loonapick and Guy.
Found this more difficult than other puzzles this week – especially the bottom half.
Favourites included: SQUINT, SACRAMENT, BETJEMAN, GASKET
Thanks Guy and loonapick
Thanks Guy and loonapick
9ac: I think this works as a “normal” clue, taking “with” = “following”, “to” = “followed by”, and “Kent” = SE with a bit of licence. I hope it is not intended to be “& lit”, as it would be distinctly feeble to have “Dover, say” as a definition by example for PORT in the wordplay and SEAPORT in the “lit”. Incidentally, I lived in Dover for four years and effectively treated it as an inland town.
I really enjoyed this. Was it a boo-boo to have two boos? SQUINT was a kind of reverse Jorum for me, where you deduce the general knowledge from the solution.
I also found this on the difficult end. I thought MASTER BEDROOM was brilliant, and I also liked IN JEST, SACRAMENT, and EPITOME.
GDU@3 ODALISQUE is a word on my lips every day. And, did anyone know Quint in SQUINT without looking it up?
Thanks Guy and loonapick
Never heard of Smasheroo nor Odalisque; but who could forget Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws,
‘Here’s to swimming with bow legged women’!
Thanks Guy for an excellent crossword. I revealed the nho BETJEMAN but all else went in rather quickly for this setter. My favourites were MASTER BEDROOM (thanks to Shanne @13 for the background info), HOMESPUN, SACRAMENT, DEARTH, IMPROVISE, NO SWEAT, and BATHE. I agree with Roz @4 about really liking this setter. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
An enjoyable and accessible puzzle, although one or two clues didn’t seem to work properly, such as for SEAPORT – possibly a touch of double duty there. We liked GROUND, IN JEST and IMPROVISE among others.
Thanks, Guy and loonapick.
PS: Shanne @13, Betjeman’s statue is at St Pancras, not King’s Cross.
[tangent] I had a very enjoyable evening meal at l’Odalisque in Limoux some years ago and wondered about the meaning of the name. Having had an interesting chat about the owners about that (and a painting on the wall which displayed an odalisque), I certainly never ever thought I would see the word again!
L’Odalisque is still running – I would heartily recommend it to anyone in the area. [/tangent]
Thank you to Guy for the challenge and to loonapick for the blog.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think any topical knowledge is required for 1A – the clue is less funny but perfectly functional without knowing who Starmer is – or the recent news…
As someone with first hand experience I can assure you that no one I have ever heard in the states calls a hit a smasheroo. Otherwise, fun puzzle.
Jay@22: We were puzzled by the US reference as when we checked in Chambers (13th ed) ‘smasheroo’ was just labelled as slang but not ‘US’ nor even ‘chiefly US’.
Further to the earlier remarks on SMASHEROO:
Collins 2023 p 1873 marks it US slang;
SOED 2007 p. 2883 marks it slang (orig. & chiefly N. Amer.);
Chambers 2011 p. 1471 or 2014 or 2016 p. 1470 simply marks it (sl), as noted by allan_c@23;
ODE 2010 has smash on p. 1684 but I could not find smasheroo at all.
In terms of reasonable expectations on setters, I have said on previous occasions that I do not expect them to overrule dictionaries. I would add that I do not expect any setter to consult more than one of those listed above.
How does host= sacrament?
Thanks
Oldham@25
In holy communion in Christian services the host is the bread (typically a wafer) served to the celebrants; this,along with the wine, is also known as the sacrament.
Further to SM@26, Collins 2023 p 947 gives Host in this meaning with a capital letter, neatly hidden by the setter by putting the word at the beginning of the clue.
For 2d oed.com has ‘SMASHEROO slang (originally and chiefly U.S.). 1948– A great success.’
with citations applying it to El Cid in 1962 (John o’ London’s), and Hello, Dolly! in 1967 (Punch).