I didn’t enjoy this offering from Bard as much as I did the last of his/her cryptics that I blogged. I found it a bit clunky and strained in places. But that’s just my opinion. By the end of the day Bard may have received some more positive comments below.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 In charge of manifest, briefly
OVER
OVER[T]
4 Time to question staff about flipping tough boss
TASKMASTER
A charade of T, ASK, MAST and RE reversed.
9 ‘Banks of tomorrow’ impress Treasury? Not true
TWISTY
The outside letters of the third, fourth and fifth words of the clue, and a very stretchy definition, in my view. And I don’t really see the point of the inverted commas.
10 High-speed hand-walking contest is a very dangerous competition
ARMS RACE
A cd cum dd.
11 Dependent on drugs, did cadet collapse?
ADDICTED
(DID CADET)* with ‘collapse’ as the anagrind.
13 This shows pressure is zero impediment
ISOBAR
A charade of IS, O and BAR.
14 There are three in there, four in that one and six in my pocket
CONSONANTS
Well, that’s exactly the number of consonants in each of those words or phrases.
16 Fellow worried about cheese
FETA
A charade of F and ATE reversed.
17 Fourth in Nicolas Cage’s golf tournament
OPEN
A charade of O for the fourth letter of ‘Nicolas’ and PEN.
18 Old footballer’s right to devour fashion mag and Bridget Jones’s Diary?
BESTSELLER
An insertion of ELLE for the magazine in [George] BESTS and R. A slightly bizarre combination of items, but a chance to remind everyone that Helen Fielding’s bestseller, and the subsequent movies, were originally a column in the Independent.
20 Co-operation in Parkrun is one-sided
UNISON
Hidden in ParkrUN IS ONe-sided.
21 Spooner’s instruction to amphibious car driver to take a break and check the vehicle
ROAD TEST
A Spoonerism of TOAD REST, referring to the Toad in Toad of Toad Hall.
23 City endlessly pay tribute to American/Scottish singer
HONOLULU
A charade of HONO[R] and LULU. The ‘to American’ is there to indicate the AmEng spelling of the first particle.
24 Put your foot down in second and first
INSIST
A charade of IN, S and IST.
26 Decaf lefty stirred in an unnatural way
AFFECTEDLY
(DECAF LEFTY)* with ‘stirred’ as the anagrind.
27 Cycling brand to make listening devices
EARS
SEAR, with the first letter moved to the end (‘cycling’).
Down
2 Swear there’s nothing in car
VOW
An insertion of O in VW. The insertion indicator is ‘there’s … in’.
3 He stepped down as 25 turned up – ciao!
RISHI
A charade of SIR (the solution to 25dn) reversed and HI. Mr Sunak did step down as leader of the Conservative Party, having taken one for the team by agreeing to become leader in the first place.
4 Take a chance, or rather don’t when clothes shopping
TRY IT ON
A kind of extended dd. If you didn’t want to take a chance with buying the wrong size when shopping for an item of clothing, then you would TRY IT ON.
5 Ollie’s partner almost finished composing rude song “stay firm”
STAND ONE’S GROUND
There are some strained and bizarre surfaces readings in this puzzle. A charade of STAN, DON[E] and (RUDE SONG)* with ‘composing’ as the anagrind. The reference is to Laurel and Hardy.
6 Autobiographical book from Bard in English and French: Raconteurs en vacance?
MEMOIRS
A charade of ME and MOI (the self-referential ‘Bard’ in English and French) and R[ACONTEUR]S. The title could translate (in AmEng at least) as ‘Storytellers on vacation’; but if you’re going to fiddle about including foreign languages, then you need to make sure it’s correct, which this isn’t. It’s en vacances.
7 Miserable soul broken by clergyman – that hurts frightfully at first
SORROWFUL
An insertion of RR, OW and F for the initial letter of ‘frightfully’ in SOUL. The insertion indicator is ‘broken by’.
8 Speller considered ‘nefarious’ – “N … repeat the word? Right … ends with S”
ENCHANTRESS
This wouldn’t win any competition for elegant cluing, I fancy. A charade of EN for N, CHANT, R and ESS for S.
12 Dwindling workplace doing this to make something cool
DROPPING OFF
The setter is indicating that if you wanted to change OFFICE into ICE (‘something cool’) you’d need to resort to DROPPING OFF.
15 Soft rock from 5?
SANDSTONE
(STAND ONES)* with a reference to a reverse anagram in the solution to 5dn, using ‘ground’ as the anagrind.
18 Forbid one to leave peaceful meal
BANQUET
A charade of BAN and QU[I]ET.
19 Unlikely to 5 thus unexpectedly hails King Henry’s rearguard
SHAKILY
(HAILS K Y)* with ‘unexpectedly’ as the anagrind. The Y comes from the last letter of ‘Henry’.
22 Take a spoonful to eat, primarily
TASTE
The initial letters of the first five words of the clue, and a cad.
25 Teacher is tripping over end of ruler
SIR
A reversal of IS followed by R for the final letter of ‘ruler’.
Many thanks to Bard for this morning’s puzzle.
The clue for SANDSTONE was a nice touch but, like Pierre, I didn’t much care for this for the same reasons as outlined in the blog. Sorry, Bard.
Rescued by Sandstone which I thought was excellent. I liked consonants as well. Me + moi use was fun but clunky clue as pointed out by blog
Unfortunately have to agree with above comments
I still enjoyed it so thanks to Bard and Pierre
Looks like I’m a bit out-of-step on this one. A few of the wordplays were flat-pack instructions, but I found the majority of the clues nicely put together, with good imagery.
Let’s be honest – any puzzle that includes
“amphibious car driver” = TOAD
deserves applause!
A very enjoyable puzzle, with (I found) some novelty, and original definitions.
Thanks, Bard & Pierre
CONSONANTS was LOI and deceptive – a nice idea. I’d agree with EN Boll that the Spoonerism for ROAD TEST was fun and with Matthew on the reverse anagram that gave us SANDSTONE. I also smiled at TRY IT ON.
Thanks Bard and Pierre
I enjoyed it too, both for SANDSTONE and ROAD TEST and because of the unusual feel to it. Different is good.
Thanks B ‘n P
I liked this a lot – mainly because I could complete it without help and within the bounds of a cup of coffee, which is rare – but also for the sandstone and consonant clues and the ones mentioned by others. It is nice to have an easier crossword now and then. It gives us less than expert solvers hope. Thanks Bard and Pierre.
Couldn’t agree with @6ele more. After last week’s series of unfinishables, it was a pleasant change to be able to rattle this one off fairly quickly and actually finish without a major headache!
Thanks Bard for an inventive crossword. I couldn’t get CONSONANTS but all else seemed straightforward. I liked TASKMASTER, OPEN, DROPPING OFF, SANDSTONE, and BANQUET. Thanks Pierre for the blog and your honest opinion.
Sorry, late to the party. Yes, maybe some of the surfaces were a bit iffy, eg 5d as you point out Pierre, but overall I liked this, with the device in the CONSONANTS clue one I don’t remember seeing before. Favourite was ARMS RACE.
I thought 6d was OK with ‘Autobiographical book’ as the def and the ‘vacance’ being deliberately in the singular for “la vacance” = vacancy. ‘Raconteurs en vacance’ would then work as R[ACONTEUR]S, meaning ‘Raconteurs’ on vacancy/vacation with the sense of an act of emptying. Not as good for the (translated) surface in the plural but still works.
I’ve just looked it up in Chambers in which there’s an entry for “vacance…(Scot): vacation. Yes, stretching things a bit with the languages being mixed but maybe that’s the sense Bard was referring to.
Thanks to Bard and Pierre
I thought this was fine, with only ARMS RACE giving me a sense of unease.
SANDSTONE and CONSONANTS were last to go in, and DROPPING OFF and STAND ONES GROUNS were my favourites.
Way too late as normal, but I enjoyed this, other than arms race and enchantress. I couldn’t parse enchantress, but had to be right, so good to have the explanation. Consonants was my LOI, thought it was clever one the penny dropped. Also dropping off was neat.
Thanks Pierre and Bard.