I found myself struggling to complete this Gozo gallimaufry . . .
. . . and I cannot parse 17D, so would appreciate suggestions there.
Update: Ah, yes, as indicated by Diane@1, we have hidden ZERO, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN–or perhaps in reverse, as a countdown. I was wondering why the grid seemed a bit convoluted, not suspecting that it was in the service of a theme.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ONESIE |
Casual garment from Round 3 in Germany rejected (6)
|
| O (round) + EISEN (3 in Germany, i.e., the solution to 3D = IRON, in German) reversed (rejected) | ||
| 4 | BELL TENT |
Spooner’s national hero inclined to provide glamping accommodation (4,4)
|
| Spoonerism of [WILLIAM] TELL (national hero) + BENT (inclined) | ||
| 10 | SIGNORA |
Leo, say, alternatively a married lady (7)
|
| SIGN (Leo, say, in astrology) + OR (alternatively) + A | ||
| 11 | GONE FAR |
Has achieved success after many miles? (4,3)
|
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 12 | LOTS |
A great deal on offer? (4)
|
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 13 | SIXTH SENSE |
Hints Essex is rebuilt. I have this feeling (5,5)
|
| Anagram of (rebuilt) HINTS ESSEX | ||
| 15 | TWO-WAY |
Involving shared responsibility with traffic in both directions (3-3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | ASININE |
Stupid, like one number (7)
|
| AS (like) + I (one) + NINE (number) | ||
| 20 | ZERO-DAY |
No time for hackers’ cyber-attack on software (4-3)
|
| ZERO (no) + DAY (time) | ||
| 21 | SALUKI |
Silky hound called Sarah — our country’s number one (6)
|
| SAL ([nickname of] Sarah) + UK (our country) + I (number one) | ||
| 24 | FOUR SQUARE |
16 standing firm (4,6)
|
| Double definition, the first, i.e., the square of 4; the second commonly hyphenated | ||
| 26 | SHOE |
Hose — otherwise, what else could be worn! (4)
|
| Anagram of (otherwise) HOSE | ||
| 28 | INFLICT |
Deal out punishment to popular cop before start of trial (7)
|
| IN (popular) + FLIC (cop) + first letter of (start of) T[RIAL] | ||
| 29 | TENSILE |
Working in steel that can be stretched (7)
|
| Anagram of (working) IN STEEL | ||
| 30 | GETS EVEN |
Is revenged with Georgia re-arranging events (4,4)
|
| GE (Georgia, i.e., the Eurasian nation, not the American state) + anagram of (re-arranging) EVENTS | ||
| 31 |
See 19 Down
|
|
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | OBSOLETE |
Former pupil — the only one Lawrence dated (8)
|
| OB (former pupil) + SOLE (the only one) + T.E. (Lawrence, i.e., “of Arabia”) | ||
| 2 | EIGHTSOME |
Rowing crews at ‘ouse reel (9)
|
| EIGHTS (rowing crews) + ‘OME (‘ouse) | ||
| 3 | IRON |
Smooth Japanese dish tipped over (4)
|
| NORI (Japanese dish) inverted (tipped over) | ||
| 5 | ERGOTISM |
Therefore whirling mist causes sickness (8)
|
| ERGO (therefore) + anagram of (whirling) MIST | ||
| 6 | LENDS AN EAR |
Hearkens when Listener is loaned out (5,2,3)
|
| Cryptic definition, with LENDS (is loaned out) + AN EAR (listener), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 7 | ELFIN |
Dainty piece of self-indulgence (5)
|
| Hidden in (piece of) [S]ELF-IN[DULGENCE] | ||
| 8 | THREE-D |
Having swapped the middle of the red hologram’s feature (5-1)
|
| THE RED, having swapped the middle [two letters, E and R] | ||
| 9 | RADIO |
New ‘air do and set (5)
|
| Anagram of (new) ‘AIR DO | ||
| 14 | FAMOUS FIVE |
Literary youngsters such as the Jacksons or Spice Girls (6,4)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to a series of children’s novels by Enid Blyton | ||
| 17 | NAUGHTIER |
Love attention, being comparatively mischievous (9)
|
| I don’t know: Maybe: NAUGHT (love) + I, ER (attention?, i.e., as an interruption?) | ||
| 18 | BAGUETTE |
e.g. mostly butter spread around a crusty stick (8)
|
| Anagram of (spread around) {E.G. + BUTTE[R] minus last letter (mostly) + A} | ||
| 19/31 | NINE MEN’S MORRIS |
Two sets of miners on review for boardgame (4,4,6)
|
| Anagram of (review) {MINERS + MINERS (two sets of . . .) + ON} | ||
| 22 | OFFING |
Don’t begin undressing in the near future (6)
|
| [D]OFFING (undressing) minus first letter (don’t begin) | ||
| 23 | GRATE |
Said ‘Super’ which does jar! (5)
|
| Homophone of (said) GREAT (super) | ||
| 25 | UNFIT |
Army group hugging female out of shape (5)
|
| UNIT (army group) around (hugging) F (female) | ||
| 27 | UNDO |
Menu option some found odd (4)
|
| Hidden in (some) [FO]UND O[DD] |
You can count on (ha ha!) Gozo for a fun grid and so this proved.
Besides enjoying the unannounced theme, I liked IRON, OFFING NINE MEN’S MORRIS.
I’m sorry, Cineraria, but the parsing of 17d left me scratching my head too so definition and crossers saved the day!
Thank you for the blog and Gozo for brightening the day.
Yes, an enjoyable puzzle. I saw the numbers theme which helped with the FAMOUS FIVE. No idea about the parsing for ONESIE (are we really expected to know the German for ‘iron’ – whinge, whinge) and the “ancient strategy ‘boardgame'” NINE MEN’S MORRIS was an unknown.
I couldn’t parse 17d either. I wonder if a homophone indicator may have been inadvertently omitted. NOUGHT EAR (‘Love attention’) would do as a homophone for NAUGHTIER. Still, whenever I think there’s been a boo-boo there usually hasn’t, so there’ll be a better explanation.
Thanks to Gozo and Cineraria
Thanks Gozo. I enjoyed ‘finding the numbers’ and that actually helped me solve ZERO DAY and ONESIE. I missed the nho FAMOUS FIVE (I got the ‘five’ but not the ‘famous’) and the nho NINE MENS MORRIS (I counted the ‘nine’ of the theme with ASININE). In any event this was fun with ASININE, UNFIT, and UNDO topping my list. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.
What Diane@1 wrote.
Thanks Gozo and Cineraria
Fun puzzle. I was unfamiliar with zero day so I learned something new. I assumed that the parsing for 17D had IER for attention, with that suffix denoting interest in or attention to a particular area. Thanks Gozo and great blog by Cineraria.
I’m inclined to agree with Wordplodder @2 with ‘nought’ and ‘ear’ missing a homophone … unless something more compelling comes along.
[Saw The 13a in 1999…]
[…and there’s a German ELEVEN in 7d]
One of the few things I remember from my O-level History is Bismarck’s slogan Blut und Eisen – blood and iron.
Also “LOTS”, an indeterminate number to add to the count?
Great puzzle as all have said. I had UDON for 27D as an anagram of “some” of found. Of course, this precluded my getting NINE MEN’S MORRIS and TENSILE, which I got but couldn’t fit in. Did not get ONESIE either, so a DNF for me. Did not pick up the theme either.
We did get, and parse, ONESIE, but were totally defeated by ZERO DAY – never heard of it – and couldn’t parse NAUGHTIER satisfactorily. And we were quite oblivious to the theme. We did like OBSOLETE, EIGHTSOME and NINE MEN’S MORRIS, though.
Thanks, Gozo and Cineraria.
I should have got Onesie after seeing the theme but didn’t because I was focused on drie as 3 in German! Plugged in WENT FAR instead of GONE FAR and figured there was some disease that started with e and had a w in it that I didn’t know! But lots of fun. Thank you all.
I eventually finished, but it took two attempts. And completely missed the theme. Never heard of zero day or nine men’s Morris.