We have a puzzle from Hippogryph today, a setter whose puzzles I find quite difficult to solve.
There is one entry I can’t parse at all, RESORT at 23 down, one where I am very unsure of my parsing, END at 17 down, and a complete Tuesday puzzle which almost certainly has a theme that I haven’t detected. I look forward to solvers pointing out a few blindingly obvious things that I have missed. Both are now clearly explained at comments 1 and 2 – thanks to Jayjay and Matthew
I reckon 17 down has something to do with D, E, and F, but the best I can come up with is wordplay based on FEND [to hold off]. I am completely defeated by RESORT as I can’t link any combination of letters to words in the clue.
For the theme, I wondered about the juxtaposition of ROTTEN and LYRICS in the middle row and looked to see if Johnny ROTTEN had written any songs that might have featured in the grid, but that didn’t get me anywhere.
The grid is one that often has a message in the perimeter, but this one doesn’t, so another dead-end for a theme search.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 7 | Small fees regularly deducted for each returning commercial traveller (5,3)
SALES REP (sales representative; commercial traveller) SALES (letters remaining in SMALL FEES when letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 [regularly] are excluded [deducted]) + PER (for each) reversed (returning) SALES REP< |
| 9 | Recreational vehicle held by signal leading to bend (5)
CURVE (bend) RV (recreational vehicle, more an American term than a British one) contained in (held by) CUE (signal) CU (RV) E |
| 10 | 27 detailed abandoned game? (4)
MEAT (flesh of hunted animals; game) Anagram of (abandoned) (METAL [entry at 27 across] excluding the final letter [de-tailed] L) MEAT* |
| 11 | Extravagantly advertise capers, spinning additional dimension (10)
HYPERSPACE (A dimension of space-time that allows faster-than-light travel; a theoretical additional dimension) HYPE (extravagantly advertise) + an anagram of (spinning) CAPERS HYPE RSPACE* |
| 12 | Item usually containing a photograph of one dead Queen? (2,4)
ID CARD (a card which identifies a person, often including a photograph, details of age, membership, etc) I (Roman numeral for one) + D (dead) + CARD (a Queen is a playing CARD) I D CARD |
| 14 | Clot of a drug doctor going round Megastore (8)
EMBOLISM (medical term for the presence of one or more obstructing clots, etc in the blood vessel) E (ecstasy; drug) + MB (Bachelor of Medicine; doctor) + (M [mega] + SILO [store]) reversed (going round) E MB (OLIS M)< |
| 16 | Dishonest characters lurking in Tarot tent? (6)
ROTTEN (dishonest) ROTTEN (hidden word in [characters lurking in] TAROT TENT) ROTTEN |
| 18 | Cyril Knowles’s final moving words (6)
LYRICS (words) Anagram of (moving) CYRIL and S [last letter of [final] KNOWLES) LYRICS* |
| 21 | Start to pluck goldcrest – an item for the breakfast table? (8)
PORRIDGE (a food eaten at breakfast) P (first letter of [start to] PLUCK) + OR (gold tincture) + RIDGE (crest) P OR RIDGE |
| 23 | Double first from Reading in German (6)
RINGER (reference a ‘dead RINGER‘ [a person or thing [almost] identical to some other person; double]) R (initial letter of [first from] READING) + IN + GER (Germany) R IN GER |
| 24 | Equipment to help the press in South Side clubs (5,5)
STEAM IRONS (an electric iron having a compartment in which water is heated to provide steam to dampen fabrics for easier pressing) S (South) + TEAM (side) + IRONS ([golf] clubs) S TEAM IRONS |
| 26 | Draw expression of satisfaction after changing sides (4)
PULL (draw) PURR (expression of satisfaction) with both Rs (right) changed to Ls (left) – changing sides – to form PULL PULL |
| 27 | It may be bronze medal time for daughter (5)
METAL (bronze is a metal, an alloy of copper and tin) MEDAL with T (time) replacing (for) D (daughter) METAL |
| 28 | Technocrat so rued holding back international transport service (8)
EUROSTAR (an international train [transport] service connecting England and France) EUROSTAR (reversed [holding back] hidden word in [holding] TECHNOCRAT SO RUED) EUROSTAR< |
| Down | |
| 1 | Reveal dancing dresses and originally rejected shade of purple (8)
LAVENDER (a shade of purple) Anagram of (dancing) REVEAL containing (dresses) AND excluding the first letter (originally rejected) A LAVE (ND) ER* |
| 2 | Nurse housed in dry temporary accommodation (4)
TENT (temporary accommodation) EN (Enrolled Nurse) contained in (in) TT (teetotal; dry) T (EN) T |
| 3 | Discontented older child’s left wanting flowering plant (6)
ORCHID flowering plant) OR (letters remaining in OLDER when the central letters LDE are removed [dis-content-ed]) + CHILD excluding (wanting) L (left) OR CHID |
| 4 | Cliff can be frightening, just missing out on Yuletide’s number one (4)
SCAR (cliff) SCARY (frightening) excluding (just missing out on) Y (first letter of [number one] YULETIDE) SCAR |
| 5 | Driving force from bestselling drink boosted bottling work (10)
PROPULSION (a force which causes motion; driving force) (NO I [number one] + SLURP [drink]) all reversed (boosted; down entry) and then containing (OP [OPus; work]) PR (OP) ULS I ON< |
| 6 | Reserve some Parisian clothes and treats before flight from Siberia? (2-4)
DE-ICES (Siberia being very cold most of the time it is likely that an engineer DE-ICES the plane before it takes off) DES (French for ‘some’ as in ‘mange DES fruit’ [to eat some fruit]) containing (clothes) ICE (reserve) DE (ICE) S |
| 8 | Spray and verbally assault partner? (6)
PEPPER (reference PEPPER spray [a defence agent derived from hot cayenne peppers, which causes temporary blindness and breathing difficulty, sometimes used to control riots]) ASSAULT sounds like (verbally) a SALT. PEPPER is a partner of SALT on the dining table PEPPER |
| 13 | Celebration where men, animals and machines may be seen? (5-5)
AFTER-PARTY (A small PARTY held after a larger event, such as a pop concert or film premiere, to which only a select group of guests is invited; celebration) AFTER-PARTY (each of MEN, ANIMALS and MACHINE can come AFTER PARTY to form three well known compounds PARTY MEN, PARTY ANIMALS and PARTY MACHINE) AFTER-PARTY |
| 15 | Young man gambles for enjoyment essentially (3)
BOY (young man) B (central letter of [essentially] GAMBLES) + O (central letter of [essentially] FOR) + Y (central letter of [essentially] ENJOYMENT) B O Y |
| 17 |
ABC’s followers dropped by to hold object (3) END (object) I am not entirely sure of the wordplay here but suggest FEND (to hold [at bay] using DEF, the followers of ABC reversed (dropped) then excluding [dropped again?] F to from END END |
| 19 | That lady would charge a large amount (8)
SHEDLOAD (large amount) SHE’D (that lady would) + LOAD (charge [a gun]) SHED LOAD |
| 20 | Pep has been cavorting outside. Get away! (6)
BEGONE (get away) Anagram of (cavorting) BEEN containing (outside) GO (energy; pep) BE (GO) NE* |
| 22 | In Piedmont I meditated as per the schedule (2,4)
ON TIME (as per the schedule) ON TIME (hidden word in [in] PIEDMONT I MEDITATED) ON TIME |
| 23 | Heartlessly steal from the South’s holiday hotspot (6)
RESORT (holiday hotspot) RESORT – I can’t see the wordplay here RESORT |
| 25 | Muck, perhaps dissolves evenly? (4)
ISLE (island [isle] off the west coast of Scotland) ISLE (letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 of DISSOLVES) ISLE |
| 26 | Sell hotel after unpleasant matter (4)
PUSH (sell drugs) PUS (thick yellowish fluid formed by suppuration, consisting of serum, white blood cells, bacteria and debris of tissue; unpleasant matter) + H (hotel) PUS H |
23d RESORT is TROUSER (steal) going upwards (from the South) without the U – (heartlessly). Can’t help with 17d or the theme, though!
I think 17d is DEFEND=hold with DEF removed, and I agree with Jayjay about 23d.
I was held up a little by entering HYPERSCAPE at 11a, and it took me a while to understand I needed to separate Megastore in 14a, but I had no such trouble with goldcrest in 21a.
I’m pretty bad at spotting themes, and I had no luck here.
Thanks, duncanshiell and Hippogryph.
Jayjay @ 1
Thanks, that explains RESORT clearly. I completely missed the meaning of ‘from the South’
Matthew @ 2
Thanks – that parsing of END taking DEF from DEFEND makes a lot more sense than my poor attempt at parsing
I think the theme is BELL (RINGER, PEPPER, END, ORCHID, BOY, PULL, CURVE, METAL, TENT)
There’s probably more that aren’t immediately obvious to me
This was certainly tough in places and I have no idea of a theme. The parsing of AFTER-PARTY eluded me as I have never heard of “party machine” (perhaps not surprising as Chambers says this is a US expression). I was also unable to parse END.
Thanks to Hippogryph and to Duncan; also to Matthew for explaining END.
Ah! Well done, Arossignol @5.
I can add TENT, BOY and PUSH.
PS. I see that Arossignol also added a couple of those while I was typing.
Looks as if Arossignol has it – there’s a BELL TENT and a BELL PUSH. Though I didn’t see that when scouring the grid for something. I wondered if it was going to be a late tribute to Ian LAVENDER at one point. Thanks for the parsing of END which had completely escaped me.
RD @6: I am surprised to hear you hadn’t encountered PARTY MACHINE as it’s a US expression. I really had got the impression you would have the US dictionary off by heart by now 🤣
Thanks Hippogryph and duncan
PM @8. 🙂
Ringer, pull, boy and curve should’ve rung a bell, but no not even a dull donk in the ginf brain. Reverse trouser minus u is pretty neat. Did not twig hold = defend, so end went in with a shrug. Good clean fun over all, thanks Hippo and duncan.
My faves: PORRIDGE, PULL and END (parsed this one but failed on AFTER-PARTY as I went into my overthinking mode).
Thanks Hippogryph and duncan.
I’ve found Hippogryph difficult in the past, but perhaps he’s mellowed or I’ve stepped up in my solving since his last appearance, as this went down quite smoothly. All parsed as well – RESORT was an excellent spot, while END was tricky but good.
I’m surprised to find ‘party machine’ marked as US in the dictionary – I suppose it is mostly used in relation to US politics, but it appears in plenty of UK coverage of internal Democratic Party wranglings.
Thanks both.
I had 17 as D’n’E (d and e) dropped or reversed.
An awkward grid with some rather awkward clues, which I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy much.
13(down) is a nice idea, but with an iffy extension: “politicians, poppers and poopers”?
Likewise, 8(down), where ” a salt partner” just misses, though I presume “battery” was the intended misdirection.
Our blogger, and other learned posters, have made a better fist of quite a few of the parsings than I did, I’m ashamed to say that I lost interest somewhat towards the end.
19(down) SHEDLOAD. This phrase has always piqued my curiosity……does it come from the traffic bulletins, ” on the M6, long delays where a lorry has shed its load” ? Or from the old garden man cave overflowing with clutter?
Rgds, setter, blogger and all
A small query: at 12A, in other puzzles this would have been shown as (1,1,4) not (2,4). Is there a rule or is it just at the editor’s discretion? Thanks Hippogryph and Duncan.
I parsed END as per Major@13 but [def]END is better as the wordplay is more accurate, and I expect that is what the setter intended.
E.N.Boll&@14 – I have wondered about ‘shedload’ too. My guess is the overflowing garden man cave!
I enjoyed this puzzle. Found the top much easier than the bottom. Thanks H & D.
Thanks Hippogryph and DS
Dylan’s Self Portrait album includes the song BELLe ISLE.
Tatrasman @ 15 I think ID is a single word, as it’s an abbreviation of IDENTITY.
Loved this – very much on my wavelength. Several of the setters usually popular with my fellow commenters are really really hard for me, so it is interesting to see this one characterized as difficult. Unusually for me, the answers just flowed. Thanks so much to Hippogryph for a lovely puzzle, Duncan for our blog, and the commenters who helped me parse END and AFTER PARTY!
This setter’s puzzles have certainly got more challenging since his early days which I remember well, but I still try to keep up with him despite sometimes failing, as with END today and not spotting the theme. Silly really on the latter point as RINGER was my favourite clue!
Thanks to Hippogryph and to Duncan for bringing us the review against all the odds.
[Remember the ’70s, when we all wore BELL-bottom TRO[u]SER<s? For 4d SCAR, I thought the "Yuletide’s number one",
rather than one of Sir Cliff's, might be The Darkness's Christmas Time (Don’t Let the BELLs END) (2003) “‘…RING in peace”,
with its double meanings of “bellends” and “ringpieces”, but it was only a “number two”, appropriately enough.]
Has anybody spotted the nina/theme?
But, as a follower , for many years of Spurs(yes, I know, be gentle) any criticisms of this puzzle are more than outweighed by the reference to one of my heroes, the magnificent Cyril Knowles.
Nice one Cyril
Sheds can be warehouses as well as garden sheds, thus making shedloads suitably big. I enjoyed this, though I, too, went for a comedy theme with LAVENDER, PORRIDGE RINGER until there were no more. [It’s more of an ego card than an id card, I always think]
I thought this was really top notch. Challenging but certainly on my wavelength.
Favourites: EUROSTAR, HYPERSPACE, PORRIDGE and STEAM IRONS. Also the positioning of PUSH and PULL
Thanks Duncan and Hypogriph
Thanks to all for the comments and special thanks to Duncan for the excellent blog. Also just confirming that my intended parsing for END was as described by Matthew@2.
I’m pleased that Cyril Knowles raised a smile for MrBee@21 – he was a late substitute for Mr Regis once it was pointed out to me that he was in fact a Cyrille not Cyril 😊
Thanks again and hope to be back soon
Like Oren@4, this one just flowed in. One of my quickest solves so far this year.
I’m no football fan, but I remember the novelty song Nice One Cyril from the early seventies. I vaguely recall an advert for bread used it as a slogan, but I’ve not idea whether that preceded the football chant or the other way round.
Thanks Hippogryph and duncanshiell. In the US, I’d say that SHEDLOAD is primarily a euphemism (with editor pre-empting sex).
Thanks Hippogryph. I got to this late but I still wanted to register my delight with this crossword. I found this to be very smooth sailing and the only question I had was the parsing of END. I had many favourites including PULL, METAL (nice surface), PROPULSION, PEPPER, BOY, RESORT (great construction), and PUSH. I saw ROTTEN LYRICS but otherwise could not twig a theme. Thanks duncanshiell for the blog.
Thanks Simon S @17, though I think that’s unsatisfactory as ID is always written in capitals and pronounced as two syllables. I’m still voting for 1,1,4!