Some precise, economical clues from Steerpike today . . .
. . . [UPDATE] as Diane@2 points out, in tribute to the recently deceased director David Lynch. As someone who has watched the entire Twin Peaks cycle twice, I am embarrassed that I missed the theme completely. One of the greatest (and certainly most terrifying) movies that I have ever seen is Inland Empire, for which Laura Dern should have been given an Academy Award.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DESPOT |
Ruler of Germany given notice by English (6)
|
| D (Germany, in IVR code) + E (English) + SPOT (notice) | ||
| 4 | ERASER |
Times editor on vacation doesn’t need one? (6)
|
| Cryptic clue-as-definition and ERAS (times) + outside letters of (on vacation) E[DITO]R | ||
| 8 | OVERSEE |
Invigilate first of exams on love poetry (7)
|
| O (love) + VERSE (poetry) + first [letter] of E[XAMS] | ||
| 9 | IGNEOUS |
Tormented genius defends old geological classification (7)
|
| Anagram of (tormented) GENIUS around (defends) O (old) | ||
| 11 | ADRENALINE |
A doctor essentially sent some cocaine as stimulant (10)
|
| A + DR (doctor) + inside letters of (essentially) [S]EN[T] + A LINE (some cocaine) | ||
| 12 | TWIN |
Matching receptacle filled with whiskey (4)
|
| TIN (receptacle) around (filled with) W (whiskey) | ||
| 13 | DELHI |
Small store reportedly supplies populous city (5)
|
| Homophone of (reportedly) DELI (small store) | ||
| 14 | ENMESHED |
In finale, female stalking Steerpike is caught (8)
|
| {ME (Steerpike) + SHE (female), with “stalking” indicating the order of the wordplay} inside (in) END (finale) | ||
| 16 | STRAIGHT |
Honest view about art retrospective (8)
|
| SIGHT (view) around (about) ART reversed (retrospective) | ||
| 18 | STORY |
Tale of lust or yearning (5)
|
| Hidden in (of) [LU]ST OR Y[EARNING] | ||
| 20 | HEAD |
Commander in Chief periodically meeting retired US prosecutor (4)
|
| Alternate letters of (periodically) [C]H[I]E[F] + DA (US prosecutor) reversed (retired) | ||
| 21 | PARTICIPLE |
Verbal form of protest initially disrupted epic trial (10)
|
| First letter of (initially) P[ROTEST] + anagram of (disrupted) EPIC TRIAL | ||
| 23 | VIRTUAL |
Victory ceremony one brought to the fore online (7)
|
| V (victory) + RITUAL (ceremony) with I (one) moved to the front (brought to the fore) | ||
| 24 | DISOWNS |
Denies detective’s working outside Welsh quarter (7)
|
| DI’S (detective’s) + {ON (working) around (outside [of]) W (Welsh)} + S (quarter, as on a compass) | ||
| 25 | GARISH |
Husband concluding fish is tasteless (6)
|
| GAR (fish) + IS + H (husband) | ||
| 26 | SMOOTH |
Polish maiden enveloped by endless calm (6)
|
| M (maiden) inside (enveloped by) SOOTH[E] (calm) minus last letter (endless) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DAVID |
Died subduing fanatical giant slayer (5)
|
| D (died) + AVID (fanatical) | ||
| 2 | SURREAL |
Strange creature crossing river in ancient city (7)
|
| SEAL (creature) around (crossing) {R (river) inside (in) UR (ancient city)} | ||
| 3 | OVERAWING |
Grow a vine at sea? That’s impressive! (9)
|
| Anagram of (at sea) GROW A VINE | ||
| 5 | ROGUE |
Ne’er-do-well lexicographer detailed features typical of upper classes (5)
|
| [Peter Mark] ROGE[T] (lexicographer) minus last letter (“de-tailed”) around (features) U (typical of upper classes) | ||
| 6 | SLEUTHS |
Deplorable tussle involving hotel detectives (7)
|
| Anagram of (deplorable) TUSSLE around (involving) H (hotel) | ||
| 7 | ROUTINELY |
Normally itinerary includes popular locality’s periphery (9)
|
| {ROUTE (itinerary) around (includes) IN (popular)} + outside letters of (periphery [of]) L[OCALIT]Y | ||
| 10 | DIRECTORY |
Desperate maniac’s last on Conservative list (9)
|
| DIRE (desperate) + last [letter of] [MANIA]C + TORY (Conservative) | ||
| 13 | DITHERING |
Acting hesitantly, princess leads the band (9)
|
| DI (princess) + THE + RING (band) | ||
| 15 | MYSTICISM |
Icy mists obscured medium’s spiritual practices (9)
|
| Anagram of (obscured) ICY MISTS + M (medium) | ||
| 17 | AUDITOR |
Car trip abandoned by university examiner (7)
|
| AUDI (car) + TO[U]R (trip) minus (abandoned by) U (university) | ||
| 19 | ORINOCO |
Exposed ford in middle of broad Colorado river (7)
|
| Inside letters of (exposed) [F]OR[D] + IN + middle [letter] of [BR]O[AD] + CO (Colorado) | ||
| 21 | PEAKS |
Summits held in Alaska epitomised backtracking (5)
|
| Hidden in (held in) [ALA]SKA EP[ITOMISED] inverted (backtracking) | ||
| 22 | LYNCH |
Hang conclusions of liberal inquiry on church! (5)
|
| Last letters of (conclusions of) [LIBERA]L [INQUIR]Y [O]N + CH (church) |
Top faves: ERASER, ROGUE and PEAKS.
Thanks Steerpike and Cineraria.
Hats off to Steerpike for this great puzzle, an unannounced tribute to a film director whose work was provocative but my favourite work of his runs across the centre of the grid.
The puzzle is well crafted with no hint of its being torturously assembled to fit the theme – I’ll leave others to discover it at their leisure.
Loved it.
Thanks to Steerpike and Cineraria.
My favourites in the grid, incidentally, were ENMESHED, DITHERING, PARTICIPLE and ADRENALINE.
No shame in that, Cineraria. It’s what I meant, really, about the grid coming together so seemingly seamlessly! And yes, I’m also an admirer of Laura Dern’s work though I particularly liked Wild at Heart (at the time, anyway!)
Really neat crossword with some lovely clues. Theme, what theme? (I’m useless on film, better on books).
Thank you to Steerpike and Cineraria.
As said – precise economical clues – and I too missed the theme.
Annoyingly the online version of the FT puzzles does not have the name of the setter at the top so I completely forgot who it was. So was held up for a while trying to think what Steerpike indicated in 14 ac. (Even looked it up …. and I have read the books…..)
Thanks Steerpike and Cineraria
Knowing nothing about Twin Peaks (apart from the name) and little about David Lynch we failed to see the theme. No matter, this was a great crossword, solvable without knowledge of the theme or recourse to obscutities. We particularly liked ADRENALINE, PARTICIPLE, VIRTUAL and SURREAL.
Our only (minor) gripe is that ‘princess’ for ‘di’ is surely an outworn cliché by now.
Thanks, Steerpike and Cineraria.
Thanks for the blog and thanks to Diane@2 for the theme which I missed completely. Very enjoyable puzzle with many neat and clever clues .
I enjoyed this one, even though I couldn’t suss the top left corner I managed to get the rest without too many mental contortions.
Thought 5D rather obscure, but it was fair enough i suppose