Good fun with a few innovative/unconventional clues from Slormgorm today
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WEBMASTER |
One maintaining online site is 17, perhaps (9)
|
| Double/cryptic definition, the second referring to the solution to 17A MONEY SPIDER | ||
| 6 | HINDI |
On becoming hot-headed, watch one’s language (5)
|
| [M]IND (watch) changing (on becoming) the first letter (-headed) to H (hot) + I (one) | ||
| 9 | FISSURE |
Female has problem corseting royal cleavage (7)
|
| F (female) + ISSUE (problem) around (corseting) R (royal) | ||
| 10 | GIVEN UP |
Revealed by end of blog: I have wordplay backward (5,2)
|
| Last letter of (end of) [BLO]G + I’VE (I have) + PUN (wordplay) reversed (backward) | ||
| 11 | RUMBA |
Liquor sailor knocked over in lively dance (5)
|
| RUM (liquor) + AB (sailor) reversed (knocked over) | ||
| 12 | INDICATOR |
Popular autocrat half the time is a flasher (9)
|
| IN (popular) + DIC[T]ATOR (autocrat) minus one of the Ts (“half the time”) | ||
| 14 | CAN |
Tin axe (3)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | ORAL HYGIENE |
Canine grooming service? (4,7)
|
| Cryptic definition, referring to a canine tooth | ||
| 17 | MONEY SPIDER |
Silk manufacturer upset miners with Dopey (5,6)
|
| Anagram of (upset) {MINERS + DOPEY} | ||
| 19 | WIT |
Wife and relations showing keen intelligence (3)
|
| W (wife) + IT ([sexual] relations) | ||
| 20 | ANDROMEDA |
Road named after a smashing all-star group (9)
|
| Anagram of (after a smashing) ROAD NAMED, referring to the constellation [update: or galaxy, see Roz@5] | ||
| 22 | ANGEL |
One who backs in corner after turning tail (5)
|
| ANGLE (corner) with the last two letters reversed (after turning tail) | ||
| 24 | ONSTAGE |
Performing animal that I must restrain (7)
|
| ONE (I) around (must restrain) STAG (animal) | ||
| 26 | INDIANS |
Home help coming round with Poles and foreigners (7)
|
| IN (home) + AID (help) reversed (coming round) + {N + S} (poles, i.e., of the Earth), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 27 | GASPS |
Primarily stupid to cut holes in pants (5)
|
| First letter of (primarily) S[TUPID] inside (to cut) GAPS (holes) | ||
| 28 | GENERALLY |
Military type’s extremely lairy on the whole (9)
|
| GENERAL (military type) + outside letters of (extremely) L[AIR]Y | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WAFER |
Biscuit and drink tenor left out for fellow (5)
|
| WA[T]ER (drink) exchanging T (tenor) (left out for) F (fellow) | ||
| 2 | BEST MAN |
Ring-bearer being sat on by heartless monster (4,3)
|
| BE[A]ST (monster) minus middle letter (heartless) + MAN (being) | ||
| 3 | ADULATORY |
A mostly boring conservative receiving a flattering (9)
|
| {A + DUL[L] (boring) minus last letter (mostly) + TORY (conservative)} around (receiving) A | ||
| 4 | THE BIG APPLE |
City abroad that might’ve given Newton a headache? (3,3,5)
|
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 5 | RUG |
Syrup and aspirin possibly no good in the end (3)
|
| [D]RUG (aspirin possibly) minus (no) last letter of (in the end) [GOO]D, referring to Cockney rhyming slang for “wig” | ||
| 6 | HAVOC |
Some with a vocation in wanton destruction (5)
|
| Hidden in (some) [WIT]H A VOC[ATION] | ||
| 7 | NONE THE |
Not a bit of northern article is about me! (4,3)
|
| {N (northern) + THE (article)} around (is about) ONE (me) | ||
| 8 | IMPERFECT |
Poor Slormgorm is excellent in all respects (9)
|
| I’M PERFECT (Slormgorm is excellent in all respects) | ||
| 13 | DEHYDRATION |
Red-hot day in Barking could cause this (11)
|
| &lit and anagram of (barking) RED-HOT DAY IN | ||
| 14 | COME ALONG |
Get cracking alfresco meal on German ships (4,5)
|
| Hidden in (ships) [ALFRES]CO MEAL ON G[ERMAN] | ||
| 16 | GERMANDER |
Olaf Scholz is one embarrassed about bloomer (9)
|
| GERMAN (Olaf Scholz is one) + RED (embarrassed) inverted (about) | ||
| 18 | NUDISTS |
Men going out with privates on parade? (7)
|
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 19 | WAGTAIL |
High-flyer keen to drink a gin and tonic (7)
|
| WAIL (keen) around (to drink) {A + G&T (gin and tonic)} | ||
| 21 | OPALS |
Old smack sent up for The Stones (5)
|
| O (old) + SLAP (smack) inverted (sent up), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 23 | LUSTY |
Very passionate liberal on union: ‘corrupt place’ (5)
|
| L (liberal) + U (union) + STY (corrupt place) | ||
| 25 | EGG |
One possibly scrambled in, say, Gloster at front (3)
|
| E.G. (say) + first letter of (at front) G[LOSTER] |
I do not see the relevance of the Cockney rhyming slang for wig which is “syrup of figs ”. The wordplay stands on its own.
Apart from this quibble I agree this was fun and a great blog.
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria
On second thoughts RUG is the definition and slang for a wig. Great clue and apologies for my mistake
An enjoyable crossword with many good clues and variety. A steady solve, easy at the top with more difficulty in the bottom half.
I ticked THE BIG APPLE (with the usual exception that it is not “a city abroad” for many solvers), WIT made me laugh, DEHYDRATION was brilliant – great anagram and surface, nice anagram for ANDROMEDA (but “all-star group” was a bit corny), and I thought GASPS & COME ALONG were cleverly done.
A couple of questions: LUSTY – why does corrupt place = STY?; ONSTAGE – why is it one word and isn’t it backwards? The clue says one restrains animal. But it is animal that restrains one, isn’t it?
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria.
Couldn’t parse RUG (had to reveal it), and looking at the explanation here, my head’s spinning. Today’s was mostly enjoyable, but a few groans too. Never heard of MONEY SPIDER nor GERMANDER.
Thanks for the blog , some very good clues here , I took ANDROMEDA as a reference to the galaxy which contains all types of stars . The most distant naked-eye object , November the best time in the UK .
Martyn—I think ONE restrains STAG: ON(STAG)E. What I wonder about is why is ME ONE in 7D. I liked the puzzle but it was definitely more difficult than the usual Slormgorm fare.
Thanks Slormgorm and Cineraria. My favourite clue was my last one in 19dn for the way I had to rethink the meaning of “keen”: far from making me weep, it left me in a really happy frame of mind at the end of the puzzle.
7dn: SOED 2007 p 2002 gives an illustrative quote from Oscar Wilde “I don’t mind waiting in the carriage … provided there is somebody to look at one”. Older generations of the British royal family are (or were) notorious for overuse of “one” as an indefinite personal pronoun.
23dn: Staying with SOED, p 3076 gives us sty noun² first as a pigsty and second, marked transf. & fig., “A filthy or squalid room or dwelling; a den of vice, a place of debauchery.” Similar definitions can be found in Chambers 2016 and Collins 2023.
NONE THE ? Can see the parsing, no problem. Never in 63 years have I heard the expression.
7dn following Simon@8: I too raised an eyebrow at this. Collins 2023 p 1348 has (under the headword none¹) “5 none the (foll by a comparative adjective) in no degree: she was none the worse for her ordeal“. There are similar entries in Chambers 2016 and ODE 2010. Whether any of them justify use of NONE THE on its own is not at all clear.
Enjoyed this.. altho’ needed the blog to calm misgivings over 7d, as I was expecting something northern in character, which it isn’t. Didn’t get ON STAGE till I’d written it down, either… doh..
Thanks Cinearia and SLORMGORM
I have to quibble with the clue to 19dn, unless the term ‘high-flyer’ is acceptable for birds in general. I can appreciate it works as a distractor, allowing also for careerists. But, to be pedantic, wagtails, unlike say skylarks, are not high-flyers. They are predominantly ground dwellers, frequently found by streams or in car-parks. However, I do like a G&T, or a nice glass of Malbec!
Yellow wagtails are summer visitors from West Africa , I suspect that they must fly fairly high when they migrate .
Jadder@11 re 19dn: Interesting point. The only definitions of high-flyer (or high-flier) in Collins and ODE are the “careerist” type of meaning. Chambers 2016 gives us “a bird that flies high”, but that does not really get us very far: how high is high? None of the definitions for wagtail seem to give us any information about how they fly. My inclination, based simply on that, is to give the benefit of the doubt to the setter, and Roz@12 has given us useful supporting information for that position here.
This puzzle had a number of jokey/cryptic definitions, so I took “high-flyer” in that spirit, without further comment in the blog.
Re 24 ONSTAGE, no one commented on Martyn@3’s question concerning “onstage” as one word. I think “onstage”refers to the place where the performance takes place, whereas “on stage” refers to the act of performing. It may be a quibblet, but I hesitated to write it in for that reason.
Thanks, Slormgorm and Cineraria, for the puzzle and blog. I especially liked the cryptic definition for 15 ORAL HYGIENE, although I initially entered ORAL SURGERY until crossers corrected me.
24ac: ODE 2010 p 1241 allows onstage (one word) as adjective and adverb with the definition “(in a theatre) on the stage and so visible to the audience”. Edit: I think it would need to be marked as a definition by example if “onstage” were used to define “performing”, but in my view it is fine the way it is used in the clue.
If one hadn’t come to 225 to read the blog one would be none the wiser? ( Not a bit wiser!)