Bobcat is often a challenge, but I think this has to be the toughest Bobcat grid I have ever solved, with some very unusual devices in play. Please let me know if I have missed any tricks.
The customary feline nina appears across the middle.
I have seen discussion before about such clues as 1A, where the letter to be substituted is not specified in the wordplay, but is instead locked in by the crossers.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | RESIGNED |
Gave up, having intended to start afresh (8)
|
| [D]ESIGNED (intended) with a different first letter (to start afresh) | ||
| 5 | CARIES |
Sign by entrance to Crufts — “Potential Canine Disorder” (6)
|
| First letter of (entrance to) C[RUFTS] + ARIES (sign), referring to teeth | ||
| 10 | PARFAIT |
Spooner’s advanced money for dessert (7)
|
| Spoonerism of FAR (advanced) + PAY (money) | ||
| 11 | AMATEUR |
Lay right next to gilded companion (7)
|
| MATE (companion) encased in AU (= gold, thus “gilded”) + R (right) | ||
| 12 | INANIMATE |
Endlessly maintained Brahms and Liszt to be dull (9)
|
| Anagram of (Brahms and Liszt, Cockney Rhyming Slang for “drunk”) MAINTAINE[D] minus last letter (endlessly) | ||
| 13 | SOGGY |
Heavy with liquid sauce — around two gallons (5)
|
| SOY (sauce) around {G + G} (two gallons) | ||
| 15 | ASCOT |
Course of arsenic leading to hospital bed (5)
|
| AS ([chemical symbol for] arsenic) + COT (hospital bed), referring to the horse racing venue | ||
| 16 | SCRABBLE |
Make up word game from scratch (8)
|
| I think this is intended to be: Triple definition | ||
| 19 | ALARMIST |
Scaremonger exposed salary given to couples regularly employed in ministry (8)
|
| Inside letters of (exposed) [S]ALAR[Y] + alternate pairs of letters in (couples regularly employed in) MI[NI]ST[RY] | ||
| 20 | ABELE |
Turned over sapele bark protecting plant (5)
|
| Hidden in (protecting) [SAP]ELE BA[RK] reversed (turned over), another name for white poplar | ||
| 21 | SITUS |
Diamonds etc returned before one’s taken forward position (5)
|
| SUITS (diamonds etc, in cards) reversed (returned) with the I then moved toward the front of the resulting word (one’s taken forward) | ||
| 23 | INSISTENT |
Demanding, earnest controlling sibling (9)
|
| INTENT (earnest) around (controlling) SIS (sibling) | ||
| 25 | AVARICE |
A sin: grasping at riches, primarily? (7)
|
| &lit and A + VICE (sin) around (grasping) first letters of (primarily) {A[T] R[ICHES]} | ||
| 27 | AVENGER |
Refuse collector needs special cape to be superhero (7)
|
| [SC]AVENGER (refuse collector) minus (needs) {S (special) + C (cape)} | ||
| 28 | KITTEN |
Youngster tailed relatives cycling around tent (6)
|
| KI[N] (relatives) minus last letter (tailed) + TENT with the final T moved to the front (cycling around) | ||
| 29 | FECKLESS |
Feeble order to Dubliner to moderate his swearing? (8)
|
| Double/cryptic definition, the latter translating to: “[SAY] FECK LESS.” | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | REPRISAL |
Discharged prisoner is covered by substantial compensation (8)
|
| {Outside letters of (discharged) P[RISONE]R + IS} inside (covered by) REAL (substantial) | ||
| 2 | SIR LANCELOT |
Stellar icon playing legendary character (3,8)
|
| Anagram of (playing) STELLAR ICON | ||
| 3 | GLADIATOR |
Old circus performer juggled gold tiaras interminably (9)
|
| Anagram of (juggled) GOLD TIARA[S] minus last letter (interminably) | ||
| 4 | EXTRA |
Superfluous text rarely grips (5)
|
| Hidden in (grips) [T]EXT RA[RELY] | ||
| 6 | AMASS |
Collect doctor leaving drama class after the halfway point (5)
|
| [DR]AMA minus (leaving) DR (doctor) + last two letters of (after the halfway point) [CLA]SS | ||
| 7 | ICE |
Reserve prime parts for Mickey (3)
|
| Letters 2, 3, and 5 of (prime [number] parts for) [M]IC[K]E[Y] | ||
| 8 | STRAY |
Abandoned craft raised via vacant slipway (5)
|
| ART (craft) inverted (raised) inside (via) outside letters of (vacant) S[LIPWA]Y | ||
| 9 | WATER RAT |
Inhabitant of river land legally retained by temple (5,3)
|
| TERRA (land legally, i.e., in Latin) inside (retained by) WAT ([Southeast Asian] temple) | ||
| 14 | GOLDEN EAGLE |
Avian model Legoland geek left unfinished (6,5)
|
| Anagram of (model) LEGOLAND GEE[K] minus last letter (left unfinished) | ||
| 16 | SPIRITED |
Odds on papers covering ceremony full of fire (8)
|
| SP (odds, i.e., Starting Price, in betting) + {ID (papers) around (covering) RITE (ceremony)} | ||
| 17 | BRASS NECK |
Case of curious bankers developing shamelessness (5,4)
|
| Anagram of (developing) {outside letters of (case of) C[URIOU]S + BANKERS} | ||
| 18 | SEA TERMS |
Text messaging service swallows consumer’s main words (3,5)
|
| SMS (text messaging service, i.e., Short Message Service) around (swallows) EATER (consumer), the definition referring to the vocabulary of the maritime world | ||
| 21 | SHACK |
Bond’s avoiding empty lakeside hut (5)
|
| SHACK[LE] (bond) minus (avoiding) outside letters of (empty) L[AKESID]E | ||
| 22 | SHINE |
That woman’s entertaining in Polish (5)
|
| SHE (that woman) around ([is] entertaining) IN, with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 24 | SCALE |
Peel off scab mostly loose at the edges (5)
|
| SCA[B] minus last letter (mostly) + outside letters of (at the edges) L[OOS]E | ||
| 26 | ACT |
Exploit manufacturers and contractors in equal measure (3)
|
| I think this parses as: The part that both the words [MANUF]ACT[URERS] and [CONTR]ACT[ORS] have in common (in equal measure) |
I interpreted RESIGNED as RE-SIGNED (having intended to start afresh). I guess either works?
GDU@1: Good thinking. I like that interpretation, too.
Thanks Bobcat. That was tough but it was very, very good. The intricate wordplay in so many clues just amazed me. My top picks were RESIGNED (I parsed it like GDU @1), ALARMIST (liked ‘couples regularly’), AVARICE (COTD), SIR LANCELOT (super anagram, is this the 1st time anyone has seen this?), EXTRA, SPIRITED, BRASS NECK (nho but loved it), SEA TERMS, and SHINE. LEOPARDS actually helped me to solve a few clues. Thanks Cineraria for the blog.
Wordy clues, obscure answers and complicated charades meant progress was slow for me too.
I best liked SHINE, SIR LANCELOT and begrudgingly ticked INANIMATE despite its use of rhyming slang. I liked the cryptic part of the clue for SOGGY but not defining it as heavy.
I was unable to parse some of the A answers, specifically AVENGER and ALARMIST (the MIST part of it), and I was also uncertain about my parsing for ACT but was happy to see Cineraria was of the same mind. SCRABBLE was a bit of a head-scratcher and ditto re Cineraria agreeing.
I did not like a few clues, but best leave that for others.
Thanks Bobcat and thanks particularly to Cineraria for a great blog to a difficult crossword
We’re familiar with terra down here, as in Terra Australis and the controversial terra nullius. Agree. Cineraria, a chewy puzzle. The Spooner dessert, and the circus being Roman rather than big top, were slippery. Enjoyed it, thanks Cine and Bobcat (I’ll try to remember the nina next time).
I found this grid almost impenetrable on my first pass with just a smattering of entries in the SE corner! Fortunately, those few, added to the anticipated nina were enough to get going at last! And then I found myself really enjoying the challenge with ALARMIST, FECKLESS, SOGGY, AVARICE and SCRABBLE among my favourites.
Thanks to Bobcat and Cineraria.
Excellent puzzle. My experience was exactly as Diane. Unusually for me, I finished it in one go. Thank you for explaining water rat and avenger
Thanks for the blog , very neat set of clues with clever wordplay , my list is similar to Tony@3 plus AMATEUR for the gilded .
KITTEN the only dud , tent in clue and wordplay plus clumsy arrangement .
Martyn@4 One of the meanings of SOGGY given in Chambers is “soft or heavy with moisture”, which is consistent with the definition in 13A – “heavy with liquid”, as Cineraria says, (NB not just “heavy”).
Roz@8 I don’t understand your objection to “tent” appearing in both clue and wordplay in 28A, given that part of the wordplay provides for the letters in TENT to be cycled to TTEN.
Cineraria – I read 16A, SCRABBLE as a DD, with “make up … from” serving as a link. I parsed 1A as you did – there is no need for the clue to specify the letter which replaces the first letter in DESIGNED as there is only one possible candidate. The clue stands alone, therefore, and is not dependent upon having obtained the answer to 1D. It would have been unfair if there were to have been more than two words taking the form ?ESIGNED.
Rudolf@9 , see Leonidas on Saturday , 18Ac for how it should be done . KITTEN gives far too much away .
Roz@10 I disagree that the Leonidas clue provides a model – (a) it’s a two stage indication (which is, therefore, indirect), and (b) the inclusion of the indefinite article in the clue is unfairly misleading because it doesn’t appear in the answer.
If I need to explain further there is no point me explaining .
Certainly a toughie but with a little wordfinder help we got all the answers. The feline nina helped a little, too. We liked SCRABBLE and AMATEUR. LOI and nho: SITUS.
Thanks, Bobcat and Cineraria.
Rudolf@9 thanks for quoting Chambers on SOGGY. It still does not make me like the definition, I am afraid.
Allan_c@13 – lucky you finding the feline nina helpful. I actually remembered to look this time, but did not spot it until I had almost all the letters in place.
Special = S. ok, but Cape = C?
Narberthian@15: C is an abbreviation for “Cape” in the geographic sense.
Thanks Bobcat and Cineraria
13ac: Further to earlier comments, it looks as though the definition used by Bobcat is a combination of the two from Collins 2023 p 1886: soggy adj 1 soaked with liquid 2 (of bread, pastry, etc) moist and heavy.
7dn: The use of “prime parts” here gives me an opportunity to say that, having just turned sixty-seven, I can claim to be in the prime of life as 67 is a prime number. There has been a gap of five long years since I could last use that mathematician’s joke.
PB @ 17 Surely 62 isn’t a prime! 61 is, though.
PB@17. I will try to remember the prime age joke next time I get there. Thanks for the tip
SS@18: Thank you for noticing my remark. I could still use the joke when I was 61 years and 365 days old on the day before my 62nd birthday in May of the leap year 2020.
Martyn@19: thank you also for your response.
I enjoy wishing people well on their “one-minute birthday” for their sixty-second birthday.
You are 61 for a whole year , there are then five whole years until you start being 67 , there are no tricks here .