Thank you to Fed. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Ford Capri starts making constant power – it’s hot (7)
PAPRIKA : KA(a small car from Ford Motors) placed after(… starts) “Capri” with “c”(in mathematics, symbol for any constant number) replaced by(making …) “p”(symbol for “power” in physics).
And the Capri is a coupe from Ford Motors.
5. Guide a Dutch cap’s sticky-out bit (7)
ADVISOR : A + D(abbrev. for “Dutch”) + VISOR(a cap’s sticky-out bit that provides shade for the wearer’s eyes).
Defn: A …/counsellor.
10. Quickly stop cycling around on … (6)
PRESTO : STOP with “p” moved to the front(cycling) containing(around) RE(with reference to/about/on)
11. … high gears – satisfied punctures must be what accounts for energy consumption (3,5)
GAS METER : Anagram of(high) GEARS containing(… punctures) MET(satisfied/complied with, say, regulations).
12. Sailor’s objective? Get lost (3)
TAR : “target”(an objective/aim) minus(… lost) “Get”.
Defn: Informal term for a ….
13. Maybe comic books I reordered will be undamaged (6)
INTACT : Anagram of(… reordered) [ ACT(an example of which/maybe is a comedian/comic who performs comedy) + NT(abbrev. for the New Testament, books in the Bible) + I ].
14. Old Italian curate’s travelling north (8)
ETRUSCAN : Anagram of(… travelling) CURATE’S + N(abbrev. for “north”).
Defn: …, formerly from Etruria, a region in ancient Italy.
15. Coat brand Mark is wearing (5)
SMEAR : SEAR(to brand/burn the surface of something with a branding iron) containing(… is wearing) M(abbrev. for “mark” in monetary currency).
16. Does he tend to hack Yahoo after turning on firm? (9)
STABLEBOY : Reversal of(… after turning) YOB(a lout/a yahoo) placed after(on) STABLE(firm/steady).
Defn: …? Yes, he tends/takes care of hacks/horses for lightweight riding.
19. Problem with locks and rent stops (5,4)
SPLIT ENDS : SPLIT(a rent/a tear) + ENDS(stops/ceases).
Defn: …, locks of hair, that is.
21. Bitter’s free on account (5)
ACRID : RID(to free/to clear away) placed after(on) AC(abbrev. for “account”).
24. Perhaps Violet Beauregarde’s second to go back after Wonka’s introduction – monstrous creature! (8)
WEREWOLF : Reversal of(… to go back) [ FLOWER(an example of which/perhaps is the violet) + 2nd letter of(…’s second) “Beauregarde” ] placed after(after) 1st letter of(…’s introduction) “Wonka”.
And Violet Beauregarde is one of the characters in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, the film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.
26. Charm of drug smuggler passing through airport on vacation (6)
AMULET : MULE(a drug smuggler/a courier of illegal drugs, perhaps past airport inspections) contained in(passing through) “airport” minus all its inner letters(on vacation).
Defn: A lucky … thought to ward off danger, evil or disease.
27. Drive in motorsport – getting cross (3)
FIX : FI(F1, abbreviation for Formula 1, the racing motorsport, with the Roman numeral substitution) plus(getting) X(letter symbolising a cross).
Defn: …, as in “drive in/fix a nail into …”.
28. Identify problem in San Diego unfortunately (8)
DIAGNOSE : Anagram of(… unfortunately) SAN DIEGO.
29. Bring out psychedelic Italian trousers (6)
ELICIT : Hidden in(… trousers) ”psychedelic Italian”.
30. Good lord – Mary’s swimming in river (5,2)
DEARY ME : Anagram of(…’s swimming) MARY contained in(in) DEE(any of a number of rivers of the same name in the UK, Ireland, and Australia).
Defn: Like …!, an expression of surprise or dismay.
31. Small tent’s not finished before daughter gets soaked (7)
STEEPED : S(abbrev. for “small”) + “teepee”(a portable conical tent used by North American Indians) minus its last letter(…’s not finished) plus(before) D(abbrev. for “daughter”).
Down
2. A classic Doctor Who fan may finally start to manufacture Tardis for one (7)
ACRONYM : Last letters, respectively, of(… finally) “A classic Doctor Who fan may” + 1st letter of(start to) “manufacture”.
Defn: Term for for example/for one “Tardis” standing for “time and relative dimensions in space”, the name of the time machine in the Doctor Who series.
3. They have faith in Gunners – with group of footballers blocking big shot and Isak’s header (9)
RASTAFARI : RA(abbrev. for the Royal Artillery, the branch of the British Army providing firepower/nicknamed “The Gunners”) plus(with) [ FA(abbrev. for the Football Association, a group of footballers) contained in(blocking) STAR(a big shot/a celebrity) ] plus(and) 1st letter of(…’s header) “Isak”.
Defn: …/practitioners of the Abrahamic religion, Rastafari.
4. Sticky chicken ultimately overdone in Kentucky (6)
KNOTTY : [ Last letter of(… ultimately) “chicken” + OTT(abbrev. for “over the top”/overdone/excessively) ] contained in(in) KY(abbrev. for the US state of Kentucky).
Defn: …/problematic.
6. After demolition derbies, carbon is present (8)
DESCRIBE : Anagram of(After demolition) [DERBIES + C(symbol for the chemical element, carbon) ].
Defn: To …/to portray something or someone to others in a particular way.
7. Plans from 15th of March, say to host 1st of April (5)
IDEAS : IDES(in the ancient Roman calendar, a day roughly in the middle of a month, an example of which/say, is the 15th of March) containing(to host) 1st letter of(1st of) “April”.
8. By all conclusions two or three turn over a new leaf? (7)
OREGANO : Last letters, respectively, of(all conclusions) “two or three” plus(By …) GO(a turn/an opportunity to do something that comes periodically) containing(over) [ A + N(abbrev. for “new”) ].
Defn: A plant identified with/synonymous with its leaf or leaves.
9. Discovered both deer and giraffe somehow accept not seeing eye to eye (5,2,6)
AGREE TO DIFFER : Anagram of(… somehow) [ 1st and last letters deleted from(Discovered) “both” + DEER plus(and) GIRAFFE ].
17. Private is last to solve 10 and possibly 11 across assuming 5 is reversed (9)
EXCLUSIVE : Last letter of(last to) “solve” + X(Roman numeral for “10”) plus(and) CLUE(an example of which/possibly is 11 across) containing(assuming) reversal of(… reversed) [ V(Roman numeral for “5” + IS ].
18. Jack and chairman stood on the counter to get bottle (8)
JEROBOAM : J(abbrev. for “Jack”, the playing card) plus(and) reversal of(… on the counter) [ MAO(addressed as Chairman, former leader of the PRC) + BORE(stood/tolerated) ].
… with a capacity 4 times that of a standard bottle:
20. Fed up – framed by force making assumption (7)
PREMISE : Reversal of(… up, in a down clue) ME(self-referential pronoun for Fed, setter of this crossword) contained in(framed by) PRISE(to force/to lever something open).
22. Record if the amp is occasionally set virtually (7)
ITEMISE : 2nd and thence every other letter of(… occasionally) “if the amp is” + “set” minus its last letter(virtually).
23. Airport in France is most lenient (6)
LAXEST : LAX(code for the Los Angeles International Airport) + EST(“is” in the language of France).
25. 9’s keen (5)
EAGER : Reverse clue: Anagram of(TO DIFFER) AGREE, from the solution to 9 down.
Very enjoyable after a week away from solving. It took me a while to parse PAPRIKA but was my favourite when the penny dropped. I also liked ETRUSCAN, STABLEBOY, the clever WEREWOLF, DIAGNOSE, JEROBOAM and the dual AGREE TO DIFFER and EAGER. The ellipsis in PRESTO and GAS METER was also neat.
Ta Fed & scchua.
Somebody on The Guardian forum commented that the clues are “tortuous”. Yes, they are – but that’s the point, isn’t it? However, some of these are overdone and some wit is sacrificed in the justifiable effort to bamboozle. Some of the definitions are loose also – OREGANO for “leaf”? Maybe people use it as a salad ingredient? I completed this easily enough but had to return to a couple to parse them satisfactorily. These included 1ac and 13ac – but I got there eventually having seen in 13ac that the comic was an ACT and in 1ac saw that the Ford was a KA and that P for power substituted for C for constant. Enjoyed 5ac even though the slightly sleazy images conjured up had me initially misdirected. Misspelling JEROBOAM made me lose time on finding how “stood” worked – but it was very satisfying to see how it worked once I corrected my entry. Also enjoyed the epic disentangling of 17d and the neat juxtaposition of 9d and 25d. All in all, it might have been tricksy but it was wholly enjoyable and I always love the sport, even when more combative than usual. Thank you Fed and scchua.
Very good puzzle. Superb blog. Thanks Fed and scchua.
Liked many clues. Top ones among them were: PAPRIKA, INTACT, STABLEBOY, ACRONYM, LAXEST and EAGER.
IN TACT
ACT, NT and I reordered—>The order of these words changed—->I NT ACT
Too many bumpy surfaces today for me to say that this was a truly enjoyable solve, but lots to admire in Scchua’s illustrated blog above, and many thanks for his clarity with several unfathomable parsings…
Thanks Fed and scchua
I didn’t like the clues for OREGANO and ITEMISE as they changed the method of construction part way through without indicating it.
Not convinced by FIX = “drive” despite your example, scchua.
Favourite the very neat EAGER.
Lovely stuff – some very tricky parsings indeed, but that all adds to the fun. Thanks to Fed and scchua for the expert disentanglement. Oh, one slight quiblet – I reckon the def for 27a is “drive in” rather than “drive”. Does this help convince you, muffin @5?
STEEPED is S + TEEPE (TEEPEE minus its last letter) + D
AGREE TO DIFFER is an anagram of OT (BOTH minus its first and last letters), DEER and GIRAFFE. The parsing above looks like AND is part of the anagram
Bunged most of them in from definitions and crossers. I’ll go back to the parsings now that schuua has done the tortuous disentangling of really convoluted surfaces.
As an improving solver I’d love to hear how veterans sum up each setters’ style: am I right in saying that Fed is all about charades? What is your first thought when you see who the setter is every day?
Thanks to Fed and schuua.
I’ve been accessing the crossword via Puzzles, so I don’t always know who the setter is. (Yes, I know it’s easy to find out). Today, I knew it was one of the tough ones and I didn’t spot the self-reference in PREMISE until sweeping my parsing. It took ages to parse PAPRIKA (not always hot?) and INTACT. I came here to understand how we arrived at JEROBOAM other than it saying bottle in the clue – OK yes, that makes sense now, thanks scchua. There were others like STABLE BOY and ITEMISE that I had stared at blankly before eventually solving. Conversely, there were loads that I jumped to straight away GAS METER, LAXEST, ETRUSCAN so I didn’t feel too thick. I liked the set-up for EAGER (second time in a week for that anagram) and WEREWOLF was a great one. Excellent challenge, cheers Fed.
Excellent puzzle, only solved after an hour’s hard labour, but well worth the effort. I agree that the clues are sometimes over-elaborate, but the challenge of wrestling with them was satisfying.
Particularly favourites: IDEAS, ETRUSCAN and RASTAFARI.
Thanks Fed and scchua
Phew. Can’t remember ever ending up with so many ticks and so many ?s.
Really admired TAR, EXCLUSIVE, EAGER, & PREMISE, but failed to parse quite a few.
Excellent blog, many thanks scchua.
moh @6: I had drive in as the def also.
Add me to that list.
I’d completed the grid but some of the parsings were beyond me. The first time I have encountered Fed so I’m quite pleased with my efforts, as a fellow improver (I hope!) I’d agree with Ricardo @8 that charades seem to be the order of the day with him.
Thanks to Fed for extending my capabilities & Schuaa for filling in the bits that were beyond them.
Puzzled by 3d. I thought Rastafari was Heile Selassi. Those believing in him as a deity are Rastafarians. Fed implies an individual believer might be a Rastafarus or Rastafaro perhaps?! Am I missing something?
Thanks for pointing out my oversights. Blog duly corrected.
One of Fed’s tougher ones. PAPRIKA took an age despite having owned both a Ford Capri and Ka. INTACT I never parsed so bunged in from the definition (thanks schuaa for the explanation). I also had an incorrect RECLUSIVE after thinking RECLUE could mean regarding clue.
As said some tricky parsings especially in the top half.
Great fun. Particularly liked WEREWOLF, DEARY ME and ACRONYM
Cheers blogger and setter
I think you’re onto something ChrisFerrary @15. Chambers has….
Rastafarian or Ras Tafarian (also without cap)
noun
A member of a West Indian (esp Jamaican) religious movement, which rejects Western culture and ideas and regards Haile Selassie, the former Emperor of Ethiopia, as divine (also Rasˈta or Rasˈtaman)
adjective
Of or relating to this movement (also Rasˈta or Rastafari)
ORIGIN: From Haile Selassie’s title and name, Ras Tafari
Rastafāˈrianism noun
so the answer, an adjective, seems not to agree with the definition “They have faith”, a noun.
Never in a million years would I have parsed PAPRIKA. Does that model even exist in Oz? (Even if it does, I have no interest in car model names). I thought it curious that the word YOB (=Yahoo) that needed to be reversed for STABLEBOY was itself originally formed from a reversal of BOY. I agree with those who found the surfaces somewhat wordy and the parsing a little convoluted, but thanks, anyway, Fed, and to scchua for the excellent untangling.
TassieTim @19, as far as I’m aware, the Ford Crappy wasn’t sold in Aus. Not sure about the Ka. I just missed the “start” in that clue and thought it was referring to the KA model of the Crappy.
This was a lot of fun with some very clever clues. “turn over a new leaf” (OREGANO), for example, sounds so natural, but of course it is not what it seems. Some of Fed’s clues seem at first sight to contain way too many words, but they all seem to be accounted for in the end.
I would not describe PAPRIKA as “it’s hot” – it can be of course, but there are also sweet and smoky kinds, as my spice drawer attests. I prefer to believe Fed said that for purposes of clue ecology/elegance, than that he didn’t know it.
Great misdirection in EXCLUSIVE, with all the numbers but especially the intentionally random “11 across”.
I was greatly amused by the timing of RASTAFARI – I(/we/some of us?) had just seen Arsenal beat Newcastle only 3 days ago (but I imagine the puzzle had been in the editor’s in-basket for weeks).
rastafari (Collins online: Source given as ‘Collins English Dictionary)
in British English
(ˌræstəˈfɑːrɪ IPA Pronunciation Guide )
noun
1. a Rastafarian
2. the Rastafarian movement or religion
The part of speech of the def and that of the solution seem to agree.
(It’s also given as an adjective, meaning as above (Tim C@18))
INTACT
If it’s considered as an anagram of ACT, NT and I, then that will be an indirect anagram.
ACT, NT and I—if we just reorder the words, we don’t need to accept an indirect anagram.
I enjoyed this, though I got stuck for too long in the NW corner, partly because in my experience paprika isn’t hot (even paprika that’s labelled as hot); then it took me just as long to parse it.
Although Chambers has RASTAFARI as an adjective, the ODE and Collins give it as a (mass) noun meaning the Rastafarian movement, and the RASTAFARI as Rastafarians collectively. How did I miss the Tardis ACRONYM where I thought the fan was A CRONY, which left me with two Ys, doh! I liked the hot Ford Capri (hotter than a Ka, anyway), the STABLE BOY hacker, the violet WEREWOLF, the OREGANO turning over a new leaf, and the clues for EXCLUSIVE. I agree with KVa above that INTACT is not an anagram, just parts reordered.
Thanks Fed and scchua.
RASTAFARI is definitely used as a noun to refer to the adherents. Here is an example from a book review, a year ago today – Fast by the Horns.
On the subject of books, Violet Beauregarde appears in the original novel, no need to reference film adaptations.
I ended up revealing PAPRIKA, which I wouldn’t have got from the “hot” definition: it’s mildly peppery, that’s all. I did work out how to parse it, which is more than I can say for INTACT, RASTAFARI, OREGANO (leaves?), EXCLUSIVE, JEROBOAM or PREMISE, all of which went in from definitions. But I liked STABLEBOY, TAR, WEREWOLF, SPLIT ENDS and ACRONYM.
Ricardo@8: Fed is all about “epic disentangling” as TerriBlislow@2 put it. Complex clues, often charades. If you like that sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you’ll like.
Thanks Fed, and scchua for doing the disentangling.
Defeated by 1A, which may be one of the most convoluted clues I’ve seen in years. NHO KA, which hardly helped. Found a photo of one though, and have to ask: what do you wear on the other foot? I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dutch abbreviated to D either.
Me again. For PAPRIKA, shouldn’t it be P replacing C?
BigNorm @27; ‘it’s there in Chambers’: D=Dutch.
First-time commenter with a question: if ‘chairman’ in the clue for JEROBOAM is giving Mao, should it not be capitalised?
I completed this but mostly from guesses based on the definitions and the shapes of the words once I had a few crossers. I’m impressed by anyone who can be bothered to do all the parsing. Tricksy, convoluted and tortuous have been mentioned, and I wouldn’t argue with any of those. The incredibly succinct 25d was like a breath of fresh air after being in a crowded room with all the windows shut.
Thanks to Fed, but can we have more like EAGER, please? And well done Scchua for all the parsing, plus the picture of OREGANO as proof that it is indeed made up of leaves!
It’s a shame we don’t have a “like” button. Comments like Sheffield Hatter @31 or Big Norm @27 deserve some acknowledgement, but replying every time would be self-indulgent and a bit tedious.
If cryptic crosswords were regularly as tortuous as this one, I wouldn’t continue trying to master them. I actually owned a Ford Ka some years ago, but I would never have found my way from the clue to 1a to PAPRIKA. I got SPLIT ENDS, ACRID, AGREE TO DIFFER and IDEAS but that’s about it. There are some I really should have got but I was too disheartened to persevere!
ChrisEL@30
JEROBOAM
Welcome to 225.
I think you are right about ‘Chairman’.
KNOTTY: many clue constructions and parsings in this puzzle. Nice clue as well.
Thanks scchua for untangling several I had only partially parsed: PAPRIKA, EXCLUSIVE (why 11 across? random?), RASTAFARI, OREGANO.
I did like: AGREE TO DIFFER and related EAGER; the hacking misdirection in STABLEBOY; ‘Fed up’ in PREMISE, the themed WEREWOLF and ACRONYM clues.
Thanks to Fed and scchua.
Loved the 9/25 AGREE -> EAGER connection, and the ‘possibly 11 across’ for CLUE was a laugh-out-loud moment, as were 5a ADVISOR and 30a DEARY ME. 16a STABLEBOY was nicely crafted too.
In 11a, “… must be what accounts for energy consumption” did seem very wordy and overly prescriptive for GAS METER though.
Thank you Fed for a great Thursday puzzle and scchua for a fine blog.
Thanks scchua and Fed.
I quite liked this except PAPRIKA.
Ford = KA is a stretch, considering Capri is also a Ford model. So, should it be Fords? That will give meaningless surface. So, is Ford doing double duty as Ford Capri and Ford Ka?
Ka maybe knowm in Europe, I have never seen one in the US. I feel the wordplay for KA is inadequate bordering on unfair, and the construction tortuous.
I agree that some of these parsings are too convoluted to be admired (though I do like AGREE TO DISAGREE and EAGER)
I’ve never heard of the KA car.
For 22dn ITEMISE, you’ve got one S too many, scchua. It’s alternate letters of ‘if the amp is” and of “set”, which is just the E. Otherwise you’d have ITEMIS + SE.
Thanks to Fed and scchua.
I like Fed. His clues are always fair with proper indicators ( not like yesterday’s cryptic.) I found it relatively easy to solve, which is strange as many posters found it hard. Usually it is the other way round for me.
Perhaps, the only thing is that in some part of the world there is no sale of the Ford KA, which would have made one across tricky to say the least for some solvers.
Alexander Isak is a Swedish international footballer who plays for Newcastle United.
I wonder if Fed chose his pseudonym to be able to use Fed, Fed up, Fed in…in clues?
Thanks to Fed for an enjoyable puzzle and Scchua for the blog.
I love Fed’s “tortuous” clues! However, I also love fifteen Squared so I can come here to parse the ones I didn’t get!
SueM@48. Yes, ’11 across’ seems random, but it’s there to make ’10’ seem like it’s a reference to the clue of that number, rather than an indication for X.
Valentine @38
ITEMISE
The alternate letters of ‘if the amp is’=ITEMI
set virtually =Set almost=SE
SUEM48@35 – my thoughts exactly, this was KNOTTY rather than chewy, lots of disentangling rather than musing. As for DrWhatsOn@28’s Arsenal beating Newcastle, no, we are not amused 🦓. Thank you F&s
Thanks Fed for a challenging crossword with plenty of inventive clueing. I revealed RASTAFARI; I never would have figured out that one nor would I ever been able to parse PAPRIKA or WEREWOLF, both of which I correctly guessed. My favourites were TAR, INTACT, AMULET, ELICIT, DESCRIBE, and JEROBOAM. Thanks scchua for the parsing help.
[Sarah @23, gladys @26: PAPRIKA can indeed be very hot; I have a tin of hot paprika from Hungary that I must use sparingly or risk setting off fire alarms.]
ChrisEL @30 and KVa @34: I don’t agree re ‘chairman’. Yes, it was his title but he is/was one of the category of chairmen. A chairman does not need capitalising whereas Chairman Mao certainly would.
PM@47 you’re overlooking the first rule of Guardian crossword club: ignore all punctuation, capitalisation, font effects etc 🙂
Top ticks for LAXEST, STABLEBOY & EAGER
Cheers F&S
Thanks scchua and thanks all.
Muffin @5 This “I didn’t like the clues for OREGANO and ITEMISE as they changed the method of construction part way through without indicating it.”
seems to be one of the stranger objections, I’ve encountered. Don’t most crosswords involve clues that use more than one device? I don’t know in what way it would be possible to add an indicator for “and now stop doing that and do this instead”.
Also, muffin, “not convinced by FIX = “drive” despite your example, scchua.” – as others have said – and I see scchua has updated the blog to accommodate – the definition is ‘Drive in’ not ‘drive’. Chambers has Fix = drive in as the third definition.
Dr. Whatson @21 – I agree that paprika isn’t always hot in my experience but as Chambers has it defined as: (a hot spice deried from) Hungarian red pepper, a species of Capsicum it felt fair.
Crispy @28 ” For PAPRIKA, shouldn’t it be P replacing C?”
Yes, and I think that ‘making C P’ does exactly that, no?
ilippu @37 – I’m sorry that PAPRIKA was not to your liking, but using a phrase like ‘Ford Capri’ where the two words do different jobs isn’t to my mind, unfair. Of course it’s hard for the brain to separate the two words because they belong together – but that’s precisely why this lift-and-separate technique is used so often in crosswords – because it’s hard to see the join. But rest assured, Ford isn’t doing double duty. FORD = KA. CAPRI = CAPRI.
I appreciate that for many overseas solvers, a model of car that isn’t available in your markets makes the clue for 1across too much of a reach… but just as I bump into Americanisms when I solve American crosswords etc etc, I think it’s just going to be one of the things you sometimes bump into when doing a crossword from a British newspaper.
Cheers!
PostMark@45
Short answer: 9
My understanding: Mao’s nickname was Chairman/Chairman Mao. In both
cases, Cap C is required.
Fed @47
My point is that both of those clues start off using the every other/last letter trick, but don’t follow this through – the endings use a different method
Thank you scchua! Although I rather tortuously struggled through to the end, your wonderfully clear blog was essential to understand several clues and/or definitions.
Wishful thinking maybe but I for one would welcome a more standardised format (along your lines) from the various bloggers. There are times when I find the explanations given more cryptic than the original clue!
I was certain 25 was going to be ‘greet’ – until the crossers intervened.
ADVISOR is the American spelling for adviser. This put me off for a while.
Thanks Fed@47 for taking the time.
If Ford = KA, then why not Mustang or any other model of Ford?
Let us 9d on this :-).
And blame scchua for mentioning Capri is a model of Ford.
Thanks for the blog , good set of clues and a lot of variety , ADVISOR is very neat and I will not elaborate . For PAPRIKA I took c as the speed of light , one of the few truly fundamental constants . I am folding my paper to play guess the setter this week and I am 4/4 .
[ AlanC back at Number 1 , another covert Special Branch mission complete , another country saved , no doubt one with glorious weather and pristine golf courses . You missed my birthday .
I couldn’t parse JEROBOAM – clean failed to notice MAO as the ‘chairman’ and was trying to fit some sort of ‘counter’ into it… Rest went in fine though I took a while over PREMISE (LOI) not having noticed the setter reference in the clue (apologies, Fed!).
Everything else fine. Liked AMULET, INTACT, EAGER, PAPRIKA (but the sort we use isn’t hot: if we want ‘hot‘ we use chilli – or Szechuan pepper); OREGANO; PRESTO; GAS METER (very pertinent as I had a ‘visit from the fairies’ while cycling yesterday 🙁 ); EXCLUSIVE (tried RECLUSIVE first but it didn’t work).
Thanks to FED and scchua.
re OREGANO and those querying whether it’s a leaf – it most certainly is a leafy herb, Oreganum vulgare, and ‘leaf’ is quite acceptable to my mind. The herb (or possibly one of its close relatives like marjoram) grows wild in abundance on the South Downs: I can assure people that what we notice first as we walk past a clump are the distinctive leaves. The flowers are a great favourite with butterflies.
Fed @47. Yes. However, the blog was originally worded to replace P with C, hence my comment.
I could not parse 13ac, 29ac.
New for me Ford KA car (for 1ac).
Favourites: SPLIT ENDS, STABLEBOY EXCLUSIVE, ACRONYM.
Thanks, both.
A very enjoyable and very quick solve, although I too struggled to find the letters for the obvious anagram Agree to Differ. But I still don’t know what the words “on the counter” are doing in 18 down even if the answer was obvious early on.
Thanks to Fed, blog and subsequent explanatory comments.
Sorry for the late post – working all day!
Terry @59
“On the counter” just means “reversed”, so OAM rather than MAO.
Ilippu @53 if you saw a clue with the definition ‘big cat’, I think you would accept that the answer might be Lion, Tiger, Puma, Leopard, Cougar, Jaguar, Cheetah etc etc.
By the same token, Ford can be aka, Fiesta, Mustang etc etc
Crispy @57 – I see!
Muffin @49 – yes… and I don’t think it unusual to mix devices in a clue.
ilippu@53 “If Ford = KA, then why not Mustang or any other model of Ford?” Because KA forms the final two letters of the answer. What about “if apple = cox, why not russet or granny smith?” In another crossword, maybe it will be russet one day. Just as Ford may well be Mustang. [Bluth@61 🙂 ]
Crossbencher@52. I’ve just read “…she is close friends with an adviser to the school” in the New York Times. Perhaps they don’t know the correct spelling? 🙂
Thanks scchua, and Fed for the puzzle and for joining the discussion @47, always nice to see.
I like Fed’s puzzles and appreciate the cleverness, but for me, he leads to a very high get-from-definition-and-reverse-parse : genuine-solve clues ratio .
I would be genuinely interested to know how many, even experienced, solvers get paprika from the two cars, the placement and the substitution, as opposed to the crossers and “it’s hot”
DaveJ @63. This ‘experienced solver’ certainly did. It was an admittedly unusual combination of pretty familiar tricks. And since, like others, ‘it’s hot’ does not immediately suggest PAPRIKA, I got there by way of the wordplay.
sheffield hatter@62
The point is if you don’t know the answer, why would Ford be equal to Ka.
Knowing the answer, justifying the wordplay is not what I am talking about.
Enough said.
iluppu @65
But looking at it the other way round, how would you clue KA except with reference to the Ford? Easier for me, though, as my sister drove one for a while.
Apologies for the confusion – it was me @61… I just didn’t realise that my other setter name was logged in on this device.
muffin@66
I have no problem with Ford = Ka if wordplay leads to it. Because of the construction of the clue, and Capri being a Ford (appropriate misdirection), **in my view**, it is not adequate wordplay to get Ka.
Bluth(Fed)@61
Yes, ‘big cat’ definition would lead me to consider those cats. Here, Ford is not the definition. I have tremendous respect for you as a setter and I liked this puzzle.
Bloggers and posters here are a lot more experienced as solvers than I am. No disrespect meant towards anyone.
The blog was more fun than the crossword with its tortuous surfaces and unfathomable parsing, as others have put it.
Ilippu @65 The point is if you don’t know the answer, why would Ford be equal to Ka.
Well… for the same reason that, say, in 23 down, Airport happens to be LAX in this instance and not JFK or Stansted or O’Hare or whatever. For the same reason that, in 19 across, Rent happens to be SPLIT and not Ruptured or burst or hire or lease and Stops happens to be ENDS and not halts, or ceases or stations or seals or plugs etc etc.
I do appreciate that for some people a Ford Ka feels obscure… but the principle is the same, no?
Ilippu @65 I imagine there were more Kas on the road in 2017… but you appear to have had no problem parsing Ford = KA back then.
NW corner was unreasonably fiddly compared to the rest. INTACT particularly.
Loved this, thank you Fed ( and blogger.)
JEROBOAM was the result of a word search which I was unable to parse. It could easily have been REHOBOAM, but I got as far as thinking that jack gave me the J.
I also failed to parse PAPRIKA. Missed the Ford Ka: it’s easy to do they’re such tiny motors.
At 22D the blog says ‘2nd and thence every other letter’ the second letter is F it has to be 1st and etc. or am I missing something?
muffin @5 etc. I agree with you on OREGANO, at least. The clue starts ‘By all conclusions …’ but we only want conclusions from the first three words. All seems inappropriate.
Tony@75 , ITEMISE you are right I T E M I then SE(t) , just a minor slip in the blog .
1a PAPRIKA finally fell, for the win! Took a while, but I successfully waited it out
A lot of really great surfaces and misleading definitions all the way through (not tortuous), and a great anagram of San Diego / DIAGNOSE. Great puzzle! Agree with all of Fed’s comments above
22d “Virtually” is a great subtraction indicator
Happy Birthday Roz!