One of the Indy’s newer setters is here to entertain us today.
There were a few tricky entries (I didn’t know the term at 6d and had only a very vague recollection of 26a), but everything made some sort of sense when I got there. Some very good surfaces too. Hard to pick a favourite but I particularly liked the straightforward construction of 14d.
Of course, this would have been a lot easier if I’d spotted the obvious device earlier: the puzzle is an acrostic, with the solutions in numerical order starting with A, B, C . . . I was kicking myself when I finally saw what was going on, though it did help with the last couple of awkward entries. Thanks Bluejacket for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | GUM ARABIC |
Thickener helping you finally blot a pen (3,6)
|
| Final letters of [helpin]G [yo]U, then MAR (blot, as a verb = spoil) + A + BIC (brand name of ballpoint pens).
A tree gum used as a thickener in foods and cosmetics. |
||
| 8 | HAD ON |
Laugh, professor being tricked (3,2)
|
| HA (ha! = a laughing sound) + DON (university professor).
As in “you’re having me on” = you’re trying to trick me; I’m not sure I’ve seen the phrase used in the past tense before. |
||
| 10 | JOCKEY |
Athlete Jay subs for Henry in team sport (6)
|
| [h]OCKEY (team sport), with J (jay = a way of writing the sound of the letter J) instead of H (abbreviation for Henry, a unit of electrical inductance). | ||
| 11 | KINDNESS |
Family returned post shilling for charity (8)
|
| KIN (family), then SEND (post) reversed (returned), then S (abbreviation for shilling). | ||
| 12 | LAW OF MOSES |
Some flaws in translation besetting over five Bible books (3,2,5)
|
| Anagram (in translation) of SOME FLAWS, containing (besetting ) O (abbreviation for over, in cricket scoring).
Term used for the first five books of the Bible. |
||
| 14 | NEAT |
Orderly thanks nurse upon retirement (4)
|
| TA (thanks = thank-you) + EN (abbreviation for Enrolled Nurse), all reversed (upon retirement). | ||
| 15 | OPULENT |
Work uniform temporarily provided with deep pockets (7)
|
| OP (abbreviation for Latin opus = a work of music or literature) + U (Uniform in the radio alphabet) + LENT (temporarily provided).
With deep pockets = slang for wealthy = opulent. |
||
| 17 | QUIBBLE |
Objection from beginners ignored by explosive expert (7)
|
| [s]QUIB (a firework = explosive) + [a]BLE (expert, as an adjective), ignoring the first letters (beginners) of both words. | ||
| 19 | SOLD |
Betrayed spouse, principally with ex (4)
|
| First letter (principally) of S[pouse] + OLD (ex).
Slang for betrayed, especially in a case of someone sacrificing their principles for financial gain. |
||
| 20 | TRUTH SERUM |
Cheat ultimately regrets hesitations, means to stop lying (5,5)
|
| Last letter (ultimately) of [chea]T, then RUTHS (plural of ruth = regret or repentance), then ER + UM (two sounds expressing hesitation).
A drug that purportedly forces the recipient to tell the truth; it’s a convenient idea, but such things have never been proven to work. |
||
| 22 | VIEWINGS |
Chances to see contest to get theatre parts (8)
|
| VIE (contest, as a verb = compete) + WINGS (in a theatre, the hidden areas at the sides of the stage). | ||
| 24 | XHOSAN |
Very hard times written about by a North African (6)
|
| SO (very) + H (abbreviation for hard, as in 2H pencils) + X (multiplication symbol = times), all reversed (written about), then A + N (abbreviation for north).
Adjective from Xhosa = a people group in southern Africa, or their language. |
||
| 25 | YOKEL |
Provincial couple head for London (5)
|
| YOKE (as a verb = couple = join together, as in two farm animals yoked together to pull a plough) + first letter (head) of L[ondon].
Provincial = yokel = disparaging terms used by city-dwellers to describe rural people, although “yokel” seems more of a put-down than “provincial”. |
||
| 26 | ZAPATEADO |
Spanish dance to finish off a tea party (9)
|
| ZAP (to bring down or destroy = to finish off) + A TEA + DO (slang for a party).
A style of Andalusian dance music, or a style of flamenco dancing involving rhythmic foot-tapping. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | AURORA |
Gold armour regularly put on a fairytale princess (6)
|
| AU (Au = chemical symbol for gold, from Latin aurum) + alternate letters (regularly) of [a]R[m]O[u]R + A.
Name of the title character in the Disney film Sleeping Beauty. |
||
| 2 | BANKROLLED |
Financially supported Spooner’s arrant daring (10)
|
| Spoonerism for RANK (arrant = very bad) + BOLD (daring). | ||
| 3 | CAGY |
Trailers for comic drama Groundhog Day giving little away (4)
|
| Last letters (trailers) of [comi]C [dram]A [groundho]G [da]Y.
Cagy = giving little away = unwilling to divulge information. |
||
| 4 | DICKISH |
Obnoxious detectives held up Sikh wrongly (7)
|
| CID (abbreviation for Criminal Investigation Department = detectives) reversed (held up = upwards in a down clue), then an anagram (wrongly) of SIKH. | ||
| 5 | EARN |
Nonlinear narrative holds merit (4)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . holds) in [nonlin]EAR N[arrative].
Earn = merit = deserve. |
||
| 6 | FOOSBALL |
Kid catches Labradors climbing for fun on table (8)
|
| FOOL (kid, as a verb = deceive), containing LABS (short for Labrador dogs) reversed (climbing = upwards in a down clue).
Another name for table football, mainly in the US: I had to ask Wikipedia to confirm that. |
||
| 9 | INASMUCH |
Seeing China, cycled over mostly dirt (8)
|
| CHINA with the first two letters “cycled” round to the end, containing SMU[t] (dirt) without the last letter (mostly).
Seeing as = inasmuch as = because. |
||
| 13 | MONOTONY |
Second theatrical award includes concerning lack of diversity (8)
|
| MO (short for moment = second) + TONY (Broadway theatre award named after Antoinette Perry), including ON (on the subject of = concerning). | ||
| 14 | NOBLEWOMEN |
Ladies in denial squandered warning (10)
|
| NO (no! = an expression of denial) + BLEW (squandered, especially through gambling) + OMEN (warning). | ||
| 16 | PROVISOS |
Conditions for mayday met by Victoria (8)
|
| PRO (for = in favour of) + SOS (mayday = an emergency signal), with VI (title for Queen Victoria: abbreviation for Latin Victoria Imperatrix = Victoria the Empress) in the middle. The ordering isn’t very clear, but perhaps PRO and SOS are coming together (meeting) from opposite sides of VI. | ||
| 18 | RUSSIAN |
Slav from Ljubljana is survivor after uprising (7)
|
| Hidden answer (from . . .), reversed (after uprising = upwards in a down clue), in [ljublja]NA IS SUR[vivor]. | ||
| 21 | UGANDA |
Country sounds of sheep and fowl (6)
|
| Sound-alikes for EWE (a female sheep) + GANDER (a male goose = fowl). | ||
| 23 | WHEY |
Audibly process dairy product (4)
|
| Sound-alike for WEIGH = consider = process. | ||
| 24 | X-RAY |
I’m after whiskey shot that goes right through one (1-3)
|
| Double definition. In the radio alphabet, X-ray comes after Whiskey; or an x-ray is a photograph (shot) that shows internal structures (goes right through one). |
This particular grid configuration, might rank as one of the most daunting for solvers: 28 clues, of which 18 solutions start in unchecked squares.
Sometimes, I feel that setters compensate for nasty layouts, by using the soft pedal for their composition – it may be an illusion.
Bluejacket has gone much further, with his NINA, ( or should that be NYNA?), which – if we spot it in time- gifts us all of the opening letters……alphabetically, no less! I didn’t see it until after completing, and so, completely unfairly, I found some of the clues and solutions, a bit strained/strange. ( such as, “a tea” = A TEA, in the 26(ac) charade for ZAP ATEA DO ).
Quibbles well and truly redacted, with a thick BIC pen.
An awesome work of compiling.
It’s Royal Ascot, so my Top Hat is in the air today.
Bravo, BJ & Ms. Q
footnote: if anyone feels that, JOCKEY = ATHLETE (10ac), is questionable, I refer them to ace flat jockey, Will Buick’s, recent YouTube vid, on his daily training regime….all done before he goes to work, at the races. I was worn out, just watching it. Will rides “Trawlerman”, in the Gold Cup, today.
Will he win? Like me, he’s long in the tooth, but still game.
You never know.
Bluejacket always gives us a quality puzzle and this maintained that trend. I was another who only spotted the nina very late on though it did help me solve last-but-one, GUM ARABIC. However, even with the first letter, I still did not know the Spanish dance and failed to spot ZAP for ‘to finish off’ or ‘a tea’ as A TEA. Nothing wrong, in my book, with letters/words being in plain sight – it is sufficiently unexpected that it works as a device and I don’t agree with solvers who feel somehow ‘cheated’ by it. It beat me today! (Btw ENB, given you also mentioned it, I am not suggesting you were complaining of unfairness).
Faves inc OPULENT, TRUTH SERUM, XHOSAN, CAGY, MONOTONY, NOBLEWOMEN and UGANDA.
Thanks Bluejacket and Quirister
If I’d spotted the theme I might not have spent (almost) as long on Zapateado as I did on the rest of the puzzle. I noticed the top row but not everything else. Foosball is a name for Table Football (or Bar Football as we used to call it) I’ve not come across before.
I have seen FOOSBALL before even if I can’t remember where. I do know the Spanish for ‘shoes’ but it didn’t help me with the dance. Another who only saw the A-Z after solving – I could have done with knowing the Z in 26a.
FOOSBALL is what they call it on Friends – that’s the first time I heard it called anything but table football and must be the vector that sent it over the Atlantic, as with a lot of other things.
I did spot the theme quite early, but the unknown ZAPATEADO took me a while at the end. All very fair, lots of fun, and an impressive fill.
ENB – setters will often compensate for a nasty grid (or a nasty word!) with gentler cluing, although given the added help of the gridfill in this case I don’t think that would be essential.
Thanks both.
Very good even without the alphabet trick – is this a new variation? Missed ZAPATEADO, even with the Z. NOBLEWOMEN was very neat, and I liked the comma in 20a instead of a superfluous and.
Ah darn, why didn’t I spot the acrostic?
Thanks both. Hugely enjoyable, much aided sensing the acrostic after three entries. Almost all parsed, and very few unknowns, though unsure if I have previously seen FOOSBALL – they would call it that, wouldn’t they? In terms of querying whether any sportsperson is an athlete, I have no issues with JOCKEY other than phonetically in the darts-player Jocky Wilson, and I have heard darts commentators make the claim.
Like others, I didn’t spot the acrostic device until nearly the end–in time to help with my last four in. I knew we were headed for a pangram, for sure, but for some reason the ABCD etc. in the top row didn’t jump out at me until surprisingly late. I think it’s fair to say that any grid where X-RAY crosses with XHOSAN should clue you into the fact that something funky is going on.
I needed a word finder for the Z dance, so I can’t claim to have finished this unaided.
Thanks Bluejacket and Quirister.
Good puzzle and blog.
Missed the acrostic; didn’t parse QUIBBLE.
Will be watching for Bluejacket’s next one.
@1 Still game. Me old mate, Trawlerman has just won the Royal Ascot Gold Cup.
I don’t know if anyone got the NINA. Owned by Godolphin.
Colours…….simply, BLUE JACKET.
Other tipsters are available.
Thank you Quirister and everyone for the blog and the kind words. A lesson on tuning the grid difficulty to whether or not solvers notice the setter trying to be clever!