Bluth has provided us with an awful lot to appreciate in today’s puzzle.
I thoroughly enjoy both solving and blogging this latest example of Bluth’s work, which is absolutely teeming with cruciverbal flair and originality.
I am happy with my parsing, but feel free to point out any slips or omissions. My favourite clues are almost too many to mention: 1D and 28, for splitting “drag // show” and “Don // Warrington” respectively in their construction; 14, for the misdirection around “Kindle”; 15, for all the crime content crammed into the clue; and 18, for not using “keeping” as a container indicator. I also really enjoyed having some entries, i.e. 4 and 19, being used as instructions for the wordplay in other clues.
I’m looking forward to Bluth’s next offering already.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | PAGE | Sports car’s ignition key – taking just seconds to make contact
<s>P<orts> <c>A<r’s> <i>G<nition> <k>E<y>; “taking just seconds” means second letter of each word only is used; you can make contact with e.g. a doctor by paging them |
| 03 | AFTERSHOCK | Bad effect that follows dessert wine?
AFTERS (=dessert) + HOCK (=wine, i.e. a German white) |
| 10 | WRING | Group screening finale from Oliver Twist
<olive>R (“finale from” means last letter only) in WING (=group, within a party, say) |
| 11 | OLIGARCHS | Rich businessmen left in fancy cigar shop after power cut
L (=left) in *(CIGAR SHO<p>); “after power (=P, in physics) cut” means letter “p” is dropped from the anagram, indicated by “fancy” |
| 12 | END | Close some open doors
Hidden (“some”) in “opEN Doors” |
| 13 | GETS AT | Suggests good judgement is overturned
G (=good) + ETSAT (TASTE=judgement, discernment; “is overturned” indicates reversal) |
| 14 | BURN | Book – last of all you order on Kindle
B (=book) + <yo>U <orde>R <o>N; “last of all” means last letter of each word is used |
| 16 | PURPOSELESSNESS | Futility of keeping poor proles in suspense somehow shown at the outset
[*(PROLES) in *(SUSPENSE)] + S<hown> (“at the outset” means first letter only); “poor” and “somehow” are both anagram indicators |
| 18 | FOUR-PART HARMONY | Square character keeping something barbershop needs
FOUR (=square, i.e. of 2) + PART (=character, i.e. in play) + HARMONY (=keeping, as in to be in keeping/harmony with); naturally enough, a barbershop quartet would need a four-part harmony! |
| 21 | SIDE | Team expressed exasperation on the radio
Homophone (“on the radio”) of “sighed (=expressed exasperation)” |
| 22 | AU PAIR | Gold standard protects one foreign worker
I (=one) in [AU (=gold, i.e. chemical symbol) + PAR (=standard)] |
| 23 | ERA | Remove clothes for wild time
<f>ERA<l> (=wild, of a cat); “remove clothes” means first and last letters are dropped |
| 25 | ADENOIDAL | Initially almost no papers in agreement on quality of Starmer’s speech
A<lmost> (“initially” means first letter only) + {[NO + ID (=papers, i.e. to prove identity)] in DEAL (=agreement)]} |
| 26 | SWANK | Perhaps pen and ink missing in display
SWAN (=perhaps pen, i.e. female swan) + <in>K (“missing in” means letters “in” are missing); to swank is to display one’s wealth, knowledge, etc, to show off |
| 27 | DISTEMPERS | Sales rep met sidekick about suppressing ailments
Reversed (“about”) and hidden (“suppressing”) in “saleS REP MET SIDekick” |
| 28 | WEAR | Don Warrington’s biggest character gets attention
W<Arrington> (“biggest character” means capital letter) + EAR (=attention, as in to have someone’s ear) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | POWDER PUFFS | Means to apply make-up we drop off before drag show’s opening
*(WE DROP) + PUFF (=drag, on cigarette) + S<how> (“opening” means first letter only); “off” is anagram indicator |
| 02 | GRINDER | Wide smile for starters – dentist examines rotten molar
GRIN (=wide smile) + D<entist> E<xamines> R<otten>; “for starters” means first letters only |
| 04 | FROM THE GROUND UP | Clue to give them for starting with nothing
“from the ground up” could be a cryptic clue for “them for”, since it is an anagram (“ground up”) of it! |
| 05 | ELIZABETH TAYLOR | Actress in theory, lit a blaze in resort
*(THEORY LIT A BLAZE); “in re-sort’ is anagram indicator; the reference is to English-born Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) |
| 06 | SLAP | 4 friends making buffet
PALS (=friends); “from the ground up (=entry at 4)” indicates vertical reversal; to buffet is to hit, strike, hence “slap” |
| 07 | OCCLUDE | Check 1 Across, say contains definition originally – firm up opening
OC (CO=firm, i.e. company; “up” indicates vertical reversal) + [D<efinition> (“originally” means first letter only) in CLUE (=1 Across, say)]; to occlude is to halt, arrest, hence “check”, in Chambers Thesaurus |
| 08 | KOS | Greek island cocking a snook regularly
<a> S<n>O<o>K; “regularly” means alternate letters only are used; “cocking”, i.e. setting upright, indicates vertical reversal |
| 09 | AGE GROUP | Cohort of 23 mature women ignored?
AGE (=era, i.e. entry at 23) + GRO<w> UP (=mature; “women (=W) ignored” means letter “w” is dropped) |
| 15 | NOSEY-PARKER | Busybody attorney perks up after case of theft dropped
*(A<tt>ORNEY PERKS); “after case (=first and last letters) of theft dropped” means letter “tt” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “up” |
| 17 | SURPRISE | Dawn making new props occasionally – wow
SUNRISE (=dawn); “making new (=N) <p>R<o>P<s> occasionally (=alternate letters only) means letter “n” is replaced by letters “rp” |
| 19 | UNDRESS | Head doctor’s cutting under United strip
U (=united, as in Man U) + [DR (=doctor) in NESS (=head, promontory)] |
| 20 | OVERAWE | Cow left hay when ignored oddly
OVER (=left, remaining) + <h>A<y>W<h>E<n> (“when oddly ignored” means all odd letters are dropped) |
| 24 | OOZE | 19 drank slime
<b>OOZE<d> (=drink; “undress (=entry at 19)” means remove first and last letters); ooze is slimy mud |
| 25 | AID | Help abridging opera?
AÏD<a> (=opera, by Verdi; “abridging” means last letter is dropped) |
Well, if you enjoy letter-plays, and painting-by-numbers, then this is the puzzle for you.
Initial letters/ second letters/ final letters/ outer letters/every-other-letters/abbreviation letters/ delete-reverse-shuffle letters…… etc., etc.
Out of 30 clues, only 4 seem to be exempt: AFTERSHOCK and SIDE are only too familiar.
Leaving the barbershop singers, 18(ac), and FROM THE GROUND UP, which is a reverse anagram.
The completed grid is interesting, but getting there was uninteresting, for me.
Different strokes for Diff’rent folks, and I expect to be the odd one out.
But thanks, Bluth + Riku
Two of the shorties took the longest stares — ages to remember cob and pen for swan[in]k, and nearly as long for ooze. Quite enjoyed it, cheers Bluth and RR.
Great fun although not on top form as shown by a hidden being my last one in. Lesson in fully parsing your answers as well as I had ELIZABETH HURLEY and FROM THE BOTTOM UP in there for far too long. Neither of which worked.
Slow going in the bottom half but great fun. Liked NOSEY PARKER and ADENOIDAL.
Thanks Bluth and RR
Thanks both. I thought this was a really good test, and unusually for me, I have no particular queries. Fortunately I saw ELIZABETH TAYLOR was a good fit without thinking too hard about the re-sort device. OOZE came only eventually just before I convinced myself I’d exhausted all terms for drinking. Didn’t realise the PM sounds ADENOIDAL though I do prefer to mute all politicians.
I enjoyed this one – and although it did lean very heavily on letter plays as E.N.Boll&@1 says, I didn’t mind that (although wouldn’t want that every day). FOUR-PART HARMONY took me a while and was probably my favourite, but I enjoyed a lot of others too. It took and age to link pen to swan, so much so that SWANK was my LOI.
Thanks both
I liked this very much, and the wordplay for AGE GROUP looked to work differently (and unsatisfactorily) for a long time until the penny dropped. Very nicely done, I thought, in common with the rest of it.
Thanks RatkojaRiku, thanks all!
When I saw it was a Bluth, I shouted Hooray. No I didn’t, but I was pleased as I always get on fine when it’s a Bluth. Well not today. Ah well, perhaps his next one will be more to my taste.
About the right level for me… saw most of the games, except for the 6d/4d… so the blog helped me there.
Lots to enjoy, particularly liked FOUR-PART HARMONY, for its layering, as I see a square requiring four-part harmony in order to be square, so, excellent in 3 dimensions! Bravo!
Thanks Bluth n RatkojaRiku
I don’t think that anyone has mentioned that Don Warrington is an actor who has been in several things on TV, most recently as the Police Commissioner in Death in Paradise.
For 1a, “to make” is a link phrase between wordplay and definition and not part of the definition, as the blog incorrectly states. If it were part of the definition, the clue wouldn’t work as page is transitive: to make contact is intransitive.