SLORMGORM kicks off the week…
A very solid and enjoyable puzzle with some great surfaces, as one expects from this setter. 23ac was probably my favourite.
Thanks SLORMGORM!
ACROSS
1. Conservative 60s youths in The Carpenters (8)
CHIPPIES
C (conservative) + HIPPIES (60s youths)
5. Small marks in thin fallen branches (6)
STICKS
S (small) + TICKS (marks)
10. Fan about to be poked by old fool (7)
BUFFOON
BUFF (fan) + (ON (about) to be poked by O (old))
11. Month’s work for heavily-armed marine type? (7)
OCTOPUS
OCT (month) + OPUS (work)
12. Actors in cast snorting cocaine and downers (9)
NARCOTICS
(ACTORS IN)* (*cast) snorting C (cocaine)
13. Deterioration in city comes in time (5)
DECAY
EC (city, of London) comes in DAY (time)
15. Coach or caravan (5)
TRAIN
16. Was The Go-between thought to lack central character? (8)
MEDIATED
MEDI[t]ATED (thought, to lack central character)
19. I’d reviewed Man of God for Yelena Popovic, say (8)
DIRECTOR
(ID)< (<reviewed) + RECTOR (man of God)
20. Tough question model put to Republican leader (5)
POSER
POSE (model) put to R[epublican] (leader)
21. Wind up in trough, slipping close to farm (5)
ANGER
[m]ANGER (trough, slipping [far]M (close to))
23. Singers cut No.6, 7 and 9 from compilation album (5,4)
GREAT TITS
GREAT[es]T [h]ITS (compilation album, cut No.6, 7 and 9)
25. Swimmer and boxer spotted in hotel bar (7)
HALIBUT
ALI (boxer) spotted in (H (hotel) + BUT (bar))
27. One found in two containers in Roman palace (7)
VATICAN
I (one) found in VAT CAN (two containers)
28. Spot to cross west-flowing river rapid (6)
SPEEDY
SPY (spot) to cross (DEE)< (river, <west flowing)
29. Supporters of a Russian monarchy stir TASS up (8)
TSARISTS
DOWN
1. During film, taxis picked up some furniture (8)
CABINETS
(IN (during) + ET (film)), CABS (taxis) picked up
2. Airing unfit broadcast can be very annoying (11)
INFURIATING
(AIRING UNFIT)* (*broadcast)
3. Expert with knight that’s put on weight, say (9)
PRONOUNCE
PRO (expert) with N (knight) that's put on OUNCE (weight)
4. Weariness is often nuisance some of the time (5)
ENNUI
[oft]EN NUI[sance] (some of the time)
6. Young child my boss carried (5)
TOTED
TOT (young child) + ED (my boss)
7. Piece of pewter on the bottom of copper vessel (3)
CUP
P[ewter] (piece of) on the bottom of CU (copper)
8. Cheekily bold as some British special forces? (5)
SASSY
Double (cryptic) definition
9. Think carefully about Tory party heading for ruin (8)
CONSIDER
CON (Tory) + SIDE (party) + R[uin] (heading for)
14. Bit of sauce in pic cheeses off board members (11)
CHESSPIECES
S[auce] (bit of) in (PIC CHEESES)* (*off)
16. Mollify one in Cambridge Uni scandal? (8)
MITIGATE
I (one) in (MIT (Cambridge Uni) + GATE (scandal))
17. Type primarily involved in transformative trauma op? (9)
AMPUTATOR
T[ype] (primarily) involved in (TRAUMA OP)* (*transformative) &lit
18. Writhing serpents which might be found under tree (8)
PRESENTS
21. Signs there has been a fire in trees (5)
ASHES
22. Violent attack that bishop is involved in (5)
RABID
RAID (attack) that B (bishop) is involved in
24. Tunnel vision hampers The King (5)
ELVIS
[tunn]EL VIS[ion] (hampers)
26. The Parisian scoffing ravioli ultimately’s porky (3)
LIE
LE (the, Parisian) scoffing [raviol]I (ultimately)
Liked ‘em all. ELVIS probably top of the pops.
Thanks to Slormgorm and Teacow.
I agree with Teacow – this was an enjoyable if not overly difficult puzzle with some really neat clues – in addition to 23ac I would single out 16 down. Thx Slormgorm !
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow.
My faves: OCTOPUS, NARCOTICS, GREAT TITS, PRONOUNCE and AMPUTATOR.
The complier played very fair (and showed due respect) in capitalising The King.
Very enjoyable and I agree with the comment about great surfaces. DIRECTOR is all the better for the fact that Man oh God is a Yelena Popovic film.
Very enjoyable. My only problem was trying to parse DECAY, as I’d forgotten that for some reason EC is a city.
I agree with all the above. My favourite was OCTOPUS.
Geoff Down Under, the City of London falls within the East Central postal district of London as a whole, abbreviated to EC in postcodes. I think it’s the only instance of a postcode clue convention as others would be too laborious (e.g. Knightsbridge to indicate the letters SW) and might also be too obscure. Who knows that Durham is DH, for example, apart from people who live there?
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow
Further to Babbler@7, Newcastle or Tyneside are sometimes used to indicate NE, but this could be taken as either the Newcastle postcode NE or an indication of the north east region of England.
The online version I just did has a very different clue for CHESSPIECES. Wonder why it was swapped out. Maybe somebody got cheesed off?
Babbler@7 A recent puzzle had Leicester city centre as LEI
Me@10 African rhino in Leicester city centre LEONE. Gemelo.
Yes, it is nice to have a crossword full of nice surfaces. Very approachable, partly due to so many anagrams.
My ticks went to STICKS, OCTOPUS, CONSIDER, NARCOTICS, DIRECTOR was clever (see Petert@5), and VATICAN. So quite a long list
On the other hand, I did not like “some of the time” as a hidden word indicator in ENNUI. and I do not see ANGER as synonymous with wind up. Interesting that CHESS PIECES was changed, and thanks for pointing it out mrp@9.
Thanks Slormgorm for a very enjoyable puzzle and Teacow for the blog
21ac: “to irritate, annoy or anger (inf)” is the last of the definitions of wind up given under the headword wind² on p 1795 in Chambers 2016. SOED 2007 p 3640 has “wind up (h) colloq deliberately provoke, esp by misleading or hoaxing; tease, annoy, trick” under wind verb¹. ODE 2010 p 2032 has wind someone up 2 make tense or angry.
Most enjoyable. Thanks, Slormgorm and Teacow.
Further to the use of postcodes, one might clue Edinburgh as ‘City, EH? (9)’. And Wimbledon is often referred to as SW19 but I don’t think I’ve seen that in crosswords.
Thank-you PB@13. I read the first entry for anger in the dictionary that said the transitive version is obsolete and stopped reading. There are current transitive usages further down.
Anyway, I would never use anger in this fashion. Is it common in UK?
Martyn@15: if the issue is anger as a transitive verb, I would say that it is perfectly normal usage in the UK. It is even in the Pocket Oxford English Dictionary (2013, p. 30) with the definition “make someone angry”. I see that SOED 2007 p 81 has the dagger for obsolete against the first definition “Distress, trouble, vex”, which certainly is not familiar to me, but then number 3 is the familiar “Make angry, enrage”. As I understand the guides at the front of each dictionary, definitions in the SOED are in chronological order, whereas in Chambers and Collins the normal rule is that the most common meanings are given first.
Thank you all for the geography information. I’m learning more and more about the UK. It won’t be long before I’ll be able to apply for citizenship. 😉
Marvellous puzzle.
So much better than the painful, contorted head scratchers we occasionally face.
Very late to this but in agreement with the generally chorus of approval for this gentle Slormgorm outing. My favourites were AMPUTATOR, OCTOPUS, GREAT TITS, HALIBUT and VATICAN.
Thanks Slormgorm and Teacow.
PB@15 – I am not sure whether I@15 was clear. I was saying it turns out the required meaning was in my dictionary, but I mistakenly stopped reading at the first obsolete example. Thanks for extra info on usage in UK