Dalibor is a setter whose puzzles are seen frequently at Setters and Bloggers events. I believe he has been ill for some time and has been unable to attend the events in person. He also sets a few Independent puzzles.
This puzzle certainly wasn’t as ‘easy as ABC’, but those letters take centre stage in the grid. All the entries begin with these letters. Overall, there are 154 letters in the grid, 48 (31.2%) of which are A, B or C. If we extend to count A-E inclusive, we have 70 (45.5%) of the letters.
I note that one of the two word entries (BLUE BERET) has both words beginning with B.
I wonder how long Dalibor spent creating the grid and how often he nearly got there but just failed to find a final word that would fit. He did very well to fill the grid with well-known words or words known by many long-term solvers. I note there were several names used. CYCLORAMA was the only entry with which I was unfamiliar.
It took me a while to realise that ‘about’ was the anagram indicator in the clue for BEAUTY SPOT as I usually associate that word with a containment indicator.
There were some appropriate surfaces. In particular, I can imagine BOJO booing a judge.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 9 | Vessel‘s active measure of speed or acceleration (7)
AMPHORA (a two-handled jar used by the Greeks and Romans for holding liquids; vessel) A (active) + MPH (miles per hour; measure of speed) + OR + A (acceleration) A MPH OR A |
| 10 | Expert made changes inside university, say (7)
ACADEME (the world of scholars; a word descriptive of a university environment; inside university) Anagram of (changes) MADE contained in (inside) ACE (expert) AC (ADEM*) E |
| 11 | Vessel involved in fight, an extremely stressful situation (7)
BURNOUT (A total loss of energy and interest and an inability to function effectively, experienced as a result of excessive demands on one’s resources or chronic overwork, putting one in an extremely stressful situation) URN (large vessel) contained in (involved) BOUT (contest or fight, especially a boxing or wrestling match) B (URN) OUT |
| 12 | Little man’s headgear? (7)
CHAPLET (a garland or wreath for the head; headgear) CHAPLET could be interpreted as CHAP (man) + –LET (suffix used to form diminutive; little) CHAP LET |
| 13 | Forest fruit railway destroyed starts to emotionally trouble UN soldier (4,5)
BLUE BERET (a soldier working for a United Nations [UN] peace-keeping force) BLUEBERry (forest fruit) excluding (destroyed) RY (railway) + ET (first letters of [starts to] each of Emotionally and Trouble) BLUE BER ET |
| 15 | Broadway show news that is written on the first of April (5)
ANNIE (name of a Broadway show which opened in 1977) A (initial letter of [first of] April) + (N (new) + N (new) giving news) + IE (id est; that is) A N N IE |
| 16 | Musical giant finally wanting hot stuff for dessert (7)
BACLAVA (Middle-Eastern dessert made of layers of filo pastry, honey, nuts, etc.) BACh (reference Johann Sebastian BACH [1685 – 1750], who could be described as a musical giant) excluding the last letter (finally wanting) H + LAVA (molten material discharged in a stream from a volcano or fissure; hot stuff) BAC LAVA |
| 19 | Motorhome’s stuck in aquatic plants in holiday destination (7)
ALGARVE (Portugal’s southernmost region, a holiday destination) RV (recreational vehicle [motorhome], originally an American term but one becoming fairly common in Britain) contained in (stuck in) ALGAE (seaweed; aquatic plants) ALGA (RV) E |
| 20 | Roughly 55% income tax for space traveller (5)
COMET (heavenly body with a usually elliptical orbit round the sun; space traveller) COMET (5 of the 9 (55.6%, roughly 55%) letters in inCOME Tax) COMET |
| 21 | Part of theatre in which 200 see captivating unknown play (with no director) (9)
CYCLORAMA (a curved background in stage and cinematograph sets, used to give impression of sky distance, and for lighting effects; part of theatre) (CC [Roman numerals for 200] + LO [behold; see]) containing [captivating] Y (letter frequently used to denote an unknown value in an equation) + dRAMA (play) excluding (with no) D (director) C (Y) C LO RAMA |
| 25 | Excitement as noisy party leader is deposed (7)
AROUSAL (excitement) cAROUSAL (a drinking bout or feast; noisy party) excluding the first letter C (leader deposed) AROUSAL |
| 26 | Two parts of the UK, one country (7)
ALBANIA (country in Europe’s Balkan peninsula) (ALBA [Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland] + NI [Northern Ireland] giving two parts of the United Kingdom [UK]) + A (one) ALBA NI A |
| 28 | Barometer‘s software package requiring a different key (7)
ANEROID (type of barometer) ANDROID (an operating system [software package], a complete software stack based on the Linux kernel, designed primarily for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets) with D (a musical key) replaced by (requiring a different) E (another musical key) ANEROID |
| 29 | Intensely dislike revolutionary chasing red cat (7)
CHEETAH (large animal of the cat family) CHE (reference CHE Guevara [1928 – 1967], Marxist revolutionary [red]) + HATE (intensely dislike) reversed (revolutionary) CHE ETAH< |
| Down | |
| 1 | Tree of Life scarf held up by attractive young woman briefly (6)
BAOBAB (gigantic tropical African and Australian tree, often referred to as the Tree of Life. The nickname stems from its incredible ability to provide sustenance and resources for humans and animals, particularly in arid environments) BOA (woman’s long thin scarf, usually of feathers or fur) reversed (up; down entry) and contained in (held by) BABe (informal term for an attractive young woman) excluding the final letter E (briefly) B (AOB<) AB |
| 2 | Insightful comment made when disposable item has part removed from both ends (6)
APERÇU (an immediate intuitive insight; insightful comment) pAPER CUp (disposable item) excluding the outer letters P and P (part removed from both ends) APERCU |
| 3 | Ex-PM informally to express disapproval when judge interferes (4)
BOJO (informal name for Boris Johnson [born 1964], former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) J (judge) contained in (interferes) BOO (express disapproval) BO (J) O |
| 4 | Skilled worker dismisses writer as president (6)
CARTER (reference former United States President Jimmy CARTER [1924 – 2024]) CARpenTER (skilled worker) excluding (dismisses) PEN (writer) CARTER |
| 5 | Just over half of mathematical subject ultimately taught throughout American city (8)
CALCUTTA (former name for the Indian city of Kolkata) CALCU (5 of the 8, (just over half) of the letters in CALCUlus [mathematical subject]) + TT (final letters [ultimately] of taughT and throughouT) + A (American) CALCU TT A |
| 6 | He painted endless group of camels going astray with at first none missing (10)
CARAVAGGIO (reference Italian artist CARAVAGGIO [1571 – 1610]; he painted) CARAVAn (company of traders journeying together with a group of camels) excluding the final letter (endless) + an anagram of [astray] GOInG excluding (missing) N (initial letter of [at first] None) CARAVA GGIO* |
| 7 | German newspaper format (8)
BERLINER (A German from Berlin) BERLINER (a newspaper having a format between that of a broadsheet and a tabloid, approximately 18.5 inches by 12.4 inches [47 x 31.5 centimetres]. The current formats of The Guardian and The Times are examples) double definition BERLINER |
| 8 | Bit of exquisite taste he developed? (8)
AESTHETE (a person who affects an extravagant love of art; some who developed a bit of an exquisite taste) Anagram of (developed) TASTE HE – &Lit clue where the whole clue is the definition AESTHETE* |
| 14 | A boy upset about tense facial feature (6,4)
BEAUTY SPOT (facial feature) Anagram of (about) A BOY UPSET + T (tense) BEAUTY SPO* T |
| 16 | Reversing taxi in front of vehicle with a trailer, initially a game of luck (8)
BACCARAT ( game of luck rather than just skill) CAB (taxing) reversed (reversed) + CAR (vehicle) + A + T (first letter of [initially] Trailer) BAC< CAR A T |
| 17 | Possibly German internet domain facing difficult problem (8)
COMPOSER (many classical composers were German) COM (internet domain as in bt.COM, the internet address for BT for example) + POSER (difficult problem) COM POSER |
| 18 | One consuming soft drink died but gets strong praise (8)
ACCOLADE (strong praise given publicly) ACE (the one in dice; a single unit) containing (COLA [soft drink] + D [died]) AC (COLA D) E |
| 22 | Rachel Reeves ignores rollover opportunity (6)
CHANCE (opportunity) CHANCEllor (Rachel Reeves [born 1979] is currently Chancellor of the Exchequer in the United Kingdom government) excluding (ignores) LLOR (a reversal of ROLL [ROLLover]) CHANCE |
| 23 | Relative‘s name written in stone (6)
AGNATE (related on the father’s side or through a male ancestor; related generally) N (name) contained in (written in) AGATE (semiprecious stone) AG (N) ATE |
| 24 | Quickly injecting heroin – that’s brave (6)
APACHE (a Native Indian brave) APACE (quickly) containing (injecting) H (heroin) APAC (H) E |
| 27 | Singer-songwriter regularly visited bordello (4)
BREL (reference the French singer-songwrite Jacques BREL [1929 – 1978]) BREL (letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 of BoRdElLo) BREL |
Unlike Duncan, there were quite a few unfamiliar words for me. I vaguely knew BAOBAB but not as the ‘tree of life’. I didn’t know the BERLINER newspaper format or BREL. Spotted the ABC trick which helped with some of the answers. Pleased to remember ‘chaplet’, ‘agnate, ‘aperçu’, ‘aneroid’, ‘amphora’ and ‘Caravaggio’.
Extraordinary achievement by Dalibor, and thoroughly enjoyable to solve. I particularly liked Jacques Brel’s nighttime forays, the very clever AESTHETE and Johnson’s behaviour in court, which would surely see him done for contempt. Many thanks to him and to duncanshiell for the usual exemplary blog.
Funnily enough I had CARTER as possibly CART(i)ER – a skilled worker of his time – dismissing the writer = I. I think our blogger has a better parse but that one does work. I was only thrown by BACLAVA which I normally see spelled with a K. An interesting experiment with the ABC trick.
Thanks Dalibor and Duncan
Got there in the end, without registering the virtuoso ABC trick (and despite having registered the possibility of a Nina in the top and bottom rows at the outset – Doh!). A very entertaining puzzle.
I suspect the composer in 17d is Edward German.
Thanks Dalibor and duncan.
Enjoyed the puzzle though I had to Google more
than my usual quota.
BACLAVA, APERÇU and AESTHETE were my top picks.
AESTHETE
(a minor omission in the blog)
Bit of exquisite=E
Some lateral thinking involved… probably good for long term brain health.. came to them all in the end. I did at least notice the extraordinary number of As involved, but failed to spot B, and C.. ah well..
Small blog note, AESTHETE needs another E for the fodder? I read it as a “bit of exquisite” = E?
Thanks Dalibor n Duncansheill
PostMark @3. I initially wrote in BAKLAVA, the only spelling I’d seen, and couldn’t fathom who the musical giant could be. Later, having spotted the ABC trick, I realised it had to be BACLAVA (& BACH).
An impressive piece of setting, as it didn’t seem forced at all. I thought CHANCE was very good.
Sir Edward German (1862 – 1936), composer?
PeteHA3. That was my reasoning. Just noticed the blog didn’t have this.
I completely missed the ABC thing, for the same reason I almost always miss Ninas: I have trouble seeing the forest for the trees. (I’m better with themes, since I know, in particular with certain setters, to be looking out for them.)
Today only the barometer was new to me. BAOBAB pops up often in NYT Spelling Bee, since it uses just three letters
Thanks Dalibor and duncanshiell.
Great puzzle and blog.
Was defeated by the last puzzle in June and so, was curious to see if I could do better. Happy to complete with a couple of guesses/check.
Impressive, saw the ABCs. Terrific surfaces throughout.
Liked CYCLORAMA, CHEETAH, CALCUTTA, CARAVAGGIO, APERCU and CHANCE
Will be looking forward to the next.
And there was an overture, Nell Gwynne, by Edward German on Radio 3 this morning.