A neat challenge from XELA this Friday.
FF: 8 DD : 6
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TASER |
The final part of that American series is a stunner (5)
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T ( thaT, final letter ) A ( american ) SER ( series ) |
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| 4 | PAPER CLIP |
Parcel haphazardly stuck in spot for office binder (5,4)
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[ PARCEL ]* in PIP ( spot ) |
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| 9 | WHIPPET |
Dog happening to follow with cat, perhaps (7)
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W ( with ) HIP ( happening ) PET ( cat, perhaps ) |
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| 10 | ACTRESS |
Bullock possibly caught in a lock (7)
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C ( caught ) in [ A TRESS ( lock ) ] ; sandra |
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| 11 | CUT TO THE CHASE |
Stop waffling and switch over to a TV quiz show? (3,2,3,5)
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cryptic def; the chase is a british quiz show |
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| 14 | ASBO |
Way to restrict misconduct of extremely aimless youngster, mostly (4)
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AS ( AimlesS, end letters ) BOy ( youngster, mostly ) ; ASBO stands for Anti-Social Behaviour Order , as i learnt from chambers. |
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| 15 | CABALLERO |
Spanish chap in local bar deviously taking ecstasy (9)
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[ LOCAL BAR ]* containing E ( ecstasy ) |
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| 18 | CLATTERED |
Idly talked about coffee and wine (9)
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C ( about ) LATTE ( coffee ) RED ( wine ) |
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| 19 | STYE |
Somewhat nasty, extensive swelling (4)
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hidden in "..naSTY Extensive.." |
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| 21 | PADDLE STEAMER |
Go off with second crew in a boat (6,7)
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PADDLE ( go off ) S ( second ) TEAMER ( crew ) ; can anyone do better at parsing this? |
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| 24 | ASPHALT |
Pitch requiring a special check (7)
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A SP ( special ) HALT ( check ) |
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| 26 | ARRANGE |
Set out from location in Scotland say, heading west (7)
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ARRAN ( location in scotland ) GE ( reverse of E.G. say ) |
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| 27 | IMPOTENCY |
Being weak and feeble, Conservative invested in awful money pit (9)
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C ( conservative ) in [ MONEY PIT ]* |
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| 28 | YIELD |
Crop in yard that is left ultimately unsold (5)
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Y ( yard ) IE ( that is ) L ( left ) D ( solD, last letter ) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TOWS |
Lugs and tootsies, so they say (4)
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sounds like TOES ( tootsies ) |
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| 2 | SWITCHBOARD |
Electric circuitry from Nintendo console placed on table (11)
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SWITCH ( nintendo console ) BOARD ( table ) |
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| 3 | REPUTE |
Name of salesperson on work truck in Canberra? (6)
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REP ( salesperson ) UTE ( work truck in australia, short for utility vehicle ) |
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| 4 | PATROL CAR |
Vehicle in which heat may circulate? (6,3)
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cryptic def |
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| 5 | POACH |
Appropriate game primarily played outside a church (5)
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PO ( starting letters of "..Played Outside.." ) A CH ( church ) |
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| 6 | RETICULE |
Complex lecture introducing one visual inspection device (8)
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[ LECTURE ]* containing I ( one ) |
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| 7 | LIE |
Some surveillance set up to show the general situation (3)
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hidden reversed in "..survEILlance.." |
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| 8 | PASSED OVER |
Neglected, unfashionable coastal town (6,4)
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PASSE ( unfashionable ) DOVER ( coastal town ) |
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| 12 | AGENT ORANGE |
Spy with scope to carry old poison (5,6)
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[ AGENT ( spy ) RANGE ( scope ) ] containing O ( old ) ; vietnam war reference |
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| 13 | SARCOPHAGI |
Coffins once transported in a cargo ship (10)
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[ A CARGO SHIP ]* |
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| 16 | BUDGETARY |
Move it fairly regularly from a financial statement (9)
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BUDGE ( move ) TARY ( alternate letters of ' iT fAiRlY.." ) |
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| 17 | STALWART |
One determined to begin holding tool up (8)
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START ( begin ) containing reverse of AWL ( tool ) |
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| 20 | SMARMY |
Sycophantic troops subordinate to Sergeant Major (6)
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SM ( sergeant major ) ARMY ( troops ) |
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| 22 | SIT-IN |
Protest starts to succeed in that it’s newsworthy (3-2)
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starting letters of "..Succeed In That It's Newsworthy" |
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| 23 | LEAD |
Heavy metal headliner? (4)
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double def |
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| 25 | PAP |
Rubbish photographer (3)
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double def |
I had PETROL CAR for 4d, and didn’t get it. Now I see it’s PATROL CAR and i still don’t get it. Let me see … is “heat” UK slang for police? Am I getting warm?
[Edit: I found it. It’s US]
My other head scratch was “go off” for “paddle”.
Nothing else to report. All else fell into place.
I think its ‘addle’ (go off) + S[econd] + ‘team’ (crew) inside ‘per’ ( ‘a’).
It was indeed a crossword with some very neat cluing, such as SARCOPHAGI, IMPOTENCY and BUDGETARY. I also liked POACH, REPUTE and ACTRESS.
It could only have been LATTE for the ‘coffee’ (commonly used, I know, but still a misnomer) required in 18a but I didn’t know ‘clatter’ in this sense, only chatter.
Thanks to Xela and Turbolegs.
FT in a mellow mood this week. Very fillable in. Liked smarmy, patrol car. Thx both.
Diane@2, I think you’ve cracked it. Well done.
Remembered ASBO from somewhere, probably here in cwland as I don’t think they’re called that here, if we have them at all.
But yes, neat and mellow it indeed was, thanks Xela and Turbolegs (are you a sprinter maybe … 🙂 )
Is XELA American by any chance?
Rather liked the whimsical TOWS. Also liked SMARMY and LEAD was a nice surface.
A straightforward puzzle with nice clues marred by many NHOs.
Thanks Xela and Turbolegs
@copster Nope. Brit (now living in Australia)
I loved this and parsed PADDLE STEAMER as Diane @2.
Without looking it up, my hindbrain thinks CLATTERED is older, Austen, maybe, which meant I got stuck on a RETICULE meaning a bag.
Thank you to Xela and Turbolegs.
Very enjoyable, very smooth. Two clue-as-definition/extended definition clues which I particularly enjoyed inc ASBO, STYE and, yes, PADDLE STEAMER was a very nice construction.
Thanks Xela and Turbolegs
I really enjoyed this. For once, I remembered per for ‘a’. PASSED OVER made me smile, and ASBO is very neat. Thanks, both.
I have imagined there to be something called “switchchart” instead of SWITCHBOARD :), which didn’t allow me to get ASBO or PADDLE STEAMER, although I probably wouldn’t have gotten them anyway, as I NHO ASBO, and for the latter, I thought that “crew” was TEAM (don’t really see how it can be TEAMER) and that therefore ER must be part of the envelope (“in” being the indicator). Enjoyable, thanks Xela and Turbolegs
Apologies, just noticed Diane’s parsing of PADDLE STEAMER @2, which makes perfect sense
Thanks Xela. I found this more difficult than our blogger but I concur with the fun factor. My top picks were WHIPPET, ACTRESS (COTD), CABALLERO, REPUTE, and PASSED OVER. I missed ASPHALT, PAP (nho), & ARRANGE. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
I had BAND penned in for 23D which I thought fitted too?
Didn’t help with that corner :-/
Thanks Xela and Turbolegs
18ac: the definition of latte as a type of coffee can be found in Chambers 2016 p 865 and Collins 2023 p 1111, and is indeed the only definition in each of these sources. It is perfectly normal for a shift in meaning to take place when a word is adopted in ordinary English, either from another language or from “the specialized language concerned with a particular subject, culture, or profession” (Collins p 1044). It is the current meaning in ordinary English that we should expect in crosswords, and that is what Xela has given us.
I too had not heard of CLATTERED for “chattered”. I wondered whether perhaps someone had invented one of those elaborate coffees which hold up the queue and are more of an affectation than a drink and christened it a “chatté”. (I overlooked the “about” in the clue.)
Nor had I heard of The Chase but surmised its existence.
I liked PADDLE STEAMER best. I thought LIE had a rather feeble clue.
But ignore grumbles. It was an enjoyable puzzle.
Never encountered CUT TO THE CHASE, and before we had all the crossers we’d have said that 11ac was ‘get to the point’ which fitted the enumeration. And we did know ‘heat’ for ‘police’ but object to the Americanism being unindicated. We didn’t know RETICULE as a visual inspection device; it’s also a type of handbag (yes, really – it’s in Chambers).
Otherwise this was fairly straightforward and enjoyable PADDLE STEAMER was our favourite.
Thanks, Xela and Turbolegs.
This was exactly the level of challenge I like – not too easy, but given time I can get most of it without help. I penciled in ASBO, but was not at all sure until I looked it up. Same for PAP, although I guessed (correctly) that it could be short for ‘paparazzo’. I temporarily had POLICE CAR for 4d, which caused some trouble until I realized my error.
Favorites were POACH, WHIPPET, and SARCOPHAGI.
Thanks Xela and Turbolegs!
Thanks Xela, most enjoyable. I also struggled with PADDLE STEAMER, and had POLICE CAR in too for a while, but otherwise was able to get there for most of them. I also believe it should be RETICLE rather than RETICULE, but I could parse it-ish. Now that I live in America, I had completely forgotten about ASBOs until this clue too! I don’t believe they exist anymore but they were a big thing in the tabloid press for a while there!
18ac (definition part) the definition “to chatter” is given for clatter as an intransitive verb in both Chambers 2016 (p 281) and Collins 2023 (p 383)
6dn: Collins (p 1701) has “reticle or less commonly reticule” at the start of the entry. Chambers (p 1330) has reticle on its own as the main entry word, but then, under words derived from the main entry word, reticule with first definition “a reticle”.
Chatté – I like it, Babbler @18 😉
Thanks Xelait was “Heat” that made me think it-I only learnt that from Doonsbury
Babbler@18, we have The Chase in Australia — both the UK original and our local clone. I seldom watch it, but I do credit it for introducing me to callipygian, a word that now supplements my lexicon and that of several (male) acquaintances. 🙂
27A Bit late I know but how is this impotency? Impotent?
27ac: In the definition, “Being” acts as the verbal noun or gerund. Compare “Finishing a crossword is a joyful experience.”