I've not seen this compiler before but I found this an intriguing puzzle with quite a lot of tough wordplay.
I got more of the answers from the crossing letters than I did by working out the wordplay. There were loads of clues that I thought were excellent – 13 was a very well hidden anagram that I didn't spot for a long time, 22 was very deceptive and 3 had some clever wordplay. My favourite was 5 for the brilliantly hidden definition. The puzzle is also a pangram.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | TIN OPENER |
Can I cut to boxing now, before match involving Everton finally? (3,6)
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(To around in(=now in the sense of the "in" thing, I suppose)) + (peer(=match) around [Everto]n) |
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| 10 | LEAKY |
Dripping with the flavour of vegetable picked up (5)
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Hom of "leeky" i.e. having the flavour of a leek. |
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| 11 | AGA |
Hot range of erotica gathered (3)
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Hidden in erotica gathered. Refers to the aga oven(=range). |
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| 12 | BLANK CHEQUE |
Articulate European lacking expression for ‘complete freedom‘ (5,6)
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Blank(=lacking expression) + hom of Czech (Czech articulated) |
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| 13 | ALGORITHM |
Problem-solving instructions oral might obscure (9)
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(Oral might)* |
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| 15 | BEER |
Who lives for drink? (4)
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CD/DD. I think beer is used in the sense of be-er i.e. someone who exists. |
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| 17 | HARD WON |
South Korean coins possibly obtained at great expense (4-3)
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CD/DD – won is the currency of South Korea, so a coin version could be called "hard won". |
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| 18 | SCOTTIE |
Dog that is pursuing Antarctic explorer (7)
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I.e.(=id est, latin that is) after Scott(=Robert Falcon Scott, Antarctic explorer) |
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| 20 | GRAZ |
Briefly browse city (4)
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Graz[e](=browse in the sense of grazing animals). Graz is the second largest city in Austria. |
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| 22 | DRESS CODE |
Formal sporting rules? (5,4)
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CD. "Sporting" here is a red herring in that it just refers to sporting an item of clothing. |
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| 25 | JOIN THE CLUB |
You’re not the only one to go to Chelsea? (4,3,4)
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DD, the second def needing the question mark because Chelsea is an example of a club you might join. |
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| 27 | LAP |
Wash home of Hollywood lead from production (3)
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LA(=Los Angeles where Hollywood is located) + p[roduction]. The def is used in the sense of a wave lapping the shore. |
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| 28 | MOTIF |
Design safety test with uncertainty (5)
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MOT + if(=uncertainty) |
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| 29 | OBNOXIOUS |
Offensive old coach taking on negative football side beginning to object (9)
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(O{ld} bus(=coach)) around (no(=negative) + XI(=eleven, usual size football team) + o[bject]) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | STRATA |
Classes engaged in history and philosophy, say, on reflection (6)
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(At(=engaged in) + arts(=subject that includes history and philosophy))< |
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| 2 | ENDANGER |
Threaten to scrap unreliable car failing to start (8)
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End(=scrap) + [b]anger(=unreliable car) |
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| 3 | UNFASTENED |
Open global body had nothing to hide outside of negligence (10)
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UN(=global body) + (fasted(=had nothing in the sense of ate nothing) around n[egligenc]e) |
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| 4 | TREK |
What some hiker turns up for? (4)
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&lit – hidden, reversed in hiker turns |
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| 5 | ALPHA |
A pop group holds record (5)
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A-ha(=Norwegian pop group most famous for the song "Take on Me") around LP(=long play record). The def is from the phonetic alphabet. |
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| 6 | BARQUE |
Line for a drink reduced by 25% in ship (6)
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(Bar que[ue]) with 2 of 8 letters removed, so reduced by 25%. A barque is a type of 3 masted sailing ship. |
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| 7 | BY GEORGE |
Crumbs near pig full of energy (2,6)
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By(=near) + (gorge(=pig as a verb) around e{nergy}). By coincidence (or not), George is also the name of Peppa Pig's brother. |
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| 9 | PUB CRAWL |
Naked in back of strip club running drunken event (3,5)
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Raw(=naked) in ([stri]p + club*). I think running is the anagram indicator unless the def is just "event", which seems a little weak. |
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| 14 | MISCELLANY |
I’m about to trade whatever possible to get hold of cocaine variety (10)
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I'm< + (sell any(=trade whatever possible) around c{ocaine}) |
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| 16 | HORSEBOX |
He’s excited about Gold on television showing trailer (8)
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(He's* around or(=gold)) + box(=a slightly dated term for TVs now that most of them are flat-screen) |
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| 17 | HIGH JUMP |
Senior judge and upper-class politician bound to compete in this (4,4)
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High(=senior) + j{udge} + U(=upper class from U/non-U) + MP(=politician). You could perhaps make the criticism that the def isn't clearly stated. Although the clue alludes to it being a competition, it's not a &lit as judges and politicians aren't the usual competitors in high jump. |
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| 19 | TOODLE OO |
Over DiCaprio, stopping affair later (6-2)
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(O{ver} and Leo(=Leonardo DiCaprio)) inside(="stopping") to-do(=affair). The two contained words are in different places, which is a little unusual, although I can't see why it wouldn't be valid. The def is just later when you used as a way of saying goodbye – instead of "see you later" people just say "later". |
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| 21 | AVIATE |
Pilot bothered by drills (6)
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Via(=by) inside(=drills) ate(=bothered, as in "What's eating Gilbert Grape?") |
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| 23 | EX POST |
Retrospectively, Elon’s beginning message on his platform? (2,4)
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E[lon] + (post on X), X being of course the new name for Twitter which Musk purchased. |
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| 24 | STUFF |
Hammer small volcanic rock (5)
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S{mall} + tuff(=small pieces of volcanic rock such as ash or cinder) |
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| 26 | EGOS |
Rejecting outsiders, members upset true selves (4)
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[L]eg[s](=members) +so<(=true, in the sense of "that is so"). |
ALPHA
‘A’ here represents the Greek letter (the phonetic A is spelt Alfa).
Liked TIN OPENER, BLANK CHEQUE, HARD WON (I think ‘obtained’ should be included in the def), TREK and MISCELLANY.
Thanks Major and NealH.
Hard with a few unknowns, e.g. TUFF.
For ALPHA, I don’t think you need the phonetic alphabet since the upper case alpha looks like our A.
For TOODLE-OO, I wondered about TOO = ‘over’ (as in ‘over much’) + LEO in DO (affair).
17d, I had the definition as ‘bound to compete in this’.
ALPHA
Chambers says
(in international radio communication) a code word for the letter a
Alfa in the NATO system and Alpha elsewhere.
What the blogger says works, I think.
HIGH JUMP
Agree with Hovis@2
For 15a, I initially put in DRAM (Dr. (Who) + AM (lives)) but wasn’t exactly convinced by it.
EX POST
Do both EX POST facto and EX POST mean ‘retrospectively’?
Likes for HARD WON (agree that ‘obtained’ would belong to the def), ALPHA, and AVIATE among others. Elsewhere I thought the surfaces for 8a and 26d were a little strained. Like the blogger I had the crossers so in they went. Tough wordplay. @5 my mail says ex post facto is retrospectively and ex post is after the event but they mean the same thing. Good blog, good puzzle. Thanks Neal and Major.
Also agree with Hovis @4 re the def for HIGH JUMP making it a very clever clue.
Yep, “bound to compete” is the best bit. Inter much alia I liked bar que[ue], simple but neat. Welcome to the fray and thanks Major, and thanks NeilH.
Thanks both. Tricky in a few places, but enjoyable in the main for being appreciably different. BEER and HARD WON are particularly whimsical; for the latter, if I were under attack, and needing something ‘hard’ to defend myself, I am unconvinced a 5 won coin would do the trick.
The missus would like to point out that a horsebox is a motorized vehicle for transporting equines.
If it’s towed it is simply called a “horse trailer”.
Tricky puzzle, but worth it.
@10 it’s always good to get a bit of specialist knowledge. This was tough. I really wasn’t on the wavelength, so needed the blog to make sense of my gaps. Still, it’s good to be challenged, and I’ll look forward to doing better on Major’s next outing. Thanks and welcome to her/him and big thanks to NeilH
Just popping in to say thanks to NealH for the super blog and the lovely comments all round. ‘Obtained’ is indeed part of the second definition in 17a. Hovis @2 has identified the intended definition of 17D and the parse of 19D. The blog is correct about 3d’s definition is referring to A in the phonetic alphabet.
Thanks for dropping in Major, and to NealH for the blog.
But, as has been pointed out, in the phonetic alphabet, A is ALFA, not Alpha (in the same way that J is JULIETT, not JULIET.
They both clarify the intended pronunciation for non-English-speakers.
This was tough and a bit different, with loads of lovely touches I thought, highlights for me being UNFASTENED, TIN OPENER and JOIN THE CLUB. (sofamore@6, personally I thought the surface for TIN OPENER was great – but I did find a couple of other ones strained.)
Loved the A, did momentarily think “hang on, it’s ALFA”, but then remembered that A and uppercase Greek alpha are essentially the same so all is well, regardless of intention!
Thanks both.
Very late to this so my comment probably won’t be seen.
I struggled at the first sitting, and then it all just sort of tumbled out. Lots of good fun. Being an American, I threw in an unparsed BAR CRAWL (which is what we call them here) until the check button set me straight. So I can’t claim to have completed this unaided.
Glad to see TUFF, one of my favorite obscure-to-non-geologists rocks. If you don’t like geology, then tuff schist. (I’m not a geologist, but I studied the subject as an undergraduate.) For the record, tuff is completely unrelated to tufa–the latter is sedimentary, the former igneous.
You should never take for granite how many gneiss rock puns there are, by the way.