Twin provides our Thursday challenge this week.
A few tricky moments, and one or two minor niggles (noted below), but all in the range of “makes sense once you see it”. There’s always a question of how well “general knowledge” overlaps with “what I happen to know”; personally I’m very unlikely to recognise the name of an ice hockey player who died 50 years ago, but others may feel the same way about Greek mythology or atomic physicists, both of which are closer to my background. There are some very good misleading surfaces: as a rule, any standard phrase like “cloud cover” needs to be split into two unrelated words for the wordplay. My personal favourite was the very simple 26a, which seems vaguely familiar but (if so) is worth repeating. Thanks Twin for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WEAK-KNEED |
Few days demand to be discussed without resistance (4-5)
|
| Sound-alike (to be discussed) of WEEK (a few days) + NEED (demand). | ||
| 6 | LOCUM |
Meteorologist’s beginning to follow briefly scattered cloud cover (5)
|
| Beginning letter of M[eteorologist], following an anagram (scattered) of CLOU[d] without the last letter (briefly).
Locum = cover = someone temporarily doing another’s job in their absence. |
||
| 9 | LAURENCE OLIVIER |
He performed rural violence, i.e. scuffling (8,7)
|
| Anagram (scuffling) of RURAL VIOLENCE IE.
The actor (performer) Sir Laurence Olivier. |
||
| 10 | EYEBALL |
Closely examine Cambridge’s final call about degree (7)
|
| Final letter of [cambridg]E, then YELL (call) around BA (abbreviation for an academic degree).
Eyeball, as a verb = stare closely at. |
||
| 11 | PREFECT |
Student official found in sports court (7)
|
| REF (abbreviation for referee = sports official), in PE (abbreviation for physical education = sports lessons at school) + CT (abbreviation for court, especially in streetmaps).
A senior school student given some measure of authority over others. |
||
| 13 | FETTERED |
At the end of the last night, we never see Homeward Bound (8)
|
| Last letters (at the end) in [o]F [th]E [las]T [nigh]T [w]E [neve]R [se]E [homewar]D. | ||
| 15 | OTTAWA |
Too much off depleted capital (6)
|
| OTT (abbreviation for over the top = slang for too much), then AWA[y] (off = absent from duty) without the last letter (depleted).
Capital city of Canada. |
||
| 17 | RHOMBI |
Danish scientist flipped over one thousand and one shapes (6)
|
| BOHR (Niels Bohr, Danish atomic physicist) reversed (flipped), containing (over . . .) M (Roman numeral for one thousand), then I (Roman numeral for one).
Plural of rhombus = shape otherwise known as a diamond or lozenge. |
||
| 19 | THERMALS |
Trademark covering this girl’s equally skimpy underwear (8)
|
| TM (abbreviation for trademark), containing HER (belonging to a specific woman = this girl’s), then ALS[o] (equally) without the last letter (skimpy?).
Short for thermal underwear, worn to conserve body heat in cold conditions. |
||
| 22 | EMPOWER |
Authorise vessel to carry politician over (7)
|
| EWER (a large jug = vessel), containing (to carry) MP (abbreviation for Member of Parliament = politician) + O (abbreviation for over, in cricket scoring). | ||
| 23 | NARRATE |
Recount finished after left-leaning Republican tried to get elected (7)
|
| ATE (finished, as in “she finished her meal”), after R (abbreviation for Republican) + RAN (tried to get elected) reversed (left-leaning = reading right to left).
Recount = narrate = tell a story. |
||
| 25 | ICE-HOCKEY PLAYER |
E.g. Tim Horton‘s choice messed up by important customer having left (3-6,6)
|
| Anagram (messed up) of CHOICE, then KEY (important) + PAYER (someone who pays = customer) around L (abbreviation for left).
I had to ask Wikipedia about Tim Horton; can’t say I know much about the sport. |
||
| 26 | ASSAM |
Like fireman’s tea (5)
|
| AS (like) SAM (the animated cartoon character Fireman Sam).
Tea leaves grown in the Assam region of India. |
||
| 27 | ROUNDHEAD |
Parliamentarian had to inject drug after some drinks (9)
|
| HAD (from clue text), containing (to inject) E (abbreviation for the drug ecstasy), after ROUND (several drinks bought at the same time for a group of people).
Supporter of Parliament (rather than the King) during the English Civil War. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WILBERFORCE |
Christian campaigner‘s brief desire, previously, to accommodate Roman Catholic separately (11)
|
| WIL[l] (desire) without the last letter (brief), then BEFORE (previously), containing R C (abbreviation for Roman Catholic), with the two letters inserted separately rather than together.
William Wilberforce, Christian anti-slavery campaigner. |
||
| 2 | ACUTEST |
Extremely sharp trim after a time in New York (but not now) (7)
|
| CUT (trim) after A (from clue text), then EST (abbreviation for Eastern Standard Time, the time zone used in New York – but not at the moment because it’s on Eastern Daylight Time until early November).
Acute = sharp, with the -est suffix indicating “extremely”. |
||
| 3 | KEEMA |
Knock back a mild Indian dish (5)
|
| A (from clue text) + MEEK (mild = not argumentative), all reversed (knock back . . .).
Name used in Indian cookery for minced meat: perhaps not so much a “dish” as an ingredient. |
||
| 4 | EXCELLED |
Initially ignored gamete editor was brilliant (8)
|
| [s]EX CELL (gamete = egg or sperm cell), ignoring the initial letter, then ED (abbreviation for editor, in journalism). | ||
| 5 | DROOPY |
Hanging up pants in yard (6)
|
| POOR (pants = slang for not very good), in YD (abbreviation for yard), all reversed (up, in a down clue). | ||
| 6 | LEICESTER |
City unexpectedly re-elects independent (9)
|
| Anagram (unexpectedly) of RE-ELECTS + I (abbreviation for independent).
City in the East Midlands of England. Leicester South, one of its three Parliamentary constituencies, is indeed represented by an Independent MP, but he’s only been in post since last year so not yet re-elected. |
||
| 7 | CHIMERA |
Hybrid car struggling, keeping that man Elon at the top (7)
|
| Anagram (struggling) of CAR, containing (keeping) HIM (that man) + first (top) letter of E[lon]. (Who of course runs a company making electric vehicles, not hybrids.)
Chimera = a mythological creature combining parts of various different animals; or a single organism composed of two separate sets of cells, for example by the fusion of two embryos. |
||
| 8 | MAR |
Wise to avoid exterior ruin (3)
|
| [s]MAR[t] (wise), avoding the outer letters (exterior).
Not sure about the definition: to me, “mar” = to damage or disfigure something, suggesting rather less than “ruin” = to destroy it or make it unusable. The difference between scratching your car’s paintwork and writing it off in an accident. |
||
| 12 | TRANSFERRED |
Relocated coaches firing current agent, accepting blunder (11)
|
| TRA[i]NS (coaches, as a verb = teaches, especially in sport) without I (scientific symbol for electrical current), then FED (abbreviation for a US federal law enforcement officer = agent) containing ERR (blunder, as a verb = make a mistake). | ||
| 14 | ELBOW ROOM |
Space in berth to sway half-heartedly about (5,4)
|
| MOOR (berth, as a verb = to tie up a boat in harbour) + WOB[b]LE (sway) with one of the two middle letters (heart) missing (half-heartedly), all reversed (about). | ||
| 16 | THANK YOU |
Short outing to collect tissue that’s much appreciated (5,3)
|
| TOU[r] (outing = a trip away from home) without the last letter (short), containing HANKY (short for handkerchief, in this case a paper handkerchief = tissue).
“Much appreciated” = a formal way of saying “thank you”. |
||
| 18 | ORPHEUS |
Sorry for reflecting on American who went to hell and back (7)
|
| EH (eh? = sorry? = expression meaning “please repeat what you just said”) + PRO (for = in favour of), all reversed (reflecting), then US (abbreviation for United States = American).
In Greek mythology: after Orpheus’s wife Eurydice died, he went to the underworld in a heroic but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to get her back. |
||
| 20 | ANALYSE |
Inspect some cheesy LA nachos on the counter (7)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . .), reversed (on the counter), in [che]ESY LA NA[chos]. | ||
| 21 | BROKER |
Deal-maker is worse off (6)
|
| Broke = badly off = short of money; so whimsically, broker = more broke = worse off. | ||
| 24 | RULED |
Did judge like some paper? (5)
|
| Double definition. Past tense of rule, as a verb = make a legal judgement; or as in ruled paper = with horizontal printed lines to guide writing. | ||
| 25 | ISA |
Slice of artisan bread kept here? (3)
|
| Hidden answer (slice of . . .) in [art]ISA[n].
Abbreviation for Individual Savings Account, a UK tax-free savings account = where one might keep bread (slang for money). It’s definitely an acronym in the strict sense, pronounced as a word (like “ice a . . .”) rather than an abbreviation, so we don’t need to argue about whether it should be (1,1,1). |
25a – A reference to the fast food chain Tim Horton’s would have been less obscure
I’d heard of Tim Horton’s as the Canadian coffeeshop franchise and once ‘hockey’ became clear in the solution I remembered that he was a former player.
Liked WEAK-KNEED.FETTERED, THERMALS, KEEMA, DROOPY and ELBOW ROOM.
Thanks Twin and Quirister.
First time I’ve seen Pontpandy’s favourite fireman in a crossword. Excellent!
I found this tricky in parts, eg never heard of Tim Horton, but got there in the end. In my view keema is a dish btw.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Great fun as expected from Twin. Not heard of Tim Horton (Wayne Gretzky is the one and only ice hockey player I know) but it sometime feels like that’s 80% of people who come up in crosswords for me.
Found this more straightforward than usual from this setter. Only problem was a lazy, unparsed KORMA. Liked ELBOW ROOM and CHIMERA
Thanks Twin and Quirister
Thanks Twin. Good puzzle as usual. Tight clueing and great fun as mentioned above. I could see ‘player’ early on in 25a so the misdirection became obvious and the ‘choice’ fodder ditto. The actor in 9a came quickly too. Likes for LOCUM and ELBOW ROOM among others. Eh? for sorry and ‘ate’ for finished were difficult for me but fit with Twin’s style.
Did not do well on this. I knew Tim Horton from the restaurants but didn’t know where the name came from and didn’t get many crossers.
Now, today is Arvo Part’s 90th birthday. Why not some references to him?