I offered to blog one of the crosswords for the weekend, and those who spotted the thread will have found it funny I ended up blogging Leo’s crossword. This crossword can be found here as a pdf.
I was a university with Leo – he does remember me now, honestly – and there are points in this crossword where I was reminded of that time, hence one of the earworms.
This is a tour de force of setting, with not only a double solution for one light and changing clues to match, but also a pangram, with every letter used at least once.
I found some of the vocabulary here unfamiliar, ending up blogging it with the crib sheet and Chambers next to me. I solved a good chunk without cheating, particularly the bottom two thirds and had half seen how the top section worked (is it this or that) but not enough to fully solve the unclued top line and seven double-definitions-with-a-letter-change trick, but ran out of time to finish it and get it blogged in time for the weekend. I need to start doing the Genius/AZED/Gemelo puzzles.
I have corrected one incorrect enumeration, quibbled about one definition, ranted about a regular crosswordism that winds me up as inaccurate and learned quite a few new words.. Thank you Leo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BRITISH SUMMER TIME |
Unclued (17, 3 words)
|
| Two versions when the seven words are resolved one way or the other – either BRITISH SUMMER TIME for the Saturday solution or GREENWICH MEAN TIME for the Sunday version. This gives the Saturday version, with the Sunday in the text. | ||
| 10 | ARSON |
Crime? Cleric’s powerless (5)
|
| deletion of P (power – so powerless) from PARSON (cleric) | ||
| 11 | NESTS |
Homes for amphibians changing quarters (5)
|
| letter swap in NEWTS (amphibians) changing W for S (so changing quarters in cardinal directions) to give NESTS (homes) | ||
| 12 | VOLAR |
See line in row of palms (5)
|
| charade of V (See – IVR plate code for Vatican City) + L (line) in OAR (row – as in a boat) – for the medical term for something to do with the palm of the hand or sole of the foot. (And that one I know because my daughter has had a volar plate reconnected on an index finger) | ||
| 13 | DIRTIEST |
Saint following gossip? That’s least godly maybe (8)
|
| charade of DIRT (gossip) + IE (that’s – that is) + ST (saint – following gives the order) | ||
| 15 | MEALWORM |
Such as weevil irritating warm mole (8)
|
| anagram (irritating) of (WARM MOLE)* | ||
| 16 | TEDDY BEARS |
A bit of lingerie sustains such as Aloysius (5,5)
|
| charade of TEDDY (a bit of lingerie) + BEARS (sustains). Aloysius was the teddy bear of Lord Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisted – the TV series was 1981. First blast from the past. | ||
| 19 | URETER |
No. 1 carrier has network in former city (6)
|
| insertion of RETE (network – of blood vessels or nerves, according to Chambers) in UR (former city) to give the duct that carries urine (number 1) from the kidneys. | ||
| 21 | FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH |
Type of Quark ( instant ) is current preference (7,2,3,5)
|
| cryptic definition – quarks come in flavours so a flavour/type of quark + instant means of the current month. | ||
| 24 | EARTHY |
Lusty or dirty when head’s shifted? (6)
|
| HEARTY (lusty) when its head, H, is shifted | ||
| 25 | ESKIMO ROLL |
Cook kills Moore, totally flipping (being up the creek with a paddle?) (6,4)
|
| anagram (cook) of (KILLS MOORE)* – with a reference to Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s partnership and their sketches, and another flashback to university. | ||
| 28 | ADVOCAAT |
A tod with Cava could be component of snowball? (8)
|
| anagram of (A TOD CAVA)* | ||
| 30 | IZVESTIA |
News in South Africa is about legally secure independence (8)
|
| nested insertions here of I + ZA (South Africa internet code) around (is about) VEST (legally secure) + I (independence) – for the Russian newspaper. My crib sheet says the parsing is IZA = South Africa, but I couldn’t confirm that abbreviation. | ||
| 34 | PESTO |
You’ll need a bit of pine, parmesano and basil essentially to make this? (5)
|
| &lit – P (a bit of pine) + E (parmEsano) + S (baSil) – essentially, so middle letters + TO (from the clue) and &lit as these are ingredients to make PESTO | ||
| 35 | KAABA |
Soul and Arab clothing on display here? (5)
|
| &lit as KAABA is the cubic building at Mecca, with wordplay charade of KA (soul in ancient Egyptian religion) + ABA (also known as the abaya, the loose Arab robes) | ||
| 37 | TWERK |
Shake your booty to German electro group dropping a thousand fliers (5)
|
| Deletion of K (a thousand) RAF (fliers) from KRAFTWERK (German electro group) – that link is to Autobahn, the earworm I had when I solved this | ||
| 38 | ELEPHANT AND CASTLE |
See the plane flying over top of seaside feature in capital district (8,3,6)
|
| anagram (flying) of (THE PLANE)* covering the top of the seaside feature, a sANDCASTLE, so the ELEPHANT replaces the S | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BRAND |
A sword from its glitter on a great scale (5)
|
| or GRAND (on a great scale) – this is the first of the seven double definitions with a letter change words. “A sword from its glitter” is one of the definitions of BRAND given by Chambers (1998). | ||
| 2 | INSURED |
Covered and made certain (7)
|
| or ENSURED (made certain) – second double definition with a letter change word pairing | ||
| 3 | IANDI |
I denote a type of bear we found in Jamaica? (5)
|
| from Jamaican patios – I AND I (which I did vaguely know, but didn’t recognise as 5 not 1-3-1). The alternative in the double meaning change a letter clue is NANDI (a type of bear) – the link is to the bear referenced in Chambers. | ||
| 4 | HAN |
Chinese Scot? (3)
|
| for the Chinese people – and IAN (for the Scot) and the fourth double definition change a letter pairing | ||
| 5 | UIST |
Shut up in Scottish Islands (4)
|
| for the group of Scottish islands or for the fifth double definition with letter changed HIST for shut up. | ||
| 6 | MASTER |
Gain control over a rite of spring (6)
|
| with the sixth alternative double definition with letter changed of EASTER (rite of spring) | ||
| 7 | RAVEL |
Broken thread a bit below the centre of a deflecting plate (5)
|
| as in unravel and final, seventh, double definition with changed first letter – NAVEL (centre of a deflecting plate) | ||
| 8 | ILLGOTTEN |
Possibly get ton from such gains (9)
|
| reverse anagram of (GET TON)* + unwritten anagrind of ILL – and ILLGOTTEN gains are those from nefarious doings | ||
| 9 | EARL MARSHAL |
All are slaughtered round fen by the Duke of Norfolk (4,7)
|
| anagram (slaughtered) of (ALL ARE)* around MARSH (fen) – and my earworm for this when I solved it was a folksong based on a rumour about Henry II and Eleanor Aquitaine: Queen Eleanor’s Confession – I knew the title, not that the Duke of Norfolk holds it. | ||
| 14 | SMEAR |
Slur curse with second inverted (5)
|
| SWEAR (curse) with the W (second) inverted to become M – that trick took us hours solving a geocache once, so it’s stuck. | ||
| 16 | TOFFEE APPLE |
Charge pope flat fee for sticky treat (6,5)
|
| anagram (charge) of (POPE FLAT FEE)* – I’ve changed the enumeration here to (6,5), not (6,4) as it was on the pdf | ||
| 17 | YMOTH |
Night flier has test in youth hostel (5)
|
| insertion (in) of MOT (test – the UK annual test to check cars are roadworthy) inside YH (youth hostel – map abbreviation) for this example of the night flier | ||
| 18 | RIFFS |
Rock features if and only if in outskirts of Rockies (5)
|
| insertion of IFF (abbreviation for if and only if) into RS (outskirts of RockieS) | ||
| 20 | RAMBO |
One man army a hit at box-office? (5)
|
| This is almost another & lit or CAD (clue as definition), as the film RAMBO was a hit at the Box Office, RAMBO was a one man army, and the word play is RAM (hit) + BO (box office – which isn’t in my Chambers, but was in Collins online) | ||
| 22 | ARRIVISTE |
Mushroom spectacularly thrives (when it’s not hot) with rain mainly (9)
|
| anagram (spectacularly) of (ThRIVES + RAIn) + so ThRIVES without H (it’s not hot) + RAIn (mainly means not last letter). Mushroom as in someone who arrives suddenly from a lower status. (Useful word mushroom: one version from my university days needs reviving – to mushroom someone is to keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit.) | ||
| 23 | HEINZ |
Hot magazine shunned by Trumpists excited e.g. Wolff (5)
|
| anagram (excited) of (H + ZINE)* where ZINE is magaZINE shunned by Trumpists (MAGA followers), for this gentleman who was one of the presenters of The Great Egg Race from 1983 to 1986. | ||
| 26 | ON THE Q T |
Clandestinely applied to best question time (2,3,1,1)
|
| charade of ON (applied to) + THE (the best) + Q T (abbreviations for Question + TIME) | ||
| 27 | PARKIN |
Briefly stopping for a biscuit (6)
|
| the word play is PARKINg (briefly – as in short word – meaning stopping), but I’m quibbling about this one – I have made PARKIN and it’s definitely a cake, not a biscuit, not even close enough to have to go to court about it, i.e. Jaffa cakes. | ||
| 29 | CLOTH |
Central part of yachtload possibly? (5)
|
| CLOTH as in sails on a sailing yacht, which used to be heavy canvas, not so much now. Wordplay is anagram of the central part of ya(CHTLO)*ad with possibly as an anagrind. | ||
| 31 | EXTRA |
Insignificant part featured in multiplex trade? (5)
|
| hidden in multiplEX TRAde | ||
| 32 | ARKLE |
A river and a deer climbing mountain (5)
|
| A R (river) + ELK < (deer climbing) to give this mountain in Sutherland, Scotland (and a racehorse) | ||
| 33 | JAVA |
Island language (4)
|
| double definition | ||
| 36 | ADD |
A large cup score (3)
|
| the wordplay is A + DD (large cup – size in bras),
And here’s my next quibble: DD is not necessarily a large cup size in bras so I wish people would stop cluing it as such. What it is measuring is the difference between the underbust and the fullest point of the bust. DD is a difference of 5″ (this also counts in American sizing, where inches still rule – and who wants to change their size from a 34DD to a 75E?). It depends on the bra band and bust shape as to whether DD is a big cup size or not – 28DD counts, 38DD is pretty much the average bra size in the UK, 48DD would look small. There’s a whole alphabet soup of cup sizes, from AA, A, B, C, D, DD, E, EE, F, FF, G, GG, H, HH, J, JJ and up. (Bravissimo goes up to an L cup, Elizabeth Arden sells bespoke Z cups). And these days with plastic surgery more common, none of the younger girls choosing to augment their breast size would go for a DD unless they were starting with a smaller band size – 26DD or below. |
