A fairly typical Anto, with some nice clues, but also some where I raise an eyebrow because of inaccuracies and strange cryptic grammar. Thanks to Anto for the puzzle.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | PLUMBS | Measures showing vitamin in fruit (6) B (one of a number of vitamins) in PLUMS |
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| 4 | ABUNDANT | A pastry poet hasn’t finished – that’s more than enough (8) A BUN + DANT[e] |
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| 9 | COLONY | Half of London at home in reserved community (6) LON[don] in COY |
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| 10 | DIRT POOR | Scandal broke but with practically nothing behind it (4,4) DIRT (scandal) + POOR (broke) – the definition seems a bit vague (what is “it?”) |
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| 11 | FAIRY GODMOTHER | Force breezy mafiosa to become a benefactor (5,9) F[or]ce + AIRY + GODMOTHER (counterpart of a Godfather, a mafioso) |
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| 13 | UPHOLSTERY | Surprisingly lush poetry that contains a lot of padding (10) (LUSH POETRY)* |
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| 14 | DRAG | Sentry abandons uniform and retreats – it’s a nuisance (4) Reverse of GUARD less U |
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| 16 | HYPE | Excessively praise ingredient in mushy peas (4) Hidden in musHY PEas |
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| 18 | WET BLANKET | Flat part of silly wager will spoil the fun (3,7) LANK (flat?) in WET (silly) BET |
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| 21 | THERMAL IMAGING | It displays heat from lighter magma in flux (7,7) (LIGHTER MAGMA IN)* |
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| 23 | HEADROOM | Clearance given for Crown allowance (8) HEAD (crown) + ROOM (allowance) |
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| 24 | PARDON | What’s a common alternative to standard academic request for repeat (6) PAR (standard) + DON (an academic). Anto seems to be suggesting that “what?” is a common (i.e. lower-class) alternative to “pardon?”, though according to the standards of U and Non-U the reverse is the case |
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| 25 | DETRAINS | Prepares to follow detective’s case, so gets off at Waterloo? (8) D[etectiv]E + TRAINS (prepares) |
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| 26 | HERMES | Messenger getting stuck into another messenger (6) Hidden in anotHER MESsenger, Hermes being the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | PECK | Small volume that has some bite (4) Double definition, though the peck is actually quite a large volume, about 9 litres, or a quarter of a bushel |
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| 2 | UNLEASH | Free houseplant, wilted and missing plastic pot (7) Anagram of HOUSEPLANT less anagram (plastic) of POT |
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| 3 | BANKROLL | Finance Spooner’s class stadium in the US (8) Spoonerism of “rank bowl” |
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| 5 | BUILDERS’ BUM | Crack appearing because construction worker is bent (8,3) Cryptic definition of a synonym of “plumber’s crack” or, slightly more daintily, buttock cleavage. More synonyms here |
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| 6 | NOTION | Idea that’s impossible for one to get into (6) I in NOT ON |
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| 7 | ANOTHER | Alternative way to ask about buying more drink? (7) Double definition. Saying “another?” is a way of asking someone if they want another drink |
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| 8 | TURN RIGHT | Go off authority and become less liberal (4,5) TURN (go off, as in rotten food) + RIGHT (authority) |
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| 12 | GET WELL SOON | You will be sick hearing this (3,4,4) If someone tells you to get well soon it means you must currently be ill |
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| 13 | UNHITCHED | Single or just divorced? It could be both! (9) Double definition, relying on two slightly different meanings of the prefix “un-”. A plain “not” for the first, and “a removal of process” (Chambers) for the second |
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| 15 | LANGUAGE | English for example long for Scottish union over time (8) LANG (Scots “long”, as in “Auld Lang Syne”) + U[nion] + AGE |
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| 17 | PRECAST | Woven carpets already fashioned (7) CARPETS* |
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| 19 | KINGDOM | Country that includes a huge variety of creatures (7) Double definition – the second as in Linnaean biological taxonomy, e.g. the Kingdom Animalia |
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| 20 | OMERTA | In central Rome, clergy retain vow of silence (6) Middle letters of rOMe clERgy reTAin |
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| 22 | ENDS | These men had ideas finally to deliver objectives (4) Last letters of thesE meN haD ideaS |
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Thanks Andrew. I agree with your quibbles. I had PLUMBS and PECKS straight away but wasn’t quite certain on either and the volume of the peck certainly didn’t help. DIRT POOR was LOI.
I still enjoyed it though. Another fairly easy one this week. I liked FAIRY GODMOTHER, BUILDERS BUM and GET WELL SOON.
Thanks Anto.
For 24a I read ‘common’ as ‘frequently used
BUILDER’S BUM was very funny, with the surface suggesting a crack appearing in the building because the builder is a bit dodgy, and the other reading of course suggesting what we might see when he is literally bent over. Brilliant.
Many thanks Anto and Andrew.
Andrew, I’m surprised to see that Wikipedia claims that “What?” Is the posh version of “Pardon?”. I’m with Auto on this one. I didn’t think much of the clue for ANOTHER. Wet/silly is a bit of a stretch, methinks. Is “showing” necessary in the clue for PLUMBS?
A solid puzzle from Anto, I thought. Faves were UNLEASHED (I love the kind of surface that tells a story) and WET BLANKET (note lank/flat hair).
I didn’t see the need for such verbosity in PARDON so thanks to our blogger for spotting that there are two definitions. In hindsight I think it’s a fine clue (and I take common to simply mean frequent, although the class register may have been intended).
BANKROLL was a weak spot, for me. Spooner’s class US stadium doesn’t match up with Anto’s rank bowl; they don’t mean the same thing when taken as complete phrases. To my taste, a cryptic spoonerism is a mangling of the original phrase uttered in other words but without changing its meaning; I don’t think you can split the phrase up and synonymise the pieces independently. Something like “Finance corrupt stadium” would have worked better.
Also, I agree with our blogger about DIRT POOR and indeed even having got it I came back several times to try to make it work properly. You/he/she/they can have nothing behind you, financially – but “it”? The cat’s mother, perhaps.
Thanks both for the fun
I feel I have not properly solved DIRT POOR for the reason you point out, Andrew. I hope someone can shed some light. I struggled to sort out the WET BLANKET but finally got there after spotting “lank” for flat (only after thinking “I need to wash my hair today”). I particularly enjoyed the sport and wit today after yesterday’s walk over. Thanks all round.
I see the quibbles but I enjoyed this. Entertaining surfaces. I laughed at the over praised ingredient in mushy peas.
Agree with Andrew that the clue for DIRT POOR is a bit vague. I had the answer for a long time before entering it as I didn’t think it fitted the wordplay and wondered if there was a scandal I hadn’t heard of involving a fake ‘lift door’. Oh well. Otherwise mostly straightforward and I also agree with Andrew that the definition for PECK is a bit misleading, though I suppose it could be small in relation to the volume of a warehouse. Thanks to Anto and Andrew.
Enjoyable puzzle, tricky in parts but not too difficult.
Like Andrew, I also wondered about 10ac, 24ac.
Favourites: FAIRY GODMOTHER, COLONY.
New for me: BUILDERS BUM; WET = silly (18ac).
A likeable and amusing puzzle which I enjoyed solving. 4a ABUNDANT and 26a HERMES were good. Thanks to Anto and Andrew.
Stared at this for quite a while before I began to make inroads. Helped initially by the inviting anagram of UPHOLSTERY. Along the way I wasn’t that convinced by the precision of UNHITCHED or TURN RIGHT. BUILDERS BUM naturally made me smile as I’ve seen plenty of those unexpected treats from time to time. This was actually a DNF as couldn’t ultimately fathom DIRT POOR. With all the crossers in place, my Lift Door had nothing to do with what the clue suggested. Many thanks to the two A’s this morning…
Fairly standard fare from Anto here, some good clues and some vague underbaked ones. DIRT POOR, ANOTHER and BANKROLL weren’t up to the mark for me. I’m afraid I almost always find Anto’s puzzles unsatisfying.
Thanks both. I had turn(er)over for 4a which slowed me down. I am sure the discussion that a bun is technically a pastry has been had before, but think a turnover is more pastry like and generally they are nicer than buns.
I didn’t get DIRT POOR or WET BLANKET (tried long and hard to think of something with “bracket”, either teeth or an emoji 🙁 ). But I generally liked the rest of it, especially FAIRY GODMOTHER and the wordplay in ANOTHER and GET WELL SOON (what’s going on with all the congratulations/congrats/get well soons in the recent crosswords?!) Thanks Anto&Andrew
AP@5 The spoonerism worked for me (just), because I read ‘class’ as a verb.
I agree with all the quibbles mentioned by others, and have a small one to add – I think of animals as creatures, but not members of the other KINGDOMs (plants, fungi, etc.) I suppose if you believe in the Creation myth, all life was created and thus qualifies as “creatures”.
This seemed like the third Mondayish puzzle in a row.
I thought thought UPHOLSTERY and DETRAINS, and a few others, were good straightforward clues.
Thanks Andrew and Anto.
This was easier than it first looked and I enjoyed it immensely. I’ve always championed Anto and this was up there with his best. BANKROLL is fine, so I don’t understand the quibbles, but I agree with Andrew that ‘it’ seems strange in DIRT POOR. BUILDERS BUM was a cracking clue and I liked THERMAL IMAGING plus the pairing of FAIRY GODMOTHER and OMERTA.
I wish I had a penny for every time my mum said, ‘don’t say what, say pardon’.
Ta Anto & Andrew.
Hornbeam@15, hmm. For me, rank and class aren’t exact synonyms when used as verbs. I have less objection when used as nouns and hence adjectives though – an internal inconsistency which, upon thinking about it, doesn’t make much sense even to me 😅. Accordingly I withdraw my quibble!
Did anyone else enter ‘Unmarried’ instead of UNHITCHED at first?
Favourite clue: GET WELL SOON.
Thanks to Andrew and Anto.
[AlanC @17, did my mum and your mum chat to each other?]
I had always assumed that a peck was a small amount, though I was only aware of it from the Peter Piper rhyme, which in my mind makes it sound small.
Yes, Median @19, I did! Loved and laughed at BUILDER’S BUM and generally found this a pleasing and not-too-taxing workout. Thanks, Anto and Andrew.
[Tim C @20: probably]
I had TICK for PECK until PLUMBS put me right, though I suppose not all clocks tick quietly.
Quite a few quibbles, as others have mentioned. 11a should at the very least have had a ? added to the clue., UNMARRIED was my first thought for 13d and works just as well, why is “buying” part of 7d? Couldn’t for the life of me parse WET BLANKET and think it’s pretty poor. I think recent Anto puzzles have been rather better than this.