Boatman is this morning’s setter.
My reaction when finishing a Boatman is always a deep sigh of relief, and this morning was no exception. As usual, the clues were chewy (such as those for ABREAST and ARACHNIDA, and some answers went in unparsed, and I had to go back and revisit them once the grid was complete. I think I’ve managed to parse everything (at least, to my satisfaction), although I thought the clue for UNSHACKLED appeared to have a couple of redundant words in it until early commenters pointed out what Boatman was doing. The theme revealed itself gradually, and I found CLOCK, PANS, KITCHEN, CAN, BREAKFAST BAR, GAS HOB, TAP, BELFAST SINK, OVEN, WORKSURFACES, ISLAND UNIT, SCALES, PLATES, COUNTER, TOASTER, STOVE and COOKER. If you look hard enough, there’s also LIGHTS and a POT(ty). There may be more?
Thanks, Boatman.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BOW OUT |
Boatman’s head abroad to retire (3,3)
|
| BOW (the front of a boat, so “Boatman’s head”) + OUT (“abroad”) | ||
| 4 | ALIGHTS |
Where to write in crossword grid after answer is set down (7)
|
| LIGHTS (“where to write in crossword grid”) after A (answer) | ||
| 9 | LIVESTOCK |
The herd passes its days by the sound of the clock (9)
|
| LIVES (“passes its days”) by TOCK (“the sound of the clock”) | ||
| 10 | PODIA |
Raised supports for lids of pans on display in armoire (5)
|
| [lids of] P(ans) O(n) D(isplay) I(n) A(rmoire) | ||
| 11 | APNEA |
Not breathing, leap, neatly catching this (5)
|
| Hidden in [catching this] “leAP NEArly” | ||
| 12 | INANYCASE |
Foolish to keep every other one of my scraps, no matter what (2,3,4)
|
| INANE (“foolish”) to keep [every other one of] (m)Y (s)C(r)A(p)S | ||
| 13 | THICKEN |
Set of modifications to kitchen (7)
|
| *(kitchen) [anag:modifications to] | ||
| 15 | DAMAGE |
Contrarily, say ‘a potty break’ (6)
|
| [contrarily] <=(e.g. (“say”) + A + MAD (“potty”)) | ||
| 17 | COVERS |
Reports of can opener, extra small (6)
|
| C(an) [opener] + OVER (“extra”) + S (small)
Interestingly, S as an abbreviation for “small” doesn’t feature in Chambers, but it is in Collins and the OED. |
||
| 19 | ABREAST |
Alongside breakfast bar: cocktail function to be rescheduled (7)
|
| *(breaast) [anag:to be rescheduled] where BREAAST is BREA(kf)AST bar (i.e. except) (coc)K [tail] and F (function, on a keyboard) | ||
| 22 | ARACHNIDA |
American Right are rebuked, including number one web users (9)
|
| A (American) + R (right) + A (are (the land measure)) + CHID (“rebuked”) including N (number) + A (one) | ||
| 24 | ATSEA |
One endless tease with section misplaced. Boatman can be thus (2,3)
|
| A (one) + [endless] TEAS(e) with the S (section) misplaced becomes TSEA | ||
| 26 | CHIMP |
Primate (Catholic) with gas hob? (5)
|
| C (Catholic) + H (chemical symbol fot hydrogen, so “gas”) + IMP (“hob”) | ||
| 27 | SOUNDSOUT |
Canvasses of Islay and Jura, for example, and Forth (6,3)
|
| SOUNDS (“Islay and Jura. for example”) + OUT (“forth”)
The Sound of Islay and the Sound of Jura are both straits off the west coast of Scotland. |
||
| 28 | MONITOR |
Tap made of metal put back in rear-facing part of house (7)
|
| <=(TIN (“metal”), put back) in [rear-facing] <=ROOM (“part of house”) | ||
| 29 | INGEAR |
Mobilise, or Reform gain, re-enabled to move forward (2,4)
|
| *(gain re) [anag:mobilise or reform) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BELFAST |
Type of sink of which fables might be spun on completion of refit (7)
|
| *(fables) [anag:might be spun] on [completion of] (refi)T | ||
| 2 | WOVEN |
Put together with kitchen appliance (5)
|
| W (with) + OVEN (“kitchen appliance”) | ||
| 3 | UNSHACKLE |
Stripped out one slum dwelling, rented unfinished for free (9)
|
| ‘UN (“one”) + SHACK (“slum dwelling”) + [unfinished] LE(t) (“rented”)
I was unsure why “stripped out” is there, but commenters have explained it for me. |
||
| 4 | AWKWARD |
Decoration around worksurfaces: it’s fiddly! (7)
|
| AWARD (“decoration”) around W(or)K [surfaces] | ||
| 5 | IMPLY |
Suggest island unit of length to satisfy catering needs (5)
|
| I (island) + M (metre, so “unit of length”) + PLY (“to satisfy catering needs”) as in to “ply with drink” | ||
| 6 | HYDRANGEA |
Camouflage guide, say as a shrub (9)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [say] of HIDE RANGER (“camouflage guide”) | ||
| 7 | SCALES |
Balance plates … (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 8 | MOTION |
… perhaps spinning on supports a short time before it tips up (6)
|
| ON supports MO (“a short time”) before <=IT [tips up] | ||
| 14 | ISOLATION |
Loneliness is over: passionate about love (9)
|
| IS + O (over, in cricket) + LATIN (“passionate”, as in Latin temperament) about O (love, in tennis) | ||
| 16 | MERMAIDEN |
Something of a charmer, Ma identified as a nymph (9)
|
| Hidden in [something of] “charMER MA IDENtified” | ||
| 18 | SCISSOR |
Cross is vandalised and cut (7)
|
| *(cross is) [anag:vandalised] | ||
| 19 | ABACUS |
Counter with one incomplete support half-used (6)
|
| A (one) + [incomplete] BAC(k) (“support”) + [half] US(ed) | ||
| 20 | TOASTER |
Kitchen appliance rotates while cooking (7)
|
| *(rotates) [anag:while cooking] | ||
| 21 | TALCUM |
Before music begins, stop man from talking. See you listened to soft rock (6)
|
| KING (chess “man”) stopped from TAL(king) + homophone/pun/aural wordplay [listened to] of SEE YOU, before M(usic) [begins], so TAL-CU-M | ||
| 23 | HOP IT |
Composer discovered tempo initially to be off (3,2)
|
| (c)HOPI(n) [discovered, i.e with covers removed] + T(empo) [initially] | ||
| 25 | STOVE |
Cooker broke (5)
|
| Double definition |
thanks L and B! chewy indeed. I wondering about ALIGHTS until I realized (I think correctly) that definition is “is set down”
This seemed easier for me than Boatman often is, perhaps a case of a generous grid. Highly enjoyable as always with many smiles. Favourite was KITCHEN. Afraid I can’t help with the apparently extraneous “stripped out” in UNSCHACKLE.
I thought the UN at the start of 3a was oNe oUt, both words stripped of their outer letters, hence no extra words
Sorry, 3d
An ‘agent’ alights whereas a ‘patient’ is set down — just a quibbletino.
Agree re oUt oNe for un-, DropBear @3, well spotted. At the time I just bunged and didn’t pick it.
I loved this one! Lots of variety, both of method and of difficulty. There were some brilliant constructions, such as those for ABREAST and TALCUM, and I also particularly enjoyed UNSHACKLE, AWKWARD, MOTION, LIVESTOCK and STOVE. But LOI was the relatively simple (but also nicely concise) SCALES.
I took the def for ALIGHTS as per Ilan Caron@1 “is set down” and also quibbled about it as per grantinfreo@5 although only after I’d already got it. I parsed UNSHACKLE as per DropBear@4/5.
I also took MERMAIDEN to be an adjective, “as a nymph”, but that’s just because I’ve never heard of this variant of mermaid. Also new for me: CHID as the past tense of chide, HOB for imp.
For IMPLY, is the PLY bit coming from “catering [to] needs”, to ply one’s wares? I’m not really seeing the literal “satisfying catering needs”.
I didn’t parse the “Mobilise, or” bit for IN GEAR until reviewing the finished puzzle, Very cheeky!
loonapick, I guess STOVE is missing from your list (plus OVEM WORKSURFACES -> OVEN, WORKSURFACES).
Thanks both
I’m with DropBear @3 with the parsing of the UN in UNSHACKLED – oUt oNe stripped
Thanks to the early commenters re UNSHACKLE. I now see what Boatman did, but would still argue that the first two words could be considered unnecessary as UN can be ONE on its own. I’ll amend the blog to add IS to the definition of ALIGHTS when I get a chance.
I struggled. Despite consulting the web, I could find no reference to imp/hob or stove/broke or Latin/passionate or ply/satisfy, so I’m still in the dark. Many of the rather challenging wordplays resulted in groans rather than smiles. I’ve never known a mermaid to gain EN.
Very nice puzzle – most enjoyable one for some time, for me.
AP@7, I took “ply” as in to ply someone with fine food and drink, often with an implication of expecting something in return.
It was a dnf for me, as I’d carelessly put ARACHNIDS for 22a, so didn’t get ABACUS (I stupidly didn’t apply my own mental rule “if you’re really stuck on a clue, double-check that the crossers are correct”).
Thanks Boatman and loonapick.
GDU@10 I took stove in its use as “stove in”, meaning smashed up, which would certainly result in something being broke(n)
Thank you, DropBear @12, but I’ve never heard that expression. Is it British?
Geoff @13 – I believe “stove in” derives from stave, the planks from which barrels are made, and is particularly a nautical expression (appropriate for Boatman).
I think on my first pass I managed one clue; but it all came together nicely in the end. As others have said, some very chewy clues, but all of them fair on close examination (though I think the cluing of ABREAST is near the line). As Mandarin @2 observes, a decent grid; there have been a lot of Grauniad puzzles lately using grids that give you no initial letters, or, worse, a majority of unchecked letters in a lot of clues. Good for Boatman.
Thanks, both.
GDU@13 possibly, as I am an ex pom, but by now spent 53% of my life Down Under so sometimes get confused about origins
STOVE
stave
to break
past staved/STOVE.
Liked IN ANY CASE, UNSHACKLE and AWKWARD.
Thanks Boatman and loonapick.
I also parsed UNSHACKLE as DropBear @3. Very enjoyable with a few write-ins which is untypical of this setter. My favourites were of course, my birthplace, BELFAST, MERMAIDEN, HYDRANGEA, ABREAST, TALCUM and SCISSOR. I wonder if lack of SLEE(P) across the middle is referring to the APNEA clue.
Ta Boatman & loonapick.
IN GEAR
Couldn’t understand the need for two anagrinds.
Tried to see if ‘mobilise’ would work as a def, but
then there would be a part of speech mismatch.
beaulieu@11, re PLY, thanks – for some reason that usage didn’t surface.
Very tricky and I had to back-parse many of my answers.
New for me: BELFAST SINK; SOUNDS of Islay and Jura.
I could not parse or fully parse:
17ac apart from C = C(an) opener + S = small
19ac
5d apart from I=island
and also
25d the STOVE=broke bit until I found this in my online dictionary:
stave in
(past and past participle staved or stove | stəʊv | ) (stave something in, stave in something) break something by forcing it inwards or piercing it roughly: the door was staved in.
I think that the use of two anagrinds with IN GEAR is misdirection. It makes for a clunky surface, IMHO but I think that’s Boatmen’s style. I found the puzzle quite difficult to solve but I’ll look out for the next one to see if I can do better. Thanks both.
KVa@16 I suspect the double anagrind is a little political jibe for the purposes of the surface reading, hence the capitalisation of Reform. I agree it’s not needed for the clue.
Loonapick @9 – I would say that usually when a setter uses ‘one’ to indicate UN, a qualifying adjective is preferable as that definition is noted as ‘dialect’ in dictionaries (eg. “local one”)
Thanks both.
ABACUS, HYDRANGEA and AWKWARD were my favourites. I think in every other Boatman puzzle I have done, one of the Boatmen is nautical and the other a first person, but not today. I wondered if Islay and Jura had distinctive checks, tartans maybe until the crossers put me right.
I’d agree with Mandarin @2; this felt more approachable than many a Boatman. I found I was alert to his tricks, such as the two stripped letters in UNSHACKLE, the ‘stopped man’ in TALCUM and the WORKSURFACES in AWKWARD. Not a puzzle for the strict Ximeneans, I’d suggest. The delightfully hidden MERMAIDEN is my COTD – despite the presence of an unnecessary ‘a’ in the fodder.
Thanks both
Got there in the end but with a great deal of reverse parsing.
Re IN GEAR, if one had selected reverse gear, one would be enabled to move backward, not forward…
… I’ll get my coat
Another smile for BELFAST (also my birthplace) though it took a while to understand. I think I’ve only ever seen the sink mentioned in crosswords. The smile was wiped out by the fingernails-on-blackboard effect of HYDRANGEA. ‘Nuff said.
Tough to finish. Mostly fine but a few overcooked clues.
My thesaurus app gives imp as the first suggestion for hob but thar meaning is buried deep in the dictionary defs. You live and learn.
Thanks both.
UN=one is either dialect or French, so as neither is indicated, the middle-letters parsing is probably the intended one.
Some of these parsings were too chewy (laborious and fiddly) for my taste, but I know that this is exactly what others enjoy, so I’m not complaining. Latin=passionate was a bit of a stretch and I didn’t know Islay and Jura had sounds (I wondered if single malt whisky might be involved…) I liked LIVESTOCK.
Any idea what SCORNS is doing in Row 6? Coincidence?
As NeilH @14 correctly notes, STOVE has primarily a nautical application. It therefore features often in that most boatmanly of novels, Moby-Dick. Here is one of many examples:
‘His three boats stove around him, and oars and men both whirling in the eddies; one captain, seizing the line-knife from his broken prow, had dashed at the whale, … blindly seeking with a six inch blade to reach the fathom-deep life of the whale. That captain was Ahab.’
The book was, I found, a tough sell to students of 19th-century American literature, due to a combination of its sheer length, the eccentricities of Ishmael’s narrative voice, and a modern distaste for killing whales.
A fairly gentle work-out (making it three in a row this week). I too had oUt oNe as the stripped words at 3d, which was probably my favourite clue.
Thanks Boatman and loonapick
Puck is a hob, hobgoblin or imp, and a modernisation of Robin Goodfellow. Having checked I know that from Kipling’s Puck of Pook’s Hill, but possibly also from the Dark is Rising series or Edith Nesbit’s House of Arden series (I read them about the same time, and bits blur together).
I really enjoyed this, agreed with the parsing of oUt oNe for UNSHACKLE, didn’t have problems with the vocabulary, but a boat collision leading to the boat that was hit being STOVE in is familiar, and did think there’s a lot of kitchen stuff here.
Thank you to Boatman and loonapick.