A fitting end to the work week from SOLOMON!
FF: 8 DD: 8
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MIDDLE |
London-Leeds road led windingly about close to Watford’s centre (6)
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{ MI ( london-leeds road, M1 ) [ LED ]* } containing D ( watforD, last letter ) |
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| 4 | FULL STOP |
Period of dreadful flu left Paddy getting a heart bypass (4,4)
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[ FLU ]* L ( left ) STrOP ( paddy, with a heart bypass i.e. omitting its middle letter ) ; didnt know paddy's meaning as temper nor the same for strop but guessed that this had to be it |
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| 10 | PENINSULA |
Writer with skull, oddly, going around in a cape (9)
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PEN ( writer ) [ SUL ( SkUlL, odd letters of ) in { IN A } ] |
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| 11 | STRIP |
Uncover stone with letters inscribed on it? (5)
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ST ( stone ) RIP ( letters inscribed on stone ) ; neat surface |
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| 12 | DRESSES |
Clothes, unwrapped, are removed from sideboards (7)
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DRESSErS ( sideboards, without R – aRe, unwrapped i.e. without end letters ) |
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| 13 | MERMAID |
Me and the Royal Marines help woman who’s legless (7)
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ME RM ( royal marines ) AID ( help ) |
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| 14 | SUSHI |
Japanese delicacy American and his second son brought west (5)
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US ( american ) HIS , with the second S ( son ) moving to the front |
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| 15 | CASSEROLE |
Pot’s cover hiding the last piece of Dover sole getting cooked (9)
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CASE ( cover ) containing [ R ( doveR, last letter ) SOLE ]* |
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| 18 | CARPENTER |
Fish sign up for chippy (9)
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CARP ( fish ) ENTER ( sign up ) |
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| 20 | SODOM |
Well, millions take too much within this depraved city (5)
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[ SO ( well ) M ( millions ) ] containing OD ( overdose, take too much ) |
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| 22 | EN MASSE |
Solomon’s astride small horse after short dash together (2,5)
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EN ( short dash ) [ ME ( solomon ) containing ASS ( small horse ) ] |
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| 25 | MARXISM |
Spoil vote on ballot with one small mark indicating the rejection of capitalism? (7)
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MAR ( spoil ) X ( vote ) I ( one ) S ( small ) M ( mark ) |
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| 27 | ANVIL |
Location of industrial strikes within Catalan village (5)
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hidden in "..catalAN VILlage" ; clever clue |
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| 28 | BULLDOZER |
Someone asleep on bunk who’s intimidating? (9)
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BULL ( bunk ) DOZER ( someone asleep ) |
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| 29 | YULETIDE |
Why you — via Whatsapp — let one daughter finally lodge for Christmas? (8)
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YU ( common short text for Why You in messaging apps ) LET I ( one ) D ( daughter ) E ( lodgE, finally ) |
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| 30 | BREECH |
Bottom of tree split by the end of spear (6)
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R ( speaR, end letter ) in BEECH ( tree ) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MOPED |
The start of my newspaper column was really sad (5)
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M ( My, first letter ) OP ED ( newspaper column ) |
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| 2 | DONKEYS |
Idiots get into Oxbridge thus? (7)
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cryptic def; read as DON KEYS ( ~ get into oxbridge thus ) |
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| 3 | LANDSLIDE |
Not hard to add line within left-hand side’s comprehensive margin (9)
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L ( line ) in [ L ( left ) hAND ( not hard i.e. without H ) } in SIDE ] |
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| 5 | UNARM |
Remove weapons from the Security Council? (5)
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cryptic def; the security council is an UN ARM |
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| 6 | LASER |
One making light of sea battling between two opposing sides (5)
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[ SEA ]* in LR ( opposing sids, Left Right ) |
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| 7 | TORNADO |
High winds ripped a door’s bottom half off (7)
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TORN ( ripped ) A DOor ( bottom half off ) |
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| 8 | PIPE DREAM |
On 500 pieces of paper, Magritte’s subject is an unreal vision (4,5)
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PIPE ( magritte's subject, referring to rene magritte 1929 belgian surrealist painter's treachery of images ) D ( 500, roman numerals ) REAM ( pieces of paper ) ; i had to google to get the first half of the parse |
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| 9 | PUSSYCAT |
The arbiter of what’s new excitedly puts, say, ‘Coldplay’s number one’ (8)
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[ PUTS SAY C ( Coldplay, first letter ) ]* ; referring to a woody allen movie which, as with with the previous clue, i enlightened myself with google |
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| 14 | SECRETARY |
Office worker concealed a sob, having started late (9)
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SECRET ( concealed ) A cRY ( sob, starting late i.e. without first letter ) |
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| 16 | SCRAMBLE |
Start to struggle and clamber frantically? (8)
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S ( Struggle, first letter ) [ CLAMBER [* ; &lit |
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| 17 | EASY RIDER |
Peter Fonda produced this straightforward list of requirements (4,5)
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EASY ( straightforward ) RIDER ( list of requirements ) |
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| 19 | REMOVAL |
Extraction of broken molar vet left unfinished (7)
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[ MOLAR VEt ( unfinished i.e. without last letter ) ]* |
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| 21 | DRIZZLE |
Rain disturbed idler catching some Zs (7)
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[ IDLER ]* containing ZZ |
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| 23 | SPLAT |
Sound made by piano left perched outside (5)
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P ( piano ) [ L ( left ) in SAT ( perched ) ] |
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| 24 | EBBED |
Be up and down, then ultimately yield, diminished (5)
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EB BE ( up and down of BE ) D ( yielD, finally ) |
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| 26 | MARCH |
Squeeze, making a comeback, on the top of hit parade (5)
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reverse of CRAM ( squeeze ) on H ( Hit, first letter ) |
I had such much fun with this and had ticks liberally scattered across the page.
The reference to Kojak (9), the definition for ANVIL, the cute MERMAID, DONKEYS, STRIP, DRIZZLE, SCRAMBLE, MOPED and PIPE DREAM (saw a great show once in Helsinki where the pipes features prominently).
A lovely, light-hearted romp to seal the weak.
Thanks to Solomon and Turbolegs
Oops, seal the week is what I meant.
Last word from me; got my wires crossed re Kojak and Woody Allen film 🙄. My excuse is I wasn’t yet born when the latter came out and my memories of said TV star’s catchphrase a little sketchy. I should stick to Squeeze topping the hit parade (an era I do remember well).
Saw a few Woody Allen movies back then but not that one (didn’t miss much according to Eric Rhode in The Guardian). Do remember the Tom Jones song though. Saw Easy Rider not long after. Ah, great era, great music. Fun cruisy crossword, ta both, tho took a ridiculously long stare to get loi don keys … d”oh!
Liked ANVIL, DONKEYS, SCRAMBLE and REMOVAL.
PENINSULA
A minor correction:
((PEN SUL) going around IN)+A
UNARM
I think the def should be ‘remove weapons from’
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs.
Fun and not too taxing. Liked carpenter, anvil, pipe dream, scramble, ebbed.
8d. We could have a surreal debate as to whether a pipe was really Magritte’s subject in his painting of a pipe, given he captioned it “this is not a pipe”.
Btw turbolegs, did you really post the (immaculate) blog just 34m after the puzzle dropped? Fast work!
Thanks Solomon for a very good crossword. Despite falling short with DONKEYS & LANDSLIDE I methodically worked my way through this with my top picks being FULL STOP, PENINSULA, MERMAID, CARPENTER, SODOM, PUSSYCAT, EBBED & MARCH. I saw the Woody Allen film shortly after its release but it’s the Tom Jones song that I remember more clearly. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
An approachable and thoroughly enjoyable crossword, with so many wonderful surfaces. The more I do Solomon crosswords the more I like him as a setter.
I loved MERMAID, liked PIPE DREAM, and thought CARPENTER a clever surface, as with EN MASSE, and SPLAT. The clueing was (mostly) tight, with variety and humour.
I thought there were a few misses. PUSSYCAT does not work well for me. The movie was a comedy about sex addiction and “what’s new pussycat” was a greeting (and a song obviously), none of which points to “an arbiter of what’s new”. STRIP is clever but unravels with a moment’s thought. ST is abbreviation for the weight, not an actual stone, so it cannot have RIP inscribed on it. As for DONKEYS, no keys are needed to enter the grounds of either University. I am sure others will see them differently.
I hope that last paragraph does not sound grumpy. I really did enjoy the puzzle a lot.
Thanks Solomon for a fun outing and Turbolegs for a great blog
Great puzzle and blog.
2d DONKEYS was my loi. Colleges close their gates at night so dons would have their own keys although this may be now out of date.
What’s new pussycat? refers to the Tom Jones song.
Thanks to both.
James P@7 I think Turbolegs is in India and has an earlier access to the puzzle. Nevertheless he usually posts his blog commendably early.
Thanks SM@10 re colleges. I am happy to see DONKEYS actually does work.
I enjoyed this one, albeit I couldn’t make much of the NW corner: 10A, 2D 3D and 9D went over my head but I’m happy to only miss out on 4 answers out of 32 clues. Thanks to Solomon and Turbolegs.
For some reason, the NW corner had me stumped for ages after the rest of the puzzle was completed. Then the penny dropped, and it was a Doh! moment. A good challenge for a Friday. DONKEYS was the last in. Double Doh!
SM@10, Martyn@12: I’m still not convinced. Even in the 1960s my college wasn’t locked at night, and nobody needed keys to get in. And universities other than Oxford and Cambridge also have dons.
Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs
Hector@15: In the late 1970s my college was locked at night. As an undergraduate, I had a key to the back gate, but please note the question mark on the end of the clue, which does quite a bit of work here.
PB@16: Point taken, but if the clue does indeed refer to the provision by (some) Oxbridge colleges of keys allowing entry when gates are locked, it might be lost on those educated elsewhere. Moreover, your comment shows that not only dons had keys. I’m not sure that a question mark covers all of that.
I enjoyed this as per, though LOI – the much-discussed DONKEYS – did raise an eyebrow. Though that is always the risk with a cryptic def – the most ‘wavelengthy’ of clue types imho. PENINSULA, STRIP, BULLDOZER, MOPED, SECRETARY, SCRAMBLE and MARCH made my favourites list.
Thanks both
Thanks to Solomon, Turbolegs and all who have contributed to one of the most entertaining blogs for a long time. James P @6, you beat me to it on the semantic point about a pipe.
Whoever asked (or sang) “What’s new, pussycat?” clearly thought the cat was one who knew. Any other detail of the film seems irrelevant to me. To worry whether Oxford or Cambridge are really locked or not seems an over literal way to spoil a good joke.
Thanks as ever to Turbolegs for the blog. And thanks to those who have taken the time to comment. It’s much appreciated. Perhaps DONKEYS was a bit much – fair enough – apologies.
Regarding the Magritte painting under discussion … I’d say that the subject of the painting is a pipe. Though of course Magritte was correct in that the painting itself is not a pipe.
I thought this was wonderful. And so close to being a pangram? I kept looking for a qu and j! But great fun. Thank you turbolegs and Solomon
I really enjoyed this puzzle, possibly because it seemed to flow well from one section to another finishing up for me in the NW corner as for others. I found it hard to start but once i had SUSHI I seemed to just get it, even the “artistic” references like PUSSYCAT, PiPEDREAM and EASY RIDER. Was stuck on EN MASSE until it clicked! Thanks Solomon and Turbolegs.