Its been over two years since I blogged a Qaos…well worth the wait though!
March 2023 to be precise, and I thought something looked familiar at 5D – a Qaos-trademark ‘mathematical clue’… of which another example appeared in that previous puzzle.
I thought there might be a theme-ette suggested by the juxtaposition of DIDO and CARTHAGE, over which she ruled, but if there is anything it is far too subtle for me.
Other than that, ‘just’ a challenging solve with some witty clues and enjoyable surface reads. The homophonic BERTH/BIRTH CONTROL at 1A set the tone; the adoration of a red-top for ‘SUN’ WORSHIP carried it on; and the image of a gold interior-ed car reversing into a tree for ARAUCARIA certainly raised a wry eyebrow.
[Incidentally, I think this is the third occurrence of ARAUCARIA in puzzles that I have blogged recently – not sure if there is or has been a significant anniversary?]
The clueing was all pretty tight and concise – lots of 4- and 5-word clues. I hadn’t encountered CODETTA before, but assumed it was a diminutive form of CODA, which a quick reference-check confirmed.
I think it just remains for me to thank Qaos for an enjoyable solve and blog – hopefully not another 2.5 years until the next one – and I trust all is clear below.
[As is my wont, I will be out most of Saturday golfing and then shopping, so will keep an eye on things, but will appreciate any answering/explaining of queries/quibbles, and I will perform any major corrections or correct any omissions later in the day…]
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 1A | BIRTH CONTROL | Management of bed onboard delivered in French letter? (5,7)
punning homophone, i.e. delivered – a bed on board a ship is often a berth, so to manage or control it might take BERTH CONTROL, which can sound like BIRTH CONTROL, of which a French letter, or condom, is an example |
| 9A | RAINS | Top Thunderbird character showers (5)
( |
| 10A | STEAMSHIP | Vessel of cooked meats hard to sample outside (9)
S_IP (taste, sample) around (outside of) TEAMS (anag, i.e. cooked, of MEATS) + H (hard, pencil lead hardness) |
| 11A | CODETTA | Some chatted occasionally about last piece of work (7)
reversed hidden word, i.e. some and about, in ‘chATTED OCcasionally’ |
| 12A | SET FREE | Release group regularly tries iron shackles (3,4)
SET (group) + F_E (Fe, iron) around (shackling) RE (regular letters from tRiEs) |
| 13A | SUN WORSHIP | Part of Egyptian religion to adore red top? (3,7)
a red top can be a tabloid paper, like the Sun; and if you adore , or worship it, you might practice SUN WORSHIP! |
| 15A | DIDO | Ancient queen achieved nothing (4)
DID (achieved) + O (zero, nothing) |
| 18A | BUSY | Times describes you and me as ‘engaged’ (4)
B_Y (times, as in multiplication, 5 by 5) around (describing) US (you and me) |
| 19A | PARLIAMENT | Even drunk’s bored by final word of political body (10)
PAR (even, average, expected score) + LI_T (drunk) around (bored by) AMEN (last word, usually of or after a prayer) |
| 22A | REPLICA | Duplicate sorted parcel I collected (7)
REPL_CA (anag, i.e. sorted, of PARCEL) around (collecting) I |
| 24A | SETTLER | Colonist, perhaps 25, secures lake (7)
SETT_ER (25A, Araucaria, is an example, and a very good one at that, of a crossword setter) around (securing) L (lake) |
| 25A | ARAUCARIA | Fancy car with gold interior? Look – one reverses into tree (9)
AR_C (anag, i.e fancy, of CAR) around AU (gold, Aurum, i.e. with a gold interior) + ARIA (AIR, or look, plus A, or one, reversing) |
| 26A | AISLE | Sounds like I will shortly marry near here (5)
homophone, i.e. sounds like – I will can be shortened to I’ll, which can sound like AISLE, which you would be at the end of to get married, in a church |
| 27A | NEVERTHELESS | He lets nerves fray still (12)
anag, i.e. fray, of HE LETS NERVES! |
| Down | ||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 1D | BUILDINGS | Houses listening devices picking up long row after lunchtime? (9)
BU_GS (listening devices) around (picking up) I (one, lunchtime) + L (long) + DIN (row, noise) |
| 2D | RISOTTOS | S. Connery was one raised to put away German dishes (8)
S + SIR (Sean Connery was knighted, so a ‘Sir’) = SSIR, all raised to give RIS_S, around (putting away) OTTO (example of a German name) |
| 3D | HOSEA | Book hotel over by expanse of water (5)
H (hotel) + O (over, cricket notation) + SEA (expanse of water) [book of the Old Testament] |
| 4D | OVERSPILL | Design proves I will get surplus (9)
OVERSP (anag, i.e. design, of PROVES) + ILL (I’ll, I will) |
| 5D | TOMATO | Fruit, say 2 x 2 ÷ (1000 + 1) (6)
TO + TO (homophones, i.e. say, TWO twice could sound like TO TO) around (divided by) MA (M, mille, 1000, plus A, one) |
| 6D | OTHER | Intermittently dotty, that woman’s different (5)
OT (intermittent letters from dOtTy) + HER (that woman) |
| 7D | WRECKS | King allegedly in ruins (6)
homophone, i.e. allegedly – REX (king) can sound like WRECKS (ruins) |
| 8D | SPEEDO | Drivers keep an eye on this drug ring (6)
SPEED (drug) + O (ring, round-ish letter) |
| 14D | SEA PARROT | Puffin decided to eat a fish egg (3,6)
SE_T (decided) around (eating) A + PARR (fish) + O (oval letter, egg!) |
| 16D | IDEALISTS | Ladies excited to embrace first romantics (9)
IDEAL_S (anag, i.e. excited, of LADIES) around (embracing) IST (1st, first) |
| 17D | CARTHAGE | Charge at crumbling old city (8)
anag, i.e. crumbling, of CHARGE AT |
| 18D | BURIAL | Following difficulty standing up, I upset state funeral (6)
BUR (rub, difficulty, standing up) + I + AL (Alabama, US state) |
| 20D | TURNER | Go on about prize (6)
TURN (go) + ER (re, on, about) |
| 21D | CIRCLE | 150 tuck into boiled rice and get wind (6)
CIR_E (anag, i.e. boiled, of RICE) around (tucked into by) CL (150, Roman numerals) [circle as in wind round, rather than wind as a movement of air] |
| 23D | PEACE | Calm tennis winner completes training (5)
PE (Physical Education, training) + ACE (winning serve in tennis) |
| 24D | SLAVE | John, in case of struggle, provides servant (5)
S_E (case, or outer letters, of StrugglE) around LAV (lavatory, toilet, john) |
I’ve just watched the first episode of David Olusega’s Empire series in which he makes quite clear the difference between a servant and a SLAVE.
I found it a mix of very easy and very difficult clues, with a good dose of nice surfaces. I finished the bottom half before getting a toehold in the top.
In particular I found the NW corner difficult and I was still working on that quadrant on Tuesday. Otherwise no issues and not much to add to the excellent blog
Thanks Qaos and mc_r
Thanks for the blog.
I really enjoyed the puzzle.
I’m pretty sure that Turner (20D) is the theme, having initially thought it might be an ancient-world one.
I’ll leave it someone else to list the paintings.
It took me until Monday afternoon to finally get TURNER, but I enjoyed it. I like Qaos.
Ah! Well spotted, Forest Fan. I’ll start looking…
Turner was my last one in, and it was only then I saw the theme. Like mc_rapper I thought it was something to do with Dido and Carthage at first.
Thanks mc and Qaos Enjoyed this hope to see another one soon.
Thanks mc_r. I share your enthusiasm for this setter, and could have used a bit more math ☺. One note on BURIAL: since the final piece is “upset”, aren’t we talking about Louisiana (LA) rather than Alabama?
Someone once told me that the French call condoms capots anglais, but I’ve never seen this written. Anyway, from what I remember, this went in smoothly with a bit of a stare in the NW for rex/wrecks and loi buildings. The only Turner I can name is the Temeraire, so no theme … I await the cognoscenti. Thanks Q and rapper.
Thanks Qaos. I enjoyably solved most of this over several days. I needed a word finder for SUN WORSHIP & I missed TURNER entirely. I knew there must be a theme but even if I got TURNER it wouldn’t have done me any good anyway. My top picks included BUSY, AISLE, TOMATO, WRECKS, SPEEDO, and PEACE. I was a bit surprised to see ‘state’ in BURIAL as an indicator of one of the 50 US state abbreviations; I was once told that this was unfair to British solvers. (As an American it’s not an issue for me 😄). Thanks mc_rapper67 for the blog.
Al not LA. Well spotted Coloradan, I wonder who else was sharp enough, it went straight by me.