Today’s installment from Gozo has the usual assortment of relatively straightforward clues with a number of rather more difficult ones in the mix . . .
. . . all in the service of a theme, this time “trees.” I found 12, but there may well be some more that I failed to spot.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SPINET |
Fixed peg inside harpsichord (6)
|
| PIN (peg) inside SET (fixed) | ||
| 4 | SCABBARD |
Dull bank payment system backed cover (8)
|
| {DRAB (dull) + BACS (bank payment system, i.e., Bankers’ Automated Clearing Services)} all reversed (backed) | ||
| 10 | EYEWASH |
Viewer lived next to Henry. Rot! (7)
|
| EYE (viewer) + WAS (lived) + H (Henry) | ||
| 11 | PELMETS |
Valances from ruined temples (7)
|
| Anagram of (ruined) TEMPLES. A new word for me | ||
| 12 | RITA |
Girl resident in GB (4)
|
| Hidden in (resident in) [GREAT B]RITA[IN] (= GB spelled out) | ||
| 13 | MIDFIELDER |
Filmed dire collapse of footballer (10)
|
| Anagram of (collapse) FILMED DIRE | ||
| 15 | ALCOTT |
US novelist in rural cottage (6)
|
| Hidden in [RUR]AL COTT[AGE], referring to Louisa May Alcott | ||
| 16 | NEW DEAL |
Roosevelt’s plan for naked swimmer is reported (3,4)
|
| Homophone of (is reported) NUDE EEL (naked swimmer), referring to Franklin Delano Roosevelt | ||
| 20 | CLOAKED |
Wrapped up warmly, with the truth well hidden (7)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | ASSURE |
Quell any doubts of Jenny going by river (6)
|
| ASS (jenny, with a capitalization misdirection) + URE (river) | ||
| 24 | UZBEKISTAN |
Zaniest UK bishop out in Tashkent’s land (10)
|
| Anagram of (out) [ZANIEST + UK + B (bishop)] | ||
| 26 | OPEL |
Somewhat hopeless car firm (4)
|
| Hidden in (somewhat) [H]OPEL[ESS] | ||
| 28 | SUBLIME |
Glorious Blues I’m playing (7)
|
| Anagram of (playing) BLUES I’M | ||
| 29 | PRO RATA |
Commensurate backing in Qatar or Pakistan (3,4)
|
| Hidden in [Q]ATAR OR P[AKISTAN] reversed (backing) | ||
| 30 | PALMETTO |
Metal pot cooked State tree (8)
|
| Anagram of (cooked) METAL POT (State tree of South Carolina) | ||
| 31 | ORDEAL |
Gold? It’s lead in disguise, severe test shows (6)
|
| OR (gold) + anagram of (it’s . . . in disguise) LEAD | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SPEARMAN |
Small apple I left out for armed soldier (8)
|
| S (small) + PEARMA[I]N ([a variety of] apple) minus (left out) I | ||
| 2 | IDENTICAL |
Battered Latin dice are alike (9)
|
| Anagram of (battered) LATIN DICE. Strictly speaking, should the cryptic grammar be “is alike”? | ||
| 3 | ESAU |
New statue now and again reveals OT character (4)
|
| Alternate letters of (now and again) [N]E[W] S[T]A[T]U[E] | ||
| 5 | CUP OF TEA |
It’s just my brew! (3,2,3)
|
| Cryptic (and/or possibly double) definition | ||
| 6 | BALDERDASH |
More obvious career for cobblers (10)
|
| BALDER (more obvious) + DASH (career) | ||
| 7 | AHEAD |
A top up (5)
|
| A + HEAD (top) | ||
| 8 | DESIRE |
Game opponents in dreadful want (6)
|
| {E (i.e., East) + S (i.e., South)} (game opponents, i.e., in bridge) inside (in) DIRE (dreadful) | ||
| 9 | CHOIR |
Vocalists having sheets, we’re told (5)
|
| Homophone of (we’re told) QUIRE (sheets) | ||
| 14 | STEAK KNIFE |
Cutlery item from a fete Kinks organised (5,5)
|
| Anagram of (organised) A FETE KINKS | ||
| 17 | AQUAPLANE |
Greenish-blue tool for slide (9)
|
| AQUA (greenish-blue) + PLANE (tool) | ||
| 18 | REASSERT |
Reimpose authority redistributing non-U treasures (8)
|
| Anagram of (redistributing) TREAS[U]RE minus (non-) U | ||
| 19 | KEELHAUL |
Carpet from university residence is spoken of (8)
|
| Homophone of (is spoken of) [KEELE (University) + HALL (residence)] | ||
| 22 | RUNS UP |
Arrives hurriedly and gets into debt? (4,2)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | RAMPS |
Upgrades power in pile-drivers (5)
|
| P (power) inside (in) RAMS (pile-drivers) | ||
| 25 | BABEL |
The Sheep-Pig has left making a confused noise (5)
|
| BABE (The Sheep-Pig, referring to the 1995 film) + L (left) | ||
| 27 | YOUR |
Not my report from the old days (4)
|
| Homophone of (report from) YORE (the old days). I think this clue could plausibly be read either way, though. |
I vaguely remember EYEWASH in another crossword some time ago, but I’ve never encountered it to mean rot. British? Hogwash would be my word of choice. And the three UK-specific clues required some web searching— Pearman apples, BACS and Keele university. I initially chose the wrong one in the ambiguous 27d.
It took me a while to build momentum, then it flew by thanks to a friendly grid and a lot of anagrams. At the end, I needed time for SPINET (did not know the term) and RUNS UP (which I do not think, in itself, means get into debt)
Liked ALCOTT, UZBEKISTAN, MIDFIELDER, AHEAD, loved the hopeless OPEL, and thought BALDERDASH was clever
Similar to GDU, I did not know the parochial terms, and also had to research apple types.
Thanks Gozo and Cineraria
Good stuff.
Liked new deal, balderdash, keelhaul.
Didn’t like your (I went yore)
I think deal (in 31a) is an additional tree. I was oblivious to the theme until I came here
Thanks both.
In fact deal is unit of measurement of timber boards, now considered obsolete. Dates my old man, who use to talk about deal boards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deal_(unit)
Light, witty and breezy entertainment from Gozo, as ever.
I had many ticks including SPINET, CLOAKED and KEELHAUL but favourites were BALDERDASH and BABEL for ‘the sheep-pig’. Saw some but not all of the theme entries; should have been more alert as Gozo does like a theme from time to time.
Deal always reminds me of Jane Austen.
Thanks for the fun, Gozo, and Cineraria for the blog.
Always enjoy a Gozo puzzle although I missed the theme. I know deal as a soft wood but nho a unit of measurement. I also had YORE at first.
Thanks Gozo and Cineraria.
Spinet is one of those old keyboards, along with the celesta and virginal (of which “not many left” said my old music teacher). All good fun, ta both.
When I was a child we had a spinet at home. It was not tuned and made a horrible sound. But I did hear one played recently which was a joy.
SPINET was my last in. I dragged Pearmain out of the depths of memory, having worked for a greengrocer when I was at school, but only after I’d got SPEARMAN, which was the only answer that worked. I enjoyed this one. Thanks to all. I am now off for morning practice on the harpsichord.
2d: One die, many dice.
I too went the wrong way on YORE/YOUR, which made me flunk ORDEAL.
That’s my excuse, anyway.
Iacta Est @10 – yes, but I think Cineraria’s point is that usually in crosswords wordplay fodder is considered as a singular object. For the surface reading it’s dice, plural, but for the cryptic grammar it’s “battered [Latin dice] is [alike]”. But it’s not unusual to see setters stretching this a little for the sake of the surface. We similarly had “the French return” for AL yesterday, rather than “the French returns”.
Lots of fun this one, took me a little while to tune in to the setter’s thinking but then it all went nicely. I only came up short on 8D, 9D and 19D, which means on the whole I was very happy.
Thanks Gozo and Cineraria
1ac: I would probably have got this on another day, but I will take the opportunity to quote the alleged schoolboy howler “J.S.Bach had twenty children, and in between he practised on a spinster in the attic”.
12ac: Without an indication that GB needs to be expanded, I think this clue is asking too much of the solver. As always, I have no quarrel with those who think differently
2dn: The traditional way of resolving conflicts of number is to use “could be”, “must be”, “will be”, or possibly other wordings, but this seems to have gone into disuse. The assertion that the word “dice” has to be plural must be challenged. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary p 676 has the following definition of dice, dated LME (Late Middle English) which means 1350-1469, and not marked obsolete:
II sing. 3 A small cube whose six faces are marked with from one to six spots, thrown and used in games of chance; a die.
You could add “tea” to the trees.
Does it help them grow? 🙂
PB@14: I agree about 12ac. Another reason for raising an eyebrow is that superfluous words in ‘hidden’ clues (eg the implied ‘Great’ here) are not to everyone’s taste.
I took the university in the KEELHAUL clue to be the University of Kiel, in Germany. But Keele is probably what was intended. Both work.
I put in YOUR, and then immediately hit the check button. When a clue is ambiguous, I don’t see that as cheating–the setter failed, not me. You shouldn’t need crossing letters to resolve that kind of ambiguity. And the clue could easily be rewritten to put the homophone indicator at one end or the other.
No chance of spotting the theme here.