Many thanks to Fed for the puzzle – my favourites were 11ac, 4/22, 18dn, and especially 15ac.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | FARMYARD |
Head of Defence follows one branch of military around protecting another in rural setting (8)
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the first/"Head" letter of D-[efence], following: RAF (Royal Air Force, "one branch of military") reversed/"around" and containing/"protecting" ARMY="another" branch of the military |
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| 9 | HAUNCH |
Feeling about a quarter (6)
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definition: the haunch of an animal is also known as the hind quarter HUNCH="Feeling" around A (from surface) |
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| 10 | BARD |
Right to interrupt awful poet (4)
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R (Right) inside BAD="awful" |
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| 11 | INSOUCIANT |
Toscanini initially upset with orchestration, it should be breezy (10)
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anagram/"with orchestration" of (Toscanini u-[pset])* |
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| 12 | BOLDER |
More mature book starts to be more daring (6)
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OLDER="More mature", with B (book) starting / going in front |
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| 14 | SIDESTEP |
Evasive action leads to swearing if Dawn French is recording (8)
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"leads"/leading letters of S-[wearing] I-[f] D-[awn]; plus EST="French [for] is"; plus EP (Extended Play record, a music recording) |
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| 15 | GIRAFFE |
Yogi Bear ultimately stops Boo-Boo becoming zoo attraction? (7)
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last/ultimate letters of [Yog]-I [Bea]-R stopping inside GAFFE="Boo-Boo"=minor mistake/accident for the surface reading, Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo are both cartoon characters from The Yogi Bear Show |
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| 17 | GROUCHO |
Progress without regulation – to begin with that hurt Marx? (7)
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definition: Groucho Marx the comedian GO="Progress" outside of ("without"): beginning of R-[egulation] + OUCH="that hurt" |
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| 20 | SHARPISH |
Quickly be silent for screening – 17’s brother mostly is (8)
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SH=shush="be silent" around/"screening" HARP-[o]="17's brother mostly" + IS (from surface) Harpo Marx was Groucho's [17ac] brother |
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| 22 | BREATH |
The two making love on back of sofa pant? (6)
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B-O-TH, but making the O into RE+A BOTH="The two" O=zero in tennis="love" RE=about, concerning="on" A from back of sof-[A] |
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| 23 | GIANT PANDA |
Doctor adapting an endangered species (5,5)
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anagram/"Doctor" of (adapting an)* |
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| 24 | CARP |
Complain about rep on vacation (4)
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CA (circa, approximately/"about") plus R-[e]-P vacated of its inner letter |
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| 25 | SEVERN |
Cut ending to Moon River (6)
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SEVER="Cut" plus ending to [moo]-N |
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| 26 | PRECINCT |
Area policeman handling case of revenge in court (8)
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PC (Police Constable, "policeman") around the "case" (outer letters) of R-[eveng]-E; plus IN (from surface) + CT (court) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MACARONI |
Type of pasta a vehicle on motorway is carrying (8)
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A CAR ON="a vehicle on", with MI=M1="motorway" containing/carrying this |
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| 2 | AMID |
Surrounded by morning papers (4)
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AM (ante meridian, "morning") + ID (identification "papers") |
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| 3 | RAPIER |
Somehow parried short sword (6)
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anagram/"Somehow" of (parrie-[d])* |
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| 4, 22 | SHOULDER BLADES |
Bears eating, say, 3 bones (8,6)
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SHOULDERS as a verb="Bears", around/eating BLADE (e.g. RAPIER at 3dn) |
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| 5 | RUBIKS CUBE |
Puzzle annoys over one thousand (e.g. 1,331) (6,4)
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RUBS="annoys" around/"over" both of: I="one" + K (kilo, "thousand"); plus CUBE=cube number e.g. 1,331 is equal to 11 cubed |
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| 6 | SCONCE |
After supporting small carbon light fitting (6)
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ONCE="After" e.g. 'once/after you arrive…'; following S (small) + C (atomic symbol for carbon) |
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| 8 | DESIST |
What’s found inside commodes is toxic – stop! (6)
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hidden inside [commo]-DES IS T-[oxic] |
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| 13 | DEAD RINGER |
Lookalike not working with band, Queen (4,6)
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DEAD (e.g. of an electronic device)="not working"; plus RING="band" (e.g. a wedding ring/band); plus ER (Elizabeth Regina, "Queen") |
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| 16 | FLIPPANT |
Facetious old man’s boring flick books (8)
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PA=father="old man", boring into FLIP="flick" + NT (New Testament, "books" of the Bible) |
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| 18 | HAT TRICK |
Sporting achievement of bowler – perhaps fast one (3,5)
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definition: a hat trick could be 3 goals in one game in football, or 3 wickets in 3 consecutive deliveries by a cricket bowler HAT="bowler – perhaps" as in a bowler hat; plus TRICK="fast one" e.g. 'to pull a fast one' is to trick someone |
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| 19 | CHIN UP |
Look on the bright side and exercise (4,2)
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double definition: '[keep your] chin up' as a message of encouragement; or a chin-up as a physical exercise |
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| 21 | HEIFER |
Next in line holds iron lower (6)
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definition: "lower" as in 'low-er', an animal that makes lowing sounds HEIR="Next in line" around FE (chemical symbol for iron) |
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| 22 | SHOULDER BLADES |
See 4
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| 24 | COIL |
Charlie painting snake (4)
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C (Charlie, NATO alphabet) + OIL (type of "painting") |
thanks M and F! Especially since I couldn’t parse BREATH though the surface left me a bit breathless (in a good way)
I found this Fed more approachable than some I recall. And there are fewer contemporary references in this one. I share with our blogger a liking for HAT TRICK, INSOUCIANT and GIRAFFE and, because it is my local river, I was taken by SEVERN. The substitution in BREATH is quite evil – not the first time Fed has delivered something like this – and I see it confused quite a few solvers on the G’s own site. I was undone at the very end by COIL – just did not think of the painting.
Thanks both
Good while it lasted.
I enjoyed piecing the wordplay together on the likes of FARMYARD, SHARPISH, MACARONI well, most of them really.
Excellent stuff. Thanks Fed and manehi
Thanks Fed and manehi
I too needed the parsing for BREATH.
Favourites GIRAFFE and HEIFER.
Thanks manehi. I also liked the clue for GIRAFFE with Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo and the zoo attraction.
HEIFER I liked because it was all in my GK. Father a butcher. I grew up around cattle. Knew the rest.
BREATH was just plainly (not to me) devious (to me) in the parsing.
Learned a lot about 1,331 in numerology, Angel Number, before I found it was a cube.
That was fun.
Thanks F’n’M.
I, too, am among the company of the breath non-parsers.
A lot of these were guess-first parse-later, though the parsing for SIDESTEP defeated me (I kept struggling to see how the french word for dawn fitted in) and as for BREATH, honestly I wouldn’t have figured that out in a million years.
I liked the surfaces for HEIFER, CHIN UP and SEVERN – and GROUCHO made me grin. As the man himself often does.
Many thanks manehi and Fed
I could not parse 22ac and also 7ac apart from reverse of RAF = one branch of military and D = first letter of Defence.
Favourites: SIDESTEP, GROUCHO, SHARPISH. Will look out for a Marx Bros film on youtube soon, I wonder if they still seem funny…
New for me: 1331 = 11 cubed. Not something I really need to know in my daily life 😉
Definitely one of Fed’s easier puzzles, I found myself filling in answers and then parsing later. Still much fun to be had, of course. I particularly enjoyed HEIFER and the surface for GIRAFFE was excellent.
Thanks Fed and manehi.
A good crossword for me – enough clues to get started then the rest gradually falling in place as the crossers appear. Breath was my last one in and I finally managed to spot all the elements but still couldn’t see how to assemble them for the clue to make sense. Pant and breath don’t seem quite the same thing to me, but near enough. I think my problem is that I can’t imagine using pant as a synonym of breath in the singular. Maybe somebody can give me an example?
I liked FARMYARD for the wordplay, GROUCHO and Harpo appearing together, SIDESTEP for the trademark separation of the celebrity and GIRAFFE for keeping me on my toes and not separating Yogi and Bear.
Thanks Fed and manehi.
COTD: BREATH
Other picks: GIRAFFE, RUBIKS CUBE and HAT TRICK.
SHARPISH
SH for screening HARPIS=SH to screen HARPIS?
The cryptic grammar must be right.
Just…the ‘for’ confused me a bit.
Ravenrider#11. How about ” I could hear a pant/breath getting louder behind me “?
I got as far as the reverse of RAF and guessed FARMLAND which turns out to be wrong – but as the dud letters were not crossers it didn’t hold me up. I like the real answer. Couldn’t parse BREATH of course.
I enjoyed the rest – just hard enough to be rewarding, and very nicely clued: ticks for SEVERN and GIRAFFE.
BREATH
Def=pant?
pant ⊆ BREATH
Yes?
Breath is an alpha-level builder clue. Find a synonym for “the two”, then recognise love as the o, then swap it out for re + a (re = on = about; a = back of sofa). Hard yacca, as we say down under.
Another enjoyable puzzle from Fed.
7ac FARMYARD was a great introduction and gained one of my many ticks for the clever construction and excellent surface.
I won’t list all the rest: my top picks were 11ac INSOUCIANT (lovely word), 15ac GIRAFFE and 5dn RUBIK’S CUBE. Like others, I groaned when the penny dropped with BREATH.
Many thanks to Fed and to manehi.
Breathless here, too.
On the whole, more do-able than previous offerings from this setter.
Favourite was HAT TRICK.
Fed is obviously a Yogi fan. From 9th August: Character from cartoon strip voiced by unknown old soldier (4,4)
Sign me up to the Unparsed Breath Club — that was pretty gnarly, but “The two”=BOTH was a fair chance for us to get a foot in the door.
I really appreciated the balance between wordplay and surface in Fed’s offering today, so that most of the solves provided a satisfying “ker-ching” moment for me.
That was great fun – I especially liked all the bears, which fell into my Goldilocks zone, and the Marx brothers.
Thanks to Fed and manehi
An enjoyable start to the day. LHS went in very quickly, apart from 20ac, but looking at that one in parallel with 17ac got me both of them together. SHOULDER BLADES held out for a while, but once the penny dropped for that one, the rest could be picked off. Could not parse BREATH or SIDESTEP, so many thanks to manehi for clarification. Some really nice surfaces, but the picker-nick basket goes to the GIRAFFE, even if the ranger doesn’t like it.
Good one, FED.
gladys @14, FARMLAND was my mistake as well. It is annoying as the correct answer is clearly clued and I really felt that I should have done better.
Glad I wasn’t the only one. Makes me feel a little better about myself.
Great stuff from Fed. I thought he had upped his difficulty in his last few offerings but felt this was back towards par.
I did parse BREATH but after I had written it in. I think I’ve got these ‘partial substitution’ (is there a better phrase?) clues which are becoming a hallmark of Fed.
Like RUBIKS CUBE although took it on trust that 1,331 was a cube.
Thanks Fed and Manehi
Re, the Blog on GIRAFFE, my memory is that, before Yogi Bear got his own show due to his popularity, he and Boo-Boo were second fiddle to Huckleberry Hound in his show, where they were followed by Pixie and Dixie and their feline arch-foe, Mr Jinks (“I hate those meeces to pieces”).
Another floored by the parsing of BREATH. There is a class of clue which is easy to fill because the definition is clear, along with the crossers, but which is a challenge to parse. This is a prime example. As such I think it’s in a way self-defeating. I seriously doubt that anyone at all solved this from the cryptic fodder plus definition as one is “supposed” to. Too clever by half in other words.
Good fun today with GIRAFFE and SHOULDER BLADES, clear favourites, and GIANT PANDA was a neat anagram. I thought that Fed was being generous by referring to a Marx bother in SHARPISH, being able to dismiss Chico and Zeppo straightaway. Incidentally, this time last week, Imogen clued PRECINCT as ‘District court in pursuit of wayward Prince’.
Ta Fed & manehi.
You definitely have range Balfour @25. On this occasion, I can keep up!
(Please take this as entirely positive.)
I particularly liked Harpo being mostly silent.
Thanks Fed and manehi
Another one who couldn’t parse BREATH, but otherwise nothing here to frighten the horses. Thanks as ever to setter and blogger.
Another fine puzzle from Fed… they’re always a pleasure. My experience matched that of DTS@22 and Staticman1@24.
[FWIW I found Sunday’s Quiptic to be harder than both yesterday’s cryptic and the Puzzle That Should Not Yet Be Mentioned and at about the same level aa this puzzle (albeit without quite reaching the level of the most devious two clues of today’s one).]
I tentatively had “scanty” – light fitting [clothing] – for SCONCE, until SIDESTEP finally disabused me of that idea. Which meant that BREATH wasn’t my LOI but it was my last one to parse; I pencilled it in once I’d come up with “both”, but needed to revisit it at the end to complete the parsing. Lovely stuff.
[To poc@26’s point, I’m not sure one is “supposed” to solve only from the wordplay. I continue to say that presumably all of us solve in both directions at once, whether we’re intending to or not. I certainly can’t switch off the part of my brain that looks for a synonym whilst I’m thinking “back of sofa will be ‘a'”, and I don’t think there’s any reason why we should, either. Part of the joy of the clues is deciphering the parsing, and to me it doesn’t matter if that happens before or after the writing in. In fact I go further and believe that you haven’t really solved a clue if you haven’t fully grokked the parsing; a completed grid is sufficient for submitting the Prize but not for having really finished the puzzle – but that’s my personal view for myself, and no-one else needs to share it nor care what I think!]
Thanks both
Having read “sporting achievement of bowler”, the parsing involving the bowler hat was more or less unnecessary – that one was a write-in.
(AP@31: I absolutely agree about the “proper” way to solve clues. I’m not that good at cold solving so most of them go in whichever way first occurs to me, though I do like to check parsing to prove I’m right: something I should have done with FARMLAND)
Relieved to see that I am far from alone with BREATH. Overall lots of fun and some impressive surfaces.
Another non-BREATH-parser. Those three words ‘making love on’ were very sneaky and misleading.
A most enjoyable puzzle, with the bears and other animals, as well as Marx Brothers. My favourite was RUBIKS CUBE. Ticks also to INSOUCIANT, SHOULDER BLADES, GIRAFFE, FARMYARD, HEIFER.
Thanks Fed and manehi
I seemed to be on Fed’s wavelength today, although one or two I found challenging. I liked the anagrams for INSOUCIANT and SHOULDER BLADES, the swearing of Dawn French in SIDESTEP, the RUBIK’S CUBE, where I thought first of 1331 being a palindromic number, the bowler’s HAT TRICK, Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo in GIRAFFE (very clever), and, now it has been explained in the blog, BREATH, where I thought the text BTH (be there, hun, apparently) was something to do with the two making love.
Thanks Fed and manehi (BTW, I’ve said before it would be better to put the completed grid below the answers in case someone just checks the intro before finishing the crossword).
wynsum@#21. I liked all the bears falling into your Goldilocks zone. Very funny!
BREATH definitely treacherous, was my LOI.
Re: 5d, not sure this will help anyone, but here goes. 1331 is immediately recognizable (to a tiny proportion of the population) as the third row of Pascal’s triangle, hence must be equal to 11 CUBEd. That sets you off on the search for a 6-letter prefix involving a K or an M, and RUBIKS falls out. Didn’t do it that way? I’m entirely not surprised!
Well done to anyone that filled in breath using the cryptic side of the clue! I’m not sure I fully get it now. Happy to let the definitions guide me when the going gets tough. Nice puzzle. Thanks.
And yet another who failed to parse BREATH. But having seen how it’s done – I think it’s brilliant. Must look out for such clues again!
I thought SHOULDER BLADES was excellent.
Alternative marginally more cryptic interpretation of 20 across:
’17’s brother mostly is’ gives harpist without the t ; Harpo acquired his nickname because he was a harpist.
AP@31: “In fact I go further and believe that I haven’t really solved a clue if I haven’t fully grokked the parsing”. Fixed that for you. A crossword puzzle is meant to be a bit of fun; there are neither ‘winners’ nor ‘losers’; you may have your own (very) particular standards, but I would be most surprised if anyone gave a damn about your opinion of what qualifies as a finished puzzle. I start with an empty grid, and I finish with a full one – for me, that puzzle is completed.
That was great. Thanks Fed. I did not parse BREATH or SIDESTEP (my LOI) and I see that I am far from alone in the first case. Thanks Manehi for the explanations. Lots of favourites, but I’ll pick out GIRAFFE, GROUCHO and SIDESTEP just to name a few.
Most enjoyable and easily my quickest Fed so far, including all parsed.
Chambers has pant (n.) = a gasping breath.
“Their breath came out in pants” etc.
And even without that I think the ? on the end also makes it fair enough.
Started off wondering whether the rural setting at 7ac might be Farmland or FARMYARD until I worked out how the correct word fitted together. I was another who had to retroparse occasionally. The HAUNCH immediately had me thinking of cuts of meat, but more importantly pub names, The Haunch of Venison in the Salisbury, Wilts, area and then there is the Baron of Beef here in Cambridge. Have enjoyed a pint or two in both in the past.
Excellent challenge today, I thought. Haven’t had time to read the previous comments – apologies if I’ve duplicated anything – I’m rather running around a bit trying to get everything in place for a family member’s 100 birthday celebration tomorrow…
I was going to suggest, we need an illustration for 22a’s surface … perhaps not! Definitely the trickiest parse and would have been the LOI if I hadn’t already written in from the crossers. Definitely the favourite!
My own ‘Boo-Boo’: I put in FARMLAND instead of FARMYARD and couldn’t parse it – me stupid!
HAT TRICK was perhaps too easy with ‘bowler’ in the clue. Perhaps ‘Sporting achievement in Derby…’ etc. would have made it that bit TRICKier?
But much to like: SHOULDER BLADES, FLIPPANT, RUBIK’S CUBE (I used to be a dab hand at that, though I could never match a champion ‘cuber’); SEVERN; GIRAFFE; SIDESTEP; DESIST (another ‘pauline’ one!); MACARONI (I used to work for Marconi Avionics and that’s what we called them…!)
Thanks to Fed and manehi.
MartinRadon@41 when you quoted me you accidentally missed off the next part in which I said “that’s my personal view for myself, and no-one else needs to share it nor care what I think!” – but not to worry, I’ve fixed it for you 😉
Of course, I said it to be somewhat provocative (albeit my real opinion), but thanks for playing!
[ronald @44
I know both those pubs too. Isn’t it The Baron of Beef that has the longest pub bar in Cambridge? (though I think the one in my old college, Churchill, was longer!)]
epop@38, if we take the word BOTH and make ‘O’ ‘A’ then we get BATH. Here Fed’s inviting us to make ‘O’ ‘RE sofa – or cryptically, make ‘love’ ‘on + back of sofa’ – to get B RE A TH.
* I meant to say, make ‘O’ ‘RE A’
Dr W @37 – with RUBIK’S CUBE I too was thinking of Pascal’s Triangle/Binomial series. The first four rows are all powers of 11: 11, 121, 1331, 14641. After that the system breaks down since the first 5 and the 10 ‘overlap’.
The numbers are of course also palindromes, but I couldn’t see how that worked in the clue.
Well I haven’t heard the word grokked since the 60’s/70’s. Not sure I’ve ever seen it written outside the book Stranger in a Strange Land. Though I see it has a dictionary definition. Another who didn’t parse BREATH, leaving me somewhat dissatisfied. So I must be in sympathy with AP@31
Claret@52 that’s interesting, and you’ve prompted me to look it up! Organically, I learnt it to mean “fully grasp” but it appears it means “intuitively grasp”. I didn’t know its origins, either; is the book worth a read? Certainly, it’s a common word in professional IT circles.
Great puzzle. I especially enjoyed the clueing for GIRAFFE.
Like many other contributors, I too filled in BREATH last. Then came hear for the parse – I had BOTH in mind early on from the crossers at first and fifth letters, but find the substitution a bit too tortuous for my liking!
I am pleased to announce that I *did* correctly parse BREATH! It’s not often that I get to brag (here or anywhere else), so I hope you’ll indulge me.
I loved Yogi and Boo-Boo, as well as the Rubiks Cube. I expect 1331 was chosen as it’s the smallest integer cube that is strictly over 1000 (10 cubed is 1000 exactly). Oddly, I recognized it as divisible by 11 before I solved the clue, but only afterwards did I realize it was a cube. (Test for divisibility by 11: add up the first, third, fifth, etc. digits; add up the second, fourth, sixth, etc., subtract the two sums, and if what you get is divisible by 11, then the original number was. For most small numbers, what you get will be zero or 11, which makes this less awkward than it sounds; you can usually just eyeball it, in fact.)
Two days in a row with two letters wrong — grrr! Today it was 7a FARMLAND instead of FARMYARD (like gladys@14 and others). Careless. At least I did manage to parse 22a BREATH (not too clever by half, just clever)
Great puzzle, with too many favourites to list them all. Special mention for 10a BARD (awful poet), 11a INSOUCIANT (Toscanini anagram), 15a GIRAFFE (Yogi Bear and Boo-boo), 17 GROUCHO (great misdirecting surface), 20 SHARPISH (silent Harpo), 25a SEVERN (Moon River), 2d AMID (morning papers), 8d DESIST (toxic commodes). I really appreciate Fed’s attention to good surfaces
18d HAT TRICK is also used for three goals scored in ice hockey
michelle@8, I’m currently watching all the Marx Bros movies in order, and yes, they are still very very funny
AP@47, I appreciated your comments @31, and do give a damn about your opinions
AP@47: I deliberately missed out the latter part of your earlier comment. I accept that it was your personal opinion, but you intentionally said ‘you’ i.e. other people, when you meant ‘I’. It may be a minor point, but if it’s a personal opinion, keep it personal – you can only speak for yourself. Have fun being ‘provocative’.
[muffin@48 – I’m pretty sure that Churchill’s was longer. Future historians may stumble across this comment out of context – I hope they have fun with it.]
Peeps, remember to buy Ken a coffee!!
Very enjoyable even taking “breath” into account. I got it from the crossers and guesswork and would never have parsed it myself. In fact I read the explanations several times and still could not comprehend until AP@49 and 50 came to the rescue and the penny finally dropped so thanks to him. I’m not sure I’ll be any better with the next such clue but at least I might now know what I’m looking and failing at.
As always thanks to Fed and Manehi.
Thanks Fed. I can’t ever remember zipping through a crossword this quickly by either Fed or Bluth. No matter, it was full of excellent clues & surfaces with my top picks being INSOUCIANT, GIRAFFE, HAT TRICK, & HEIFER. Ny only stumble was the parsing of BREATH. Thanks manehi for the blog.
I do like a straightforward Maths tutorial, mrpenney@55! I have to admit I had absolutely no idea about the significance of 1331, and only managed to insert 5d thanks to all the crossers being in place.
And I shan’t join the debate about the longest bar in my home town, as for hoi polloi like me the Baron was the one…
AP/Martin Radon. Just my opinion, but I also consider a crossword a DNF despite filling in all the clues if I can’t parse it all. In English, we regularly misuse ‘you’ for ‘one’ and I never quite get how ‘one’ is also used for ‘I’. It can cause the kind of miscommunication that seems to have ruffled feathers here.
I think breath was almost impenetrably hard to parse but I forgive Fed because it is absolutely brilliant now that I have had had the parsing explained to me by someone much cleverer than I am.
Very fine puzzle, with well crafted surfaces. I thought BREATH was brilliant and it works beautifully. Lots of others almost as good.
I solve both forwards and backwards. The crossers give valuable information and it doesn’t make sense to me to ignore them while solving. This almost inevitably leads to guessing and back-parsing in some cases. RUBIK’S CUBE was a good example of that today.
Great fun. Thanks, Fed and manehi.
Yes Breath last one in. Obvs Both and then couldn’t be anything else but couldn’t parse it like others. Really enjoyed the challenge.
[phitonelly@64: Often an answer will jump out from the crossers before I have a chance to fully parse it. I would have to ignore the grid if I wanted to completely parse a clue before entering it.]
Thanks to the Doc @37, Laccaria @51 :- I hadn’t come across that property of Pascal’s triangle before. Nice!
setters really seem to enjoy cow-themed clues
[Tony Santucci @66 That is how some solvers approach a puzzle, with as much cold solving as possible. I myself don’t understand it, but I recall Roz, formerly of this parish, saying that her definition of a ‘write-in’ was when she was able to solve all the clues prior to entering the solutions and thus completely bypassing the crossers.]
AP @ 50. Thanks
Thanks both…much easier than yesterday.
Like others, absolutely what the parsing of BREATH is all about.
Got Breath though couldn’t parse it. Conversely, had to reveal COIL though it’s blindingly obvious once seen.
Thanks manehi and thanks all.
poc@26 I’m very much with those who’ve said there is no one way in which things are supposed to be solved. As a solver I often arrive at the definition before seeing the wordplay and it doesn’t trouble me a jot. Often I find it just as satisfying when the penny drops and I realise that my hunch was right.
Of course, in this instance, you (and evidently many others) didn’t get that moment of satisfaction. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t available to you. It was certainly experienced by others. Which is fine by me!
mrpenney @55 yes, that’s exactly why 1331 was chosen. The surface demanded a number higher than 1000.
Cheers!
Still being very much a beginner this was completed by liberal use of the check button so I’m definitely following my own standard for “solving”. That said, I think we all do this for the joy in it and I certainly found that in these clues even if I had to come here for the parsing of many! Really liked DEAD RINGER, SHOULDER BLADES, RUBIKS CUBE and, once I was reminded of “lower” for cattle here, HEIFER.
Thanks Manehi for the blog and Fed for the delightful puzzle and confirming the mathematical insights!
Thanks Fed for a great puzzle, and which – commendably – didn’t need obscure or specialist knowledge.
I finally parsed BREATH as I was nodding off last night, which sometimes happens.
Cheers one and all.
Fed@73 and others: I put supposed in quotes for a reason. Of course I often solve and then parse, as I suspect most of us do on occasion. I merely wished to point out that in this case I doubt that anyone could have done it “from first principles” as it were (though mrpenney@55 apparently did). Anyway, thanks for dropping by. I appreciate it when setters give us their thoughts.
4/22 sent me on a blind alley to 3 bones of the inner ear and so kept seeing “stapes” as the second part which led me to abandon ship on this. Also don’t like “coil” as equivalent for snake in 24d.
Poc@76 I know that it is harder than most of the others, but I do think that if a solver can see that “the two” = BOTH and has a hunch that the answer is BREATH, then finding a satisfying explanation as to how the clue might be making O into REA is not quite as out of reach as you suggest. Especially as “love” is so commonly O and “on” so commonly RE in crosswordland.
‘Make/making XY’ might be a cryptic instruction that you encounter less frequently – but, to me, that’s a strength rather than a weakness. A collection of clues where everything involves tricks you instantly, reflexively know in a seen-it-before way offers less fun.
And I’ll wager that another clue with a similar construction will come along one day and that you will solve it, because at the end of the day, we’re always subconsciously adding to the toolbox.