Thanks to IO for this morning’s challenge.
There were enough simpler clues to keep things flowing, but quite a few trickier ones to spend time mulling over. I would expect nothing less from IO. An enjoyable challenge.
HAM (meat); (CO (firm, company) + IS (lies)) about
ANON (immediately) punched by DSO (distinguished companion)
DSO stands for Distinguished Service Order, a military award. Recipients are known as Companions and can use the post-nominal letters DSO.
(ANY (some) + S (section)) embracing (CH (church) + ORB (sphere) with O (love))
[l]OATH[e] (hate, being out of bounds)
PIPING TOOL (cake decorating gadget; Spooner’s given)
‘Key’ referring to one of a typewriter/keyboard
T[rump] > T[aft] (cultivating a smaller behind)
Take the ‘behind’ out of TRUMP and instead use an abbreviated behind, leaving you with TAFT
14. Date… fancy… get off… fall asleep (2,3,4,1,5)
GO OUT (date) + LIKE (fancy) + ALIGHT (get off)
(ONE ONE (score-draw) punctuated by VERY (extremely)) + SLIPS (careless errors)
Double definition
TOWER (vehicle pulling) + B (barrels) + LOCK (forward, rugby position)
S[iste]R (heartless) keeps PA (dad)
A TUES QUEST (A post-Monday pursuit) cycling
D[iseas]E A[n]D E[speciall]Y (cases of) + E[pidemic] (onset of)
AS (like) + UNDER (like 2?)
I’m not sure about this one. My best guess is the 2 refers to the clue, which is a DOWN clue, if DOWN can mean UNDER. Any better ideas?
Cryptic definition
The ‘match, official’ referring to a wedding/marriage ceremony
I (one)’s taken MAD (bananas) on H (hospital) visits
(GUERRI[r]LA)* (changing sides on one occasion, *shot)
Using the letters in the word GUERRILLA, one of them must change sides; in this case from L (left) to R (right)
[actio]N AS AL[ways] (out of)
H (husband); (LAIR (home) with TWO (both) + S (sons))< (<returning) bears
Cryptic definition
The ‘picture’ being a film, that a sacked actor might be out of
(OAK, NUTWOOD + WHY)* (*rotting)
SO RED (such a scarlet shade) after [n]UN VI[p] (dis-covered together)
AGGRO (riotous behaviour) + UPS (increases) after arresting E (European)
T[o]ASTY (as the brown bread; out of O[ven] (the top of))
[on]LY SIN[gle] (beds)
ASUNDER
Down clue no 2 comes just under the last across clue?
(like 2=AS UNDER)
Liked TAFT, ON E LIPS, SHOW TRIAL, UNVISORED and more.
Great blog.
Thanks Io and Oriel.
TAFT
Oriel!
By ‘abbreviated’, you mean a shorter word meaning ‘behind’ than ‘rump’. Right?
… like 2 sounds as un deux … no? Oh well 🙂 . But lots of bits to learn here: thought chamois were goats; dnk DSOs were companions; anchor boys? … will look up in a sec, and lysin only a faint enzymish bell. All good fun, ta Io and Oriel.
It was indeed an enjoyable challenge. I also learnt about LYSIN and DSO companions.
Thanks to IO and Oriel.
I thought ASUNDER was a reference to the vows just taken: “Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder”. I usually can’t complete IO (or Enigmatist) puzzles so this was obviously an easier one. Thanks for taking pity on us IO and thanks to Oriel for a great blog.
Thanks Io and Oriel
24ac: I took “like 2” the same way as KVa@1, AS UNDER the clue for 24ac. I am not sure how the reference cited by Jay@5 would make a coherent indication.
Io may be mellowing but this was not easy, however it was satisfying when I eventually got there without too much huffing and puffing.
Good blog! Agree with kva re asunder.
Liked on everyone’s lips, statuesque, vm.
Thanks Io for an excellent crossword. I usually look at Io’s puzzles but I never can get a good foothold to keep going. Because I solved 14a early on I kept going and I eventually ‘completed’ it albeit with some checking of answers & a few parsing gaps. Lots of clues to tick including OATH, TYPING POOL, ON EVERYONES LIPS, SPAR (love the surface), IRREGULAR, and AGE GROUPS. Thanks Oriel for the blog.
Shout it from the rooftops: completed an IO and it’s still daylight!
Parsed all except LOI ASUNDER – KVa #1 looks good though.
Thanks setter and blogger for the entertainment.
Now to get back to last week’s Soup. I will NOT be defeated…
It seems I’m not alone in having found this gentler than Io can be. That is to say, I revealed exactly one letter (the M where Mahdi and chamois cross–my last two in). Normally I flail at Io for half an hour, see I have only half of it done, and either start cheating or just give up. Also, there were fewer clues than usual where it felt like the cryptic grammar was written by Yoda. (The clue for SHOW TRIAL today is an example of what I mean. And for that matter, MAHDI.)
I was very proud to do most of an io puzzle today on a flight to my inlaws for Thanksgiving here in the US. I never did get asunder and lysin however! Great fun and very rewarding. Thank you to all.
I also thought this puzzle must be easy for an Io as I managed to complete seven answers before giving up. It is important that the setters of difficult crosswords (you all know who you are) should include a couple of easier clues to get people started, and either by accident or design Io did this today. But I still wilted fairly early, not helped by never having heard of ANCHOR BOYS, LYSIN or a piping tool. TAFT I think I may have heard of, but certainly not remembered. I might have got these if the parsing had been easier, but no complaints; I consider seven answers today is a win.
Taft was Io throwing a bone to those of us in the States.
Looked up anchor boys, because I never heard of Boys Brigade as I’m in US. I guess it’s Australian? It looks like “juniors” are a different age group from “anchor boys”, so not really equivalents…
10ac: Chambers 2016 p 51 has Anchor Boys n pl the most junior section of the Boys’ Brigade.
Clarification to comment 15: The fact that there is (according to the Wikipedia entry as I read it a few minutes ago) a section called Juniors in the Boys’ Brigade in some countries and that Juniors (capital J) are older than Anchor Boys in those countries does not, in my view, invalidate either the clue at 10ac or the entry in Chambers, which have the word “junior(s)” written in lower case, and therefore to be interpreted in its everyday meaning.
A minor point maybe, but I was interested in the construction of NASAL. The way I parsed this is that Hooter‘s is not the usual construction of definition>link (‘s for is)> second definition, which you would expect to be nounal, but its adjectival. I like it. Just haven’t seen it before.