A fun puzzle from Solomon.
I really enjoyed solving this, even if parsing some of the clues required some mental gymnastics, a skill sorely lacking early in the morning. A fair smattering of pop culture is required to complete this (GAP, Who Framed Roger Rabbt, Will Self, Tutti Frutti etc). If I had any quibbles, they were minor (the clue for DEBRIEF doesn't quite scan IMHO, and the TALC in the clue for ITALICS gave away more than half the answer), but it was a refreshing fun puzzle over all.
Thanks Solomon.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BLEAK |
Cheerless changing of sides during half-time? (5)
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Changing sides in B(r)EAK ("half-time?") from R (right) to L(eft) yields B(L)EAK |
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| 4 | WORM-EATEN |
Old entry in early bird’s journal? (4-5)
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As in the saying, "the early bird catches the worm". |
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| 9 | KNOTTIEST |
Wild kittens love time inside? Most puzzling… (9)
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*(kittens) [anag:wild] with O (love, in tennis) + T (time) inside |
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| 10 | TITAN |
Giant bird with many wings taking flight (5)
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TIT ("bird") with (m)AN(y), it's wings (outer letters) taking flight |
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| 11 | REPTILE |
Turning a letter in Scrabble to make SNAKE? (7)
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[turning] <=PER ("a") + TILE ("letter in Scrabble") |
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| 13 | ITALICS |
Characters leaning forward, one covered in talc, one beginning to sling bottles (7)
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I (one) + [beginning to] S(ling) bottles I (one) covered in TALC, so I(TAL(i)C)S |
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| 15 | DRAMA |
Excitement of the first whisky? (5)
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DRAM A might be the "first whisky", if followed by DRAM B, DRAM C , etc |
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| 16 | DIAMETRAL |
Delayed servant travels west, covering close to quarter of the Circle Line? (9)
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<=(LATE ("delayed") + MAID ("servant") travels west) covering [close to] (quarte)R |
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| 18 | ZOOKEEPER |
Unknown shot-stopper preserves goalless draw for manager of Wolves? (9)
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Z (unknown, in mathematics) + KEEPER ("shot-stopper") preserves O-O (0-0) ("goalless draw") |
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| 21 | TOTED |
Carried small child by the end of wearisome day (5)
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TOT ("small child") by [end of] (wearisom)E + D (day) |
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| 22 | NULLIFY |
Abolish naked attractions provided in New York (7)
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[naked] (p)ULL(s) ("attractions") + IF ("provided") in NY (New York) |
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| 24 | DEBRIEF |
Interrogate FBI agent lying about cheese boards (7)
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<=FED ("FBI agent", lying about) boards BRIE ("cheese") |
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| 25 | GOYIM |
Solomon’s accompanied by leaders in Galilee ordaining young gentiles (5)
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[leaders in] G(alilee) O(rdaining) Y(oung) accompanied by I'M ("Solomon's") |
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| 26 | EUCLIDEAN |
Cryptic clue suggestion — ‘Newton’s inspired by Greek mathematician’ (9)
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*(clue) [anag:cryptic] + IDEA ("suggestion") + N (newton, a derived SI unit of force) |
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| 28 | PERMITTED |
Licensed theatre backed by Cambridge University with material we rejected (9)
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<=REP (repertory "theatre", backed) by MIT (Massechusetts Institute of Technology, a "university" in "Cambridge", USA) with T(we)ED ("material" with WE rejected) |
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| 29 | HOUSE |
Presumably you’ve slept in this riverside hotel? (5)
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H (hotel) beside river OUSE |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BAKERS DOZEN |
Tradesman’s exorbitant amount is wasted — zero’s banked (6,5)
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*(zeros banked) [anag:wasted] |
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| 2 | EGO |
I lift skinned rabbit (3)
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[lift] [skinned] <=(r)OGE(r) Rabbit, from the 1988 part-animated movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? |
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| 3 | KITTIWAKE |
Deathwatch taking place after cat caught bird (9)
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WAKE ("death watch") taking place after homophone/pun/aural wordplay [caught] of KITTY ("cat") |
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| 4 | WEEKEND |
Go with male model on day/days off (7)
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WEE ("go") with KEN ("male model" and Barbie's boyfriend) on D (day) |
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| 5 | RETSINA |
Wine in unopened box tipped over (7)
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[unopened] <=(c)ANISTER [over] |
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| 6 | EXTRA |
Especially old carriage quietly departs (5)
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EX ("old") + TRA(p) ("carriage") with P (piano, so "quietly") departing |
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| 7 | TUTTI-FRUTTI |
Sweet song from the fifties (5-6)
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Double definition, the first referring to a confection, normally an ice cream (although there used to be a chewy sweet called Tutti Frutti in the UK) and the second to the Little Richard song, which was a hit in 1956. |
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| 8 | NAN |
News article bores old lady (3)
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A (article) bored N + N (new twice, so "news") |
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| 12 | PIANO PLAYER |
Say, Rachmaninov, Brahms and Liszt only appear around one (5,6)
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*(only appear) [anag:Brahms and Liszt] around I (one) Brahms & Liszt is rhyming slang for "pissed", so drunk, a common anagram indicator. |
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| 14 | SELF-DEFENCE |
Will those leading duellists eschew fight with swords for judo? (4-7)
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(Will) SELF (English author) + [leading] D(uellists) E(schew) + FENCE ("fight with swords") |
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| 17 | ESTABLISH |
Set up cycling firm with capital taken from shark? (9)
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[cycling] the letter of STABLE becomes E-STABL with [capital taken from] (f)ISH ("shark?") |
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| 19 | PAYMENT |
Money made by secretary joining old boys in yacht on vacation (7)
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PA (personal assistant, or "secretary") joining MEN ("old boys") in Y(ach)T [on vacation] |
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| 20 | REDUCED |
Cut grass cut by rolling grass that’s come back up? (7)
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REED ("grass") cut by [rolling] <=CUD ("grass that's come back up") |
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| 23 | IAMBI |
An hour after midnight, finally rub one’s feet (5)
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1 am ("an hour after midnight) + [finally] (ru)B + I (one) |
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| 25 | GAP |
Opening shop that was last open in 2021 (3)
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Double definition, the second referring to Gap UK, a clothing store that closed its main branches in the UK in2021, although it still exists as a concession in some other stores, and online. |
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| 27 | EMU |
Large bird you can see in Melbourne Museum (3)
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[you can see in] the letters of "melbournE MUseum" |
Some inventive clues. It was generally not too difficult to get the answers from the straight clue and crossers. But I thought there was too much solving first then parsing
Liked the surface of EMU, REPTILE, I thought WEEKEND interesting, and groaned at WORM EATEN
I needed your help parsing EGO (could not work out what rabbit was stripped and lifted) and PERMITTED (did not see CU = MIT)
Thanks Solomon and loonapick – solid work from both.
Good fun, liked piano player.
However, in 1d Solomon is unfairly criticising bakers. A baker’s dozen is thirteen, with one extra added to the dozen requested by the customer to ensure the total weight is achieved. Ie it is to ensure fair dealing and certainly not exorbitant!
‘Exorbitant’ really means ‘going beyond the usual limit’, so I think it’s ok. It often means ‘excessive’, which, I agree, doesn’t really fit here.