An entertaining puzzle from Amoeba today to help me at least through a cold, grey day.
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, set by a compiler with whose work I am not that well acquainted. I found it to be of medium difficulty, just right for a mid-week solve, although I thought for a while that I might need to cheat in the SW quadrant. Thankfully, I solved one of the remaining clues, all of which were perfectly fair, and the others then fell into place.
An extra layer of entertainment was added when I realised that a good few of the grid entries (highlighted in green above) were popular musicals from over the decades – it is theme day today after all!
My favourite clues today were 4, for surface and concision; 7, for flair in construction; and 13, 22 and 26, all for smoothness of surface. I think that I may be missing something at 6, which seems a tad weak if my parsing is to be believed. Maybe other solvers came up with something better?
In any case, I am already looking forward to my next outing with Amoeba, and many thanks for this early Christmas present.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; a break in underlining separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| ACROSS
|
||
| 1 | TEASEL |
Perhaps China contracted large plant (6)
|
| TEA SE<t> (=perhaps China, i.e. crockery; “contracted” means last letter is dropped) + L (=large, in sizes) | ||
| 5 | POUNCING |
Seizing power, icon goes berserk with gun (8)
|
| P (=power, in physics) + *(ICON + GUN); “goes beserk” is anagram indicator; to pounce on e.g. an opportunity is to seize it | ||
| 9 | CAROUSEL |
Fairground Attraction sing in American English? Au contraire! (8)
|
| [US (=American) + E (=English)] in CAROL (=(to) sing) | ||
| 10 | SHAGGY |
Silence irritable reggae musician (6)
|
| SH (=silence, as exhortation) + AGGY (=irritable, aggravated, colloquially); the reference is to the Jamaican-born reggae artist Shaggy (1968-) | ||
| 11 | COMPETITOR |
Rival school senior journalist has primarily touted for daughter (10)
|
| COMP (=school, i.e. comprehensive) + ETITOR (EDITOR=senior journalist; “has primarily (=first letter) touted (=t) for daughter (=D)” means letter “d” is replaced by “t”)” | ||
| 12 | HAIR |
Shock and anger reduced after a bit of laughter (4)
|
| HA (=bit of laughter, from ha-ha) + IR<e> (=anger; “reduced” means last letter is dropped); the reference is to a shock of hair! | ||
| 13 | EVASIONS |
Dodges international statisticians, except when in recession at the outset (8)
|
| EVAS (SAVE=except, bar; “when in recession” indicates reversal) + I (=international) + ONS (=statisticians, i.e. Office for National Statistics) | ||
| 16 | WICKED |
Mischievous wife chose to get rid of priest (6)
|
| W (=wife) + <p>ICKED (=chose, selected; “to get rid of priest (=P)” means letter “p” is dropped; here, wicked is naughty, impish, mischievous | ||
| 17 | GREASE |
Oil and gas circumventing limits of renewable energy (6)
|
| [R<enewabl>E (“limits of” means first and last letters only”) in GAS] + E (=energy) | ||
| 19 | CIABATTA |
American buggers bleat about dry bread (8)
|
| CIA (=American “buggers”, i.e. those placing bugs to spy on people) + [TT (=dry, i.e. teetotal) in BAA (=bleat, of sheep)] | ||
| 21 | CATS |
Animals cold when taking temperature (4)
|
| C (=cold, as on tap) + [T (=temperature) in AS (=when, as conjunction)] | ||
| 22 | SPIDER CRAB |
Crustacean is bred with carp by mistake (6,4)
|
| *(IS BRED + CARP); “by mistake” is anagram indicator | ||
| 25 | OLIVER |
Surplus sandwiches left one boy wanting more (6)
|
| [L (=left) + I (=one)] in OVER (=surplus, remaining); Oliver Twist was a “boy wanting more” to eat in the book by Charles Dickens | ||
| 26 | AGREEING |
Matching silver jewellery item worn by celeb regularly (8)
|
| AG (=silver, i.e. chemical symbol) + [<c>E<l>E<b> (“regularly” means alternate letters only) in RING (=jewellery item)] | ||
| 27 | ESPRESSO |
Spot others failing to finish very strong coffee (8)
|
| ESP<y> (=spot, catch sight of; “failing to finish” means last letter is dropped) + RES<t> (=(the) others; “failing to finish” means last letter is dropped) + SO (=very) | ||
| 28 | DASHER |
One who pulls the boss at Christmas remains flushed over drinks (6)
|
| ASH (=remains, of burning) in DER (RED=flushed, in the face; “over” indicates reversal); Dasher is one of Santa’s reindeer, so a sleigh-puller! | ||
| DOWN
|
||
| 2 | ERATO |
Muse drummer at opera houses (5)
|
| Hidden (“houses”) in “drummER AT Opera”; Erato was the muse of lyric poetry in Greek mythology | ||
| 3 | STOMP |
Stumped, ring representative and show annoyance (5)
|
| ST (=stumped, on cricket scorecard) + O (=ring, pictorially) + MP (=representative, i.e. Member of Parliament); to stomp around is to stamp one’s feet in annoyance | ||
| 4 | LESOTHO |
Country‘s old hotels refurbished (7)
|
| *(O (=old, as in OT) + HOTELS); “refurbished” is anagram indicator | ||
| 5 | PILATES |
Arranged mountain climbing to accommodate the author’s exercise regime (7)
|
| I (=the author, i.e. our setter Amoeba) in [SET (=arranged, placed) + ALP (=mountain)]; “climbing” indicates vertical reversal | ||
| 6 | UNSCREW |
Loose sex in France? (7)
|
| Cryptic definition, if a screw is sex in the UK, then would it be “un screw” in France?!; to loose(n) a top or fastening is to unscrew it | ||
| 7 | CHA-CHA-CHA |
Dance around that endlessly, again and again (3-3-3)
|
| C (=around, i.e. circa) + <t>HA<t> (“endlessly” means first and last letters are dropped); “again and again” means that this combination is repeated twice | ||
| 8 | NEGLIGENT |
Shot in leg, honourable chap’s careless (9)
|
| *(IN LEG) + GENT (=honourable chap); “shot” is anagram indicator | ||
| 14 | VARIABLES |
What might change very revolutionary small island paramilitary force? (9)
|
| V (=very) + ARIABLES (S (=small, in sizes) + ELBA (=island) + IRA (=paramilitary force, in Northern Ireland); “revolutionary” indicates reversal) | ||
| 15 | STAYS OVER |
Upset, a vocally discontented tosser is there until morning (5,4)
|
| *(A + V<ocall>Y + TOSSER); “dis-content-ed” means all contents are lost and only first and last letters are retained in anagram, indicated by “upset” | ||
| 18 | ENSURES |
Makes certain criticism when head’s not there with son (7)
|
| <c>ENSURE (=criticism, reproof; “when head’s not there” means first letter is dropped) + S (=son) | ||
| 19 | CHICAGO |
City firm suppresses drunken outburst before shareholder meeting cut short (7)
|
| [HIC (=drunken “outburst”, i.e. a burp!) + AG<m> (=shareholder meeting, i.e. Annual General Meeting; “cut short” means last letter is dropped)] in CO (=firm, i.e. company) | ||
| 20 | AVERRED |
Alleged communist supports party dropping Republican (7)
|
| AVER (RAVE=(loud) party; “dropping Republican (=R)” means letter “r” falls to a lower place in the word) + RED (=communist) | ||
| 23 | CHESS |
Children initially enjoy SpongeBob SquarePants game with mates (5)
|
| CH (=children) + E<njoy> S<pongeBob> S<quarePants> (“initially” means initial letters only are used); chess is a game with checkmates! | ||
| 24 | ANNIE |
Orphan returned home in natty trousers (5)
|
| Hidden (“trousers”) and reversed (“returned”) in “homE IN NAtty”; “trousers” has to be understood in the colloquial sense of “appropriates, pockets”; Little Orphan Annie was the eponymous hero of the Broadway stage musical Annie, which opened in 1977 |
What? No comments? Enjoyable smooth surfaces and accessible fair clueing. CHESS was my favourite – simple but confusing.
I thought 6 was OK – took a while for penny to drop. Parsed as you say.
Thanks R&A
I actually liked 6. Also appreciated the nonobvious clue for CHICAGO. Theme very easy to spot this time! Thanks to Amoeba and RR.
6d – I think it would be a more accurate clue if the definition was loosen.
Thanks both. For what it’s worth, I thought UNSCREW was cringeworthy, and whilst never intending to be linguistically accurate, wouldn’t it be ‘le screw’?. Untroubled, even with that answer, until I encountered TEASEL – like many plants an unknown for me, and the shortened ‘tea set’ was difficult for ‘china’ with the misdirecting capitalisation.
It’s nice to see my adopted hometown of 25 years clued as something other than CHIC + AGO. I mean, we’re fashionable now, too! (The bigger objection is that that cluing, no matter how you phrase it, has become trite.)
I think STOMP can be added to the themed entries. Spotting the theme early certainly helped me a little bit.
Thanks Amoeba for an enjoyable crossword with a theme even I could spot. I missed CIABATTA but I managed all else despite not knowing ‘ONS’, ‘AGGY’, or ‘AGM’. Favourites included TEASEL, HAIR, WICKED, SPIDER CRAB, OLIVER, AGREEING, and PILATES. Thanks RR for the blog.
Thanks RR & and commenters. UNSCREW is of course quite silly, but I couldn’t resist. ‘Loose’ can be a verb, even if ‘loosen’ is more common.
STOMP was a bit of serendipity as I put the grid together, which I scored as 0.5 for the theme.
Spotted the theme but guessed CHAPATTI for 19ac, which I couldn’t parse.