Alia is this morning's setter.
I got both long across anagrams very quickly and thought that would lead to a fast solve. In the end, some clues took a wee while to work out. The top left corner held out for a while, but I got there in the end. I had never heard of a bin chicken, but the wordplay mase IBISES the only possible solution.
Thanks, Alia.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ANAGRAMS |
Makes special parts from spare plastic? (8)
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*(special parts) = *(spare plastic) |
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| 6 | PATRON |
Benefactor flawlessly working to protect Republican (6)
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PAT ("flawlessly") + ON ("working") to protect R (Republican) |
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| 9 | TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE |
Entitled hoo-ha about traditional grub (4-2-3-4)
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*(entitled hoo ha) [anag:about] |
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| 10 | IBISES |
Current prejudices dismissing first hint of affection for bin chickens? (6)
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I (symbol for electrical "current" in physics) + BI(a)SES ("prejudices") dismissing [first hint of] A(ffection) Bin chicken is Australian slang for the Australian white ibis because it spends time dipping into rubbish bins for food. |
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| 11 | UNIVERSE |
Everything is in place for learning very old language (8)
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UNI(versity) ("place for learning") + V (very) + ERSE ("old language") |
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| 13 | SECOND BASE |
Back, bottom, and top of a diamond? (6,4)
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SECOND ("back") + BASE ("bottom") The diamond referred to is a baseball diamond, with second base being opposite home base. |
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| 15 | ESPY |
Watch episodes pretty vacuously (4)
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E(pisode)S P(rett)Y [vacuously] |
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| 16 | A POP |
Each phone download carries over (1,3)
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APP ("phone download") carries O (over, in cricket) |
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| 18 | NON-ETHICAL |
Improper form of online chat (3-7)
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*(online chat) [anag:form of] |
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| 21 | NITROGEN |
Idiot comedian Seth is a gas! (8)
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NIT ("idiot") + (Seth) ROGEN (comic actor, so "comedian") |
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| 22 | CAGIER |
More wary about guide regularly deserting halfway through (6)
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Ca. (circa, so "about") + G(u)I(d)E [regularly] + (dese)R(ting) [halfway through] |
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| 23 | INSTANTANEOUS |
Immediate tension as a nut runs wild (13)
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*(tension as a nut) [anag:runs wild] |
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| 25 | IGNITE |
Uncovered fuels catch fire (6)
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[uncovered] (l)IGNITE(s) ("fuels") |
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| 26 | PINKNESS |
Colour quality of tattoos on chap’s back and head (8)
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INK ("tattoos") on (cha)P ['s back] and NESS ("head") |
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| DOWN | ||
| 2 | NOTABLE |
Incompetent A-lister? (7)
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NOT ABLE ("incompetent") |
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| 3 | GRASSHOPPER |
Green jumper made from recycled rags by customer (11)
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*(rags) [anag:recycled] by SHOPPER ("customer") |
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| 4 | ARIES |
House is different when the front is removed (5)
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(v)ARIES ("different", when the front is removed) |
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| 5 | SATSUMA |
Fruit positioned alongside poison shrub, mostly (7)
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SAT ("positioned") alongside SUMA(c) ("poison shrub", mostly) |
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| 6 | PRESIDENT |
Power goes to the head of local club chairperson (9)
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P (power) goes to the head of RESIDENT ("local") |
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| 7 | TWO |
Couple of leading pieces from this week’s Observer (3)
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[leading pieces from] T(his) W(eek's) O(bserver) |
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| 8 | OPENS UP |
Old writer given drink finally starts talking (5,2)
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O (old) + PEN ("writer") given SUP ("drink") |
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| 12 | EVENING GOWN |
Formal clothing good to have after ironing (7,4)
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G (good) + OWN ("to have") after EVENING (making even, so "ironing") |
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| 14 | DENIGRATE |
Disparage one framework supporting study (9)
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I (one) + GRATE ("framework") supporting DEN ("study") |
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| 17 | PAIRING |
Pressure now on doubles partners, perhaps (7)
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P (pressure) + AIRING ("now on") |
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| 19 | NON-STOP |
In town, is ignoring every odd character best? Always! (3-4)
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(i)N (t)O(w)N (i)S [ignoring every odd character] + TOP ("best") |
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| 20 | AGEISTS |
They don’t like people getting on (7)
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Cryptic definition |
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| 22 | CANON |
Works partly shown on a carousel going round (5)
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Hidden backwards in [partly…going round] "showN ON A Carousel" |
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| 24 | SKI |
Go on an icy run and nearly lose traction (3)
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[nearly] SKI(d) ("lose traction") |
Is cagey wary?
I’d have said unethical. Disappointed that I failed to solve ANAGRAMS. The same happened recently in another puzzle. All else fell into place and was enjoyed.
This took me a little while to get into, and I didn’t quite manage to parse 22a or 17d, although both seem obvious now. From 10a Alia is presumably Australian. Thanks to them and to loonapick.
I got very misled by the two American-themed clues, the baseball diamond and poison Sumac. I thought it couldn’t be sumac, since that’s definitely not poisonous! Indeed very tasty! And the bin chicken demanding Aus knowledge foxed me too. Need to broaden my outlook. Thanks Alia and Loonapick
Thanks Alia and loonapick
A DNF – I revealed A POP, and still don’t understand it.
There was no need for “poison” in 5d. As James G says @3, sumac (not “poison sumac”) is a shrub that provides a spice used in Middke-Easrern cooking in particular.
I wouldn’t substitute “watch” for ESPY. The former implies continuous observation, while the latter seeing something for the first time.
I didn’t know what bin chickens were either, but Google informed me.
Favourites UNIVERSE and GRASSHOPPER.
For once, some GK that favours those from the Southern Hemisphere rather than the Northern. The WP pointed to IBISES but I would not have been surprised had something else appeared. And I did not get ANAGRAMS – that is a tough clue. I thought SECOND BASE was delightfully misleading; other faves inc UNIVERSE, CAGIER, GRASSHOPPER and CANON. Lots of tidy surfaces and neat constructions as we have come to expect with this setter.
Thanks both
A POP had to be revealed. Both definition and parsing completely escaped me on the reveal but the latter is now clear thanks to loonapick. Still a little unclear on the definition of ‘Each’. Otherwise all serene with 1a raising a slime.
Bin chickens are way too common around these parts, so I got that one from the definition and had to retro-parse
Remembered seeing the trick in 1a before, so one of the easier ones for me.
Had to reveal A pop, though I do know the expression
“A pop” simply means “each”, as in “a pound a pop”, which means £1 a go or £1 each
Muffin@4 – I shared your hesitation over watch = espy, but “watch” is the first definition of “espy” in Chambers.
Very enjoyable. ARIES was my last one in, so became my favourite. Up until then, I was going to nominate A POP, NON-STOP, NOTABLE or PAIRING. NHO sumac, but the answer was gettable from the crossers. My Brisbane friend has taught me about bin chickens; a much maligned creature. Thank Alia and loonapick
GDU @1 – the clue says “wary”, not “weary”
Ah. I’m a buffoon. Thanks loonapick @8 It now makes total sense.
Thanks loonapick. I’ve never heard that expression.
Thank you all. I filled in all the letters but so much of the wordplay defeated me. 1a an especially nice clue, and 16a I’ve not heard in a very long time
Always pleased to see Alia. This is what we have come to expect from them with a few chewier bits.
Bin chickens also new to me but wordplay was very fair. ANAGRAM was last one in when I saw the word fitted before the penny dropped.
Liked SECOND BASE, GRASSHOPPER, OPENS UP, SKI and many others.
Thanks Alia and loonapick
Loonapick@11, that’s what I said, isn’t it? I tend to think of cagey as avoiding being open about something. But Collins tells me it’s a valid synonym, so I guess I’ll have to live with it.
With reference to the clue type at 1 across, maybe three or four years back Everyman had a run of clues, the answers to which were ANAGRAM or some variant of that. I remember clues that juxtaposed TOM CRUISE with COSTUMIER, ERIC CLAPTON with NARCOLEPTIC and ENID BLYTON with TINY BLONDE. He spared us the well-known Britney Spears one.
GDU@16 Does wary have another meaning down under? I can’t see where you’re getting unethical from.
I’ve really enjoyed all of Alia’s puzzles so far and this one did not disappoint.
1ac ANAGRAMS is indeed clever and so are the ANAGRAMS at 9ac TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE and 23ac INSTANTANEOUS. I also enjoyed the construction of UNIVERSE, CAGIER and GRASSHOPPER and the fine surfaces throughout.
Many thanks to Alia – I look forward to the next one – and to loonapick.
Lyssian@18, I took a new paragraph in my earlier post for a separate point. I’m surprised that there is a need for the word non-ethical when unethical does the job, that’s all. Sorry if I didn’t make it clear.
As with loonapick, all went smoothly for me until the NW corner. I didn’t make things easier for myself by bunging in FACE as the last part of 13A (having got the crossers) and then trying to work the rest of the clue to make something sensible. I’ll be looking out for a wider geographical span than usual from Alia in future!
IBISES was my LOI – on a “had to be this, even if NHO” and retro-parsing basis. Another vocab-broadener.
I failed to parse ANAGRAMS – a definite “doh” moment when checking with loonapick, to whom thanks for the blog.
Good one, Alia – thank you!
GDU @20 I think that there might be a subtle difference with one being somewhat less than nice and the other merely being the absence of a positive drive towards ethical behaviour. E.g. investing your money in a telecoms company might be a non-ethical use of your money but it certainly isn’t unethical.
Not that I ever use the non expression! Also irritatingly floored by ANAGRAMS but otherwise enjoyed this.
Thanks to Alia and loonapick
Enjoyed this after a fairly slow start but had to reveal 16ac. I was thinking if KPop or similar. NW held out longest with 4d last to fall. Is Aries a house though? A constellation or sign surely……. Otherwise really enjoyed some of the intricate parsing. Universe was a fav.
Moraysinger@23; I think Aries is a “house” in astrology (yuk): one of the twelve divisions of the zodiac.
Good one. Well worked out clue for 1 across. Enjoyable compilation.
I looked up astrological houses. It seems they aren’t the same as the zodiacal signs, but each of the 12 houses is assocaited with a sign.
I had EVENING SUIT, which sort of works, until the crosser enlightened me. Had to guess and verify the bin chickens.
I don’t think Erse can be called an old language as it’s still spoken in some places.
Me too stuck at the very end by the NW corner, but realising very belatedly that ANAGRAMS was the obvious answer to 1ac made it the COTD for me. Having wondered for some time what Spare Plastic could possibly provide as a component of the solution. Didn’t know A-POP or the Australian Bin chickens’ version of IBISES…
Good point, Doofs@22.
Like Alia’s previous one, I enjoyed this, though it was a catalogue of things I didn’t quite know well enough – “house” for a Zodiac sign, the layout of a baseball diamond, Seth Rogen, sumac being poisonous… but I did know about bin chickens, and the only one I failed to get (not alone, I see) was A POP. Favourites TOAD IN THE HOLE and GRASSHOPPER.
Comment #31
“When the moon is in the seventh house…” it will be the dawning of the age of Aquarius. IBISES was a write in for me – my son has a tattoo of one, based on a cartoon my uncle drew. The Rogen fellow was a ‘there must be someone called that’ moment. No-one has yet commented on two NONs crossing. I enjoyed this one: thanks Alia and loonapick.
[TassieTim@32: is your uncle by any chance “First Dog in the Moon”? ]
Much as I liked the whole puzzle isn’t 4 down the wrong way round? That is, shouldn’t it read, “House is different when the front is added”?
A nice puzzle with lots of penny drop moments, or can we call them epiphanies today?
I thought this was great — clever witty clues with good surfaces, favourites being GRASSHOPPER and EVENING GOWN. I hadn’t heard of bin chickens, and I wouldn’t be able to tell you much about the layout of a baseball field (most of my knowledge of the sport comes from the film The Naked Gun) but both IBISES and SECOND BASE were readily gettable from the wordplay.
Many thanks Alia and loonapick.
Colin5 @34: I see what you mean, but I think it works as “House (ARIES) is different (VARIES) when the front is removed (from VARIES)”.
Thanks Alia and loonapick
I think the wordplay in 4 is ‘is different’ rather than just ‘different’.
poc @ 27 think ‘old’ as ‘been around a long time’ rather than obsolete.
Colin5 @ 34
Depends how you read the clue, but I see what you’ve done with your emphasis.
I think Alia means to say Aries is ‘varies with the front removed’, whereas your reading is more like Aries becomes ‘varies’ when its front is added.
Leaving to one side of course that astrology is a tedious subject for cryptics; also calling it a house…
I must be missing something obvious or I’m dopier than everybody else as there are no other comments about it, but I can’t get my head around 25 across at all. Iignites? Bah, just got it u was typing this, thought the lower case l was capital i. Doh.
Thanks all but I’m still not convinced about 4 down. I liked the idea of the clue, however, so I’m not going to get too exercised over it.
Colin5 @41; as Lord Jim @37 said: vARIES = ‘is different’ and when the front is removed it becomes ARIES. Good fun with some tricky parsings. No bin chickens around here, so that one needed a check. I liked the ANAGRAMS, the CAGIER guides, OPENS UP, where finally seemed to be part of the definition for once, and the AGEISTS not liking people getting on.
Thanks Alia and loonapick.
A fun puzzle but I am still gobsmacked by Ia: just don’t get it! How do you get anagrams from spare plastic. Perhaps some kind soul will explain!! No disrespect to our blogger though
Cedric@43: “special parts” and “spare plastic” are anagrams of each other. (I realise that anagramming is a commutative operation so the “of each other” is redundant for sticklers, but it seemed to clarify the sense of what I was saying!).
I asked google “what is a bin chicken”, found it is an ibis, but maybe more interestingly was treated to this line:
Other names: Tip turkey, dumpster chook, rubbish raptor, trash vulture, bankstown bin diver, winged waste lizard
Who knew?
@44 Jack. Many thanks. Still couldn’t see it and then the penny dropped!! D’oh!
That was a fun solve, 1A was LOI and brought a smile to my face.
Most enjoyable puzzle. I particularly liked SECOND BASE and ANAGRAMS, my LOI. Bin chickens were new to me, but the solution had to be IBISES.
Not for the first time, a setter confuses astrological signs and houses, which are different ways of dividing up the ecliptic. Yes, the signs are associated with particular houses (as they are with particular planets and the four classical elements), but ‘association’ is not equivalence. Italy is associated with pasta 🙂 And if you say that it doesn’t matter because astrology is nonsense anyway, so is religion for non-believers like me!
Thanks to Alia and loonapick
An enjoyable degree of difficulty. I was held up in the NW corner for a while. 1A made me groan when the penny dropped. 10A came only when I had all the crossers and spotted that BI(A)SES would fit, and therefore IBISES had to be right, confirmed by a quick google (other search engines are available). It didn’t occur to me to google “bin chicken” first because it seemed like such an absurd phrase, it had to be wordplay!
Petert@35: 🙂
ANAGRAMS! I didn’t solve it, but I laughed aloud when I read the answer. What an excellent clue.
Nice fun puzzle – Thanks Alia – really nice clueing – and thanks loonapick. Interesting mix of different English-speaking cultures. Though all were nicely evident from the cryptic element. A POP – seems very British to me (which I am), while a North American (where I grew up) – recognises SUMAC as a poisonous shrub rather than a North African spice and then we have bin chicken for IBISES from the Antipodes, which I had to look up! Favourite clue SECOND BASE (another US reference) and the well-disguised old chestnut at 1ac. made me smile, although I’m mildly embarrassed to say was my last solve!
Enjoyable outing from Alia. 1a ANAGRAMS, very pleased to have finally caught this trick, with the help of the crossers. 10a IBISES also nho, generously clued. 13a SECOND BASE was clever (“Back, bottom, and top”). I did get 16a A POP and thought it was fun (“each” — “Five bucks a pop”). 18a NON-ETHICAL excellent anagram (“online chat”). 21a NITROGEN featuring Canadian actor/comedian Seth Rogen. 26a PINKNESS loi. 17d PAIRING (“now on” for AIRING). 20d AGEISTS was funny. Many other enjoyable clues, with lots of good surfaces
8d OPENS UP, could the definition be “finally starts talking”, suggesting someone’s been holding something back until now?
Petert@35 Epiphanies, well done!
Still couldn’t get 1a anagrams. Thank you @44 Jack for spelling it out!
Very nice puzzle. After 1ac and 3d went in quickly I got held up in the nw for quite a bit, making me think it was a bit more Paul than Alia,* but the long across anagrams helped and I was able to work back to it. LOI UNIVERSE; I had checked to see if SCALLISH was some obscure ancient language (ALL IS in sch.)
Thanks Alia and loonapick!
*we do generally think Alia is another of Paul’s guises?
Mig@53 I think you’re right about 8d AKA that’s how I parsed it 🙂
I found this tricky and had to wait until afternoon tea break to complete the NW. Top ticks for A POP, ANAGRAMS and PINKNESS
Alia seems to be very good at disguising wordplay e.g. charades that at first glance look like envelopes etc.
Cheers L&A
10ac I did not understand IBISES / I BIASES minus A = bin chickens until I googled it. I’m Australian but I never heard of this bird!
13ac – took me a while to think of a baseball diamond – it’s not a sport that I follow.
New for me: lignites (for 25ac); poison sumac (for 5d).
Favourites: UNIVERSE, NOTABLE.
Enjoyable puzzle. ANAGRAMS our clue of the day. Thanks to Alia and Loonapick.
I liked the clue for anagrams, but I have seen similar several times before (so it was an easy one for me). I tried using the site’s search facility to find examples, but it just crashed!
Thanks for the blog , very neat and tidy with many fine clues . I have seen the ANAGRAMS idea many times but this one was particularly well done .
BALFOUR@17 we did not get Count Dracula either .
Peter@35 has stolen my joke for the day .
Thanks for the blog , very neat and tidy with many fine clues . I have seen the ANAGRAMS idea many times but this one was particularly well done .
BALFOUR@17 we did not get Count Dracula either .
Peter@35 has stolen my joke for the day .
Sorry for repeat , I have been getting some very strange messages and no edit .
Thanks Alia for a top-notch set of clues. I missed ARIES but all else fell into place with just a bit of occasional head-scratching. I had many favourites including ANAGRAMS (LOI), UNIVERSE, SECOND BASE, INSTANTANEOUS, NOTABLE, GRASSHOPPER, EVENING GOWN, & CANON. Thanks loonapick for the blog.
Re the poison Sumac ref, look up Toxicodendron vernix to confirm its toxicity
Johnno@64
Yes, but the point is that on this side of the Atlantic sumac isn’t poisonous; it provides a spice used in cooking.
Do you know why the US poisonous one was called sumac? The Wiki article doesn’t say.
Quite a nice puzzle. ANAGRAMS was indeed well crafted and opaque enough to last til the end.
I had a slightly different take on 6d: P + the head of local club (Resident, as in a resident golfer at a golf club) = chairperson (definition). I think loonapick’s parsing is at least as good and probably more likely.
Faves, along with ANAGRAMS: INSTANTANEOUS and GRASSHOPPER.
Thanks, loona and Alia.
Didn’t get anagrams – top clue.
epop @67
…but did you get A POP?
For me, 2d was an example of getting the right answer via convoluted (and mistaken) parsing. For some reason, I focused on a ‘lister’ has someone who would need a table to make their list; if they didn’t have a table (no table), then they would be incompetent.
A fine puzzle, though.
Nho bin-chicken, but it exemplifies Aussie wit.
Thanks Alia and Loonapick
[DerekTheSheep@33: No, not FirstDog. He drew for Punch in the 50s and 60s, and then relocated back to Oz and lived in the Cross. He signed his cartoons Sprod].
[TassieTim@70 – Thanks! “drew for Punch in the ’50s & ’60s” – that’s a long time back. The library at my secondary school, ’67-’74 for me, had many bound copies of Punch back issues with which I’d often while away the time between lessons: it’s likely that “Sprod” cartoons occasionally formed part of that entertainment. DTS ]
I found 4D a bit strange. Would it not be better to clue it as:
House was different before the front was removed
?
Thanks Alia and Loonapick! Lots of fun clues and a pleasing puzzle overall. I got stuck in a few places, but ultimately got there. I happened to have heard of bin chickens and remembered them because the name is so funny, and nice for once for some American sport GK to come in handy (though it took a while for that penny to drop.)
Frogman@72, wouldn’t that give you ARIED?
Half straightforward. Half impossible!
Most bemusing was ANAGRAMS. Even bemused having read Loonapic’s kind blog. So although I was pretty sure it would be explained in the comments, I googled it following which it was all much clearer…
AI Overview
The phrase “spare plastic” can be rearranged to form the word ANAGRAMS. This was featured as a clue in the Guardian… by Alia.
JaMaNn 75,
😆