Another puzzle from the mysterious Omnibus, which is speculated to represent a collaboration of setters. I’m afraid I wasn’t too impressed by this one: there are some quite amateurish and inaccurate clues here. Still, thanks to Omnibus.
As in previous Omnibus puzzles, there’s a unifying theme around the song FLOWER OF SCOTLAND, with most of the thematic entries being “flowers” in the familiar crossword sense of flowing water.
| Across | ||||||||
| 7 | THISTLE | Two-thirds of Bath is let out in 13/18 (7) Two-thirds of the letters of baTH IS + LET* |
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| 8 | FIRTH OF FORTH | Violet Elizabeth’s evergreens not available – or they’re mostly lost in 13/18 (5,2,5) FIRTH (“firs” as pronounced by V E Bott in the Just William stories) + OFF + OR TH[ey’re] |
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| 9 | HOBO | Beggar belief at first, smothered by short cry … (4) B[elief] in HOO[t] |
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| 10 | PROSCRIBE | … to ban cheat in writing? (9) CRIB (to cheat) in PROSE |
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| 12 | MAINE | The state of an Antrim river (5) Double definition |
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| 13 | FLOWER OF SCOTLAND | Town clears off old wrecks for a song (6,2,8) (TOWN CLEARS OFF OLD)* |
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| 15 | INCH | Monsters, Inc. has part for Edge (4) Hidden in monsters INC Has – unfortunately “Monsters” is completely redundant except in giving the film title |
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| 17 | BUMP | Remove from flight: early sign of pregnancy (4) Double definition |
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| 21 | CONSTANCY | After scam, South African party’s in a mess – it was ever thus (9) CON (scam) + ANC (African National Congress) in STY (mess) |
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| 22 | DEBT | Flag cut in return of Irish MP’s bill (4) ED[b] (to flag) in reverse of TD (Teachta Dála, a member of the Dáil Éireann ) |
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| 24 | WATER OF LEITH | 13/18 misrepresented elite – for what? (5,2,5) (ELITE FOR WHAT)* |
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| 25 | A FAR CRY | Shed tears after empty aquifer found to hold nothing? It’s not like that (1,3,3) FA (nothing) in A[quife]R + CRY |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | SHOO | Southern peninsula – get out of here! (4) S + HOO (peninsula in Kent – new to me) |
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| 2 | ASTONISH | Surprise when century is first hundred (8) AS (when) + TON (100, a century) + IS + H[undred] |
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| 3 | ELAPSE | Pass – despite online error? (6) E-LAPSE |
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| 4 | OILCLOTH | Protective layer for fool in grip of Hi-Lo fever (8) CLOT in HILO* |
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| 5 | STRIVE | Struggle of five in difficult resit (6) V (5) in RESIT* |
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| 6 | NOSE | Pry? That makes sense (4) Double definition |
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| 11 | OXFORD DON | Put your shoe on, professor (6,3) OXFORD is a style of shoe, and DON is to put on, but “put your shoe on” should be surely be DON OXFORD |
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| 12 | MANIC | Crazy commanding officer? (5) A commanding officer is a MAN I[n] C[harge] |
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| 14 | OOMPH | Low back – acid test of welly? (5) Reverse of MOO (to low, as a cow) + PH (measure of acidity) |
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| 16 | FRACTION | Portion made by breaking bread (8) Double definition – fraction is the breaking of the bread in the Eucharist |
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| 17 | BLINDERS | Athletic feats keeping horses on track (8) Double definition – “he played a blinder” for the first; for the second: I’ve always known the things horses wear over their eyes as blinkers, but apparently blinders is another name for them |
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| 19 | TINDER | Tired – knackered – embracing unknown number – here? (6) N (unknown number) in TIRED* – I assume this is a reference to the dating app, but it seems a bit vague |
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| 20 | LAY OFF | Mitigate risk of fire (3,3) Double definition |
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| 21 | COAT | Layer Cake (4) Double definition |
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| 23 | BURN | 13/18’s bloody start to Ashes? (4) B[loody] + URN (which contains ashes) – a burn is a scottish stream |
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Andrew, I think you have a typo in 22a: it’s EB(b) not ED(b). I couldn’t parse that one apart from the TD.
Hmmm . . . I found this hard to get into, but unlike Andrew didn’t think it was amateurish. I liked OOMPH, DEBT and HOBO. Thanks to O and A.
While an urn may be used to hold ashes, it is not ashes. I thought that most of the puzzle was fine, but solving on the left side of the pond I had never heard of Victoria Elizabeth, although the answer was readily apparent anyway. Thanks to Andrew and to Omnibus (whoever you are).
I initially had set off instead of lay off, which to my mind is a better solution. Wouldn’t firing an employee imply they were at fault, whereas lay off implies the employer is cutting costs?
Thanks Omnibus and Andrew
I agree that there were some rather weak clues. Also some rather obscure references – HOO? Violet Elizabeth? Fraction for breaking bread? Maine river? TD for Irish MP (and why is DEBT a bill)?
Having “Monsters” as part of a hidden for INCH is very poor.
I thinks BLINDERS is a US term.
I liked E LAPSE.
Thanks for explaining FRACTION and the VE reference
I also didn’t like the redundant Monsters.
I wonder how many younger people are aware of Violet Elizabeth Bott? I reread a couple of my old and battered Just William books a month or so ago. Richmal Crompton took no prisoners with her wide ranging vocabulary. This is praise, not criticism.
I enjoyed the puzzle with DEBT holding out until the very end.
Jay @3 – I think in this case the fact that Ashes in the clue has a capital A means it’s a cricket reference. When the winning captain (usually an Australian) is handed the trophy, he / she is handed an urn
As Crispy@8 says, for cricket followers the Ashes and “the urn” are synonymous when talking of an England v Australia series. What puzzled me in 8A was the reference to ‘or they’re” being “mostly lost”, when in fact the answer demands the phrase be halved.
I’m afraid I agree with all the criticisms made by others; in addition it’s a stretch calling the FIRTH OF FORTH a ‘flower’ – it’s basically the inlet of the North Sea into which the River Forth flows; and the ‘mostly lost’ part of the clue is inaccurate – 4 letters out of 8 is not ‘most’ (beaten to it by Sagittarius).
Being a Scot I did like the key clue ‘FLOWER OF SCOTLAND, and also WATER OF LEITH.
Thanks Andrew and Omnibus.
In 19D could an unknown number be a date you haven’t met yet on Tinder?
I enjoyed this (I’m one of those weirdos who actually like a puzzle with linked clues), despite agreeing with the criticisms made by Andrew and others. I’ll add another quibble, which is that, strictly speaking, an Oxford don isn’t necessarily a professor, in fact more likely not.
I’m guessing the theme is a nod towards Sunday, which of course is BURNs night.
Thanks to O & A.
Had to reveal FIRTH OF FORTH. Well I guessed FIRTH but as the third word. Still don’t entirely get the clue but I haven’t done the background reading. Unaware of the place but it looks lovely on Google.
Slowly worked my way around the rest with only DEBT unparsed.
Heart sank when I saw OXFORD DON, I was sure a Spooner clue was going to link to it.
I share most, possibly all, of Andrew’s critiscisms with this puzzle.
I never seem to get on with Omnibus. Is the saying about too many cooks true in this case? The Guardian comments seem to have enjoyed this puzzle though and they are a tough crowd.
Thanks Omnibus and Andrew
Being aware of Hoo (due to proximity), I put that in for SHOO tentatively and was amused to find it was right.
Otherwise, faint praise for this one – it was alright. Satisfying to finish after what I found to be another chewy week, and a fair few moments of enjoyment throughout.
Well I really enjoyed this last night and opened up an interesting thread on the chances of our overseas solvers getting some of the more obscure clues. It seems that many of the older Aussies are well versed in UK geography but they concede it would be more difficult for younger solvers. I agree with beaulieu @10, that the definition of the FIRTH OF FORTH is a stretch. (It had me thinking of the marvellous FIRTH OF FIFTH by Genesis).
I’m slightly surprised muffin @5, that TD is not a well-known abbreviation for Teachta Dála.
Thanks for explaining Violet Elizabeth, that was a real head-scratcher to try and parse, and I agree that OXFORD DON seems back to front.
Ta Omnibus & Andrew.
I wonder if using “lay off” and “blinders” hints at an American element to Omnibus’s identity?
I’m afraid that neither being Scottish, nor being a follower of the Ashes, nor having been an OXFORD DON at one time (and quite right, moh @12, I wasn’t a professor) was sufficient to reconcile me to this crossword, which, for reasons already adduced by Andrew and previous commenters, seemed to me to be, as Andrew puts it, amateurish. After Brendan, Paul and Pangakupu through the middle part of the week, this was a huge let-down on a Friday.
Well, I’ll agree with Andrew. The number of poor clues is indicated by the number of question marks I’ve written down. I’m still no nearer despite the excellent blog about TINDER. Is it supposed to be &lit? Is it required to be tired or knackered to be on there? or is the definition just “here”?
The only one that I didn’t have a problem with was FIRTH OF FORTH as Violet Elizabeth immediately reminded me of Just William as my Auntie used to buy me one of Richmal Crompton’s books every year for my birthday when I were a little lad. They’re on my bookshelves here in my Gloria Soame in Sydernee.
Is a hobo really be definition a beggar?
A lot of local knowledge required, and the Violet Elizabeth sailed right over my head, but I worked it out from context.
Not the best crossword ever.
1 D – A hoo is the old English name for a headland. Most people will have heard of Sutton Hoo in Suffolk.
Lots of general knowledge here – the river MAINE and the WATER OF LEITH, the song FLOWER OF SCOTLAND, the Hoo peninsula, Violet Elizabeth Bott, the ANC and the TD abbreviation, FRACTION for the breaking of the bread. Kudos to anyone who knew all of those: I certainly didn’t. As with other Omnibuses, some clues were much better than others: I liked OOMPH and MANIC, CONSTANCY and ASTONISH, but some others felt very amateurish. Was everything the work of the same person? I doubt it.
For those not from Kent, HOO (an old Anglo-Saxon word for a heel-shaped ridge) may be more familiar from Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, site of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial, and probably the greatest archaeological treasure ever found in Britain.
I agree that FIRTH OF FORTH is an estuary rather than a river, but tides do still flow through it, so technically it could still be described as a ‘flower’. For those complaining about OR THey’re not being ‘mostly lost, try splitting those two words up. OR is taken completely from the surface, and then it is 1/3 of THey’re.
Sorry Shirley. You beat me to it at typing.
As beaulieu@10 pointed out, it’s difficult to justify the Firth of Forth as a “flower”. OK, water comes in to it from the river and moves around, but the same could said for a lake, and I doubt if you would see that clued as a flower.
Thanks to Andrew and Omnibus
In 1d apart from being the name of a specific peninsular(which I had not heard of) according to Collins hoo is an old English word for a “spur of land” and features in the Domesday Book of 1086
And thanks Andrew for explaining many of my unparsed answers
Sorry Shirley@20. I am slow typer!
Easy, if not elegant.
Plymouth Hoe is a variation of Hoo.
Re 11d, if you put an imaginary comma between OXFORD and DON, the solution is not necessarily backward. And some dictionaries (including Collins) say that DON is casually used to mean any academic, so I think this clue is OK. You could say that DON and PROFESSOR are synonymous for the man on the Clapham Omnibus. I’ll get my layer cake.
I don’t agree with all the criticisms here. In particular, re 15a, I know there is a school of thought that any extra word in a hidden clue is a crime, but I’m not of that opinion. If there were three or four extra words that would be a bit over the top, but I would never object to the odd one. And logically the clue does work perfectly because the word INCH is indeed contained in the sequence of words “Monsters, Inc has”.
Also I thought “Oxford — don!” was quite amusing as an instruction to put on a shoe.
It would be nice to know more about Omnibus. Thanks both.
Fully expecting to look foolish here when someone gets out the sock puppets to explain it to me, but re 7a’s explanation, BaTH IS LET. THISLET is 7 of the 9 letters of BATHISLET, so how is that two thirds?
Please someone put me out of my misery!
For those unfamiliar with the delightful Violet Elizabeth Bott, perhaps her most memorable saying is “I’ll thcream and I’ll thcream till I’m thick”
Puzzles like this might make one think that the editor should do his job or that the setter(s) should use testers – but then what would we have to talk about? Oh, we’d find something.