I am filling in for Eileen today. I cut my teeth on the Guardian crossword, but unfortunately, I seldom have time to solve the weekday puzzles anymore.
While I did recall that Qaos usually has a theme, I did not see today’s theme until after I had completed the grid. In addition to the theme word HEAD itself, I spotted at least 24 “head”-related words. Remarkable.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | CAIRO |
Look into firm’s capital (5)
|
| AIR (look) inside (into) CO. (firm), referring to Egypt | ||
| 10 | UP THE ANTE |
‘Increase risk from chopped peanut’ – inspiring article (2,3,4)
|
| Anagram of (chopped) PEANUT around (inspiring) THE (article) | ||
| 11 | EPHEMERON |
Record bird circling me – it won’t last long (9)
|
| EP (record) + {HERON (bird) around (circling) ME} | ||
| 12 | STAND |
In Polish, ‘time’ means ‘resistance’ (5)
|
| T (time) inside (in) SAND (polish), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 13 | STARTLE |
Perhaps the Sun let being hacked shock (7)
|
| STAR (perhaps the sun) + anagram of (being hacked) LET, with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 15 | STICKER |
Dagger, not a dessert, smuggled into prison (7)
|
| C[A]KE (dessert) minus (not) A inside (smuggled into) STIR (prison) | ||
| 17 | AUDIO |
Car with one wheel – sound? (5)
|
| AUDI (car) + O (one wheel) | ||
| 18 | SET |
Firm sofa 50% off (3)
|
| SET[TEE] (sofa) minus latter half (50% off) | ||
| 20 | LAMPS |
Punches produce shiners (5)
|
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 22 | EMBOSOM |
Clasp them briefly with heaving moobs (7)
|
| Abbreviated form of (briefly) ‘EM (them) + anagram of (heaving) MOOBS | ||
| 25 | ASSISTS |
Helps donkey get first and second (7)
|
| ASS (donkey) + IST (first, stylized form of “1st”) + S (second) | ||
| 26 | LINER |
Ship to remain without any goods (5)
|
| LIN[G]ER (remain) minus (without any) G (good[s]) | ||
| 27 | STEEL DRUM |
Must elder play this instrument? (5,4)
|
| Anagram of (play) MUST ELDER | ||
| 30 | CLEANSERS |
Not half clever getting solutions without soap? (9)
|
| CLE[VER] minus latter half (not half) + ANS[W]ERS (solutions) minus (out) W (with), with a spacing misdirection | ||
| 31 | CASES |
Examples of luggage (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ACHE |
Companion enters hospital department in pain (4)
|
| CH (Companion [of Honour]) inside (enters) A&E (hospital department) | ||
| 2 | HIGHLAND |
Trip to arrive in mountainous area (8)
|
| HIGH (trip) + LAND (arrive) | ||
| 3 | ROOM |
Ring in memory of 13 down (4)
|
| O (ring) inside (in) ROM ([read-only] memory), referring to the solution of 13D SPACE | ||
| 4 | QUARTERS |
3 + 3 + 3 = 1/4 + 1/4 +1/4? (8)
|
| Double definition, the first a cross-reference to the solution to 3D, ROOM, thus three of these would be “rooms,” and the second, 1/4 being a quarter, three of these could be described as “quarters” | ||
| 5 | STONES |
Last one standing carries lots of weight (6)
|
| Hidden in (carries) [LA]ST ONE S[TANDING] | ||
| 6 | VERSAILLES |
Silver seal broken in palace (10)
|
| Anagram of (broken) SILVER SEAL | ||
| 7 | UNMASK |
Expose country defending man’s rambling (6)
|
| UK (country) around (defending) anagram of (rambling) MAN’S | ||
| 8 | HEAD |
Discovering they made leader (4)
|
| [T]HE[Y] + [M]AD[E] minus outside letters (“dis-covering”) | ||
| 13 | SPACE |
Well, church builds no character (5)
|
| SPA (well) + CE (church), as on a keyboard | ||
| 14 | TROUSERING |
Stealing fancy store jewellery – you involved? (10)
|
| U (you) inside (involved) anagram of (fancy) STORE + RING (jewellery) | ||
| 16 | RESTS |
Soundly twists snooker equipment (5)
|
| Homophone of (soundly) WRESTS (twists) | ||
| 19 | TRAVERSE |
VAR rewound during short cross (8)
|
| VAR inverted (rewound) and inside (during) TERSE (short) | ||
| 21 | MISTRESS |
Film on extremely serious Lady Hamilton? (8)
|
| MIST (film) + RE (on) + outside letters of (extremely) S[ERIOU]S, notably, of Nelson | ||
| 23 | BANGER |
Don’t allow mirrored license plate with old car (6)
|
| BAN (don’t allow) + REG (license plate, short for registration number) inverted (mirrored) | ||
| 24 | MASTER |
Ruler quicker to change gender? (6)
|
| [F]ASTER (quicker) exchanging the F (female) for M (male) (to change gender) | ||
| 26 | LICE |
Cops missing work over bugs (4)
|
| [PO]LICE (cops) minus (missing) OP (work) inverted (over) | ||
| 28 | LOCK |
South of the border, we’re told lake is secure (4)
|
| I think this parses as: Homophone of (we’re told) LOCH (lake), with, I assume, “south of the border” indicating the tendency outside of Scotland not to pronounce the “ch” as a voiceless velar fricative | ||
| 29 | MOSS |
Plant grasses someone up inside (4)
|
| Hidden in (inside) [GRASSE]S SOM[EONE] inverted (up) |
Thanks Cineraria. Didn’t spot the theme, but what a numerous one.
Put in QUARTERS (LOI) but didn’t understand it until I read your parsing. And still unsure about LOCH/LOCK.
Thanks Qaos for a pleasant romp
In QUARTERS I just thought the 3s referred to the quarters on a clock face (both multiple 3s and the sum equal to 9), but your explanation, Cineraria, makes more sense.