February is more than a little damp this year – but a Bluebird brings some light relief to the drudgery of the greyness of winter.
Nothing hidden in the grid that I have found anyway. There will be one I am certain
I liked 15ac (so smooth) and almost thought for a while that this was the theme, 11ac was amusing whilst 23ac very clever and 29ac so poignant. Of the downs 13 most certainly is a charged issue and 14 created Victorian imagery of elephant hunts (very non 21st century) .
Thanks Bluebird – not too challenging but some interesting constructions.
Key underline definition; * anagram; Rev reversed; DD double definition
Across
1 I caught ball (3)
Homophone of I = EYE
3 Stirrer stirring in tea leaves originally from the ground (11)
(stirrer)* in tea + l = TERRESTRIAL
9 Designer carries 21 tops for idle ushers marshalling funeral venue (11)
creator (designer) around m (21 metre) + ium (tops for idle ushers marshalling) = CREMATORIUM
10 Kelly’s back room (3)
Rev. Ned (Kelly) = DEN
11 Stages on which Sir Ralph Richardson stood (4)
DD LEGS
12 Facts say syphilis gets caught by ‘resting’ close to others (10)
sti (syphilis) in static (resting) + s (close to others) = STATISTICS
14 African people in bar nicked beer barrel (5)
ban (bar) + tun(beer barrel) – n = BANTU
15 That’s the one thing foxes like – wee (5)
bin (foxes like) + go (wee) = BINGO
16 Cups are moved to the end of counter (3)
bar(counter) moving a (are) to end = BRA
17 One with cold admitted to A&E (3)
c(cold) in A&E = ACE
18 Building rugby posts alongside river (5)
H(Rugby posts) + ouse (river) = HOUSE
19 Electronic Scrabble letter turned over to make ‘CREAM’ (5)
Rev. e(electronic) + tile(Scrabble letter) = ELITE
20 We gather stupid insinuation is quietening (10)
Homophone of dim innuendo (insinuation) = DIMINUENDO
23 Commonest word/letter for ‘you’ (4)
the (commonest word) + e (commonest letter) = THEE
26 Perform with a mix of tailless cats (3)
(cats – s)* = ACT
27 Formality of wellknown Greek character with cape (11)
star(well known) + chi (Greek character) + ness (cape) = STARCHINESS
28 Chaotic melees outside the front of rowdy supermarket in Ireland (7,4)
(melees)* around r (start of rowdy) + Aldi (supermarket) = EMERALD ISLE
29 Number Ten is suffering setback (3)
Rev x(ten) + is = SIX
Down
1 Outperform skinny swimmer going about 90 (5)
eel (skinny swimmer) around XC (90) = EXCEL
2 Setter climbs church next to green high-rise (9)
Rev. me (setter) + (green)* + ce (church) = EMERGENCE
3 One of the 22 players snubbed by Liverpool’s no. 1 (4)
team(players) – m (snubbed) + L (Liverpool’s no. 1) = TEAL
4 Poke around the middle of crossbill’s nest (5)
root(poke around) around s(middle of crossbill) = ROOST
5 ‘Stayin’ Alive‘ excites one headed to dance (9)
(excites + one – o)* = EXISTENCE
6 Memorials to mark devout person’s remains outside (10)
to + m(mark) + bones(remains) around st (devout person) = TOMBSTONES
7 Some purblind ring-tailed lemur (5)
Hidden purblIND RIng = INDRI
8 New in – boy’s head is wider than it is tall (9)
n(new) in lad’s(boy’s) + cape (head) = LANDSCAPE
13 Charged issue agitating the leaders of Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and north Asia (10)
(the + u + a + n)* + asia = EUTHANASIA
14 Go, for example, and get on an elephant? (5,4)
board(get on) + game (elephant – a little non PC surely) = BOARD GAME
15 Endless petanque playing on a road or avenue (9)
boules (petanque) -s v(playing) + a (rd (road) = BOULEVARD
16 Naughty children putting smoking paraphernalia in garbage (9)
bs(garbage) around lighter(smoking paraphernalia) = BLIGHTERS
21 Unit gathered near shelled area (5)
met(gathered) + re (shelled area) = METRE
22 They like eating bread, nothing special (5)
duck (nothing) + s (special) = DUCKS
24 Male and female cycling east of London? (5)
sexes(male and female) cycling = ESSEX
25 Start to drag on Bluebird’s joint (4)
d(start to drag) + I’ve (Bluebird’s) = DIVE
TERRESTRIAL
a minor point
(STIRRER)* in TEA +L
A few other minor points.
In 12a, I think ‘say’ goes better with ‘syphilis’.
In 14a, I reckon it is ‘tun’ (beer barrel) that is nicked.
In 19a it is a reversal of e tile.
Thanks both – I am sticking with my original parsing of 12a, if only to make a point, statistics are really not facts unless their origin is understood, which in the modern world is highly unlikely. There are lies, damned lies and statistics. I appreciate Chambers defines otherwise.
Comment #4
Maybe there is a BINGO theme? BINGO, HOUSE, the PM’s DEN, two little ducks??
And they even correspond with the number. Legs 11, number 10 the PM s DEN, Kelly’s EYE number 1.
Nice spot Petert.
I take your point about statistics, twencelas. I admit having the same thought myself. In one sense, statistics should be factual data but the inferences made from them, as Tim Harford often rightly bangs on about, are only too often fallacious.
I should add, I enjoyed this crossword and Petert’s observation certainly adds to this.
The compiler’s name, e.g. Bluebird is not displayed within screen online. So the reference within a clue is not helpful.
@David – depends on how you launch the crossword but the setter’s name can be revealed using teh three lines top left on a PC then puzzle info. OR if using the Indy app the Rules. Appreciate it’s not great but how the non paper version has evolved. It does make clues like 25dn a bit risky.
Thanks @Petert for confirming what was my hunch but nothing more. How very neat to align them to the bingo numbers
David@8 Another way possibly is to get to the puzzle through the Indy’s games pages /cryptic crossword (just Google Independent cyptic crossword) and then bookmark it. That gets the puzzle with the setters name on it. Thought this puzzle would defeat me at first but nearly completed it and very enjoyable. But mainly through guessing or deducing the definitions and then chcking the parsing. Thanks Bluebird and Twenceslas.