Knut provides our Tuesday morning amusement.
I had a few quibbles with this one, noted below, but in all cases the intention was clear enough. I particularly liked the anagram in 10a with its appropriate surface, 31a which seems rather tempting after a run of typical British February weather, and my LOI 9d (it had to be Gertrude Stein from the crossers, but it took me far too long to see the obvious wordplay).
An obvious theme today: more than half of the solutions are given names for men, women, or (ioccasionally) either. We have LILY, JACK, FAITH, OSCAR, SWEENEY, BILL, ROD, RAY, REGINA, ELSE (a short form of Elisabeth in Germanic languages), INDIA, APRIL, NICK, KENT, LANCE, FLORENCE, HARRY, ERICA, ROBIN, SALLY and GRACE; I wouldn’t be surprised if STEIN has been used as a given name too. Thanks Knut as always.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | LILY |
Pale, slim naked lady having a day out (4)
|
| [s]LI[m] (naked = outer letters removed) + L[ad]Y without A + D (abbreviation for day).
Lily, as an adjective = pale like a white lily. |
||
| 3 | JACK |
A male animal, one of four in pack (4)
|
| Double definition. A male animal, especially a donkey; or one of the four Jacks in a pack of playing cards. | ||
| 6 | FAITH |
Starts to feel apostatic – it tests his religion (5)
|
| Starting letters of F[eel] A[postatic] I[t] T[ests] H[is]. | ||
| 10 | UNNOTICED |
Continued creeping around under the radar (9)
|
| Anagram (creeping around) of CONTINUED. | ||
| 11 | OSCAR |
Second century article, gold-plated statuette (5)
|
| S (abbreviation for second) + C (abbreviation for century) + A (the indefinite article), contained in (plated with) OR (heraldic term for the colour gold).
Statuette presented for the film industry’s Academy Awards: there are various conflicting stories about the name and which Oscar it may have been named after. |
||
| 12 | GRECIAN |
Classical scholar caught in the embrace of 22 shockingly (7)
|
| C (abbreviation for caught, in cricket scoring) contained in an anagram (shockingly) of REGINA (22 across). | ||
| 13 | SWEENEY |
Todd Small, very small, by the sound of it (7)
|
| S (abbreviation for small) + sound-alike of WEENY (very small).
Sweeney Todd, fictional barber and serial killer. |
||
| 14 | BILL |
Liberal backed Labour leader’s draft law (4)
|
| LIB (abbreviation for Liberal) reversed (backed), then the leading letter of L[abour].
Bill, in parliamentary debates = a proposed new law or amendment to an existing one. |
||
| 16 | AIR-SAC |
Section of lung displays advanced cilia at the front (3-3)
|
| AIRS (as a verb = displays, as in “to air one’s opinion”) + first (front) letters of A[dvanced] C[ilia]. | ||
| 18 | ROD |
Angler uses it to catch perch (3)
|
| Double definition. A fishing rod; or a historic unit of length used in surveying, equal to 16.5 feet or 1/320 mile, which may be called a rod, pole or perch. | ||
| 21 | RAY |
Regular portions of greasy fish (3)
|
| Alternate letters (regular portions) of [g]R[e]A[s]Y.
A flatfish. |
||
| 22 | REGINA |
Advanced African country totally rejected queen (6)
|
| A (abbreviation for advanced, as in A-level exams) + NIGER (country in north-west Africa), all reversed (totally rejected).
Latin word for queen, used as a formal title, as in Elizabeth Regina for the late Queen. |
||
| 23 | ELSE |
Other European college (4)
|
| E (abbreviation for European) + LSE (abbreviation for London School of Economics = a college which is part of the University of London). | ||
| 25 | ELECTOR |
One perhaps choosing Green carrot, celery sandwiches when retired (7)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . sandwiches, as a verb = surrounds), reversed (when retired), in [car]ROT CELE[ry].
Someone voting in an election, possibly for a Green Party candidate. |
||
| 27 | AMALGAM |
Material for filling in the morning magazine the French rejected (7)
|
| AM (abbreviation for Latin ante meridiem = before noon = in the morning); then MAG (short for magazine) + LA (a form of “the” in French, reversed (rejected).
Material for dental fillings, made of mercury mixed with other metals. |
||
| 29 | INDIA |
Country hotel’s successor (5)
|
| Double definition. Country in southern Asia; or the representation of the letter I in the radio alphabet, immediately after Hotel for the letter H. | ||
| 30 | BATTLE-AXE |
Harridan British PM once capturing adult vote (6-3)
|
| B (abbreviation for British) + ATTLEE (Clement Attlee, former UK Prime Minister = PM once), containing (capturing) A (abbreviation for adult) + X (symbol used to indicate a vote on a ballot paper).
Harridan = battle-axe = disparaging term for a bad-tempered or strong-minded woman. |
||
| 31 | APRIL |
A month in Capri? Lovely! (5)
|
| Hidden answer (in . . .) [c]APRI L[ovely]. | ||
| 32 | NICK |
Arrest nation’s number one baseless conspiracy theorist (4)
|
| First letter (number one) of N[ation], then ICK[e] (David Icke, former sports journalist but now better known for supporting various dubious beliefs and conspiracy theories) without E (e = symbol for the base of natural logarithms in mathematics).
Arrest, as a verb = nick (slang) = take into police custody. |
||
| 33 | KENT |
County hospital department opened by king (4)
|
| ENT (abbreviation for the Ear, Nose and Throat department in a hospital, which is easier to say than otorhinolaryngology), with K (abbreviation for king) at the beginning (opening).
County in south-east England. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | LOUNGE BAR |
Place serving cooked grub (no ale, sadly) (6,3)
|
| Anagram (either “cooked” or “sadly”) of GRUB NO ALE. I’m not sure why we have two anagram indicators; it can’t be two separate anagrams side by side, because the letters of all three words are mixed together.
A place for serving alcoholic drinks, often a specific area within a larger building. |
||
| 2 | LANCE |
Delicate material pierced by new weapon (5)
|
| LACE (delicate material) containing (pierced by) N (abbreviation for new).
A spear used in combat or in jousting. |
||
| 4 | ASCENDING |
Play, sing, dance like a lark? (9)
|
| Anagram (play) of SING DANCE.
As in The Lark Ascending, a poem by George Meredith, or the piece of music by Ralph Vaughan Williams based on it. |
||
| 5 | KUDOS |
Credit this country for setting up parties (5)
|
| UK (abbreviation for United Kingdom = this country), reversed (for setting up = upwards in a down clue), then DOS (plural of “do” = slang for a party).
Kudos = recognition or honour for an achievement = credit, as in “all credit to . . .”. |
||
| 6 | FLORENCE |
Barrier put around Lima, old resistance capital once (8)
|
| FENCE (a barrier), around L (Lima in the radio alphabet) + O (abbreviation for old) + R (abbreviation for electrical resistance).
City in Tuscany, Italy; according to Wikipedia it was the capital of the Kingdom of Italy for about six years in the 19th century. |
||
| 7 | IN CONTROL |
Clinton or Dicky showing who’s boss (2,7)
|
| Anagram (dicky = slang for malfunctioning, as in “a dicky tummy”) of CLINTON OR. | ||
| 8 | HARRY |
Persecuted ginger badger? (5)
|
| Double definition. The ginger-haired Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, who continues to complain of persecution by the British media; or harry (as a verb) = badger = harass. | ||
| 9 | STEIN |
Gertrude introducing Lawrence to lust? (5)
|
| TE (the British Army officer and writer T E Lawrence, otherwise known as Lawrence of Arabia), inserted into (introduced to) SIN (for example lust: definition by example, indicated by the question mark).
American writer Gertrude Stein. |
||
| 15 | LAY READER |
21 chief, according to Spooner, one licensed by the bishop (3,6)
|
| Spoonerism of RAY (21a) LEADER (chief).
In the Anglican church, a lay reader is someone who is not an ordained minister but is licensed to take on some leadership and pastoral roles. |
||
| 17 | SYNTACTIC |
Periodically spying on policy to do with grammar (9)
|
| Alternate letters (periodically) of S[p]Y[i]N[g], then TACTIC (policy: I’m not sure the two are quite equivalent, but close enough). | ||
| 19 | DREAMIEST |
Flying Emirates after Delta – most wonderful! (9)
|
| Anagram (flying) of EMIRATES, after D (Delta in the radio alphabet). | ||
| 20 | PRATFALL |
Comms bod employed by football authority left after large blunder (8)
|
| Someone employed by the Football Authority to handle public relations (comms) might be known as PR AT FA; then L (abbreviation for left) after L (abbreviation for large).
Pratfall = originally a fall landing on one’s buttocks, but now also used to mean an embarrassing mistake. |
||
| 24 | SALLY |
Liverpudlian rogue leaves Charlie a witty retort (5)
|
| S[c]ALLY (Liverpool slang for a badly-behaved young man), without C (Charlie in the adio alphabet). | ||
| 25 | ERICA |
Girl, 11, transported by Beethoven’s 3rd (5)
|
| O (11a = OSCAR = O in the radio alphabet) contained in (transported by) ERICA (a girl’s name) would give EROICA (the title of Beethoven’s 3rd symphony). An awkwardly constructed clue: it would work better if “transported by” meant “removed from”, but I can’t really see that it does. | ||
| 26 | ROBIN |
Lad in tights introduced fetish to Navy (5)
|
| OBI (an object used as a charm in Afro-Caribbean witchcraft = fetish) inserted into RN (abbreviation for Royal Navy).
Batman’s sidekick in comic books, who appears in the typical tight-fitting costume of such characters; or perhaps the legendary character Robin Hood, usually depicted in tight-fitting breeches. |
||
| 28 | GRACE |
Golf electronic vehicle’s elevated elegance (5)
|
| G (Golf in the radio alphabet), then E-CAR (electronic vehicle) reversed (elevated = upwards in a down clue). |
Strewth. I needed the blog for the of parsing ERICA – I could make no sense of that one at all and I’m not sure I’m seeing it, even with our blogger’s help. I wasn’t helped by assuming Beethoven’s 3rd was the opening E in the solution. I also could not understand the second anagrind in LOUNGE BAR. Hopefully others may be able to shed a different light. That said, ROD, RAY, APRIL, KENT, STEIN and DREAMIEST all had ticks in my book with UNNOTICED and ASCENDING sharing honours for COTD.
Thanks both
For ERICA I took “transported” as the removal indicator and by as just a link word. It was a nice idea, but maybe just doesn’t work. I wondered if “sadly” was there to highlight the fact that you are more likely to get ale than cooked grub in a LOUNGE BAR. ASCENDING was my favourite too.
Is that all the theme is? I saw JACK and FAITH and assumed the names would all be characters from a book or TV programme. Can’t think of one that fits though, and there are rather a lot now that you mention it. Enjoyed the crossword, couldn’t work out why ERICA was what it was so thanks for the explanation.
Nice to see Knut again.
Part-way in I was wondering what all these names might have in common (seeing Florence I wondered “Magic Roundabout?” momentarily), then as they continued piling up I just admired the grid fill.
Super cluing, with nice choices of fodder and indicators making for great surfaces. Extra ticks for UNNOTICED, ASCENDING, STEIN.
Totally banjaxed by ER[o]ICA which I had to reveal – I was trying to do things with the ‘E’ of Beethoven’s third.
AMALGAM brought back memories of bygone dentistry, and ROD reminded me of the tables on the back of school exercise books. Rod, pole or perch : 22 yards.
Many thanks to K and Q.
jvector. 22 yards is a chain, not a rod/pole/perch (16.5 feet, as in blog).
Given my lack of interest in classical music, I was pleased to remember EROICA and hence get the answer.
Oops. ty Hovis – my prep-school exercise-book days were a long time ago 😉
Thank you Knut for my first completely unaided solve in a long time. And thanks to Quirister for the parsings I missed,. I was lucky with guesses for some like ERICA and STEIN. I’m another who was puzzled by the apparently redundant ‘sadly’. Could only read it as you might not get ale in a lounge bar as it would be posh drinks only, but seemed unlikely.
Thanks Knut. I spotted the theme of people’s names so that added to the enjoyment of an all-too-rare Knut puzzle. My favourites were UNNOTICED, OSCAR, ROD, KUDOS, and DREAMIEST (COTD). I missed JACK and couldn’t parse STEIN. I also wondered about the surface of LOUNGE BAR (‘Place serving ale with no grub unfortunately’ would have worked). Also ERICA seemed a bit off to me (‘Girl, 11, walked out of Beethoven’s 3rd’ would have been clearer to me). Thanks Quirister for the blog.
Thanks both. Add me to the list of those seeing the real names, but expecting a link between them, and dismissive of ERICA – cluing it as ‘girl’ feels inadequate; might ‘Heather’ have been fairer?
Thanks Knut & Quirister. A possible resolution to 1D: take the definition as “Place serving cooked”, i.e. serving those who are drunk or en route thither. This would be, er, a tighter definition, distinguishing LOUNGE BAR from any boring old serving place.
Thanks Knut and Quirister – a day late getting here as had limited time yesterday. 4d possibly my favourite.
LOI for me was AMALGAM – didn’t catch the dental connection so wasn’t sure I had it right for a while. (Miraculously I’ve never had a filling!)
Perplexed too by second anagrind in 1d, as noted above – spent a while assuming a subtraction of ALE (in jumbled order) was required.
I parsed 25d as a deletion – among its (transitive) definitions are to deport/exile, and put to death, but both are dated now