A fun workout from NEO this Friday.
A mini-theme on Twelfth Night.
FF: 9 DD: 7
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | OZONE |
Magical land with a certain bracing air (5)
|
| OZ ( magical land ) ONE ( a ) | ||
| 10 | EDITORIAL |
Trade and oil supply stopped by international leader (9)
|
| [ TRADE OIL ]* containing I ( international ) | ||
| 11 | ELECTRA |
Mycenaean princess to choose Egyptian god (7)
|
| ELECT ( choose ) RA ( egyptian god, sun ) | ||
| 12 | MUSIC |
Greek character, second in charge, strains (5)
|
| MU ( greek character ) S ( second ) IC ( in charge ) | ||
| 13 | SEAMY |
Disreputable yes-man not entirely corrupt (5)
|
| [ YES MAn ( not entirely i.e. without last letter ) ]* | ||
| 14 | LEAFLET |
Grassland allowed to cover fine tract (7)
|
| [ LEA ( grassland ) LET ( allowed ) ] containing F ( fine ) | ||
| 15 | ROLLS |
Luxurious vehicle moves along smoothly (5)
|
| double def | ||
| 17 | PROXIMA CENTAURI |
Expert horseman in team, Neo is returning star (7,8)
|
| PRO ( expert ) [ CENTAUR ( horseman ) in { XI ( team, eleven, cricket ) MAI ( reverse of I’AM, neo is ) } ] | ||
| 20 | DRAMA |
US lawyer astride sheep in exciting situation (5)
|
| DA ( us lawyer ) around RAM ( sheep ) | ||
| 22/25 | TWELFTH NIGHT |
Glorious day almost here: time for 20 in which 12 be the 28 of 1 (7,5)
|
| cryptic def; with a reference to glorious twelfth which i found is the start of the grouse hunting season, aug 12th; shakespeare’s play with clue itself reading DRAMA ( 20 ) in which MUSIC ( 12 ) will be the FOOD ( 28 ) of LOVE ( 1 ) | ||
| 24 | RANGE |
Singer’s asset managed by vacuous Genoese? (5)
|
| RAN ( managed ) GE ( GenoesE, without inner letters ) | ||
| 26 | RIDGE |
Hill chain, cooler, at first obscured (5)
|
| fRIDGE ( cooler, without its first letter ) | ||
| 27 | CARDIFF |
City road: upright character in greasy spoon (7)
|
| [ RD ( road ) I ( upright character ) ] in CAFF ( greasy spoon ) | ||
| 29 | SUNBATHES |
Tries to bronze, but ashen son fails (9)
|
| [ BUT ASHEN S ( son ) ]* | ||
| 30 | SALVO |
Saint in Lisbon swallows fifty-five shots (5)
|
| SAO ( saint in lisbon , portuguese ) containing LV ( fifty five, in roman numerals ) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | LOVE |
Nothing thrown skyward in active volcano (4)
|
| hidden, reversed in “..activE VOLcano” | ||
| 2 | MODERATO |
Earth in doormat shifted with steady beating (8)
|
| E ( earth ) in [ DOORMAT ]* | ||
| 3 | VESTAL |
Chaste person canonised cutting meat (6)
|
| ST ( person canonised ) in VEAL ( meat ) | ||
| 4 | SEBASTIAN |
Brother of 5 mashed beans, adding in wine (9)
|
| [ BEANS ]* containing ASTI ( wine ) | ||
| 5 | VIOLA |
Sex with Nordic king endless for sister of 22 25 (5)
|
| VI ( sex ) OLAf ( nordic king, without end letter ) | ||
| 6 | TOMMY ROT |
Absolute nonsense from Yaxley-Lennon? (5,3)
|
| TOMMY ( yaxley-lennon ) ROT ( nonsense ) | ||
| 7 | DIESEL |
Engine conks out on elevated railroad (6)
|
| DIES ( conks out ) EL ( elevated railroad ) | ||
| 8 | BLACKSMITH |
Bans legend in speaking for Wayland? (10)
|
| BLACKS ( bans ) MITH ( sounds like MYTH, legend ) | ||
| 14 | LAPIDARIST |
Gems expert left — beekeeper seizing day (10)
|
| L ( left ) [ APIARIST ( beekeeper ) containing D ( day ) ] | ||
| 16 | PENTECOST |
Confined prior to Green Street Festival (9)
|
| PENT ( confined ) ECO ( green ) ST ( street ) | ||
| 18 | I DARE SAY |
Year’s aid distributed: it seems likely (1,4,3)
|
| [ YEAR’S AID ]* | ||
| 19 | UNFAIRLY |
Lunatic in a fury boxing learner? So hit below belt! (8)
|
| [ IN A FURY ]* containing L ( learner ) | ||
| 21 | ARDENT |
Region once densely wooded, forest ultimately burning (6)
|
| ARDEN ( region once densely wooded ) T ( foresT, ultimately ) | ||
| 23 | EGRESS |
Going out for example on steamship (6)
|
| EG ( for example ) RE ( on ) SS ( steamship ) | ||
| 28 | FOOD |
Chow, no-good woofer old female raised (4)
|
| DOg ( woofer, without G – good ) O ( old ) F ( female ), all reversed |
Good puzzle and blog. Thanks both.
I took 22/25 to be:
Glorious day – twelfth
Almost here – nigh
Time – t
Usually I only spot the themes afterwards but the second part of the clue gifted us three answers from one of the most famous lines in all Shakespeare and unlocked a rapid solve for me.
Other theme words: Viola, Sebastian, but not Arden
Thanks Neo, super stuff as always. Even with only a peripheral Twelfth Night familiarity I was able to complete this with my favourites being ROLLS, PROXIMA CENTAURI, DRAMA, DIESEL, PENTECOST, UNFAIRLY, and ARDENT. My only parsing question is VI=sex. Thanks Turbolegs for the blog.
Re #2–sex is Latin for 6 (VI).
That serves me right for never reading or seeing TWELFTH NIGHT. I went anti-clockwise, starting in NW corner and making steady progress.
I liked LOVE, OZONE, I DARE SAY, PENTECOST and ROLLS
I did not do too well on the non-Shakespeare GK either, which meant a few lucky guesses and no hope of parsing. Thanks Turbolegs for the assistance.
I see “hit below the belt” as different to UNFAIRLY, but I am probably missing something obvious. Can anyone provide an example where the two are interchangeable?
Thanks Neo and Turbolegs
The Bard aside, an interesting smattering of myth, Greek, Roman and Norse (not to omit the more recent Oz 🙂 ).
Martyn I’m no expert but I believe hitting below the belt is considered most ungentlemanly in boxing in particular, which is where the phrase originates. But I wouldn’t think any sport would condone it!
Thanks James P@6. I agree, but in my mind that describes the word “unfair”, not UNFAIRLY.
All I know about Twelfth Night, I have gleaned from crosswords and Sandman comics but it got me all the way there.
I thought EDITORIAL was a wonderful (and, unfortunately, apposite) clue.