Great fun from Goliath.
A great way to start the day. A wonderful range of clues, with some simple, some tricky, and some deceptive! Many thanks to Goliath.
M[a]N (gutted); SOLE (fish) to begin with
ERO[t]ICA (explicit material, no T)
I think T is text slang for ‘to’ which means ‘for’ – TBH (to be honest); TTYL (talk to you later) – perhaps someone has a better idea
Edit: Goliath likes to use the ‘lift and separate’ device – in this case we must infer NO T from NOT
Eroica is Beethoven’s 3rd symphony
(LOOS ARE)* (*disgusting)
Double definition
Cryptic definition
A reverse anagram: ORLEANS* (*new) = SALERNO
[ep]IDEM[iology] (in)
S[i]GNAL* (I got cut off; *poor)
‘Dog and bone’ is rhyming slang for ‘phone’; the question mark letting us know to think laterally
BUNK (nonsense) in DEED
B[aftas] T[onight] I[mportant] E[vent] (start of); LACK (need) to enter
Cryptic definition
Referring to the ends of SeptEMBER, NovEMBER, DecEMBER
[ashe]S TO A[shes] (featuring in)
Show SHACKLE (restraint) after seeing RAM (stuff)
ANAL (obsessive) + YES* (*possibly)
EYE (viewer) with VILE (offensive) content – &lit
SON (boy) gets A + TA (thank you)
Referring to Beethoven’s famous Moonlight (from 3 down) Sonata
[conclusi]ON A GER[man] (in)
“SEEN” (viewed, “reportedly”)
Cryptic definition
LEONORE (with the change of finale, i.e. last letter) is the protagonist in Beethoven’s opera, Fidelio
LEONORA is the star of Verdi’s Il Trovatore
L (left) in NIGHT (darkness) by MOO (low)
RE (on) + BUS (public transport)
An example (say) of a rebus puzzle
[s]IBERIAN (Russian, start off)
(HEART RATE)* (*irregular)
Cryptic definition
Another reverse anagram clue: DREAMS* (*bad) = MADRE’S
SPLIT (divorce) + ENDS (is over)
B[righton] (first in) & (HOVE, TEEN) (*to work with)
CHAPL[a]IN (man of the cloth, not A)
BAG (secure) outside LOCK* (*tampered with)
Among REST (others); [welli]E (at last)
LA[w]YER (giving up W (whisky, from NATO alphabet))
I think in 4a, you have to split “not” to read “no t”.
Agree with bdg@1.
STOA & ONAGER were my lexicon expanders.
I wasn’t aware tgat bunkum could be relieved of its hesitation.
Good fun.
Good stuff, harder than yesterday but doable on a morning commute. Like the Beethoven theme, and thought aerosol a fine clue, among others. Thanks both.
bdg @1: of course! Thank you. Not the first time I’ve been scuppered by Goliath’s lift and separate device.
Agree that this was great fun. I found it much easier than yesterday’s with the added bonus of learning a new word; ONAGER.
Thanks to Goliath and Oriel.
I agree that this was great fun. I found it much easier than yesterday’s with the added bonus of learning a new word:ONAGER.
Thanks to Goliath and Oriel.
Lovely puzzle with a delightful mini-theme, cleverly executed.
I see that I had twelve ticks in all, so, apart from the themed answers and the reverse anagrams, I’ll just highlight AEROSOL, SLANG, BLACK TIE, ANALYSE, CHAPLIN and RESET.
Many thanks to Goliath and Oriel.
Thanks for the blog , clever clues as always and not long to wait for the fission for EROICA . LEONORA references Fidelio , also a famous Guardian setter of puzzles whilst in prison , Oi I fled gave him his name .
Jon Batiste has an album – Beethoven Blues – which is a NEW ORLEANS version of many Beethoven works .
EMBER, NEW ORLEANS, BAD DREAMS, and CHAPLIN were my favourites. As always with Goliath, I found myself well entertained and kept on my toes by some deft wordplay. The Beethoven references were the icing on the cake.
Thanks for the sport, Goliath, and Oriel for the blog.
This was good fun. You do need to know your opera to get LEONORA (fortunately I do), but it’s helpful that he gave you the right crossing letters to make it at least guessable if you don’t. Favorite was NEW ORLEANS.
Re “dog and bone”: I idly wonder how many of the rhyming-slang items seen in crosswords are still in use in the wild.
(I guess my last sentence @10 makes me a septic skeptic?)
A very clever puzzle, the variety and misdirection were very entertaining.
The ” no T”, in 4(ac), EROICA escaped me, and it will probably escape me again.
6(d), “Start off [in] Russian”, grated a bit, for me.
The &Lit for EVIL EYE 24(ac), also didn’t quite gel, but a nice solution.
Those Greek glass amulets, on necklaces etc., blue and white circles resembling the human eye, are often called ” the evil eye”……but my Greek neighbours assure me, they are exactly the opposite: they ward off evil by reflecting the evil stares from others.
Excellent puzzle and blog, ta, Goliath & Oriel
I had DEBUNKED as “clue as definition” rather than just “ exposed”.
Leonora was an opera by Paer which is said to have influenced Beethoven when he wrote Fidelio.
Brilliant fun as always from this setter, with the cardiac reference in 7D.
AEROSOL is a classic.
Thanks also to Oriel
Thanks Goliath, I completely enjoyed that with my favourites being NEW ORLEANS, DEBUNKED, EMBER, MOONLIGHT, and AT THE REAR. Being a bit of a philistine at times I could not parse LEONORA, which I guessed from the crossers. Thanks Oriel for the blog.
FOI STOA was a surprise. NHO ONAGER either
Liked ANALYSE, BEETHOVEN, BAD DREAMS and RESET best. I could not parse a few, including the separate clues.
On a different note, SIGNAL made me realise we have not had to contend with Cockney or rhyming slang for quite a while. It seems to have suddenly gone out of fashion. I emphasise this is not a complain!
Thanks Goliath for a great puzzle and Oriel for the
Martyn@15: Sorry to disappoint you, but I have added a comment to the blog for FT 18,325 by PETO regarding the use of a definition derived from Cockney Rhyming Slang in that puzzle.
Oh,!I did not do that one, PB. At least Peto’s “rabbit” is now in everyday use, which you cannot say for dog and bone.
The one major religious work that Beethoven wrote was his Missa Solemnis, or in English the SOLEMN Mass.
Goliath never disappoints, and neither does Oriel. Thanks both.