Qaos has set this morning’s Guardian puzzle.
I like solving Qaos puzzles, because there’s always something quirky, normally to do with numbers (as in VULTURE to CULTURE). A theme also began to develop once I solved the clue for DYLAN but unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the man, so there are probably Bob Dylan songs I’m missing. I’ve highlighted TAMBOURINE MAN, BLOWING in the WIND, TIMES They Are a-CHANGING, Tangled Up in BLUE and the generic SONGS and DYLAN himself, but I’m probably missing more. My clue of the day, probably of the month was the aforementioned CULTURE, and my LOI was SONGS.
Thanks, Qaos.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BLOWING |
Spoiling old woman wearing jewellery (7)
|
| O (old) + W (woman) wearing BLING (“jewellery”) | ||
| 5 | BATTERY |
Modern cricketer gets final boundary of series (7)
|
| BATTER (“modern” word for batsman, so “cricketer”) gets [final] (boundar)Y | ||
| 10 | MANN |
Novelist in a state penning article (4)
|
| MN (Minnesota, so “a state”) penning AN (“article”)
Refers to Thomas Mann, German Nobel Prize winning author. |
||
| 11 | TAMBOURINE |
Playing tuba in Rome with another instrument (10)
|
| *(tuba in rome) [anag:playing] | ||
| 12 | CASSIS |
Cold musician’s unlimited drink (6)
|
| C (cold) + (b)ASSIS(t) (“musician”) [unlimited] | ||
| 13 | ON THE AIR |
Live report of where Prince William’s crown might be? (2,3,3)
|
| Homoophone/pun/aural wordplay [report] of ON THE HEIR (“where Prince Williams crown might be”) | ||
| 14 | GEOGRAPHY |
Subject’s alter ego ‘Gary’ seen outside pub (9)
|
| *(ago gary) [anag:alter] seen outside PH (public house, so “pub”) | ||
| 16 | SONGS |
Relatives stealing £1,000 records … (5)
|
| SONS (“relatives”) stealing G (grand, so £1,000) | ||
| 17 | TIMES |
… by backing group holding note (5)
|
| [backing] <=(SET (“group”) holding MI (“note”)) | ||
| 19 | CONSTRUCT |
Make president replace politician with court after tricks (9)
|
| TRU(mp) replacing MP (Member of Parliament, so “politician” with Ct. (court) after CONS (“tricks”), so CONS-TRU(Ct) | ||
| 23 | CHANGING |
Reforming c-capital punishment (8)
|
| C + HANGING (“capital punishment”) | ||
| 24 | PEDDLE |
Sell bicycle part to the audience (6)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [to the audience] of PEDAL (“bicycle part”) | ||
| 26 | BLUE CHEESE |
Low church, perhaps York, returned English food (4,6)
|
| BLUE (“low”) + Ch. (church) + <=SEE (diocese, so “perhaps York”, returned) + E (English) | ||
| 27 | LAUD |
Praise God for all to hear (4)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [for all to hear] of LORD (“God”) | ||
| 28 | PROTEST |
Demonstrate in favour of cricket’s longest format (7)
|
| PRO (“in favour of”) + TEST (“cricket’s longest format”) | ||
| 29 | COUNTER |
Oppose noble queen (7)
|
| COUNT (“noble”) + ER (Elizabeth Regina, so “queen”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | LEAFAGE |
General hides a cigarette in vegetation (7)
|
| (General) Robert E LEE hides A FAG (“a cigarette”) | ||
| 3 | WINDS |
Snakes and ladders board in Fiji now ends being flipped (5)
|
| <=(ladderS boarD iN fijI noW, ends, being flipped) | ||
| 4 | NATASHA |
Woman’s brown back has a fracture (7)
|
| <=TAN (“brown”, back) + *(has a) [anag:fracture] | ||
| 6 | ADOPTS |
Chooses a pet with no tail, a bit tame in afterthought (6)
|
| A DO(g) (“a pet” with no tail) + [a bit] T(ame) in PS (postscript, so “afterthought”) | ||
| 7 | THREE-FOUR |
Elizabeth Reef – our secret signature (5-4)
|
| Hidden in [secret] “elizabeTH REEF OUR“ | ||
| 8 | RANKING |
Managed royal position (7)
|
| RAN (“managed”) + KING (“royal”) | ||
| 9 | SMOOTH-TONGUED |
Sand dune got moved – plausible? (6-7)
|
| SMOOTH (“sand”) + *(dune got) [anag:moved] | ||
| 15 | GREEN BELT |
Sing loudly following party in open area outside town (5,4)
|
| BELT (“sing loudly”) following GREEN (party) | ||
| 18 | INHALER |
During chaotic reign, no good prince becomes smoker? (7)
|
| (Prince) HAL [during] *(rein) [anag:chaotic] where REIN is REI(g)N with no G (good) | ||
| 20 | SUPREMO |
Boss to drink more rum (7)
|
| SUP (“to drink”) + *(more) [anag:rum] | ||
| 21 | CULTURE |
Growth of bird has head increase by a factor of 20 (7)
|
| (v)ULTURE (“bird”) has head (its first letter) increase by a factor of 20 (so V (5) becomes C (100)), hence (C)ULTURE | ||
| 22 | LIGHTS |
Matches 50 and 88? Pointless at first (6)
|
| L (50, in Roman numerals) + (e)IGHTS (“88”, pointless, (i.e missing E (east, a compass point) at first) | ||
| 25 | DYLAN |
Welshman taking part in Normandy landings (5)
|
| Hidden in [taking part in] “normanDY LANdings” |
Surely a missed opportunity to clue nubile as “tangled up in blue” 🙂
Good fun and a theme even I couldn’t miss despite owning only one Dylan album
Cheers L&D
Great stuff from Qaos and after a few failed attempts I actually spotted the theme for this one. Bob Dylan’s involvement with the COUNTER CULTURE and PROTEST movement I would have included in the theme. Although he personally hated that association.
Liked BLOWING and SONGS
Thanks Loonapick and Qaos
Great theme (I’m a big fan!). I’d suggest there’s a link between PROTEST SONGS, another label he came to disclaim.
Thanks Qaos and Loonapick
No quibbles nor “Huh?”s, and I even got the theme! So a good result.
Also being a fan, I spotted the theme early with BLOWING and WIND and it helped to solve MANN. I also included COUNTER CULTURE and PROTEST SONGS and I like Bodycheetah’s suggestion @1. I certainly wouldn’t describe his vocals as SMOOTH-TONGUED though.
Ta Qaos & loonapick.
Enjoyably tangled up with a nice theme (and a nod to the other, Welsh, DYLAN) and lots of pennies dropping. Loud clangs for TIMES, CULTURE and ADOPTS. Some stretchy equivalences: last in BATTERY gave me trouble both in not knowing that batter was a particularly “modern” word for a cricketer and in equating battery=series. Other stretches were records=SONGS and spoiling=BLOWING.
Thanks Qaos and loonapick.
…Also the female singer DYLAN’s first name is NATASHA (Woods).
Thanks loonapick. I have my own little protest about your blog on BATTERY. As the clue says, ”cricketer”, of any gender, not just ”batsman”. Liked your likes about the ”mathematical clues” which even I got today.
With Staticman1 #2. COUNTER CULTURE and PROTEST SONGS also themesters.
The only clue I thought unfair was MANN, which state? I do know the authors Thomas Mann and Heinrich Mann both of whom were social critics. Perhaps if I’d got the theme earlier it might have given me a nudge, towards Tambourine Man.
Enjoyable puzzle. I saw the theme of Bob Dylan songs after I completed the grid, including my favourite ‘Tangled Up in BLUE’.
Favourite: CULTURE, LIGHTS, TIMES.
Thanks Qaos and loonapick
A DNF – I wrote in unparsed WAIN @10, FIVER @17, and FIGHTS @22. No theme, of course. “Spoiling” for BLOWING is a bit loose.
I was quite pleased to guess in advance what was going to happen for CULTURE>
I wondered if the central column SMOOTH-TONGUED might be thematic, or if it was Qaos’ little joke. Smooth-tongued DYLAN may have been but smooth-toned he definitely wasn’t.
muffin #10. What about spoiling/blowing an opportunity, or a project, or even a meal?
I spoiled it/blew it.
There’s another Dylan reference in 10ac as he grew up in Minnesota (MN).
paddymelon @12
I’m sure that’s what was intended, but it’s loose,as I said.
Never have my thoughts been so well summarised by the blogger’s intro.
I loved this – theme and all.
Favourites:14ac GEOGRAPHY, 19ac CONSTRUCT, 23ac CHANGING, 26ac BLUE CHEESE, 3dn WINDS, 18dn INHALER and the wonderful 21dn CULTURE.
Many thanks to Qaos and loonapick. (A double treat today: now for Goliath in the FT.)
Paddymelon @8 – in loonapick’s defence, the clue says “modern cricketer”. Until 2021(fairly recent in the long history of cricket), the laws referred to a batsman and batsmen. In 2021, quite rightly the laws were changed to refer to a batter and batters.
paddymelon @11: that was what I was trying to imply @5 but your description is better. I hope my reference @7 counters your gender bias complaint 😉
paddymelon@8 – I support your polite protest. It is actually an important point. We cannot continue with gender-specific terms in the face of overwhelming evidence that it is both illogical and unfair to assume male dominance in all walks of life. It is usually very easy to find a neutral and perfectly acceptable alternative noun and/or descriptor. I also liked your offering @12 re BLOWING. Otherwise, BLOWING is pretty familiar (to me anyway) as a synonym for spoiling. We used to say cans of food that had bulged because of spoiled contents were “blown”. And how about “fly blown” for food contaminated by infestations? Thoroughly enjoyed today’s crossword and even got the theme, for once. Thank yous to the setter and the blogger.
TB @19 – To (hopefully) clarify my point, the modern term (as used by the laws of the game, and commentators) is batters. Loonapick is, as far as I can see, simply stating that long overdue correction to the terminology.
Been looking at Dylan song titles. 2 dollars and 99 cents. Qaos would have had fun with that.
Saw the theme very early (TAMBOURINE + SONGS + CHANGING gave it away), which helped, particularly with TIMES. And surely SUPREMO is thematic. Crispy@17 is correct: the change from batsman/batswoman to BATTER is modern (and long overdue). Thanks, Qaos and loonapick.
Had to reveal Mann, and am embarrassed to say I was completely befuddled by the parsing of culture/vulture, but still very enjoyable so many thanks to bith Chaos and loonapick
Even I spotted the theme this time. Found this much gentler than Qaos can sometimes be. Took a while to get MANN, and also the last three letter word in ON THE AIR, where on finally filling it in didn’t quite realise that the AIR part referenced Heir rather than Hair. As the future King doesn’t seem to me to have much of that left on the crown of his head. If you see what I mean…
So many people to respond to, sorry I missed some, and agree with Alan C and Crispy (of course 🙂 )
Thanks PaulD #13 for the MN, Minnesota, in MANN. That makes that clue so much more meaningful.
Rejoice with me, for this is my first ever theme spot! So lucky to have seen TAMBOURINE & MANN early.
Love Bodycheetah’s suggestion @1.
Many thanks, both.
ronald #24. 🙂 My thoughts too about the crowned hairless heir.
13ac brought a huge smile.
I got the theme for once and then spent too long trying to find connections for the unthemed clues. Like others CULTURE was my favourite. Nice suggestion Bodycheetah.