Thanks to Pangakupu for a fairly breezy Thursday puzzle.
Looking for the traditional Maori Nina I see TEITEI (lofty) in the middle row and MAUNGA (mountain) in the middle column; these occur, I learn, in the aspirational Maori proverb “Whāia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei“, “Seek the treasure you value most dearly; if you must bow your head, let it be only to a lofty mountain.”
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | CHESS MATCHES | Friend’s securing check after check – he wins lots, ultimately, in these (5,7) CH (check) + last letters of hE winS lotS + another CH in MATE’S, with an extended definition |
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| 9 | RINSE | Some farmer in search for swill (5) Hidden in farmeR IN SEarch |
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| 10 | LABYRINTH | Experimental area: year in this removing one’s perplexity (9) LAB (experimental area) + YR + IN THIS less I’S |
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| 11 | FIRSTLY | Trees beside end of street likely gutted at the outset (7) FIRS (trees) + [stree]T + L[ikel]Y |
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| 12 | TUNISIA | Island I found surrounded by fish in part of Africa (7) IS (island) + I in TUNA |
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| 13 | TELEVISUAL | Sadly values-lite, like much broadcasting (10) (VALUES LITE)* |
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| 15 | SWOT | Committed pupil pulls back (4) Reverse of TOWS (pulls) |
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| 18 | SLOE | This gin gets legions drunk (4) This is what is called a “composite anagram &lit” in some circles: LEGIONS is an anagram of SLOE GIN, and the whole clue is the definition |
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| 19 | SENESCENCE | Ageing somehow seen linked to knowledge I released (10) SEEN* + SCIENCE (literally “knowedge”) less I |
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| 22 | REPROOF | Rebuke? Republican hitting ceiling (7) REP + ROOF |
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| 24 | ALEMBIC | Old still beer getting mark with pen (7) ALE + M[ark] + BIC (brand of pen); although it looks as if it should be an adjective, alembic is actually a name for an “old-fashioned type of distilling apparatus”, used in alchemy |
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| 25 | POUND SIGN | Thumps one with Guardian heartlessly – it’s a mark of the Greens? (5,4) POUNDS (thumps) + I (one) + G[uardia]N, with “Greens” meaning mony |
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| 26 | OX-EYE | Flower from old times getting attention (2-3) o[ld] + X (multiplication symbol, times) + EYE (attention) |
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| 27 | DOMESDAY BOOK | Yes, bad mood may be aggravated by merely adequate historic records (8,4) (YES BAD MOOD)* + OK (merely adequate) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | CONTRALTO | Singer’s reduced mastery around key (9) ALT (key on a computer keyboard) in CONTRO[L] |
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| 2 | ELECTIVE | Optional having European active around English court (8) E[uropean] + E CT in LIVE (active) |
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| 3 | SULKY | Light carriage being put out? (5) Double definition; a sulky is “a light two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for one person, used chiefly in trotting races” |
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| 4 | ARBITRATE | Judge Australia to have right measure of information supply (9) A + R + BIT-RATE (the rate of transmission of data, so a measure of information supply) |
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| 5 | CORONA | Expression of surprise regarding one feature of daffodil (6) COR (expression of surprise) + ON (regarding) + A (one) |
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| 6 | ERNES | Holderness home to these seabirds? (5) Hidden in holdERNESs |
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| 7 | PROFIT | Supportive of appropriate gain (6) PRO (supportive of) + FIT (appropriate) |
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| 8 | THWART | Prevent hot fighting in midst of battle (6) H[ot] WAR in [ba]TT[le] |
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| 14 | SIEGFRIED | Wagner opera is upsetting for one supporter withdrawing name (9) Reverse of IS + E.G. (for one) + FRIEND less N |
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| 16 | WINDBREAK | Beach feature to coil on vacation (9) WIND (to coil; rhyming with “signed”) + BREAK (vacation) |
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| 17 | ECCE HOMO | Image of Jesus church’s taken in two ways – half holy, half mock (4,4) CE (church) seen backwards and forwards + halves of HOly + Mock. ECCE HOMO has been depicted be many famous artist, but this is one that found recent fame for the wrong reasons (possibly referenced in the clue) |
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| 18 | SYRUPY | Informant about your University is unnaturally sweet (6) YR (your) U[niversity] in SPY |
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| 20 | ESCHEW | Repudiate key source of hope we elevated (6) ESC (another computer key) + H[ope] + reverse of WE |
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| 21 | FOODIE | One fond of chow initially fond of cartoon dog … (6) F[ond] O[f] ODIE (dog in the Garfield cartoon strip) |
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| 23 | PLUTO | … cartoon dog left in position with repeated character in cartoon (5) L in PUT (to position) + O (the double letter in cartOOn) |
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| 24 | ANNOY | Upset speaker after cutting off opening (5) A headless TANNOY |
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My faves: CHESS MATCHES, SLOE (an AZED style clue), POUND SIGN and WINDBREAK.
Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew.
Enjoyed the puzzle so many thanks to Pangakupu, but not in a month of proverbial Sundays would I have figured out the parsing for 18a, so many thanks also to Andrew.
Thanks Pangakupu and Andrew
After recovering from a mis-start – I looked at 1a and thought DUTCH AUCTION, I’ll parse it later – it went quite quickly, except it took ages to remember SULKY as a carriage.
Not sure the parts of speech quite match for perplexity and LABYRINTH.
I coudn’t parse 18ac.
Favourites: ESCHEW, OX-EYE (loi).
New for me: SULKY = carriage; 21d ODIE = cartoon dog (obviously, my GK does not extend to various old carriage types and US cartoons of the 1970s).
Like muffin@3, I considered DUTCH AUCTION for 1ac.
muffin@3
LABYRINTH
& perplexity both are nouns. They seem to match.
KVa @5
Yes, but LABYRINTH is concrete, while perplexity is abstract.
So how many people just wrote in yell-Ow! In 5D?
Very clever puzzle which I persisted with to the finish last night. I thought CHESS MATCHES and DOMESDAY BOOK were quite simply brilliant and I liked the composite SLOE. Spotted the 2 Ninas but can’t see anything relevant to his next number, 46?
Ta Pangakupu & Andrew
46 was a bit of a brute to pin down, but there are 46 peaks in the Adirondacks, and walkers try to bag them all. Nearest I could get to significant mountains.
I try to work a few puzzles in hand, so I can tell you that 47 was even worse to find something for. And that no. 48 will precede it in publication order, for editorial reasons.
Thanks for that Pangakupu, good luck with the sequence.