As seen before from Omnibus, a mix of cluing styles…
…and a theme: numbers one to eleven (edit thanks to Redrodney and SimoninBxl – not four or nine) found in the grid. Some tricky parsing, and I’m still not sure how to read 6dn.
My favourites were 21ac, 24ac, and 20dn. Thanks to Omnibus for the puzzle.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | DILIGENT |
Painstaking papers back essentially glib man (8)
|
| ID (identification “papers”) reversed/”back”; plus insides/essentials of [g]-LI-[b]; plus GENT=”man” | ||
| 9 | OCHRE |
Badenoch reveals strain – of iron? (5)
|
| definition: a pigment containing iron oxide
hidden in (perhaps “strain” as in to sieve/separate out something contained inside something else): [Baden]-OCH RE-[veals] |
||
| 10 | MEWS |
Stable houses setter – was one lost? (4)
|
| ME=the “setter” of the clue; plus W-[a]-S (from surface, with ‘a’=”one” removed/lost) | ||
| 11 | OVERDOES IT |
Regarding those unidentified, technology goes too far (8,2)
|
| OVER=”Regarding” + DOES (“those unidentified”; as in more than one ‘John Doe’ or ‘Jane Doe’ as a stand-in name for unidentified people) + IT (information technology) | ||
| 12 | BEASTS |
Savages live, pasts quietly forgotten (6)
|
| BE=”live” + [p]-ASTS taken from surface with ‘p’ (piano, “quietly”) removed/”forgotten” | ||
| 14 | MISUSAGE |
Video game reversed practice: that’s not right (8)
|
| SIM (simulation, “Video game”) reversed; plus USAGE=”practice” | ||
| 16 | ESCORTS |
Drugs cost (including recipe) negotiable for gigolos (7)
|
| ES (more than one ‘e’ for ‘ecstasy’ = “Drugs”); plus anagram/”negotiable” of (cost)* around R (recipe) | ||
| 18 | EXEMPTS |
Excuses politician embraced by alien in sex romp (7)
|
| MP (member of parliament, “politician”); inside ET (extra-terrestrial, “alien”); all inside anagram/”romp” of (sex)* | ||
| 21 | CEREMONY |
Otherwise show one mercy in service (8)
|
| anagram/”Otherwise show” (one mercy)* | ||
| 23 | OUSTED |
Revelling used to put out (6)
|
| anagram/”Revelling” of (used to)* | ||
| 24 | SEVEN-A-SIDE |
Football seen around half ten, with commentary for audience (5-1-4)
|
| SEEN (from surface) around V (five in Roman numerals i.e. half [of] ten); plus ASIDE e.g. in theatre=”commentary for audience” | ||
| 26 | TWO BITS |
See 17 Down
|
| 27, 26 | EIGHT-BALL |
Pool party after nude hen night not new (5-4)
|
| BALL=”party”, after: [h]-E-[n] “nude” without its outer letters; plus [n]-IGHT without ‘n’ for “new” | ||
| 28 | GAINLIER |
More graceful win; limper member abandoned (8)
|
| GAIN=”win” + LI-[MP]-ER with MP (“member” of parliament) removed | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | FIVE-FERS |
Refs abused after boy band’s sporting feats (4-4)
|
| definition: in cricket, a ‘five-fer’ means getting five wickets as a bowler
anagram/”abused” of (Refs)* after FIVE=name of a UK “boy band” |
||
| 2 | SIXTIES |
See 15
|
| 3 | TENONS |
A couple short of a dozen legs – and joints? (6)
|
| TEN=two less than twelve=”A couple short of a dozen”; plus ONS=”legs” (the on side is the leg side in cricket) | ||
| 4 | STREAMS |
Burns fumes about cigar’s end (7)
|
| STEAMS=”fumes” around end of [ciga]-R | ||
| 5 | ELEVEN FOLD |
See 22
|
| 6 | THREESOMES |
Special few a part of ménages à trois? (10)
|
| not sure how to break this one down into wordplay, or if it’s some form of double or cryptic definition
edit to add AdrianB’s suggestion: threesomes are ‘trios’, which is an anagram/(“ménages”? ) of (trois)*… |
||
| 7 | KEYING |
Scratching surface of dark side in barrel (6)
|
| YIN (dark side, versus yang as the light side in ‘yin and yang’); inside KEG=”barrel” | ||
| 13 | STONEHENGE |
Here solstice worshipping teens go wild, gobbling bird (10)
|
| anagram/”wild” of (teens go)*; around HEN=”bird” | ||
| 15, 2 | SIXTIES |
Golden age – at end of festivities? (7)
|
| definition: the 1960s as a Golden age
at the end of festi-vities is VI TIES… …VI is SIX in Roman numerals; plus TIES |
||
| 17, 26 | TWO BITS |
These world leaders on Russian river? It’s … it’s worth little in America (3,4)
|
| definition: US slang for twenty-five cents
leading letters of T-[hese] W-[orld]; plus OB=name of a “Russian river” plus IT’S (from surface) |
||
| 19 | TRESTLES |
Settlers erected timber frames (8)
|
| anagram/”erected” of (Settlers)* | ||
| 20 | SYRINGE |
Confused? Yes – call in dope dispenser (7)
|
| anagram/”Confused” of (Yes); with RING=”call” inside | ||
| 22, 5 | ELEVEN FOLD |
England collapse over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over (10)
|
| “over” is repeated eleven times
the England team (in e.g. football or cricket) are known as an ELEVEN; and FOLD=”collapse” |
||
| 23 | ONESIE |
‘Aussie’ (not American) nightwear (6)
|
| A-[us]-sie; minus ‘us’=US=”American”; then…
ONE=”A“; plus SIE |
||
| 25 | ARTY |
Affected Reform UK, say, with head removed (4)
|
| Reform UK is a political [p]-ARTY; with the head ‘p’ removed | ||
| 26 | EIGHT BALL |
See 27 Across
|
Fairly straightforward, but could not parse DOES in OVERDOES IT, or THREESOMES. Interested to hear better explanations for the latter.
Thanks to setter and blogger
All numbers one to eleven except four, I think? Thanks for parsing SIXTIES – would never have spotted that. I can’t help with THREESOMES either.
Got there in the end – and I agree with Manehi that there is a mixture of easy and tough clues. Don’t like 1D much and I don’t see how 6D parses either.
Missing 9 as well as 4 ?
Not a lot of love for this in the comment section on the G, and I can kind of see why.
Also, a spoiler for 1d and the theme in the comments too!
A few really straining at the sides, (22,5 & 23 I’m looking at you), but also some gems in there too. I liked TENONS and FIVE-FERS, but as one of the few people with a knowledge of both boybands and cricket, I imagine I’m in the minority.
Can’t say I like the style of some of these clues, especially the split words, but it was interesting. I noticed the theme thankfully, which helped with nho FIVE-FERS and SIXTIES and CEREMONY was a nice anagram. Turned out to be a bit easier than it looked but I’m not a fan.
Redrodney @2: there are 2 TWOS in the grid, which I presumed was the four.
Ta Omnibus & manehi.
I think threesomes is an anagram of trios, a mixture (menages) of trois?
I almost gave up the ghost when I read 22,5, but persevered and somehow managed to finish this. Most definitely an assorted mix of cluing styles. FIVE FERS might not be common knowledge for those that don’t follow cricket. And not all of us might regard the SIXTIES as a golden age, though born when I was, I certainly thought so…
I think threesomes is an anagram of trios, a mixture (menages) of trois?
One could argue that four and nine turn up as Roman numerals (in “fIVe” and “sIX” respectively) but that is the kind of tail-chasing I hate so I won’t argue it myself!
A good day to be a woodworking cricket fan for this puzzle…
Thanks Omnibus and manehi
Correction to myself – trios is a definition of threesomes! The anagram is of trois
Strangely unenjoyable. Had to come here for a lot of the parsing.
If it helps, four and nine are in there in Roman numerals! (in FIVE-FERS and SIX.
Not sure if it was intended, but they’re definitely there…
Thanks Manehi and Omnibus for a genuine challenge.
Sorry @JoaT – you beat me to it.
I think THREESOMES is SOME = few in THREES and the whole thing a kind of cad. Just seen AdrianB’s version, which is better.
#10 Adrian: it is possible, but I thought that anagrams of anything other than the actual answer were no go. That is if any rules still exist.
Thanks Omnibus and manehi
A couple of irritations. DOE for “unknown” is an unindicated American usage. 17, 26 should have been 17, 26a, as by convention, if a or d isn’t indicated, the second is taken as being in the same direction as the first.
I really didn’t enjoy this struggle. The random, grating surfaces bothered me. The enumeration of eleven ‘overs’ seemed so cumbersome. Isn’t the video game called “Sims” (plural)? The ’60s as a “golden age” — really??? And I know R=recipe has an iota of support solely from Chambers not-a-real-Dictionary, but it’s really scraping the crossword setters’ barrel. Ah well!… each to his/her own.
Interesting to see the river Ob appear again in TWO BITS after Qaos used it a couple of Fridays ago. It seemed to be new to almost everyone on the previous blog.
Thank you for the blog: enormously helpful!
Unlike SZJoe I certainly didn’t find this straightforward, though the numbers theme aided with various semi-parsed guesses.
As with all crosswords that rely heavily on GK, it’s fun if one knows the subject in question, and an uphill struggle if one doesn’t. For 27A/26D, I took “party” to mean individual (as in Third Party) and did at least know pool balls have numbers on them. SIXTIES was another lucky guess (was that decade really a golden age? JFK and Dr King assassinated, Vietnam war, Six Day war, 68 uprisings, etc etc).
6D: another guess, parsing beyond me.
1D took an eternity: I got the first half, but didn’t know the expression nor that FERS is a word in itself and -E-S gives you lots of 4-letter words. I laboriously started checking out various options that might perhaps be some sporting term – until the penny dropped.
I liked MEWS and the surface to BEASTS.
I disliked quite a lot of this, for reasons already enumerated. I found the overreliance on cricketing arcana very annoying (FIVE-FERS, really?), didn’t like ‘erected’ as an anagrind (19d), and a SIM as a video game is a real stretch. There is one called The Sims, but I doubt that was intended. I also couldn’t parse 6d and don’t understand the offered explanation. How does ‘menage’ mean ‘anagram’?
Too clever by half I think.
Apologies Redrodney @2: a case of double vision reading manehi’s blog, only one TWO!
Nice thought AdrianB@8 but isn’t “melange” a mixture, not “menage” which simply means a household?
You wait all this time for an Omnibus… and one comes along.
I spotted the numbers thing when SEVEN appeared just above EIGHT, giving crossers for ELEVEN (though 22D was a very strange clue). Found a pair of ONEs, in ONESIE and STONEHENGE.
Beyond the ONE to ELEVEN thing, there were a few cricket references too: FIVE FERS, OVER, BALL, SIDE, ON, TIES, and some of us watch Test matches on STREAMS; there was a SIX but strangely no fours that I could find. I may also have enjoyed a cucumber sandwich off a TRESTLE table while watching a game.
On the political side, not thrilled to find both Badenoch and Reform UK. On the geographical side, a Russian river joins the list of things I learned from crosswords.
Favourites were SIXTIES for the Latin, the unidentified DOES, MEWS and KEYING. Not sure about how THREESOMES parses.
Thanks to Omnibus and manehi.
PeterT@13: That was also how I read 6D, although it still seems clumsy. I don’t get the alternative proposed by AdrianB: “ménage” means household, AFAIK, so I don’t see how it is an anagram indicator.
Are people perhaps confusing it with “mélange”, a mixture?
I detoured by putting in MISUSING instead of MISUSAGE, but got to KEYING after I spotted my mistake. NHO of 5-fers so needed to google. Was not as annoyed by the puzzle as some, but perhaps it erred a bit on the ARTY side…
I am not familiar with this setter and I found it hard to get on their wavelength. I gave up on 10ac and 7d – I did not know that KEYING = scratching surface.
Also new for me: SEVEN-A-SIDE = football; EIGHT-BALL = pool; SIM = video game (14ac); TENON = joint; FIVE-FERS.
I could not parse 23d and was unsure how to parse 6d, thinking that is was a barely cryptic cd but now it makes sense.
I agree with Jack of Few Trades@9 and others that four and nine turn up as Roman numerals.
Some nice clues, I really loved 24a and 27a/26d, but overall this felt like a bit of a slog.
A lot of clues felt too smart for the sake of being smart, and single-word answers split over multiple entries really didn’t sit well with me.
Definitely a personal grievance rather than anything material, but once again I’ve learned more obscure cricket knowledge through crosswords than I ever had hoped to learn in my life!
I really didn’t enjoy this and gave up with three to go.
michelle @25 FIVE-FERS are sometimes called ‘Michelles’, after an actor with a homophonic surname., so despite your not knowing the term, congratulations on being name-checked.
Ace@23 and others
THREESOMES
I also don’t think it’s an anagram of trois.
Looks like a DD, but the ‘part of’ hangs loose.
Somewhat clumsy or we are missing something.
ELEVEN FOLD
over and over and over—>again and again and again?
Thanks manehi for the very good blog.
For 6D I think one could think of “special” as an anagrind, and then apply it to parts of “ménage a trois”, thereby producing trios, which are threesomes. I don’t much like it, but the only alternative I can see is that “some” (few) is parting a word for special, and somehow that word can be defined as “threes”. Given that choice, I’d opt for the first solution.
Comment #31
Re KVa@29 and others
I did wonder if some could be ‘a part of’ (the main/whole)?
But this leaves three(s) and I have nothing for that
KVa @29: I guessed ELEVEN FOLD simply due to the word “over” being repeated. It seemed very similar to a memorable clue, yonks and yonks back (I can’t recall who created it but wouldn’t be surprised if it was someone like Araucaria) that read “of of of of of of of of of of” (10). (Oftentimes).
So this was a simple copy. Or maybe it would be more diplomatic to call it a “homage”…
As you might expect from an Omnibus, some very variable stuff: I liked STONEHENGE, ELEVEN FOLD, TWO BITS and a few others, but then there were those ugly semi-words like FIVE-FERS (nho) and GAINLIER (didn’t know this existed apart from the un- version), SIXTIES split across two answers and vaguely defined, and Reform UK which isn’t a party: it’s Reform Ltd.
No idea about THREESOMES. I actually got exasperated by this and revealed the last three.
Three of the Specials went on to form the Fun Boy Three. Could that be it?
Wellbeck@33
ELEVEN FOLD
OF TEN TIMES—>if we draw an equivalence to this, then the
solution in our case should be ‘OVER ELEVEN FOLD’
OK. Let’s say it like this: ELEVEN TIMES OVER—>ELEVEN FOLD.
Maybe I am ‘over’thinking…