A Friday debut two weeks in a row
I found this generally straightforward, with clear cluing and some old favourites intermingled with some more ingenious devices. My main hold-up in writing the blog was the number of references and links I needed to find – some less familiar GK, some of it American. (Is that a clue?)
Some nice clues – I had ticks for 13ac ORINOCO, 15ac SQUEALS, 18ac MAD, 26ac BRAVO, 2dn EMBODIED, 6dn DIMINUENDO, 14dn OCCASIONED and 19dn DREDGE UP.
We have DEVIL DOG in the top row, GODSPEED at the bottom and SECRET GARDEN in rows 7 and 9 but any significance is lost on me. Any suggestions? My thanks in advance.
Thanks to Ix for an enjoyable puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
9 Strange bachelor’s dance (5)
RUMBA
RUM (strange) + BA (Bachelor of Arts)
10 Subject in short dress getting turn (9)
CHEMISTRY
CHEMIS[e] (dress) + TRY (turn)
11 Chip for scrambling scores (9)
PROCESSOR
PRO (for) + an anagram (scrambling) of SCORES
12 Angry judge’s claim? (5)
IRATE
A judge might claim ‘I RATE’
13 Gold icon roughly treated by old recycling team member (7)
ORINOCO
OR (gold) + an anagram (roughly treated) of ICON + O (old) – just last month, there were complaints that I didn’t explain ORINOCO and the lovable recycling team, the Wombles – I’m more than happy to make amends – see here
15 Queen captured by US navy forces wails (7)
SQUEALS
QU (queen) in SEALS (US navy forces)
17 Early sub detector regularly seen near us in Dominica (5)
ASDIC
Not sure about this: I think it’s neAr uS in DomIniCa?
18 State of mind about the boy, from Ella Fitzgerald ultimately (3)
MAD
froM ellA fitzgeralD
I can’t find a reference to Ella Fitzgerald singing this song – a pity: it would have added more to a great clue
20 Shearer’s fancy manor (5)
NORMA
An anagram (fancy) of MANOR – the actress makes a welcome change from Bellini’s opera
22 Gushed and swore about American (7)
EFFUSED
EFFED (swore) round US (American)
25 First woman abruptly cracked without starting to be transformed (7)
EVOLVED
EV[e] (first woman) + [s]OLVED (cracked)
26 Tips of bacon rashers are very overcooked or well done (5)
BRAVO
Bacon Rashers Are Very Overcooked
27 Start pleading to swap pub for one grand (9)
BEGINNING
BEG[G]ING (pleading) with one G (grand) replaced by INN (pub)
30 Opulent European place for French cardinal (9)
RICHELIEU
RICH (opulent) + E (European) + LIEU (place)
31 Lucky Liechtensteiner keeps throwing stick (5)
KYLIE
Hidden in lucKY LIEchtensteiner – a kind of boomerang
Down
1 Release tiny amount (4)
DROP
Double definition
2 Personified Space Boy briefly, then kicked the bucket (8)
EMBODIED
EM (space in printing) + BO[y] + DIED (kicked the bucket)
3 Farewell, depression! (4)
VALE
Double definition
4 Tom cries pathetically in severe weather (3,5)
ICE STORM
An anagram (pathetically) of TOM CRIES
5 Discovers artist reflected in piece of curved glass (6)
LEARNS
A reversal (reflected) of RA (artist) in LENS (piece of curved glass)
6 Stupid suggestive remark a knight emitted with decreasing loudness (10)
DIMINUENDO
DIM (stupid) + IN[n]UENDO (suggestive remark) minus n (knight)
7 Capital of Texas initially thanks Washington (6)
OTTAWA
Of Texas + TA (thanks) + WA (Washington)
8 Vortex emptied gully and ravine (4)
GYRE
G[ul]Y + R[avin]E
13 Ring Herb in Oklahoma’s largest county (5)
OSAGE
O (ring) + SAGE (herb)
14 Caused pit viper to shed skin one day (10)
OCCASIONED
[m]OCCASI[n] (pit viper) minus its ‘skin’ + ONE D (day)
16 Holy person with bear
STAND
ST (saint, holy person) + AND (with)
19 Raise great fear comedian Miles must be broadcast (6,2)
DREDGE UP
Sounds like ‘dread’ (great fear) + Jupp (comedian Miles)
21 Bugle call distorted in live reel (8)
REVEILLE
An anagram (distorted) of LIVE REEL
23 Motorsport firm admitting mid-season cock-up (6)
FIASCO
FI (motorsport) + CO (firm) round seAson
24 Recollected bride’s scattered stuff (6)
DEBRIS
An anagram (recollected) of BRIDE’S
26 Food tossed over fortified town (4)
BURG
A reversal (tossed over) of GRUB (food)
28 The King conceals ascendant spirit of victory (4)
NIKE
Hidden reversal (ascendant) in thE KINg
29 Encouraged U2’s guitarist to split and join up with New Order (4)
GEED
(the) EDGE (U2’s guitarist) with each pair of letters split and rearranged – GEE is usually followed by ‘up’ in this sense
Thanks Ix and Eileen
At first sight this lookd very difficult, but in fact it came out fairly easily. A lot of GK, but I only had to resort to a list of OKlahoma counties for OSAGE. I was thrown by the Space Boy in 2d, though – I thought it was a cartoon character I hadn’t heard of.
Interesting debut.
The words in the top and bottom rows are all reversible: GOD LIVED DEEPS DOG. But I don’t see any more significance.
I parsed ASDIC the same way as the blog.
Thanks to Ix and Eileen
9 out of 10 for this delightful debut
Top ticks for OCCASIONED, MAD for the earworm and GEED
Cheers E&I
New for me: GYRE = vortex; KYLIE = boomerang; comedian Miles Jupp (for 19d) – this seems to be overly niche GK in my humble opinion; ditto OSAGE = Oklahoma’s largest county; moccasin = pit viper (for 14d); ASDIC.
13ac – I could parse my answer but I did not understand why does ORINOCO = team member. Oh, I see, a ref to Wombles which is something I know nothing about!
Also I could not parse 17ac ASDIC.
Favourites: STAND, EFFUSED, EMBODIED.
Could there be any relevance in the choice of setter’s name for puzzle 29989? I +X (or IX reversed) before 30000.
michelle @ 4 – it’s ”recycling team member’ – please see the link I’ve provided this time. 😉
I started in the south east, and it seemed so easy that it would be over in ten minutes (nb. that has never happened!). The resistance increased elsewhere until I was left floundering to find ASDIC as LOI.
Could 1D also be DRIP? Like a PR firm dripping/releasing information to the media?
Although it was mostly gentle, the clues were neat and I liked it.
Favourite clues include EFFUSED, RICHELIEU, DREDGE UP and OSAGE.
The only thing I had to look up was ASDIC, I tried everything. I think Eileen has parsed it correctly.
I imagine our overseas friends will once again be baffled by a womble reference although we had the same one weeks ago (I see this was confirmed by Michelle while I was typing) and by Miles Jupp.
Welcome, Ix, and thanks as ever, Eileen.
Agree with yo on ASDIC, I do remember this trick being more common in crosswords of the past.
MAD… here is a snippet of the song in a Levis advert I worked on many years ago.
GEED was a neat trick, and a smooth surface.
Thanks Eileen and Whoever is Ix
Tring to do the link again, it worked this time, every days a school day!
Thank you for the blog, Eileen: I simply assumed that an Ella Fitzgerald cover of that song was the reason for 18A’s wording. (I’m not very knowledgeable about her work.)
I had the same parsing for ASDIC as you did, and was also far from certain about it. Hey ho.
Like muffin, I had to bung “Oklahoma counties” into DuckDuckGo – and it took a moment or two to recall that there was another actress called Shearer, as well as Moira.
For once, I spotted the ninas (well, the top and bottom ones, anyway) after having finished those areas, and tbh, spent almost as long puzzling over their significance as I did on the remaining unsolved clues.
As muffin put it, an interesting debut.
A few curly ones, but most went in smoothly, so an addition to my list of “good” compilers.
Wonder if moccasin is the only word on earth that is both a snake and a shoe (elsewhere today it’s in a clue for occasion as ‘slipper’).
Rose Garden was a secret US Marines op in the Vietnam War. But that doesn’t help with God Speed, ( Devil Dogs is a nickname for the Marines) And there are also stiletto snakes in Africa
Welcome to Ix. Unusual to see a third-letters “regular” solution that doesn’t start with the first letter of the fodder, either – if you weren’t aware of ASDIC it would be pretty tricky. I didn’t know KYLIE=boomerang or that a moccasin was a pit viper (the one I’ve heard of is a water moccasin so I did know it was some kind of snake). No idea what the various Ninas ( which I missed) are about.
Shouldn’t the knight in DIMINUENDO be omitted rather than emitted?
gladys @14 – ‘omitted’ would make nonsense of the surface, whereas ’emit’ means ‘utter’ or ‘throw out’ (both Chambers definitions) which seemed to me spot on for both surface and wordplay – which is why it got a tick.
Relatively benign for a Friday but most enjoyable nonetheless.
One querie, though, in the DREDGE UP clue, if the homophone indicator broadcast applies to Miles Jupp, that leaves only “dre” not dread”.
Hmmm…
I was hoping the band Godspeed You! Black Emperor might have done a track called “Devil Dog”, but if they have I can’t find it and I do have a pretty comprehensive collection of their music
Wow x 2!!
1. I completed it myself!! I always start and usually get about 2/3 done, get stuck and then my wife finishes it.
2. I am on here at No 18. On the rare occasions I comment I am usually about No 97!!
Obviously therefore I liked this and am pleased to have a puzzle that’s an accessible challenge for those of us who are not super fast experts. I had to check OSAGE County and ASDIC (after getting them.) Never heard of ASDIC but it’s like SCUBA and a COBRA meeting.
Thanks and welcome to Ix and particular thanks to Eileen, and all other bloggers, whose efforts I really appreciate..
William@16: I think you have to apply the “broadcast” to the whole phrase “Dread Jupp” – smear it together and you get “Dredge Up” – at least that’s how I read it.
An impressive debut with some clever tricks but I definitely got the feeling the setter is familiar with Americanisms as well as Britishisms – I don’t think many herpetologists would reach for the term “moccasin” here. Luckily “asdic” and “Osage” were dredged up from memory but the U2 guitarist was GK well outside my wheelhouse(s).
Thanks Ix and Eileen – lucky again with her blogging!