Crosophile continues to please with some imaginative clues which often succeed in getting away from the standard anagram, charade etc model altogether.
Good examples were 1 down and 22. Having said that, there were a few here which were so inventive they lost me completely, so some assistance in parsing will be needed.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PSALMIST | Maybe David‘s a fortune-teller taking piece of silver (8) |
| Palmist around s[ilver] | ||
| 5 | JUNIOR | For end of month one ranks KS2 kid (6) |
| Not too keen on this because it’s a bit meaningless unless you’re a teacher – it’s Jun + I + OR (other ranks). KS2 stands for Key Stage 2, which generally covers pupils in junior schools. | ||
| 10 | OUTTAKE | Removed clip and middle of mouth brace after detaching front (7) |
| M[out]h [s]take | ||
| 11 | ATONING | Paying for a hundred out of every $1000 (7) |
| A ton + in G. | ||
| 12 | ANCHORMAN | TV presenter in a late 11th century church? (9) |
| I don’t get this one | ||
| 13 | IDAHO | I used to own a small house in this state (5) |
| Sort of DD, I suppose – I’d a ho(use) | ||
| 14 | COPS | Force group of trees to be cut? (4) |
| Cops[e] | ||
| 16 | DOWN-AND-OUT | Beaten by a rejected crossword clue? (4-3-3) |
| Not quite sure I get this – down would be a crossword clue and out rejected, but not sure about the and. | ||
| 18 | PERCEPTIVE | Keen for prisoner to get transfer for A&E (10) |
| Per captive with the A being replaced by the E | ||
| 20 | USED | Accustomed to American education (4) |
| US Ed | ||
| 23 | ROOST | Maybe base of tree as time moves on is a place to rest (5) |
| Roots with t moving to the end | ||
| 24 | BOG COTTON | Ban on golf supplanting an unknown marsh plant (3,6) |
| Boycott with g (again phonetic) in place of y + on | ||
| 26 | GENERAL | Demolish large new English comprehensive (7) |
| (Large n(ew) E(nglish)* | ||
| 27 | TREMBLE | Highest part including top of mountain in quake (7) |
| Treble around m[ountain] | ||
| 28 | NO LESS | The smallest expression of admiration? (2,4) |
| Bit lost on this one as well – is it some sort of CD? | ||
| 29 | BRITTANY | Part of France – is it like the UK say? (8) |
| Sounds like “Britainy”. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PROSAIC | Apricots might become this stale over time (7) |
| Clue is saying prosaic* around t(ime) can become apricots. | ||
| 2 | AZTEC | An old Mexican‘s extreme letters seen by sleuth (5) |
| AZ (extreme letters) + tec | ||
| 3 | MEADOW | Cut grass around the top but not the very top of this? (6) |
| Mow around [h]ead | ||
| 4 | STEAMBOAT | Carnivore eats English lamb leaving the head in a vessel (9) |
| Stoat aroud E [l]amb | ||
| 6 | UTOPIAN | Ideal uniform jacket to put on a Scotsman (7) |
| U (uniform in phonetic alphabet) + top + Ian, name of Scottish origin | ||
| 7 | IMITATORS | This rota Tim invented holds up copy writers? (9) |
| Hidden, rev in thi S ROTA TIM Invented”. | ||
| 8 | RAGWORT | See plant grow wild in desert (7) |
| Grow* in rat | ||
| 9 | BARN | Scottish child I ejected in a store (4) |
| Ba[i]rn | ||
| 15 | PERSONNEL | Relative in the navy is under cover in HR (9) |
| Son in rn in peel | ||
| 17 | NAVIGATOR | Soldier with vehicle going up, round, over – he’s on a course (9) |
| (GI van)< + rota< | ||
| 18 | PARAGON | Quiet region of Spain – it’s superb (7) |
| P + Aragon | ||
| 19 | EXTORTS | Revolutionary Marxist caught by wild sex blackmails (7) |
| Trot< in sex* | ||
| 21 | DENSELY | With concentration, studies depend on ignoring the principal (7) |
| Dens + [r]ely | ||
| 22 | GO WEST | Die? Three couples found In God We Trust (2,4) |
| 3 pairs of letters in GOd WE truST” | ||
| 24 | BILL | Liberal is up before Liberal beak (4) |
| Lb< on L(iberal) | ||
| 25 | TIBIA | Bone fragment turning up on outskirts of Ithaca (5) |
| Bit< + I[thac]a | ||
*anagram
I had ANCHORMAN being ch in A Norman (late 11th century)
Share your puzzlement over DOWN AND OUT and NO LESS
Good to see some variations on clueing though, thanks Crossophile and NealH
I think that DOWN AND OUT could refer to a DOWN clue that was thrown OUT.
For NO LESS it expresses admiration as in ‘The crossword was compiled by Crossophile, no less’.
12ac is A NORMAN with CH inside it.
You’re right about KS2 – it meant nothing to me.
Although I am not a teacher I worked out the KS2 bit. What I don’t get is how JUN is the end of the month and not the start.
Apart that I needed a bit of a push on a few clues. I don’t do imaginative on Monday mornings.
Thanks the blogger and setter.
GeordyGordy @4
I took that to read as substituting I and OR for the end letter of the month. For end of month….
Thanks Doofs. I did say I don’t do imaginative!
I nearly Buster gut spotting the theme
Ah.. couldnt parse several today.. Thanks
Lenny .. there is a theme??? Cant spot it.. any clues..
Srividya
In case Lenny doesn’t return, his comment @7 should steer you in the right direction but perhaps 4,24dn will give you a further nudge.
I’m something of a fan, and I didn’t spot the theme!
So, the theme answers I have are: Steamboat Bill, Junior; The General; The Navigator; Cops; and Go West. Any others. Down and Out sounds like it ought to be a Keaton film, but I don’t think it is. There’s a joke in one of the films where he drops the anchor of a boat, and it floats, but I don’t think there was a film by him called Anchorman.
About 30 years ago, I visited a diorama of the Battle of Atlanta in Atlanta. They have there one of the locomotives that took part in the real great locomotive chase that was the basis of The General, in reality a much more sordid affair than the film made it out, as I recall.
Joyce completed this in the middle of the night when she couldn’t sleep – Bert is away.
I missed the theme completely but there was a lot to enjoy without it. I couln’t see PERCEPTIVE at all and needed a Chambers on-line search to look at possibilities when all the crossing letters were there. Many imaginative devices throughout – thanks for the work-out Crosophile.
Thank also to NealH
NO LESS = the smallest/an expression of admiration, so a double definition I think.
No one will read this, as I’m FAR too late, but thanks for the blog and comments.
As a big Buster Keaton fan I’m delighted the nina got spotted. The man was a genius.
Oops! #14 was a comment by Crosophile. Wrong hat! 🙂