Scorpion seems to have entered a time warp with this puzzle. There have been a few comments recently about reverse solving which thankfully we are more than happy with. There were some solutions here which were entered from the definition and then required some head-scratching – 9ac, 6d and 16d.
There’s a mini theme based on the 1945 film that is a charade of 8, 11 and 12 across, but also other references to 1930s and 40s cinema (2d), 1950s and 60s fiction (27ac) and 1940s and 50s ‘art’ (20ac). We wondered if there is any connection between the 8/11/12 characters and the others, but we can’t find one – any ideas out there?
We’ll be out and about today with limited internet access, so won’t be able to reply to any comments until later on.
| Across | ||
| 8 | Having retired, their beards contain food (4) | |
| BRIE | Hidden or ‘contained’ backwards or ‘retiring’ in thEIR Beards | |
| 9 | Dan arranged info held by Net-based property company? (4,6) | |
| LAND AGENCY | An anagram of DAN (anagrind is ‘arranged’) GEN (info) in or ‘held by’ LACY (‘net-based’) | |
| 10 | Area of US showing outrage, as addicts kidnap Greek character (10) | |
| APPALACHIA | APPAL (outrage) AA (Alcoholics anonymous – ‘addicts’) round or ‘kidnapping’ CHI (Greek character) | |
| 11 | Start to fall in French bog (3) | |
| FEN | F (first letter or ‘start’ to ‘fall’) EN (French for ‘in’) | |
| 12 | Chip worktop (7) | |
| COUNTER | Double definition | |
| 13 | In what way Shakespeare initially bypassed actor in 8/11/12 (6) | |
| HOWARD | HOW (in what way) |
|
| 15 | Pardon what you do after admitting burglary primarily (7) | |
| ABSOLVE | A SOLVE (what you – ‘solvers’ – do with a crossword) round or ‘admitting’ B (first or ‘primary’ letter of ‘burglary’) | |
| 18 | Knocked over tiny teacher continually (2,3,2) | |
| ON AND ON | NANO (tiny) reversed or ‘knocked over’ DON (teacher) | |
| 20 | Card drawer cracking at the edges in factory (6) | |
| MCGILL | CG (first and last letters or ‘edges’ of ‘cracking’) in MILL (factory) a reference to Donald McGill, renowned for his saucy seaside postcards | |
| 21 | Actress in 8/11/12 can kid (7) | |
| JOHNSON | JOHN (can, as in toilet) SON (kid) a reference to Celia Johnson, who starred with Trevor Howard in ‘Brief Encounter’ (8/11/12) | |
| 24 | Resort box by telephone (3) | |
| SPA | Sounds like (‘by telephone’) SPAR (box) | |
| 26 | Parish rector, neglecting soldiers, disturbed another cleric (10) | |
| ARCHPRIEST | An anagram of PARISH RECT |
|
| 27 | Fictional detective faces domestic stress (6,4) | |
| HAMMER HOME | HAMMER (fictional detective Mike Hammer, created by Mickey Spillane) HOME (domestic) | |
| 28 | Unproductive director of 8/11/12 (4) | |
| LEAN | Double definition – David LEAN being the director of ‘Brief Encounter’ (8/11/12) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Rook near observation post snapped by twitching circle (6) | |
| TROPIC | R (rook) OP (observation post) in or ‘snapped by’ TIC (twitching) | |
| 2 | Middle-eastern high-fliers, during craze, regularly worship actor (4,6) | |
| BELA LUGOSI | EL AL (Israeli airline – ‘middle-eastern fliers’) in BUG (craze) + alternate or ‘regular’ letters of ‘wOrShIp’ – a reference to the film actor best known for playing Dracula in the 1930s. Thankfully Bert vaguely remembered the actor once we had the last three letters from the word play. We had to search though to find the first name and then realised the parsing. | |
| 3 | Exercises keep Nick, doing somersault, flexible (6) | |
| PLIANT | PT (exercises) round or ‘keeping’ NAIL (nick, as in ‘arrest’) reversed or ‘doing somersault’ | |
| 4 | Trio playing around noon stop the noise briefly (2,5) | |
| IN SHORT | An anagram of TRIO (anagrind is ‘playing’) round N (noon) SH (‘stop the noise’) | |
| 5 | Race that lasts 31 days – a skimpy item of clothing no good (8) | |
| MARATHON | MAR (abbreviation of March – 31 days) A THON |
|
| 6 | Indifferent plan one avoided following (4) | |
| DEAF | ||
| 7 | School head defends country’s uprising, given sequence of events (8) | |
| SCENARIO | S (school) CEO (chief executive officer – ‘head’) round or ‘defending’ IRAN (country) reversed or ‘uprising’ | |
| 14 | Gusts over Delhi ruined part of Buick? (10) | |
| WINDSHIELD | WINDS (gusts) + an anagram of DELHI – anagrind is ‘ruined’. An American word for ‘windscreen’ – hence the Buick reference | |
| 16 | A way of congratulating friends? (8) | |
| BACKSLAP | PALS (friends) reversed or BACK | |
| 17 | European writer sees two rivers overlapping (8) | |
| VOLTAIRE | VOLTA and AIRE (two rivers) sharing the ‘A’ or ‘overlapping’ | |
| 19 | Voter wanting Jack to oust Liberal in a particular seat (7) | |
| EJECTOR | E |
|
| 22 | Mark, perhaps texting bird about unknown pub (6) | |
| HYPHEN | HEN (bird) round Y (unknown) PH (pub). We’re not totally sure why ‘perhaps texting’ is included though. | |
| 23 | Capital that’s essential to manage Aussie beauty (6) | |
| NASSAU | This is a combination of the middle or ‘essential’ pairs of letters in maNAge AuSSie beAUty | |
| 25 | Top marks secured by expert (4) | |
| ACME | M (marks) in or ‘secured by’ ACE (expert) | |
Thanks Scorpion and B&J
I parsed 15 as SOLVE (what you do) ‘after A and B’ (Admitting Burglary primarily). I think “you do a solve” is a bit tenuous.
@Simon S
I too saw it that way but I thought the anno given above appears to be better. For, can ‘primarily’ be applied to two words preceding? That question lingers in our mind. “What you do” does seem to lead us to “A SOLVE”.
I’m firmly with Simon on 15. I SOLVE or I do A SOLUTION. No such animal as A SOLVE in my book but more than happy for the ‘primarily’ to apply to both ‘admitting’ and ‘burglary’.
Enjoyed this once I spotted the film which is a favourite of mine.
Thanks Scorpion and B&J
Struggled with the SW corner and only finished it by cheating – looking up 27ac here while covering the rest of the blog; it didn’t help that I’d misread the enumeration as (4,6). Anyway, that gave me enough letters to finish the rest of the SW corner. A facepalm moment when I got MCGILL – ~I thought it had to involve ‘mill’ somehow but just couldn’t see it for ages. On the other hand I saw the 8/11/12 theme as soon as I started.
Thanks, Scorpion and B&J.
I’m a bit late with this (running a day behind), but I think everyone has got the wrong end of the stick with 15. Surely it’s solve (what you do) after the initial letters of Admitting and Burglary to give the ab.
Never heard of McGill, so that was a bit of a struggle.
NealH at 5
That’s what Simon said in the 1st post and what I agreed with in the 3rd so not sure who ‘everyone’ is!