Something of a challenge form Julius. There is plenty to go at in here, a few straightforward clues but mostly downright deviousness. Vey enjoyable, thanks Julius.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BASIS | Foundation degree awarded to little sister(5) |
| BA (degree) and SIS (sister) | ||
| 4 | See 3 | |
| 9 | ORACLES | They offer wise words: inshore boats a non-starter (7) |
| cORACLES (inshore boats) not starting | ||
| 10 | CARRY-ON | The palaver of hand luggage on American Airlines? (5-2) |
| double definition | ||
| 11 | THE LONE RANGER | Let a greenhorn develop into role behind the mask (3,4,6) |
| anagram (develop) of LET A GREENHORN | ||
| 14 | AWAY | American women forever travelling (4) |
| A (American) W (women) AY (forever) | ||
| 15 | SOBRIQUET | Name for special old piece of charcoal (9) |
| S (special) O (old) BRIQUET (piece of charcoal) | ||
| 18 | COURTESAN | She’s using precautions; no need for private investigator (9) |
| anagram PRECAUTIONS missing PI (private investigator) | ||
| 19, 3, 20 | HI HO SILVER LINING | 23’s hit sound of 11’s cry before 14 added material (2,2,6,6) |
| HI HO SILVER away! (The Lone Ranger’s cry) LINING (added material) – song made famous by Jeff Beck | ||
| 21 | EALING STUDIOS | Piercing revealing stud I ostentatiously set (6,7) |
| found inside (piercing) revEALING STUD I OStentatiously – bravo! | ||
| 24 | ICE FALL | Glacial cliff face unstable? I’ll go round (3,4) |
| FACE* anagram=unstable inside I’LL | ||
| 26 | TRITONE | Vocal campaign to prosecute Blair coming after a long interval? (7) |
| sounds like (vocal) “try” (campaign to prosecute) followed by (with…coming after) TONE (Tony Blair) | ||
| 27 | SPARE TYRE | Something needed for flat stomach? (5,4) |
| double definition | ||
| 28 | GREEK | Attic’s first signs of giant rodent; I’m scared! (5) |
| first letters (signs) of Giant Rodent then EEK (I’m scared) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BOOK | Quick work to follow 3 20 22! (4) |
Silver Linings Playbook (SILVER LINING SPLAY BOOK) is a novel written by Matthew Quick, a “quick work”. Thanks to Eileen for this gem. |
||
| 2 | SMART CASUAL | Savvy contract worker: “no need for ties” (5,6) |
| SMART (savvy) and CASUAL (contract worker) | ||
| 3, 4 across | SILVER RING THING | Virgin’s undertaking change to telephone night shift (6,4,5) |
| SILVER (loose change) RING (to telephone) anf NIGHT* anagram=shift – a US movement to promote no-sex before marriage | ||
| 4 | RESPONSES | Penny, working in topless dresses, gets plenty of feedback! (9) |
| P (penny) ON (working) inside dRESSES (topless) | ||
| 5 | NICHE | Special location for hotel in Riviera city (5) |
| H (hotel) in NICE (Riviera city) | ||
| 6 | TERRAPIN | To some extent, gangster rap influenced one of The Turtles (8) |
| found inside (to some extent) gangsTER RAP INfluenced | ||
| 7 | IVY | Merchant’s partner stripping away gold wall covering (3) |
| IVorY (Ismail Merchant’s partner) missing OR (gold) | ||
| 8 | GENERATION | I shunned bottled spirit allowance for about 30 years (10) |
| GENiE (bottled spirit) missing I then RATION (allowance) | ||
| 12 | GO UP IN SMOKE | Pokemon’s Graphical User Interface reboot to crash and burn? (2,2,2,5) |
| anagram (reboot) of POKEMON’S and GUI (Graphical User Interface) | ||
| 13 | TAX CREDITS | Fiscal loosening created by drastic external shock? (3,7) |
| anagram (shock) of DRASTIC and EXT (external) | ||
| 16 | BANQUETTE | Seated here at dinner, uninvited guest fails to finish half of omelette (9) |
| BANQo (uninvited guest in Macbeth, failing to finish) and omlETTE (half of) | ||
| 17 | STONE AGE | Eton Mess with a herb crust 25 (5,3) |
| ETON* anagram=mess inside (with a ….crust) SAGE (herb) | ||
| 20 | LINING | Heather is wearing fashionable vintage drawers (6) |
| LING contains (is wearing) IN (fashionable) – obsolete term for underclothing, drawers | ||
| 22 | SPLAY | Slope to climb; last of snowy peaks? (5) |
| reversal (to climb) of snowY (last letter) and ALPS (peaks) | ||
| 23 | BECK | Give the nod to Miss Sharp, Thackeray’s ultimate failure (4) |
| BECKy Sharp (character form Vanity Fair) missing (failure of) thackeraY (ultimate, last letter of) | ||
| 25 | ERA | The age of regular appearances of tear gas? (3) |
| regular selection from tEaR gAs | ||
*anagram
definitions are underlined
Thanks, PeeDee for a great blog of another superb puzzle from Julius.
It was sheer delight to uncover all the layers and I learned a lot on the way – including that Matthew Quick wrote SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, so 1dn is BOOK [my last in!]
Huge thanks to Julius – I loved it!
Great puzzle but Jeff Beck would be embarrassed by the memory of that track-he’s a tad better than that.(maybe he was coerced into it by Mickey Most-maybe he needed a new engine in one of his motors) But the theme was a bit wider than that.(maybe themes with Carry on and Ealing Studios )Loved BANQUETTE.
Ta for blog
Hi Peedee, devious indeed. 1dn is BOOK. You have to read the clue as “Silver Linings Play****” instead of splay as a separate word. The Silver Linings Playbook” is a work by Matthew Quick.
Thanks do both B and S !!
Regards
TL
Eileen – working off the phone so didn’t see your comment on 1dn. Makes me wonder if there is a deep theme to this puzzle.
TL
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick is a novel. No, I’d never heard of it either.
compus @2 – the Carry On films were all made at Pinewood
All very entertaining as always from Julius. I must admit that HI HO SILVER LINING suggested itself from the enumeration, which made BECK, SPLAY and BOOK write-ins (the latter because I’d heard of the film, it is one of those titles you hear once and it sticks, not the book). Still took me a while to get my last in SILVER RING THING, and expression that was at best distantly familiar. Liked SPARE TYRE.
Thanks to Julius and PeeDee
Hi ho etc opened it up nicely for me. Nice to see old favourites like ling making a welcome re-appearance. And nice to see Julius making an even more welcome re-appearance. What an entertaining stable of setters at the FT these days! Thanks PD.
Thank you PeeDee for the blog and to those who commented on the puzzle. I hope to meet some of you in York later this month.
Speaking of Banquo, time to put the kettle on before Fassbender and Cotillard on Film4.
Warmest regards, Rob/Julius
Thanks again, Rob – looking forward to meeting you in York.
I meant to say earlier how much I enjoyed the uninvited guest – and SPARE TYRE, which reminded me of one of my all-time favourite Rufus clues: ‘Gluttons may have one; Alexander the Great didn’t (5,4)’.
There were some really good clues here. Sadly the setter chose to go OTT with 1dn & 23dn which spoilt this crossword for me.
Oh, and 3, 4 was unforgivable too. Silver Ring Thing? What?
Thanks Julius and PeeDee
What a classy puzzle…not sure that I’ve done one of his before. The cross referencing to other clues based around SILVER was very clever and led me into several places of new learning – the book, song and the virgin club. A sign of my times that THE LONE RANGER was an immediate write-in !!
Loved the variety of clue devices used throughout the puzzle and some of the clever definitions – “Quick work” as the best of the best !
Finished in the SW corner with TAX CREDITS and AWAY the last couple in and a sigh of contentment when they did.