My first Screw (blogging-wise), and the last bit had me almost 23down. Thanks to Screw for a hard but enjoyable one. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Absolute idiot on top of Ned Flanders’s place (7)
ANTWERP : A(absolute;perfect;ideal) + [ TWERP(an idiot) placed after(on, in an across clue) the 1st letter of(top of) “Ned“. I’m not totally sure of A being a synonym for “absolute”. I’ve considered two other explanations: one with “on” as an unsatisfactory containment indicator, and another with “a” as an abbreviation that I can’t find in the references I have.
Defn: …, specifically a port in Flanders, the northern region of Belgium.
5 Beginning of bumpy roller coaster exposes boob (7)
BLOOPER : The 1st letter of(Beginning of) “bumpy “+ LOOPER(term for a roller coaster that, well, loops, incorporated in the names of a number of such roller coasters).
Defn: An error;a blunder.
9 Footballer in Arsenal trousers who practises first position? (9)
BALLERINA : Hidden in(… trousers) “Footballer in Arsenal”
Defn: …, ie. the first of standard placements of the feet in ballet.
10 Tip for napping, post vacation (5)
PRONG : PRO(for;in favour of) + “napping” minus all its inner letters(post vacation).
11 Rose regularly, always welcomed light (4)
RAYS : The 1st and 3rd letters of(… regularly) “Rose” containing(… welcomed) AY(poetic or archaic synonym of “always”)
12 Junk I can’t say to leave at home (10)
STAYCATION : Anagram of(Junk) I CAN’T SAY TO.
Defn: A vacation spent pursuing leisure activities whilst staying at home
14 Escaped frequent fines (3,3)
GOT OFF : [GO TO](to visit;to frequent) + F,F(plural of abbrev. of “fine”).
15 Frame Dave’s mate — relatively finished! (7)
CHASSIS : CHAS(one half of Chas ‘n’ Dave, English pop rock duo) plus(…-ly finished) SIS(a relative).
16 Chap from Santander‘s supply of loans (7)
ALFONSO : Anagram of(…’s supply) OF LOANS.
Defn: Name of a guy from, perhaps, Santander in northern Spain.
18 Supporting position of legal hooker? (6)
ONSIDE : [ON SIDE](on someone’s side;supporting someone).
Defn: In other words, in rugby rules, a position where the hooker can stand in a lineout without being offside, the latter forbidding him from interfering with play. Definitely not the position of a sex worker, legal or not.
20 Man set trap that’s crushed more than one flat (10)
APARTMENTS : Anagram of(…that’s crushed) MAN SET TRAP.
21 Girl‘s large — you see why in audition (4)
LUCY : L(abbrev. for “large”) + homophone of(… in audition) [“you” + “see” + “why”].
24 A shade closer to runner wearing sporty line (5)
OCHRE : Last letter of(closer to) “runner” contained in(wearing) OCHE(a line in the sports;game of darts behind which a player must stand to throw).
25 Buffet had menu, as open (9)
UNASHAMED : Anagram of(Buffet) HAD MENU, AS.
Defn: …;unconcealed;unabashed.
26 Harry and Mary — one of them works on the railway (7)
YARDMAN : Anagram of(Harry) AND MARY. “of them” confuses the defn., as it indicates a plural answer. The clue works just as well without those 2 words.
27 Thrill of thirteenth rally (7)
ENTHRAL : Hidden in(of) “thirteenth rally“.
Down
1 Light warning bank’s not opened (5)
AMBER : “camber”(a bank;a bend on a road, railway, track, etc. where the outside is built higher than the inside to reduce the effects of centrifugal force on vehicles) minus its 1st letter (…’s not opened).
2 Demanding cyclist cycles — call to get going (5-2)
TALLY-HO : TALL(demanding, as in “a tall order”) + HOY(Chris, former British champion cyclist, now racing driver) with its last letter moving to the start of the name(cycles).
Defn: …, at a hunt.
3 Senior official‘s vote in chamber’s first up (4)
EXEC : X(letter indicating a vote for) contained in(in) reversal of(… up) the 1st letter of(…’s first) “chamber” spelt out.
4 Last chance for ace? (5,2,2,6)
POINT OF NO RETURN : Cryptic defn: Reference to the point gained in tennis with an ace, a serve which the opponent can’t return.
5 One that almost sailed may be fat with tobacco jars (5,10)
BOATY MCBOATFACE : Anagram of(… jars) [ MAY BE FAT plus(with) TOBACCO ].
Defn: What the new British research ship would have been called, if a website poll had prevailed.
6 Help to raise issue? (4-1-5)
OOPS-A-DAISY : Cryptic defn: Exclamation when lifting a child into the air;help to raise issue.
7 Impostors had to start among trapped animals (7)
PHONIES : The 1st letter of(… to start) “had” contained in(among) PONIES(animals used to pull traps;light 2-wheeled carriages).
8 They’re temporarily on throne (on loo) (7)
REGENTS : RE(with reference to;on, as in “re the subject of”) + GENTS(a loo;a toilet, for males, where you would find thrones too)
13 Quickly finish drink by moving arm, set towards mouth (10)
DOWNSTREAM : DOWN(to quickly finish a drink) plus(by) anagram of(moving) ARM, SET.
Defn: … of a river.
16 Vote for right representatives of love (7)
AMATORY : [ AM A TORY ](as might be said by one who votes for representatives to Parliament from the right of the political spectrum).
17 Bulb one unexpectedly discovers! (7)
FLASHER : Double defn: 1. A bulb that is operated by a device that switches it on and off alternately; and 2nd: One who suddenly and unexpectedly uncovers;dis-covers his/her genitals in public.
19 Moon was this close to asteroid, more suspect (7)
DRUMMER : Last letter of(close to) “asteroid” + RUMMER(more suspect;odder;stranger).
Defn: What Keith Moon was in the English rock group, The Who.
22 Call when in range (5)
YODEL : Cryptic defn: A call where the voice’s pitch changes repeated and rapidly, traditionally used for communication in the Swiss Alpine range.
23 Guess marksman still finished (4)
SHOT : Multiple defn: 1st: A guess at something, as in “What am I thinking? Take a shot at it.”; and 2nd: … as in “he was a good shot”; and 3rd: A single photograph shot with a camera; and 4th: …;exhausted;in bad shape, as in “my feet are shot after that trek”.
Many thanks, scchua – v helpful blog as I could not completely parse 10ac (missed the “for” and was looking for synonyms for napping minus the middle letters) and missed the “trapped” allusion in 7d (was tutting as I thought the word was redundant – at best could only mean the H was “captured” – and only there for surface). Enjoyed the word but did not like 6d – a bit i,precise?
er: enjoyed the cross word …. 6d a bit imprecise?
Yes, indeed, a bit of a stiffy from Screw today (matron).
I think ‘A’ in 1ac is most likely the abb. for absolute (Kelvin scale) temperature.
Ballerina was a good misdirect as Alan Ball played for Arsenal (knowledge a dangerous thing sometimes). Thanks for parsing of ochre-I didnt know oche.
Nor did I know Boaty Mcboatface (sounds like Blackadder!) but sussed the anagrind and combined with the crossers took a guess/google and hey presto.
One of those puzzles that look simple enough in retrospect but induce much head-scratching at the time.
Great puzzle and blog. Cheers.
Thanks scchua and Screw.
Really enjoyed this. Too late to do a matron joke, because Grant already did that.
Let me just remark that where there is an Antwerp, I always expect to find a Dectwerp.
(I’ll get my coat.)
Thanks Screw and scchua.
At least in rugby union, the hooker doesn’t stand in the line, he throws the ball in these days. OOPS-A-DAISY is normally said, I think, when someone (a child) falls over, so maybe it could be a help in getting them back up again.
I’m not sure what non-UK solvers will make of this with Chas ‘n Dave, Keith Moon, TALLY-HO and the BOATY. I enjoyed it; I got a bit tied up in the SW corner though until I got AMATORY.
I particularly liked the FLASHER.
Thank you Screw and scchua.
Great fun, but I failed to parse CHASSIS and had to google BOATY to get MCBOATFACE and MOON to find the drummer; on the other hand I remembered OCHE from a Rufus puzzle in August.
Apt that scchua’s last solved was SHOT for “finished”!
POINT OF NO RETURN reminded me of Anto’s clue in the Quiptic that raised such a fuss last week
“Scored an ace? You must go on from this point.”
I wonder if it would have done so if Screw had set it?
Boaty McBoatface – argh – of course – missed that completely, even with all the checkers.
Chambers says oops-a-daisy comes from ups-a-daisy… not sure if daisy is a flower or a child…
I liked ALFONSO and DRUMMER – he certainly was.
Many thanks Screw and scchua
dutch @8, you might find this article from The Phrase Finder interesting, ups-a-daisy.
A is used for ‘absolute’ in Bar A, which is not the same a Bar G (Gauge).
Atmospheric pressure = 1 Bar A = 0 Bar G (approx).
Bar G is what you would normally see on a pressure gauge.
Grant @ 3: The abbreviation for Kelvin is K. It’s an absolute temperature scale, so an additional A would be tautology.
Very enjoyable, although I got stuck on ANTWERP. OOPS-A-DAISY definition still seems a bit odd to me: I associate the phrase with spilling something. Loved BOATY MCBOATFACE. Like Robi@6 I got stuck in the SW corner, not helped by initially putting in drayman instead of yardman. Many thanks to Screw and scchua.
Thanks to Screw and scchua. I found this one harder than many of the recent prize puzzles. At first I made no progress, but then I got YODEL, POINT OF NO RETURN, and DOWNSTREAM (and I knew “oche” from previous puzzles and had come across BOATY MCBOATFACE), so at least some other items followed. I parsed ALFONSO, but not TALLY-HO (I missed Chris Hoy) or DRUMMER. For me very tough going.
FYI 5d will be the name of one of the underwater vehicles on the new ship, so, strictly,’ it will “sail”
Very hard! Had to cheat on a couple and come here for the parsing of many more.
One overseas solver’s perspective for Robi @6: Boaty McBoatface got quite a bit of attention in the US, so I was familiar with that, and Keith Moon is a household name, at least to old folks like me, but I didn’t know about Chas and Dave or Hoy.
Sensical surfaces sacrificed on the altar of very (too?) clever “interiors”. Fear Anto would have got a right royal kicking for this.
Screw is now established as one of my favourite setters. Maybe I’m getting used to the style but this was easier than some of his have been, with some great clues. Favourites were LUCY, BOATY MCBOATFACE and PHONIES. FLASHER and OCHRE were the last two in.
Thanks to Screw and scchua
Thanks Screw and scchua
Hard, and a bit mixed. I particularly liked ANTWERP (lovely place to visit, by the way), BALLERINA and OCHRE. I didn’t parse GOT OFF, and I didn’t like “Chap from Santander” for ALFONSO – very vague – or FLASHER – most bulbs aren’t “flashers”, and “one unexpectedly discovers” seems to be the wrong way round.
I got and smiled at CHASSIS and DRUMMER, but again I thought they were rather unfair for younger solvers – the latter especially.
So many clues ending in question and exclamation marks (6) suggests a setter getting over-excited about being the Guardian. Mike Yarwood does Paul, but too many slips to be the real thing. My personal niggles …
4d – the point of no return is where you are after you have spurned the last chance
5d – the whole point of the Boaty McBoatface incident was that it got nowhere nearly sailing, in spite of the popular view
17d – use of sexually abusive behaviour for humorous effect
23d – multiple definition clue (ugh) – and an opportunity missed for a quintuple by putting “grape” on the end
Van Winkle @18
Originally (and often still used this way) the “point of no return” is where it is shorter to carry on to your destination than to try to return to your starting point.
Van Winkle @18 and muffin @19, originally the POINT OF NO RETURN was where an aircraft did not have enough fuel to return to its starting point.
Cookie
Yes, that’s more precise. One hopes that it had enough fuel to reach its destination, though!
Cookie and muffin – yes, but by that definition “the last chance” is what is left after the point of no return. It doesn’t describe the point itself. I am picking at nits here. It was near enough for the clue to be solvable but far enough away to leave (for me) a little niggle.
VW @22
Yes, I see what you mean. You could argue that the disputed Anto Quiptic clue that Cookie referred to earlier was actually a better use of the idea (if you look back at the blog, you will see that I thought it was a good clue at the time, I think!)
Like Herschel @15 I too found this a bit too tricksy for my liking.I like surfaces which make some sort of sense.
I’m sure this is not what Screw intended, but there’s an alternative way of looking at 5 dn, which is E (point) of NO return = ONE = “ace”.
Thanks Screw and scchua. I enjoyed the crossword, and Boaty makes me laugh no matter how many times I see it.
Can anyone elaborate on 16d for me? We need
“Vote for right representatives” = AM A TORY
and I can’t think of any word grouping or punctuation which makes that make sense.
I quite enjoyed this and started out well; as Beery Hiker says, I though it an easier Screw.
However the last handful took a bit of prodding – PRONG, ALFONSO and FLASHER. For the latter, dare I say a penis has a bulb, which could lead to a further, Pauline, interpretation!
Thanks scchua and Screw.
Cyborg @25
I am a Tory; I vote for right representatives.
Don’t quote me on this.
A tough one from one of my favourite setters.
Wrote in DRAYMAN for 26 since it is at least a word I’d heard of, which ruined my chances of actually finishing.
I’m still not sure how SIS is “relatively finished”?
Simon @28
SIS(ter) is a relative
Simon@28 – I also put in drayman, but realised my error as the letters really didn’t fit with the crossers.
This was difficult and I can’t say I enjoyed it very much. I got very bogged down in the NW corner and ended up guessing a couple- AMBER,TALLY HO and I didn’t see BALLERINA for ages. Put off by the term “football” of course. I took a punt on BOATY MCBOATFACE and I did like DRUMMER and CHASSIS. BLOOPER was a bit painful but it did make me laugh once I’d got it.
Thanks Screw.
Thanks Screw and scchua,
Keith Moon died when I was 3 but he is still a well known iconic figure. Chas and Dave, though… never heard of ’em. But it’s a British newspaper so if you Brits know who they are then I guess that’s fine.
I found this a bit easier than yesterday’s Imogen. Getting BOATY MCBOATFACE and POINT OF NO RETURN early on provided a lot of helpful crossers.
Like Cyborg, I also thought AMATORY was poor but now see that ‘vote’ should be read as a verb, not a noun, to make the definition work.
I enjoyed this because I enjoy crosswords, and I had little difficulty with it, but some of the indications in the clues raised doubts in my mind at the time and still do:
– ‘Chap from Santander’ in 16a
– ‘cyclist cycles’ in 2d
– ‘Last chance’ in 4d
– ‘One that almost sailed’ in 5d
– ‘Help to raise issue’ in 6d
– ‘trapped animals’ in 7d
(Some of these have been noted already.)
In the end, none of these left me stuck or led me to the wrong answers – they just took the shine off what was a cleverly constructed crossword with some excellent clues, of which my favourites were
5a BLOOPER
14a GOT OFF
15a CHASSIS
8d REGENTS
13d DOWNSTREAM
19d DRUMMER
Thanks to Screw and scchua.
Thanks, PeterO @27, and apologies for making you type that. I guess that makes it a double definition of sorts, where one of the definitions is a subjectless sentence. I dislike it more than ever, but never mind, I’m all in favour of the rest.
I am always a happy fellow when I discover the day’s puzzle is by Screw. After this solve (although not his best) I shall continue to react that way.
For myself, I like a “tricksy” puzzle, particularly on a Thursday, and if anything I’d have liked this to be more so.
Many thanks to Screw and scchua.
Timeless advice to all setters and possibly even Screw today: “Read over your crossword, and where ever you meet with a clue which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”
Another puzzle in desperate need of an editor.
On the whole this was pathetic and had no place in national daily!
P.S. I hated it.
Cyborg @ 25 is right. “Am a tory” doesn’t work as a phrase on its own and like Cyborg, I can’t see any context in which the phrase would be used; it needs inclusion of the first person to make sense of it (as demonstrated by Peter O @ 27) which would make the answer “Iamatory”. The two halves of the clue do not, therefore, work together.
I’ve never heard of a bulb being called a flasher (a light maybe) but I assumed it was a variant of flashbulb. Also I thought “uncovered” would have made the clue better (when you expose something you uncover it not discover it).
I enjoyed most of the rest though.
Colin Sopp@38, re 17across. As per my explanation, “discovered” is to be read as “dis-covered”, with the prefix indicating the negative sense, as in “disobey”, “dislike”, etc. The fact that the word is to be interpreted as such is just part of the crypticness of the clue.
As no-one’s mentioned it so far, King Alfonso XIII had a palace in Santander
The subject is also absent from the clue. So “Am a Tory” and “Vote right…” share the implied first person pronoun. Works well enough for me 🙂
Muffin @29 –
Thanks, but I know what a sister is, I have one 😉 But why “finished”? Some sort of reference to it being abbreviated? I’m not convinced by it, if so.
Because it finishes off the answer.
Various King Alfonsos had a link with Santander
I’m obviously particularly dense because no one else has mentioned this, but I don’t understand why ‘post vacation’ can possibly mean ‘minus all its inner letters’ in 10ac. Can someone enlighten me?
@dougal To vacate something is to leave it empty, so a vacation could be seen as the word minus its interior letters.
Loved the crossword. Surprised more fuss wasn’t made over the secondary anagram of ‘cyclist’.