Scorpion has produced today’s puzzle for our stimulation and delectation.
Tuesday’s puzzle often has a theme to it or a Nina around its perimeter, although I have found no trace of either, despite the grid lending itself to the latter. However, the completed grid is a pangram.
For me, this was pitched at exactly the right level of difficulty for a mid-week puzzle, with neither too many write-ins on offer nor too much head-scratching needed to get the puzzle solved. That said, I struggled towards the end in the NE quadrant, where, still having 4, 5 and 11 still to solve, I realised that we were in pangram territory and convinced myself that the Danish region at 5 had to be Jutland, since we had still not used the “j”; Zealand, which ultimately offered the missing “z”, didn’t occur to me until right at the very end.
My favourite clues today are 1, for misdirection; 25, for surface; and 26, in which the split between definition and wordplay bisects “centre // spread”.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 06 | TERRIBLE | Loose belt brought about blunder with one’s pants
[ERR (=blunder) + I (=one)] in *(BELT); “loose” is anagram indicator |
| 08 | USE UP | You texted message, latterly interrupting drink to finish
U (=”you” texted, i.e. SMS language for you) + [<messag>E (“latterly” means last letter only) in SUP (=drink)] |
| 10 | BOLD | Forward, in commentary, unleashed ball at Old Trafford
Homophone (“in commentary”) of “bowled” (=unleashed ball at Old Trafford, the cricket ground) |
| 11 | UNMETALLED | Type of road copper perhaps controlled with an Alsatian
UN (=an Alsatian, i.e. the French word for an) + METAL (=copper perhaps) + LED (=controlled) |
| 12 | GREAT | Vast garden ants regularly frequented
G<a>R<d>E<n> A<n>T<s>; “regularly frequented” means alternate letters only are used |
| 13 | EXCITANT | Stimulating outlet worker holding conversation at the entrance
C<onversation> (“at the entrance” means first letter only) in [EXIT (=outcome) + ANT (=worker)] |
| 15 | ABETTOR | Risk breaking into account that’s drained with gold accessory
[BET (=risk) in A<ccoun>T (“that’s drained” means that all but first and last letters are used)] + OR (=gold); an abettor is an accessory to a crime |
| 17 | UNREADY | Ignorant Yankee’s hesitating
UNREAD (=ignorant, uneducated) + Y (=Yankee, i.e. in radio telecommunications) |
| 20 | BARATHEA | Maybe saloon drivers describing the coating
BAR (=maybe saloon) + [THE in AA (=drivers, i.e. Automobile Association)]; barathea is a soft fabric of worsted or of worsted and silk |
| 22 | EQUIP | Supply online joke?
Cryptically, an e-quip would be an online joke, cf. e-commerce, e-mail, etc |
| 24 | ATTRIBUTES | Properties built by Scottish island resident in rocky strait
BUTE (=Scottish island) in *(STRAIT); “rocky” is anagram indicator |
| 26 | SOWN | Admit being stuck on issue’s centre spread
<is>S<ue> (“centre” means middle letter only) + OWN (=admit) |
| 27 | BRUCE | Couple, anyone can see, preferred over Australian – such as him?
BRACE (=couple); “anyone can see (=U, of film)” preferred over Australian (=A)” means letter “u” replaces letter “a” |
| 28 | REROOFED | Protected building again, restoring order (covering of earth)
[OF + E (=earth)] in *(ORDER); “restoring” is anagram indicator |
| Down | ||
| 01 | MEKONG | Around Northern fair, masterpiece turned up, depicting flower
[N (=northern) + OK (=fair, as adjective)] in GEM (=masterpiece); “turned up” indicates (here full) vertical reversal; the Mekong is an Asian river, i.e. a “flow-er” |
| 02 | GRADIENT | Perhaps 1 in 5 fail to put in donation
DIE (=to fail) in GRANT (=donation) |
| 03 | VERMEER | Really briefly, this person let me see paintings by him?
VER<y> (=really; “briefly” means last letter dropped) + ME (=this person, i.e. Scorpion) + ER (=let me see, i.e. hesitation); the reference is to Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (1632-75) |
| 04 | JUST | Gravy boat’s side is upright
JUS (=gravy, from French) + <boa>T (“side” here means last letter); the “upright” of the definition means decent, honourable |
| 05 | ZEALOT | Extremist‘s from Danish region, and going to rising
ZEAL<and> (=Danish region; “and going” means letters “and” are dropped) + OT (TO; “rising” indicates vertical reversal) |
| 07 | BLUETOOTH | Communication system down? One’s possibly used to the drill
BLUE (=down, depressed) + TOOTH (=one’s possibly used to the (dentist’s) drill) |
| 09 | PREENED | Smartened appearance before office tottie finally returned
PRE- (=before) + ENED (DEN=office, workplace + <totti>E; “finally” means last letter only; “returned” indicates reversal) |
| 14 | CONFESSOR | Kid presenting female with fresh roses – one opens up
CON (=kid, deceive, as verb) + F (=female) + *(ROSES); “fresh” is anagram indicator |
| 16 | BRAN TUB | Lottery support, unspecified number, nevertheless uplifting
BRA (=support) + N (=unspecified number) + TUB (BUT=nevertheless; “uplifting” indicates reversal) |
| 18 | EMULSION | Decorator may apply this row, coating Iain’s chimney upwards
LUM (=Iain’s chimney, i.e. Scottish word) in NOISE (=row); “upwards” indicates (here full) vertical reversal |
| 19 | BASTARD | False celebrity with awful clothing
STAR (=celebrity) in BAD (=awful) |
| 21 | AIR GUN | Endless quarrel about current new weapon
[I (=current, in physics) in ARGU<e> (=quarrel; “endless” means last letter dropped)] + N (=new) |
| 23 | POWDER | Might stores start to denounce cosmetic?
D<enounce> (“start to” means first letter only) in POWER (=might; strength, as noun) |
| 25 | BEET | Gathering time for root vegetable
BEE (=gathering, i.e. for a particular activity, e.g. knitting bee) + T (=time) |
I found this a real challenge with a few roadblocks along the way, though answers went in just regularly enough to keep frustration at bay. A few new words / terms including BRAN TUB, BARATHEA (for which I guessed ‘carathea’) and some I couldn’t parse such as BRUCE. Head-scratching definitely needed for my two favourites MEKONG and GRADIENT.
Thanks to Scorpion and RatkojaRiku
Thanks for the parsing of JUST- I got it because J was the only one missing from the boxed set.Very enjoyable puzzle.
There does in fact seem to be quite an extensive theme in this one, with many of the solutions being epithets/nicknames for (mostly) kings. I can find 10 of these, although I might have missed some.
A late “chapeau” for a very fine puzzle by Scorpion. Full of lovely twists and turns. I was beaten by 1d but there’s no Shane in that.
Shame, obviously.
This one defeated me. Got about half of it.