Scorpion set today’s puzzle. Thursday is often a theme day.
Although there was a theme you didn’t have to know it. Most of the across entries are the surnames of current or former newsreaders on British television. I counted eleven entries that fell into this category, as follows:
Leonard PARKIN;
Huw EDWARDS;
Fiona BRUCE;
Anna FORD;
Moira STUART;
Mary NIGHTINGALE;
Mark AUSTIN;
Sandy GALL;
Richard BAKER; and
Peter and Jon SNOW
There were three clues today that used the first and last letters of a word as part of the wordplay. Each was clued differently though , ‘outside’ for the BA from BRENDA, ‘extremes’ for the TE from TEMPERATURE and ‘coat’ for the NU from NASSAU.
To me, this puzzle was just right for a midweek national daily puzzle – not too easy, not too difficult and no obscure words forced on the setter by the positioning of the theme words. TIMPANIC and KABBALIST were perhaps the most obscure but both were clued fairly gently.
As well as having a theme, the puzzle is a pangram
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
7
|
Activity of driver after stoppin’ for cake (6)
|
PARKIN‘ (after stopping the car, a driver might consider PARKING it next) PARKIN |
PARKIN (biscuit or gingerbread made with oatmeal and treacle; cake)
|
|
9
|
Newsman watches triple jumper (7)
|
ED (editor; newsman) + WARDS (watches [over]) ED WARDS |
EDWARDS (reference Jonathan EDWARDS [born 1966],British athlete, multi golf medallist and world record holder in the triple jump)
|
|
10
|
Preserve black part of doorway? (4)
|
JAM (preserve) + B (black, as an indicator of softness of pencil lead) JAM B |
JAMB (sidepiece or post of a door)
|
|
11
|
Aussie maybe in olden days describing Wallabies’ game (5)
|
BCE (Before Common Era, used [to be culturally neutral] instead of BC [Before Christ] in numbering the years before the current era; in olden days) containing (describing) RU (Rugby Union; the Wallabies is the name for the Australian Rugby Union team) B (RU) CE |
BRUCE (At one time , the name BRUCE was so widespread in Australia that, it became a nickname for any Ozzie man)
|
|
12
|
Crossing beneficial to little daughter (4)
|
FOR (beneficial to) + D (abbreviation for [little] daughter) FOR D |
FORD (crossing)
|
|
13
|
Artist’s agent rejected one duty in five (8)
|
(I [Roman numeral for one] + TAX [duty]) all reversed (rejected and contained in (in) FIVE FI (XAT I)< VE |
FIXATIVE (a chemical primarily used by a photographer, a type of artist after developing a negative. May have other users for different types of artist)
|
|
15
|
Royal house pioneer owns open to all (6)
|
START (pioneer) containing (owns) U (category of a film that can be viewed by people of all ages; open to all) ST (U) ART |
STUART (reference the Royal house of STUART [late 14th century to 1714] whose members reigned in Scotland, England and the bit of the United Kingdom of Great Britain that existed from 1707)
|
|
17
|
Bird almost ready to face strong wind (11)
|
NIGH (near; almost) + TIN (money; ready) + GALE (strong wind) NIGH TIN GALE |
NIGHTINGALE (bird)
|
|
21
|
Jurgen’s out, close to limit in old car (6)
|
AUS (German [Jurgen] for out) + T (last letter of [close to] LIMIT) + IN AUS T IN |
AUSTIN (reference AUSTIN Motor Company making cars from 1905 to 1952 when it became part of BMC [British Motor Corporation]) The AUSTIN marque continued in use until 1987)
|
|
23
|
Lyricist Rice heard sudden dread of a drum (8)
|
TIM (first name of lyricist TIM Rice) + PANIC (sudden dread) I think ‘heard’ is just a link word to make the clue read better. There is no homophone as his name is TIM TIM PANIC |
TIMPANIC (descriptive of kettledrums)
|
|
24
|
Some retired villagers showing bitterness (4)
|
GALL (hidden word [some] reversed [retired] in VILLAGERS) GALL< |
GALL (bitterness)
|
|
26
|
Regulars inside keen to plug pub job (5)
|
KE (letters 1 and 3 [regulars] of KEEN) contained in (to plug) BAR (public house; pub) BA (KE) R |
BAKER (example of a job)
|
|
28
|
Weather condition broadcast around noon (4)
|
SOW (broadcast) containing (around) N (noon) S (N) OW |
SNOW (example of a weather condition)
|
|
29
|
Truth circulated about financial centre in European city (7)
|
Anagram of (circulated) TRUTH containing (about) EC (post code of the London financial centre) UTR (EC) HT* |
UTRECHT (European City)
|
|
30
|
Tank once used to attack unknown ruler (6)
|
PAN (criticise; attack) + Z (letter frequently used to denote an unknown value in mathematics) + ER (Elizabeth Regina, Queen Elizabeth; ruler) PAN Z ER |
PANZER (German tank, used in World War II)
|
| Down | |||
|
1
|
Brenda’s outside, given very little air in site of Oktoberfest (7)
|
BA (first and last letters of [outside] BRENDA) + V (abbreviation for [little] VERY) + ARIA (song; air) BA V ARIA |
BAVARIA (the Oktoberfest beer festival is held in Munich, Bavaria. This year it runs from 16th September to 3rd October)
|
|
2
|
Posh element round refuse to shun rich uncle, primarily (8)
|
SN (chemical symbol for the element tin) + O (round shape) + RUBBISH (refuse) excluding (to shun) RU (first letters of [primarily] RICH and UNCLE) SN O BBISH |
SNOBBISH (posh)
|
|
3
|
Dandy‘s tie making a statement (4)
|
BEAU (sounds like [making a statement] BOW [tie]) BEAU |
BEAU (dandy)
|
|
4
|
After time, gardener may pull up these clothing items (6)
|
T (time) + WEEDS (a gardener is very likely to pull up WEEDS) T WEEDS |
TWEEDS (clothes made from a rough woolen cloth)
|
|
5
|
Academic briefly replacing priest heading north (4)
|
(FOR [replacing] + P [priest]) reversed (heading north; down clue) (P ROF)< |
PROF (brief nomenclature for a PROFessor [academic briefly])
|
|
6
|
American touring definitely close to tiger sharks? (7)
|
US (United States; American) containing (touring) (SURE [definitely] + R [last letter of {close to} TIGER]) U (SURE R) S |
USURERS (moneylenders who impose a punitive rate of interest; money sharks)
|
|
8
|
Mystic‘s spirit, over two books, followed by celebrity type (9)
|
KA (the spirit or soul within a person) + B (book) + B (book) giving books + A-LIST (descriptive of a type of celebrity) KA BB ALIST |
KABBALIST (variant spelling of CABBALIST [mystic])
|
|
14
|
Order policemen, in extremes of temperature, to retreat (5)
|
(CID [Criminal Investigation Department; policemen] contained in [in] TE [first and last letters of [extremes of] TEMPERATURE) all reversed (to retreat) (E (DIC) T)< |
EDICT (order)
|
|
16
|
Vagrant is snugly embracing area like the back end of a bus(4,2,3) |
Anagram of (vagrant) IS SNUGLY containing (embracing) A (area) UGLY (A) S SIN* |
UGLY AS SIN (look particularly hideous; ‘back end of a bus’ is a phrase with a similar meaning) |
|
18
|
Teeth become more noticeable after such confectionery? (8)
|
If your GUM DROPS then your teeth will become more noticeable
|
GUMDROPS (gelatinous sweets) I can’t remember when I last saw a tube of Rowntree’s fruit GUMs
|
|
19
|
Advance towards a landing-place, mostly underwater (7)
|
SUB (advance payment) + A + QUAY (landing place)excluding the final letter (mostly) Y SUB A QUA |
SUBAQUA (under water)
|
|
20
|
Prejudiced British one offering encouragement to Edward (7)
|
B (British) + I (one) + GO (a word offering encouragement) + TED (Edward) B I GO TED |
BIGOTED (prejudiced)
|
|
22
|
Leather coat from Nassau obtained with US money (6)
|
NU (first and last letters of [coat from] NASSAU) + BUCK (US dollar) NU BUCK |
NUBUCK (leather made from cowhide but treated to resemble suede) |
|
25
|
Learning lives of Roman Emperors (earliest only) (4)
|
LORE (first letters of [earliest only] each of LIVES OF ROMAN and EMPERORS) LORE |
LORE (learning, of a special, traditional, or out-of-the-way miscellaneous kind)
|
|
27
|
One’s flown east with Christopher (4)
|
KIT (Christopher) + E (East) KIT E |
KITE (a light frame covered with paper or cloth for flying in the air)
|
Aargh! Newsreaders! Thank you for putting me out of my thematic misery, Duncan…I had allowed Bruce and Baker to take me in a creamy musical direction and Kite to have me looking for golfers.
many thanks to Scorpion too.
I found this really tough, for some reason but got there in end. I think 23a is TYMPANIC: Chambers gives that spelling and it explains the ‘Tim’ homophone.
Thanks to Duncan and Scorpion. I’m off for a little lie down.
My first Scorpion. Though I started well, I did appropriately enough find this nice and stingy at the tail end. I thought I was likely not going to finish – and I didn’t actually, because though I managed to get the rest I couldn’t quite remember the 8d word and put in KIBBALIST, deciding that KI was a variant of QI.
I agree with Grant above about TYMPANIC.
Oh, and I’m a thematic failure too, but that’s not really news.
So I shall retire to nurse my stings but will be back again anon for another battle.
Thanks to Scorpion and Duncan.
Good fun, with the appearance of several names I hadn’t heard of or thought about for many years. A few unparsed but all in eventually, including the guessed KABBALIST. ‘Jarryd’ (several variant spellings) now seems to be the new antipodean BRUCE – maybe it’s time to update the Monty Python sketch. UGLY AS SIN brought a smile.
Thanks to Duncan and Scorpion
Great stuff. I cottoned onto the theme midway and it definitely helped polish off some of the trickier across-ers. UGLY AS SIN was very good. Ditto PARKIN
Much thanks to S&B
I’m a bit out of the loop for that theme seeing I am situated in the Antipodes.
Bruce and Baker…yes
Austin and Ford…yep too
but connecting them is out of my radar.
Nice puzzle and blog.Thanks to all.
Enjoyable toughie that beat me by five in the end, though things might’ve been different had I put the theme together as three of them were anchors. Fave clue was 16d for its def and it bringing to mind my dear departed drunkard of a Grandpa who used that term, as well as the possibly unique to him ‘face like a tram smash’, to describe anybody he deemed ugly as sin. Many thanks to Scorpion for the puzzle and to DS for the enlightenment.