A mainly straightforward Prize Puzzle this week. Thank you Imogen.
There are a few business-related entries in here BUSINESS PARK, AUCTION, FAIR TRADE, PARTS COMPANY, (James) DYSON, (Alan) SUGAR, NON PROFIT and SOCIETY. Also, as partial solutions, we have FIRM and CONCERN. Is this just a random collection of terms or does it hint at something?
| Across | ||
| 1 | BUSINESS PARK | Hopelessly busk in sparse industrial area (8,4) |
| anagram (hopelessly) of BUSK IN SPARSE | ||
| 8 | AUCTION | Sale of uniform needed in armed conflict (7) |
| U (uniform) in ACTION (armed conflict) | ||
| 9 | ELASTIC | Stretcher, only one left in the city? (7) |
| LAST I (last one, only one left) in EC (The City of London, from postal code) | ||
| 11 | THICKER | Not so clever comparing blood to water (7) |
| blood is THICKER than water | ||
| 12 | PILLION | Contraceptive best on back seat (7) |
| PILL (contraceptive) I (1st, best) then ON | ||
| 13 | SUGAR | Contributor to obesity, odd portions of soup and fish (5) |
| SoUp (odd letters of) and GAR (a fish) | ||
| 14 | FAIR TRADE | Just nip back east for such ethical products (4,5) |
| FAIR (just) DART (nip) reversed (back) then E (east) | ||
| 16 | INCUBATED | Carefully nurtured in island, amusing priest (9) |
| IN then CUBA (island) and TED (Father Ted, amusing priest) | ||
| 19 | DYSON | Daughter curious about manufacturer (5) |
| D (daughter) then NOSY (curious) reversed (about) | ||
| 21 | MIRRORS | Reflects what is deceptive with smoke (7) |
| double definition | ||
| 23 | CHANCER | He takes a risk, flipping over side of ulcer (7) |
CHANCRE (ulcer) with one side (…RE) reversed (flipped over) |
||
| 24 | SLOE GIN | Succeeded with computer access, quaffing energy drink (4,3) |
| S (succeeded) with LOGIN (computer access) containing (quaffing) E (energy) | ||
| 25 | ROSWELL | Rooms regularly needed in good condition, where visitors reportedly crashed (7) |
| RoOmS (regularly needed) then WELL (in good condition) – site of supposed alien landing | ||
| 26 | PARTS COMPANY | Leaves one supplying components (5,7) |
| double definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BACKING | Support going counterclockwise (7) |
| double definition | ||
| 2 | SHIRKER | Quiet pest not pulling his weight (7) |
| SH (quiet) IRKER (pest, one who irks) | ||
| 3 | NON-PROFIT | No fool engages academic for charity (3-6) |
| NO NIT (fool) contains (engages) PROF (academic) | ||
| 4 | SHEEP | Creature, small crawler (5) |
| S (small) HEEP (Uriah Heep, crawler) | ||
| 5 | PLAYLET | Small drama in resolution of tennis controversy? (7) |
| to PLAY LET is to resolve a tennis controversy | ||
| 6 | RETSINA | A white stair rail is put up, not black (7) |
| bANISTER (stair rail) reversed (is put up) missing B (black) – a white wine | ||
| 7 | CANTUS FIRMUS | Hypocrisy over partnership in the Americas, a persistent theme (6,6) |
| CANT (hypocrisy) on FIRM (partnership) inside US US (the Americas, America twice) | ||
| 10 | CONCERN TROLL | Dishonest sympathiser new in gig, with something on the drums? (7,5) |
| N (new) in CONCERT (gig) then ROLL (something on the drums) | ||
| 15 | INDECORUM | Popular sort of art leads to weird bad behaviour (9) |
| IN (popular) DECO (sort of art) then (that leads to) RUM(weird) | ||
| 17 | CORDOBA | Wow! Take undergraduate course in Spanish city (7) |
| COR (wow!) then DO BA (take undergraduate course) | ||
| 18 | BROUGHT | Transported, am out of carriage on time (7) |
| BROUGHam (carriage) missing AM on T (time) | ||
| 19 | DEAD SEA | Directly observe in sound a body of water (4,3) |
| DEAD (directly) then SEA sounds like (in sound) “see”(observe) | ||
| 20 | SOCIETY | Coy, I set out for the fashionable world (7) |
| anagram (out) of COY I SET | ||
| 22 | SONIC | Really pleasant, endless sort of boom (5) |
| SO (really) NICe (pleasant, endless) | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
Many thanks to Imogen and PeeDee.
Yes, pretty straightforward, although hadn’t heard of 7 & 10 before.
For 23 – I had CHANCRE as the “ulcer”, with its “side” (ER) flipped.
Thanks PeeDee. I agree with jkb_ing about chancre which I can thankfully say was a new word for me, as was 7d, both of which I had to look up. I needed to confirm 10d too. I thought 12a was PILL + number one (No1) or best backwards.
The previous speaker is surely right – not that I’d ever heard of that!
Did you see that in the four long ones around the perimeter we had: business, concern, company and firm?
An OK puzzle but I cannot say that it’s one of The Guardian’s highlights, I’m afraid.
Thanks to Imogen and PeeDee
In solving 23A CHANCER, I read it differently: CHANCRE (‘ulcer’) with one ‘side’ RE flipped. I was dubious about the ulcer bit, as I thought a chancre was a swelling under unbroken skin, but Wikipedia describes it as an ulceration.
Thanks to Imogen and PeeDee. I opted for CHANCER (though the term sounded odd to me) and also had trouble with DEAD as “directly.” CONCERN TROLL was new to me. Once again the “prize” puzzle was (for me) easier than several this past week.
I found this enjoyable for the most part but did not get 25a ROSWELL, 7d CANTUS FIRMUS or 10d CONCERN TROLL, not having heard of any of them. Googling the supposed alien landing at Roswell led to a fascinating tale.
Well done to PeeDee and Sil@3 for spotting those “business” links, which made reading the blog interesting.
26a PARTS COMPANY and 6d RETSINA were my favourites. I liked the allusions to the sayings “blood is thicker than water” (11a) and “it’s all smoke and mirrors” (21a), which were another appealing feature of the puzzle.
Thanks to Imogen, PeeDee and contributors to the blog.
In 23a I read it as CHANC(RE<), too. That is surely right. I had heard the word but had to check it.
Can't believe I couldn't think of SHEEP till I had crossers even though I'd parsed the clue.
CONCERN TROLL was new to me. I got ROLL, and thought TROLL the only possibility, but it was only when I thought of CONCERT for "gig" that I was able to look up this internet phenomenon. It seems a dubious concept open to abuse to me.
SHIRKER raised am interesting point of clue grammar for me, as it struck me that it was an adjectival def for a nounal answer, but I think the pronoun "his" makes it rightly point to the answer. "Not pulling one’s weight” would only be right for an adjectival answer though, I think. Am I wrong?
CANTUS FIRMUS was also new to me.
Thanks PeeDee. The SE was devilish, with CONCERN TROLL and ROSWELL far too recondite and DYSON too: but they did slip into consciousness in the semi-awake period on Sunday morning. Good challenge, thanks Imogen.
Thanks for the blog PeeDee, and I do find them enormously helpful. Often it’s much easier to get the clue than to parse it, for me at least, and it’s very educational to see how the clues work. I got most of this out, with the help of various dictionaries and so on, but was totally stuck on the daughter and the visitors – Roswell didn’t even occur to me. I got as far as nosy for the daughter but failed to get Dyson out of it.
Unusually straightforward for Imogen and an enjoyable solve. CANTUS FIRMUS and CONCERN TROLL were new to me too but fairly clued so quite gettable.
Thanks to Imogen and PeeDee
I enjoyed this for the most part, but I wondered at the time why on earth the setter would choose to include 7d CANTUS FIRMUS and 10d CONCERN TROLL (neither of which I had heard of) in the puzzle. Sil @3 has given me the answer: all four perimeter phrases are part of the theme. A good excuse, reason even, to include the two tough ones.
Later in the week, CONCERN TROLL seemed to ring a bell, as they say. When I did a search I found that Imogen himself had CONCERN TROLL as an answer in his crossword on 11 November 2016. Perhaps he is the only person who knows this phrase, and once a year he will put it in his crossword!
Thanks to Imogen, PeeDee and contributors to the blog.
Thanks to all for the parsing of CHANCER, I will update the blog entry soon.
You should add me to the list of people who had never heard of CONCERN TROLL. I think Alan B has it right. I will now know to look out for it in a years time!
A nice if not over-taxing Imogen prize.
Chancre is definitely a word for an ulcer – it used to be often used to refer to the lesion which appears on the genitals in the early stages of syphilis. A word I knew (not from direct experience, mind! 😮 ) even before the internet and Wiki – thanks to having things meticulously ‘explained’ to me in graphic detail, by my school friends….. (this was in the days before sex education was more formalised in schools).
Enough of that. I really chuckled at PLAYLET – couldn’t help but think of Johnny McEnroe (who else remembers him now?) and his hilarious antics on court….
Thanks to imogen and PD.
[FirmlyDirac, I responded late to your comment on the Tramp blog yesterday.]
Thanks to Imogen, PeeDee, and jkb_ing for parsing 23a.
ROSWELL @ 25a was a rare example for me of parse first, check the definition later. In 1947 a USAAF weather baloon crashed at Roswell, New Mexico, but was reported as a flying saucer. No doubt there are some out there who still believe that that’s what it was.
Thanks PeeDee and Imogen. Re 21: given the solution MIRRORS, I wonder[ed] why the clue didn’t read ‘….what are deceptive…’ rather than ‘is’.
Thank you Imogen and PeeDee.
A prize puzzle I could complete, which was a pleasant change. I did not understand the second definition for MIRRORS (thanks Julie in Oz), and CANTUS FIRMUS and CONCERN TROLL where also new to me, but CHANCRE, CHANCER, was no problem.
Logomachist – I took it to mean the word “mirrors” (the solution, a singular entity) will make something deceptive when combined with the word “smoke”. Not that mirrors as physical objects (plural) are deceptive.
I think this was the easiest Imogen I’ve encountered- although I didn’t know CONCERN TROLL or CANTUS FIRMUS like several other punters. I suppose there was something of a theme but it certainly didn’t help in the solving. Didn’t have a problem with CHANCER.
Thanks Imogen.
Lots of nice surfaces and a level of difficulty which should have attracted more entries. It was easy to get started with 1a and then a steady solve with more intrigue with the SE the last to go in – not helped by another of my “bung it in” answers with FREE instead of FAIR trade.
SLOE GIN prompted me to sort out our drinks cupboard where as well as two sloe gin vintages I came across our greengage vodka and blackberry gin – nice and mellow and ready for Xmas after sampling them.:-)
Thanks to Imogen, PeeDee and Sil.