I have to say my heart sank a bit at seeing from the surface readings here and that there was a horsey theme. It turned out there wasn’t much racing knowledge needed, but it was still a tough puzzle for us! Lots of nice, witty clues, though – thank-you, Tramp!
Across
1. Finish fences with power dropping on grass (6)
COWPAT
COAT = “Finish” around (“fences”) W = “with” + P = “power”
Definition: “dropping on grass”
4. Horses run cutting legs (7)
STAGERS
STAGES = “legs” around R = “run”
Definition: “Horses”
9. Primarily Best Mate wins only finest cups? (4,5)
BONE CHINA
B[est] = “Primarily best” + CHINA = “mate” (from Cockney rhyming slang: china plate / mate) around ONE = “only”
Definition: “finest cups?”
10. Trotter not in state that’s conscious (5)
AWARE
DELAWARE = “state” without DEL = “Trotter” referring to Del Boy – Derek Trotter
Definition: “conscious”
11. Records backing second horses here? (5)
EPSOM
EPS = “Records” followed by MO = “second” reversed (“backing”)
Definition: “horses here?” referring to the racecourse
12. What might make jumper fast? Horse chases pack (5,4)
PRESS STUD
STUD = “horse” after PRESS = “pack”
Definition: “What might make jumper fast?” (“jumper” as in the item of clothing and “fast” as in “keeping in place”)
13. Drink as school term’s over (7)
SCHNAPS
SCH = “school” + SPAN = “term” reversed (“over”)
Definition: Drink
15. Last try to see racing (6)
YESTER
(TRY SEE)* – the anagram indicator is “racing”
Definition: “Last”
17. Queen following horse that’s older? (6)
GREYER
ER = “Queen” after GREY = “horse”
Definition: “older?”
19. Covering racing ground, initially going inside old Bob Champion (7)
SURFACE
[t]URF = “racing ground” without the first letter (“initially going”) inside S = “old Bob” (a shilling) + ACE = “Champion”
Definition: “Covering”
22. Farm labourer to pass all the runners first (5,4)
FIELD HAND
HAND = “to pass” after FIELD = “all the runners”
Definition: “Farm labourer”
24. Horse at the front in good position (5)
NICHE
H[orse] = “Horse at the front” in NICE = “good”
Definition: “position”
26. Contact English bloke by phone (5)
EMAIL
E = “English” + MAIL = “bloke by phone” (sounds like “male”)
Definition: “Contact”
27. Makes use of false start to race with Esha Ness (9)
HARNESSES
(R ESHA NESS)* (the r is from R[ace] = “start to race”) and the anagrind is “false”
Definition: “Makes use of” (also a thematic answer since horses wear harnesses)
28. Daughter married and carried on (7)
DALLIED
D = “Daughter” + ALLIED = “married”
Definition: “carried on”
29. Advanced training, driver reversing out (6)
ASLEEP
Tough to parse, this one: A = “Advanced” followed by PE = “training” (physical education) + ELS = “driver” (Ernie Els is a golfer) reversed
Definition: “out”
Down
1. Broadcasting woes: BBC showing signs of neglect (7)
COBWEBS
(WOES BBC)*
Definition: “signs of neglect”
2. Women wearing dresses with middle cut out to show curves (5)
WINDS
W = “women” + IN = “wearing” + D[resse]S = “dresses with middle cut out”
Definition: “curves”
3. Jockey AP McCoy with an escort (9)
ACCOMPANY
(AP MCCOY AN)*
Definition: “escort”
4. Grand National tip from last year (7)
STATELY
STATE = “National” + L[ast] = “tip from last” + Y = “year”
Definition: “Grand”
5. Race horses (5)
ARABS
Double definition
6. Rash man murdered with the axe (9)
EXANTHEMA
(MAN THE AXE)*
Definition: “Rash” – a new word for me
7. Stayed around stable (6)
STEADY
(STAYED)*
Definition: “stable”
8. Large animals in soft conditions finally getting round circuit (6)
HIPPOS
HIP = “in” + P = “soft” (pianissimo) + S = “conditions finally” around O = “circuit”
Definition: “Large animals”
14. Plant in earth: soil turned over (9)
HORSETAIL
(EARTH SOIL)*
Definition: “Plant”
16. Second they run off, they go fast (9)
SPRINTERS
S = “Second” + PRINTERS = “they run off” (printers run off copies)
Definition: “they go fast”
18. Got hold of wine bottles individually (7)
REACHED
RED = “wine” around EACH = “individually”
Definition: “Got hold of”
19. European wearing fancy dress for ceremonial dinners (6)
SEDERS
E = “European” in (DRESS)*
Definition: “cermonial dinners”
20. Settles the night before partners get excited (5,2)
EVENS UP
EVE = “the night before” + NS = “partners” (north and south in bridge) + UP = “excited”
Definition: “Settles”
21. Away result hurt (6)
OFFEND
OFF = “Away” + END = “result”
Definition: “hurt”
23. City to trade? Not a good morning (5)
DELHI
DE[a]L = “trade?” without A (“Not a”) + HI = “good morning”
Definition: “City”
25. Rank form close to race (5)
CASTE
CAST = “form” + [rac]E = “close to race”
Definition: “Rank”
Thanks to the setter and the blogger. My LOI was AWARE, a solve that I also considered as AWAKE but the parsing did not comps even though the grid did!
Thanks to Tramp and mhl, I fared well with most of this puzzle, but the NE corner defeated me. I thought of STAGERS (I could parse it) but did not know any connection to horses, did not know Del Trotter for AWARE, and could not figure out the rash,
This was tough but enjoyable for me, with perhaps a little too much reliance on names (and not real words) to provide anagram fodder, which telegraphs the anagram. The theme was not intrusive and involved both surfaces and answers, which is always nice.
HIPPOS was my favourite, once I spotted the well-hidden “in” = HIP.
NE corner was last in for me, after putting ONAGERS for 4ac half-parsed (ON and AGES(?) being the legs). LOI was YESTER, and I still don’t see how we can ignore the “to”.
Thanks to Tramp and mhl.
Thanks mhl. This was a bit of a headache, with eight or nine answers â like YESTER, SURFACE and HIPPOS – warranting a ? beside them. Got to the end eventually, more relieved than satisfied.
Like mhl, I winced when I saw the horse theme, as my horsey GK is minimal, but it all worked fairly. As a North American I have greater difficulty with Cockney rhyming slang – either you know it in which case the clue is solvable, or you don’t and the clue is indecipherable – there is no in-between. Not that I’m complaining – I enjoy the humour behind rhyming slang, and I agree with other non-UK solvers that we shouldn’t complain about UK crosswords having UK clues.
All in all, an excellent puzzle. Top favourites among many ticks were PRESS STUD and SPRINTERS for their lovely and misdirecting surfaces.
Thanks Tramp for the delightful exercise, and mhl for the parsings that I couldn’t get.
I found this a good workout. Like others, I recoiled at the horsey theme, but it was a device for the puzzle.
Thanks to Tramp and mhl.
P.S Am I alone in thinking that there’s a problem with the longest clue in Paul’s Guardian Prize today? The word-numbering?
@6 uncleskinny PS: you are not alone, and are not wrong. I struggled with the print version, and eventually it clicked, after the last of the crossers was in. Then I checked online, and the same error is there.
Thanks, mhl.
A brilliant puzzle from Tramp for Grand National Day – the only day that I take any interest in horse racing [no luck again this year đ ] .
MarcoPoloOz @3 – it’s always worth researching the proper names in a Tramp puzzle: take a look at this and then read the clue for 27ac again – sheer genius! I remembered the incident but not the name of the horse. A.P McCoy and Bob Champion have both won the Grand National and it’s worth looking up Best Mate, too.
I can’t spend any more time praising this excellent puzzle -I’m off to Stratford on a beautiful sunny morning to join in the Bard’s birthday celebrations.
Huge thanks, Tramp – I loved it!
Iâve always thought schnapps had two âpâs. But perhaps not.
Quite tough and took me longer than usual to complete. I can’t say I fully parsed everything,either_ASLEEP is a case in point,and I had heard of the golfer ELS, admittedly from a previous crossword.
I didn’t know the alternative spelling of SCHNAPPS but I really liked DELAWARE.
Thanks Tramp.
I was disappointed not to be close to finishing this as I enjoy Tramp as a setter. However looking at it here my disappointment has turned to admiration and the pleasure of being outwitted by the setter rather than defeated by contrived clues. Everything is fair (although I do think ELS as a driver is a bit tough even if the golferâs name has been used before).
I wasnât put off by the theme as, in my experience of Tramp, knowledge of it has never been a requirement of solving the puzzle – and so it was here. Like Eileen points out even the apparently random name in 27a is genuine.
A brilliant puzzle and I look forward to pitting my wits against Tramp again soon. Thanks to mhl for the missing solutions and the parsing.
Like others here, I vacillated between AWAKE and AWARE for 10a, as I couldnât parse it. Thanks for clarifying, mhi, and to Tramp for a great crossword. This âsite is great for me as Iâm not the worldâs most lateral thinker and tend to get the answers from the definitions, so itâs great to see how the other side fits in.
Thanks to Tramp and mhl. Like some others I found this tough going but got there in the end. For me there was quite a lot of guess and then parse, and I also had to come here to clarify some bits of parsing. Last one in was yester, for some reason I was trying to get an anagram from y (last try) and to see. Clearly I was over complicating that one. Still an enjoyable if somewhat tough solve, and thanks again to Tramp and mhl.
I was sitting in the pub on Tuesday afternoon enjoying a pint of Ringwood’s Forty-Niner than which there is none finer unless it’s their Old Thumper and struggling with about ten clues when a bloke approached as he was leaving and, having apologised for the fact that his dog was sniffing under my table after a chip discarded by someone else, asked me if I was in difficulty and offered to help. He didn’t seem fazed when I told him it was a Guardian prize and Tramp was the setter but I hate anyone interfering and politely declined. After that the remaining clues for some reason jumped in, though I did have an unparsed STAYERS at 4a.
Thanks to Tramp and mhl
A winner! Unfortunately I fell at 10a, unable to parse it, but biffing AWAKE on the basis that KE= Kentucky (I think — haven’t actually checked) and that there must be a word “awina”, or similar, meaning “trotter” that has escaped Chambers’ attention.
I also thought 13a, SCHNAPS should have double P (as in the original German) but found the single-P alternative in the dictionary.
I guessed 29, ASLEEP correctly, but was puzzled as to why ELS = driver, so thanks, Mhl, for the missing GK (as well as the correct answer and parsing for AWARE).
EXANTHEMA and SEDERS were new words for me, although I managed to construct them from wordplay and confirm, so thanks, Tramp, for expanding my vocab.
I didn’t (bother to) find out the significance of Best Mate in 9a or Bob Champion in 19a, but with help from Google did come to appreciate A P McCoy in 3d and Esha Ness in 27, this last being truly brilliant.
It took mhl and Eileen to make me understand how terrific this puzzle is. I’d only thought it was tough, and came to the blog with several unfilled-in. I’d revealed ARABS, and still had to use check to choose between AWAKE and AWARE, never having heard of Del Boy. I have heard of Delaware, and Tony @15 Kentucky is KY.
Thanks to Tramp. mhl and Eileen.
Echoing Eileen, I completely agree about checking up the names in Tramp puzzles. 27 is a thing of beauty. Horsey clue, horsey answer, perfect cryptic parsing and a surface that accurately sums up the â93 National. Astounding! I was amazed at how many themers were in the clues or the answers. Even HIPPOS (river horses) is tangentially thematic. On re-reading, I wonder why Tramp didnât make use of Del Boy again in DELHI. Maybe that gives the game away too easily with AWARE.
Loved the puzzle. Thanks, Tramp.
Excellent puzzle with great use of theme, as always.
Really liked the Esha Ness and AP Mcoy clues and COWPAT.
Thanks for the correction, Valentine. So even my pathetic excuse doesn’t hold water.
Talking of tangential refs (as Phitonelly was), Del Boy is, of course, a character in Only Fools and HORSES!
Yes, an excellent puzzle for Grand National day. 4d was particularly good.
My one quibble is with YESTER. How can âtry to see racingâ indicate an anagram of TRY SEE? (It would be ok if it was âtry and see racingâ, but then the surface wouldnât work so well.)
[PS for inf, Lord Jim is my new username, having previously been JimS. Just hoped it might be a bit more memorable! The change has been checked with Gaufrid and okayed.]
Though solved at the time, have only now read this 225 appraisal.
Great blog and brilliant puzzle (as expected from this blogger and this setter respectively).
Some superb clueing as mentioned above. I also enjoyed DELHI, the clever use of “bottles” in clue for REACHED – and the delightful AWARE.
For later arrivals (and mhl’s future use) p stands for piano not pianissimo {very soft, very quiet}, the latter represented by pp. In 28ac, “carried on” alludes to flirting, canoodling and even more intense activities of such nature – this may be a vernacular use not known to all our visitors!
(I didn’t care for word play in YESTER; it is unusual for me to have any quibbles with this most excellent of compilers)
Many thanks once again for an enjoyable, and consistent, exemplum of Tramp’s artistry.