Well I never…quite literally. I’m staggered to learn that in 652 posts here I haven’t once had the privilege of covering a Knut puzzle until today.
So here we are. It’s an unusual looking grid, of the sort which usually leads one to keep an eye on the unchecked squares around the outside. Which quickly proved fruitless. Instead we have these pairs of entries aound the almost-outside, spelling out longer terms:
MASTER/STROKE
ENGINE/DRIVER
MIDDLE/FINGER
RECORD/PLAYER
Whether they have any particular significance taken together, I couldn’t tell you. Still, spotting that something was afoot certainly helped enter, for example, 6 across and 24 across with a shade more confidence.
Perhaps relatively straightforward for a Saturday, which can be welcome if you’re blogging, but definitely some new terms learned, and a lot of fun had. Many thanks to Knut.
| Across | ||
| 5 | MASTER | Mother cradling head of science teacher (6) |
| S[cience] in MATER. | ||
| 6 | STROKE | Hit a bloke sticking his oar in (6) |
| Two definitions: hit, and also a rower. | ||
| 9 | ADWARE | Commercial program sampling a review of Google raw data (6) |
| Hidden and reversed in [googl]E RAW DA[ta]. | ||
| 10 | SLIPPAGE | Miss knocking back lager with lad at wedding (8) |
| PILS< + PAGE. | ||
| 11 | GLIB | Facile government politician (4) |
| G + LIB. | ||
| 12 | TURPENTINE | Held in Italian city, earl gets thinner (10) |
| PENT in (TURIN + E). | ||
| 13 | CLOSING TIME | When the pub shuts, Scot gets hammered with gin and lime (7,4) |
| Anagram of (SCOT + GIN + LIME). | ||
| 18 | HIGH COMEDY | Stoned, Buffalo Bill’s touring Maine for the witty banter (4,6) |
| HIGH + (ME in CODY). | ||
| 21 | GORE | It’s bloody Al… (4) |
| Two definitions. | ||
| 22 | AGNOSTIC | … acting so strangely, without any creative conviction (8) |
| Anagram of (ACTING SO). | ||
| 23 | ALCOVE | Bay on American lake a secluded area once (6) |
| A + L + COVE. I did wonder why the definition was specified as “once”, but Chambers does indeed have “A shady retreat (archaic)” among its definitions. | ||
| 24 | RECORD | Embarrassed about my previous career (6) |
| RED around COR. | ||
| 25 | PLAYER | Sportsperson first in park, exercising early (6) |
| P[ark] + EARLY*. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ISTANBUL | City somewhere between Uzbekistan and Bulgaria (8) |
| Hidden in [uzbek]ISTAN + BUL[garia]. | ||
| 2 | CEMENT | Merciful Pope left out material used for bonding (6) |
| C[l]EMENT. | ||
| 3 | STRIDENT | Initial sighting of submarine missile – quite aggressive! (8) |
| S[ubmarine] + TRIDENT. | ||
| 4 | COWPAT | Weather permitting, wearing garment created from recycled material made in Jersey? (6) |
| WP in COAT. Jersey being the breed of cow and, well, you can work out the rest. | ||
| 5 | MIDDLE | Tummy upset? Stupid, led astray! (6) |
| DIM< + LED*. | ||
| 7 | ENGINE | English fiancée regularly crashed motor (6) |
| ENG + [f]I[a]N[c]E[e]. | ||
| 8 | ASTRINGENCY | Plastic syringe can’t have sharpness (11) |
| Anagram of (SYRINGE CANT). | ||
| 14 | SNOW TYRE | Southern Yankee admits nothing concerning aid for 17 to avoid 10 (4,4) |
| (NOWT in (S + Y)) + RE. | ||
| 15 | MAGIC EYE | It helps tune in my Ice Age broadcast (5,3) |
| Anagram of (MY ICE AGE). New to me, but it’s some kind of complicated equipment that I can’t claim to understand. | ||
| 16 | FINGER | Digital whisky measure? (6) |
| Two definitions. | ||
| 17 | DRIVER | One steering French bank takes on debtor (6) |
| RIVE in DR. | ||
| 19 | HOOTCH | Hour-old over-the-counter hot grog (6) |
| H + O + OTC + H. | ||
| 20 | YEARLY | Annual Yuletide vacation on Australian Railway (6) |
| Y[uletid]E + A + RLY. | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition; Hover to expand abbreviations; BOLD = letters forming part of entries.
4d impossible on phone app – last 4 words of clue absent so had to cheat but otherwise a steady solve. Didn’t spot the pairings, but can’t think of a connection. Thanks to S & B.
What a grid-fill!I cant imagine Knut ever being an engine driver but I expect he may still have a record player and I think the puzzle is a master stroke.I wont comment on the other pairing.
Thanks Knut and Simon
Ha ha copmus@2
Enjoyed this, was happy to complete it – a bit easier perhaps than some other knuts. I saw the pairings, and that helped to get RECORD and realise that it’s FINGER not JIGGER – a nice clue. I also liked ISTANBUL, PLAYER, SLIPPAGE.
Many thanks Simon and Knut
Thanks, Simon – and [envious] congratulations on landing your first Knut blog: I so wish he set for the Guardian. 🙁
A bit late to the party today – I’ve been unashamedly watching television – but had to add my appreciation of another splendid puzzle from Knut.
I found this rather easier than usual for a Knut puzzle but I knew there had to be something going on and when I saw [unusually] no topical references, I looked in vain for a peripheral nina – and totally missed the pairings!
My favourites were 13ac, for the lovely evocative surface – an unlikely scenario – and the clever 1dn, which aroused memories of the equally clever clue from Goliath, another of my top favourite setters, a couple of weeks ago: ‘Afghanistan bullies besieging city (8)’
Many thanks, Knut – most enjoyable, as ever.
Eileen@4 You wish he’d set for the Guardian….. its all in the puzzle!
Arsene Wenger would publish him. He needs something to do now.
Very enjoyable, even though I missed the pairings. I too wish that Knut set for the Guardian. Thank you Simon and Rob.
In the end, three eluded me. Maybe if I’d spotted the pairings I’d have got 17dn, 14dn I didn’t read the clue properly ad failed to notice it was two words. 23ac I just couldn’t see.
I am happy with all these posts wishing Knut could get a place on The Guardian’s team. But don’t forget the excellent Anax wanted to be there too, however got nil points.
Knut/Julius’s puzzles are really good [as this one was too] but there are nearly always a couple of things of which I think ‘why do you do this?’. That said, for The Guardian, where almost anything goes, it doesn’t make any difference … 🙂
For those who are not yet a member of his fanclub, I would like to point out that 8d is far from perfect. The use of ‘have’ is plain wrong and should have been something singular. True, it is difficult to correct that here, but still.
Yesterday, another much admired setter wrote: Weeds cover front of most houses (5) [HOMES].
It should really be ‘covering’ or ‘will cover’ (or equivalent). Also wrong. No-one commented.
After adding the way our beloved setter uses ‘vacation’ in 20d to my gripes, I would say: Knut is an excellent setter but could be an even better one.
But I liked the challenge as I always do with the Man from the Black Forest.
So many thanks to him & to Simon.