Klingsor has given us a enjoyable blocked crossword today without too many obscure words
CELERITY (3 down) was new to me, KEPI at 14 across is a fairly common form of headgear worn by inhabitants of crossword land.
I liked the many component parts in the wordplay for LEIGHTON BUZZARD. It’s fairly unusual to see six components in serial order through the solution.
There were good surfaces in many clues. 6 across for GRIND and 12 across for REALISTIC were examples.
There were some quite deceptive definitions in the clues, e.g. Pan in 9 across, Split personality at 13 across and Felt at 4 down all took a bit of lateral thinking to realise that were the definitions.
Thanks to Klingsor
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
I’ll cut violent male con with tip of potato peeler (9)
|
I contained in (cut) (an anagram of [violent] MALE CON and P [first letter of {tip of} POTATO]) POL (I) CEMAN* |
POLICEMAN (peeler is an informal term for a POLICEMAN, so named after Sir Report Peel who was regarded as the father of the modern POLICE force)
|
| 6 | Appear happy with daughter’s hard work (5) |
GRIN (appear happy) + D (daughter) GRIN D |
GRIND (hard, tedious task) |
| 9 | Expert abridged the middle of Peter Pan (7) |
SKILLED (expert) excluding the final letter (abridged) D + T (central letter of [middle of] PETER) SKILLE T |
SKILLET ( small, long-handled pan or frying-pan |
| 10 | Farm animal requires long rearing (7) |
RAM (male sheep; farm animal) + PANT (yearn; long) RAM PANT |
RAMPANT (rearing)
|
| 11 | First to abandon relative or second (5) |
MOTHER (relative) excluding (to abandon) the M (first letter [first]) OTHER |
OTHER (second) |
| 12 | Forged article is just like the actual thing (9) |
Anagram of (forged) ARTICLE IS REALISTIC* |
REALISTIC (lifelike; just like the real thing) |
| 13 | Split personality perhaps stirred up a riot in Canada (8) |
Anagram of (stirred up) A RIOT contained in (in) CAN (Canada) C (ROATI*) AN |
CROATIAN (native [person / personality] of Croatia. Split is a town in Croatia) |
| 14 | I half-heartedly look around for cap (4) |
(I + PEEK [look] excluding either one of the two middle letters [half heartedly] E) all reversed (around) (KEP I)< |
KEPI (flat-topped French military cap with a straight peak)
|
| 17 | Decline backing given by a priest (4) |
A + EBB (decline) reversed (backing) A BBE< |
ABBÉ (courtesy title for a priest)
|
| 18 | Wind’s penetrating shelter – it’s the talk of the bar! (8) |
GALE’S (wind’s) contained in (penetrating) LEE (shelter) LE (GALES) E |
LEGALESE (complicated legal jargon.; the talk of the bar)
|
| 21 | Times mag engages worker? That’s complicated (9) |
BY (multiplied by; times) + (‘ZINE [magaZINE] containing [engages] ANT [worker]) BY Z (ANT) INE |
BYZANTINE (intricate; tortuous; complicated) |
| 22 | Had right tool (5) |
BORE (had) + R (right) BORE R |
BORER (a tool that makes holes by piercing wood, rock etc))
|
| 24 | Bewildered, getting less back than one paid (2,1,4) |
AT A LOSS (getting less money back that one invested) AT A LOSS |
AT A LOSS (bewildered) double definition
|
| 25 | French composer considers dropping price (7) |
DELIBERATES (considers) excluding (dropping) RATE (price) DELIBES |
DELIBES (reference Leo DELIBES [1836 – 1891], French composer) |
| 26 | Deposit initially increased tenfold? It’s a trick (5) |
LODGE (deposit) with the first letter [initially] L (Roman numeral for 50) replaced by D (Roman numeral for 500, ten times more) to form DODGE DODGE |
DODGE (trick)
|
| 27 | Disordered situation reflected feeling in market (5-4) |
SENSE (feeling) reversed (reflected) contained in (in) MART (market) MAR (E’S NES<) T |
MARE’S NEST (disordered place or situation) |
|
Down |
|||
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Sauce quickly runs out (5) |
PRESTO (very quick) excluding (out) R (runs) PESTO |
PESTO (Italian sauce made chiefly of basil and cheese, with pine nuts and olive oil) |
| 2 | Town council at last has crew working by A-road after phone call (8,7) |
L (final letter of [at last] COUNCIL + EIGHT in some circumstances (a rowing crew can be termed an EIGHT) + ON (working) + BUZZ (make a phone-call) to + A + RD (road) L EIGHT ON BUZZ A RD |
LEIGHTON BUZZARD (town in Bedfordshire, England)
|
| 3 | Name bar opening in Bridport "Speed" (8) |
CELEBRITY (name) excluding (bar) B (first letter of [opening in] BRIDPORT) CELERITY |
CELERITY (speed)
|
| 4 | Felt for one spouse needing money abroad (8) |
MATE (partner; spouse) + RIAL (term for currency in a number of countries; money abroad) MATE RIAL |
MATERIAL (felt is an example [for one] of a MATERIAL) |
| 5 | French article is under par (6) |
NORM (par) AN(indefinite article) – this is a down clue so AN is position under par NORMAN |
NORMAN (a native of NORMANDY in Northern France) |
| 6 | Ploy confines Government at first (6) |
G (government) + AMBIT (confines) G AMBIT |
GAMBIT (manoeuvre; ploy) |
| 7 | One with rather evil bent cast as tyrant (4,3,8) |
I (Roman numeral for one) + anagram of (cast) RATHER EVIL BENT I VAN THE TERRIBLE* |
IVAN THE TERRIBLE (reference Ivan IV Vasilyevich [1530 – 1594], Tsar of all Russia and Grand Prince of Moscow, often known as IVAN THE TERRIBLE)
|
| 8 | 1 Across is flawed, having little time for force (9) |
DEFECTIVE (flawed) with T (abbreviation [little] time) replacing (for) F (force) DETECTIVE |
DETECTIVE (POLICEMAN [1 across]) |
| 13 | Give committee a hand finding building material (9) |
CLAP (applaud; give a hand) + BOARD (committee) CLAP BOARD |
CLAPBOARD (thin board used in covering wooden houses, especially in North America)
|
| 15 | Say, does tackling head off final goal for footballer? (8) |
DEER (does are female deer) containing (tackling) (F [first letter of [head of] FINAL] + END) DE (F END) ER |
DEFENDER (example of a football playing position)
|
| 16 | Fish biting line? They’re weighty things to lift (8) |
BARBELS (freshwater fish of the carp family) containing (biting) L (line) BARBE (L) LS |
BARBELLS (BARs weighted at each end for lifting exercises)
|
| 19 | Popular entertainer not half showing interest? (6) |
IN (popular) + COMEDIAN (entertainer) excluding (not) the final four letters of eight (half) DIAN IN COME |
INCOME (profit, or interest from anything; revenue) |
| 20 | Vague problem producing Chinese food (3,3) |
DIM (vague) + SUM (problem) DIM SUM |
DIM SUM (selection of Chinese foods, often eaten as an appetizer, usually including steamed dumplings with various fillings) |
| 23 | Again adjust support around base (5) |
REST (support) containing (around) E (base of natural logarithms) RES (E) T |
RESET (adjust back to a previous setting) |
Such beautifully constructed clues. Fantastic! Too many great clues to list.
I was particularly pleased to get CELERITY, which opened the NW quadrant. Didn’t know the fish at 16d or ABBÉ, my LOI.
Thanks to Klingsor and Duncan.
Lovely stuff. Thanks to Klingsor and Duncan.
Yes, enjoyable, not too BYZANTINE solve, although I too didn’t know the fish at 16d.
Favourites were the wordplay for LEIGHTON BUZZARD, the ‘Split personality’ and Leo DELIBES making his cryptic crossword debut as far as I can remember.
Thanks to Klingsor and Duncan
Not too difficult for a Thursday, and interesting to see the return leg of the detective/defective letter swap so soon after Loglady on Sunday. Legalese a recent answer as well, though maybe not in the Indy. Thanks to Klingsor and Duncan.
So many cleverly disguised definitions. Top stuff.
My alter ego is however not happy with the plural BARBELS. No fisherman would say ‘I caught four barbels today.’ Or cods, carps, trouts and salmons either
Well, we got everything but couldn’t parse DODGE (fixated on ‘deposit initially’ = D) or CELERITY (thought Bridport is hardly a city and ‘eler’ didn’t make sense). Took a while for the penny to drop about the Split personality, although we think CROATIAN has been clued this way before. A most enjoyable puzzle, though.
We agree with Mr Crabtree@5 about the plural of most fish (with the exception of shellfish) being the same as the singular. Possibly a few herring can be ‘herrings’ although a shoal of them would still be ‘herring’ – and some time ago ‘lings’ made an appearance in the Indy crossword.
Thanks, though, to Klingsor and Duncan.