Gila provides a typical Thursday puzzle – slightly tricky in places
This was a fairly steady solve, but not very quick.
There seemed to be quite a lot of wordplays involving the selection or rejection of one, two or three letters from words in the clue, but the surfaces were all very smooth.
I liked the clues for VENTILATE, BERNOULLI, WANDS and SNARE DRUM in the acrosses as well as EGOMANIAC in the downs.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Cool, very dynamic teen takes on computer work around Los Angeles (9) |
V (very) + (an anagram of []dynamic] TEEN containing [takes on] [IT {information technology; computer work} containing {around} LA {Los Angeles}]) V ENT (I (LA) T) E* |
VENTILATE (to open or expose to the free passage of air; to cool)
|
| 6 | Papers in Britain uncharacteristically might produce hard-hitting leaders (5) |
BUMPH (first letters of each of [leaders] BRITISH, UNCHARACTERISTICALLY, MIGHT, PRODUCE and HARD-HITTING) BUMPH |
BUMPH (slang for official papers; documents) |
| 9 | A reduced cost for rejected fruit (7) |
A + PRICE (cost) excluding the final letter (reduced) E + TO (for) reversed A PRIC OT< |
APRICOT (example of a fruit) |
| 10 | No cigar is manufactured without the use of chemicals (7) |
Anagram of (is manufacture) NO CIGAR ORGANIC* |
ORGANIC (of crops, crop production, etc, produced without, or not involving, the use of fertilizers and pesticides not wholly of plant or animal origin; produced without using chemicals) |
| 11 | Is Soho’s first W Hotel outwardly grand? (5) |
(S [first letter of [first] + W + H [hotel]) containing (outwardly) IS S W (IS) H |
SWISH (smart, stylish, grand) |
| 12 | Fraudster‘s coke that is cut before a function (9) |
CHARLIE (cocaine; coke) excluding (cut) IE (id est; that is) + A + TAN (TANgent [trigonometrical function]) CHARL A TAN |
CHARLATAN (fraud) |
| 13 | Mathematician somewhere Swiss? Yes, in Geneva entertaining two lecturers (9) |
BERN (capital city of Switzerland; somewhere Swiss) + (OUI [French {Geneva is in French speaking Switzerland} for ‘yes’] containing [entertaining] [L {lecturer} + L {lecturer} to give two lecturers]) BERN OU (L L) I |
BERNOULLI (reference Daniel BERNOULLI [1700 – 1782], Swiss mathematician and physicist who specialised in fluid mechanics. I remember his Principle from my schooldays) |
| 15 | Being faithful? Pah, at first, that is extremely tricky! (5) |
P (first letter of [first] PAH) + IE (id est; that is) + TY (outside letters of [extremely] TRICKY) P IE TY |
PIETY (sense of duty towards parents, benefactors, etc; being faithful) |
| 16 | Things used at Hogwarts, provided by owls occasionally? (5) |
W AND S (letters 2 and 4 [occasionally] of OWLS) W AND S |
WANDS (items used at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry) |
| 18 | Dropped dead when pierced with tip of spear (9) |
DECEASED (dead) containing (pierced with) R (last letter of [tip of] SPEAR) DEC (R) EASED |
DECREASED (dropped) |
| 20 | Musician seen and heard all over the place (2,7) |
Anagram of (all over the place) SEEN and HEARD ED SHEERAN* |
ED SHEERAN (born 1991, English singer songwriter, already one the world’s best selling music artists) |
| 23 | Pack containing large playing cards (5) |
CUBS (Cub Scouts meet as a pack) containing (containing) L (large) C (L) UBS |
CLUBS (one of the suits in a standard deck of playing cards) |
| 25 | Hard infantry at the front line secure elevated ground (7) |
HI (first letters [at the front] of each of HARD and INFANTRY) + L (line) + LOCK (secure) HI L LOCK |
HILLOCK (elevated ground) |
| 26 | Type of beauty parlour seen in North America, except around Illinois (4,3) |
(NA [North America] + BAR [except]) containing (around) IL (abbreviation for the State of Illinois) NA (IL) BAR |
NAIL BAR (type of beauty parlour) |
| 27 | Right now, daughter comes in for a hot drink (5) |
TODAY (this day; right now) with D (daughter) replacing (coming in for) A TOD D Y |
TODDY (a mixture of spirits, sugar and hot water; hot drink)
|
| 28 | Special name given to a racehorse – one that gets beaten (5,4) |
S (special) + N (name) + A + RED RUM (famous race horse who won the Grand National three times and came second twice) S N A RE D RUM |
SNARE DRUM (side drum; a musical instrument that is beaten) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Beer mostly fills half a dozen small bottles (5) |
ALE (beer) excluding the final letter (mostly) E contained in (fills) (VI [Roman numerals for six {half a dozen} + S [small]) VI (AL) S |
VIALS ([small] bottles) |
| 2 | Less bold, I never drunk the last bit of Jägermeister (7) |
Anagram of (drunk) I NEVER + R (final letter of [last bit of] JÄGERMEISTER) NERVIE* R |
NERVIER (less bold) |
| 3 | Working with China’s too uncontrolled (2,7) |
Anagram of (uncontrolled) CHINA’S TOO IN CAHOOTS* |
IN CAHOOTS (in collusion with; working with) |
| 4 | Some explicit tapes brought back from Greece (5) |
ATTIC (hidden word reversed [brought back] in [some] EXPLICIT TAPES) ATTIC< |
ATTIC (of the region around Athens; from Greece) |
| 5 | A vegan occasionally coming off as someone who’s self-obsessed (9) |
Anagram of (off) (A and EA [letters 2 and 4 [regularly] of VEGAN and COMING) EGOMANIAC* |
EGOMANIAC (someone who is self obsessed) |
| 6 | Airline covers part of journey back for round fare (5) |
BA (British Airways [airline]) + LEG (a stage or part of a journey) reversed (back) BA GEL< |
BAGEL (hard leavened ring-shaped roll; round fare) |
| 7 | Guy gets support carrying a big creature (7) |
MAN (guy) + A + TEE (support for a golf ball) MAN A TEE |
MANATEE (large aquatic herbivorous mammal) |
| 8 | Banal journalist in East London? (9) |
HACKNEY (area of North East London) + ED (editor; journalist) HACKNEY ED |
HACKNEYED (trite; banal) |
| 13 | Crazy throwable weapon in a Bond film (6,3) |
Anagram of (crazy) THROWABLE BOWLER HAT* |
BOWLER HAT (weapon used by Oddjob in the Bond film Goldfinger) |
| 14 | Cash-strapped guys outside a bookies (9) |
LADS containing (outside) BROKE (without money; cash-strapped) LAD (BROKE) S |
LADBROKES (name of a major bookmaker in the UK) |
| 15 | Order craft beer with crisps mostly (9) |
Anagram of (craft … with) BEER and CRISPS excluding the final letter (mostly) S PRESCRIBE* |
PRESCRIBE (give as an order) |
| 17 | Major company debts initially getting settled (7) |
NESTLÉ (major multinational food and drink company) + D (first letter of [initially] DEBTS NESTLE D |
NESTLED (settled) |
| 19 | Move uneasily at the end of restless sleep (7) |
S (last letter of [end of] RESTLESS + LUMBER [move heavily and clumsily]) S LUMBER |
SLUMBER (sleep) |
| 21 | Bottom part of wardrobe has thin wood (5) |
E (last letter of [bottom part of] WARDROBE) + BONY (thin) E BONY |
EBONY (type of wood) |
| 22 | One who steals from man in jail (5) |
NINJA (hidden word in [from] MAN IN JAIL) NINJA |
NINJA (one of a body of trained assassins and spies in feudal Japan, skilled in ninjitsu [a martial art, teaching stealth and camouflage]; one who steals) |
| 24 | Bolt finally impresses BBC athletics commentator (5) |
S (last letter of [finally] IMPRESSES + CRAM [reference Steve CRAM, BBC athletics commentator) S CRAM |
SCRAM (go away; bolt) |
“Throwable” is not in my Chambers (but I got it!).
Sorry, that’s a bit too finicky. Feeling cocky because I’m top of the table, and all parsed.
Sorry, that’s a bit too finicky. Feeling cocky because I’m top of the table, and all parsed.
A just right crossword – not too tricky and enjoyable, despite the ‘take away a letter or two’ clues
Thanks to Gila and Duncan
Thanks Gila and Duncan.
I echo sue@4’s comments. I liked the round fare.
I particularly liked 13d and 20a – what a great puzzle: thanks Gila! And thanks to Duncan.
Can’t really comment on difficulty (another joint solve) other than it was certainly not as mind-bending as yesterday’s.
I really liked the clue for ED SHEERAN (because he is!) and also DECREASED, SNARE DRUM, EGOMANIAC, NINJA and more.
Happy solver. Thanks Gila and Duncan.
A nice steady solve. Favourite was BERNOULLI.
Thanks, Gila and Duncan.
I echo what Kitty said. I was out again tonight but after yesterday’s failure to complete after getting home, I took today’s with me to try on the train, and finished it fairly quickly.