It’s Phiday/Friday today, and another set of mid-week puzzles comes to an end.
I found this to be a medium-difficulty puzzle overall, although Phi almost had the last laugh in that I was left with 1A that I couldn’t solve. After rather a lot of grid-staring, I revisited the crossing down clues and found myself wondering if 3 really was BARN OWL, which didn’t exactly fit the clue despite being a nocturnal bird and containing the elements O + RN + BAWL (=cry). A search of Chambers revealed the more accurate solution HORN OWL, which was new to me, after which 1A became much easier to solve.
I haven’t tracked down a theme today, although there is normally a ghost theme hiding somewhere in the grid. I would be grateful if fellow solvers could enlighten me as to any theme, as well as confirming or otherwise my parsing of 4.
My favourite clues today were 8 and 12, both for surface; and 26, for overall construction. Incidentally, the new name of the city at 28 was unfamiliar to me.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | GRAPHICS | Explicit source of sexy pictures
GRAPHIC (=explicit) + S<exy> (“source of” means first letter only) |
| 05 | ARTIST | I begin cycling, becoming a great exponent
I START (=I begin); here “cycling” means that the first three letters move in turn to the end of the word |
| 10 | OSCAR | Award soldiers capturing cape in South Africa
[C (=cape, on map) in SA (=South Africa)] in OR (=soldiers, i.e. other ranks) |
| 11 | AVUNCULAR | Benign source of atoms, very dim, emitting energy with introduction of uranium
A<toms> (“source of” means first letter only) + V (=very) + [U (=uranium) in UNCL<e>AR (=dim; “emitting energy (=E)” means letter “e” is dropped)] |
| 12 | MOTHER TONGUE | Got menu translated, having adopted different familiar language
OTHER (=different) in *(GOT MENU); “translated” is anagram indicator |
| 15 | MOONLIGHT | Doctor playing cheerful piano sonata
MO (=doctor, i.e. medical officer) + ON (=playing, e.g. of radio) + LIGHT (=cheerful); the Moonlight Sonata is a piano sonata completed by Beethoven in 1801 |
| 17 | LILAC | Something flowery in lines capturing one account
[I (=one) in LL (=lines)] + AC (=account) |
| 18 | LYRIC | Lightly gutted and trimmed outrageous song
L<ightl>Y (“gutted” means all middle letters are dropped) + RIC<h> (=outrageous, as in That’s rich coming from you!; “trimmed” means the last letter is dropped) |
| 20 | GLADIATOR | Fighter happy it involves a suggestion of alternative
GLAD (=happy) + [A in IT] + OR (=suggestion of alternative) |
| 22 | COCKIELEEKIE | Soup, brash, offering lots of liquid, we hear
Homophone of “cocky (=brash) + leaky (cryptically, offering lots of liquid)”; cockieleekie soup, as its name suggests, is made of poultry and leeks |
| 26 | BRITANNIA | National symbol? Refuse to accept it, backing Scotland’s own
[IT in BRAN (=refuse, from cereal)] + NIA (AIN=Scotland’s own, i.e. a Scottish word for own; “backing” indicates reversal) |
| 27 | ORATE | Old scold to speak at length
O (=old) + RATE (=scold, berate) |
| 28 | YANGON | A new government occupying that former capital
[A + N (=new) + G (=government)] in YON (=that); Yangon (=Rangoon) is the formal capital of Myanmar (=Burma) |
| 29 | DEPARTED | Left some enthralled by legal document
PART (=some (of)) in DEED (=legal document) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | GLOW | Illumination from lighting ultimately not that bright
<lightin>G (“ultimately” means last letter only) + LOW (=not that bright) |
| 02 | ARCH | Procession heading off for monument
<m>ARCH (=procession); “heading off” means first letter dropped |
| 03 | HORN OWL | Nightbird‘s cry enthralling old sailors
[O (=old) + RN (=sailors)] in HOWL (=cry); a horn owl has horn-like tufts of feathers on its head |
| 04 | CRASH | Ready to accept rule in no time?
R (=rule) in CASH (=ready, i.e. money); e.g. a crash course is a quick, intensive course and thus takes place “in no time” |
| 06 | ROCK OIL | Surprise – hard work extracting initial petroleum
ROCK (=surprise, shake) + <t>OIL (=work; “extracting initial” means first letter dropped) |
| 07 | ILLEGALITY | Wickedness, say, settled with variable criminal status
ILL (=wickedness) + E.G. (=say, i.e. for example) + ALIT (=settled (on), perched) + Y (=variable, in algebra) |
| 08 | THREESCORE | Sixty hornets initially infesting plant’s heart
H<ornets> (“initially” means first letters only) in [TREE’S (=plant’s) + CORE (=heart)] |
| 09 | AUBRETIA | Popular trailing plant, a brute I trained over end of pergola
A + *(BRUTE I) + <pergol>A (“end of” means last letter); “trained” is anagram indicator |
| 13 | IMPLACABLY | Suggest impounding the French taxi, offering no alternative
[LA (=the French, i.e. a French word for the) + CAB (=taxi)] in IMPLY (=suggest) |
| 14 | CORRECTION | My building lacking roof, as it were – some amendment needed
COR (=my!, as an exclamation) + <e>RECTION (=building; “lacking roof” means first letter is dropped) |
| 16 | GIGGLING | Playing shows, including line to get laughter
L (=line) in GIGGING (=playing shows, i.e. doing gigs) |
| 19 | CHICAGO | City style given a shot
CHIC (=style, fashion) + A + GO (=shot, attempt) |
| 21 | ISIDORA | A Pole is one turning up as a woman
A + ROD (=pole) + IS + I (=one); “turning up” indicates vertical reversal |
| 23 | EVADE | English TV channel picked up dodge
E (=English) + DAVE (=TV channel); “picked up” indicates vertical reversal |
| 24 | RAPT | Scoundrel seizing power is transported
P (=power, in physics) in RAT (=scoundrel) |
| 25 | FEED | Paid // to eat
Double definition; “feed” means “paid a fee to” |
Something of an oversight for such an experienced setter to use the same first letter indicator twice within the first four clues and I wasn’t keen on the uncommon spellings in 22a & 3d. Also wondered whether anyone actually refers to ‘gigging’ – ‘doing a gig’ sounds far more likely.
Sorry, Phi, not one of my favourite puzzles although I did have a tick alongside 1a!
Thanks to RR for the blog – glad I wasn’t alone in not knowing the capital city.
“gig” is in Chambers as meaning “to play a gig”. (Always consult Chambers before commenting!) I couldn’t find anything in this puzzle to moan about.
Geoff@2, I do consult Chambers – quite regularly – and it does include an entry for ‘gigging’. My point was that I’ve never heard anyone actually use the expression. ‘Playing a gig’ is fine and I would agree, possibly better than the example I gave.
There are some Oscar-winning film titles in the answers. I’ve counted six.
Lots of people refer to gigging as far as I’m aware.
Thanks to setter and blogger, despite ALIT, a word nobody has ever used, except in crosswords.
We found this pretty straightforward, despite not knowing the former capital – we guessed it had to include ANG, but all the places that we thought of – Rangoon, Bangkok, Shanghai – had too many letters. But crossers made the answer fairly obvious and it was soon confirmed by googling. We also had to check the owl in Chambers.
Plenty to like; favourites included MOONLIGHT, THREESCORE and CHICAGO.
Thanks, Phi and RatkojaRiku.
Thanks to RatkojaRiku and Phi
This had the feel of a puzzle dashed off at short notice. The double use of SOURCE has already been noted by Jane@1, and we also have ENTHRALLED and ENTHRALLING within four clues of each other.If the waiter says the soup of the day is brash, I don’t want any, and the leaky/offering lots of liquid connection doesn’t work for me.
4a Is the definition IN NO TIME or NO TIME, I can’t tell and it doesn’t really matter because I can’t see how either works.
It took me a while to get going with this and also went with BARN OWL for some time, especially with the R from OSCAR confirming it! Loi was the iffy COCKIELEEKIE which didn’t fit with ISADORA – which parses just as well as ISIDORA. I couldn’t do any better with the parsing of 4d. I liked ARTIST and THREESCORE. Thanks to Phi and RR.