The Observer crossword from April 14, 2019
After reading some of the comments in last week’s Everyman blog, I thought “let’s prepare myself for the worst”. But, actually, I thought this was a rather pleasant crossword.
When writing up the blog, I felt that the puzzle was really (too?) anagram-heavy. But I didn’t have the same feeling when solving.
There were a number of &littish clues which may or may not be appreciated by all.
Overall, though, I found this an enjoyable solve (as did my solving partner) – timewise, too.
Rather similar in style to the previous two, so perhaps at last some kind of consistency creeps in.
Yet, last week some solvers already said that this crossword was ‘not very good’ or ‘a big step back’ – to each their own.
I cannot reply to any queries this week as I am out of the country with no Internet access at all [yes, that is possible!]
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BAD APPLE | Dodgy download offered by the French: it’ll infect the others (3,5) |
| BAD (dodgy) + APP (download) + LE (the, in French) A ‘bad apple’ is usually a person with a negative influence, so perhaps ‘it’ is somewhat imprecise? |
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| 5 | TO A MAN | ‘Unopposed vacuous tycoon’ describes president squandering billions (2,1,3) |
| T[ycoo]N going around OBAMA (president) who lost B (billions) I guess, the definition most dictionaries give (‘without exception’) is close enough? |
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| 10 | BLAST IT | Sandwich sandwiches fizz and ‘fudge!‘ (5,2) |
| BLT (sandwich, Bacon Lettuce Tomato) going around ASTI (fizz) | ||
| 11 | IN A FLAP | What you get if a plan’s ill-conceived? (2,1,4) |
| Anagram [ill-conceived] of IF A PLAN Everyman’s first attempt to write an &lit today. ‘What you get’ could be part of the wordplay, and when panic strikes you might get in a flap. |
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| 12 | LOACH | Film-maker, vile creature, changing sides (5) |
| ROACH (vile creature) with one side R (right) changed to the other L (left) Ken Loach , famous Britsh film-maker. |
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| 13 | LAGER LOUT | Boozy yob‘s unexpectedly got allure (5,4) |
| Anagram [unexpectedly] of GOT ALLURE | ||
| 14 | RUBBER-STAMPS | Masseuse pounds foot, gives blessing (6-6) |
| RUBBER (masseuse, one who rubs) + STAMPS (pounds foot) Is there a female version of ‘rubber’? |
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| 18 | FOR PITY’S SAKE | So far, Skype IT malfunctioning? Oh, come on (3,5,4) |
| Anagram [malfunctioning] of SO FAR SKYPE IT | ||
| 21 | IN GENERAL | More-or-less learning to fly across England (2,7) |
| Anagram [… to fly] of LEARNING around E (England) Last week we had E for Europe (which is not right), this week we have E for England (which is not right either). I often wonder why some setters are still doing these things. |
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| 23 | SOUTH | Shout out to Antarctica (5) |
| Anagram [out] of SOUTH It’s up to the solver to decide whether ‘to’ should be underlined or not. Perhaps, some may find the definition insufficient? |
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| 24 | EAT INTO | Consume slice of meat in toastie (3,4) |
| Hidden answer [slice of]: meat in toastie | ||
| 25 | USING UP | Exhausting American in grump regularly (5,2) |
| US (American) + IN + the odd letters of GRUMP | ||
| 26 | SUNTAN | Bronze: tin containing uranium, nitrogen and tantalum (6) |
| SN (tin, chemical symbol, stannum) around three other chemical symbols: U (uranium) N (nitrogen) TA (tantalum) Before anyone starts to make a complaint, it is Sn and Ta (not SN and TA) but the format of the blog needs it. |
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| 27 | PETER PAN | Queen pursues ‘favourite’ to criticise ‘eternal youth’ (5,3) |
| ER (Queen) coming after PET (favourite), then PAN ((to) criticise) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BABBLE | Rabbit on bundle containing books (6) |
| BALE (bundle) going around B,B (books, two of them) | ||
| 2 | DRAMAS | Spicy madras produces sensations (6) |
| Anagram [spicy] of MADRAS An unusual but apt (as far as the surface is concerned) anagram indicator. That kind of ‘drama’. |
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| 3 | PATCHOULI | Aromatic oil, dressing on distilled coulis (9) |
| PATCH (dressing) + [c]OULI[s] | ||
| 4 | LITTLE BOYS’ ROOM | Symbol for ‘toilet’ shiftily excluding female! (6,4,4) |
| Anagram [shiftily] of SYMBOL FOR TOILET Another & littish clue. Of course, it’s not fully one because ‘excluding female’ isn’t part of the wordplay. We thought a nice clue, nonetheless. |
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| 6 | ON AIR | Live with Dyson Airblade missing parts (2,3) |
| Hidden answer [missing parts]: Dyson Airblade Don’t start me talking about James Dyson! |
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| 7 | MALCOLM X | Political figure seen at local recycling in 2010 (7,1) |
| Anagram [recycling] of LOCAL, which then goes inside MMX (2010, in Roman numerals) Malcolm X . |
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| 8 | NEPOTISM | Putting me in post dodgily? (8) |
| Anagram [(putting …) dodgily] of ME IN POST And again, a near &lit? We (my solving partner and I) were OK with it. |
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| 9 | BIG GIRL’S BLOUSE | US blogger, lib, is feeble wimp (3,5,6) |
| Anagram [feeble] of US BLOGGER LIB IS The anagram indicator is ‘feeble’. Well, if ‘poor’ is one why not ‘feeble’? A nice companion to the other long one at 4d. |
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| 15 | TAKES FIVE | Kicks back and captures man alive in bingo hall (5,4) |
| TAKES (captures) + FIVE (‘man alive’ in a bingo hall) Probably most of you know a bit or two about bingo – you’ll get older don’t you? But here they are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_bingo_nicknames |
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| 16 | OFFICERS | Bureaucrats in charge fenced in by tenders (8) |
| IC (in charge) going inside OFFERS (tenders) | ||
| 17 | BRIGHTON | Town in Belgium? Absolutely (8) |
| B (Belgium, IVR) + RIGHT-ON (absolutely) | ||
| 19 | HUNG-UP | Ended the call, being anxious (4-2) |
| HUNG UP (ended the call) If you ignore the hyphen it is a Double Definition |
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| 20 | CHOPIN | Romantic figure: ‘Cold? I’ll give you a lift’ (6) |
| C (cold) + HOP IN (“I’ll give you a lift”) I liked the playfulness of this one. Frederic Chopin . |
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| 22 | NINJA | Assassin in Japan’s concealed? (5) |
| Hidden answer [concealed]: Assassin in Japan(‘s) Unfortunately, the definition is part of the fodder. A pity. That said, if you see ‘in Japan’ as being part of the definition, this clue might perhaps be seen as attempt to write another &lit? |
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We all have different experiences. For me, this was lax again. There’s some good clues, but it’s let down by the frequent occasions where ‘will that do?’ seems to win. Today’s suffers from the same, in particular 24a, which is hardly a clue.
Anyhoo, thanks to Sil and Everyman.
Thanks both. I think that 1a is a simpler definition- referring to stored apples rather than people
Thanks Sil
4d is a full &lit – F(emale) has to be removed from the anagram
Have to agree with Skinny @1. This one was weak in places and today’s is very similar. Some decent clues but others that are barely cryptic like 18 ac.
My favourite was MALCOLM X.
I failed 15d – I know nothing about bingo! So I am guessing that this new setter is probably quite elderly?
Thanks Sil and Everyman.
I agree with Skinny. I know we shouldnt discuss this week’s but next Sunday we can discuss how near the all time low “cryptic” clue today’s 24a comes.
Thanks Everyman and Sil
Re E = England, the ECB is the England (and Wales) Cricket Board, so there is some support from usage even if not from dictionaries.
Thank you Everyman and Sil.
I enjoyed this crossword, especially the clues for 4d (see DuncT @3) and 9d.
Simon S@7 – wouldn’t that reasoning also allow B=B[oard]?
Dutch @ 9: I take your point, but there are numerous abbreviations used in crosswords that don’t have dictionary support, eg W(on), D(rawn), L(ost) and one I came across in a cricket history last week, A(bandoned). Whereas S(ociety) is dictionary-supported even though, as far as I’m aware, it’s only ever used as part of an abbreviation, not standalone.
B = Board probably has better justification, as the defunct Milk & Egg Marketing Boards used to be referred to as MMB & EMB respectively.
‘&liitish’ – also known as close but no cigar.
A crossword in desperate need of an editor.
Agree with #1 Skinny. Some good clues (enjoyed Malcolm X) but still way too many poor ones. I don’t understand why the setter needs to consistently use quotes.
Count me in with Rats, faux quotes are just irritating.
Overall this was okay although I failed to finish. Undone by Bingo and aromatics I haven’t heard of.
Distilled as a condensifier is a new one for me, but I guess it has some sort of logic.
I started this thinking it was going to be too hard, but then I started to drop onto a few. Liked 4d and 26ac.
We still don’t seem to have any consistency though. I do wish I could feel that it was the same setter each week and start to enjoy doing these again.
Almost got there, but for the bingo. I thought this was a great crossword. Pretty challenging for me but some excellent clues especially Little Boys Room which is fully legit &lit.
Over all I thought this was a pretty good puzzle. Couldn’t get 1 down — then kicked myself when Sil explained. Got 15 down wrong; put in “takes time” rather than “takes five” — which was stupid in retrospect, since “takes five” is an accurate synonym for “kicks back” whereas “takes time” is very poor. Didn’t really need to know anything about bingo to *get* this — just to parse it!
Couldn’t parse 5 across.
I thought the worst clue bar none was 5ac utterly meaningless
and a shame when there were some well constructed clues like 14ac 27 ac 20d
Anyway missed plenty but enjoyed some
Thanks Sil. I feel that consistency is coming, and the proportion of both good and great clues to -ish ones is getting higher each week as of late. I enjoyed this puzzle. Many thanks to Everyman.
We liked this much better than recent ones even if we did get
a couple wrong (takes time rather than takes five for 13d – Bingo is not part of the typical NZ culture but we could probably have looked ot up ) and Leach instead of Loach for 13a – even though we couldn’t make the second part of the clue work exactly.
We rather liked most of the clues and aren’t expert enough to be as picky as some of you.
Really enjoyed this one. Loved NEPOTISM – very clever clue.