Good test for a Tuesday. Some tricksy semi-&lits, a bit of wit, and a new word to me.
I’ve manged to go six decades without needing to know what a ‘repunit’ was but it’s never too late to learn, so thanks to Slormgorm for that and several other items of entertainment this morning.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CHARACTER | Part A? (9) |
| Double definition, ‘A’ being an alphabetic character. | ||
| 6 | BASIC | Simple singer curtly bows to Irish crowd (5) |
| BASs (‘singer’, curtailed) + ‘bows’ (fronts, 1st letters of) Irish & Crowd. | ||
| 9 | ALARM | A gun loaded with bit of lead creates panic (5) |
| A + ARM (‘gun’) surround 1st ‘bit’ of Lead. | ||
| 10 | ASPERSION | Slur like individual that one’s punched (9) |
| AS PERSON (‘individual’) contains 1. | ||
| 11 | SHOESTRING | He’s sorting out one that’s been tied up? (10) |
| Anagram (‘out’) of HES SORTING. | ||
| 12 | BEAU | Lover’s from London borough by the sound of it (4) |
| Homophone of BOW (‘London borough’). | ||
| 14 | ASININE | When one over the eight, one’s drunk and silly (7) |
| AS (‘when’) + NINE surround (‘drink in’) 1. | ||
| 15 | THREADS | Clothing lines (7) |
| Double def. ‘Threads’ was a cool synecdoche for ‘clothes’ in my (distant & pretentious) youth. | ||
| 17 | SATANIC | Bag lined with brown bit of inlay is wicked (7) |
| SAC (‘bag’) includes TAN (‘brown’) & 1st bit of Inlay. | ||
| 19 | CANDIED | Sugar-coated advice at last welcomed by Frank (7) |
| Last letter of ‘advicE’ in CANDID (‘frank’). | ||
| 20 | EARN | Make wish to see leader given the boot (4) |
| yEARN (‘wish’) without 1st letter. | ||
| 22 | CREEPINESS | Weird presences around one could engender this (10) |
| Anagram (‘weird’) of PRESENCES around 1, w semi-&lit. | ||
| 25 | DAMNATION | Flipping angry people can be hell (9) |
| MAD (‘angry’), reversed, + NATION (‘people’). | ||
| 26 | TOAST | Like to tuck into drink after this? (5) |
| Again, semi-&lit. AS (‘like’) ‘tucked into’ TOT (‘drink’). | ||
| 27 | MATEY | Around heads of the EU, the PM is friendly (5) |
| Prime Minister MAY surrounds ‘heads’ of The & Eu. | ||
| 28 | CARTRIDGE | Magazine about game birds with no wings (9) |
| C[irca] (‘about’) + pARTRIDGEs, ‘game birds’ without 1st & last letters (‘wings’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHAPS | Men’s leather overalls (5) |
| Double def. | ||
| 2 | ANATOMIST | From Diana to Misty, one studies bodies (9) |
| Hidden in ‘diANA TO MISTy’. | ||
| 3 | ADMISSIONS | Costs of entering commercial ventures? (10) |
| AD (‘commercial’) + MISSIONS (‘ventures’). Not sure the q-mark’s needed. | ||
| 4 | TEA TREE | Plant husband chucked out of house with energy (3,4) |
| H[usband] removed from ThEATRE (as in ‘a packed house’) + E[nergy]. | ||
| 5 | REPUNIT | Double entendre ITV cut after about 11? (7) |
| ITv, shortened, after RE (‘about’) + PUN (double meaning, ‘double entendre’). A new word on me but Chambers confirms it as a number composed of identical digits. | ||
| 6 | BORE | I go on live to be probed by old Republican (4) |
| BE (to ‘live’) includes O[ld] R[epublican]. | ||
| 7 | SHINE | Polish function that hotel puts on (5) |
| H[otel] surrounded by SINE (a ‘function’). | ||
| 8 | CONCUSSED | Shocked member of government spoke profanely (9) |
| CON[servative] CUSSED. | ||
| 13 | TRANSISTOR | Radio broadcast on artists close to Jagger (10) |
| Anagram (‘broadcast’) of ON ARTISTS + end of ‘jaggeR’. | ||
| 14 | AMSTERDAM | Trams made to run here? (9) |
| Anagram (‘to run’) of TRAMS MADE &lit, -ish. | ||
| 16 | ALICE BAND | It could keep the shock from one’s eyes (5,4) |
| Cryptic def, ‘shock’ as in ‘shock of hair’. | ||
| 18 | CARDIAC | Eccentric in charge withholding ace of hearts (7) |
| CARD (an ‘eccentric’) + I[n] C[harge] surround A[ce]. | ||
| 19 | CLEANER | Daily and what it is without Page Three? (7) |
| Double def. A ‘daily’ cleaner, & the notion that The Sun would be definably less smutty without its topless p3 women. | ||
| 21 | REMIT | The Queen’s upset by university guidelines (5) |
| ER maj, reversed, + M[assachusetts] I[nstitute] of T[echnology]. | ||
| 23 | SATIE | Composer that’s after soprano and a tenor (5) |
| I[d] E[st] (‘that’s) after S + A, T. | ||
| 24 | LADY | Song about daughter titled “Woman” (4) |
| LAY (‘song’) around D[aughter]. | ||
*anagram
Thanks to Grant Baynham and Slormgorm
Some very nice clues and devices but a couple that strayed from misdirect to mislead I thought.
In 6a we have to think of a synonym for CURTLY (SHORTLY) and apply that to BASS.
10a I know that WITHHOLDING can be seen as RESTRAINING but using it instead of HOLDING is borderline unfair.
8d I don’t think a member of a governing party is necessarily a member of the government.
22a,19d, and others more than made up for these quibbles though.
In 3d the ? may be a recognition that you might ask “What’s the admission” but not ADMISSIONS even if you were buying more than one ticket.
Held up for a while by entering SWEAT BAND at 16d, but otherwise a steady enjoyable solve
BTW I think the def @24d includes TITLED
I motored through the last Slormgorm without any problems, but not this one. Done by REPUNIT – which I had considered as one result of a wordplay fit, but which I dismissed as being too improbable – and THREADS. Yes, a word from my distant (but very unpretentious I’m afraid) youth too. I guessed ALICE BAND from my mental picture of the famous Alice.
My favourite was TRANSISTOR, another word to bring up memories of the past.
Thanks to Slormgorm and to Grant
Thanks Slormgorm and GB
Dansar @ 1
6A: If you’re short with someone in speech, you’re curt, and vice versa. No synonym required.
10A: Where on earth are you getting (WITH)HOLDING / RESTRAINING from? Doesn’t seem to bear any relation to clue or solution.
8D: specifically says ‘member of government’, eg a minister or PPS etc, not ‘member of governing party’ I don’t understand your query.
Please elucidate.
To Simon S & Dansar (just to keep the ball rolling)…
I’m with Simon re all he says, though I’m not terribly exercised by any of it. Chambers does give ‘holding in custody [obs]’ for ‘withholding’, which kinda works.
Re 3D, I’d add this as a like-for-like: ‘It was a tenner each in. Doris paid all the admissions and we settled up later’, which holds together, I think.
I like Amsterdam
What Dutch said. Peculiarly apposite for me since my son is about to move there. He says the clue is a sign from the gods that it is a good idea.
Thanks Slormgorm (you know who you are) and Grant for a very nice blog.
Simon S @3
Gladly
I don’t see CURTLY as indicating the shortening of a word. If I am curt with someone my tone may be brusque and I may use fewer words than usual, but none of those words will be shortened. In order to effect the device we need to choose a synonym which may be seen to indicate the loss of part of BASS, e.g. SHORTLY. In fact the blog implicitly acknowledges this by using CURTAILED in lieu of CURTLY.
10a Should read 18d
My point there is that CARD IC is holding A, so why use WITHHOLDING which in almost all cases means not supplying/providing etc.
8d You have remade my point for me. The clue equates CON with MEMBER OF GOVERNMENT. The vast majority of Conservatives are not members of government, simply members of the governing party.
Grant @4
I was suggesting why the setter may have used a ? (although I’m not sure I even noticed it while solving) but I think you are right – it is not needed for ADMISSIONS. On reading the clue again I think it may be that it is there because the clue is (and I’m not sure what the correct term is) DEF + WORDPLAY + WHOLE CLUE AS DEF, and all the better for it.
Thanks Slormgorm and Grant
Another one from the back bin … and one with a bit of a bite in it that took a number of sittings to get it worked out.
REPUNIT was also a first for me … and from what I could read, it was about a sequence of 1’s (not just any number) and hence the 11 as the definition by example. It was my last one in … and needed a word finder to get it out.
Thought that the trick with ‘one over the eight’ = NINE in 14a was cute, especially in the context of the surface where it insinuated the drunk definition. Also liked AMSTERDAM and MATEY.