I don’t blog Hob crosswords very often although I did write a blog on a Berlioz themed crossword in March this year.
Looking through previous blogs of Hob puzzles on fifteensquared, I see that there is often a theme. Today, there is a clear theme to the puzzle as the name LYNNE TRUSS is spelled out in the unchecked letters in the top and bottom rows. TRUSS is an English author who wrote EATS, SHOOTS and LEAVES (10 across, 12 across and 23 down), an essay on punctuation. She has also written A SHOT IN THE DARK (16 /18 across) and The LUNAR CATS ((22 down, 26 down). I’m not sure why this tribute crossword has appeared to day as TRUSS was born on 31st May 1965, rather than 4th July. I would have expected something on American Independence today.
Apart from TRUSS and the book titles, there is an eclectic mix of entries in the grid today, given CASANOVA, ELVISH, ELDRITCH, NAVAJOS and NEHEMIAH. I’m probably reading more into the 6 and 9 references in 14 across in the blog below when I get into the periodic table. The misdirection of does for DEER at 19 down is fairly common but it still doesn’t register with me until I get some crossing letters.
Some of the clues were not particularly difficult, but there were some smooth surfaces.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 6 | Famous Italian actors getting their end away with a star (8) |
CAST (actors) excluding the final letter (getting their end away) T + A + NOVA (star that suddenly increases in brightness for a number of days or years) CAS A NOVA |
CASANOVA (reference Giacomo CASANOVA [1725 – 1798], Italian author, adventurer and womaniser) |
| 8 |
King Henry’s hobby? (6) |
ELVIS (ELVIS Presley, singer, was often referred to as the King of Rock and Roll) + H (henry, the SI unit of induction) ELVIS H |
ELVISH (impish, or the language of elves) I’m struggling to make a firm link to hobby which is variously defined as an activity pursued in spare time for pleasure or relaxation, small horse or pony, an early form of bicycle, a falcon and a hobby-horse. I’ve a suspicion that hobby can also related something in the fairy world but I can’t find a definition to confirm it. Bradfords makes a link between elfin and dobby, but not hobby. |
| 10 | Food that’s regularly vegan? Tosh! (4) |
EATS (letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 [regularly] of VEGAN TOSH EATS |
EATS (food) |
| 11 | Equity perhaps poorly rated before marriage (5,5) |
Anagram of (poorly) RATED + UNION (marriage) TRADE* UNION |
TRADE UNION (Equity is the TRADE UNION for theatre directors, fight directors, choreographers, set designers, costume designers, lighting designers, actors, stage managers, models and performers) |
| 12 | Go away with model before she starts photo sessions? (6) |
SHOO (go away) + T (reference Model T Ford) + S (first letter of [starts] SHE) SHOO T S |
SHOOTS (photographic modelling sessions) |
| 14 | Those adding a vital element to 6 and 9 (8) |
Anagram of (sport; 9 down) TO SIX AND OXIDANTS* |
OXIDANTS (substances that combine with oxygen) I think the reference to 6 and 9, apart from being part of the wordplay, is also to elements in the periodic table. These are Carbon (6) and Fluorine (9). As far as I can see Carbon Dioxide and Fluorine Dioxide are both OXIDANTS or the result of oxidation) |
| 16 / 18 | Wild stab by skinhead, throat getting injured (1,4,2,3,4) |
Anagram of (getting injured) SKINHEAD THROAT A SHOT IN THE DARK* |
A SHOT IN THE DARK (random guess or wild speculation) |
| 21 | Weird Scottish medic with desire to follow English League (8) |
E (English) + L (League) + DR (doctor) + ITCH (desire) E L DR ITCH |
ELDRITCH (Scottish word for unearthly or supernatural; weird Scottish) |
| 23 | Posh-sounding boy and girl? (2-2-2) |
LAD (boy) + IDA (girl’s name) LA–D I–DA |
LA-DI-DA (affectedly elegant or superior, especially in speech or bearing; posh-sounding) |
| 24 | Foolishly Ian twice bets when not at event (2,8) |
Anagram of (foolishly) IAN IAN [i.e. twice] and BETS IN ABSENTIA* |
IN ABSENTIA (in their absence; when not there) |
| 26 | Said what you’ve got here is an old ball of thread (4) |
CLEW (sounds like [said] CLUE [what 26 across is]) CLEW |
CLEW (archaic [old] ball of thread) |
| 27 | Commonwealth country managed by British? That is regressive (6) |
B (British) + RUN (managed) + IE (id est; that is) reversed (regressive) B RUN EI< |
BRUNEI (a country that is a member of The Commonwealth) |
| 28 | Hole in a tree, right up high (8) |
Anagram of (high) A TREE R (right) and UP APERTURE* |
APERTURE (hole [in]) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Familiar form of address for female of the topless sort (4) |
CLASS (rank; sort) excluding the first letter (topless) C LASS |
LASS (girl; familiar form of address for a female) |
| 2 | Adolescents throw up after eating out (6) |
SHY (throw) reversed (up; down clue) containing ([after] eating) OUT Y (OUT) HS< |
YOUTHS (adolescents) |
| 3 | Those having reservations when raising issue about source of coffee? (7) |
(SON [child; issue] containing (about) JAVA [rich variety of coffee]) all reversed (when raising; down clue) (N (AVAJ) OS)< |
NAVAJOS (native American people who may live on reservations) |
| 4 | Attention-grabbing comment by one article, covered by laying flyer around book (8) |
(HEM [sort of half-cough to draw attention] + I [Roman numeral for one] + A [indefinite article]) contained in (covered by) HEN (bird that lays eggs; laying flyer) reversed (around). NE (HEM I A) H< |
NEHEMIAH (book of the Old Testament) |
| 5 | Level 42’s double so after split (4) |
EVEN (42 is an EVEN number, and if you split it into it’s two component parts, 4 and 2, both [doubly] are EVEN numbers as well) EVEN |
EVEN (level) |
| 7 | Causes embarrassment to party stuck in main elevator (7) |
BASH (party) contained in (stuck in) SEA (ocean main) reversed (elevator; down clue) A (BASH) ES< |
ABASHES (strikes with shame and embarrassment) |
| 9 | Show off after second drink (5) |
S (second) + PORT (type of drink) S PORT |
SPORT (wear; exhibit; show off) |
| 13 | Gas with grim smell (5) |
O (oxygen; gas) + DOUR (grim) O DOUR |
ODOUR (smell) |
| 15 | More confused having lost out (5) |
ADDLED (confused) excluding (out) L (lost) ADDED |
ADDED (more) |
| 17 | Flying around currently, or about to be so? (2,3,3) |
IN THE AIR (flying around now [currently]) IN THE AIR |
IN THE AIR (prevalent in a vague or indefinite form; about to be tangible; about to be so) double definition |
| 19 | Does perhaps find left wing moving right, then left, split by European immigration? (3,4) |
RED (spelled ordinarily, from left to right [moving right]) + (RED [written from right to left [then moving left] containing [split by … immigration] E [European]) RED DE (E) R< either E in DEER could be the one contained |
RED DEER (female RED DEER are known as DOES) |
| 20 | Passed a motion, we hear, to periodically devalue country house (7) |
CHAT (sounds like [we hear] SHAT [defecated; passed a motion]) + EAU (letters 2, 4 and 6 [periodically] of DEVALUE) CHAT EAU |
CHATEAU (large country house, especially in France) |
| 22 | Louvre’s first Stubbs? Right, that could describe landscape with more than one mare (5) |
L (opening letter of [first] LOUVRE) + UNA (reference UNA Stubbs [born 1937], English actress) + R (right) L UNA R |
LUNAR (and of various darkish level areas on the moon are known as mares, so such a landscape can be defined as LUNAR)) |
| 23 | Goes for some tea, perhaps (6) |
LEAVES (descriptive of tea) LEAVES |
LEAVES (departs; goes) double definition
|
| 25 | Criminal tendency (4) |
BENT (criminal) BENT |
BENT (leaning; tendency) double definition |
| 26 | Musical about discontented Tories (4) |
CA (circa; about) TS (letters remaining in TORIES when the letters forming the content ORIE are removed [dis-contented]) CA TS |
CATS (name of a musical) |
Very enjoyable, even if there were some hard ones such as NEHEMIAH and a few I couldn’t parse or make sense of, including ELVISH. I saw the Nina, and EATS, ROOTS and LEAVES though I didn’t know her other two books. There’s an Australian version of this phrase, with one of the words replaced by a similarly sounding word which in the Australian vernacular has a slightly naughty meaning. Something to do with wombats. I’ll say no more.
Carbon and fluorine dioxide? Well, maybe…
I liked the ‘Those having reservations’ def for 3d and my favourite, 22d, with the misleading ‘Louvre’s first Stubbs’ wordplay associated with the ‘landscape with more than one mare’ def and not a horse in sight.
Thanks to Hob and to Duncan
Thanks Duncan
In 8ac, I think Hob is using ‘hobby’ in the sense of ‘like a hob’ (Collins: a hobgoblin or elf) – a Paul/Punk type of clue.
I agree with Gaufrid@2
I never give up on Hob’s crosswords but today I did.
The NE was largely empty with, in particular, 8ac and 14ac eluding me completely.
And so, many thanks Duncan (and Gaufrid) for the explanations.
Also, the theme went beyond me (but thank God, it wasn’t Liz Truss).
Despite all this, I very much liked what I could manage.
I did put a question mark to the reversal indicator in 7d? Elevator, a noun. Feels odd to me..
In 19d there’s a lot of ‘left’ and ‘right’. All fine but it is a down clue.
While I am one who has no problem with it, there are often people who start to complain in such a situation.
Good crossword (with, in hindsight, 8ac probably my ultimate favourite) for which thanks to Hob.
Managed to complete this, parsing ELVISH as Gaufrid@2. Didn’t parse RED DEER but guessed it early on. Like Sil says @4, this would work better as an across clue. Didn’t know CLEW but guessed it was a homonym of clue at first reading and clew was the only spelling I could think of which worked out well.
Favourites include: ELVISH, SHOT IN THE DARK (easy, but a great anagram) and YOUTHS.
Thanks to Hob and Duncan.
We needed quite a lot of wordfinder help in the top half, even after spotting the nina but once we got the answers we were able to parse them. We’re not sure of the parsing of 14ac,though, and in any case an oxidant is an oxidising agent, not a product of oxidation. And we thought 9dn could equally well be STOUT as to tout something around could be to show it off so ‘tout’ after ‘s’ would give ‘drink’ for the definition.
A generally enjoyable puzzle nevertheless. Thanks, Hob and Duncan.
Could it be for 14ac that the definition is just “Those adding a vital element” and 9 is “sport” as an anagram indicator. Fluorine, if I remember my O-level chemistry, is a reducing agent, the opposite of an oxidising agent. (As is carbon, I think. You can pass steam over heated coal to reduce the steam to hydrogen.)