I was delighted to see that Klingsor was the setter for today, and he has not disappointed, with a crossword full of nice clues. Nothing controversial that I can see — it was just the right level of difficulty and he loses gracefully.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
| Across | ||
| 1 | OPERATIC | Ring – epic works involving singer? This describes it (8) |
| O pe(rat)ic, the peic being (epic)* — a rat is a person who sings (ie rats on someone) | ||
| 5 | PESTER | Harry Potter’s first audio-book? (6) |
| P{otter} “Esther” — the book of the bible | ||
| 9 | LAP | Drink Bud, knocking it back (3) |
| (pal)rev. | ||
| 10 | BAD HAIR DAYS | Times when it all goes wrong, diary has suggested ? (3,4,4) |
| (diary has) is an anagram of (hair days), so bad hair days is *(hair days) | ||
| 12 | SINGLES BAR | Lonely hearts’ venue is a blessing in disguise, right? (7,3) |
| (a blessing)* R | ||
| 13 | USED | Spend regularly on uniform that’s second-hand (4) |
| u S{p}e{n}d | ||
| 15 | METTLE | Dictator’s lead perhaps shows courage (6) |
| “metal”, an example of which is lead | ||
| 16 | HOUSMAN | Junior doctor discharges English poet (7) |
| Hous{E}man — A.E. Housman, most famous for A Shropshire Lad — I think housemen are called house officers nowadays |
||
| 18 | RIOTOUS | Disorderly itinerary of NY-bound Brazilian? (7) |
| A NY-bound Brazilian may be going from Rio to US | ||
| 20 | TAGINE | Eating out, having this? (6) |
| (Eating)* | ||
| 23 | LAIC | Non-specialist? That covers this, on reflection (4) |
| Hidden reversed in non-speCIAList, semi-&lit. | ||
| 24 | ABSCONDING | Fleeing from criminal racket, packing bags randomly (10) |
| abs(con din)g, the absg being (bags)* | ||
| 26 | FLIP ONES LID | Lose control, having slipped on pile of new plastic (4,4,3) |
| (pile of n)* slid — good clue; it took a while to unravel | ||
| 27 | OWE | Without cover, might still have to pay (3) |
| {p}owe{r} — might = power | ||
| 28 | CLEVER | Conservative Party makes U-turn, being smart (6) |
| C (revel)rev. | ||
| 29 | PYRENEES | Woodpile spotted around range (8) |
| pyre (seen)rev. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | OWLISH | Stupid or wise? (6) |
| 2 defs — I can see the wise? sense, but couldn’t find anything in the online Collins that suggested owlish = stupid; however, it’s in various other online dictionaries | ||
| 2 | EXPANSE | Stretch of river fed by basins (7) |
| Ex(pans)e | ||
| 3 | AMBULATION | Upset one man with Lab, out walking (10) |
| *(1 man Lab out) — as with so many of Klingsor’s clues, I tend to struggle to find what is being anagrammed — which is not a criticism | ||
| 4 | INDISPENSABLE | Popular writer’s wearing fur after initially deeming it essential (13) |
| in d{eeming} i{t} s(pen’s)able | ||
| 6 | EZRA | Pound perhaps will be unknown in time (4) |
| e(z)ra — Ezra Pound — I often go on about z being a rather unusual unknown, but it is indeed an unknown and one can sympathise with setters who have to find something for z, which is not exactly rich in possibilities — zone, zero, zenith, anyone? | ||
| 7 | TRANSOM | Bar tab originally an extortionate price (7) |
| t{ab} ransom | ||
| 8 | RESIDENT | Payment, including interest, for dwelling (8) |
| re(side)nt — I wasn’t sure about side = interest, but they’re given as synonyms in Chambers — can’t quite see why | ||
| 11 | APATHETICALLY | A useless supporter, in a ho-hum way (13) |
| a pathetic ally | ||
| 14 | NUDGE NUDGE | Government cuts exposed twice – know what I mean? (5,5) |
| nud(G)e, twice | ||
| 17 | PROLIFIC | Close to April I put in crop if ground is fertile (8) |
| pro({Apri}l I)fic — the profic being (crop if)* | ||
| 19 | OLIVINE | Look over independent plant producing mineral (7) |
| (lo)rev. I vine | ||
| 21 | NOISOME | Gong parts sound very unpleasant (7) |
| nois(OM)e — a gong is a colloquial term for a medal or an award | ||
| 22 | OGRESS | Nasty woman has to go on, out of puff (6) |
| (PR)ogress — PR = public relations = puff | ||
| 25 | TOME | In my opinion, a scholarly book? (4) |
| to me, an expression favoured by various sports commentators | ||
*anagram
Thanks or the blog, John.
I do like Klingsor’s puzzles and this was another lovely example.
My favourites were OPERATIC, SINGLES BAR and FLIP ONE’s LID – and APATHETICALLY made me smile, too.
OWLISH made me think of Billy Bunter as ‘The Owl of the Remove’, which I’d always thought of as referring to his glasses: Chambers has ‘… solemn, esp.if also bespectacled; wise; blinking; stupid’.
Chambers’ ‘partisanship or side’ for ‘interest’ is fine for me.
Many thanks to Klingsor for a most enjoyable puzzle.
Mighty fine! Too many faves to list.
Was also unsure about SIDE = INTEREST and had to look in Chambers to see that OWLISH could mean “Stupid”.
Thanks to Klingsor and John.
We got onto Klingsor’s wavelength fairly easily today so the puzzle wasn’t too much of a struggle to complete. X and Z appeared early on for us and set of the pangram alarm – but a false alarm today. LOI was PYRENEES after crossing letters made someting incuding ‘aga’ (= range) impossible. Favourite was OLIVINE because we guessed it without any crossing letters.
Thanks, Klingsor and John
Thanks to John and Klingsor
Superb as always.
I did this first thing this morning apart from 1d as I couldn’t see it as a DD, so thanks to those with access to better dictionaries.
I’ve spent a while, (a long while), trying work out how OR could instruct me to remove the first S from SLOWISH, and rearrange to OWLISH.
Excellent as always from Klingsor. I didn’t know LAIC and my loi was METTLE – which got the last of many ticks. Thanks to Klingsor and John.