I am back today feeling rather shame-faced having missed my slot last week – some of us clearly don’t always know what day of the week it is!
It seems that this is the second puzzle by Whynot to have appeared in the Indy, and it is certainly the first time that I have had the pleasure of either solving or blogging a puzzle by him.
As with all “new” compilers, it takes a while to adjust to a new style. For a while, I only had a handful of solutions entered in the grid and wondered if I was in for a real struggle, but the solution gradually revealed itself to me. At the end, I was left with a completed grid but with a number of clues that I couldn’t parse to my satisfaction. Please post any corrections or improvements that you may spot, fellow solvers! I am particularly interested to hear if you parsed 16 as I did. 12 was the solution that I parsed last, and only when I remembered the drugs connection.
My favourite clues today were the two homophones at 20 and 26; 24, for the lovely surface reading; and the cryptic definition at 18. I am already looking forward to Whynot’s next offering.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | ENORMOUS | Show more nous once stimulated and make it very big
*(MORE NOUS); “once stimulated” is anagram indicator |
| 05 | ABLUSH | Drunk rating at the front red in the face
AB (=rating, i.e. able-bodied seaman) + LUSH (=drunk) |
| 09 | YULETIDE | Brynner film one would primarily enjoy around Christmas
YUL (=Brynner, i.e. Russian-American actor in The King and I) + E.T. (=film) + I (=one) + ‘D (=would, as in I’d, you’d) + E<njoy> (“primarily” means first letter only) |
| 10 | CURTIS | Perhaps Jamie Lee is abrupt at first
CURT (=abrupt, short) + IS; the reference is to the US actress Jamie Lee Curtis (1958-) |
| 12 | ROACH | Fish where weed’s depleted?
“roach” is a colloquial word for what is left after a joint has been smoked, the butt of a spliff, hence “where weed (=marijuana)’s depleted” |
| 13 | REINFORCE | Add numbers to check militia, say
REIN (=check, limit) + FORCE (=militia, say) |
| 14 | DELICATESSEN | Poor Alice Hardy’s girl in retreat where special foods are provided
[*(ALICE) + TESS (=Hardy’s girl, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles)] in DEN (=retreat); “poor” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | DRESSING ROOM | Changing location star may be found in?
Cryptic definition: “changing” refers to changing clothes and “star” to e.g. a leading lady |
| 21 | ENDURANCE | Ability to persevere with rhythmical movements which you are shortly to engage in following directions
E N (=directions, i.e. east and north) + [U R (=you are shortly, i.e. textspeak for you and are) in DANCE (=rhythmical movements)] |
| 23 | LAYER | Coat // chicken?
Double definition: a coat of paint is a “layer” of paint AND a chicken is a “layer” of eggs |
| 24 | IBIDEM | I proposed at the top of Everest and married in the same place
I + BID (=proposed, offered) + E<verest> (“top of” means first letter only) + M (=married) |
| 25 | ABNEGATE | Deny rejecting letter from Greece with information provided by graduate
ETA (=letter from Greece, i.e. a letter of the Greek alphabet) + GEN (=information) + BA (=graduate, i.e. Bachelor of Arts); “rejecting” indicates reversal |
| 26 | EYELET | Maybe ring about that small island, you say?
Homophone (“you say”) of “islet (=small island)” |
| 27 | REST HOME | Take it easy in abode of old
REST (=take it easy) + HOME (=in) |
| Down | ||
| 01 | EEYORE | Morose character oddly put out merely visiting Danish capital
<m>E<r>E<l>Y (“oddly put out” means odd letters are dropped) + ORE (=Danish capital, i.e. unit of currency – 100 øre = 1 krone) |
| 02 | OILCAN | Mistakenly put coal in container with long spout
*(COAL IN); “mistakenly put” is anagram indicator |
| 03 | MATCHLESS | So getting lighter might help? Excellent!
Cryptically, if you are matchless, i.e. have no matches, then having a cigarette lighter might help |
| 04 | UNDERPINNING | European articles badly wanting point to be put in support
UN DER (=European articles, i.e. a French word for a and a German word for the) + [N (=point (of compass), i.e. north) in PINING (=badly wanting)] |
| 06 | BLUFF | Weep endlessly and very loudly in pretence
BLU<b> (=weep, “endlessly” means last letter is dropped) + FF (=very loudly, i.e. fortissimo in music) |
| 07 | UPTHRUST | At university, confidence about final in English gives lift
UP (=at university) + [<englis>H (“final in” means last letter only) in TRUST (=confidence)] |
| 08 | HAS-BEENS | They are no longer hired in the first place as e.g. runners, according to report
H<ired> (“in the first place” means first letter only) + AS + homophone (“according to report”) of “beans (=e.g. runners)” |
| 11 | DISAGREEABLE | Less than pleasant, Beria’s alleged to have snuffed out Leninists’ leader in a rage
*(BERIA’S A<l>LEGED); “to have snuffed out Leninists‘ leader, i.e. first letter, means letter “l” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “in a rage” |
| 15 | EMOLLIENT | Producing calm sort of music left, right and centre of cafeteria
EMO (=sort of music, i.e. guitar-based popular music) + L (=left) + LIEN (=right, in law) + <cafe>T<eria> (“centre of” means middle letter is dropped) |
| 16 | EDGEWISE | ‘Sideways cycling’ club is irrational
EDGE-W (WEDGE=club, in golf; “cycling” means first letter moves to the end of the word) + IS + E (=irrational (number), in maths) |
| 17 | DEADLINE | Appointed time gone, fib to get name enrolled
DEAD (=gone, deceased) + [N (=name) in LIE (=fib)] |
| 19 | DYNAMO | Monday disastrous for electricity supplier
*(MONDAY); “disastrous” is anagram indicator |
| 20 | FRIEZE | Strip and remain motionless for audience
Homophone (“for audience”) of “freeze (=remain motionless, stand still)”; a frieze is a decorative band – hence strip – along the wall of a room |
| 22 | REEVE | Magistrate starts to regret entertaining the night before
R<egret> E<ntertaining> (“starts to” means first letters only) + EVE (=the night before) |
Yes, I parsed everything as in blog except I took the definition of “roach” to be the butt of the joint (see, for example, Chambers) so the weed is (already) depleted.
Only ever meet REEVE for magistrate in Crosswordland. I thought it interesting when I recently discovered that “shire reeve” gave birth to “sheriff”.
Thanks to Whynot and RatkojaRiku.
We got it all, although the NE corner held out the longest, and we had to check in Chambers for the second definition of ROACH.
Nothing too difficult, though, and plenty to like. EEYORE was good although we have a minor quibble that ‘capital’ as a reference to currency usually means the main unit rather than a subdivision.
Thanks, Whynot and RatkojaRiku.
I enjoyed solving this as much as I enjoyed Whynot’s first puzzle in the Indy. I would extend the blogger’s list of favourite clues to include EMOLLIENT also, with its ‘left, right and centre’.
I parsed 16d EDGEWISE as blogged, with ‘wedge’ cycling. That and EYELET took me longest to solve.
This puzzle gave me two new things to learn: ROACH (with that meaning) and EMO. I make this as a positive point.
Thanks to Whynot and RatkojaRiku.
Enjoyable solve with most answers going in steadily enough, though with a few needing more thought. I couldn’t parse MATCHLESS and had difficulty understanding the def. for EYELET. My last in was EDGEWISE, as it took a while to figure out the parsing – mine was the same as yours.
Favourite was DRESSING ROOM – just my (probably ignorant!) opinion, but I would regard it as a cryptic def. though not really as an &lit.
Thanks to Whynot and RR.
Thanks setter, and blogger. EMOLLIENT was brilliant, EDGEWISE very clever and IBIDEM lovely. Slight misgivings about ‘pining’ (vi) = ‘badly wanting’ (vt). Favourite was EEYORE: might have known he’d be researching Kierkegaard.
That’s how I parsed EDGEWISE. Why are you uncertain about it?
There’s a Reeves Tale in Chaucer.
I found this pretty tricky but all very enjoyable indeed.
The d’oh! moment with the second part of the ROACH came embarrassingly late. I could claim sweetness and innocence as my excuse but I fear few would believe me. 🙂
Many thanks Whynot and RR.
Thanks to RatkojaRiku and Whynot
Good fun but there are a couple of things I don’t get.
12a In what way is the weed depleted at the roach?
BTW perhaps ROACH means spliff in America, but here (at least it did in the early seventies), it means the rolled up piece of cardboard, usually from a Rizla packet, that formed one end.
16d How is “irrational” e?
Dansar @ 9
When you’ve smoked down to the roach, the weed is gone/depleted (or so a friend told me)
e in mathematics is an irrational number
hth
Simon S @10
I wondered if that might be the setter’s intention but I couldn’t see it as there is no mention of the joint being smoked.
I did think we might be invited to see depleted as “exhausted” (a valid synonym), and that the burning weed is expelled through the roach, but it seems like a bit of a two step process.
Yes e is a symbol for one irrational number” (of which there are an infinite number), but I still don’t see how “irrational” clues “e”.
Many thanks, RatkojaRiku for the blog and all who commented. This is the first time I’ve seen R’s name on a blog and it’s nice we’ve been introduced this way.
Regarding ROACH, I didn’t know it can mean the whole spliff in America. I believe it started as a likening of the end of an American joint (no cardboard) with a cockroach, aka roach. Dansar is right to say it can refer (npi) to the rolled cardboard in a British doobie, but this is derivative. For the purposes of this puzzle the meaning is as in Collins (British 2,2): “the butt of a cannabis cigarette”, where the weed (cannabis) that was in said cigarette has been depleted (reduced or exhausted).
As for ‘irrational’ it is being used in the nounal sense of ‘an irrational number’, which e, the base of natural logarithms, is. See Collins (British, 3b).
Tony / Whynot
Thank you Tony, I’ll have a couple of those for dinner tonight.
@Dansar, heh! Careful, irrationals can be quite indigestible!
After writing my comment, I wondered about my stated belief in the origin of ROACH and found that Etymology Online gives qualified support for it.
I’m afraid this comment is rather late. I did this fun crossword last evening. Suffice to say I enjoyed it very much. I did, however, find it tricky in places, and didn’t know anything about the ROACH. Lovely d’oh! moment with DRESSING ROOM, one of my last in.
Thanks and appreciation to Whynot and RatkojaRiku.
To WordPlodder at 4: yes, of course it is a cryptic definition, as is stated in the parsing of the individual clue. My apologies that & lit. crept into the preamble to the blog, now corrected.
On the issue of “roach”, Chambers gives it to mean either the joint or the butt of the joint. As a joint is meant to be smoked, the marijuana is surely (intended to be) depleted right from the point at which it is lit, I would wager, and right through to the point where all that is left is the butt. In any case, thanks to Tony for clarifying what he had in mind when he set the clue, i.e. the butt of the spliff.
Rather late too, but thanks to Whynot & RR
Loved the clue for IBIDEM, typically fluent and charming