Flitwick is a fairly recent addition to the Indy’s team of crossword setters. Pierre pointed out that he’d blogged all of Flitwick’s first three puzzles earlier this year, but I’m happy to break the pattern with this one.
A fairly straightforward Monday solve, with clear cluing (especially for the small number of less familiar words). There are some very good surfaces, and – dare I say it – homophones that probably work for the majority of speakers. I did have a few minor niggles (noted below), but they’re excuses to indulge my pedantry rather than detracting from the enjoyment. Thanks Flitwick.
Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ABRAHAM LINCOLN | Union leader who met a theatrical end? (7,7) |
| Cryptic definition: Lincoln led the Union during the American Civil War, and was assassinated in Ford’s Theatre. | ||
| 10 | RULER | Sovereign that’ll keep things in line? (5) |
| Double definition: monarch, or the measuring device used to draw straight lines. | ||
| 11 | PARABOLAS | Arab’s opal touched curves (9) |
| Anagram (touched) of ARAB’S OPAL. | ||
| 12 | BLADDER | A wee container? (7) |
| Cryptic definition: organ in the human body containing urine. | ||
| 13 | SLANDER | Cuban, perhaps, doesn’t open false accusation (7) |
| ISLANDER (for example Cuban), without the opening letter (doesn’t open). | ||
| 14 | SKIMP | Embezzle pounds and save a few? (5) |
| SKIM (embezzle = take a bit of someone else’s money while handling it) + P (pounds, as in the currency abbreviation GBP for British pounds sterling). Skimp = economise. |
||
| 16 | TECHNICAL | Specialist to lecture without a bit of money, say (9) |
| TE[a]CH (to lecture, without the letter A) + homophone (say) of NICKEL (US 5-cent coin). | ||
| 19 | TENNESSEE | US state is first in table with 8 points (9) |
| First letter of Table, then 8 letters each of which represents a point of the compass (East, North or South). | ||
| 20 | RANGE | Irritation with back to front cooker (5) |
| ANGER (irritation, though I think the word suggests something a bit stronger?), with the last letter (back) moved to the front. | ||
| 22 | NEST EGG | Back in Luxembourg, get sent money for a rainy day (4,3) |
| Reversed hidden answer (back in) [luxembour]G GET SEN[t]. “Nest egg” originally meant an initial deposit as the start of saving money, from the practice of putting an artificial egg in a hen’s nest to encourage egg laying; but now it seems to mean just “saved money”. |
||
| 25 | PICTURE | Possibly drawing Rotherham initially in tricky cup tie (7) |
| Initial letter of Rotherham, in an anagram (tricky) of CUP TIE. The surface refers to Rotherham United Football Club. A picture might be a drawing, or a painting, or a photograph . . . . |
||
| 27 | LOOK SMART | Make yourself presentable, and be quick! (4,5) |
| Double definition: the second is slang. Slightly confusing because “look sharp” also fits both meanings (sharp-dressed = smartly dressed); I got it wrong initially, before the crosser from 17d made me think again. | ||
| 28 | ADIEU | Expire in golden surroundings, farewell! (5) |
| DIE (expire) surrounded by AU (Au = chemical symbol for gold). | ||
| 29 | DEMONSTRATIONS | Shows way to divide irrational denominators (14) |
| ST (abbreviation for street = way), inserted into (dividing) an anagram (irrational) of DENOMINATORS. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | BULGARIAN | Crude fellow swaps hats with barbarian from Eastern Europe (9) |
| VULGARIAN (crude fellow), swapping the initial letter (hat = top in a down clue) with the initial letter of Barbarian. | ||
| 3 | AIRED | Melody by Verdi regularly played on the radio (5) |
| AIR (tune = melody) + alternate letters (regularly) of [v]E[r]D[i]. | ||
| 4 | ASPIRATES | Breathes in horrid parasites (9) |
| Anagram (horrid) of PARASITES. | ||
| 5 | LYRES | Heard about dishonest types of instruments (5) |
| Homophone (heard about) of LIARS, dishonest types. Lyre, ancient musical instrument. | ||
| 6 | NO-BRAINER | New airborne manoeuvre that doesn’t need much thought (2-7) |
| N (new) + anagram (manoeuvre) of AIRBORNE. An easy decision or an obviously correct conclusion. |
||
| 7 | OGLED | Stared at leaders of our government letting everyone down (5) |
| Initial letters (leaders) of Our Government Letting Everyone Down. The UK political climate continues to provide plenty of inspiration for crossword clue surfaces. | ||
| 8 | NOSTRIL | One of a pair found in Hooters? (7) |
| Cryptic definition: hooter = slang for nose, which contains a pair of nostrils. Not to be confused with other less polite slang meanings of “hooters”. | ||
| 9 | EREBUS | English detective’s ship used for polar exploration (6) |
| E (English) + REBUS (detective in a series of novels by Ian Rankin, or the TV series based on them). HMS Erebus, lost in a failed Arctic exploration attempt. |
||
| 15 | PRESEASON | Add a bit of spice before the competitive games start (9) |
| Double definition, though the first is slightly dubious. Season = add a bit of spice to food; pre-season might mean to season food before cooking, but the wordplay doesn’t really justify “pre”. The second definition refers to a sports team doing training or exhibition matches before the start of a season of league and cup competitions. | ||
| 17 | CLEOPATRA | Queen‘s unusual palace tour, not suitable for children! (9) |
| Anagram (unusual) of PALACE TO[u]R, but not the U (film classification indicating a film suitable for everyone including children). The surface seems appropriate – from what I’ve read about Cleopatra, the goings-on in the palace would not have been at all suitable as family entertainment. |
||
| 18 | CENTURION | Old soldier who got the runs? (9) |
| Double definition: Roman military officer, or a cricketer who has scored 100 or more runs in a single innings. | ||
| 19 | TANGLED | Confused insect flies up to light (7) |
| GNAT (insect), reversed (flies up, in a down clue) + LED (light emitting diode). | ||
| 21 | EYEFUL | A good look at the Tour de France, say? (6) |
| Homophone (say) of EIFFEL (the tower in Paris, Tour Eiffel in French). | ||
| 23 | STORM | Uproar as nonsense raised in initially serious meeting (5) |
| ROT (nonsense), reversed (raised = upwards in a down clue), inserted into the initial letters of Serious Meeting. | ||
| 24 | GRANT | Permit head of geography to deliver a tirade (5) |
| Initial letter (head) of Geography + RANT (to deliver a tirade). | ||
| 26 | COATI | Skin and head of Icelandic animal (5) |
| COAT (skin) + initial letter (head) of Icelandic. It’s a pity we have three “initial letter” wordplays in consecutive clues, especially when two of them use “head” as the indicator. Coati is a South American wild mammal. |
||
Thanks for the explanations Quirister. Didn’t know “vulgarian” was a word so parsed as “vulgar Ian” which still works as “crude fellow” but not as well. I also didn’t know “tour” was French for “tower” so that subtlety escaped me.
I agree with your objection to PRESEASON. I put the “before” with the first def but that just moves the problem.
I was dutifully sucked in by the wrong ‘Tour de France’, so missed the parsing of EYEFUL, but otherwise everything went in steadily enough. PRESEASON didn’t seem quite right to me either, for the ‘spice’ bit anyway, though fitted the second part of the clue OK.
A good way to wind down after work. The surface for CENTURION raised a smile and I liked the ‘theatrical end’ for ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Thanks to Flitwick and Quirister
27A I first had LOOK ALIVE (because of the “quick”); then changed to LOOK SHARP; then again to LOOK SMART, when I was able to parse 17D. I thought the clue for CLEOPATRA particularly good.
I am not bothered by the occasional repetition of clueing devices, but it seems all bloggers (and a lot of commenters) are.
Thanks to Flitwick and Quirister.
We took ‘crude fellow’ to be ‘vulgar Ian’, too. We hadn’t thought of your objection to PRESEASON, but we did think it should be enumerated as (3-6) rather than (9). And we weren’t too sure if it was ‘smart’ or ‘sharp’ in 27ac until we got the crossing letters.
An enjoyable solve, though. Favourites included PARABOLAS, TENNESSEE, NO-BRAINER and EREBUS.
Thanks, Flitwick and Quirister.