Flitwick, one of the latest additions to the Indy compiling team, has provided this week’s Wednesday puzzle.
This is certainly my first attempt at solving and blogging a puzzle set by Flitwick, and it certainly provided me with plenty to get my teeth into today. Incidentally, I found that the right-hand side of the grid filled itself in quite easily, while the left-hand side proved more challenging. I think that I have solved everything to my satisfaction, although I would appreciate some confirmation (or otherwise) of my parsing of 12 (definition) and 20 (“about”).
I particularly enjoyed 10 (for smoothness of surface), 11 (for its quirky definition) and above all 27 (for surface and for the clever splitting of the definition and wordplay in the middle of “figure // skater”). I also think that Flitwick deserves a bonus point for getting two lights – 9 and 13 – to cross on an “x”, which doesn’t happen often in the world of crosswords.
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 01 | PUPILS | Students turn up with beer
PU (UP; “turn” indicates reversal) + PILS (=beer) |
| 04 | ESOTERIC | Mysterious secretion giving off nitrogen is unstable
*(SECRETIO<n>); “giving off nitrogen (=N)” means letter “n” is dropped from anagram, indicated by “unstable” |
| 10 | MISERABLE | Cheapskate with no tip for meal, sorry!
MISER (=cheapskate) + <t>ABLE (=meal; “no tip for” means first letter is dropped); the “sorry” of the definition is an adjective, meaning “wretched, pitiful” |
| 11 | UDDER | Huddersfield displays dairy production equipment
Hidden (“displays”) in “hUDDERsfield”; cryptically, a cow’s udder could be described as “dairy production equipment”! |
| 12 | NOOSE | Necktie quickly sent back by Earl
NOOS (SOON=quickly; “sent back” indicates reversal) + E (=earl); cryptically, a noose could be described as a necktie |
| 13 | XYLOPHONE | Chromosomes cut with stone instrument
X Y (=chromosomes, in genetics) + LOP (=cut, as verb) + HONE (= a stone used for sharpening) |
| 14 | ONEROUS | Troublesome orange leader: emperor of America
O<range> (“leader” indicates first letter only) + NERO (=(Roman) emperor) + US (=of America, as in US foreign policy) |
| 16 | RITE | Ceremony is just caught
Homophone (“caught”, heard) of “right (=just)” |
| 19 | STYE | Infection starts off seeming trivial, yet escalates
S<eeming> T<rivial> Y<et> E<scalates>; “starts off” means first letters only are needed |
| 21 | GERMANY | Appropriately ignoring the Spanish state
GERMAN<el>Y (=appropriately); “ignoring the Spanish (=el, a Spanish word for the)” means letters “el” are dropped |
| 24 | ORCHESTRA | Actors fool around with her in part of theatre
*(ACTORS + HER); “fool around” is anagram indicator |
| 25 | SHIRE | Father has hotel within the county
H (=hotel) in SIRE (=father) |
| 26 | ROMEO | A young lover is more befuddled by love
*(MORE) + O (=love, i.e. a zero score); “befuddled” is anagram indicator |
| 27 | RECTANGLE | Figure skater’s last elegant performance bags 100
<skate>R (“last” means last letter only) + [C (=100, in Roman numerals) in *(ELEGANT)]; “performance” appears to be the anagram indicator |
| 28 | EASTERLY | Extremely lazy after third day of wind
EASTER (=third day, i.e. after the burial of Jesus) + L<az>Y (“extremely” means first and last letters only) |
| 29 | HEARTS | King hates fancy red suit
*(R (=king, i.e. rex) + HATES); “fancy” is anagram indicator; the “suit” of the definition refers to a pack of cards |
| Down | ||
| 01 | PIMENTOS | Peppers detective with remembrances – leave me out of it!
PI (=detective, i.e. Private Investigator) + <me>MENTOS (=remembrances; “leave me out” means letters “me” are dropped); pimentos are Cayenne peppers |
| 02 | PASSOVER | Fail to promote festival?
(to) PASS (=someone) OVER (=to fail to promote) |
| 03 | LARGE | Substantial recall of most integral components
Reversed (“recall of”) and hidden (“most (…) components”) in “intEGRAL“ |
| 05 | STELLAR | Outstanding giveaway in Hong Kong, perhaps
TELL (=give away, reveal) in SAR (=Hong Kong, perhaps, i.e. Special Administrative Region (of the People’s Republic of China) |
| 06 | TRUMPETER | Twitter enthusiast to stop daughter running away with musician
TRUMP (=Twitter enthusiast, i.e. President Donald Trump) + <d>ETER (=stop; “daughter (=D) running away” means letter “d”) |
| 07 | RADIOS | Starting to redecorate, so long for wireless devices
R<edecorate> (“starting to” means first letter only) + ADIOS (=so long, goodbye) |
| 08 | CAREER | One who’s concerned about English occupation
E (=English) in CARER (=one who’s concerned (about something)) |
| 09 | IBEXES | Island insects swarm cross goats
X (=cross, pictorially) in [I (=island) + BEES (insects)] |
| 15 | ON THE NOSE | Sharp by the smell of it
Cryptically, “on the nose” suggests the smell of something; in US English, “ten o’clock on the nose” means “ten o’clock sharp” |
| 17 | MALINGER | Fake illness a gremlin concocted
*(A GREMLIN); “concocted” is anagram indicator |
| 18 | PYRENEES | Borders of Paraguay disrupt serene mountain range
P<Aragua>Y (“borders” means first and last letters only) + *(SERENE); “disrupt” is anagram indicator |
| 20 | ENTERAL | Nurse finally learnt about the intestines?
<nurs>E (“finally” means last letter only) + *(LEARNT); “about” appear to do double duty, both as an anagram indicator and as part of the definition |
| 21 | GLANCE | Butcher’s good and pointy implement
G (=good) + LANCE (=pointy implement); in Cockney rhyming slang, a butcher’s (hook) is a look, glance |
| 22 | COARSE | Harsh treatment regimen given orally
Homophone (“given orally”) of “course (of e.g. antibiotics) (=treatment regimen)” |
| 23 | SCAMPS | Rascals swindle prosperous outsiders
SCAM (swindle, as verb or noun) + P<rosperou>S (“outsiders” means first and last letters only) |
| 25 | SLATE | Criticise // all the candidates
Double definition: to slate is to criticise, pan AND in the US, a slate is a list of potential candidates |
We solved this fairly quickly, although the NW corner held out the longest (we took ages to think of that type of beer – Doh!). As for 12ac we thought necktie might be a euphemism for a hangman’s noose, but we’d agree about double duty in 20dn, although it didn’t occur to us at the time.
We didn’t quite understand 4ac, having assumed ‘mysterious’ to be the anagram indicator we couldn’t see how ‘esoteric’ meant ‘unstable’ – so thanks for the explanation.
Plenty to like, including XYLOPHONE, ORCHESTRA (not an anagram of ‘carthorse’ for once) and TRUMPETER.
Thanks, Flitwick and RatkojaRiku.
Chambers gives necktie as US slang for a hangman’s noose – gallows humour indeed.
My first Flitwick and I liked it. LOI PUPILS, which I should have remembered from another puzzle… I was trying to get a word ending in ALE, with L there as a checker. Doh. DNK the SAR acronym at 5D, but otherwise plain sailing. I liked NOOSE for necktie. Thanks Flitwick and RatkojaRiku.