A riveting challenge from WANDERER this Friday morning. Thanks for an absolute delight of a crossword, WANDERER!
FF : 10 DD: 9
| Across | ||
| 1 | LONG JOHN SILVER | One-legged chap’s underpants, lost in setter’s boudoir 8 21 (4,4,6) |
| LONG JOHNS (underpants) [ L (lost) in I’VE (setter’s) ] R (boudoiR, 8, 21 = right in the end) | ||
| 10 | AXIOM | Gnome across in front of Douglas’s place (5) |
| A X (read as A-CROSS) before IOM (douglas’s place, Isle Of Man) | ||
| 11 | WHIRLIGIG | Henry meets one girl dancing in Hair that’s artificially made up top? (9) |
| [ H (henry) I (one) GIRL*] in WIG (hair that’s artifically made up) | ||
| 12 | OVERALL | Old girl twice left comprehensive (7) |
| O (old) VERA (girl) LL (left, twice) | ||
| 13 | SUBPLOT | Not the main story, conversion of B+ to . . . . (7) |
| anagram of B PLUS (+) TO | ||
| 14 | RERUN | . . . . A- in bum French article shown again (5) |
| REaR (bum, A- ~ without A) UN (french article) | ||
| 16 | INVARIANT | Popular song found in five books? It never changes (9) |
| IN (popular) [ ARIA (song) in { V (five) NT (books) } ] | ||
| 19 | LABYRINTH | Intricate and confusing arrangement of surprisingly tiny bar in large hotel (9) |
| TINY BAR* in [ L (large) H (hotel) ] | ||
| 20 | LICIT | A bit flipping erotic? Ill-advisably, not forbidden (5) |
| hidden, reversed in “..eroTIC ILl-advisably..” | ||
| 22 | AIRSHIP | Flyer has “Cockney musical’s all the rage” (7) |
| AIRS (cockney musical’s) HIP (all the rage) | ||
| 25 | MIGRATE | Aircraft speed’s to move from one system to another (7) |
| MIG (aircraft) RATE (speed) | ||
| 27 | EXCRETION | Former head of nunnery into erotic dancing? On the contrary, that’s crap (9) |
| EX (former) [ EROTIC ]* N (head of Nunnery) | ||
| 28 | ARGON | Primarily another rare gas (or noble gas) (5) |
| &lit; starting letters of “..Another Rare Gas Or Noble..” | ||
| 29 | SHORT-EARED OWLS | It’s so worth 19 down being changed for those that might give a hoot (5-5,4) |
| [SO WORTH LEADERS (answer to 19d)]* | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | OLIVE DRAB | Female poet turning up in a dull green colour (5,4) |
| OLIVE (female) DRAB (reverse of BARD, poet) | ||
| 3 | GAMMA | Letter from school to mother (5) |
| GAM (school, pod of whales) MA (mother) | ||
| 4 | ORWELLIAN | Poor sailor heading off with New Left description of 1984 (9) |
| sAILOR (heading off) NEW L (left)* | ||
| 5 | NAILS | Arrests mobile home owners? Not initially (5) |
| sNAILS (mobile home owners, without starting letter) | ||
| 6 | ILLIBERAL | “Reactionary” 9 19 down described by, oddly enough, Eric Blair broadcast (9) |
| LL (9 19 down is LABOUR LEADERS -> interpreted as LL ) in [ ErIc (oddly) BLAIR ]) | ||
| 7 | VIGIL | Watch of old poet’s not right (5) |
| VIrGIL (old poet, without R – right) | ||
| 8, 21 | RIGHT AT THE END | What 1984 has in common with another year and number, ultimately (5,2,3,3) |
| cryptic def, referring to R (Right) letter occuring at the end of the words anotheR, yeaR and numbeR. The last letter of 1984 is ..fouR. | ||
| 9, 19 | LABOUR LEADERS | Party pieces in the FT? Top left is where you’ll find them (6,7) |
| LABOUR (party) LEADERS (pieces in the ft) | ||
| 15 | NORTH-WEST | Point thrown away? Set lost (5-4) |
| THROWN* SET* | ||
| 17 | VEHEMENCE | Great intensity of feeling as setter leaves Italian city, crossing European border (9) |
| VENiCE (italian city, without I – setter) containing [ E (european) HEM (border) ] | ||
| 18 | ARCHANGEL | Perhaps Michael keeps right coins in aluminium container (9) |
| [ R (right) CHANGE (coins) ] in AL (aluminium) | ||
| 19 | See 9 | |
| 21 | See 8 | |
| 23 | RECTO | Clergyman detailed in page with odd number (5) |
| RECTOr (cleargyman, detailed – i.e. without last letter) – new word for me | ||
| 24 | PLICA | Matted condition of hair that’s somewhat inexplicable (5) |
| hidden in “..inexPLICAble” | ||
| 26 | GUANO | Fertiliser made from moa dung, with original character of each dropping? (5) |
| mOA dUNG* (without starting letters) | ||
*anagram
Yes, very good if complicated. The cute 12a was a like breath of fresh air.
I was hoping for a bit more than just an R at the end of 198fouR.
‘But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother’
Right near the end. Close but no cigar.
Thanks Wanderer, Turbolegs
There’s a message here somewhere.A parliament of owls?
Great puzzle and blog.Ta.
Yes, great puzzle. My favourite was 1ac. Thanks Turbolegs and Wanderer
Great puzzle. It feels like there’s a message in here given today’s events. Parliament (owls). Orwellian. Illiberal. Labour Leaders. Right. Guano. Excretion. . Rerun. Perhaps even advice: Migrate.
Thanks Wanderer and Turbolegs
I enjoyed this, as ever with Wanderer. However I don’t think Labour Leaders gives LL. To me, that gives LA. “Reactionary initially, 9 19D…” would work, though, for me anyway.
Thanks Wanderer for a brilliantly clued crossword. Loved the short ones, VIGIL, GUANO, and NAILS, in particular. Only got AXIOM by guessing, however — thanks Turbolegs for the explanation.
Thanks to Wanderer and Turbolegs. PLICA was new to me (and my spell-checker), I didn’t parse the IOM part of AXIOM, and needed all the crossers to get WHIRLIGIG, but the puzzle was great fun.
Thanks, Wanderer and Turbolegs. Fun puzzle and got everything.
Was looking for a theme with “long” and “short” on top and bottom, “top left” and “right at the end” on the sides, and the couple of Orwell references … nothing consistent. Moly, yours makes sense. Did Wanderer know the election would be at the time the puzzle appeared?
Brilliant, I enjoyed this immensely, best clue for me, GAMMA.(pod and parliament as collective nouns now chestnuts)
I parsed 22ac as ‘(H)air (musical) (i)s hip’, though I see now that a true crossword-puzzle Cockney would also drop the aitch of hip.
For what it’s worth (and perhaps superfluously), after Simon‘s comment @5 I had another look at 9,19 and the reference to it in 6d.
9, 19: in the grid, top left you’ll find L,L (1ac + 9d).
6d: ‘Labour leaders’ = ‘Labour leader’ + ‘Labour leader’ = L + L.
Does that make sense?
I think “It’s” in 29ac could (or perhaps, should) have been left out. Feels like padding.
In 1ac, does ‘boudoir right at the end’ really gives us R? Perhaps, it does.
Not wholly convinced about ‘A-‘ meaning ‘take away the A’ (in 14ac).
Neither sure whether the definition in 16ac (INVARIANT) is perfect.
But, yes, a very entertaining crossword full of adventurous clueing.
So, a big thank you to Turbolegs & an even bigger thank you to Wanderer.
Its so nice to see a good crossword get the attention it deserves. Thanks all, for stopping by.
Regards
Mahesh / TL
Thanks Wanderer and Turbolegs
Interesting crossword with a political theme, including the ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ angle, trying to make its way out without ever really doing so. Thought that there were some clever devices used here, especially the use of the phrases down each side in 1a and 6d, the B+ and A- tricks and the clue to deliver RIGHT AT THE END (which fittingly enough was right at the end of my solve, being the last one in).
A new term with the unsavoury PLICA.
Thanks for the blog, Turbolegs. I’m not a Wanderer fan – Many clues are over-engineered.
Here I thought 2, 3, & 10 were unforgivably dreadful for their level of obscurity.
A bit late to the party, but speaking of parties, I parsed 9dd, 19d as LAB=party,OUR LEADERS = FT pieces.