An odd looking grid from Hob this week – two 3×3 black squares, and not quite symmetrical, plus those ‘jutting-out’ cells down both sides – is there something afoot?…
Well, there is, but it took some work wheedling out – although solving 1A first off would have helped!
My solving notes from my first pass show:
- a nod of appreciation (once I had worked them out) at the three ellipsed-together clues at 7A, 8A and 10A
- a LOL at the anagram fodder and indicator for NATURIST at 18A – ‘it’s a turn off’!
- 1D as a bit of a cruciverbal cliché, with rent for TORN and trouble for ADO – two regular staples of cryptic crosswords
- a check on NOME as a ‘gold rush city’, which it indeed is – once the most populous city in Alaska
- the clues at 9D and 22D/15A as ‘teasers’ – with references to the ‘puzzle’s theme’ and an ‘anniversary’
At one point I had TIBET at 1A and TENZIN down the left, and wondered if we were going to Everest with Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary…but then the DALAI LAMA (currently TENZIN GYATSO) appeared at 22D/15A, and the outer columns – so the teaser clue reading there suggests it must be an anniversary for him.
After 30 mins I had it pretty much all except: the key word at 9D; what looked like a Tibetan place name at 27A, involving A and DO; and 29A as T?A?E.
I had to look up AMDO as the Tibetan place name, and then had a face-palm moment when I finally spotted the hidden word ENTHRONEMENT (‘fourteENTH ‘R’ ONE MENTions’!) And finally, I decided that TEASE (guy) at 29A must be a homophone for the River TEES (current)…my LOI.
It turns out the current Dalai Lama was enthroned 80 years ago today, 22 Feb 1940 – at the tender age of 4 years old, although he didn’t assume full Lama-ic duties until 10 years later:
All very educational and enjoyable – thanks to Hob, and Happy Anniversary to the DL!
Hopefully all is present and correct below. (NB. I am currently away skiing in Italy, so may be slow to respond to any comments until late Saturday…or maybe Sunday once I get home.)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | TIBET | Endlessly bitter about disputed land (5) | disputed land / anag, i.e. about, of BITTE( |
|
| 4A | TRUST | Faith is tied up on the telephone? (5) | faith / homophone, i.e. on the telephone – TRUST (faith) sounds like TRUSSED (tied up) |
|
| 7A | TROT | Flipping wrong to have left-winger … (4) | left-winger / TORT (wrong, legal term) flipped = TROT (Trotskyite, left-winger) |
|
| 8A | INERT | … still on? Their playing’s not ho- (5) | still / anag, i.e. playing, of ( |
|
| 10A | PONG | … -hum, second half of game (4) | hum / half of a game ( |
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| 11A | EAGLET | Ate leg after cooking small bird (6) | small bird / anag, i.e. after cooking, of ATE LEG |
|
| 12A | TELEPLAY | Set drama of type English A Level discontentedly removed (8) | (TV) set drama / anag, i.e. re-moved, of TYPE + E (English) + A + LL (L |
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| 13A | NOVEMBER | Autumn’s last month (8) | month / N (last letter of autumN) is NOVEMBER in the NATO/phonetic alphabet |
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| 13A | LAMA | See 22 Down (8) | see 22D / see 22D |
|
| 16A | ZING | Pep included by name in two columns today (4) | pep (zest, gusto – not Guardiola!) / indirect hidden word, i.e. included by, in ‘tenZIN Gyatso’ – a name appearing in the left-and-right-most columns in this puzzle, i.e. today |
|
| 18A | NATURIST | One going around naked? It’s a turn-off (8) | one going round naked? / anag, i.e. off, of IT’S A TURN(!) |
|
| 21A | IN TANDEM | To get together, cycle home first (2,6) | together / to get ‘IN TANDEM’, or together, you need to use IN (at home) first, before TANDEM (cycle) |
|
| 23A | PELVIS | Location of hip joint featuring rock star on piano (6) | location of hip joint / P (piano) + ELVIS (rock star, younger solvers – Google him!) |
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| 25A | NOME | Swiss banker’s heading off for gold rush city (4) | gold rush city / ( |
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| 26A | LENTO | Slowly advanced, reaching roundabout? (5) | slowly (musical) / LENT (advanced money to) + O (circle, roundabout) |
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| 27A | AMDO | A large number attending party somewhere in 1A (4) | somewhere in 1A (Tibet) / A + DO (party), around (attended by) M (1000, large number) |
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| 28A | SUSHI | Returning American sorted his fare from Japan (5) | fare (food) from Japan / SU (US, American, returning) + SHI (anag, i.e. sorted, of HIS) |
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| 29A | TEASE | Vocalist’s current guy (5) | guy / homophone, i.e. vocalist’s – to TEASE, or guy, can sound like TEES (a northern river, or current, in the UK) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | TORNADO | Rent trouble? That’s a blow! (7) | that’s a blow / TORN (rent, as in asunder) + ADO (trouble) |
|
| 2D | BETEL | Plant, member of 1960s group reportedly … (5) | plant / homophone, i.e. reportedly – the BETEL plant sounds like a BEATLE, or member of a 60’s (and 70s?) group |
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| 3D | TWIN TUB | … having more than one drum machine? (4-3) | (washing) machine / a TWIN TUB washing machine has more than one drum! |
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| 4D | TOTAL | Company dealing with oil from wreck (5) | double defn. / TOTAL is (was?) an oil company; and to TOTAL something – e.g. a car using the other Total’s product – can be to wreck it |
|
| 5D | UNPOPULAR | Ring up pal involved in stupid run-out (9) | out (of favour) / UN_R (anag, i.e. stupid, of RUN) around POPULA (anag, i.e. involved, of O (ring) + UP PAL) |
|
| 6D | TONE ARM | Part of record player male keeps close by (4,3) | part of record player / TO_M (male, e.g. cat, or man’s name) around (keeping) NEAR (close by) |
|
| 9D | ENTHRONEMENT | Fourteenth ‘R’ one mentions after discovering puzzle’s theme (12) | puzzle’s theme! / very deviously hidden word in, i.e. after dis-covering – ‘fourteENTH R ONE MENTions’ |
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| 14D | ENGRAVERS | English partygoers are those making a deep impression (9) | those making a deep impression / ENG (English ) + RAVERS (partygoers) |
|
| 17D | IGNEOUS | Sort of rock group: it’s one not electrified, since unplugging leads surprisingly (7) | sort of rock / anag, i.e. surprisingly, of first letters, or leads, of ‘Group Its Not One Electrified Since Unplugging’ |
|
| 19D | TOPCOAT | Perfectly concealing cop-out in Ulster? (7) | Ulster (sartorially) / TO A T (to a T – perfectly) around (concealing) OPC (anag, i.e. out, of COP) |
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| 20D | SWINDLE | Do pigs eat odd bits of dal? (7) | do / SWIN_E (pigs) around (eating) DL (odd letters of DaL) |
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| 22D/15A | DALAI | “A country boy from the East, then elevated” (describing anniversary’s principal character) (5,4) | &lit – the clue as a whole describing the (thematic) anniversary’s principal character / A + MALI (country) + LAD (boy) – partly reversed, or ‘from the East’ for the 15A bit and partly ‘elevated’ for the 22D bit – all around, or describing, A (first, or principal, character of Anniversary) |
|
| 24D | LHASA | Setting for 22 15’s 9 has to be in a big city (5) | setting for 22 15’s 9 (Dalai Lama’s enthronement) / L_A (Los Angeles, big city) around HAS |
|
I too had a face-palm moment at 9D, thinking there was more to ‘fourteenth’ than part of the hidden word, especially as Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th Dalai Lama. Very sad that such a culturally separate nation as Tibet has been swallowed up into China. Thanks Hob and McRapper.
Managed to complete apart from AMDO. I bunged in ALDO and couldn’t be bothered to check. Didn’t bother checking NOME either but that couldn’t really be anything else.
The clue for DALAI LAMA seems overly contrived but I quite liked it once I solved it.
A nice workout, so thanks to Hob and mc_rapper67.
Brilliant!
Many thanks to both.
The clue for 8a ends “not ho-ho-…”, which seems to be one ho too many.
I did check Nome, apparently it’s in the “Unorganized Borough” of Alaska.
Great puzzle – thanks all.
Don’t know where you are looking, DuncT, but my printout only has one “ho” as does the version in blog.
Interesting. Looking at it on my phone in portrait mode there are two “ho”s (the second on a new line) but if I turn it to landscape mode there is only one. The (5) appears in both at its expected position. I’ve not seen anything like that happen before.
The town of Nome is referenced in the popular song “North to Alaska”, (co-)written and sung by Johnny Horton in 1960.
Couldn’t finish, stumped in NE corner, though did finally work out all the Dalai Lama related clues.
Thanks to Hob for much ingenuity and to mc_rapper67.
The odd-looking grid suggested to us that there might be a theme, although we stumbled on it almost by accident. In 22dn/15ac the opening words of the clue (Lad from the east) suggested DAL… and from the enumeration we thought ‘Could it be DALAI LAMA?’; then the nearby 24dn couldn’t really be anything other than LHASA. After that it was all plain sailing, although we had to hunt for AMDO.
Of the non-themed answers we liked NATURIST and IGNEOUS.
Thanks, Hob and mc_rapper 67.
Thanks for the various comments and feedback – seems like a well-received puzzle all round.
Tatrasman at #1 – good point re the significance of ‘fourteenth’ in 9D
Dunc T and Hovis at various – I didn’t notice any ho-ho duplication…I ho-hope this didn’t spoil your enjoyment…I was working from a printed copy, which didn’t change when I turned it from portrait to landscape (;+>)