I haven’t seen Bluth before and found this an enjoyable puzzle.
It was generally on the easy side but with a good variety of clues. Some of the surface readings had a misleading context and there were a couple of unusual clue types.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ENDOWMENT | Present final Loose Women on time (9) |
| End + women* + t{ime} | ||
| 6 | ODES | Regularly read soldier’s poems (4) |
| Even letters of soldiers, the read being part of the instruction (read regular letters) | ||
| 10 | VENOM | VE Day overturned bitterness (5) |
| VE + Mon< | ||
| 11 | EVIDENCED | Offered as proof it’s not all bad: actress takes journalist for husband (9) |
| Evi[l] + Dench with h{usband} replaced by ed | ||
| 12 | LAMPLIT | Illuminated a politician’s home in the register that’s been flipped (7) |
| A MP in till< | ||
| 13 | ELASTIC | Supple Italian wine first to cork after the Spanish (7) |
| (Asti + c[ork]) after el | ||
| 14 | PENNY DREADFUL | Sensational story that’s p-petrifying (5,8) |
| P{enny} dreadful = p-petrifying | ||
| 17 | INTERNATIONAL | I directed online rant at footballer? (13) |
| I + (online rant at)*. Until I’d checked the anagram, I did think that the I might a second definition, since I can be short for international. | ||
| 21 | ECHIDNA | Initially excited conservationist has isolated genetic code for odd beast (7) |
| E[xcited] c[onservationist] h[as] i[solated] + DNA | ||
| 22 | STARDOM | Celebrity starts to stupidly tell Doctor Doctor gag, essentially, backwards (7) |
| S[tupidly] t[ell] + (MO Dr [g]a[g])<. Purists might not like the split infinitive but the clue wouldn’t work without it. | ||
| 24 | ELOCUTION | You must polish, not oil, cue… it’s what Higgins taught (9) |
| (Not oil cue)*. Ref to Henry Higgins in Pygmalion/My Fair Lady rather than snooker players John or Alex. | ||
| 25 | INGOT | Transport gin to bar (5) |
| (Gin to)* | ||
| 26 | RARE | Bloody unusual (4) |
| DD, with the first part referring to steaks. | ||
| 27 | TELEGENIC | Detective describes short story one finds appealing on the box (9) |
| Tec around (legen[d] + i) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ENVELOPE | Even outsiders love restitched sports coat (8) |
| E[ve]n + love* + PE | ||
| 2 | DENIM | Material that’s dug up (5) |
| Mined< | ||
| 3 | WEMBLEY STADIUM | Absurdly, I study a Welsh flag outside English ground (7,7) |
| W{elsh} emblem around (I study a)* | ||
| 4 | ELECTOR | Constituent ingredient of carrot/celery turnover! (7) |
| Hidden, rev in carrot celery | ||
| 5 | TRIBECA | Accountant follows people to see part of New York (7) |
| CA after tribe. Tribeca is a neighbourhood of Manahattan best known for the Tribeca Film Festival. It originally stood for Triangle Below Canal Street. | ||
| 7 | DECATHLON | Ten events the old can fancy (9) |
| (The old can)* | ||
| 8 | SEDUCE | Persuade escort to entertain foreign nobleman (6) |
| See around Duc | ||
| 9 | DECAFFEINATING | Removing stimulant affected gin in a cocktail (14) |
| (Affected gin in a)* | ||
| 15 | NEIGHBOUR | Bizarrely, “our big hen” is how Sunak might describe Johnson (9) |
| (Our big hen)*. Rishi Sunak, as Chancellor, would live at 11 Downing Street, next to the PM’s official residence. | ||
| 16 | CLIMATIC | Weather-wise, an incoming cold front would make it exciting (8) |
| Adding a c[old] would give climactic | ||
| 18 | REALIST | She’s pragmatic about a catalogue (7) |
| Re + a list | ||
| 19 | ARSENAL | Part of London one learns about (7) |
| (A learns)* | ||
| 20 | METEOR | Falling star to encounter gloomy fellow on the radio (6) |
| Hom of “meet Eeyore” | ||
| 23 | DIG IN | Start eating most of finger, top of nail (3,2) |
| Digi[t] + n[ail] | ||
*anagram
Enjoyable puzzle and blog – I am still in the dark in 1dn. how restricted becomes the anagram indicator
Yes, quite easy but most enjoyable with some very smooth clues. I’m not sure that Arsenal is really a ‘part’ of London. The tube station of that name is in Highbury, where ‘The Gunners’ used to play before moving to the Emirates Stadium. Maybe ‘Side of London’ would have been better, but I’m picking nits now. What we need to know is, how should we pronounce Bluth: as in ‘truth’, as in ‘bus’ (with a lisp), or ‘bloot’ as in German. Anyway, many thanks Bluth and NealH.
TFO: it’s ‘restitched’ not ‘restricted’, at least it is in the online version.
A very enjoyable Monday puzzle – my favourite has to be 20d – any clue with Eeyore in makes me smile
Thank you to Bluth – if this is your first published cryptic crossword, then it bodes well for the future. Thanks also to NealH
I spot spam @5
Couple of errors in blog. In 14a, the “dreadful” equates to “petrifying”, the initial P being the “penny”. In 2d, should have “Mined<“.
As has been said, an easy but enjoyable solve. Didn’t know TRIBECA as a region of Manhattan but guessed it. If anybody out there enjoys the “Police Squad” type of humour, I recommend watching “Angie Tribeca”.
Thanks to Bluth on your debut and to Neal.
Hovis, thanks. I’ve updated 2d but I’m not sure in what way your suggestion differs from what I put in the blog for 14a.
Tatrasman@3 Thanks – that was quite a mis-read; I did say I was in the dark!
Neal@7. I was misreading the blog thinking it was saying “dreadful = p-petrifying” rather than “dreadful = petrifying”, having already said P(enny) to account for the first P. I now understand what you meant.
Just what crypticsue said @4.
Certainly a debut in the Indy for Bluth as far as we are aware, and we look forward to more from him/her. We didn’t know TRIBECA but it was obvious fromm the wordplay and easily confirmed by googling.
We weren’t too sure about ARSENAL as part of London, either, but that’s a minor point and it didn’t spopil our enjoyment of the puzzle.
Thanks, Bluth and NealH.
Good fun stuff, and always good to get Arsenal into the Indy puzzle, however you indicate it. NB the setter has outed himself on Twitter as TV’s Dave Gorman. https://twitter.com/DaveGorman/status/1249629400565497856
Sorry for the typos (‘fromm’ and ‘spopil’).
I’ve been quoting Dave Gorman for years. In 2006 he said “That’s the thing with cryptic crosswords … it’s a little bit of poetry hiding in the corner of your newspaper.” So I’m delighted to be able to welcome him to Poets’ Corner.
I’m pretty sure he’s the only UK crossword setter with almost 400,000 followers on Twitter. Or as Priti Patel might put it, three hundred thousand, thirty four, nine hundred and seventy four thousand.
Welcome to Bluth. Always good to know something about the real setter (if that’s what they want) so thanks to Michod @12 for spotting the tweet and eimi @14 for the “official” welcome.
A pleasant Monday solve. Between RARE and EVIDENCED as first and last in there was lots to like along the way including ECHIDNA (one of my favourite creatures) and the fun CLIMATIC.
Thanks and welcome again to Bluth and thanks to NealH
Many thanks to Bluth for a pleasing debut puzzle and to NealH for the blog.
Perhaps the setter got ARSENAL past eimi by agreeing not to refer to it as a football club…
eimi@14 – what a wonderful description of cryptic crosswords – I’ve lost count of the times I’ve said to newer setters that they should try and make their clues flow down the crossword like a beautiful piece of poetry (or prose come to that)
@eimi – publish a puzzle by Rhianna and you’ll have a setter with 10 million
Raich @16: Oi!
Wow, I’ve long been a fan of Gorman’s TV shows on Dave. Even saw him live in Guildford a few years ago, the only time I’ve been to see a comedy act. And now I’ve done a crossword by him. On the easy side, yes, but none the worse for that.
Can’t quite get my head around how having a lot of Twitter followers or having the editor as a fan equates to being worth publishing as a crossword setter.
Not a dreadful puzzle by any means but a bit more proof that our celebrity culture will ruin everything in the end.
Thanks to NealH and Bluth
I remember two bits of football trivia from when I were a lad:
Which Football League club shares no letters with “mackerel”?
Which Football League clubs are not named after a geographical area?
I’m not sure if Swindon Town is still the only answer to the first question, but “Port Vale and Arsenal” is still the answer to the second.
Unless there’s a grotty corner of Woolwich that’s been renamed
@21, it doesn’t and neither does having nothing constructive to say mean it’s worth sharing with the world either
@Eimi
A bit sensitive to criticism there.
As an editor you should welcome any comment not attempt to stifle anyone that doesn’t blow smoke up your ****
@21 Hi DinP; none of those things do make it worth publishing. And none of those things were the reason it was published. A part of the process is having the puzzle test-solved and the person doing that didn’t know who I was. And I waited to see how it had gone down here before putting my head above the parapet and identifying myself… and it seemed to have gone down well. You hadn’t popped up to say it was a bad puzzle previously… indeed, you only did so after you’d found out it was mine. Perhaps that says more about celebrity culture than you intended.
@24, it wasn’t a criticism, as far as I could tell – I don’t believe it added much to the discussion, just a complaint about celebrities. I’m very keen to hear what people didn’t like about this puzzle, as I’m sure is Bluth as an admitted beginner
On another Monday, it would have been my puzzle to blog, and I would have said that it was an enjoyable, technically sound cryptic that would have pleased newer solvers and that the setter was a welcome addition to the Indy stable. Does it really matter that the setter is a sleb? Not really – I don’t think celebrity culture matters much to crossword aficionados. Most setters have other professions: of the Indy ones I’ve met, I can count teachers, statisticians, lecturers, priests, mathematicians and journalists. In Another Place, they’ve even got a leading heart surgeon. They’re all good at compiling though (and when they’re not, they are gently reminded about it on this site …)
And one of the reasons I blog for and follow this site is that you get intelligent, thoughtful and generally polite comments about the puzzle of the day. The one from DinP was none of those things, but hey-ho.
@22 Arsenal might not have been named after a geographical area… but that doesn’t mean it can’t become one, in people’s everyday use of the language. If Estate Agents are listing ‘Properties for sale in Arsenal’ – and they are – then the origins no longer seem important (to me) because the way the language is used feels more important. (That said, I think the clue would have been better with the use of ‘Side of London’ suggested @2 by Tatrasman)
If having 400,000 followers is irrelevant why mention it? It does tend to imply it was a factor whatever your view on the puzzle
Let’s get back to the crossword.
Nothing much wrong with, a bit easy but I think most new setters are careful about trying to be too clever. I’m sure a follow up will be a bit tougher.
Just one thing I really don’t get – the “home” in 12a
Well, what a lot of comments.
We only started and finished the puzzle this evening. Our comments though would echo Pierre’s and we would have been very happy to blog it. Some good surfaces which we always approve of too. 20d raised a smile – any mention of a Winnie the Pooh character is always goid.
Welcome Bluth – looking forward to the next one.
Thanks to NealH too.
No answer came the customary reply.
I read it as the “politician is home in…” rather than the politician’s home. So it’s just a way of indicating inclusion but fits the surface better because flipping houses was something that came up in the expenses scandal.