Maize sends us all over the place today with an enjoyable geographical theme.
All the clues, and about half the solutions, feature place-names. This makes more sense when the phrase around the edge of the grid starts to emerge: it’s Around the World in Eighty Days, the novel by Jules Verne. Some of the places featured here are on the route taken by Phileas Fogg in the novel, though I think not all of them.
The constraint of getting a place-name into every clue means we have a large number of abbreviations: as well as the usual US state two-letter codes, there are several codes for countries. These are generally the codes defined by ISO 3166, and/or International Vehicle Registration codes (often the same); I haven’t attempted to justify the definition of each one individually.
It’s hard to pick a favourite clue, but I enjoyed 21d’s New York superhero and (when I finally saw it) the sneaky definition in 2d. Thanks to Maize for the virtual adventure – it was a lot of fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | SIKH |
Kim leaves Himalayan state hospital a religious adherent (4)
|
| SIK[kim] (Indian state in the Himalayas), without KIM, then H (hospital). | ||
| 8 | TORSO |
Trunk road primarily going on to Somalia (5)
|
| R[oad] (primarily = first letter), added after (going on) TO, then SO (abbreviation for Somalia).
Nice misdirection: trunk as in body, not as in trunk road. |
||
| 9 | IKAT |
Batik: the first cut, woven fabric of Asia (4)
|
| Anagram (woven) of [b]ATIK with the first letter cut.
Fabric made in Asia (and various other places; the name is Indonesian). |
||
| 11 | YOKOHAMA |
Oriental setting for ‘edgy work’ from Beatles wife and naked mystic? (8)
|
| YOKO (Yoko Ono, wife of John Lennon) + [s]HAMA[n] (mystic; naked = outer letters removed).
A city in Japan = oriental setting; it’s one of the places visited in the book whose name appears round the edge of this puzzle, hence the ‘edgy work’. |
||
| 12 | MUNICH |
India’s boxing champ? Just the opposite in Olympic venue (6)
|
| I (abbreviation for India) in MUNCH (champ = bite). “Boxing” at first suggests India as a box around Champ, but then “just the opposite” reverses that – so it’s MUNCH around (boxing) I. | ||
| 13 | AFRICA |
One day California will supply an entire continent (6)
|
| A FRI (a Friday = one day) + CA (abbreviation for California). | ||
| 14 | TENERIFE |
Acclaimed singer provided by Spain for their holiday spot (8)
|
| Homophone (acclaimed = said out loud?) of TENOR (singer), then IF (provided) + E (abbreviation for España = Spain).
“Their” presumably refers back to Spain, where Tenerife is a holiday resort – but the clue would have worked well enough without it. |
||
| 16 | DILI |
Capital city determining itself leaves Indonesia for starters (4)
|
| Initial letters (for starters) of D[etermining] I[tself] L[eaves] I[ndonesia].
Extended definition: Dili is the capital of East Timor, which was controlled by Indonesia before gaining independence. |
||
| 18 | DERBY |
Revolutionary communist near to getting authority in the Midlands (5)
|
| RED (communist), reversed (revolutionary), then BY (near to).
City and unitary authority area in England’s East Midlands. |
||
| 19 | WHEW |
Expression of relief as man found in outskirts of Warsaw (4)
|
| HE (man) in the outer letters (outskirts) of W[arsa]W.
Whew (also spelled phew) = interjection expressing relief, as in “whew, I’m glad that’s over!”. |
||
| 20 | YOSEMITE |
Three times oyster content gets sent back in US national park (8)
|
| Hidden answer, reversed (content, gets sent back) in [thre]E TIMES OY[ster].
National park in California. |
||
| 21 | BILBAO |
Seaport of Bali unfortunately overwhelmed by bad smell (6)
|
| Anagram (unfortunately) of BALI, contained in (overwhelmed by) BO (short for body odour = bad smell).
Seaport in the Basque area of northern Spain. |
||
| 23 | TOLEDO |
Informed Ohio about drug manufacturing centre there (6)
|
| TOLD (informed) + O (traditional abbreviation for the US state of Ohio, though it’s now more formally OH), around E (slang for the drug ecstasy).
Extended definition: Toledo is a city in Ohio known for its manufacturing industry, particularly glass and cars. |
||
| 25 | ZANZIBAR |
Brazil almost beaten by largely unconventional island group of 13 (8)
|
| Anagram (beaten) of BRAZI[l] (almost = last letter dropped), next to (by) ZAN[y] (unconventional; largely = last letter dropped, again).
Archipelago off the coast of Tanzania, Africa (13a). The largest island is often called Zanzibar, but formally the name refers to the whole group of islands. |
||
| 26 | HANG |
Spend some time relaxing in Shanghai (4)
|
| Hidden answer (in) from [s]HANG[hai].
Slang term, formerly “hang around” or “hang loose” but now often just “hang” = to do nothing much. |
||
| 27 | TONGA |
Thailand women leaving money for Pacific kingdom (5)
|
| T (abbreviation for Thailand), then [w]ONGA (slang for money) with the W (women) left out. | ||
| 28 | DUEL |
Expecting Lima to fight (4)
|
| DUE (expecting, as in “I’m due to get a call today”) + L (Lima in the radio alphabet). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | AIM OFF |
American setter’s parting words: ‘Shoot slightly upwind‘ (3,3)
|
| A (abbreviation for American) + I’M OFF (which our crossword setter might say as parting words before leaving).
Aim off = to aim a weapon slightly away from the target, to compensate for external factors such as wind direction. |
||
| 2 | RH-POSITIVE |
A variety of claret that’s very hard to confuse with Poitiers’ (2-8)
|
| Anagram (to confuse) of V (very) + H (hard) + POITIERS.
This one had me puzzled for a long time, trying to think of names of Bordeaux regions: St-something perhaps, but the letters looked unlikely. If I’d seen the Nina earlier, that might have helped. In fact it’s “claret” as a slang term for blood; Rh-positive is a term used in the classification of blood types. |
||
| 3 | OTTAWA |
Semi-aquatic mammal picked up north of Washington capital (6)
|
| Homophone (picked up = heard) of OTTER (semi-aquatic mammal), before (north of = above, in a down clue) WA (abbreviation for the US state of Washington).
Capital city of Canada. |
||
| 4 | UREA |
Compound rate’s void in Ukraine (4)
|
| R[at]E (void = empty = middle letters removed) in UA (abbreviation for Ukraine).
Organic compound, formed during metabolization of nitrogen compounds and used in fertilizers. |
||
| 5 | NORMANDY |
November or May touring North Dakota’s French region (8)
|
| N (November in the radio alphabet) + OR MAY, around (touring) ND (abbreviation for North Dakota). | ||
| 6 | DION |
Put on clothing for international singer from Canada (4)
|
| DON (as a verb = put on a garment), around (clothing for = acting as the clothing for, I suppose) I (international).
The Canadian singer Celine Dion. |
||
| 10 | ARCH-FOE |
Nemesis roller coaster ride for Faroes shortly to welcome children (4-3)
|
| Anagram of (roller-coaster ride for – a rather unusual anagram indicator!) FAROE[s] (shortly = last letter dropped), containing (to welcome) CH (children).
Arch-foe = nemesis = chief enemy. |
||
| 14 | TIREE |
Hebridean island in which I will occupy log home? (5)
|
| I inserted into (will occupy) TREE (where a log comes from, so “log home”). | ||
| 15 | RAWALPINDI |
April wind swirling round a city in Pakistan (10)
|
| Anagram (swirling) of APRIL WIND, round (containing) A. | ||
| 17 | ISOPODA |
Italy’s sparkling water maintaining its river crustaceans’ order (7)
|
| I (abbreviation for Italy) + SODA (sparkling water), containing (maintaining) PO (the crossword setter’s favourite Italian river; “its” refers back to Italy).
A group of crustacean species, including land-dwelling ones such as woodlice as well as sea creatures. |
||
| 18 | DJIBOUTI |
Sail away after Germany, one nation in 13 (8)
|
| JIB (a triangular sail at the front of a sailing vessel) + OUT (away), after D (abbreviation for Deutschland = Germany), then I (one in Roman numerals).
African nation (referring to 13a AFRICA). |
||
| 21 | BANYAN |
Superhero gets New York to replace trademark tree (6)
|
| BA[tm]AN (superhero), with NY (New York) replacing TM (trademark).
Asian fig tree. |
||
| 22 | AMAZED |
Complex system in Saudi regularly defied understanding (6)
|
| MAZE (complex system) inserted into alternate letters (regularly) of [s]A[u]D[i]. | ||
| 24 | EIGG |
Hebridean island in which I will occupy starter home? (4)
|
| I occupying EGG, which could be described as a starter home for a bird. Maize apparently liked the construction of 14d and so has repeated it here. | ||
| 25 | ZONE |
Area of Zambia concerned with energy (4)
|
| Z (abbreviation for Zambia) + ON (on the subject of = concerned with) + E (energy). |
bewildering number of countries- altho visited the Hebrides twice! wow!.. spotted the Nina just in time, but made no real difference to solving.. favourite was definitely 2d..
thanks Maize n Quirister
A real uplift after a dispiriting earlier solve. I spotted some of the genius but by no means all. I so rarely think to look for Ninas and this one was a joy – and another occasion where it’s been possible to fit a very well known phrase perfectly to the available space. Brilliant. Maize is consistently so inventive.
2d is very clever and (very slight spoiler alert) my second unusual two letter pairing of the day but this one worked for me. But ticks aplenty all over the grid: highlights would be the assembly of DJBOUTI, the extraction in SIKH, the outstanding anagrind in ARCH FOE, the anagram for ZANZIBAR, the clever lurker in YOSEMITE and AIM OFF just made me laugh. Top notch entertainment.
Thanks Maize and Quirister
Yokohama: ‘Around the world in eighty days’ is a display of dazzling brilliance! Kudos to Maize and Quirister!
I’m another who only spotted the nina after finishing, but it made no difference. A great mixture of easy and difficult clues, though some online validation was necessary. Here’s a thought: is it easier for the setter to devise clues with proper nouns than common nouns? Discuss! (Contributions from setters especially valid.) Thanks Maize and Quirister.
Best puzzle of the day by far. I saw the nina early on which gave me a nudge here and there.
I got and parsed DION but my one was born in Brooklyn.(1938?)
Thanks Maize and Quirister
Superb puzzle!
Many thanks to Maize and Quirister.
Fun.
Having a closer look at AIM OFF, OTTAWA, EIGG, WHEW, BILBAO, ZANZIBAR and the YOKOHAMA/YOSEMITE combi, I thought Maize would perhaps give us as a bonus one of his multiple pangrams.
It wasn’t too be.
Many thanks to Quirister & Maize.
Sil @7: I think it says something about the high opinion we’ve all formed of Maize that we spot (or don’t in my case) a theme and a Nina – and then wonder if there’s a double pangram just thrown in there too!
Myself @7: It wasn’t too be? It wasn’t to be!
Maize never fails to amaze me. Super gridfill and thematic clues, and also a nina. Needed my atlas for a few unknown to me, but not TIREE and EIGG.
Sil @ 7
It was only Q and X short of a single pangram.
Top puzzle
Absolute fun!
A ‘TOUR de force’ taking in so many destinations. Annoyed that we didn’t check again for a nina before coming here. We both wondered about the possibility when we saw the grid but then promptly forgot. It was a novel way of getting us out and about when we are confined to our local area.
Thanks to Quirister and Maize.
A Tour du Monde and a Tour de Force in one – and a nina as well, although we only spotted it just as we finished. But what made our day was finding DERBY at the very centre of it all.
Thanks, Maize and Quirister.
Just excellent. Ran a couple by the human atlas I live with, but only for interest, not help, the clueing being so good. (“So, Dili must be the capital of somewhere”. “East Timor”. Saves on googling). Loved the nina. Thanks to Maize and Quirister
I was in a bit of a FOGG about this at first, but it gradually fell into place. Superb crossword. Chapeau
Petert @16: presumably they were all parsed bar two…?
PostMark @16 That’s brilliant!
You should win an award for that pun PostMark. Loved it. The crossword wasn’t too shabby either 🙂
I think I’ve been upstaged by Postmark there – love it!
Many thanks to Quirister for an immaculate blog and to kind comments above.
Tatrasman @4 I’m not sure. A lot of geographical proper nouns have very useful abbreviations, which certainly made it easier to make today’s clues thematic, but then again I’ve seen Math do the same sort of thing with, for example, the characters from The Big Bang Theory, or Klingsor for Wagner’s bicentenary, where I can only imagine it made things harder… More often than not I suppose setters are like proverbial magpies, using anything shiny that comes to mind.
Have to admit that my heart sank when I realised that we were off on a geography field trip but it turned out that I knew more of the locations than I’d expected to and the Nina revealed itself in time to help with the last few.
Well done, Maize, and thanks to Quirister for the review.
Fantastic grid fill, as usual from Maize! The nina around the edge was very helpful. The claret clue held me up the longest, realized that it must have been slang.
To pick up on the discussion initiated by Tatrasman@4, a lot may depend on the proper nouns. Proper nouns which are also common nouns, such as occupational surnames (e.g. Baker) or units of measurement named after scientists (e.g. newton) can give the setter more scope, but those which are uniquely proper nouns – some surnames and geographical names, for instance – can be restricting, particularly regarding the definition. Horses for courses, perhaps.