Neo provides this morning's entertainment.
This had the feel of a Monday Guardian puzzle, but with a bit of general knowledge thrown in to provide a bit of a challenge.
After my first run through I had already completed more than three quarters of the puzzle, and the crossing letters that provided allowed me to complete the rest fairly quickly, with only OPPO holding me up as I don't think I knew oppo=mate, thinking it meant almost the opposite (as in "opposition").
Thanks Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DEACON |
One churchman or another entertaining company (6)
|
|
DEAN ("another" churchman) entertaining Co. (company) |
||
| 4 | BACTRIAN |
Old Asian man, not the Messiah, outside a court (8)
|
|
BRIAN ("not the Messiah") outside A Ct. (court) In Monthy Python's Life of Brian, Brian's mother famously declares, "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!" Bactria was a part of Asia, which now forms part of Afghanistan. |
||
| 9 | WONGA |
Cash in silver immediately withdrawn (5)
|
|
<=(Ag ("silver") + NOW ("immediately") [withdrawn] |
||
| 10 | REPUGNANT |
Abhorrent ruling to imprison reversed before magistrates (9)
|
|
REGNANT ("ruling") to imprison [reversed] <=UP ("before magistrate") |
||
| 11 | CRUCIAL |
Important old Irish police independent in state (7)
|
|
RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary – "old Irish police") + I (independent) in Cal. (California, so "state) |
||
| 12 | ANT BEAR |
Nocturnal creature has an illness, needing attention (3,4)
|
|
AN + TB ("disease") needing EAR ("attention") |
||
| 13 | SHED |
Shack in Slough (4)
|
|
Double definition |
||
| 14 | RESEARCH |
Cars here to be broken in systematic investigation (8)
|
|
*(cars here) [anag:to be broken] |
||
| 17 | MEDICATE |
Treat cold when brought in to liaise (8)
|
|
C (cold) brought in to MEDIATE ("liaise") |
||
| 19 | OPPO |
Surgery – evidently reversible – seen in China (4)
|
|
OP ("surgery") + <=OP [reversible] Oppo and china are both words meaning friend. |
||
| 22 | REGALIA |
A1 drink knocked back in Crown & Sceptre (7)
|
|
<=(A1 LAGER ("drink")) [knocked back] |
||
| 24 | UMBRAGE |
Universal anger about doctor’s offence (7)
|
|
U (universal) + RAGE about MB (Bachelor of Medicine, so "doctor") |
||
| 25 | SPAGHETTI |
Get this cooked before old man comes in for food (9)
|
|
*(get this) [anag:cooked] with PA ("old man") coming in |
||
| 26 | ORATE |
Give speech from floor at eleven (5)
|
|
Hidden in [from] "floOR AT Eleven" |
||
| 27 | SAYONARA |
Perhaps beside a river, a vale to the east? (8)
|
|
SAY ("perhaps") ON ("beside") + A+ R (river) + A Sayonara is the Japanese for goodbye, so "vale" to (part of) the East. |
||
| 28 | AGADIR |
Wander in breeze in Moroccan seaport (6)
|
|
GAD ("wander") in AIR ("breeze") |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DOWNCAST |
Blue feathers spread out (8)
|
|
DOWN ("feathers") + CAST ("spread out") |
||
| 2 | AD NAUSEAM |
AA named us in error time after time (2,7)
|
|
*(aa named us) [anag:in error] |
||
| 3 | OXALIS |
Round 10: greatest boxer first to succumb in plant (6)
|
|
O (round) + X (ten) + ALI ("greatest boxer") + [first to] S(uccumb) |
||
| 5 | ALPHA CENTAURI |
Three stars from Catharine cavorting with Paul (5,8)
|
|
*(Catherine Paul) [anag:cavorting] Alpha Centauri, consisting of three stars, is the closest star system to our solar system. |
||
| 6 | TIGHTER |
Merry monarch gets closer (7)
|
|
TIGHT ("merry" as in drunk) + ER (Elizabeth Regina, so "monarch") |
||
| 7 | INANE |
Senseless China News content (5)
|
|
Hidden in "chINA NEws" [content] |
||
| 8 | NATURE |
Kind disposition (6)
|
|
Double definition |
||
| 10 | ROLLER COASTER |
Wave coming over ship makes for thrilling ride (6,7)
|
|
ROLLER ("wave") + COASTER ("ship") |
||
| 15 | HAPHAZARD |
Disorganised leader to host a quiet venture (9)
|
|
[leader to] H(ost) + A + P (piano, so "quiet) + HAZARD ("venture") |
||
| 16 | FOREBEAR |
Ancestor warning creature in woods (8)
|
|
FORE ("warning") + BEAR ("creature in woods") |
||
| 18 | DOLPHIN |
Intelligent swimmer working on DPhil (7)
|
|
*(on DPhil) [anag:working] |
||
| 20 | CRISIS |
Goddess making appearance after credit crunch (6)
|
|
ISIS (Egyptian "goddess") making appearance after Cr. (credit) |
||
| 21 | OBLONG |
Alumnus, boring perhaps, certainly not square (6)
|
|
OB (old boy, so "alumnus") + LONG ("boring, perhaps") |
||
| 23 | GRAVY |
Sauce from elegist penning verse (5)
|
|
(Thomas) GRAY ("elegist") penning V (verse) |
I tend to find Neo either very hard or very easy but hardly ever in between these extremes. This was, at least for me, at the easy end of the scale. Ok but not great. The inclusion of “before” in 25a is really just for the surface but still works. The unusual spelling of “Catharine” (not Catherine as in blog) in 5d seemed a weak way to get the anagram fodder.
Hovis@1
Agree with your comments. The “Catherine” in my blog is, I suspect, due to autocorrect, as Catharine is a very unusual spelling. Will amen ld the blog later.
I found this much more enjoyable than Anto in the Graun
Thanks
Is that what they call being damned with faint praise? I don’t know. Anyway someone called Catharine (who would surely be mortified to hear of your dissatisfactions with her handle) did give me three stars, after our mutual cavortings, out of five.
I agree with copmus!
When we called our daughter Catherine, I’d always thought the alternative was Katharine . Since then, I’ve met numerous Katherines and a few Catharines . I loved the clue, anyway (especially after Neo’s additional information.
I also had ticks for REGALIA, SPAGHETTI, CRISIS, OBLONG and BACTRIAN, which really made me laugh.
Many thanks to Neo and Loonapick for an entertaining puzzle and blog.
Thanks for dropping in, Neo. So, how many stars did you give Catharine? 🙂
Neo on splendid form so thank you to him – my favourite was 4a
Thanks also to Loonapick
Thanks Sue.
For loona, it’s actually ‘Old Asian’ for the def and ‘man, not the Messiah’ for BRIAN.
Ah Hovis! 5 probably.
Thanks Neo and loonapick. I enjoyed the crossword very much. One advantage of crosswords over sudoku is that you learn new things every day. I never knew that Alpha Centauri comprised three stars.
I don’t think that I will forget that.
Thanks Neo and loonapick.
5dn: For what it is worth, there is a Cambridge college called St Catharine’s (with an A) and an Oxford college called St Catherine’s (with an E).
Thanks Neo and Loonapick. I thought not the messiah was brilliant, my clue of the week.
Not quite the World tour we had from Maize in the Indy but we got to Bactria and Morocco, and bade farewell to Japan. A very enjoyable offering from Neo; our favourite was HAPHAZARD (hands up who thought at first ‘disorganised’ was an anagram indicator!).
Thanks, Neo and loonapick.
Neo@8: That’s how I parsed Bactrian, too; so glad you agree. ?
Allan_c@12: my hand is up, but I had second thoughts after seeing the “h” as the first letter.
Many thanks to Neo for validating that my brain is still working. I needed it after the Anto. This was an enjoyable excursion.
Thanks for the explanations Loonapick. Somewhere in the back of my mind is oppo = mate comes from the construction industry where you had two men working on a task from opposite sides – think riveting steel plates or joining railway tracks where one was providing a counterbalance to complete the task.
As a complete aside to Mystogre @ 14 re rivetting, it was fascinating to discover at the Titanic museum in Belfast that (hammer-)rivetters were recruited in right- and left-handed pairs so that they both swung in their natural direction.
Thanks Neo. I solved this (mostly) over the course of the day and I found it moderately difficult. I liked DOWNCAST, UMBRAGE, and OBLONG and I failed at WONGA, ANT BEAR, and OPPO. I couldn’t parse SAYONARA fully or REPUGNANT. Thanks Loonapick for the help. [Catharine is a wonderfully versatile name in that it can be spelled a variety of ways and has a good range of nicknames i.e. Cat, Cate, Kate, Katy, Cathy, and Kathy.]
Sorry to be late to the party but I only start the crossword at 18.00.
I read China (19A) as Cockney rhyming slang: China plate = mate.
PS I finished a while ago!
Lemski, don’t feel bad! We are always late to the party, too, as we don’t usually start till 1700 and we’re in California, so way behind everyone else.
Favorite clue was definitely 4A, though it took a while to arrive at “Brian” as I got stuck on “naughty boy” and didn’t make the leap for the longest time.
Thanks for the fun puzzle, Neo, and for dropping in. As for the faint praise, I will now always think of Alpha Centauri as an elegant synonym for “OK, but not great”.
And thanks loonapick for explaining BACTRIAN, which I didn’t get but was nevertheless my COD.
I got to this at the weekend and fairly rattled through the left hand side but found the right hand side difficult. Got there in the end with last one in Oppo.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
Like Moly@21, I only got to this one on the weekend as well. Agree that we get a Neo-tuff or a Neo-lite and this one was one of the latter with only OPPO giving me pause and failing to parse it without knowing the friend / companion meaning of it.
Always good to see the ANT BEAR (nice word play) make an appearance and his ancestor, the FORE BEAR. Hadn’t really heard of the BACTRIAN people, just the camel, so that was an educated guess and a confirmation look up.
Finished in the SE corner with AGADIR (familiar with it from its content in hair shampoos down here), HAPHAZARD (took longer than it needed to) and that unparsed OPPO as the last one in.