Hard graft for a Tuesday, I thought.
Perhaps it’s just me but I found this one to be rather a grind. All perfectly fair, accurate, above board and so forth (and a pangram except, curiously, for the letter ‘V’, I think) but a bit lacking in oomph and fun. Still, Aardvark never did anyone any harm, ho-ho, so thanks to him for the stern test.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ESCALOPE |
Key cut separates each overturned piece of meat (8)
|
| ESC[ape] (computer ‘key’) + EA[ch], reversed, separated by LOP (to ‘cut’). | ||
| 5 | PUT OFF |
Postpone retiring high-spirited bigwig (3,3)
|
| UP (‘high-spirited’, reversed) + TOFF (‘bigwig’). | ||
| 9 | SHANGHAI |
Quiet husband enters building again somewhere in south-east Asia (8)
|
| SH (‘quiet!’) + H[usband] in anagram (‘building’) of AGAIN. | ||
| 10 | ASTHMA |
Ask the man to drop every last complaint (6)
|
| ASk THe MAn, losing last letters, | ||
| 12 | ERECT |
Standing before court (5)
|
| ERE (poetically, ‘before’) + C[augh]T (in cricket). | ||
| 13 | AMUSEMENT |
Funny character encountered around noon, after morning exercise (9)
|
| AM (‘morning’) + USE (‘excercise’) + ME.T (‘encountered’) around N[oon]. | ||
| 14 | SEMTEX |
Explosive stuff – helmet regularly needed when it’s around (6)
|
| Alternate letters (‘regularly’) of ‘hE{L}MeT’ surrounded by S.EX (‘it’, euphemistically). | ||
| 16 | ON THE GO |
Active period without Mike, such as start of October (2,3,2)
|
| mONTH (‘period’ without M[ike] in radio-speak) + EG (‘such as’) + 1st of O{ctober}. | ||
| 19 | GENERAL |
Military leader, age fifty, on first book (7)
|
| GEN[esis], biblical ‘first book’ + ERA (‘age’) + L (50 in Latin). | ||
| 21 | QUEUED |
Parisian that hugs group with daughter, having waited in line (6)
|
| QU.E (‘that’ in French) surrounds EU (European ‘group’) + D[aughter] | ||
| 23 | MOUNT ETNA |
Fixed stake pulled over by horse, a volatile thing (5,4)
|
| MOUNT (a ‘horse’) + reversal (‘over’) of ANTE (‘fixed stake’ in betting) + cryptic def of the volcano. | ||
| 25 | MY HAT |
Some chant a hymn backwards? It’s nonsense (2,3)
|
| Included, reversed, in ‘chanT A HYMn’. | ||
| 26 | NECKAR |
German runner, one who tends to pet barking (6)
|
| The German river (‘runner’). This was my last parse & I’m presuming it’s a not very accurate homophone (‘barking’?) of ‘necker’, one who ‘necks’ or ‘pets’ his inamorata. I don’t like it but to be honest I’d more-or-less run out of steam by this point and if there’s a better answer I’d be glad to hear it. | ||
| 27 | DISORDER |
Lady’s request for food perhaps causing mayhem (8)
|
| DI’S (of, presumably, Lady Diana Spencer, the late Princess of Wales) + ORDER (‘request for food’). | ||
| 28 | ABRADE |
Wear down half of tyre in Lincoln (6)
|
| AB.E (historical U.S president Abraham ‘Lincoln’) includes half of RADial (kind of ‘tyre’). Blimey. | ||
| 29 | BY THE WAY |
Incidentally, this is where police cameras usually are (2,3,3)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | EASTER |
Maybe wind left Yankee exiting festival (6)
|
| EASTERly (a ‘wind’, perhaps), minus L[eft] & Y[ankee]. | ||
| 2 | CHAMELEON |
Changeable person smoked joint in church somewhere in Spain (9)
|
| C[hurch] of E[ngland] includes HAM (‘smoked joint’) + LEON (Spanish province). | ||
| 3 | LEGIT |
Authorised to go away on foot (5)
|
| Double definition, ‘leg it’ the 2nd. | ||
| 4 | PHALANX |
Unit of troops having half a lager in pub number ten (7)
|
| P[ublic] H[ouse] includes half of A LAger + N[umber] + X (= 10). | ||
| 6 | UNSHEATHE |
Draw sun flickering over endless evergreen shrubland (9)
|
| Anagram (‘flickering’) of SUN + unfinished HEATHEr. | ||
| 7 | OCHRE |
Brownish-yellow Scandinavian coin found around clubhouse (5)
|
| OR.E (Swedish unit of currency) includes C[lub] + H[ouse], split. | ||
| 8 | FRACTION |
Perhaps one over six feet ten keeps reversing car with strain ultimately (8)
|
| F[ee]T + 10 surround CAR, reversed, then end of ‘straiN’. | ||
| 11 | JUDO |
Sport which is played on board, jack replacing learner (4)
|
| {L}UDO (game ‘which is played on board’), its L[earner] replaced by J[ack]. | ||
| 15 | TAROT CARD |
One supposedly forecasts carrot to develop during Whit? (5,4)
|
| TA.D (a bit, a jot, a ‘whit’) surrounds anagram (‘to develop’) of CARROT. | ||
| 17 | EYESHADOW |
Cosmetic treatment of head’s restricting the old, old women (9)
|
| Anagram (‘treatment of’) HEADS around YE (‘old’ the) + O[ld] + W[oman]. | ||
| 18 | EGOMANIA |
Obsessive self-interest, for example, East European uncovered (8)
|
| EG (‘for example’) + rOMANIAn (an E. European without 1st & last, ‘uncovered’). | ||
| 20 | LUTZ |
Move that’s on ice, as latest United target primarily unknown (4)
|
| Skating manoeuvre, 1st letters of L{atest} U{nited} & T{arget} + Z (algebraic ‘unknown’). | ||
| 21 | QUALITY |
Type of street that’s demolished at Xmas? It’s cracking (7)
|
| Double definition. ‘Quality’ as an adjective just means very good (‘cracking’) and ‘Quality Street [TM]’ chocolates are a traditional stand-by Christmas gift, left around for all to ‘demolish’. | ||
| 22 | STARRY |
Describing certain nights as a celebrity? (6)
|
| Double definition; Van Gogh via Don McLean via Hollywood &c. | ||
| 24 | ULCER |
Faceless governor bypasses constant health problem (5)
|
| rUL.ER (‘governor’ without 1st, ‘faceless’) includes ‘C’ (Einsteinian ‘Constant’). | ||
| 25 | MOOCH |
Lounge’s central heating low at first (5)
|
| MOO (of cattle, to ‘low’) + C[entral] H[eating]. To ‘mooch’ = ‘to hang about’, to ‘lounge’. |
Good ol’ honest ABE, crossword chestnut that he is, otherwise I would have got an ULCER trying to work out 28a. I was thrown by ‘barking’ as a homophone, rather than an anagram, indicator at 26a too. Maybe used inventively to help the surface. It didn’t help that I didn’t know the ‘German runner’ in question. I’m probably just not seeing something, but AMUSEMENT for ‘Funny character’ at 13a didn’t quite gel either.
Still, more than enough to entertain and I was spared the search for the elusive V, not even having thought to look for a pangram. Favourite was MOOCH.
Thanks to Aardvark and Grant
Did enjoy this but let down (as is often the case for me) by my poor geography knowledge. Never heard of Neckar and no chance of guessing it from the wordplay. Also failed to parse CHAMELEON but should have guessed Leon was somewhere in Spain from the wordplay.
Tried to convince myself that “amusement” was the character of being funny but didn’t fully succeed.
I was familiar with Leon (in Spain as well as Russell and Trotsky) but was forced to use word finder to track down that German flower.
Enjoyable-thanks all,
Suspecting a pangram helped arrive at JUDO early on. Think I had more 12a with this than Grant appears to have had although like Wordplodder and Hovis, I didn’t see how this answer equated to ‘funny’ or ‘funny character’ and thus it was my LOI.
Those I did like included MY HAT, SEMTEX, PHALANX and FRACTION. For me, it was a welcome return for Aardvark (whom I’ve not seen in a while).
Thanks also to Grant for shedding light where needed such as that ‘smoked joint’)
Suspecting a pangram helped arrive at JUDO In 12a, isn’t in 12a , isn’t it ‘ct’ from ‘court’?
Whoops, sorry for the gobbledygook above. Just meant I thought 12a parsed ‘ct’ from ‘court’.
I agree with Diane @6.
Given that this puzzle had no CRS nor cricket clues, I found it surprisingly difficult.
I was familiar with Neckar, but not with “barking” as a homophone indicator (homophind?).
There have been a lot of “moos” clued by “low”, lately, it seems to me…All went in smoothly until the last couple, where I was trying to lever in the elusive V, having suspected a pangram from the early and easy entry of QUEUED and SEMTEX. Also not sure about “barking”, though the solution was clear enough. A good variety of clues, I thought, so more enjoyable for me than for Grant Baynham, apparently – thanks for the blog, anyway.
p.s. I agree with Diane@6, too – I don’t think the cricket abbreviation has anything to do with it. “ct” for “court” is common enough.
Thanks Aardvark and GB
I enjoyed this, though it wasn’t easy.
In 13, I saw it along the lines of “He’s a card / amusement”, but that may just be me.
And I think the def in 22 needs to include ‘as’ – if you’re starry you<re as/like a star.
Perhaps the missing V from the pangram is in the setter’s name.
Thanks Aardvark, I found this quite satisfying. Like others I couldn’t get NECKAR but there’s no shame in that. Some of my parsing was only partial so I’m grateful to Grant for the explanations. Favourites included SHANGHAI, MOUNT ETNA, and LEGIT.
Yes, quite tough, and we didn’t quite make it unaided – we needed a wordfinder for 6dn. In hindsight it all looks straightforward enough, apart from the dodgy homophone indicator for 26ac. Favourite was CHAMELEON, which we didn’t have any trouble with.
We also noticed the proliferation of ‘moo’ to clue ‘low’ – as well as ‘polish’ to clue ‘sand’ which we commented on yesterday.
Thanks, Aardvark and Grant.
v happy with the whole thing… several blank staring moments stretching into probably life times for some living creatures but well worth it I felt.. slow start in bottom left and then each corner to end in top left .. i thought the misdirections were excellent so was happy with NECKAR altho likely its not strictly pronounced “ER”… also enjoyed think about PH fro quiet husband for quite a while before considering the alternative… I suppose my favourites were the simple ones like 1dn, 3dn, 10ac, etc… i had MISORDER for 27ac but I guess Lady Di outranks a misspelt MISS…
thanks AARDVARK n Grant Baynham
My thanks to Aardvark for the fun and GB for the much needed blog.
Nearly gave up about five times, but it always seemed to provide a modicum of inspiration until I, eventually, flopped over the line.
Still struggling to fathom Amusement (13A) and 26A clue (barking??) for Neckar but, otherwise, very enjoyable.
Nb. Pleasant to attempt the crossword this evening INSIDE the pub! Hasn’t been the warmest of springs in East Anglia…
Thanks Aardvark and Grant
Entertaining puzzle done across three sittings and a little over the average time for an FT puzzle. Not easy and one that had to be chipped away at to get to the end. NECKAR was vaguely familiar and confirmed by ‘one who tends to pet’ – ‘barking’ was unusual as the homophone indicator, but think that it’s doable and made for a great surface.
Liked the trick with ASTHMA with SEMTEX another that I thought very good.
Finished with that ‘German runner’, the clever FRACTION and ON THE GO the last one in.