Highly enjoyable puzzle from Wiglaf today.
I sailed into this clobbering more than half the puzzle in less than a half-hour, thoroughly enjoying some relative accessible clues. For some of these it feels like I have seen very similar wordplay elsewhere recently. At the end of the “first pass” (all clues attempted) I counted 17/32 solved, mostly on the top half.
The next pass saw off most of the rest such that at the end there was just the one niggling clue to go – now that’s something to get mithered about – 9D. This was by far and away the last one in. I was struggling to find a cheese name with RUE in it that could be removed, to make a word meaning hard.
There are several place-names and expressions in the clues and answers. Many in the clues. So the “theme” was very open and didn’t help too much with the solve – didn’t help me anyway.
Eccles, mithered, Hyde, Urmston, Droylsden, Bolton, Hulme, Richmond, Mancunian, Sale, Bury, Stockport, Oldham, Hilton
Most of these are within Greater Manchester. Richmond appears to be an exception that has crept in.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ECCLES | Short religious book found in diocese, written round about 250 (6) Short for Ecclesiastes book of the Old Testament. CCL (250) inside SEE< (Diocese, written round) Ecclesiastes is actually reckoned to be written about 450-200 BC |
| 4 | RICHMOND | Well-heeled demi-mondaine provides American capital (8) RICH (Well-heeled) MOND[aine] Capital of Virginia, and a well known place-name in many other states and counties |
| 10 | MANCUNIAN | A manic nun mithered a northerner (9) (A MANIC NUN)* AInd: mithered Entirely suitable anagram indicator |
| 11 | RADON | Cook overcome by diffused gas (5) DO (cook) in RAN (diffused) |
| 12 | NUDGE | Bit of glass lodged in bare butt (5) G[lass] in NUDE (bare). |
| 13 | TRADE FAIR | Exhibition featuring jazz, close to Sloane Square (5,4) TRAD (jazz) [sloan]E FAIR (square) |
| 14 | ABANDON | Uninhibitedness in a strip club? Not half (7) A BAND (a strip) [ir]ON ([golf] club, not half) |
| 16 | SALE | Fantastic deals? Daughter’s going here (4) (DEALS – D)* AInd: fantastic. &Lit or semi-&Lit I cannot decide |
| 19 | BURY | Deal with dead fruit when delivered (4) Homophone “Berry” (fruit) HInd: delivered. |
| 21 | DREAMER | Papers penned by revolutionary left-wing idealist (7) REAM (papers) inside RED< (left-wing, revolutionary) |
| 24 | STOCKPORT | A place to keep wine (9) STOCK PORT (keep wine) |
| 25 | HERON | Horse shakes off one bird (5) HERO[i]N (Horse, slang for Heroin) |
| 26 | EATER | Fruit supply in a tree (5) (A TREE)* AInd: supply. |
| 27 | NOVELETTE | Short book Harry lent to Eve (9) (LENT TO EVE)* AInd: Harry. |
| 28 | LANDSEER | English painter left with Sibyl? (8) L[eft] AND (with) SEER (Sibyl). I’m sure I’ve seen this exact same answer and wordplay recently … … by which I mean the last 3 years |
| 29 | DETOUR | Alternative route from Hyde to Urmston (6) hidden in HyDE TO URmston |
| Down | ||
| 1 | EMMENTAL | The writer served up crackers and cheese (8) ME< (the writer, served up) MENTAL (crackers) |
| 2 | CANADIAN | North American woman with Russian name apparently imprisoned? (8) NADIA (Russian woman’s name) inside CAN (In Can = imprisoned) |
| 3 | ETUDE | Gent’s undies regularly removed for exercise (5) Alternate letters in gEnTs UnDiEs |
| 5 | IONIANS | Greeks charge carriers for carrying one article (7) I (one) AN (article) inside IONS (charge carriers) |
| 6 | HARPER LEE | US author for one visits bogus healer (6,3) PER (for one) inside (visits) (HEALER)* AInd: bogus. |
| 7 | OLDHAM | Athletic team‘s possible cause of food poisoning? (6) Def. referencing Oldham Athletic football team, and cryptically old ham might poison you if you were stupid, or hungry enough to eat it. |
| 8 | DE NIRO | Actor from Brazil employed in Droylsden ironworks (2,4) Hidden in droylsDEN IROnworks Ref. Terry Gilliam’s masterpiece Brazil wherein it is entirely possible Harry Tuttle hid in said ironworks |
| 9 | HILTON | Hard cheese, having lost way in Paris? (6) H[ard] [ST]ILTON (cheese). The ST from Street is removed. Paris is the def. ref. Paris Hilton <groan> |
| 15 | DRUNKARDS | Kurds darn pants – tight ones (9) (KURDS DARN)* AInd: pants. My favourite clue for being very misleading, and conjuring images of the darning skills of Kurds and their underwear |
| 17 | AMARETTO | Refreshment for most of army with tea to drink (8) ( ARM[y] TEA TO )* AInd: Refreshment. Looks like the anagram indicator must do double duty as the definition for this clue to work. |
| 18 | GRANDEUR | Some have delusions of this German currency dominating another mostly (8) G[erman] RAND (currency) EUR[o] (another currency, mostly). Def. ref the phrase “delusions of grandeur” |
| 20 | YAOUNDE | Open University dons also in the old capital (7) OU inside AND (also), all inside YE (the, as in olden times) to give the capital of Cameroon |
| 21 | DATIVE | American lawyer set to defend one English case (6) DA (US lawyer), then I (one) inside (defended by) TV (set), then E[nglish]. |
| 22 | AS WELL | A dandy to boot (2,4) A SWELL (A dandy) |
| 23 | BOLTON | Michael who sings Keep On Running (6) If you keep on running you Bolt On Michael Bolton is a singer. He is not from Bolton |
| 25 | HULME | Line penned by Scottish philosopher and poet (5) L[ine] in HUME (Scottish philosopher). I did not know the poet T.E. Hulme but do now after reading this: Entire Collected Works (6 min read) There are also the poets Jay Hulme and Keri Hulme, to be investigated later … |
Annoyed at not getting BOLTON. Didn’t get the Greater Manchester theme, which might have helped. And we all know Bolton isn’t a palindrome (one for the Python fans).
In 17d, the definition is “drink”, so no double duty. Favourite was Hilton, once the penny dropped.
Was only able to identify the theme as being places in the N. of England, rather than being more specially related to Greater Manchester, but still enjoyed spotting the names. I liked HILTON (another who wondered how ‘rue’ could fit in) and NADIA in CAN at 2d. The ‘possible cause of food poisoning?’ held out longest and I then finally saw how the ‘Athletic team’s’ def worked. Good way to finish.
Thanks to Wiglaf and beermagnet
Very enjoyable excursion today, Hilton and Landseer involved guesses. Proud of our parsing for Yaounde, upset that it’s not in our Chambers App?!
Thanks Wiglaf and beermagnet
Thanks Hovis for spotting the incorrect definition underlining at 17d – now fixed.
I considered making a reference to Notlob in the chat. It is the first thing that springs to mind when I read the placename, Bolton.
I believe there’s a Richmond Park in Manchester, which seems to be a hall of residence of the University of Manchester. Also there are many places called Hilton, but none of them in the Manchester area, so I don’t suppose these answers were intended by the setter as part of the Mancunian theme. Very entertaining, so thanks Wiglaf and Beermagnet.
Quite an easy solve for a Saturday, and a theme we spotted to boot! Our favourites, though, were non-thematic: EMMENTAL and YAOUNDÉ.
Thanks, Wiglaf and Beermagnet.
Hilton possibly the most groan-worthy clue I have ever seen, I had a RUEful chuckle when it finally dawned on me.
Thanks Wiglaf and beermagnet.
Very clever and enjoyable. Nice to see the North mentioned and a nice introduction to place names in the side of the Pennines I know less. I’ve advised the Indy setter in 1 across of his probably coincidental mention.
Fun to get Yaounde without ever having heard of it. I didn’t get Bolton though. Apparently that’s not his real name (it’s Bolotin). Thanks to Wiglaf and beermagnet.
Grim up north-i was delivered in Oldham hospital.Is the brewery still going?