I was just thinking that it had been a little while since we had seen Neo. Here he is with a fresh collection of clues. I found these to be high on inventiveness and thankfully low on crossword cliches.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | ALL BUT A FEW *(AWFUL TABLE) |
| 7 | HYPE hidden in pusHY PEople |
| 9 | AGOG A (one) GOG (giant) |
| 10 | BLUE MURDER BLUE (down) MURDER (collective noun for crows) |
| 11 | FIELDS FIELD (scene) + S (initially “seen”). |
| 12 | THATCHER d&cd |
| 13 | RENDERED END (last) in RE (on) + RED (ball) |
| 15 | USER hidden in serioUS ERror |
| 17 | AGAR AG (silver) AR[t] (works shortly) |
| 19 | MULETEER The driver of an ass, rather than the other way around. |
| 22 | QUESTION *(IN QUOTES), referring to the Hamlet soliloquy, of course. |
| 23 | TAIPAN T[h]AI (Asian without H for Hotel) PAN (utensil for frying). The world’s most venomous snake is a resident of Australia, naturally. |
| 25 | HOME OFFICE HOME (in) OFF (out) I C (see) E (hodge at last) |
| 26 | ISIS IS[t] IS[t] (two firsts); the Thames is called the Isis in Oxford |
| 27 | GERM R (resistance) in GEM (stone) |
| 28 | TANK ENGINE *(TAKEN) + G (gangland principal) in NINE |
| Down | |
| 2 | LEG SIDE a cricket cd |
| 3 | BAGEL BAG (container) E[the]L (Ethel found empty) |
| 4 | TO BE SURE *(BEERS OUT) |
| 5 | FOURTH DIMENSION *(I’M SHUT IN FOR DONE) |
| 6 | WOMBAT O (love) MB (doctor) in WAT (temple) |
| 7 | HARD COURT HARD (difficult) COURT (attempt to win) |
| 8 | PRECEDE P (pennies) RECEDE (decline in value) |
| 14 | DARTS TEAM *(STARTED) + AM (before noon). I liked the definition here (“maybe bullish competitors”) and the well-disguised anagram (“started fighting”) |
| 16 | ALL THERE If you are a sandwich short of a picnic, you’re not all there |
| 18 | GLUCOSE *(CLUES GO) |
| 20 | ELATION [r]ELATION (beheaded family member) |
| 21 | MISFIT M (Mike) IS FIT (in fine fettle) |
| 24 | ICING hidden in panIC IN Going |
Another excellent puzzle from the talented Neo – it was challenging, enjoyable and had good humour.
My favourite clue was 4d – it made me smile.
Thanks Neo – you’re the best.
Dear Nathan, I am not sure if Neo’s the best (I don’t think so, and probably he doesn’t think that either), but this was a good crossword – only my second Neo.
In February I nearly completed his last offering on a flight from Stansted to Schiphol Airport (I remember me questioning whether a ‘film noir’ is a gangster movie or not).
Given the fact that you can’t make it too hard during weekdays and that, for example, a football-themed puzzle like today’s Boatman in the Guardian would be unacceptable for the FT (and I understand that), this was a rather fine crossword.
“Friendly” is what I would call this puzzle, but it doesn’t mean “13 in a dozen”, because there are too many original clues.
Like 4d (TO BE SURE), 23ac (TAIPAN) and 19ac (MULETEER).
Great constructions in 26ac and 16d.
There’s a lot of thought behind these clues, I guess.
On the negative side, there are – of course (people should know me by now) – these cryptic definitions.
12ac (I hated Thatcher anyway), 18d (ALL THERE) and 2d (LEG SIDE) [please, don’t try to convert me :)] don’t work for me.
But the fine anagram of 1ac (ALL BUT A FEW), the DARTS TEAM of 14d (already mentioned by Agentzero – thx for the blog!!) and 26ac (TANK ENGINE) are a generous compensation.
Good crossword – looking forward to the next.
Thanks indeed for the excellent blog, and comments.
I absolutely agree I’m not the best, but I do try to offer MY best at any given point.
(limps off)