Rodriguez sets the Saturday challenge this week.
We found this a little more straightforward than we expected, but no less enjoyable. We particularly liked 2d and the definition for 16d.
We can’t help wondering if there is a theme. If there is, we can’t find it.
MAJOR (main) + A (area) after BAR BAR (bars)
Hidden (‘not entirely’) in endeD WAR Finally
D (daughter) + an anagram (‘vagrant’) of PATCHIER
B (bachelor) in or ‘aducted by’ an anagram (‘surprisingly’) of ALIENS
An anagram (‘works’) of LITERARy without the last letter or ‘most of’
I (current) BEN (‘Scottish eminence’) round or ‘entertaining’ S (society)
MOD (Ministry of Defence – ‘ministerial department’) in or ‘cutting’ INCOME (wages)
A Spoonerism of DUTCH TOWN (‘urban area on Holland’)
PR (Public Relations – ‘spin’) ON (about) G (government)
M (first letter of messages) + an anagram (‘off’) of I’D SENT
I’LL (I will – ‘I’m going to’) + a reversal (‘westward’) of AIRY (breezy)
T U D (odd letters of To UnDo) in or ‘clothed by’ LASSIE (dog)
A clue-as-definition – DUB (give a name to) A1 (capital, as in top class)
CHOPPING (cutting) round an anagram (‘nutty’) of TART
MET (Metropolitan Police) round or ‘arresting’ an anagram (‘criminal’) of ILL SAD
Triple definition
RUFF (frilly neckwear) IN (fashionable) round or ‘worn by’ A
AND (along with) + an anagram (‘foolish’) of NATION
A reversal (‘up’) of RUB (polish) + first and last letters or ‘hide’ of NeaT
RIM (edging) round an anagram (‘pants’) of LACE
W E (west and east – partners in Bridge) L L (first and last letters or ‘extremes’ of LyricaL) TO-DO (song and dance)
Half the letters of SPARtans (Leonidas’ forces – Leonidas was king of the Greek city-state of Sparta in the 5th century BC)
SNUB (rebuff) + a homophone (‘for reporters’) of NOES (rejections)
CONTINgENT (military unit) without or ‘ditching’ ‘g’ (gallons)
E (earl) RAVING (crazy) round or ‘hugging’ NG (no good)
If something is somewhat like ash (wood) it might fancifully be described as ASHISH – with H (hard) at the start or ‘on top’ in a down clue
PILE (mansion) DUP (Democratic Unionist Party)
Double definition
TRUman (ex-president) without or ‘wanting’ ‘man’ + ER (‘I’m not sure’)
A reversal (‘turned up’) of BAR (nightspot) + BI (AC/DC)
What a pleasure with which to start the day. (Well, continue to start the day as the G Prize was fun too). Lots of elegant constructions with a splendid degree of variety. Had my mind turning all over the place – but in a good way 😀
Really hard to pick out favourites today: the list could run on far too long. Probably end up looking like B&J’s blog! So trying really hard to pare it down: DIRT CHEAP and LESBIAN for amusing surfaces, TOUCHDOWN for a very neat Spoonerism (which, for once, came straight to mind), LASSITUDE for lovely use of the dog, BURNT which is certainly neat and RECLAIM, again for the amusing surface. CONTINENT was lol for the definition and then the last two Downs which brought the whole thing to a very satisfactory end. TRUER for a different President to give us the TRU and RABBI for another lol.
B&J – re H ASHISH – I think ISH could possibly stand on its own to represent ‘somewhat’ although I do find ASHISH a nice idea and something Paul would probably try on the other channel.
Thanks Rodriguez and B&J
Like PostMark, I was struggling to pare down my long list of ticked clues.
I’ll go along with his, for the same reasons, and add DWARF, MINDSET, ANDANTINO and MEDALLIST, all for both construction and surface. And I particularly enjoyed SPAR, as I smiled at the idea of trying to fit ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY into four squares. 😉
Many thanks to Rodriguez and B&J.
TOUCHDOWN: Remembered a similar old clue ‘Land or borough in Holland for Spooner’
HASHISH: What PM@2 says on ISH is what I thought too. ASHISH is appealing as well.
Thanks, Rodriguez for an excellent puzzle and B&J for a neat blog!
Sheer crossword pleasure. I think that’s the first time I have ever got a Spooner clue from the Spoonerism rather than the definition.
Thanks, both.
Plenty to smile at in this one – think my top picks would be DWARF, DUBAI, JEANS & CONTINENT.
Thanks to Rodriguez for the smiles and to B&J for the review.
16d reminds me of the classic advert/graffiti. Harwich for the Continent. Frinton for the incontinent..
Petert@4: that’s a nice observation. I think it has happened to me a few times before but you are bang on right: I just looked at it, thought Dutch Town, swapped it and bingo. I almost didn’t notice the definition. Just delightfully accurate.
Thanks, Rodriguez. First pass came up almost empty, but great fun as everything slowly fell into place.
A fairly quick solve for us, although we didn’t parse everything. MAJOR BARBARA, ILLYRIA and ANDANTINO were among our favourites.
Thanks, Rodriguez and B&J.
Thanks B&J and Rodriguez. Can only echo what everyone else has said. Splendid!
Thanks Rodriguez. I always make a point to solve your crosswords no matter what name you use. LASSITUDE, RABBI, and ENGRAVING were among the many I liked. Thanks B&J for the blog.